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Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos (, – 15 August 1118), Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus, was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. After usurping the throne, he was faced with a collapsing empire and constant warfare throughout his reign, Alexios was able to curb the Byzantine decline and begin the military, financial, and territorial recovery known as the Komnenian restoration. His appeals to Western Europe for help against the Seljuk Turks were the catalyst that sparked the First Crusade. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power and initiated a hereditary succession to the throne. The son of John Komnenos and a nephew of Isaac I Komnenos, Alexios served with distinction under three Byzantine emperors. In 1081, he led a rebellion against Emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates and took the throne for himself. He immediately faced an invasion of the western Balkans by the Normans under Robert Guis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euthymios Zigabenos
Euthymius Zigabenus or Zigadenus or Zygadenus ( or Ζυγαδηνός; died after 1118) was a 12th-century monk and commentator on the Bible. He was a friend of the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos, Alexius I Comnenus, for whom he wrote a lengthy work on heresies, ''Panoplia Dogmatica'' or ''Panoply of Doctrine'' (or "Full Armour of Belief"). This began in the apostolic era and continued down to the Bogomils, some of whom he personally examined. The entry on the Bogomils is our main source of information about them. Nothing is known about his life. He was a monk and lived in the monastery of the Virgin Mary near Constantinople. He was favoured by both the emperor and his daughter Anna Comnena, who extols his learning and piety in her ''Alexiad''. He also wrote a commentary on the Psalms, one on the four gospels, and one on the Pauline epistles. These are based mainly on patristic sources. Works translated into English includeCommentary on the Holy Gospel of Luke [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Komnenos
The House of Komnenos ( Komnenoi; , , ), Latinized as Comnenus ( Comneni), was a Byzantine Greek noble family who ruled the Byzantine Empire in the 11th and 12th centuries. The first reigning member, Isaac I Komnenos, ruled from 1057 to 1059. The family returned to power under Alexios I Komnenos in 1081 who established their rule for the following 104 years until it ended with Andronikos I Komnenos in 1185. In the 13th century, they founded the Empire of Trebizond, a Byzantine rump state which they ruled from 1204 to 1461. At that time, they were commonly referred to as Grand Komnenoi (, ), a style that was officially adopted and used by George Komnenos and his successors. Through intermarriages with other noble families, notably the Doukas, Angelos, and Palaiologos, the Komnenos name appears among most of the major noble houses of the late Byzantine world. Origins The 11th-century Byzantine historian Michael Psellos reported that the Komnenos family originated from the v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Conquest Of Southern Italy
The Norman conquest of southern Italy lasted from 999 to 1194, involving many battles and independent conquerors. In 1130, the territories in southern Italy united as the Kingdom of Sicily, which included the island of Sicily, the southern third of the Italian Peninsula (including Benevento, which was briefly held twice), the archipelago of Malta, and parts of North Africa. Itinerant Norman forces arrived in southern Italy as mercenaries in the service of Lombard and Byzantine factions, communicating swiftly back home news about opportunities in the Mediterranean. These groups gathered in several places, establishing fiefdoms and states of their own, uniting and elevating their status to ''de facto'' independence within 50 years of their arrival. Unlike the Norman Conquest of England (1066), which took a few years after one decisive battle, the conquest of southern Italy was the product of decades and a number of battles, few decisive. Many territories were conquered indep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
