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Theodore Spandounes
Theodore Spandounes ( el, Θεόδωρος Σπανδούνης, it, Teodoro Spandugino) was an early 16th-century Greek historian of noble Byzantine extraction, the son of exiles fleeing the Ottoman conquest of Byzantium who had settled in Venice in Italy. As a youth he stayed with relatives in Ottoman-ruled Macedonia and visited the Ottoman capital at Constantinople, acquiring a knowledge of their history and culture. In later life he served successive Popes as a counsellor and repeatedly advocated the dispatch of a new Crusade against the Ottomans. His chief legacy is his Italian-language history on the origins of the Ottoman state and its history up to that time, whose first version was published in 1509 in Italian and was soon translated into French. Spandounes continued working on it, with the final version appearing in 1538. The work is disorganized and contains errors, but is extremely valuable as a historical source for its wealth of information. Family and origin Theo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, other countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. They also form a significant diaspora (), with Greek communities established around the world.. Greek colonies and communities have been historically established on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea, but the Greek people themselves have always been centered on the Aegean and Ionian seas, where the Greek language has been spoken since the Bronze Age.. Until the early 20th century, Greeks were distributed between the Greek peninsula, the western coast of Asia Minor, the Black Sea coast, Cappadocia in central Anatolia, Egypt, the Balkans, Cyprus, and Constantinople. Many of these regions coincided to a large extent with the borders of the Byzantine Empire of the late 11th cent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Despotate Of The Morea
The Despotate of the Morea ( el, Δεσποτᾶτον τοῦ Μορέως) or Despotate of Mystras ( el, Δεσποτᾶτον τοῦ Μυστρᾶ) was a province of the Byzantine Empire which existed between the mid-14th and mid-15th centuries. Its territory varied in size during its existence but eventually grew to include almost all the southern Greek peninsula now known as the Peloponnese, which was known as the Morea during the medieval and early modern periods. The territory was usually ruled by one or more sons of the current Byzantine emperor, who were given the title of ''despotes'' (in this context it should not be confused with despotism). Its capital was the fortified city of Mystras, near ancient Sparta, which became an important centre of the Palaiologan Renaissance. History The Despotate of the Morea was created out of territory seized from the Frankish Principality of Achaea. This had been organized from former Byzantine territory after the Fourth Crus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duke Of Saint Sava
Duchy of Saint Sava ( sr-Cyr, Војводство Светог Саве, Vojvodstvo Svetog Save) was a late medieval polity in southeastern Europe, that existed from 1448 up to 1482, when it was absorbed by the Ottoman Empire. It was ruled by the Kosača noble family, who held the title "Duke of Saint Sava" (Serbian Cyrillic: Херцег од Светог Саве / Herceg od Svetog Save). Their domains included southern parts of modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, extending to southern parts of modern-day coastal Croatia, northwestern Montenegro and southwestern Serbia. Its founder, Stjepan Vukčić Kosača (duke since 1448), titled himself Herceg of Saint Sava, a title which would later give rise to the new name to the region: Herzegovina, and will be also used by the Ottomans as ''Hersek Sancağı'' (Sanjak of the Herzeg), designating the Sanjak of Herzegovina. In various sources, and historiographical traditions, the name of the duchy is recorded or used in several form ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vladislav Hercegović
Vladislav Hercegović ( sr-Cyrl, Владислав Херцеговић; 1426 or 1427 – 1489) was oldest son of Stjepan Vukčić. The Kosača noble family held lands in the region of Herzegovina. Vladislav received his father's land and the title of ''herzog''. During his father's reign he is known to have interfered with his affairs. After 1453 he was frequently in the service of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Venice and the Hungary, Hungarian-Croatian king Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus. Corvinus granted him the forts of Veliki Kalnik and Mali Kalnik near Križevci, Croatia, Križevci. As an Ottoman vassal (after 1469) he took part in the capture of the town of Počitelj on the river Neretva in 1472 and in battles against the Vlatković's of that region. He succeeded in escaping Ottoman rule until 1480 when he was defeated and retreated to Herceg Novi. When Herceg Novi was captured by the Ottomans in the year 1482, Vladislav retreated to the island of Rab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George VIII Of Georgia
George VIII ( Georgian: გიორგი VIII, ''Giorgi VIII''; 1417–1476) was the last king of the united Georgia, though his kingdom was already splintered and embroiled in a civil war, from 1446 to 1465. Defeated by his rivals, he was left with an eastern province Kakheti alone, where he reigned as George I from 1465 until his death, founding a local branch of the Bagrationi royal house. Life He was the third son of Alexander I of Georgia by his second wife Tamar. Though Demetre, Alexander’s second son, seems to have been a rightful successor to his elder brother Vakhtang IV, George actually held power after Vakhtang’s death in December 1446. The process of the disintegration of the Georgian kingdom had already begun and was close to reach its climax. The most troublesome were revolts by the western Georgian nobles and the atabegs of Samtskhe. The latter even attempted to create a separate church for his princedom, but the efforts of the Georgian Catholicos Patria ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Of Trebizond
David Megas Komnenos ( gr, Δαυίδ Μέγας Κομνηνός, David Megas Komnēnos; – 1 November 1463) was the last Emperor of Trebizond from 1460 to 1461. He was the third son of Emperor Alexios IV of Trebizond and Theodora Kantakouzene. Following the fall of Trebizond to the Ottoman Empire, he was taken captive with his family to the Ottoman capital, Constantinople, where he and his sons and nephew were executed in 1463. In July 2013, David and his sons and nephew were canonized by the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Their feast day was determined as 1 November, the anniversary of their deaths. Ruler of the Trebizond Empire David had played an important role throughout the reign of his older brother and predecessor John IV. He had been given the courtly title of ''despotes'', which in Trebizond designated the heir to the throne. David had participated in his brother's expeditions against the Genoese, and also fulfilled various diplomatic tasks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emperor Of Trebizond
The Trapezuntine emperors were the rulers of the Empire of Trebizond, one of the successor states of the Byzantine Empire founded after the Fourth Crusade in 1204, until its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1461. All but two of the Trapezuntine rulers belonged to the Komnenos dynasty, which had previously ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1081 to 1185, and they initially claimed to represent the legitimate line of Roman emperors, in opposition to the Latin Empire in Constantinople, the Laskaris dynasty of the Nicene Empire, and the Komnenos Doukas family of Epirus and Thessalonica. To emphasize their dynastic claim, Trapezuntine emperors from the late 13th century onwards styled themselves as (, ). Out of the Byzantine claimants that emerged in 1204 and thereafter, the Trapezuntine emperors, despite their illustrious descent, had perhaps the worst position. Not only were they far away from Constantinople in a peripheral province of the empire, but the reputation of the Komnenoi ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Đurađ Branković
Đurađ Branković (; sr-cyr, Ђурађ Бранковић; hu, Brankovics György; 1377 – 24 December 1456) was the Serbian Despot from 1427 to 1456. He was one of the last Serbian medieval rulers. He was a participant in the battle of Ankara (1402) and Ottoman Interregnum (1403-1413). During his reign, the despotate was a vassal of both Ottoman sultans as well as Hungarian kings. Despot George was neutral during the Polish-Lithuanian (1444) and Hungarian-Wallachian (1448) crusades. In 1455, he was wounded and imprisoned during clashes with the Hungarians, after which the young Sultan Mehmed II launched the siege of Belgrade and its large Hungarian garrison. Despot Đurađ died at the end of 1456, due to complications stemming from the wound. After his death, Serbia, Bosnia and Albania (West Balkans) became practically annexed by sultan Mehmed II, which only ended after centuries of additional conquests of Byzantine lands. Đurađ attained a large library of Serbian, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serbian Despotate
The Serbian Despotate ( sr, / ) was a medieval Serbian state in the first half of the 15th century. Although the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 is generally considered the end of medieval Serbia, the Despotate, a successor of the Serbian Empire and Moravian Serbia, lasted for another 60 years, experiencing a cultural and political renaissance before it was conquered by the Ottomans in 1459. Before its conquest the Despotate was a tributary state of the neighbouring Byzantine Empire, Ottoman Empire, and Kingdom of Hungary, all of which considered it to be part of their sphere of influence. After 1459, political traditions of the Serbian Despotate continued to exist in exile, in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary, with several titular despots of Serbia, who were appointed by kings of Hungary. The last titular Despot of Serbia was Pavle Bakić, who fell in the Battle of Gorjani. History Origins After Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović was killed in the Battle of Kosovo on June 28, 1389, his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helena Kantakouzene, Empress Of Trebizond
Helena Kantakouzene (died 1463) was the second wife of David of Trebizond, the last Emperor of Trebizond. Family Donald Nicol has argued that Helena was the sister of George Palaiologos Kantakouzenos, and thus the granddaughter of Matthew Kantakouzenos and possibly the daughter of Theodore Kantakouzenos. Theodore Spandounes reports that George visited her in Trebizond after 1437. It is unclear which of David's children were also hers; his five children—three boys and two daughters—have been attributed variously to Helena or David's first wife Maria of Gothia by various genealogies. Nevertheless, the oldest sons died with their father 1 November 1463; the youngest son, George, who was three years old, and the daughter Anna were spared. Spandounes states they were sent as a present to Sultan Uzun Hassan of the Aq Qoyunlu, where George was converted to Islam, but he eventually escaped and abjured to Christianity. Spandounes says the name of the king who sheltered George Kantako ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irene Kantakouzene
Irene Kantakouzene ( el, Ειρήνη Καντακουζηνή, ''Eiréne Kantakouzené'', modern pronunciation ''Eiríni Kantakouziní'' , sr, Ирина Кантакузин / ''Irina Kantakuzin''; 1400 – May 3, 1457), known simply as Despotess Jerina ( sr, деспотица Јерина / ''despotica Jerina''), was the wife of Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković. In Serbian folk legends, she is the founder of many fortresses in Serbia. Life Although the Smederevo Fortress was the work of Đurađ Branković (completed in 1430), Irene apparently had a role in its construction; one of its towers is known as "Jerina renes Tower" ( sr, Јеринина кула / ''Jerinina kula''), and she is blamed for causing hardship on the inhabitants of the countryside by levying taxes and recruiting forced labor for building the fortress. The fortress traded hands between the Serbians and the Ottomans over the following years until it fell on 20 June 1459, more than two years after Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constantine XI Palaiologos
Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos or Dragaš Palaeologus ( el, Κωνσταντῖνος Δραγάσης Παλαιολόγος, ''Kōnstantînos Dragásēs Palaiológos''; 8 February 1405 – 29 May 1453) was the last Roman (Byzantine) emperor, reigning from 1449 until his death in battle at the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. Constantine's death marked the definitive end of the Eastern Roman Empire, which traced its origin to Constantine the Great's foundation of Constantinople as the Roman Empire's new capital in 330. Constantine was the fourth son of Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos and Helena Dragaš, the daughter of Serbian ruler Konstantin Dejanović. Little is known of his early life, but from the 1420s onward, he is repeatedly demonstrated to have been a skilled general. Based on his career and surviving contemporary sources, Constantine appears to have been primarily a soldier. This does not mean that Constantine was not also a skilled administrator: he was trust ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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