The Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies (SPBS) is delighted to announce that the 2025 SPBS Annual Book Prize has been awarded jointly to Michael Featherstone and Juan Signes Codoñer for their outstanding scholarly work on Book VI of the Chronographia of the Continuator of Theophanes.
The volume presents a critical edition and translation of the final part of the Byzantine text known as Theophanes Continuatus. Entitled “Book VI” by previous editors, the text follows upon Books I–IV and the Vita Basilii, which recount the reigns of the emperors from AD 813 to the death of Basil I in 886. “Book VI” then brings the narrative down to the advent of Nicephorus II Phokas in 963.
Tellingly, the first two parts are composed in a classicising style typical of the literary circle of the emperor Constantine VII. This third part, however, appears to have been undertaken after Constantine’s death, presumably on the initiative of the high official Basil the parakoimomenos, an ally of Phokas. It presents a remarkable mixture of stylistic and linguistic registers that points to a team of authors working within the imperial palace and assuming different roles in expanding and polishing their sources.
Compiled in apparent haste, the text is based on continuations of the Logothete Chronicle and incorporates a variety of revisions, including additional textual sections and glosses—often inserted in the wrong places—which were likely derived from marginal notes or leaves added to the exemplar manuscript. As such, the work provides valuable evidence for Middle Byzantine methods of textual revision and historical composition.
The SPBS Annual Book Prize is awarded each year to the best single-authored or co-authored book published in English on any topic within the broad field of Byzantine Studies. The prize reflects the Society’s commitment to advancing the study of the history, culture, languages, literature, and material remains of the Byzantine world and its neighbours across a wide range of disciplines.
The Society warmly congratulates Michael Featherstone and Juan Signes Codoñer on this well-deserved achievement and thanks all those who submitted books for consideration. The quality of the entries received demonstrates the continued strength, diversity, and international reach of contemporary Byzantine scholarship.
Congratulations to Michael Featherstone and Juan Signes Codoñer, winners of the 2025 SPBS Annual Book Prize.
