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Sophia Paleologue
Sophia Fominichna Palaiologina or Paleologue (; born Zoe Palaiologina; ; – 7 April 1503) was a Byzantine princess from the Palaiologos imperial dynasty and the grand princess of Moscow as the second wife of Ivan III of Russia. Her father was Thomas Palaiologos, the despot of the Morea. Through her eldest son, Vasili III, she was the grandmother of Ivan IV, the first crowned tsar of all Russia. Family Zoe was born in the Morea in 1449. Her father was Thomas Palaiologos, Despot of the Morea and younger brother of the last Byzantine Emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos (). Her mother was Catherine, daughter and heiress of Centurione II Zaccaria, the last independent Prince of Achaea and Baron of Arcadia. The marriage between Thomas Palaiologos and Catherine Zaccaria produced four children: Helena (later wife of Lazar Branković, Despot of Serbia), Zoe, Andreas, and Manuel. In Italy The fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 was a turning point in Zoe's life. Seven yea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Princess Consort Of Moscow ...
The Russian consorts were the spouses of the Russian rulers. They used the titles ''Princess'', ''Grand Princess'', ''Tsarina'' or ''Empress''. Princesses and grand princesses consort of Kiev Grand Princesses of Vladimir Yurievichi (1157–1331) Grand Princesses of Moscow Daniilovichi (1283–1547) Tsarinas of Russia Daniilovichi (1547–1598) Time of Troubles (1598–1613) House of Romanov (1613–1721) Empresses of Russia House of Romanov (1721–1762) House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov (1762–1917) Notes References Sources * * {{Russian royal consorts, state=collapsed * Russian Russian Royal consorts A royal consort is a person of either sex who has an official status through an intimate relationship, often through marriage or concubinage, with a monarch. The term ''consort'' was thereafter extended to encompass similar relationships with othe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Despotes
Despot or ''despotes'' () was a senior Byzantine court title that was bestowed on the sons or sons-in-law of reigning emperors, and initially denoted the heir-apparent of the Byzantine emperor. From Byzantium it spread throughout the late medieval Balkans and was also granted in the states under Byzantine cultural influence, such as the Latin Empire, the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Serbian Empire and its successor states ( Bulgarian and ), and the Empire of Trebizond. With the political fragmentation of the period, the term gave rise to several principalities termed "despotates" which were ruled either as independent states or as appanages by princes bearing the title of despot; most notably the Despotate of Epirus, the Despotate of the Morea, the Despotate of Dobruja and the Serbian Despotate. In modern usage, the word has taken a different meaning: "despotism" is a form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute power. The semantic shift undergone by the te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lazar Branković
Lazar Branković ( sr-cyr, Лазар Бранковић; – 20 February 1458) was Despot of Serbia from 1456 to 1458. He was the third son of Despot Đurađ Branković and his wife, Eirene Kantakouzene. He died without sons, and was succeeded by his elder brother, Despot Stefan Branković. Biography Both Grgur and Stefan, his older brothers, were blinded by orders of Ottoman sultan Murad II in 1441. Lazar apparently became the heir to their father as the only son not to be handicapped. Đurađ died on 24 December 1456. Lazar succeeded him as planned. According to Fine, his brief reign mostly included family quarrels with his mother and siblings. In 1457, Lazar gave an oath of subservience to Mehmed II, son and successor of Murad II. Fine considers this to be an attempt to prevent an Ottoman invasion. His only other decision of consequence was to appoint Mihailo Anđelović, a member of the Angelos family, as his chief official. Mihailo briefly served as head of a regen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helena Palaiologina, Despotess Of Serbia
Helena Palaiologina (; ; 1431 – 7 November 1473) was a Byzantine princess who married Serbian Despot Lazar Branković, who ruled from 1456 until his death in 1458. After Smederevo fell to the Ottoman Turks on 20 June 1459, she fled Serbia for the Greek island of Lefkada, where she converted to Catholicism. She is not to be confused with her grandmother, Helena Dragaš, a Serbian princess who was the mother of the last two Eastern Roman Emperors and who became a nun and a Saint of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Family Helena was born in the Despotate of the Morea in 1431, the eldest daughter and child of Thomas Palaiologos, Despot of the Morea and Catherine Zaccaria of Achaea. She had two younger brothers, Andreas Palaiologos and Manuel Palaiologos, and a sister, Zoe, who would become the wife of Ivan III of Russia. Her maternal grandparents were Centurione II Zaccaria and an unnamed Byzantine lady by the Asen Palaiologos houses. Her first cousin, also Helena Palaiologina, b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barony Of Arcadia
The Barony of Arcadia was a medieval Frankish fiefdom of the Principality of Achaea, located on the western coast of the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece, and centred on the town of Arcadia (; ; ), ancient and modern Kyparissia. History The Barony of Arcadia was not one of the original twelve secular baronies of the Principality. Initially, Arcadia—the medieval name of Kyparissia on the western coast of Messenia—formed part of the princely domain of the Villehardouin family. It was created as a separate barony by Prince William II of Villehardouin shortly after the Byzantine reconquest of Constantinople in 1261, to recompense Vilain of Aulnay, one of the Frankish lords of the Latin Empire of Constantinople who sought refuge in Achaea. After Vilain's death in 1269 it was divided between his sons, Erard and Geoffrey. Erard disappears after 1279, when he was captured by the Byzantines, but Geoffrey did not manage to reclaim his brother's portion until 1293, due to the obstruc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prince Of Achaea
The Prince of Achaea was the ruler of the Principality of Achaea, one of the crusader states Frankokratia, founded in Greece in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204). The principality witnessed various overlords during its more than two centuries of existence, initially, Achaea was a vassal state of the Kingdom of Thessalonica under Boniface I, Marquis of Montferrat, Boniface I of house Montferrat, then of the Latin Empire, Latin Empire of Constantinople under the houses of Flanders-Courtenay, which had supplanted the Byzantine Empire, and later of the Kingdom of Naples, Angevin Kingdom of Naples. During the Angevin period, the princes were often absent, represented in the Principality by their baillis, who governed in their name. After 1404 the principality became sovereign as the Genoese Centurione II Zaccaria bought from the Neapolitan crown the princely rights. The principality was one of the longest-lasting of the Latin states in Greece, outliving the Latin Empire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centurione II Zaccaria
Centurione II Asanes Zaccaria (died 1432), scion of a powerful Genoese merchant family established in the Morea since the marriage of the lord of Chios Martino Zaccaria to the baroness Jacqueline de la Roche. Centurione purchased the rights of the title of Prince of Achaea by Ladislaus of Naples in 1404 and was the last ruler of the once Latin Empire not under Byzantine suzerainty. Early years Centurione was the son of Andronikos Asen Zaccaria and of Catherine Le Maure, daughter of Erard III, baron of Arcadia. He was also grandson of Centurione I Zaccaria, bailee of the principality. He succeeded his father Andronikos in the barony of Arkadia (not to be confused with the region of the same name), barony of Chalandritsa in 1401 and also held the title of the lost to the Byzantines barony of Damala. After the death of Prince Pedro San Superan, his widow Maria, sister of Andronikos and aunt of Centurione, took command of the Principality, ruling Achaea in her own right ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constantine XI Palaiologos
Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos or Dragaš Palaeologus (; 8 February 140429 May 1453) was the last reigning List of Byzantine emperors, Byzantine emperor from 23 January 1449 until his death in battle at the fall of Constantinople on 29 May 1453. Constantine's death marked the definitive end of the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, which traced its origin to Constantine the Great's foundation of Constantinople as the Roman Empire's new capital in 330. Constantine was the fourth son of Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos and Serbs, Serbian noblewoman Helena Dragaš. Little is known of his early life, but from the 1420s onward, he repeatedly demonstrated great skill as a military general. Based on his career and surviving contemporary sources, Constantine appears to have been primarily a soldier. This does not mean that Constantine was not also a skilled administrator: he was trusted and favored to such an extent by his older brother, Emperor John VIII Palaiologos, that he w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Byzantine Emperor
The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised sovereign authority are included, to the exclusion of junior co-emperors who never attained the status of sole or senior ruler, as well as of the List of Byzantine usurpers, various usurpers or rebels who claimed the imperial title. The following list starts with Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, who rebuilt the city of Byzantium as an imperial capital, Constantinople, and who was regarded by the later emperors as the model ruler. Modern historians distinguish this later phase of the Roman Empire as Byzantine due to the imperial seat moving from Rome to Byzantium, the Empire's integration of Christianity, and the predominance of Greek instead of Latin. The Byzantine Empire was the direct legal continuation of the eastern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Despot Of The Morea
The Despotate of the Morea () or Despotate of Mystras () was a province of the Byzantine Empire which existed between the mid-14th and mid-15th centuries. Its territory varied in size during its existence but eventually grew to include almost all the southern Greek peninsula now known as the Peloponnese, which was known as the Morea during the medieval and early modern periods. The territory was usually ruled by one or more sons or brothers of the current Byzantine emperor, who were given the title of ''despotes'' (in this context it should not be confused with despotism). Its capital was the fortified city of Mystras, near ancient Sparta, which became an important centre of the Palaiologan Renaissance. History The Despotate of the Morea was created out of territory seized from the Frankish Principality of Achaea. This had been organized from former Byzantine territory after the Fourth Crusade (1204). In 1259, the Principality's ruler William II Villehardouin lost the Battle o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morea
Morea ( or ) was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The name was used by the Principality of Achaea, the Byzantine province known as the Despotate of the Morea, by the Ottoman Empire for the Morea Eyalet, and later by the Republic of Venice for the short-lived Kingdom of the Morea. Etymology There is some uncertainty over the origin of the medieval name "Morea", which is first recorded in the 10th century in the Byzantine chronicles. Traditionally, scholars thought the name to have originated from the word ''morea'' (μορέα), meaning morus or mulberry, a tree which, though known in the region from the ancient times, gained value after the 6th century, when mulberry-eating silkworms were smuggled from China to Byzantium. The British Byzantinist Steven Runciman suggested that the name comes "from the likeness of its shape to that of a mulberry leaf". History After the conquest of Constantinople by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
