Bryennius, Manuel

, the last writer on music in the Greek language that has come to our knowledge, flourished under the elder Paiaeologus, about the year 1320, and it is probable that he was a descendant of the house of Brienne, an ancient French family, that went into Greece during the crusades, at the beginning of the thirteenth century. His work is divided into three books, all which are confined to harmonics: the first is a kind of commentary on Euclid; and the second and third little more than explanations of the doctrines of Ptolemy. Meibomius had promised a Latin translation of this book, but dying before it was finished, Dr. 'Wallis performed the task, and it now constitutes a part of the third volume of his works, published at Oxford, 1699, 3 vols. fol. ²