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Siege Of Ravenna (539–540)
The siege of Ravenna of 539-540 took place during Justinian’s Gothic War. After clearing out Ariminum, Urviventus, Urbinus and Auximus the road to Ravenna was open to the Byzantines. In late 539 or early 540 Belisarius, victor of engagements like Dara, Ad Decimum and Rome, marched on Ravenna while Vitalius was already in the area. Vitalius discovered a grain shipment destined for Ravenna and captured it. When news of the siege spread many Gothic garrisons began to surrender. The city itself was taken when Belisarius was offered the Ostrogothic throne and faked acceptance. Background During the early part of the Gothic War, the Byzantine conquest of Italy, the Byzantines quickly captured a vast amount of land. among the captured cities was Rome which the Goths attempted to retake in a siege. During the Siege of Rome, the Byzantine commander John, successfully took Ariminum. This threatened the Gothic capital Ravenna so the Goths lifted the siege and moved against Joh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ravenna
Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom until it was re-conquered in 540 by the Byzantine Empire. Afterwards, the city formed the centre of the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna until the last exarch was executed by the Lombards in 751. Although it is an inland city, Ravenna is connected to the Adriatic Sea by the Candiano Canal. It is known for its well-preserved late Roman and Byzantine architecture, with eight buildings comprising the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna". History The origin of the name ''Ravenna'' is unclear. Some have speculated that "Ravenna" is related to "Rasenna" (or "Rasna"), the term that the Etruscan civilization, Etruscans used for themselves, but there is no agreement on this point. Ancien ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Fisula
A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static, defensive position. Consequently, an opportunity for negotiation between combatants is common, as proximity and fluctuating advantage can encourage diplomacy. The art of conducting and resisting sieges is called siege warfare, siegecraft, or poliorcetics. A siege occurs when an attacker encounters a city or fortress that cannot be easily taken by a quick assault, and which refuses to surrender. Sieges involve surrounding the target to block the provision of supplies and the reinforcement or escape of troops (a tactic known as "investment"). This is typically coupled with attempts to reduce the fortifications by means of siege engines, artillery bombardment, mining (also known as sapping), or the u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queen Of The Ostrogoths
The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the large Gothic populations who had settled in the Balkans in the 4th century, having crossed the Lower Danube. While the Visigoths had formed under the leadership of Alaric I, the new Ostrogothic political entity which came to rule Italy was formed in the Balkans under the influence of the Amal dynasty, the family of Theodoric the Great. After the death of Attila and collapse of the Hunnic empire represented by the Battle of Nedao in 453, the Amal family began to form their kingdom in Pannonia. Byzantine Emperor Zeno played these Pannonian Goths off against the Thracian Goths, but instead the two groups united after the death of the Thracian leader Theoderic Strabo and his son Recitach. Zeno then backed Theodoric to invade Italy and replace Odoacer there, whom he had p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matasuntha
Mataswintha, also spelled Matasuintha, Matasuentha, Mathesuentha, Matasvintha, or Matasuntha, (fl. 550), was a daughter of Eutharic and Amalasuintha. She was a sister of Athalaric, King of the Ostrogoths. Their maternal grandparents were Theodoric the Great and Audofleda. According to the ''Getica'' by Jordanes, "Eutharic, who married Amalasuentha...begat Athalaric and Mathesuentha. Athalaric died in the years of his childhood, and Mathesuentha married Vitiges, to whom she bore no child. Both of them were taken together by Belisarius to Constantinople. When Vitiges passed from human affairs, Germanus the patrician, a cousin of the Emperor Justinian, took Mathesuentha in marriage and made her a Patrician Ordinary. And of her he begat a son, also called Germanus. But upon the death of Germanus, she determined to remain a widow." According to Patrick Amory, she was forced to marry Witigis after the murder of her mother, and her cousin Theodahadus. Her son Germanus was born follow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francia
Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks during late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. After the Treaty of Verdun in 843, West Francia became the predecessor of France, and East Francia became that of Germany. Francia was among the last surviving Germanic kingdoms from the Migration Period era before its partition in 843. The core Frankish territories inside the former Western Roman Empire were close to the Rhine and Meuse rivers in the north. After a period where small kingdoms interacted with the remaining Gallo-Roman institutions to their south, a single kingdom uniting them was founded by Clovis I who was crowned King of the Franks in 496. His dynasty, the Merovingian dynasty, was eventually replaced by the Carolingian dynasty. Under the nearly continuous campaigns of Pep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burgundians
The Burgundians ( la, Burgundes, Burgundiōnes, Burgundī; on, Burgundar; ang, Burgendas; grc-gre, Βούργουνδοι) were an early Germanic tribe or group of tribes. They appeared in the middle Rhine region, near the Roman Empire, and were later moved into the empire, in the western Alps and eastern Gaul. They were possibly mentioned much earlier in the time of the Roman Empire as living in part of the region of Germania that is now part of Poland. The Burgundians are first mentioned together with the Alamanni as early as the 11th panegyric to emperor Maximian given in Trier in 291, and referring to events that must have happened between 248 and 291, and they apparently remained neighbours for centuries. By 411 a Burgundian group had established themselves on the Rhine, between Franks and Alamanni, holding the cities of Worms, Speyer, and Strasbourg. In 436, Aëtius defeated the Burgundians on the Rhine with the help of Hunnish forces, and then in 443, he re-settle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thuringians
The Thuringii, Toringi or Teuriochaimai, were an early Germanic people that appeared during the late Migration Period in the Harz Mountains of central Germania, a region still known today as Thuringia. It became a kingdom, which came into conflict with the Merovingian Franks, and it later came under their influence and Frankish control. The name is still used for one of modern Germany's federal states ('' Bundesländer''). First appearances The Thuringians do not appear in classical Roman texts under that name, but some have suggested that they were the remnants of the Suebic Hermanduri, the last part of whose name (''-duri'') could represent the same sound as (''-thuri'') and the Germanic suffix ''-ing'', suggests a meaning of "descendants of (the ermanuri)". This people were living near the Marcomanni. Tacitus in his "''Germania''", describes their homeland as being where the Elbe starts, but also having colonies at the Danube and even within the Roman province of Rhaetia. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ostrogothic Kingdom
The Ostrogothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of Italy (), existed under the control of the Germanic peoples, Germanic Ostrogoths in Italian peninsula, Italy and neighbouring areas from 493 to 553. In Italy, the Ostrogoths led by Theodoric the Great killed and replaced Odoacer, a Germanic soldier, erstwhile-leader of the ''foederati'' in Northern Italy, and the ''de facto'' Kingdom of Odoacer, ruler of Italy, who had deposed the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustulus, in 476. Under Theodoric, its first king, the Ostrogothic kingdom reached its zenith, stretching from modern southern France in the west to the modern western Serbia in the southeast. Most of the social institutions of the late Western Roman Empire were preserved during his rule. Theodoric called himself ''Gothorum Romanorumque rex'' ("King of the Goths and Romans"), demonstrating his desire to be a leader for both peoples. Starting in 535, the Byzantine Empire invaded Italy under Justinian I. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vitiges
Vitiges or Vitigis or Witiges (died 542) was king of Ostrogothic Italy from 536 to 540. He succeeded to the throne of Italy in the early stages of the Gothic War of 535–554, as Belisarius had quickly captured Sicily the previous year and was currently in southern Italy at the head of the forces of Justinian I, the Eastern Roman Emperor. Vitiges was the husband of Queen Amalasuntha's only surviving child, Matasuntha; therefore, his royal legitimacy was based on this marriage. The panegyric upon the wedding in 536 was delivered by Cassiodorus, the praetorian prefect, and survives, a traditionally Roman form of rhetoric that set the Gothic dynasty in a flatteringly Roman light. Soon after he was made king, Vitiges had his predecessor Theodahad murdered. Theodahad had enraged the Goths because he failed to send any assistance to Naples when it was besieged by the Byzantines, led by Belisarius. Justinian's general Belisarius took both Vitiges and Matasuntha as captives to Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Of The Franks
The Franks, Germanic-speaking peoples that invaded the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, were first led by individuals called dukes and reguli. The earliest group of Franks that rose to prominence was the Salian Merovingians, who conquered most of Roman Gaul, as well as the Gaulish territory of the Visigothic Kingdom, in 507 AD. The sons of Clovis I, the first King of the Franks, conquered the Burgundian and the Alamanni Kingdoms. They acquired a province, called Provence, and went on to make the peoples of the Bavarii and Thuringii their clients. The Merovingians were later replaced by the new Carolingian dynasty in the 8th century. By the late 9th century, the Carolingians themselves had been replaced throughout much of their realm by other dynasties. A timeline of Frankish rulers has been difficult to trace since the realm, according to old Germanic practice, was frequently divided among the sons of a leader upon the leader's death. However, territories were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theudebert II
Theudebert II () (c.585-612), King of Austrasia (595–612 AD), was the son and heir of Childebert II. He received the kingdom of Austrasia plus the cities (''civitates'') of Poitiers, Tours, Le Puy-en-Velay, Bordeaux, and Châteaudun, as well as the Champagne, the Auvergne, and Transjurane Alemannia. During his early years, his grandmother Brunhilda ruled for Theudebert and his brother Theuderic II, who had received the realm of Burgundy. After the two brothers reached adulthood, they were often at war, with Brunhilda siding with Theuderic. In 599, Theuderic defeated Theudebert at Sens, but then the two brothers allied against their cousin Chlothar II and defeated him at Dormelles (near Montereau), thereby laying their hands on a great portion of Neustria (600–604). At this point, however, the two brothers took up arms against each other; Theuderic defeated Theudebert at Étampes. In 605, Theudebert refused to aid his brother whose kingdom was invaded by Clothar II. In 61 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Po (river)
The Po ( , ; la, Padus or ; Ancient Ligurian: or ) is the longest river in Italy. It flows eastward across northern Italy starting from the Cottian Alps. The river's length is either or , if the Maira, a right bank tributary, is included. The headwaters of the Po are a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face of Monviso. The Po then extends along the 45th parallel north before ending at a delta projecting into the Adriatic Sea near Venice. It is characterized by its large discharge (several rivers over 1,000 km have a discharge inferior or equal to the Po). It is, with the Rhône and Nile, one of the three Mediterranean rivers with the largest water discharge. As a result of its characteristics, the river is subject to heavy flooding. Consequently, over half its length is controlled with embankments. The river flows through many important Italian cities, including Turin, Piacenza, Cremona and Ferr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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