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Maria Of Antioch
Maria of Antioch (1145–1182) was a Byzantine empress by marriage to Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, and regent during the minority of her son porphyrogennetos Alexios II Komnenos from 1180 until 1182. Life Maria of Antioch was the daughter of Constance of Antioch and her first husband Raymond of Poitiers. In 1160, Maria's stepfather Raynald of Châtillon was taken prisoner by Maj al-Dīn, the ruler of Aleppo and an ally of Nūr al-Dīn. Her mother claimed the Principality of Antioch for herself, but the nobles supported her son, Maria's brother Bohemund III. King Baldwin III of Jerusalem set Bohemund III up as prince and appointed as regent the rich and worldly Aimery of Limoges, Latin Patriarch of Antioch and an old opponent of Raynald. Constance protested this decision in Constantinople at the court of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos, the nominal overlord of Antioch. Empress At the end of 1159, Manuel's wife Empress Irene (originally named Bertha of Sulzb ...
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Vatican Library
The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally established in 1475, although it is much older—it is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. It has 75,000 codices from throughout history, as well as 1.1 million printed books, which include some 8,500 incunabula. The Vatican Library is a research library for history, law, philosophy, science, and theology. The Vatican Library is open to anyone who can document their qualifications and research needs. Photocopies for private study of pages from books published between 1801 and 1990 can be requested in person or by mail. Pope Nicholas V (1447–1455) envisioned a new Rome with extensive public works to lure pilgrims and scholars to the city to begin its tr ...
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Principality Of Antioch
The Principality of Antioch was one of the crusader states created during the First Crusade which included parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria. The principality was much smaller than the County of Edessa or the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It extended around the northeastern edge of the Mediterranean, bordering the County of Tripoli to the south, Edessa to the east, and the Byzantine Empire or the Kingdom of Armenia to the northwest, depending on the date. It had roughly 20,000 inhabitants in the 12th century, most of whom were Armenians and Greek Orthodox Christians, with a few Muslims outside the city itself. Most of the crusaders who settled there were of Norman origin, notably from the Norman Kingdom of southern Italy, as were the first rulers of the principality, who surrounded themselves with loyal subjects. Few of the inhabitants apart from the Crusaders were Roman Catholic even though the city was under the jurisdiction of the Latin Patriarchate of Antioch, established ...
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Raymond II Of Tripoli
Raymond II ( la, Raimundus; 1116 – 1152) was count of Tripoli from 1137 to 1152. He succeeded his father, Pons, Count of Tripoli, who was killed during a campaign that a commander from Damascus launched against Tripoli. Raymond accused the local Christians of betraying his father and invaded their villages in the Mount Lebanon area. He also had many of them tortured and executed. Raymond was captured during an invasion by Imad ad-Din Zengi, atabeg of Mosul, who gained the two important castles of Montferrand (at present-day Baarin in Syria) and Rafaniya in exchange for his release in the summer of 1137. Since his army proved unable to secure the defence of the eastern borders of his county, Raymond granted several forts to the Knights Hospitaller in 1142. The sudden death of his father's uncle, Alfonso Jordan, Count of Toulouse, during the Second Crusade gave rise to gossips which suggested that Raymond had poisoned him, because Alfonso Jordan had allegedly wanted to lay cla ...
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Melisende Of Tripoli
Melisende of Tripoli (fl. around 1160) was the daughter of Hodierna of Tripoli and Raymond II, count of Tripoli. Biography Melisende was named for her aunt, Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem. She was a cousin of Kings Baldwin III and Amalric I. Melisende's parents bickered constantly, and there were rumors that Raymond was not her father. During a particularly intense dispute in 1152 the family called Queen Melisende and her son Baldwin III from Jerusalem to intervene, and the conflict was resolved, though Raymond was killed by the Hashshashin directly afterwards. His territory was left to his wife until their son Raymond III (Melisende's brother) reached majority. Melisende and Raymond were close, and in 1160, when Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenus asked for a new wife from the Crusader states, Raymond and his cousin Baldwin III tried to arrange a marriage between Melisende and the Emperor. Hodierna, Raymond, Queen Melisende, and Baldwin raised a huge dowry in anticipation o ...
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Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. is a city in Western Asia. Situated on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, it is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world and is considered to be a holy city for the three major Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Both Israelis and Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their Capital city, capital, as Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power. Because of this dispute, Status of Jerusalem, neither claim is widely recognized internationally. Throughout History of Jerusalem, its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, Sie ...
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Varangian Guard
The Varangian Guard ( el, Τάγμα τῶν Βαράγγων, ''Tágma tōn Varángōn'') was an elite unit of the Byzantine Army from the tenth to the fourteenth century who served as personal bodyguards to the Byzantine emperors. The Varangian Guard was known for being primarily composed of recruits from northern Europe, including mainly Norsemen from Scandinavia but also Anglo-Saxons from England. The recruitment of distant foreigners from outside Byzantium to serve as the emperor's personal guard was pursued as a deliberate policy, as they lacked local political loyalties and could be counted upon to suppress revolts by disloyal Byzantine factions. The Rus' provided the earliest members of the Varangian Guard. They were in Byzantine service from as early as 874. The Guard was first formally constituted under Emperor Basil II in 988, following the Christianization of Kievan Rus' by Vladimir I of Kiev. Vladimir, who had recently usurped power in Kiev with an army of Varang ...
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Akolouthos
''Akolouthos'' ( gr, ἀκόλουθος, , follower, attendant) was a Byzantine office with varying functions over time. Originally a subaltern officer of the imperial guard regiment (''tagma (military), tagma'') of the ''Vigla (tagma), Vigla'', it was associated with the command over the famed Varangian Guard in the 11th–12th centuries. History The title is first attested in the late 9th century, when the ''Kletorologion'' of 899 lists him as one of the senior officers of the ''Vigla (tagma), Vigla'' or ''Arithmos'' guard regiment (''tagma (military), tagma''). In the 9th–10th centuries, the ''akolouthos'' (often termed , ''akolouthos tou arithmou'', to emphasize his links to the ''Vigla''/''Arithmos'') was the deputy of the regimental commander, the ''droungarios tes vigles'', i.e. the equivalent of the ''proximos'' and the ''protomandator'' in the two senior ''tagmata'', the ''Scholai'' and the ''Excubitores''. Already at this time, however, he was associated with the com ...
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Byzantine Aristocracy And Bureaucracy
Through the 5th century Hellenistic political systems, philosophies and theocratic Christian-Eastern concepts had gained power in the eastern Greek-speaking Mediterranean due to the intervention of Important religious figures there such as Eusebius of Caesarea and Origen of Alexandria who had been key to the constant Christianized world of late antiquity. By the 6th century they had already influenced the definitive power of the monarch as the representative of God on earth and his kingdom as an imitation of God's holy realm. The Byzantine empire was a monarchic theocracy, adopting, following and applying the Hellenistic political systems and philosophies. The monarch was the incarnation of the law ''nomos empsychos'', and his power was immeasurable and divine in origin. He was the ultimate benefactor, carer and saviour of his people, '' Evergétis'', '' Philanthrōpía'' and '' Sōtēr''. They in turn were his ''paroikoi'' (subjects). He was the sole administrator and ...
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Crusader State
The Crusader States, also known as Outremer, were four Catholic realms in the Middle East that lasted from 1098 to 1291. These feudal polities were created by the Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade through conquest and political intrigue. The four states were the County of Edessa (10981150), the Principality of Antioch (10981287), the County of Tripoli (11021289), and the Kingdom of Jerusalem (10991291). The Kingdom of Jerusalem covered what is now Israel and Palestine, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and adjacent areas. The other northern states covered what are now Syria, south-eastern Turkey, and Lebanon. The description "Crusader states" can be misleading, as from 1130 very few of the Frankish population were crusaders. The term Outremer, used by medieval and modern writers as a synonym, is derived from the French for ''overseas''. In 1098, the armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem passed through Syria. The crusader Baldwin of Boulogne replaced the Greek Orthodox rule ...
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Bertha Of Sulzbach
Bertha of Sulzbach (1110s – August 29, 1159) was a Byzantine Empress by marriage to Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos. Life She was born in Sulzbach, a daughter of Berengar II, Count of Sulzbach (c. 1080 – 3 December 1125) and his second spouse Adelheid of Wolfratshausen. He was one of the rulers who signed the Concordat of Worms (23 September 1122). In August, 1125, Berengar is mentioned in documents of Lothair III, King of the Romans. The death of Berengar is mentioned four months later. Empress Emissaries of the Byzantine emperor John II Komnenos arrived in Germany, seeking an alliance against Roger II of Sicily. To seal the alliance, the emissaries requested that Conrad send a princess of his family to be married to the emperor's son, Manuel. Instead, Conrad selected his sister-in-law, Bertha, and after legally adopting her as his daughter, sent her to the Byzantine Empire escorted by Emicho von Leiningen, the Bishop of Würzburg. By the time Bertha arrived at the Impe ...
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Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ("the Great City"), Πόλις ("the City"), Kostantiniyye or Konstantinopolis ( Turkish) , image = Byzantine Constantinople-en.png , alt = , caption = Map of Constantinople in the Byzantine period, corresponding to the modern-day Fatih district of Istanbul , map_type = Istanbul#Turkey Marmara#Turkey , map_alt = A map of Byzantine Istanbul. , map_size = 275 , map_caption = Constantinople was founded on the former site of the Greek colony of Byzantion, which today is known as Istanbul in Turkey. , coordinates = , location = Fatih, İstanbul, Turkey , region = Marmara Region , type = Imperial city , part_of = , length = , width ...
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Latin Patriarch Of Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Δάφνῃ "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; la, Antiochia ad Orontem; hy, Անտիոք ''Antiokʽ''; syr, ܐܢܛܝܘܟܝܐ ''Anṭiokya''; he, אנטיוכיה, ''Anṭiyokhya''; ar, أنطاكية, ''Anṭākiya''; fa, انطاکیه; tr, Antakya. was a Hellenistic, and later, a Christian city, founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. This city served as the capital of the Seleucid Empire and later as regional capital to both the Roman and Byzantine Empire. During the Crusades, Antioch served as the capital of the Principality of Antioch, one of four Crusader states that were founded in the Levant. Its inhabitants were known as ''Antiochenes''; the city's ruin lies on the Orontes River, near Antakya, the modern city ...
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