DUCAS, Michael, a Greek historian who flourished under Constantine XII., about 1450. The dates of his birth and death are unknown. He belonged to the illustrious family of his name that gave several emperors to Constantinople, and he is supposed to have held a high office at the court of Constantine XII. After the fall of Constantinople, he was employed in various diplomatic missions by the princes of Lesbos, where he had taken refuge. He was successful in securing a semi-independence for Lesbos until 1462, when it was taken and annexed to Turkey by Sultan Mahomet II. It is known that Ducas survived this event, but there is no record of his subsequent life. He is the author of a history beginning with the death of John Palaeologus I., and extending as far as the capture of Lesbos in 1462. There is a preliminary chapter of chronology from Adam to John Palaeologus I., which is almost certainly by a later hand. Although barbarous in style, the history of Ducas is both, judicious and trustworthy, and it is the most valuable source for the close of the Greek empire. The author seems to have possessed an intimate knowledge of the Turkish language.

The editio princeps was issued by Bullialdus at Paris in 1649 with a Latin version and notes. This edition was reprinted at Venice in 1729. The work was edited by Bekker for the Bonn series of the Byzantine historians (Bonn, 1834). A French translation was incorporated by President Cousin in his Histoire de Constantinople (Paris, 1672). An early Italian translation, discovered by Von Ranke at Venice, is appended to the Bonn edition.