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Vatatzes Family
The Vatatzes or Batatzes ( el, Βατάτζης) family was a noble Byzantine Greek family of the 11th–14th centuries with several branches, which produced several senior generals of the Byzantine army and, after John III Doukas Vatatzes intermarried with the Laskaris family, the ruling line of the Empire of Nicaea until the usurpation of Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1261. The feminine form of the name is Vatatzina or Batatzina (Βατατζίνα). Origins According to the Greek scholar Konstantinos Amantos, the name Βατάτζης is a diminutive form of βάτος, "bramble, briar", and suggests that it was given as a nickname signifying a harsh character. Another possible origin is βατάκι, " ray fish". The first member of the family, known simply by his surname, is attested around the year 1000. John Skylitzes (''Synopsis Historion'', 343.134) records that "Vatatzes with his entire family" was among those "distinguished citizens of Adrianople" who fled to the Bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John III Doukas Vatatzes
John III Doukas Vatatzes, Latinized as Ducas Vatatzes ( el, Ιωάννης Δούκας Βατάτζης, ''Iōannēs Doukas Vatatzēs'', c. 1192 – 3 November 1254), was Emperor of Nicaea from 1221 to 1254. He was succeeded by his son, known as Theodore II Laskaris. Life John Doukas Vatatzes, born in about 1192 in Didymoteicho, was probably the son of the general Basil Vatatzes, who was killed in battle in 1194, and his wife, a cousin of the Emperors Isaac II Angelos and Alexios III Angelos. John Doukas Vatatzes had two older brothers. The eldest was Isaac Doukas Vatatzes (1188-1261), while his younger brother died young. Through his marriage to Eudokia Angelina he fathered Theodora Doukaina Vatatzaina, who later married Michael VIII Palaiologos. The middle brother's name is unknown, but his daughter married the ''protovestiarios'' Alexios Raoul. A successful soldier from a military family, John was chosen in about 1216 by Emperor Theodore I Laskaris as the second husband ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Didymoteichon
Didymoteicho ( el, Διδυμότειχο, Didymóteicho ) is a city located on the eastern edge of the Evros regional unit of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, in northeastern Greece. It is the seat of the municipality of the same name. The town (pop. 9,263 in 2011) sits on a plain and located south east of Svilengrad, south of Edirne, Turkey and Orestiada, west of Uzunköprü, Turkey, about 20 km north of Soufli and about 90 km north of Alexandroupoli. The municipality of Didymóteicho has a land area of 565.4 km² and a population of 19,493 inhabitants. Name "Didymoteicho" is the modern Greek form of , ''Didymóteichon'', from , ''dídymos'', "twin" and , ''teîchos'', "wall". The name first appears in 591/592, and most resulted from the refortification of the city under Justinian I (see below). The corrupted short form ''Dimotica'' or ''Demotica'' or variants thereof are attested in Western languages since the late 12th century (early forms ''Timoticon'', ''D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingdom Of Hungary (1000–1301)
The Kingdom of Hungary ( la, Regnum Hungariae, hu, Magyar Királyság) came into existence in Central Europe when Stephen I, Grand Prince of the Hungarians, was crowned king in 1000 or 1001. He reinforced central authority and forced his subjects to accept Christianity. Although all written sources emphasize only the role played by German and Italian knights and clerics in the process, a significant part of the Hungarian vocabulary for agriculture, religion, and state matters was taken from Slavic languages. Civil wars and pagan uprisings, along with attempts by the Holy Roman emperors to expand their authority over Hungary, jeopardized the new monarchy. The monarchy stabilized during the reigns of Ladislaus I (1077–1095) and Coloman (1095–1116). These rulers occupied Croatia and Dalmatia with the support of a part of the local population. Both realms retained their autonomous position. The successors of Ladislaus and Coloman—especially Béla II (1131–1141), Béla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niketas Choniates
Niketas or Nicetas Choniates ( el, Νικήτας Χωνιάτης; c. 1155 – 1217), whose actual surname was Akominatos (Ἀκομινάτος), was a Byzantine Greek government official and historian – like his brother Michael Akominatos, whom he accompanied to Constantinople from their birthplace Chonae (from which came his nickname, "Choniates" meaning "person from Chonae"). Nicetas wrote a history of the Eastern Roman Empire from 1118 to 1207. Life Nicetas Akominatos was born to wealthy parents around or after 1150 in Phrygia in the city of Chonae (near the modern Honaz in Turkey). Bishop Nicetas of Chonae baptized and named the infant; later he was called "Choniates" after his birthplace. When he was nine, his father dispatched him with his brother Michael to Constantinople to receive an education. Niketas' older brother greatly influenced him during the early stages of his life. He initially secured a post in the civil service, and held important appointments under t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andronikos I Komnenos
Andronikos I Komnenos ( gr, Ἀνδρόνικος Κομνηνός; – 12 September 1185), Latinization of names, Latinized as Andronicus I Comnenus, was Byzantine emperor from 1183 to 1185. He was the son of Isaac Komnenos (son of Alexios I), Isaac Komnenos and the grandson of the emperor Alexios I Komnenos, Alexios I. In later Byzantine historiography, Andronikos I became known under the epithet "Misophaes" ("Hater of Sunlight") in reference to the great number of enemies he had Political mutilation in Byzantine culture, blinded. Early years Andronikos Komnenos was born around 1118. Most of what is known of him is from the writings of the historian Niketas Choniates,Niketas Choniates, ''Annals,'' XIX. certain passages in a work by Eustathios, 'The Capture of Thessaloniki', or inferred by later historians of the Byzantine Empire. He was handsome and eloquent, active, hardy, courageous, a great general and an able politician, but also licentious. His early years were spent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicaean Emperor
The Empire of Nicaea or the Nicene Empire is the conventional historiographic name for the largest of the three Byzantine Greeks, Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley, C. M. Woodhouse (1967), p. 55: "There in the prosperous city of Nicaea, Theodoros Laskaris, the son in law of a former Byzantine Emperor, establish a court that soon become the Small but reviving Greek empire." rump states founded by the aristocracy of the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine/Roman Empire that fled after Constantinople was occupied by Western European and Republic of Venice, Venetian armed forces during the Fourth Crusade, a military event known as the Sack of Constantinople. Like other Byzantine rump states that formed after the 1204 fracturing of the empire, such as the Empire of Trebizond and the Empire of Thessalonica, it was a continuation of the eastern half of the Roman Empire that survived well into the medieval period. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megas Domestikos
The title of grand domestic ( grc-gre, μέγας δομέστικος, ''mégas doméstikos'') was given in the 11th–15th centuries to the commander-in-chief of the Byzantine army, directly below the Byzantine Emperor. It evolved from the earlier office of the domestic of the Schools, and came to rank as one of the senior dignities in the Byzantine state during the last centuries of its existence. From Byzantium, it was also adopted by the breakaway Empire of Trebizond, as well as by the 14th-century Serbian Empire. History and evolution The title of the grand domestic is first mentioned in the 9th century, and most likely derives from the older office of ''domestikos tōn scholōn'' ("Domestic of the Schools"), with the epithet ''megas'' added to connote the supreme authority of its holder, following contemporary practice evident in other offices as well. Both titles appear to have co-existed for a time, with the grand domestic being a more exalted variant of the plain tit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Komnenos Vatatzes
John Komnenos Vatatzes, ( gr, Ἰωάννης Κομνηνὸς Βατάτζης, ''Iōannēs Komnēnos Vatatzēs''), or simply John Komnenos or John Vatatzes (the transliteration 'Batatzes' is also employed) in the sources, was a major military and political figure in the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire during the reigns of Manuel I Komnenos and Alexios II Komnenos. He was born c. 1132, and died of natural causes during a rebellion he raised against Andronikos I Komnenos in 1182. Background and family John Komnenos Vatatzes was the son of the '' sebastohypertatos'' Theodore Vatatzes, and the ''porphyrogenita'' princess Eudokia Komnene, daughter of the emperor John II Komnenos and his empress Eirene of Hungary.Varzos, p. 382 Theodore Vatatzes was one of the 'new men' raised to prominence by John II; the Vatatzes family were not previously counted amongst the highest levels of the Byzantine aristocracy, though they had long been prominent in the region around the city of Adrian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Despotes
Despot or ''despotes'' ( grc-gre, δεσπότης, despótēs, lord, master) was a senior Byzantine Empire, Byzantine Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy, court title that was bestowed on the sons or sons-in-law of reigning emperors, and initially denoted the heir-apparent of the Byzantine emperor. From Byzantium it spread throughout the late medieval Balkans and was also granted in the states under Byzantine cultural influence, such as the Latin Empire, the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Serbian Empire and its successor states (Bulgarian language, Bulgarian and sr, деспот, despót), and the Empire of Trebizond. With the political fragmentation of the period, the term gave rise to several principalities termed "despotates" which were ruled either as independent states or as appanages by princes bearing the title of despot; most notably the Despotate of Epirus, the Despotate of the Morea, the Despotate of Dobruja and the Serbian Despotate. In modern usage, the word has tak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manuel I Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos ( el, Μανουήλ Κομνηνός, translit=Manouíl Komnenos, translit-std=ISO; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Romanization of Greek, Latinized Comnenus, also called Porphyrogennetos (; "born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantine Empire, Byzantium and the History of the Mediterranean region, Mediterranean. His reign saw the last flowering of the Komnenian restoration, during which the Byzantine Empire had seen a resurgence of its military and economic power and had enjoyed a cultural revival. Eager to restore his empire to its past glories as the superpower of the Mediterranean world, Manuel pursued an energetic and ambitious foreign policy. In the process he made alliances with Pope Adrian IV and the resurgent Greek East and Latin West, West. He invaded the Normans, Norman Kingdom of Sicily, although unsuccessfully, being the last Eastern Roman emperor t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theodore Vatatzes
Theodore Vatatzes or Batatzes ( gr, Θεόδωρος Βατάτζης) was an aristocrat and military commander in the Byzantine Empire during the reigns of John II Komnenos and Manuel I Komnenos. Background Theodore Vatatzes was a member of the Vatatzes family, who had been prominent in the city and region of Adrianople in Thrace for a number of generations. The family rose to the first rank of the Byzantine aristocracy, and to prominence in the politics of the empire, in the person of Theodore himself. Theodore was one of a group of able men promoted to positions of authority by John II as an alternative to reliance on members of the imperial family, whom he distrusted. In 1131 Theodore married the ''porphyrogenita'' princess Eudokia Komnene, daughter of John II and his empress, Eirene of Hungary, and was raised to the court dignity of ''sebastohypertatos''. Military career in the reign of Manuel I Records of the military exploits of Theodore Vatatzes during the reign of John I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leo Tornikios
Leo Tornikios ( el, Λέων Τορνίκιος) was a mid-11th century Byzantine general and noble. In 1047, he rebelled against his cousin, the Byzantine Emperor, Constantine IX Monomachos (). He raised an army in Thrace and marched on the capital, Constantinople, which he besieged. After two failed assaults he withdrew, his army deserted him and he was captured. At Christmas 1047, he was blinded and no more is known of him. Biography Leo Tornikios was born in Adrianople, the scion of the noted noble Armenian or Georgian family of Tornikios. His contemporary, Michael Psellos, describes him as "short, crafty, proud and ambitious". According to Psellos, "he reeked of Macedonian arrogance". Although favoured by his relative, Constantine IX, Tornikios soon came to support the Emperor's sister, Euprepia, who opposed the Emperor's policies. and frequently compared him favourably with the Emperor. He was named ''patrikios'' and military commander ('' doux'') of a province on th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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