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Emperor Constantine IX
Constantine IX Monomachos (; 980/ 1000 – 11 January 1055) reigned as Byzantine emperor from June 1042 to January 1055. Empress Zoë Porphyrogenita chose him as a husband and co-emperor in 1042, although he had been exiled for conspiring against her previous husband, Emperor Michael IV the Paphlagonian. The couple shared the throne with Zoë's sister Theodora Porphyrogenita. Zoë died in 1050, and Constantine continued his collaboration with Theodora until his own death five years later. Constantine's reign was marked by prodigality, enjoying an abundant imperial treasury following the conquests of his predecessors and the era of economic expansion that the Empire experienced in the first half of the 11th century. While Zoe was deprived of access to this treasure by Romanus III and then Michael IV, her third husband ensured that she could enjoy it as much as she wanted. He also distributed a large number of gifts, both in monetary forms and through donations of land or tax ...
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Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively erected on the site by the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, it was completed in AD 537, becoming the world's largest interior space and among History of Roman and Byzantine domes, the first to employ a fully pendentive dome. It is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to have "changed the history of architecture". From its dedication in 360 until 1453 Hagia Sophia served as the cathedral of Constantinople in the Divine Liturgy#Byzantine Rite, Byzantine liturgical tradition, except for the period 1204‑1261 when the Latin Empire, Latin Crusaders installed their own Hierarchy of the Catholic Church, hierarchy. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, it served as a mosque, having its Minaret, minarets added ...
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Pechenegs
The Pechenegs () or Patzinaks, , Middle Turkic languages, Middle Turkic: , , , , , , ka, პაჭანიკი, , , ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Pečenezi, separator=/, Печенези, also known as Pecheneg Turks were a semi-nomadic Turkic peoples, Turkic people from Central Asia who spoke the Pecheneg language. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Pechenegs controlled much of the steppes of southeast Europe and the Crimean Peninsula. In the 9th century the Pechenegs began a period of wars against Kievan Rus', and for more than two centuries launched raids into the lands of Rus', which sometimes escalated into full-scale wars. Ethnonym The Pechenegs were mentioned as ''Bjnak'', ''Bjanak'' or ''Bajanak'' in medieval Arabic language, Arabic and Persian language, Persian texts, as ''Be-ča-nag'' in Classical Tibetan documents, and as ''Pačanak-i'' in works written in Georgian language, Georgian. Anna Komnene and other Byzantine authors referred to them as ''Patzinakoi'' or ''Patzi ...
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Lesbos
Lesbos or Lesvos ( ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of , with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, eighth largest in the Mediterranean. It is separated from Anatolia, Asia Minor by the narrow Mytilini Strait. On the southeastern coast is the island's capital and largest city, Mytilene (), whose name is also used for the island as a whole. Lesbos is a separate regional units of Greece, regional unit with the seat in Mytilene, which is also the capital of the larger North Aegean region. The region includes the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Ikaria, Lemnos, and Samos. The total population of the island was 83,755 in 2021. A third of the island's inhabitants live in the capital, while the remainder are concentrated in small towns and villages. The largest are Plomari, Agia Paraskevi, Lesbos, Agia Paraskevi, Polichnitos, Agiassos, Eresos, Gera, Lesbos, Gera, an ...
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Mytilene
Mytilene (; ) is the capital city, capital of the Greece, Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University of the Aegean. It was founded in the 11th century BC. Mytilene is one of the two municipalities and communities of Greece, municipalities on the island of Lesbos, created in 2019; the other is West Lesbos. Mytilene is built on the southeast edge of the island. It is the seat of a metropolitan bishop of the Greek Orthodox Church. History As an ancient city, lying off the east coast, Mytilene was initially confined to a small island just offshore that later was joined to Lesbos, creating a north and south harbor. The early harbors of Mytilene were linked during ancient times by a channel 700 m long and 30 m wide. The Roman writer Longus speaks of white stone bridges linking the two sides. The Greek word εὔριπος ''eúripos'' is a commonly-used term when ...
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Romanos III Argyros
Romanos III Argyros (; Latinized Romanus III Argyrus; 968 – 11 April 1034), or Argyropoulos, was Byzantine Emperor from 1028 until his death in 1034. He was a Byzantine noble and senior official in Constantinople when the dying Constantine VIII forced him to divorce his wife and marry the emperor's daughter, Zoë. Upon Constantine's death three days later, Romanos took the throne. Romanos has been recorded as a well-meaning but ineffective emperor. He disorganised the tax system and undermined the military, personally leading a disastrous military expedition against Aleppo. He fell out with his wife and foiled several attempts on his throne, including two which revolved around his sister-in-law Theodora. He spent large amounts on the construction and repair of churches and monasteries. He died after six years on the throne, allegedly murdered, and was succeeded by his wife's young lover, Michael IV. Life Family and early career Romanos Argyros, born in 968, was the s ...
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Monomachos (Byzantine Family)
The House of Monomachos, Romanization of Greek, Latinized Monomachus (), feminine form Monomachina (Μονομαχίνα), was the name of a Byzantine Empire, Byzantine Byzantine bureaucracy and aristocracy, aristocratic family active in the 10th–15th centuries and possibly even before that. The name, Monomachos, means “the gladiator” in Greek. It produced several officials and military commanders, as well as one emperor, Constantine IX Monomachos (). History The first occurrences of the name are unclear, and may refer to sobriquets rather to members of the family. An Byzantine Iconoclasm, iconoclast bishop of Nicomedia with the name is alluded to in the 9th-century hagiography of St. Joannicius, whereas a fervently anti-iconoclast official was Niketas Monomachos, Patrikios Niketas Monomachos during the early 9th century, who was later declared a saint. The family was said to have been ‘ancient’ but did not come to the fore until the 10th and 11th centuries: firstly w ...
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Constantine VIII
Constantine VIII (;Also called Porphyrogenitus (), although the epithet is almost exclusively used for Constantine VII. 960 – 11/12 November 1028) was ''de jure'' Byzantine emperor from 962 until his death. He was the younger son of Emperor Romanos II and Empress Theophano (born Anastaso), Theophano. He was nominal co-emperor from 962, successively with his father; stepfather, Nikephoros II Phokas; uncle, John I Tzimiskes; and brother, Basil II. Basil's death in 1025 left Constantine as the sole emperor. He occupied the throne for 66 years in total, making him ''de jure'' the longest-reigning amongst List of Roman emperors, all Roman emperors since Augustus. Constantine displayed a lifelong lack of interest in politics, statecraft and the military, and during his brief sole reign the government of the Byzantine Empire suffered from mismanagement and neglect. He had no sons and was instead succeeded by Romanos Argyros, husband of his daughter Zoe Porphyrogenita, Zoe. Fami ...
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Michael I Cerularius
Michael I of Constantinople (''Cerularius'' or ''Keroularios''; ; 1000 – 21 January 1059) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1043 to 1059. His disputes with Pope Leo IX over church practices in the 11th century played a role in the events that led to the Great Schism in 1054. Background Michael Cerularius was born in Constantinople around 1000 and joined the Church at a young age. Schism Michael I quarreled with Pope Leo IX over church practices in which the Roman Church differed from Constantinople, particularly the use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist. Dissenting opinions were also exchanged over other theological and cultural issues, ranging from the issue of papal supremacy in the Church to the ''Filioque'' clause and other disagreements between the patriarchates. In 1054, Pope Leo IX sent a letter to Michael I, citing a large portion of the '' Donation of Constantine'' believing it genuine: :"The first pope who used it he Donationin an off ...
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Pope Leo IX
Pope Leo IX (, , 21 June 1002 – 19 April 1054), born Bruno von Egisheim-Dagsburg, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 February 1049 to his death in 1054. Leo IX is considered to be one of the most historically significant popes of the Middle Ages; he was instrumental in the precipitation of the Great Schism of 1054, considered the turning point in which the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches formally separated. Leo IX favoured traditional morality in his reformation of the Catholic Church. One of his first public acts was to hold the Easter synod of 1049; he joined Emperor Henry III in Saxony and accompanied him to Cologne and Aachen. He also summoned a meeting of the higher clergy in Reims in which several important reforming decrees were passed. At Mainz, he held a council at which the Italian and French as well as the German clergy were represented, and ambassadors of the Byzantine emperor were present. Here too, simony and clerical m ...
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Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and jurisdictional groups of Christianity, with approximately 230 million baptised members. It operates as a Communion (Christian), communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its Bishop (Orthodox Church), bishops via local Holy Synod, synods. The church has no central doctrinal or governmental authority analogous to the pope of the Catholic Church. Nevertheless, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is recognised by them as ''primus inter pares'' (), a title held by the patriarch of Rome prior to 1054. As one of the oldest surviving religious institutions in the world, the Eastern Orthodox Church has played an especially prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Since 2018, the ...
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Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization.Gerald O'Collins, O'Collins, p. v (preface). The church consists of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites#Churches, ''sui iuris'' (autonomous) churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and Eparchy, eparchies List of Catholic dioceses (structured view), around the world, each overseen by one or more Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishops. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the Papal supremacy, chief pastor of the church. The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The ...
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East–West Schism
The East–West Schism, also known as the Great Schism or the Schism of 1054, is the break of communion between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. A series of ecclesiastical differences and theological disputes between the Greek East and Latin West preceded the formal split that occurred in 1054. Prominent among these were the procession of the Holy Spirit (), whether leavened or unleavened bread should be used in the Eucharist, iconoclasm, the coronation of Charlemagne as Emperor of the Romans in 800, the Pope's claim to universal jurisdiction, and the place of the See of Constantinople in relation to the pentarchy. The first action that led to a formal schism occurred in 1053 when Patriarch Michael I Cerularius of Constantinople ordered the closure of all Latin churches in Constantinople. In 1054, the papal legate sent by Leo IX travelled to Constantinople in order, among other things, to deny Cerularius the title of "ecumenical patriarch" and insist ...
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