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Siege Of Berat (1280–1281)
The siege of Berat in Albania by the forces of the Angevin Kingdom of Sicily against the Byzantine garrison of the city took place in 1280–1281. Berat was a strategically important fortress, whose possession would allow the Angevins access to the heartlands of the Byzantine Empire. A Byzantine relief force arrived in spring 1281, and managed to ambush and capture the Angevin commander, Hugo de Sully. Thereupon, the Angevin army panicked and fled, suffering heavy losses in killed and wounded as it was attacked by the Byzantines. This defeat ended the threat of a land invasion of the Byzantine Empire, and along with the Sicilian Vespers marked the end of the Western threat to reconquer Byzantium. Background Ever since the Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos (r. 1259–1282) recovered Constantinople from the Latin Empire in 1261, the restored Byzantine Empire faced the threat of a Latin crusade to reclaim the city. The antagonistic Greek Despotate of Epirus and the Latin states ...
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Despotate Of Epirus
The Despotate of Epirus () was one of the Greek Rump state, successor states of the Byzantine Empire established in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204 by a branch of the Angelos dynasty. It claimed to be the legitimate successor of the Byzantine Empire during the subsequent struggle for Constantinople, along with the Empire of Nicaea and the Empire of Trebizond; its rulers briefly proclaiming themselves as Emperors in 1227–1242 (during which it is most often called the Empire of Thessalonica). The term "Despotate of Epirus" is, like "Byzantine Empire" itself, a modern historiographic convention and not a name in use at the time. The Despotate was centred on the region of Epirus, encompassing also Albania and the western portion of Greek Macedonia and also included Thessaly and western Greece as far south as Nafpaktos. Through a policy of aggressive expansion under Theodore Komnenos Doukas the Despotate of Epirus also briefly came to incorporate central Macedonia (regi ...
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Kaninë Castle
Kaninë Castle () is a castle in the village Kaninë near Vlorë, in southwestern Albania. History Kaninë Castle was built in the village with the same name which is located about from Vlorë. The castle rises on the side of the Shushicë Mountain, about above sea level. It was built on the site of an ancient settlement, one of the oldest in the Vlora region. The castle is believed to have been erected in the 3rd century B.C. In the 4th century A.D. the castle was transformed into a fortress town. In the 6th century A.D. the castle was reconstructed by Justinian I. The castle was the center of the Principality of Valona in the 14th century. The settlement covers an area of 3.6 hectares. Gallery See also * Vlore *List of castles in Albania *Tourism in Albania Tourism in Albania has been a key element of the country's economic activity and is constantly developing. Albania is characterized by its rich archaeological and cultural heritage dating back to the ...
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Treaty Of Viterbo
The Treaty of Viterbo (or the Treaties of Viterbo) was a pair of agreements made by Charles I of Sicily with Baldwin II of Constantinople and William II Villehardouin, Prince of Achaea, on 24 and 27 May 1267, which transferred much of the rights to the defunct Latin Empire from Baldwin to Charles. Background The recapture of Constantinople by the Greeks in 1261 had sent Baldwin, the Latin Emperor of Constantinople, always impoverished, to seek aid in Western Europe for a crusade to recapture the throne of the Latin Empire for him. For some time, he had expected aid from Manfred of Sicily, who hoped (like his father, Emperor Frederick II) that a crusade might put him in better standing with the Papacy; but Manfred was ousted from Sicily in 1266 by Charles, acting for Pope Clement IV, severely discomfiting Baldwin. Baldwin was residing at the Papal court in Viterbo in 1267 when Clement arranged to reconcile the Emperor and the newly seated King. As the principal vassal of what re ...
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Byzantine–Norman Wars
The Byzantine–Norman wars were a series of military conflicts between the Normans and the Byzantine Empire fought from 1040 to 1186 involving the Hauteville family, Norman-led Kingdom of Sicily in the west, and the Principality of Antioch in the Levant. The last of the Norman invasions, though having incurred disaster upon the Byzantine Greeks, Romans by Sack of Thessalonica (1185), sacking Thessalonica in 1185, was eventually driven out and vanquished by 1186. Norman conquest of Southern Italy The Normans' initial military involvement in Southern Italy was on the side of the Lombards against the Byzantines. Eventually, some Normans, including the powerful de Hauteville brothers, served in the army of George Maniakes during the attempted Byzantine reconquest of Sicily, only to turn against their employers when the emirs proved difficult to conquer. By 1030, Rainulf Drengot, Rainulf became count of Aversa, marking the start of permanent Norman settlement in Italy. In 1042, Wil ...
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Normans
The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Francia followed a series of raids on the French northern coast mainly from what is now Denmark, although some also sailed from Norway and Sweden. These settlements were finally legitimized when Rollo, a Scandinavian Vikings, Viking leader, agreed to swear fealty to Charles the Simple, King Charles III of West Francia following the Siege of Chartres (911), siege of Chartres in 911, leading to the formation of the ''County of Rouen''. This new fief, through kinship in the decades to come, would expand into what came to be known as the ''Duchy of Normandy''. The Norse settlers, whom the region as well as its inhabitants were named after, adopted the language, Christianity, religion, culture, social customs and military, martial doctrine of the Wes ...
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Via Egnatia
The Via Egnatia was a road constructed by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. It crossed Illyricum, Macedonia, and Thracia, running through territory that is now part of modern Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, and European Turkey as a continuation of the Via Appia. Starting at Dyrrachium (now Durrës) on the Adriatic Sea, the road followed a difficult route along the river Genusus ( Shkumbin), over the '' Candaviae'' ( Jablanica) mountains and thence to the highlands around Lake Ohrid. It then turned by parts south, following several high mountain passes to reach the northern coastline of the Aegean Sea at Thessalonica. From there it ran through Thrace to the city of Byzantium (later Constantinople, now Istanbul). It covered a total distance of about 1,120 km (696 miles/746 Roman miles). Like other major Roman roads, it was about six metres (19.6 ft) wide, paved with large polygonal stone slabs or covered with a hard layer of sand. Construction and usage The ...
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Buthrotum
Butrint (, , ) was an ancient Greek polis and later Roman city and the seat of an early Christian bishopric in Epirus. Originally a settlement of the Greek tribe of the Chaonians, it later became part of the state of Epirus and later a Roman '' colonia'' and a Byzantine bishopric. It entered into decline in Late Antiquity, before being abandoned during the Middle Ages after a major earthquake flooded most of the city. In modern times it is an archeological site in Vlorë County, Albania, some south of Sarandë, close to the Greek border. It is located on a hill overlooking the Vivari Channel and is part of the Butrint National Park. Today Bouthrotum is a Latin Catholic titular see and also features the Ali Pasha Castle. The city is considered one of the most important archaeological sites in Albania. On the strength of the immense wealth of cultural, historical and natural value with a considerable history, Butrint was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992 and fur ...
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Vlorë
Vlorë ( ; ; sq-definite, Vlora) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, third most populous city of Albania and seat of Vlorë County and Vlorë Municipality. Located in southwestern Albania, Vlorë sprawls on the Bay of Vlorë and is surrounded by the foothills of the Ceraunian Mountains along the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast, Albanian Adriatic and Albanian Ionian Sea Coast, Ionian Sea Coasts. It experiences a Mediterranean climate, which is affected by the Ceraunian Mountains and the proximity to the Mediterranean Sea. The coastal area of Vlorë was one of the Illyrians, Illyrian sites that had experienced pre-urban activity beginning from the 11th–10th centuries BC. The area was Greek colonisation, colonized by Ancient Greece, Ancient Greeks. A large fortified port-town that was inhabited from the 6th century BC to the 2nd century AD is placed, now partially submerged, in Triport, Vlorë, Triport, northwest of present-day Vlorë. Substantial port activity in this site o ...
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Albania
Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, North Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south. With an area of , it has a varied range of climatic, geological, hydrological and morphological conditions. Albania's landscapes range from rugged snow-capped mountains in the Accursed Mountains, Albanian Alps and the Korab, Central Mountain Range, Albania#Skanderbeg Mountains, Skanderbeg, Pindus and Ceraunian Mountains, to fertile lowland plains extending from the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast, Adriatic and Albanian Ionian Sea Coast, Ionian seacoasts. Tirana is the capital and largest city in the country, followed by Durrës, Vlorë, and Shkodër. Albania was inhabited by several List of Illyrian peoples and tribes, Illyrian tribes, among them the A ...
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Corfu
Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regional unit), Corfu regional unit, and is administered by three municipalities with the islands of Othonoi, Ereikoussa, and Mathraki. The principal city of the island (pop. 32,095) is also named Corfu (city), Corfu. Corfu is home to the Ionian University. The island is bound up with the history of Greece from the beginnings of Greek mythology, and is marked by numerous battles and conquests. Ancient Korkyra (polis), Korkyra took part in the Battle of Sybota which was a catalyst for the Peloponnesian War, and, according to Thucydides, the largest naval battle between Greek city states until that time. Thucydides also reports that Korkyra was one of the three great naval powers of Greece in the fifth century BCE, along with Classical Athens, At ...
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