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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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balkans
The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the whole of Bulgaria. The Balkan Peninsula is bordered by the Adriatic Sea in the northwest, the Ionian Sea in the southwest, the Aegean Sea in the south, the Turkish straits in the east, and the Black Sea in the northeast. The northern border of the peninsula is variously defined. The highest point of the Balkans is Musala, , in the Rila mountain range, Bulgaria. The concept of the Balkan Peninsula was created by the German geographer August Zeune in 1808, who mistakenly considered the Balkan Mountains the dominant mountain system of southeastern Europe spanning from the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea. In the 19th century the term ''Balkan Peninsula'' was a synonym for Rumelia, the parts of Europe that were provinces of the Ottoman E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duklja
Duklja ( sr-Cyrl, Дукља; ; ) was a medieval South Slavs, South Slavic state which roughly encompassed the territories of modern-day southeastern Montenegro, from the Bay of Kotor in the west to the Bojana river in the east, and to the sources of the Zeta (river), Zeta and Morača rivers in the north. First mentioned in 10th– and 11th-century Byzantine chronicles, it was a vassal of the First Bulgarian Empire, Bulgarian Empire between 997 and 1018, and then of the Byzantine Empire until it became independent in 1040 under Stefan Vojislav ( 1034–43) who rose up and managed to take over territories of the earlier Principality of Serbia (early medieval), Serbian Principality, founding the Vojislavljević dynasty. Between 1043 and 1080, under Mihailo Vojislavljević ( 1050–81), and his son, Constantine Bodin ( 1081–1101), Duklja saw its apogee. Mihailo was given the nominal title ''King of Slavs'' by the Pope after having left the Byzantine camp and supported an Uprising ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Guiscard
Robert Guiscard ( , ; – 17 July 1085), also referred to as Robert de Hauteville, was a Normans, Norman adventurer remembered for his Norman conquest of southern Italy, conquest of southern Italy and Sicily in the 11th century. Robert was born into the Hauteville family in Normandy, the sixth son of Tancred of Hauteville, Tancred de Hauteville and his wife Fressenda. He inherited the County of Apulia and Calabria from his brother in 1057, and in 1059 he was made Duke of Apulia and Calabria and County of Sicily, Lord of Sicily by Pope Pope Nicholas II, Nicholas II. He was also briefly Prince of Benevento (1078–1081), before returning the title to the papacy. Name Robert's sobriquet, "Guiscard" (in contemporary Latin and Old French , closely related to the English archaism mwod:wiseacre, wiseacre) is often rendered as "the Resourceful", "the Cunning", "the Wily", "the Fox", or "the Weasel". In Italian sources he is known as ''Roberto il Guiscardo'' or ''Roberto d'Altavilla'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isaac II Angelos
Isaac II Angelos or Angelus (; September 1156 – 28 January 1204) was Byzantine Emperor from 1185 to 1195, and co-Emperor with his son Alexios IV Angelos from 1203 to 1204. In a 1185 revolt against the Emperor Andronikos Komnenos, Isaac seized power and rose to the Byzantine throne, establishing the Angelos family as the new imperial dynasty. His father Andronikos Doukas Angelos was a military leader in Asia Minor (c. 1122 – aft. 1185) who married Euphrosyne Kastamonitissa (c. 1125 – aft. 1195). Andronikos Doukas Angelos was the son of Constantine Angelos and Theodora Komnene (b. 15 January 1096/1097), the youngest daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Irene Doukaina. Thus Isaac was a member of the extended imperial clan of the Komnenoi. Rising by revolt Niketas Choniates described Isaac's physical appearance: "He had a ruddy complexion and red hair, was of average height and robust in body". During the brief reign of Andronikos I Komnenos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andronikos I Komnenos
Andronikos I Komnenos (; – 12 September 1185), Latinized as Andronicus I Comnenus, was Byzantine emperor from 1183 to 1185. A nephew of John II Komnenos (1118–1143), Andronikos rose to fame in the reign of his cousin Manuel I Komnenos (1143–1180), during which his life was marked by political failures, adventures, scandalous romances, and rivalry with the emperor. After Manuel's death in 1180, the elderly Andronikos rose to prominence as the accession of the young Alexios II Komnenos led to power struggles in Constantinople. In 1182, Andronikos seized power in the capital, ostensibly as a guardian of the young emperor. Andronikos swiftly and ruthlessly eliminated his political rivals, including Alexios II's mother and regent, Maria of Antioch. In September 1183, Andronikos was crowned as co-emperor and had Alexios murdered, assuming power in his own name. Andronikos staunchly opposed the powerful Byzantine aristocracy and enacted brutal measures to curb their in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert III Of Loritello
Robert of Bassunvilla (also Basunvilla and Bassonville) (''c.'' 1125 – died 15 September 1182) was the count of Conversano (from 1138) and Loritello (from 1154, as Robert III). His family had a long history in Vassonville, near Dieppe. Robert (II) was the son of Robert I of Bassunvilla, who had been granted Conversano by Roger II. Robert inherited this possession on his father's death. Roger II had cause later to confiscate the county of Loritello from William, his own relative. On his deathbed, he asked his son William I to appoint Robert count of Loritello, a quasi-autonomous post. Soon however, he was implicated (truly or falsely) in rebellion and fled first to the Holy Roman imperial court of Frederick Barbarossa and then the Byzantine imperial court of Manuel I Comnenus. He may have laid claim to the throne, on the basis of a forged will. He had the assistance of John Ducas when he returned to lead the revolt of 1155–1156, but the Byzantine general Michael Palaeolog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexios Komnenos (megas Doux)
Alexios Komnenos was a Byzantine aristocrat and military commander in the mid-12th century. Life Born around 1102, Alexios was the first son of Anna Komnene, the eldest daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (), and of the general and historian Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger. In 1118 he was betrothed Kata, a daughter of King David IV of Georgia. Their wedding took place in 1122. At some unknown time, Alexios was appointed governor () of the joint provinces of Hellas and the Peloponnese, corresponding to southern mainland Greece. Writing in 1201/2, the Archbishop of Athens, Michael Choniates, reported that he was remembered among the locals for his kindness and justice. In 1147, Alexios participated in the Council of Blachernae that deposed Patriarch Cosmas II of Constantinople. In early 1156 Alexios received from his cousin, Manuel I Komnenos () the high rank of , placing him in nominal command over the entire Byzantine navy. In the same year he was sent to join John Doukas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Doukas (general Under Manuel I)
John Doukas (; ) was a senior Byzantine military commander and diplomat under Manuel I Komnenos, serving in southern Italy, Hungary, Asia Minor, and the Holy Land. He rose to the rank of ''sebastos'' and the office of '' megas hetaireiarches''. Several of his seals bearing these titles are extant. Demetrios Polemis erroneously identified him with his contemporary, the Eparch of the City John Kamateros, as "John Doukas Kamateros". This has been corrected by other scholars since. Patricia Karlin-Hayter notably decomposed Polemis' composite figure into six or seven different people, of which John Doukas was assigned the bulk of the military and diplomatic career of Polemis' figure. The first activity which can be more or less securely attributed to John Doukas is an embassy to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa in 1155, followed by the ultimately failed attempt to recover Apulia against the Italo-Normans of the Kingdom of Sicily. Based at Ancona, Doukas and Michael Pala ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Palaiologos (general)
Michael Palaiologos Doukas (, died 1156) was an early member of the family of the Palaiologoi, which later ruled the Byzantine Empire. Michael has often been identified as a son of the dynasty's ancestor, George Palaiologos, and his wife Anna Doukaina, a sister-in-law of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, but his late chronology mitigates against this view. In all likelihood he was one of their grandsons, likely a son of Nikephoros Palaiologos, the eldest son of George Palaiologos and Anna Doukaina. It is from his grandmother that Michael derived his second surname of " Doukas". According to the historian John Kinnamos, Michael for an unknown reason fell into disfavour with his cousin, Emperor John II Komnenos () and was exiled, being recalled only after the accession of Manuel I Komnenos (). Michael may have lived in southern Greece or have possessed property there, as he is known to have come into conflict with the local governor, Joseph Balsamon, in the 1140s. By 1147, Michael held ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manuel I Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos (; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized as Comnenus, also called Porphyrogenitus (; " born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium and the Mediterranean. His reign saw the last flowering of the Komnenian restoration, during which the Byzantine Empire experienced a resurgence of military and economic power and enjoyed a cultural revival. Eager to restore his empire to its past glories as the great power 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 West. He invaded the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, although unsuccessfully, being the last Eastern Roman emperor to attempt reconquests in the western Mediterranean. The passage of the potentially dangerous Second Crusade through his empire was adroitly managed. Manuel established a Byzantine protec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexios Komnenos (governor Of Dyrrhachium)
Alexios Komnenos (; – after 1108) was a Byzantine aristocrat and nephew of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Promoted to the rank of ''sebastos'', he served as '' doux'' of Dyrrhachium from 1106 until after 1108. During this time, he led the successful resistance to a siege of Dyrrhachium by Bohemond I of Antioch, leading to the Treaty of Devol. Life Born , Alexios was the second son and third child of the ''sebastokrator'' Isaac Komnenos, older brother of Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (), and his wife Irene of Alania. As an imperial relative, he bore the title of ''sebastos''. Almost the only details about his life come from the '' Alexiad'', written by his cousin, Anna Komnene. He is first mentioned in the spring of 1106, when he was appointed by his uncle as the military governor ('' doux'') of Dyrrhachium, replacing his older brother John. His earlier life and career are unknown, but it is likely that he had previously held other public posts, just like John, who h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John II Komnenos
John II Komnenos or Comnenus (; 13 September 1087 – 8 April 1143) was List of Byzantine emperors, Byzantine emperor from 1118 to 1143. Also known as "John the Beautiful" or "John the Good" (), he was the eldest son of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Irene Doukaina and the second emperor to rule during the Byzantine Empire under the Komnenos dynasty, Komnenian restoration of the Byzantine Empire. As he was born to a reigning emperor, he had the status of a . John was a pious and dedicated monarch who was determined to undo the damage his empire had suffered following the Battle of Manzikert, half a century earlier. John has been assessed as the greatest of the Komnenian emperors. This view became entrenched due to its espousal by George Ostrogorsky in his influential book ''History of the Byzantine State'', where John is described as a ruler who, "... combined clever prudence with purposeful energy ... and [was] high principled beyond his day." In the course of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
