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Alexios Palaiologos (despot)
Alexios Palaiologos ( gr, Ἀλέξιος Παλαιολόγος; died 1203) was a Byzantine nobleman, son-in-law of Emperor Alexios III Angelos () and his heir apparent from 1199 to his death. Throughout this time, he was actively involved in the suppression of several revolts and riots against the emperor. Through his daughter, he became one of the progenitors of the Palaiologan dynasty (1261–1453). Life Although the Palaiologos family was wealthy and mostly known as civil and military officials under the Komnenian emperors, Alexios's own origins are obscure. Alexios's father was probably the ''sebastos'' and ''megas hetaireiarches'' George Palaiologos, the son or grandson of Alexios I Komnenos's staunchest supporter, George Palaiologos. Through his grandmother, Alexios shared in the blood of the Komnenian house. In 1199, Alexios was chosen by Emperor Alexios III, who was without male offspring, to wed his eldest daughter, Irene. She was a widow of Andronikos Kontostephanos, an ...
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Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople. It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire remained the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe. The terms "Byzantine Empire" and "Eastern Roman Empire" were coined after the end of the realm; its citizens continued to refer to their empire as the Roman Empire, and to themselves as Romans—a term which Greeks continued to use for themselves into Ottoman times. Although the Roman state continued and its traditions were maintained, modern historians prefer to differentiate the Byzantine Empire from Ancient Rome a ...
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Krichim
Krichim ( bg, Кричим ) is a town in Bulgaria, located in the southwestern part of Plovdiv Province close to Perushtitsa. It lies at the foot of the Rhodopes' northern slopes in the plains of Thrace, 20 km southwest of Plovdiv. The river Vacha, an important tributary of the Maritsa, runs through the town. Krichim is the only place in Krichim Municipality. Inhabited since Early Byzantine times as evidenced by the remains of two ancient fortresses on both banks of the river in the beginning of its gorge, Krichim was contested by the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Empire during most of the Middle Ages. It was conquered by Tsar Ivan Asen II in 1230 and a stone inscription from this period is preserved, saying 'On this stone sat Tsar Asen, when he conquered Krichim'. During the early Bulgarian National Revival, the village was one of the few in the region to have a monastery school. Two monasteries, one of the Holy Theotokos and one of St Vrach, worked during the Otto ...
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Theodora Angelina Palaiologina
Theodora Angelina Palaiologina (Greek: Θεοδώρα Άγγελίνα Παλαιολογίνα) was a Byzantine noblewoman and mother of the future Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, the founder of the Palaiologan dynasty. She was the daughter of the ''despotes'' Alexios Palaiologos and Irene Komnene Angelina, the daughter of Alexios III Angelos and Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamatera. Family She was married with Andronikos Palaiologos, the ''megas domestikos'' of the Empire of Nicaea.Europäische Stammtafeln Band 3.1, Tafel 198 Theodora and Andronikos had four children: *Maria Palaiologina (monastic name Martha), married with Nikephoros Tarchaneiotes. *Irene Komnene Palaiologina (monastic name Eulogia), wife of John Kantakouzenos; mother of Anna, consort of Epirus and Maria Palaiologina Kantakouzene, Empress consort of Bulgaria. *Michael VIII Palaiologos (1223 – 11 December 1282), first Byzantine Emperor of the Palaiologan dynasty. * John Palaiologos (1225/1230 – 1272/1 ...
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Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid Sultanate, the strongest Muslim state of the time. However, a sequence of economic and political events culminated in the Crusader army's 1202 siege of Zara and the 1204 sack of Constantinople, the capital of the Greek Christian-controlled Byzantine Empire, rather than Egypt as originally planned. This led to the partitioning of the Byzantine Empire by the Crusaders. The Republic of Venice contracted with the Crusader leaders to build a dedicated fleet to transport their invasion force. However, the leaders greatly overestimated the number of soldiers who would embark from Venice, since many sailed from other ports, and the army that appeared could not pay the contracted price. In lieu of payment, the Venetian Doge Enrico Dandolo proposed ...
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Siege Of Constantinople (1203)
The siege of Constantinople in 1203 was a Crusader siege of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, in support of the deposed emperor Isaac II Angelos and his son Alexios IV Angelos. It marked the main outcome of the Fourth Crusade. Siege To take the city by force, the Crusaders first needed to cross the Bosphorus. About 200 ships, horse transports and galleys would undertake to deliver the crusading army across the narrow strait, where Alexios III had lined up the Byzantine army in battle formation along the shore, north of the suburb of Galata. The Crusaders' knights charged straight out of the horse transports, and the Byzantine army fled south. The Crusaders followed south, and attacked the Tower of Galata, which held one end of the chain that blocked access to the Golden Horn. The Tower of Galata held a garrison of mercenary troops of English, Danish, and Italian origin. As the crusaders laid siege to the Tower, the defenders routinely attempted to sally out with some ...
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Theodore Skoutariotes
Theodore Skoutariotes ( el, Θεόδωρος Σκουταριώτης; born ) was a Byzantine cleric and official during the reign of Michael VIII Palaiologos (). Skoutariotes was born about 1230. As a deacon, he served as ''epi ton deeseon'' (receiver of petitions) and was named as ''dikaiophylax'' in 1270. He served as Michael VIII's ambassador to the Pope in 1277, and was metropolitan bishop of Kyzikos from 1277 until he was deposed in 1282. The German historian A. Heisenberg identified Skoutariotes with the anonymous author of a chronicle preserved in the Marcian Library in Venice (''Marc. gr.'' 407), which begins with the Creation and reaches to 1261. The chronicle is particularly valuable for its additions to the narrative of George Akropolites George Akropolites ( Latinized as Acropolites or Acropolita; el, , ''Georgios Akropolites''; 1217 or 1220 – 1282) was a Byzantine Greek historian and statesman born at Constantinople. Life In his sixteenth year he was sent by hi ...
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Second Bulgarian Empire
The Second Bulgarian Empire (; ) was a medieval Bulgarians, Bulgarian state that existed between 1185 and 1396. A successor to the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Tsars Kaloyan of Bulgaria, Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottoman Empire, Ottomans in the late 14th century. Until 1256, the Second Bulgarian Empire was the dominant power in the Balkans, defeating the Byzantine Empire in several major battles. In 1205, Emperor Kaloyan defeated the newly established Latin Empire in the battle of Adrianople (1205), Battle of Adrianople. His nephew Ivan Asen II defeated the Despotate of Epiros and made Bulgaria a regional power again. During his reign, Bulgaria spread from the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic to the Black Sea and the economy flourished. In the late 13th century, however, the Empire declined under constant invasions by Mongols, Byzantine Empire, Byzantines, Hungarians, and Serbia in the Middle Ages, Serbs, as well as i ...
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Macedonia (region)
Macedonia () is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time; however, it came to be defined as the modern geographical region by the mid 19th century. Today the region is considered to include parts of six Balkan countries: larger parts in Greece, North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ..., and Bulgaria, and smaller parts in Albania, Serbia, and Kosovo. It covers approximately and has a population of 4.76 million. Its oldest known settlements date back approximately to 7,000 BC. From the middle of the 4th century BC, the Kingdom of Macedon became the dominant power on the Balkan Peninsula; since then Macedonia has had a diverse history. Etymology Both proper nouns ...
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John Spyridonakes
John Spyridonakes ( el, Ἰωάννης Σπυριδωνάκης, ) was a Byzantine governor and rebel in the region of Macedonia during the reign of Emperor Alexios III Angelos (r. 1195–1203). Spyridonakes was born in Cyprus. Originally a low-born handicraftsman, he secured the favour of Emperor Alexios III Angelos and rose to the post of head of the imperial privy purse (the ''oikeiakon vestiarion''). Subsequently, he was appointed governor of the theme of Smolena in eastern Macedonia. In 1201, he rebelled against the Byzantine emperor, taking advantage of a series of raids and rebellions – such as those of Dobromir Chrysos and Ivanko – then occurring in the Byzantine Empire's Balkan provinces. He was soon defeated by imperial forces under the Emperor's son-in-law Alexios Palaiologos and driven to seek refuge at the court of the Bulgarian emperor Kalojan Kaloyan or Kalojan, also known as Ioannitsa or Johannitsa ( bg, Калоян, Йоаница; 1170 – October ...
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Hippodrome Of Constantinople
Sultanahmet Square ( tr, Sultanahmet Meydanı) or the Hippodrome of Constantinople ( el, Ἱππόδρομος τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, Hippódromos tēs Kōnstantinoupóleōs; la, Circus Maximus Constantinopolitanus; tr, Hipodrom) is a square in Istanbul, Turkey. Previously, it was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. The word ''hippodrome'' comes from the Greek ''hippos'' (), horse, and ''dromos'' (δρόμος), path or way. For this reason, it is sometimes also called ("Horse Square") in Turkish. Horse racing and chariot racing were popular pastimes in the ancient world and hippodromes were common features of Greek cities in the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine eras. History and use Construction Although the Hippodrome is usually associated with Constantinople's days of glory as an imperial capital, it actually predates that era. The first Hippodrome was built when the city was ...
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Blachernae
Blachernae ( gkm, Βλαχέρναι) was a suburb in the northwestern section of Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire. It is the site of a water source and a number of prominent churches were built there, most notably the great Church of St. Mary of Blachernae (''Panagia Blacherniotissa''), built by Empress Pulcheria in c. 450, expanded by Emperor Leo I (r. 457–474) and renovated by Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565) in the 6th century.. Etymology The Romanian philologist Ilie Gherghel wrote a study about Blachernae and concluded that it possibly derived from the name of a Vlach (sometimes written as Blach or Blasi), who came to Constantinople from the lower Danube, a region named today Dobruja. Gherghel compared data from old historians like Genesios and from the Greek lexicon ''Suidas'' and mentioned the existence of a small colony of Vlachs in the area of today Blachernae. Similar opinions were sustained by Lisseanu. The name Blachernae appeared in a work o ...
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Great Palace Of Constantinople
The Great Palace of Constantinople ( el, Μέγα Παλάτιον, ''Méga Palátion''; Latin: ''Palatium Magnum''), also known as the Sacred Palace ( el, Ἱερὸν Παλάτιον, ''Hieròn Palátion''; Latin: ''Sacrum Palatium''), was the large imperial Byzantine palace complex located in the south-eastern end of the peninsula now known as Old Istanbul (formerly Constantinople), in modern Turkey. It served as the main imperial residence of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine emperors until 1081 and was the centre of imperial administration for over 690 years. Only a few remnants and fragments of its foundations have survived into the present day. History When Constantine I refounded Byzantium as Constantinople in 330, he planned out a palace for himself. The palace was located between the Hippodrome and Hagia Sophia. The complex of palaces was rebuilt and expanded several times during its history. Much of the complex was destroyed during the Nika riots of 532 and was rebuil ...
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