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Nikephoros Bryennios The Younger
Nikephoros Bryennios (or Nicephorus Bryennius; Greek: Νικηφόρος Βρυέννιος, ''Nikēphoros Bryennios; ''1062/82–1137) was a Byzantine general, statesman and historian. He was born at Orestias (Adrianople) in the theme of Macedonia. Life The Bryennios family were prominent in the city of Adrianople where they were locally powerful. His father (or possibly grandfather), of the same name, the governor of the theme of Dyrrhachium, had revolted against the feeble Michael VII, but had been defeated by the future Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. The son, who was distinguished for his learning, personal beauty, and engaging qualities, gained the favour of Alexios I and the hand of his daughter Anna Komnene, receiving the titles of ''Caesar'' and '' panhypersebastos'' (one of the new dignities introduced by Alexios). The marriage of Nikephoros the Younger was probably arranged during the Cuman War of 1094, when Alexios needed the support of the Bryennios family and their abilit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greek Language
Greek (, ; , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic languages, Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), southern Albania, and other regions of the Balkans, Caucasus, the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor, and the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the list of languages by first written accounts, longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system is the Greek alphabet, which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with the epics of Homer, ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in the European canon. Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bohemond I Of Antioch
Bohemond I of Antioch ( 1054 – 5 or 7 March 1111), also known as Bohemond of Taranto or Bohemond of Hauteville, was the prince of Taranto from 1089 to 1111 and the prince of Antioch from 1098 to 1111. He was a leader of the First Crusade, leading a contingent of Normans on the quest eastward. Knowledgeable about the Byzantine Empire through earlier campaigns with his father, he was the most experienced military leader of the crusade. Early life Childhood and youth Bohemond was the son of Robert Guiscard, Count of Apulia and Calabria, and his first wife, Alberada of Buonalbergo. He was born between 1050 and 1058—in 1054 according to historian John Julius Norwich. He was baptised Mark, possibly because he was born at his father's castle at San Marco Argentano in Calabria. His parents were related within the degree of kinship that made Impediment (Catholic canon law)#Impediments to marriage, their marriage invalid under canon law. In 1058, Pope Nicholas II strengthened existin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicephorus III
Nikephoros III Botaneiates (; 1002–1081), Latinized as Nicephorus III Botaniates, was Byzantine Emperor from 7 January 1078 to 1 April 1081. He became a general during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos, serving with distinction during the Pecheneg revolt of 1048–1053. In 1057 he aided Isaac I Komnenos in overthrowing Emperor Michael VI Bringas, leading forces at the decisive Battle of Petroe. Under the Emperor Constantine X Doukas Nikephoros was made '' doux'', first of Thessalonica and subsequently of Antioch. In the latter position he repelled numerous incursions from the Emirate of Aleppo. Constantine X died in 1067 and Empress Eudokia Makrembolitissa married Romanos IV Diogenes; Nikephoros, who had also been a candidate for Eudokia's hand and the position of emperor, was exiled and remained in retirement until Emperor Michael VII summoned him to serve as ''kouropalates'' and governor of the Anatolic Theme. Having insulted Emperor Micha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael VI
Michael VI Bringas (; died ), also called Stratiotikos (, "the military one, the warlike") and the Old (, ''Geron''), reigned as Byzantine emperor from 1056 to 1057. Career Apparently a relative of the powerful courtier Joseph Bringas (influential during the reign of Romanos II), Michael Bringas was an elderly patrician (hence the nickname "Geron") and a member of the court bureaucracy when he ascended to the throne. He had formerly served as a military finance minister ('' logothetes tou stratiotikou'', hence the epithet ''Stratiotikos''). Michael Bringas was chosen for his pliability by the empress Theodora as her successor shortly before her death on 31 August 1056. The appointment had been secured through the influence of Leo Paraspondylos, Theodora's most trusted adviser, who remained chief minister. Although Michael managed to survive a conspiracy organized by Theodosios, a nephew of the former emperor Constantine IX Monomachos, he was faced with the disaffecti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isaac I Komnenos
Isaac I Komnenos or Comnenus (; – 1 June 1060) was Byzantine emperor from 1057 to 1059, the first reigning member of the Komnenian dynasty. The son of the general Manuel Erotikos Komnenos, he was orphaned at an early age, and was raised under the care of Emperor Basil II. He made his name as a successful military commander, serving as commander-in-chief of the eastern armies between and 1054. In 1057 he became the head of a conspiracy of the dissatisfied eastern generals against the newly crowned Michael VI Bringas. Proclaimed emperor by his followers on 8 June 1057, he rallied sufficient military forces to defeat the loyalist army at the Battle of Hades. While Isaac was willing to accept a compromise solution by being appointed Michael's heir, a powerful faction in Constantinople, led by the ambitious Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Keroularios, pressured Michael to abdicate. After Michael abdicated on 30 August 1057, Isaac was crowned emperor in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Doukas (son Of Nikephoros Bryennios)
John Doukas (, – after 1173) was a Byzantine aristocrat and military commander. Life Born around 1103, John was a younger son of the general and historian Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger and Anna Komnene, the eldest daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (). In the sources, he is never referred to with the surnames "Komnenos" or " Bryennios", but always with the name "Doukas", which he inherited from his maternal grandmother, Empress Irene Doukaina. He married at the same time as his older brother, Alexios, in 1122. John too married a princess from an unnamed Caucasian principality, whose original name is not known. She had come to the Byzantine court at a young age, become a ward of Irene Doukaina and Anna Komnene, and received the name Theodora. John was active as a military commander, but few details are known about his career. In 1138 he was away on campaign against the Seljuk Turks near the Sangarios River, when his wife died. Later, likely during the reign of Manuel I Ko ... [...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] |
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, the east and southeast, Jordan to Jordan–Syria border, the south, and Israel and Lebanon to Lebanon–Syria border, the southwest. It is a republic under Syrian transitional government, a transitional government and comprises Governorates of Syria, 14 governorates. Damascus is the capital and largest city. With a population of 25 million across an area of , it is the List of countries and dependencies by population, 57th-most populous and List of countries and dependencies by area, 87th-largest country. The name "Syria" historically referred to a Syria (region), wider region. The modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization. Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and ... [...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] |
Irene Doukaina
Irene Doukaina or Ducaena (, ''Eirēnē Doúkaina''; – 19 February 1138) was a Byzantine empress by marriage to the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos. She was the mother of Emperor John II Komnenos and the historian Anna Komnene. She was initially heavily overshadowed and humiliated in influence and power by her mother-in-law Anna Dalassene, but after her retirement and death, Irene was able to exert increasing influence over her husband Alexios I Komnenos, and became powerful towards the end of his reign. But even so, she could not arrange his successor according to her wishes, which favoured her daughter Anna Komnene over her son John II Komnenos. Life Irene was born in 1066 to Andronikos Doukas (cousin of Michael VII), Andronikos Doukas and Maria of Bulgaria, granddaughter of Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria. Andronikos was a nephew of Emperor Constantine X Doukas and a cousin of Michael VII. Succession of Alexios Irene married Alexios in 1078, when she was still eleven y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Philomelion
The Battle of Philomelion ( Latinised as Philomelium - modern Akşehir) of 1116 consisted of a series of clashes over a number of days between a Byzantine expeditionary army under Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and the forces of the Sultanate of Rûm under Sultan Malik Shah; it occurred in the course of the Byzantine–Seljuk wars. The Seljuk forces attacked the Byzantine army a number of times to no effect; having suffered losses to his army in the course of these attacks, Malik Shah sued for peace. Background Following the success of the First Crusade, the Byzantine armed forces, led by John Doukas the '' megas doux'', reconquered the Aegean coastline and much of the interior of western Anatolia. However, after the failure of the Crusade of 1101, the Seljuq and Danishmend Turks resumed their offensive operations against the Byzantines. Following their defeats, the Seljuqs under Malik Shah had recovered control of central Anatolia, re-consolidating a viable state around the city of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
