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Hélène Of Anjou
Hélène of Anjou (; ), also known as Helen was a French noblewoman and member of the Capetian House of Anjou. Life Hélène was the illegitimate daughter of Robert of Anjou, who was the King of the Kingdom of Naples. The identity of her mother remains unknown, and little is known about her early life. When Hélène came of age, her father, Robert of Anjou, King of Naples, sent her to marry a French gentleman of Greece, possibly Bertrand de Baux, the Bailli of Morea, or the Prince of Morea, as part of a political alliance. However, during her journey, her ship was caught in a storm and driven off course to Durrës, where she remained for several days. During this time, she met Andrea I Thopia, a nobleman from the prominent Thopia family in Albania, and they fell in love, deciding to live together and marry soon after in 1338. However, some sources identify him as Tanush Thopia, leading to conflicting accounts about the precise identity and name of her Albanian noble husband. ...
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Principality Of Albania (medieval)
The Principality of Albania ( Albanian: ''Principata e Arbërisë'') was an Albanian principality ruled by the Albanian dynasty of Thopia. The first notable ruler was Tanusio Thopia, who became Count of Mat in 1328. The principality would reach its zenith during the rule of Karl Thopia, who emerged in 1359 after the Battle of Achelous, conquering the cities of Durrës and Krujë and consolidating his rule of central Albania between the rivers of Mat and Shkumbin. The principality would last up until 1415, when it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire. History Reign of Tanusio Thopia The principality emerged with Tanusio Thopia, mentioned in 1329 as the count of Albania. In an act of Robert, King of Naples in 15 April 1338, Tanusio was mentioned as Count of Mat (''conte di Matia''), which reconfirmed Thopia's relations to the Angevins from the time of Philip I. By 1340 the Thopia controlled much of the territory between the rivers Mati and Shkumbin rivers. Together w ...
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Fortress Of Krujë
The Fortress of Krujë () is a fortress in the city of Krujë, Albania and the center of Skanderbeg's rebellion against the Ottoman Empire. Inside the fortress is the Teqe of Dollme of the Bektashi (an Islamic Sufi sect), the National Skanderbeg Museum, the remains of the '' Fatih Sultan Mehmed mosque'' and its minaret, an ethnographic museum and a Turkish bath. History Krujë fortress was built in the 5th or 6th century, perched above the city with the same name as today. During the Albanian Revolt of 1432-1436 the city was unsuccessfully besieged by Andrea Thopia and Ottoman rule was restored. After Skanderbeg's rebellion in 1443 the fortress withstood three massive sieges from the Turks respectively in 1450, 1466 and 1467 with garrisons usually no larger than 2,000-3,000 men under Skanderbeg's command. Mehmed II "The Conqueror" himself could not break the fortress' small defenses until 1478, 10 years after the death of Skanderbeg. Today it is a center of tourism in Albania, ...
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Köten
Köten (; ; ; 1205–1241) was a Cuman–Kipchak chieftain ('' khan'') and military commander active in the mid-13th century. He forged an important alliance with the Kievan Rus' against the Mongols but was ultimately defeated by them at the Kalka River in 1223. After the Mongol victory, Köten led 40,000 "huts" to Hungary, where he became an ally of the Hungarian king and accepted Catholicism, but was nonetheless assassinated by the Hungarian nobility. Name and sources Köten, known as ''Kötöny'' in Hungarian and ''Kotjan'' (or ''Kotyan'') in Russian, had his name spelt variously as ''Kutan'' (in Arabic), ''Kuthen'', ''Kuthens'', ''Koteny'' and ''Kuethan''. In the Russian annals, his name is rendered (Kotyan Sutoevich, Kotjan Sutoevič). In a charter of Béla IV, a Cuman chieftain ''Zeyhan'' or ''Seyhan'' is mentioned, assumed to have been Köten. Akhmetova et al. linked his personal name ''Köten'' to the Western Kipchak tribal name ''Kotan''. Köten appears in various con ...
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Maria Laskarina
Maria Laskarina (, , 1206 – 24 June or 16 July 1270) was a Greek Queen consort of Hungary by marriage to King Béla IV of Hungary. She was the daughter of Theodore I Laskaris and Anna Komnena Angelina. Life She was a younger sister of Irene Lascarina, first Empress consort of John III Doukas Vatatzes. Theodore married his eldest daughter to his designated heir in 1212. Theodore was widowed in the same year and proceeded to marriages with Philippa of Armenia and Marie de Courtenay. However John was never displaced in succession. As a younger daughter, the marriage of Maria was not intended to add a potential husband in the line of succession to the throne. Instead it secured a marital alliance with the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1218, Maria was married to prince Béla of Hungary, and became Roman Catholic, converting from Greek Orthodoxy, her religion by birth. Bride and groom were about twelve-years-old. Her husband was the eldest son of Andrew II of Hungary and Gertrude of ...
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Béla IV Of Hungary
Béla IV (1206 – 3 May 1270) was King of Hungary and King of Croatia, Croatia between 1235 and 1270, and Duke of Styria from 1254 to 1258. As the oldest son of Andrew II of Hungary, King Andrew II, he was crowned upon the initiative of a group of influential noblemen in his father's lifetime in 1214. His father, who strongly opposed Béla's coronation, refused to give him a province to rule until 1220. In this year, Béla was appointed Duke of Slavonia, also with jurisdiction in Croatia and Dalmatia. Around the same time, Béla married Maria Laskarina, Maria, a daughter of Theodore I Laskaris, Emperor of Nicaea. From 1226, he governed Transylvania as Duke of Transylvania, duke. He supported Christian missions among the pagan Cumans who dwelled in the plains to the east of his province. Some Cuman chieftains acknowledged his suzerainty and he adopted the title of King of Cumania in 1233. King Andrew died on 21 September 1235 and Béla succeeded him. He attempted to restore royal ...
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Beatrice Of Savoy
Beatrice of Savoy (c. 1198 – c. 1267) was Countess consort of Provence by her marriage to Ramon Berenguer V, Count of Provence. She served as regent of her birth country Savoy during the absence of her brother in 1264. Beatrice was the daughter of Thomas I of Savoy and Margaret of Geneva. Beatrice was the tenth of fourteen children born to her parents. Countess of Provence Beatrice married Ramon Berenguer V, Count of Provence in December 1220. She was a shrewd and politically astute woman, whose beauty was likened to that of a second Niobe by Matthew Paris. Ramon and Beatrice of Savoy had four daughters, who all lived to adulthood, and married kings. Their only son, Raymond died in early infancy. In 1242, Beatrice's brother Peter was sent to Provence by Henry III to negotiate the marriage of Sanchia to Richard of Cornwall, brother to Henry III. Another brother, Philip, escorted Beatrice and Sanchia to the English court in Gascony, arriving in May 1243. There they join ...
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Ramon Berenguer V, Count Of Provence
Ramon Berenguer IV or V (; 1198 – 19 August 1245) was a member of the House of Barcelona who ruled as count of Provence and Forcalquier. He was the first count of Provence to live in the county in more than one hundred years. During the minority of a previous count in 1144–1161, the regency was exercised by Ramon Berenguer IV de Barcelona, who is sometimes counted among the counts of Provence, which has led to varied numbering of the counts of Provence named Ramon Berenguer. This Ramon Berenguer was the fourth of his name to be a reigning count of Provence. Family Ramon Berenguer was the son of Alfonso II, Count of Provence, and Garsenda, Countess of Forcalquier. After his father's death (1209), Ramon's mother sent him to the Templar castle of Monzón in Aragon. He was accompanied by his cousin James, whose life was also under threat. He left Monzon in 1216 to claim his inheritance, which included the county of Forcalquier—inherited from his mother. On 5 June 1219, Ramon ...
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Louis VIII Of France
Louis VIII (5 September 1187 8 November 1226), nicknamed The Lion (), was King of France from 1223 to 1226. As a prince, he invaded Kingdom of England, England on 21 May 1216 and was Excommunication in the Catholic Church, excommunicated by a papal legate on 29 May 1216. On 2 June 1216, Louis was proclaimed "King of England" by rebellious barons in London, though never crowned. With the assistance of allies in England and Scotland he gained control of approximately one third of the English kingdom and part of Southern Wales. He was eventually defeated by English loyalists and those barons who swapped sides following the death of King John of England, King John. After the Treaty of Lambeth, he was paid 10,000 mark (currency), marks, pledged never to invade England again, and was absolved of his excommunication. As prince and fulfilling his father's crusading vow, Louis led forces during the Albigensian Crusade in support of Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, Simon de Mo ...
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Elizabeth The Cuman
Elizabeth the Cuman (1244–1290) was the Queen consort of Stephen V of Hungary. She was regent of Hungary during the minority of her son from 1272 to 1277. The Cumans were the western tribes of the Cuman-Kipchak confederation. Her people followed a shamanist religion and were considered pagans by contemporary Christians of Europe. Questions of parentage and family In 1238, Khan Köten, her father according to historians, led the Cumans and a number of other clans in invading the Kingdom of Hungary while fleeing from the advancing hordes of the Mongol Empire. In time, Béla IV of Hungary negotiated an alliance with Köten and his people, granting them asylum in exchange for their conversion to Roman Catholicism and loyalty to the King. The agreement was sealed with the betrothal of Elizabeth to Stephen, eldest son of Béla IV. The agreement seems to have occurred while Stephen was an infant. Elizabeth was unlikely to have been older than her future husband. In 1241, the Mongo ...
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Stephen V Of Hungary
Stephen V (, , ; before 18 October 1239 – 6 August 1272) was King of Hungary and King of Croatia, Croatia between 1270 and 1272, and Duke of Styria from 1258 to 1260. He was the oldest son of King Béla IV and Maria Laskarina. King Béla had his son coronation of the Hungarian monarch, crowned king at the age of six and appointed him Duke of Slavonia. Still a child, Stephen married Elizabeth the Cuman, Elizabeth, a daughter of a chieftain of the Cumans whom his father settled in the Great Hungarian Plain. King Béla appointed Stephen Duke of Transylvania in 1257 and Duke of Styria in 1258. The local noblemen in Duchy of Styria, Styria, which had been annexed four years before, opposed his rule. Assisted by King Ottokar II of Bohemia, they rebelled and expelled Stephen's troops from most parts of Styria. After Ottokar II routed the united army of Stephen and his father in the Battle of Kressenbrunn on 12 July 1260, Stephen left Styria and returned to Transylvania. Stephen ...
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Beatrice Of Provence
Beatrice of Provence (23 September 1267), was the ruling Countess of Provence and Forcalquier from 1245 until her death, as well as Countess of Anjou and Maine and Queen of Sicily by marriage to Charles I of Naples. Beatrice was the fourth and youngest daughter of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence and Forcalquier and Beatrice, daughter of Count Thomas I of Savoy and Margaret of Geneva. Life Inheritance of Provence and Forcalquier Beatrice, like her sisters, mother and grandmother was known for her beauty. A description of Beatrice said she All Ramon Berenguer IV's three older daughters married to titles of status: The eldest, Margaret, was Queen of France by marriage to Louis IX; the second, Eleanor, was Queen of England by marriage to Henry III, and the third, Sanchia, was titular Queen of Germany by marriage to Henry's brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall. King Louis IX's marriage to Margaret had been arranged by his mother, Blanche of Castile, with the hopes ...
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