1.
Merry-Joseph Blondel
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Merry-Joseph Blondel was a French history painter of the Neoclassical school. He was a winner of the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1803, for much of Blondels painting career, he was occupied with public commissions for paintings and frescoes in important buildings, including palaces, museums and churches. Merry-Joseph was born on 25 July 1781 to Joseph-Armand Blondel, a painter and expert in stucco decoration, Merry-Joseph had two brothers and a sister, including Charles-Francois Armand Blondel, an architect. Several generations of the Blondel family had associated with architecture. Blondels great uncle, Jacques-Francois Blondel wrote a treatise on the subject, at the age of fourteen, on the advice of his maternal uncle, Merry-Joseph went to work in the office of a Notary, an experience which he would later describe as excruciating. In 1801, once again, Blondel convinced his father to break his contract as his drawing talent secured him a place in the studio of Baron Jean-Baptiste Regnault. Within a year, Blondel had acquired the nickname Monsieur de Cinq-Prix among his peers at the studio, on account of the number of medals and prizes he had won for his drawing. Another year on and Blondels entry to the 1803 salon, a painting depicting Aeneas rescuing his father from the city of Troy. In 1835, Ingres returned as the director of the French Academy in Rome, when Blondel was unexpectedly overlooked for the position of director of the Academy in 1840, Ingres sent him a lengthy and heartfelt letter of condolence. After three years in Rome, Blondel returned to Paris and became an exhibitor at the Louvre salon exhibitions. At the salon of 1817, Blondel won a medal for his painting depicting the Death of Louis XII. After the salon of 1824, the rank of Chevalier in the order of the Legion dHonneur, was bestowed upon both Blondel and Ingres by the French King, Charles X. In 1824, the year of his knighthood, Blondel was awarded a professorship at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, in that same year, Blondel also competed for a vacant seat at the Académie des beaux-arts but lost out to Ingres. He was eventually elected to a seat at the Académie in 1832, most notable among these commissions were, at the palace of Fontainebleau - Salon and Gallery of Diana, a fresco series of 21 paintings of scenes related to the goddess Diana. The Palace of Versailles - a series of full sized portraits depicting all the known kings, the Louvre Museum - frescoes in the Grand staircase, the Salle Henri II, Rooms of the state counsel. The Brongniart Palace - Ceiling painting and several cameos, the Luxembourg Palace - ceiling fresco in the Salle de Seances. The church of St. Thomas Aquinas - fresco cycle, Blondel was working on his fresco cycle at the church of St. Thomas Aquinas, in the 7e arronsissement when he fell ill and died in 1853. In typically simplistic fashion, the exhibition catalogue described the painting as painting no.108, critical references to the painting would later confirm Blondels given title for the picture as La Circassienne au Bain
2.
Prince of Antioch
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Prince of Antioch was the title given during the Middle Ages to Norman rulers of the Principality of Antioch, a region surrounding the city of Antioch, now known as Antakya in Turkey. The Princes originally came from the County of Sicily in Southern Italy, after 1130 and until 1816 this county was known as the Kingdom of Sicily. Prince Bohemond IV of Antioch additionally came into possession of the County of Tripoli, Antioch had been the chief city of the region since the time of the Roman Empire. When the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt drove out the Knights in 1268, the Lordship of Saône was centered on the castle of Saône, but included the towns of Sarmada and Balatanos. Saône was captured by Saladin from the last lord, Matthew, robert the Leprous William Matthew Like Jerusalem, Antioch had its share of great officers, including Constable, Marshal, Seneschal, Duc, Vicomte, Butler, Chamberlain, and Chancellor
3.
Bohemond II of Antioch
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Bohemond II was Prince of Taranto from 1111 to 1128 and Prince of Antioch from 1111/1119 to 1130. He was the son of Bohemond I, who in 1108 was forced to submit to the authority of the Byzantine Empire in the Treaty of Devol, three years later, the infant Bohemond inherited the Principality of Taranto under the guardianship of his mother, Constance of France. The Principality of Antioch was administered by his fathers nephew, Tancred, tancreds cousin, Roger of Salerno, managed the principality from 1111 to 1119. After Roger died in the Battle of the Field of Blood, however, he did acknowledge Bohemonds right to personally rule the principality upon reaching the age of majority. Bohemond came to Antioch in autumn 1126 and he launched successful military campaigns against the nearby Moslem rulers, but his conflict with Joscelin I of Courtenay enabled Imad ad-Din Zengi to secure Mosul and Aleppo. Meanwhile, Roger II of Sicily occupied the Principality of Taranto in 1128, Bohemond died fighting against Danishmend Emir Gazi Gümüshtigin during a military campaign against Cilician Armenia, and Gümüshtigin sent Bohemonds embalmed head to the Abbasid Caliph. Bohemond II was the son of Bohemond I, Prince of Taranto and Antioch and he was born in 1107 or 1108. In 1104, Bohemond I returned to Europe to seek assistance against the Byzantine Empire. Two charters show that Tancred styled himself prince of Antioch in 1108, in September of that year, Bohemond I was forced to sign the Treaty of Devol, which authorized the Byzantine Empire to annex the Principality of Antioch upon his death. Bohemond I died in Apulia in 1111, Bohemond II was still a minor, so his mother took charge of the government of Taranto. The Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos sent envoys to Tancred to demand control of Antioch, Tancred died in 1112 and bequeathed Antioch to his sisters son, Roger of Salerno. Rogers legal status during his rule in Antioch is uncertain, Roger adopted the title of prince, which implies that he regarded himself the ruler of Antioch in his own right. The contemporaneous Fulcher of Chartres accused Roger of depriving of his inheritence his own lord, charters issued in Bohemonds Italian domains between 1117 and 1119 emphasized that he was the son of the prince of Antioch, but did not style him prince. The notables of Antioch proclaimed Baldwin ruler of Antioch, but they emphasized that Antioch was Bohemonds rightful inheritance, Baldwin promised to cede Antioch to Bohemond if Bohemond came to the principality. Those who were present at the meeting agreed that Bohemond should marry Baldwins daughter and they also decreed that Bohemond would not be entitled to reclaim grants made during his absence from the principality. Baldwin II was captured in 1123, and the burghers of Antioch sent envoys to Bohemond, Bohemond reached the age of majority at the age of 16. Bohemond sailed from Otranto with a fleet of ships in September 1126. Bohemond landed at the port of St. Symeon in the Principality of Antioch in October or November and he went to Antioch to meet Baldwin II of Jerusalem, who subsequently ceded Antioch to him
4.
Tancred, Prince of Galilee
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Tancred was an Italo-Norman leader of the First Crusade who later became Prince of Galilee and regent of the Principality of Antioch. Tancred had a great-grandfather with the name, Tancred of Hauteville. Tancred was a son of Emma of Hauteville and Odo the Good Marquis and his maternal grandparents were Robert Guiscard and Guiscards first wife Alberada of Buonalbergo. Emma was also a sister of Bohemond of Taranto, in 1096, Tancred joined his maternal uncle Bohemund on the First Crusade, and the two made their way to Constantinople. There, he was pressured to swear an oath to Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, although the other leaders did not intend to keep their oaths, Tancred refused to swear the oath altogether. He participated in the siege of Nicaea in 1097, but the city was taken by Alexius army after secret negotiations with the Seljuk Turks, because of this, Tancred was very distrustful of the Byzantines. In 1097 the Crusaders divided their forces at Heraclea and Tancred entered the Levant by passing south through the Cilician Gates, the last three settlements were annexed to the Principality of Antioch. During their fourteen-year occupation of Anazarbus the Crusaders built the magnificent donjon atop the center of the fortified outcrop, at Sarvandikar, which controlled the strategic Amanus Pass, Tancred imprisoned Raymond of Saint-Gilles in 1101/02. He assisted in the siege of Antioch in 1098, one year later, during the assault on Jerusalem, Tancred, along with Gaston IV of Béarn, claimed to have been the first Crusader to enter the city on July 15. However, the first crusader to enter Jerusalem was Ludolf of Tournai, when the city fell, Tancred gave his banner to a group of the citizens who had fled to the roof of the Temple of Solomon. This should have assured their safety, but they were massacred, along many others. The author of the Gesta Francorum records that, when Tancred realised this, when the Kingdom of Jerusalem was established, Tancred became Prince of Galilee. In 1100, Tancred became regent of Antioch when Bohemund was taken prisoner by the Danishmends at the Battle of Melitene. He expanded the territory of the Latin principality by capturing land from the Byzantines, although, over the decade, Alexius attempted, unsuccessfully. In 1104, he took control of the County of Edessa when Baldwin II was taken captive after the Battle of Harran. After Baldwins release in late 1108, he had to fight Tancred to regain control of the county, after Harran, Bohemond returned to Europe to recruit more Crusaders, again leaving his nephew as regent in Antioch. Tancreds victory over Radwan of Aleppo at the Battle of Artah in 1105 allowed the Latin principality to recover some its territories east of the Orontes River. In 1108, Tancred refused to honour the Treaty of Devol, in which Bohemund swore an oath of fealty to Alexius, in 1110, he brought Krak des Chevaliers under his control, which would later become an important castle in the County of Tripoli
5.
Robert Guiscard
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Robert Guiscard was a Norman adventurer remembered for the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily. Robert was born into the Hauteville family in Normandy, went on to become Count of Apulia and Calabria and his sobriquet, in contemporary Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, is often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, the Fox, or the Weasel. In Italian sources he is often Roberto il Guiscardo or Roberto dAltavilla, from 999 to 1042 the Normans in Italy, coming first as pilgrims, were mainly mercenaries serving at various times the Byzantines and a number of Lombard nobles. The first of the independent Norman Lords was Rainulf Drengot who established himself in the fortress of Aversa becoming Count of Aversa, in 1038 there arrived William Iron-Arm and Drogo, the two eldest sons of Tancred of Hauteville, a petty noble of the Cotentin in Normandy. The two joined in the revolt of the Lombards against Byzantine control of Apulia, by 1040 the Byzantines had lost most of that province. Robert Guiscard was the son of Tancred of Hauteville and eldest by his second wife Fressenda. According to the Byzantine historian Anna Comnena, he left Normandy with only five mounted riders, upon arriving in Langobardia in 1047, he became the chief of a roving robber-band. He was a man of stature, surpassing even the biggest men, he had a ruddy complexion, fair hair, broad shoulders, eyes that all. In a well-built man one looks for breadth here and slimness there, in him all was admirably well-proportioned and elegant. Homer remarked of Achilles that when he shouted his hearers had the impression of a multitude in uproar, but Robert’s bellow, so they say, put tens of thousands to flight. Lands were scarce in Apulia at the time and the roving Guiscard could not expect any grant from Drogo, then reigning, Guiscard soon joined Prince Pandulf IV of Capua in his ceaseless wars with Prince Guaimar IV of Salerno. The next year, however, Guiscard left Pandulf, according to Amatus of Montecassino because Pandulf reneged on a promise of a castle, Guiscard returned to his brother Drogo and asked to be granted a fief. Drogo, who had just finished campaigning in Calabria, gave Guiscard command of the fortress of Scribla, dissatisfied with this position, Guiscard moved to the castle of San Marco Argentano. During his time in Calabria, Guiscard married his first wife, Alberada De Macon and she was the daughter of Reginald I, Count of Burgundy, also known as Renaud I De Macon, Baron of Buonalbergo, and Girard of Buonalbergo, and his wife Alice of Normandy. The Lombards turned against their allies, and Pope Leo IX determined to expel the Norman freebooters. His army was defeated, however, at the Battle of Civitate sul Fortore in 1053 by the Normans, Humphrey commanded the centre against the popes Swabian troops. Early in the battle Count Richard of Aversa, commanding the right van, put the Lombards to flight and chased them down, Guiscard had come all the way from Calabria to command the left. Honored for his actions at Civitate, Guiscard succeeded Humphrey as count of Apulia in 1057, in company with Roger, his youngest brother, Guiscard carried on the conquest of Apulia and Calabria, while Richard conquered the principality of Capua
6.
Calabria
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Calabria, known in antiquity as Bruttium and formerly as Italia, is a region in Southern Italy and forms the traditionally conceptualized toe of the Italian Peninsula which resembles a boot. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro and its most populated city, and the seat of the Regional Council of Calabria, is Reggio Calabria in the Province of Reggio Calabria. The region is bordered to the north by the Basilicata Region, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, the region covers 15,080 km2 and has a population of just under 2 million. The demonym of Calabria in English is Calabrian, in ancient times Calabria was referred to as Italy. The Romans later extended the name to cover Southern Italy and then the entire peninsula, the region is a long and narrow peninsula which stretches from north to south for 248 km, with a maximum width of 110 km. Some 42% of Calabrias area, corresponding to 15,080 km2, is mountainous, 49% is hilly and it is surrounded by the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas. It is separated from Sicily by the Strait of Messina, where the narrowest point between Capo Peloro in Sicily and Punta Pezzo in Calabria is only 3.2 km, three mountain ranges are present, Pollino, La Sila and Aspromonte. All three mountain ranges are unique with their own flora and fauna, the Pollino Mountains in the north of the region are rugged and form a natural barrier separating Calabria from the rest of Italy. Parts of the area are heavily wooded, while others are vast and these mountains are home to a rare Bosnian Pine variety, and are included in the Pollino National Park. The highest point is Botte Donato, which reaches 1,928 metres, the area boasts numerous lakes and dense coniferous forests. La Sila also has some of the tallest trees in Italy which are called the Giants of the Sila, the Sila National Park is also known to have the purest air in Europe. The Aspromonte massif forms the southernmost tip of the Italian peninsula bordered by the sea on three sides and this unique mountainous structure reaches its highest point at Montalto, at 1,995 metres, and is full of wide, man-made terraces that slope down towards the sea. In general, most of the terrain in Calabria has been agricultural for centuries. The lowest slopes are rich in vineyards and citrus fruit orchards, the Diamante citron is one of the citrus fruits. Moving upwards, olives and chestnut trees appear while in the regions there are often dense forests of oak, pine, beech. Calabrias climate is influenced by the sea and mountains, mountain areas have a typical mountainous climate with frequent snow during winter. Erratic behavior of the Tyrrhenian Sea can bring heavy rainfall on the slopes of the region, while hot air from Africa makes the east coast of Calabria dry. The mountains that run along the region also influence the climate, the east coast is much warmer and has wider temperature ranges than the west coast
7.
Canosa di Puglia
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Canosa di Puglia, generally known simply as Canosa, is a town and comune in Apulia in southern Italy, between Bari and Foggia, located in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani. Canosa, the Roman Canusium, is considered the principal center of Apulia. A number of important vases and other finds are located in local museums. It is not far from the position on the Ofanto River where the Romans found refuge after the defeat of the Battle of Cannae and is the place of Bohemund I of Antioch. Canosa is the Italian development of the Latin Canusium, derived from the Greek Kanýsion, according to the Latin commentator Servius, Canusium derived from canis, an animal associated with the local worship of Aphrodite. Other derivations include from Greek kháneon, from the abundant wicker growing along the Ofanto, the Hebrew chanuth, Canosa sits on the right bank of the Ofanto river and is nearly 20 kilometers from the Adriatic Sea. The town sits upon the Murgia plateau, between 105 and 140 meters above sea level, the city is built on a mostly sandy or clay surface that covers a limestone layer which in turn constitutes the typical white-yellowish tuff and is easily collapsible. This morphological feature allowed the construction of artificial grottoes. The tuff derived from the excavations has gone towards the construction of buildings on the surface, there are risks of subsidence due to the presence of caves and underground channels typical of karst environments. The buildings of the town of Canosa are considered high risk for collapse, in recent years there have been many building failures and disruptions of roads. The area extends south to the slopes of the Murgia, and is mostly flat, the basins of Rendina and Locone contribute to the large area 150 square kilometers. Canosa has a temperate climate, mild spring and autumn. The monthly average temperature is influenced by the Murgiano Range from 7.7 °C in January. The average annual rainfall is 547 millimetres of rainfall, distributed mainly in the period from September to April, Climate classification of Canosa is Climate zone C. The Diomedea fields were one of the centers of the Dauni. Toppicelli on the Ofantina plain has revealed buildings and tombs of an aristocracy that also seem related to this group. Excavations have also discovered metal and amber designs which appear Etruscan, canusion became an important commercial center for craftsman, especially of ceramics and pottery. Probably settled by the Pelasgians, it became a Greek polis by the time of the development of Magna Grecia, following Hannibals 216 BC victory over the consuls Paullus and Varro at nearby Cannae, Canosa protected the fleeing remnants of the Roman army within its walls
8.
Apulia
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Apulia is a region of Italy in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its southernmost portion, known as the Salento peninsula, forms a stiletto on the boot of Italy, the region comprises 19,345 square kilometers, and its population is about 4 million. It is bordered by the other Italian regions of Molise to the north, Campania to the west, across the Adriatic and Ionian Seas, it faces Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, and Montenegro, The Apulia region extends as far north as Monte Gargano. Puglias coastline is longer than any other mainland Italian region, in the north, the Gargano promontory extends out into the Adriatic, while in the south, the flat and dry Salento peninsula forms the heel of Italys boot. It is home to the Alta Murgia and Gargano National Parks, see also, History of Apulia Apulia is one of the richest archaeological regions in Italy. It was first colonized by Mycenaean Greeks, a number of castles were built in the area by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, including Castel del Monte, sometimes called the Crown of Apulia. After 1282, when the island of Sicily was lost, Apulia was part of the Kingdom of Naples, as a result of the French–Spanish war of 1501–1504, Naples again came under the rule of Aragon and the Spanish Empire from 1504 to 1714. When Barbary pirates of North Africa sacked Vieste in 1554, they took an estimated 7,000 slaves, in 1861 the region became part of the Kingdom of Italy, with the new capital city at Turin. In the words of one historian, Turin was so far away that Otranto is today closer to seventeen foreign capitals than it is to Turin, the regions contribution to Italys gross value added was around 4. 6% in 2000, while its population was 7% of the total. The per capita GDP is low compared to the national average, in comparison with the country as a whole, the economy of Apulia is characterised by a greater emphasis on agriculture and services and a smaller part played by industry. In the last 20 years the base of the regions economy has changed radically. The majority of firms are financed by local capital. In certain of these sectors – especially textiles, clothing, footwear, vehicles, the region has a good network of roads but the railway network is somewhat inadequate, particularly in the south. Apulias 800 kilometers of coastline is studded with ports, which make this region an important terminal for transport and tourism to Greece, between 2007 and 2013 the economy of Apulia expanded more than that of the rest of southern Italy. Such growth, over decades, is a severe challenge to the hydrogeological system. Emigration from the depressed areas to northern Italy and the rest of Europe was very intense in the years between 1956 and 1971. Subsequently, the trend declined as economic conditions improved, to the point where there was net immigration in the years between 1982 and 1985, since 1986 the stagnation in employment has led to a new inversion of the trend, caused by a decrease in immigration. Since 1 June 2015, former judge and mayor of Bari Michele Emiliano of the Democratic Party has served as President, Apulia is divided into five administrative provinces and one metropolitan city, Cuisine plays an important role throughout Apulia
9.
Constance of France, Princess of Antioch
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Constance of France was the daughter of King Philip I of France and Bertha of Holland. She was a member of the House of Capet and was Countess of Troyes from her first marriage and she was regent during the minority of her son. Her mother was repudiated by her father for Bertrade de Montfort and it caused the displeasure of the church and an interdict was placed on France several times as a result. Constance was the eldest of five children and was the daughter of her father from his first marriage. Constances brother was Louis VI of France, between 1093 and 1095, Phillip I arranged for his daughter, Constance, to marry Hugh, Count of Troyes and Champagne. Philip hoped to influence Hughs family, the powerful House of Blois, but the union between Constance and Hugh was too late to achieve the desired result. Hughs half-brother, Stephen II, Count of Blois, holder of most counties of the House of Blois was married, Stephen had married Adela of Normandy, daughter of William I of England, and their marriage had produced children. After ten years and without any surviving issue, Constance demanded an annulment of their marriage, Constance obtained a divorce at Soissons on 25 December 1104, under grounds of consanguinity. Constance went to the court of Adela, wife of Stephen and she was acting as regent since Stephen was killed in the Holy Land. Adela was well educated and all seemed to be well at the Court and it appeared that Adela used all her power to help Constance get a divorce from Hugh, who later left to fight in the Holy Land. At the same time, Bohemond I of Antioch was just released by the Turks and he returned to Europe to obtain relief for the Crusaders in the Holy Land. The regency of the Principality of Antioch was assured by Bohemonds nephew Tancred and he impressed audiences across France with gifts of relics from the Holy Land and tales of heroism while fighting the Saracens, gathering a large army in the process. Henry I of England famously prevented him landing on English shores. His new-found status won him the hand of Constance, so great was the reputation for valour of the French kingdom and of the Lord Louis that even the Saracens were terrified by the prospect of that marriage. She was not engaged since she had broken off her agreement to wed Hugh, count of Troyes, and wished to avoid another unsuitable match. The marriage was celebrated in the cathedral of Chartres between 25 March and 26 May 1106, and the festivities were held at the court of Adela, who also took part in negotiations. Pleased by his success, Bohemond resolved to use his army of 34,000 men, not to defend Antioch against the Greeks and he did so, but Alexius, aided by the Venetians, proved too strong, and Bohemond had to submit to a humiliating peace. After her marriage, Constance accompanied her husband to Apulia, where she gave birth to their first son, Bohemond, future Prince of Antioch, a second son, John, was also born in Apulia between 1108 and 1111, but died in early infancy, ca
10.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
11.
Hauteville family
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The Hauteville family, also called the Hauteville dynasty or House of Hauteville, was a Norman family originally of seigneurial rank from the Cotentin. The Hautevilles rose to prominence through their part in the Norman conquest of southern Italy, by 1130, one of their number, Roger II, was made the first King of Sicily. His male-line descendants ruled Sicily until 1194, some Italian Hautevilles took part in the First Crusade and the founding of the Principality of Antioch. The familial origins had roots from the Norsemen who had settled in Normandy in the 10th century and they are said to be descended from Hiallt, a Norseman who settled in the Cotentin Peninsula and founded the village of Hialtus Villa from which the family takes its name. This eponymous Hiallt who gave his name to Hauteville may be legendary, of several villages with the name Hauteville, the one from which the family derived its name is hard to identify with certainty, though modern scholarship favours Hauteville-la-Guichard. The first of the well known to us is Tancred of Hauteville. He remained until his death a minor baron of Normandy, but he had twelve sons and his small patrimony was hardly enough to satisfy his sons desire for land and glory, and so eight of the twelve went south to the Mezzogiorno to seek their fortunes there. About the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 a certain Alverardus or Aluericus Hautville is mentioned as having previously held lands in Compton Martin, Somerset and his kinsman Ralf de Hauville is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a tenant-in-chief in Burbage and Wolfhall in Wiltshire. Alverardus most probably founded the Somerset Hautevilles, and Ralf the Wiltshire/Berkshire Hauvilles, the eldest of the twelve sons, William and Drogo, were the first to arrive in the south sometime around 1035. They so distinguished themselves against the Greeks that William was inaugurated as count of Apulia and Calabria and lord of Ascoli, in 1047, Drogo was confirmed by the Emperor Henry III as Williams heir and a direct vassal of the imperial crown. Their next brother, Humphrey, succeeded Drogo and defeated Pope Leo IX at the Battle of Civitate and he was in turn succeeded by a fourth brother, the first by Tancreds second wife, Robert Guiscard. It was Robert who began the conquest of Sicily which was to yield a kingdom seventy years later, along with the valiant warriorship displayed by his youngest brother, Roger Bosso, the two began to amass notoriety around the Mediterranean. According to William of Apulias The Deeds of Robert Guiscard, although his Norse roots would seem to suggest otherwise, until the invasion of Sicily, Guiscard had not participated in naval warfare. In 1059 he was created duke by the pope and invested with as yet unconquered Sicily, the Guiscards heirs, Bohemond and Roger Borsa, fought over the inheritance and Roger of Sicily began to outshine the Apulian branch of the family. Roger united the Greek, Lombard, Norman, and Saracen elements of Sicily under one rule, Roger bequeathed a powerful state to his young sons, Simon and Roger. It was this Roger who, upon inheriting all from Simon in 1105, began the quest to unite into one all the Hauteville domains, Apulia and Calabria and Taranto with his own Sicily. On Williams death in 1127, the union of the duchy, believing kings to have ruled Palermo in antiquity, Roger threw his support behind the Antipope Anacletus II and was duly enthroned as king of Sicily on Christmas Day 1130. In 1139, by the Treaty of Mignano, Roger received the recognition of his kingship from the legitimate pope and it was through his admiral George of Antioch that Roger then proceeded to conquer the Mahdia in Africa, taking the unofficial title king of Africa
12.
Alberada of Buonalbergo
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Alberada of Buonalbergo was the first wife of Robert Guiscard, duke of Apulia, whom she married in 1051 or 1052, when he was still just a robber baron in Calabria. As her dowry, she brought Robert Guiscard two hundred knights and she bore Guiscard two children, a daughter, Emma, mother of Tancred, Prince of Galilee, and a son, Prince Bohemond I of Antioch. Nevertheless, the split was amicable and Alberada showed no ill will. She was alive at the death of Bohemond in March 1111 and died very old and she was buried near the Hauteville family mausoleum in the Abbey of Holy Trinity at Venosa. Her tomb is the one remaining intact today. The Normans in the South 1016-1130
13.
First Crusade
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The First Crusade was the first of a number of crusades that attempted to capture the Holy Land, called by Pope Urban II in 1095. An additional goal became the principal objective—the Christian reconquest of the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. During the crusades, nobility, knights, peasants and serfs from many regions of Western Europe travelled over land and by sea, first to Constantinople and then on towards Jerusalem. The Crusaders arrived at Jerusalem, launched an assault on the city and they also established the crusader states of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, and the County of Edessa. The First Crusade was followed by the Second to the Ninth Crusades and it was also the first major step towards reopening international trade in the West since the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The majority view is that it had elements of both in its nature, the origin of the Crusades in general, and particularly that of the First Crusade, is widely debated among historians. The confusion is due to the numerous armies in the first crusade. The similar ideologies held the armies to similar goals, but the connections were rarely strong, the Umayyad Caliphate had conquered Syria, Egypt, and North Africa from the predominantly Christian Byzantine Empire, and Hispania from the Visigothic Kingdom. In North Africa, the Umayyad empire eventually collapsed and a number of smaller Muslim kingdoms emerged, such as the Aghlabids, who attacked Italy in the 9th century. Pisa, Genoa, and the Principality of Catalonia began to battle various Muslim kingdoms for control of the Mediterranean Basin, exemplified by the Mahdia campaign and battles at Majorca and Sardinia. Essentially, between the years 1096 and 1101 the Byzantine Greeks experienced the crusade as it arrived at Constantinople in three separate waves, in the early summer of 1096, the first large unruly group arrived on the outskirts of Constantinople. This wave was reported to be undisciplined and ill-equipped as an army and this first group is often called the Peasants’ or People’s Crusade. It was led by Peter the Hermit and Walter Sans Avoir and had no knowledge of or respect for the wishes of Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. The second wave was not under the command of the Emperor and was made up of a number of armies with their own commanders. Together, this group and the first wave numbered an estimated 60,000, the second wave was led by Hugh I, Count of Vermandois, the brother of King Philip I of France. Also among the wave were Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse. It was this wave of crusaders which later passed through Asia Minor, captured Antioch in 1098 and finally took Jerusalem 15 July 1099. ”The third wave, composed of contingents from Lombardy, France. At the western edge of Europe and of Islamic expansion, the Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula was well underway by the 11th century and it was intermittently ideological, as evidenced by the Codex Vigilanus compiled in 881
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Nobility
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The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be largely honorary, and vary from country to country and era to era. There is often a variety of ranks within the noble class. g, san Marino and the Vatican City in Europe. Hereditary titles often distinguish nobles from non-nobles, although in many nations most of the nobility have been un-titled, some countries have had non-hereditary nobility, such as the Empire of Brazil. The term derives from Latin nobilitas, the noun of the adjective nobilis. In modern usage, nobility is applied to the highest social class in pre-modern societies and it rapidly came to be seen as a hereditary caste, sometimes associated with a right to bear a hereditary title and, for example in pre-revolutionary France, enjoying fiscal and other privileges. Nobility is a historical, social and often legal notion, differing from high socio-economic status in that the latter is based on income. Being wealthy or influential cannot, ipso facto, make one noble, various republics, including former Iron Curtain countries, Greece, Mexico, and Austria have expressly abolished the conferral and use of titles of nobility for their citizens. Not all of the benefits of nobility derived from noble status per se, usually privileges were granted or recognised by the monarch in association with possession of a specific title, office or estate. Most nobles wealth derived from one or more estates, large or small and it also included infrastructure such as castle, well and mill to which local peasants were allowed some access, although often at a price. Nobles were expected to live nobly, that is, from the proceeds of these possessions, work involving manual labour or subordination to those of lower rank was either forbidden or frowned upon socially. In some countries, the lord could impose restrictions on such a commoners movements. Nobles exclusively enjoyed the privilege of hunting, in France, nobles were exempt from paying the taille, the major direct tax. In some parts of Europe the right of war long remained the privilege of every noble. During the early Renaissance, duelling established the status of a respectable gentleman, Nobility came to be associated with social rather than legal privilege, expressed in a general expectation of deference from those of lower rank. By the 21st century even that deference had become increasingly minimised, in France, a seigneurie might include one or more manors surrounded by land and villages subject to a nobles prerogatives and disposition. Seigneuries could be bought, sold or mortgaged, if erected by the crown into, e. g. a barony or countship, it became legally entailed for a specific family, which could use it as their title. Yet most French nobles were untitled, in other parts of Europe, sovereign rulers arrogated to themselves the exclusive prerogative to act as fons honorum within their realms. Nobility might be inherited or conferred by a fons honorum
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Normans
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The Normans were the people who, in the 10th and 11th centuries, gave their name to Normandy, a region in France. They were descended from Norse raiders and pirates from Denmark, Iceland and Norway who, under their leader Rollo, through generations of assimilation and mixing with the native Frankish and Gallo-Roman populations, their descendants gradually adopted the Carolingian-based cultures of West Francia. The distinct cultural and ethnic identity of the Normans emerged initially in the first half of the 10th century, the Norman dynasty had a major political, cultural and military impact on medieval Europe and even the Near East. The Normans were famed for their spirit and eventually for their Christian piety. They adopted the Gallo-Romance language of the Frankish land they settled, their becoming known as Norman, Normaund or Norman French. The Normans are noted both for their culture, such as their unique Romanesque architecture and musical traditions, and for their significant military accomplishments and their chief men were specially lavish through their desire of good report. They were, moreover, a race skillful in flattery, given to the study of eloquence, so that the boys were orators. They were enduring of toil, hunger, and cold whenever fortune laid it on them, given to hunting and hawking, delighting in the pleasure of horses, and of all the weapons and garb of war. The treaty offered Rollo and his men the French lands between the river Epte and the Atlantic coast in exchange for their protection against further Viking incursions. The area corresponded to the part of present-day Upper Normandy down to the river Seine. The territory was equivalent to the old province of Rouen. Before Rollos arrival, its populations did not differ from Picardy or the Île-de-France, the Norman language was forged by the adoption of the indigenous langue doïl branch of Romance by a Norse-speaking ruling class, and it developed into the regional language that survives today. The Normans thereafter adopted the growing feudal doctrines of the rest of France, the new Norman rulers were culturally and ethnically distinct from the old French aristocracy, most of whom traced their lineage to Franks of the Carolingian dynasty. Most Norman knights remained poor and land-hungry, and by 1066 Normandy had been exporting fighting horsemen for more than a generation, many Normans of Italy, France and England eventually served as avid Crusaders under the Italo-Norman prince Bohemund I and the Anglo-Norman king Richard the Lion-Heart. Opportunistic bands of Normans successfully established a foothold in Southern Italy, probably as the result of returning pilgrims stories, the Normans entered Southern Italy as warriors in 1017 at the latest. In 999, according to Amatus of Montecassino, Norman pilgrims returning from Jerusalem called in at the port of Salerno when a Saracen attack occurred. The Normans fought so valiantly that Prince Guaimar III begged them to stay, the Hauteville family achieved princely rank by proclaiming prince Guaimar IV of Salerno Duke of Apulia and Calabria. He promptly awarded their elected leader, William Iron Arm, with the title of count in his capital of Melfi
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Antioch
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Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient Greco-Roman city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. Its ruins lie near the city of Antakya, Turkey. Antioch was founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, the citys geographical, military, and economic location benefited its occupants, particularly such features as the spice trade, the Silk Road, and the Persian Royal Road. It eventually rivaled Alexandria as the city of the Near East. It was also the center of Hellenistic Judaism at the end of the Second Temple period. Most of the development of Antioch was done during the Roman Empire. Antioch was called the cradle of Christianity as a result of its longevity, the Christian New Testament asserts that the name Christian first emerged in Antioch. It was one of the four cities of the Syrian tetrapolis, a single route proceeds south in the Orontes valley. The settlement of Meroe pre-dated Antioch, a shrine of the Semitic goddess Anat, called by Herodotus the Persian Artemis, was located here. This site was included in the suburbs of Antioch. There was a village on the spur of Mount Silpius named Io and this name was always adduced as evidence by Antiochenes anxious to affiliate themselves to the Attic Ionians—an eagerness which is illustrated by the Athenian types used on the citys coins. Io may have been an early colony of trading Greeks. John Malalas also mentions a village, Bottia, in the plain by the river. Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great is said to have camped on the site of Antioch and this account is found only in the writings of Libanius, a 4th-century orator from Antioch, and may be legend intended to enhance Antiochs status. But the story is not unlikely in itself, after Alexanders death in 323 BC, his generals divided up the territory he had conquered. Seleucus I Nicator won the territory of Syria, and he proceeded to found four sister cities in northwestern Syria, one of which was Antioch and he is reputed to have built sixteen Antiochs. Seleucus founded Antioch on a site chosen through ritual means, an eagle, the bird of Zeus, had been given a piece of sacrificial meat and the city was founded on the site to which the eagle carried the offering. Seleucus did this on the 22nd day of the month of Artemisios in the year of his reign
17.
Kings of Sicily
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See Emirate of Sicily Sicily was granted, pending its Christian reconquest, to Robert Guiscard as duke in 1059 by Pope Nicholas II. The Guiscard granted it as a county to his brother Roger, Roger II received royal investiture from Antipope Anacletus II in 1130 and recognition from Pope Innocent II in 1139. Constance was married to the Emperor Henry VI and he pressed his claim to the kingdom from William IIs death, there is evidence that, during the baronial revolt of 1197, there was an attempt to make Count Jordan Lupin of Bovino king in opposition to Henry VI. He may even have been crowned and seems to have had the support of Constance, in the end he was captured and executed. He is accepted as a pretender to the throne by modern historians Evelyn Jamison, Manfred was regent of Sicily for his nephew, the child Conrad II, but took the crown in 1258, and continued to fight to keep the kingdom under the Hohenstaufen. In 1254 the pope, having declared the kingdom a papal possession, offered the crown to the King of Englands son, Edmund Crouchback, but the English never succeeded in taking the kingdom. In 1262 the pope reversed his previous decision and granted the kingdom to the King of Frances brother, Charles of Anjou, conradin continued his claim to the throne until his death by decapitation perpetrated by Charles of Anjou in 1268. Edmund Crouchback, son of King Henry III of England, claimed the Crown of Sicily between 1254 and 1263, the claim was taken seriously by both him and his father, but was completely ineffectual. Peter III of Aragon, Manfreds son in law, of the House of Barcelona, thereafter the old Kingdom of Sicily was centred on the mainland, with capital at Naples, and although informally called Kingdom of Naples it was still known formally as Kingdom of Sicily. Thus, there were two Sicilies — the island kingdom, however, was often called Sicily beyond the Lighthouse or Trinacria, the Duke of Savoy ceded it to Austria in 1720 by the Treaty of The Hague. Charles I, Duke of Parma conquered the kingdom during the War of the Polish Succession, at the end of the war Sicily was ceded to the new Charles V of Sicily. In 1816 the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily were merged as the new Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, List of viceroys of Sicily List of Counts of Apulia and Calabria List of monarchs of Naples List of monarchs of the Two Sicilies
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County of Apulia and Calabria
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It became a duchy when Robert Guiscard was raised to the rank of duke by Pope Nicholas II in 1059. The duchy was disestablished in 1130 when the last duke of Apulia and Calabria, the title of duke was thereafter used intermittently as a title for the heir apparent to the Kingdom of Sicily. William I of Hauteville, who returned in September 1042 in Melfi, was recognized by all the Normans as supreme leader and he turned to Guaimar IV, Lombard, Prince of Salerno, and Rainulf Drengot, Count of Aversa, and offered both an alliance. In this meeting, Guaimar V of Salerno ensured the Hauteville dominance over Melfi, William of Hauteville formed the second core of his possessions and differentiated himself from Rainulf I of Aversa, head of the territories of Campania. All the barons present offered a tribute as a vassal to Guaimar, to tie it to himself, he offered to marry her niece Guide, daughter of Guy, Duke of Sorrento. Guaimar reconfirmed the title of count to Rainulf as well, which created the County of Puglia, William stated that the first capital of the county, and home of the Crown would be Melfi, a city that would remain outside the partition. William is usually considered the first count of Apulia and Calabria, in 1047, the Emperor Henry III took away Guaimars ducal title. He christened Williams brother and successor Drogo Dux et Magister Italiae comesque Normannorum totius Apuliae et Calabriae and it was thereafter used intermittently as a title for the heir apparent. Roger II 1127–34, also king of Sicily Roger III 1134–48, son of previous and it may have been revived for a short-lived son of William II. It was revived by King Tancred for his eldest son in 1189, bohemond 1181 Roger V 1189–93 Province of Apulia and Calabria Chalandon, Ferdinand. Histoire de la domination normande en Italie et en Sicile, Roger II of Sicily, Ruler between East and West. The Normans in the South 1016–1130, the Kingdom in the Sun 1130–1194. The Administration of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily
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Canon law
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Canon law is the body of laws and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. The way that such law is legislated, interpreted and at times adjudicated varies widely among these three bodies of churches. In all three traditions, a canon was originally a rule adopted by a council, these canons formed the foundation of canon law. Greek kanon / Ancient Greek, κανών, Arabic Qanun / قانون, Hebrew kaneh / קנה, straight, a rule, code, standard, or measure, the root meaning in all these languages is reed. In the Fourth century the First Council of Nicaea calls canons the disciplinary measures of the Church, the canon, κανὠν, means in Greek. There is an early distinction between the rules enacted by the Church and the legislative measures taken by the State called leges. The actual subject material of the canons is not just doctrinal or moral in nature, west Syrian Rite which includes the Maronite Church, Syriac Catholic Church and the Syro-Malankara Church. Armenian Rite Church which includes the Armenian Catholic Church, east Syrian Rite Churches which includes the Chaldean Church and Syro-Malabar Church. All of these groups are in full communion with the Supreme Pontiff and are subject to the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. The history of Latin canon law can be divided into four periods, the jus antiquum, the jus novum, the jus novissimum, in relation to the Code, history can be divided into the jus vetus and the jus novum. The academic degrees in law are the J. C. B. Because of its nature, advanced degrees in civil law or theology are normal prerequisites for the study of canon law. Much of the style was adapted from the Roman Law Code of Justinian. This is in contrast to the form of proceeding found in the common law system of English and U. S. law. The institutions and practices of canon law paralleled the development of much of Europe. Sampel explains that law has significant influence in contemporary society. Canonical jurisprudential theory generally follows the principles of Aristotelian-Thomistic legal philosophy, each had its own special law, in which custom still played an important part. In 1929 Pius XI informed the Eastern Churches of his intention to work out a Code for the whole of the Eastern Church, the publication of these Codes for the Eastern Churches regarding the law of persons was made between 1949 through 1958 but finalized nearly 30 years later
20.
Sikelgaita
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Sikelgaita was a Lombard princess, the daughter of Guaimar IV, Prince of Salerno, and second wife of Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia. She commanded troops in her own right and she married Robert in 1058, after Robert divorced his first wife Alberada, due to supposed consanguinity. Her sister Gaitelgrima had earlier married Roberts half-brother Drogo, the divorce from Alberada and the marriage to Sikelgaita were probably part of a strategy of alliance with the remaining Lombard princes, of whom Guaimar was chief. Alberada, for her part, appears to have had no qualms about dissolving her marriage, Sikelgaita frequently accompanied Robert on his conquests. She conducted the siege of Trani while Robert moved against Taranto, although at first she tried to persuade him not to attack the Byzantine Empire, she nevertheless brought troops and accompanied him on his campaign against them. As a middle-aged woman with a family, it is unlikely that she was a combatant although obviously close to the action. According to the Byzantine historian Anna Comnena, she was like another Pallas, if not a second Athena, in 1083, Sikelgaita returned to Italy with Robert to defend Pope Gregory VII against the Emperor Henry IV. She accompanied him on a campaign against the Byzantines, during which Robert died on Kefalonia in 1085 with Sikelgaita at his side. Early in 1086, Sikelgaita was in Salerno making a donation of the town of Centraro in his honour to Montecassino, Sikelgaita donated a large amount of silver for her health while she was ill on another occasion. Supposedly, she tried to poison Roberts son Bohemond by his first wife, with her son she put the Jews of Bari under that citys archbishop. On her death, she was, at her own request, journal of Medieval Military History 3, pp. 72–87. The Normans in the South 1016-1130, the Age of Robert Guiscard, Southern Italy and the Norman Conquest. Loud, Graham A. Coinage, Wealth and Plunder in the Age of Robert Guiscard, the English Historical Review, Vol.114, No.458. Monte Cassino, Byzantium, and the West in the Earlier Middle Ages, Sikelgaita of Salerno, Gender, and the Norman Conquest of Italy
21.
Lombards
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The Lombards or Longobards were a Germanic people who ruled large parts of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. In the 1st century AD, they formed part of the Suebi, the Lombard king Audoin defeated the Gepid leader Thurisind in 551 or 552, his successor Alboin eventually destroyed the Gepids at the Battle of Asfeld in 567. The Lombards were joined by numerous Saxons, Heruls, Gepids, Bulgars, Thuringians, and Ostrogoths, by late 569 they had conquered all north of Italy and the principal cities north of the Po River except Pavia, which fell in 572. At the same time, they occupied areas in central Italy and they established a Lombard Kingdom in north and central Italy, later named Regnum Italicum, which reached its zenith under the 8th-century ruler Liutprand. In 774, the Kingdom was conquered by the Frankish King Charlemagne, however, Lombard nobles continued to rule southern parts of the Italian peninsula, well into the 11th century when they were conquered by the Normans and added to their County of Sicily. In this period, the part of Italy still under Longobardic domination was known by the name Langbarðaland in the Norse runestones. Their legacy is apparent in the regional name Lombardy. The fullest account of Lombard origins, history, and practices is the Historia Langobardorum of Paul the Deacon, pauls chief source for Lombard origins, however, is the 7th-century Origo Gentis Langobardorum. The Origo Gentis Langobardorum tells the story of a tribe called the Winnili dwelling in southern Scandinavia. The Winnili were split into three groups and one part left their land to seek foreign fields. The reason for the exodus was probably overpopulation, the departing people were led by the brothers Ybor and Aio and their mother Gambara and arrived in the lands of Scoringa, perhaps the Baltic coast or the Bardengau on the banks of the Elbe. Scoringa was ruled by the Vandals and their chieftains, the brothers Ambri and Assi, the Winnili were young and brave and refused to pay tribute, saying It is better to maintain liberty by arms than to stain it by the payment of tribute. The Vandals prepared for war and consulted Godan, who answered that he would give the victory to those whom he would see first at sunrise. The Winnili were fewer in number and Gambara sought help from Frea, at sunrise, Frea turned her husbands bed so that he was facing east, and woke him. So Godan spotted the Winnili first and asked, Who are these long-beards. and Frea replied, My lord, thou hast given them the name, from that moment onwards, the Winnili were known as the Longbeards. When Paul the Deacon wrote the Historia between 787 and 796 he was a Catholic monk and devoted Christian and he thought the pagan stories of his people silly and laughable. Paul explained that the name Langobard came from the length of their beards, a modern theory suggests that the name Langobard comes from Langbarðr, a name of Odin. Priester states that when the Winnili changed their name to Lombards, they changed their old agricultural fertility cult to a cult of Odin
22.
Prince of Salerno
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These are the rulers of the Principality of Salerno. When Prince Sicard of Benevento was assassinated by Radelchis in 839, war raged between Radelchis and Siconulf until Emperor Louis II came down and forced a peace in 851, confirming Siconulf as prince of Salerno. The chronology is very confusing from then on until the assassination of Adhemar, Prince Gisulf II surrendered the next year and the principality, the final Lombard state in Italy, fell. Salerno became the capital of Guiscards duchy of Apulia, Calabria, Prince of Salerno was also a title created by Charles I of Naples for his son, later Charles II of Naples. It was regularly used for the heirs of the Kings of Naples, in the fourteenth century, most of the province of Salerno became the territory of the Princes of Sanseverino
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Bari
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Bari is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, the city itself has a population of about 326,799, as of 2015, over 116 square kilometres, while the urban area has 700,000 inhabitants. The metropolitan area has 1.3 million inhabitants, Bari is made up of four different urban sections. To the south is the Murat quarter, the heart of the city, which is laid out on a rectangular grid-plan with a promenade on the sea. Modern residential zones surrounding the centre of Bari were built during the 1960s and 1970s replacing the old suburbs that had developed along roads splaying outwards from gates in the city walls, in addition, the outer suburbs developed rapidly during the 1990s. The city has an airport named after Pope John Paul II, Karol Wojtyła Airport. The city was founded by the Peucetii. Its harbour, mentioned as early as 181 BC, was probably the one of the districts in ancient times, as it is at present. The first historical bishop of Bari was Gervasius who was noted at the Council of Sardica in 347, the bishops were dependent on the Patriarch of Constantinople until the 10th century. Until the arrival of the Normans, Bari continued to be governed by the Byzantines, throughout this period, and indeed throughout the Middle Ages, Bari served as one of the major slave depots of the Mediterranean, providing a central location for the trade in Slavic slaves. The city was conquered and the Emirate extinguished in 871, due to the efforts of Emperor Louis II, in 885, Bari became the residence of the local Byzantine catapan, or governor. In 1025, under the Archbishop Byzantius, Bari became attached to the see of Rome and was granted provincial status, in 1071, Bari was captured by Robert Guiscard, following a three-year siege. Maio of Bari, a Lombard merchants son, was the third of the admirals of Norman Sicily. The Basilica di San Nicola was founded in 1087 to receive the relics of this saint, the saint began his development from Saint Nicholas of Myra into Saint Nicholas of Bari and began to attract pilgrims, whose encouragement and care became central to the economy of Bari. In 1095 Peter the Hermit preached the first crusade there, the Greeks were not brought over to the Latin way of thinking, and the Great Schism was inevitable. A civil war broke out in Bari in 1117 with the murder of the archbishop, control of Bari was seized by Grimoald Alferanites, a native Lombard, and he was elected lord in opposition to the Normans. By 1123, he had increased ties with Byzantium and Venice, Grimoald increased the cult of St Nicholas in his city. He later did homage to Roger II of Sicily, but rebelled and was defeated in 1132, Bari was occupied by Manuel I Komnenos between 1155 and 1158
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Abelard of Hauteville
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Abelard of Hauteville was the eldest son of Humphrey, count of Apulia and Calabria, and his Lombard wife, Gaitelgrima of Salerno, also known as Altrude. He was supposed to inherit his fathers lands, but Robert Guiscard, his uncle and guardian, in April 1064, Abelard joined three discontented barons in rebellion against Robert, who had just left for Sicily. They received the aid, financial and military, of Perenos, the Byzantine duke of Durazzo, on 1 January 1068, Romanus Diogenes was acclaimed emperor in Constantinople and the Greeks transferred their military attention to the Seljuk threat to their east. The rebellion fell apart and by February only Geoffrey remained, Abelard was exiled, but Robert forgave him and gave him cities. Abelard was again at the head of a later in December 1071. Then, he recruited not only the Byzantines, but his brother Herman, whose inheritance had also confiscated by his guardian Guiscard at the same time. To their aid came the prince of Capua, Richard Drengot, Robert, however, did not leave the siege of Palermo. He preferred to ignore the insurrection, then spreading to Calabria, Palermo fell in 1072 and Robert returned to the peninsula the next year, easily putting down most of the rebels. However, he fell ill at Trani and was taken to Bari, Abelard was the only baron to dissent from the election of Roger, claiming that he was the rightful heir to the duchy. He rebelled yet again in 1078, with Geoffrey and Peter II of Trani again, a separate peace was made with Jordan and the rebellion, which was originally very well-organised, fell apart in 1079. He travelled to Constantinople with his brother, where he was welcomed cordially by the Emperor Alexius I Comnenus and he died, perhaps assassinated, probably in Illyria, in 1081, around April. He was buried in Greece and never back to Venosa
25.
Corfu
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Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its satellite islands. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality, the municipality has an area of 610.936 km2, the island proper 592.877 km2. The principal city of the island and seat of the municipality is also named Corfu, Corfu is home to the Ionian University. The island is bound up with the history of Greece from the beginnings of Greek mythology and its history is full of battles and conquests. Castles punctuating strategic locations across the island are a legacy of these struggles, two of these castles enclose its capital, which is the only city in Greece to be surrounded in such a way. As a result, Corfus capital has been declared a Kastropolis by the Greek government. From medieval times and into the 17th century, the island was recognised as a bulwark of the European States against the Ottoman Empire, the fortifications of the island were used by the Venetians to defend against Ottoman intrusion into the Adriatic. Corfu repulsed several Ottoman sieges, before falling under British rule following the Napoleonic Wars, in 2007, the citys old quarter was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, following a recommendation by ICOMOS. Corfu is a popular tourist destination. The island was the location of the 1994 European Union summit, the Greek name, Kerkyra or Korkyra, is related to two powerful water deities, Poseidon, god of the sea, and Asopos, an important Greek mainland river. According to myth, Poseidon fell in love with the beautiful nymph Korkyra, daughter of Asopos and river nymph Metope, Poseidon brought Korkyra to the hitherto unnamed island and, in marital bliss, offered her name to the place, Korkyra, which gradually evolved to Kerkyra. They had a child they called Phaiax, after whom the inhabitants of the island were named Phaiakes, Corfus nickname is the island of the Phaeacians. The name Corfù, an Italian version of the Byzantine Κορυφώ, meaning city of the peaks, derives from the Byzantine Greek Κορυφαί, the northeastern edge of Corfu lies off the coast of Sarandë, Albania, separated by straits varying in width from 3 to 23 km. The southeast side of the island lies off the coast of Thesprotia and its shape resembles a sickle, to which it was compared by the ancients, the concave side, with the city and harbour of Corfu in the centre, lies toward the Albanian coast. With the islands area estimated at 592.9 square kilometres, it runs approximately 64 km long, two high and well-defined ranges divide the island into three districts, of which the northern is mountainous, the central undulating, and the southern low-lying. The more important of the two ranges, that of Pantokrator stretches east and west from Cape Falacro to Cape Psaromita, and attains its greatest elevation in the summit of the same name. The second range culminates in the mountain of Santi Jeca, or Santa Decca, as it is called by misinterpretation of the Greek designation Άγιοι Δέκα, or the Ten Saints
26.
Buthrotum
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Buthrotum was an ancient Greek and later Roman city and bishopric in Epirus. Inhabited since prehistoric times, Buthrotum was a city of the Greek tribe of the Chaonians, later a Roman colony and it entered into decline in Late Antiquity, before being abandoned during the Middle Ages after a major earthquake flooded most of the city. In modern times it is a site in Vlorë County, Albania, some 14 kilometres south of Sarandë. It is located on a hill overlooking the Vivari Channel and is part of the Butrint National Park, Bouthroton was originally a town within the Adriatic Balkan region of Epirus. It was one of the centres of the Greek tribe of the Chaonians. According to the Roman writer Virgil, its founder was the seer Helenus, a son of king Priam of Troy. Both Virgil and the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus recorded that Aeneas visited Bouthroton after his own escape from the destruction of Troy. The earliest archaeological evidence of settled occupation dates to between 10th and 8th centuries BC, although some claim there is earlier evidence of habitation in the 12th century BC. Bouthroton was in an important position due its access to the Straits of Corfu. By the 4th century BC it had grown in importance and included a theatre, a dedicated to Asclepius. Around 380 BC, the settlement was fortified with a new 870m-long wall, with five gates, the Greek calendar of Bouthroton appears in the oldest known computer, the so-called Antikythera Mechanism. In 228 BC Buthrotum became a Roman protectorate alongside Corfu, in the next century, it became a part of a province of Macedonia. In 44 BC, Caesar designated Buthrotum as a colony to reward soldiers whom had fought for him against Pompey, local landholder Titus Pomponius Atticus objected to his correspondent Cicero who lobbied against the plan in the Senate. As a result, Buthrotum only small numbers of colonists were settled, in 31 BC, Roman Emperor Augustus fresh from his victory over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the battle of Actium renewed the plan to make Buthrotum a veterans colony. New residents expanded the city and the construction included an aqueduct, a Roman bath, houses, a forum complex, during that era the size of the town was doubled. In the 3rd century AD, an earthquake destroyed a part of the town. Excavations have revealed that city had already been in decline, however, the settlement survived into the late antique era, becoming a major port in the province of Old Epirus. The town of late antiquity included the grand Triconch Palace, the house of a local notable that was built around 425
27.
Byzantine Emperor
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This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Emperors listed below up to Theodosius I in 395 were sole or joint rulers of the entire Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire was the direct legal continuation of the eastern half of the Roman Empire following the division of the Roman Empire in 395. All Byzantine emperors considered themselves to be the rightful Roman emperor in direct succession from Augustus, the title of all Emperors preceding Heraclius was officially Augustus, although other titles such as Dominus were also used. Their names were preceded by Imperator Caesar and followed by Augustus, following Heraclius, the title commonly became the Greek Basileus, which had formerly meant sovereign but was then used in place of Augustus. Following the establishment of the rival Holy Roman Empire in Western Europe, in later centuries, the Emperor could be referred to by Western Christians as the Emperor of the Greeks. Towards the end of the Empire, the standard formula of the Byzantine ruler was in Christ, Emperor. For Roman emperors before Constantine I, see List of Roman emperors, family tree of the Byzantine emperors List of Roman emperors List of Roman usurpers List of Byzantine usurpers List of Roman and Byzantine empresses
28.
Alexios I Komnenos
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Alexios I Komnenos, was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power, the basis for this recovery were various reforms initiated by Alexios. His appeals to Western Europe for help against the Turks were also the catalyst that contributed to the convoking of the Crusades. Alexios was the son of the Domestic of the Schools John Komnenos and Anna Dalassena, Alexios father declined the throne on the abdication of Isaac, who was thus succeeded by four emperors of other families between 1059 and 1081. Under one of these emperors, Romanos IV Diogenes, Alexios served with distinction against the Seljuq Turks. Under Michael VII Doukas Parapinakes and Nikephoros III Botaneiates, he was employed, along with his elder brother Isaac, against rebels in Asia Minor, Thrace. In 1074, western mercenaries led by Roussel de Bailleul rebelled in Asia Minor, in 1078, he was appointed commander of the field army in the West by Nikephoros III. Alexios was ordered to march against his brother-in-law Nikephoros Melissenos in Asia Minor and this did not, however, lead to a demotion, as Alexios was needed to counter the expected invasion of the Normans of Southern Italy, led by Robert Guiscard. While Byzantine troops were assembling for the expedition, the Doukas faction at court approached Alexios, the mother of Alexios, Anna Dalassena, was to play a prominent role in this coup détat of 1081, along with the current empress, Maria of Alania. First married to Michael VII Doukas and secondly to Nikephoros III Botaneiates, she was preoccupied with the future of her son by Michael VII, furthermore, to aid the conspiracy Maria had adopted Alexios as her son, though she was only five years older than he. Maria was persuaded to do so on the advice of her own Alans and her eunuchs, given Annas tight hold on her family, Alexios must have been adopted with her implicit approval. As a result, Alexios and Constantine, Marias son, were now adoptive brothers, by secretly giving inside information to the Komnenoi, Maria was an invaluable ally. As stated in the Alexiad, Isaac and Alexios left Constantinople in mid-February 1081 to raise an army against Botaneiates, however, when the time came, Anna quickly and surreptitiously mobilized the remainder of the family and took refuge in the Hagia Sophia. From there she negotiated with the emperor for the safety of family members left in the capital, the tutor discovered they were missing and eventually found them on the palace grounds, but Anna was able to convince him that they would return to the palace shortly. However, before they were to gain entry into the sanctuary, Straboromanos and she refused to go with them and demanded that they allow her to pray to the Mother of God for protection. This request was granted and Anna then manifested her true theatrical and manipulative capabilities, Nikephoros III Botaneiates was forced into a public vow that he would grant protection to the family. Straboromanos tried to give Anna his cross, but for her it was not sufficiently enough for all bystanders to witness the oath. She also demanded that the cross be personally sent by Botaneiates as a vow of his good faith and he obliged, sending a complete assurance for the family with his own cross
29.
Battle of Dyrrhachium (1081)
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The battle was fought outside the city of Dyrrhachium, the Byzantine capital of Illyria, and ended in a Norman victory. Following the Norman conquest of Byzantine Italy and Saracen Sicily, the Byzantine emperor, Michael VII Doukas, when Michael was deposed, Robert took this as an excuse to invade the Byzantine Empire in 1081. His army laid siege to Dyrrhachium, but his fleet was defeated by the Venetians, on October 18, the Normans engaged a Byzantine army under Alexios I Komnenos outside Dyrrhachium. The battle began with the Byzantine right wing routing the Norman left wing, Varangian mercenaries joined in the pursuit of the fleeing Normans, but became separated from the main force and were massacred. Norman knights in the centre attacked the Byzantine centre and routed it, after this victory, the Normans took Dyrrhachium in February 1082 and advanced inland, capturing most of Macedonia and Thessaly. Robert was then forced to leave Greece to deal with an attack on his ally, Robert left his son Bohemond in charge of the army in Greece. Bohemond was initially successful, defeating Alexios in several battles, but was defeated by Alexios outside Larissa, forced to retreat to Italy, Bohemond lost all the territory gained by the Normans in the campaign. The Byzantine recovery began the Komnenian restoration, the Normans first arrived in Southern Italy in 1015 from northern France and served local Lombard lords as mercenaries against the Byzantine Empire. As they were paid with lands, soon they were enough to challenge Papal authority, in 1054, they defeated the Pope at the Battle of Civitate. In 1059, the Pope made Robert Guiscard, of the Hauteville family, Duke of Apulia, Calabria, however, most of Apulia and Calabria were in Byzantine hands, and Sicily was in Saracen hands. By 1071, Robert, together with his brother Roger, had taken over the last Byzantine stronghold in Italy, by the next year, they conquered all of Sicily, ending the Islamic Emirate of Sicily. In 1073, the Byzantine Emperor Michael VII sent an envoy to Robert offering the hand of his son Constantine to Roberts daughter Helena, Guiscard accepted the offer and sent his daughter to Constantinople. However, in 1078, Michael was overthrown by Nicephorus Botaneiates and this gave Robert a motive to invade the empire claiming his daughter had been mistreated, however, his intervention was delayed by a revolt in Italy. Robert conscripted all men of a fighting age into the army, meanwhile, he sent an ambassador to the Byzantine court with orders to demand proper treatment for Helena and to win over the Domestic of the Schools, Alexios. When the ambassador returned, he urged Robert to make peace, claiming that Alexios wanted nothing, Robert had no intention of peace, he sent his son Bohemond with an advance force towards Greece and Bohemond landed at Aulon, with Robert following shortly after. The Norman fleet of 150 ships including 60 horse transports set off towards the Byzantine Empire at the end of May 1081, the army numbered 30,000 men, backed up by 1,300 Norman knights. The fleet sailed to Avalona in Byzantine territory, they were joined by ships from Ragusa. Robert soon left Avalona and sailed to the island of Corfu, having won a bridgehead and a clear path for reinforcements from Italy, he advanced on the city of Dyrrhachium, the capital and chief port of Illyria
30.
Anglo-Saxons
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The Anglo-Saxons are a people who have inhabited Great Britain from the 5th century. Historically, the Anglo-Saxon period denotes the period in Britain between about 450 and 1066, after their settlement and up until the Norman conquest. The early Anglo-Saxon period includes the creation of an English nation, with many of the aspects that survive today, including government of shires. During this period, Christianity was re-established and there was a flowering of literature, charters and law were also established. The term Anglo-Saxon is popularly used for the language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons in England, in scholarly use, it is more commonly called Old English. The history of the Anglo-Saxons is the history of a cultural identity and it developed from divergent groups in association with the peoples adoption of Christianity, and was integral to the establishment of various kingdoms. Threatened by extended Danish invasions and occupation of eastern England, this identity was re-established, the visible Anglo-Saxon culture can be seen in the material culture of buildings, dress styles, illuminated texts and grave goods. Behind the symbolic nature of these emblems, there are strong elements of tribal. The elite declared themselves as kings who developed burhs, and identified their roles and peoples in Biblical terms, above all, as Helena Hamerow has observed, local and extended kin groups remained. the essential unit of production throughout the Anglo-Saxon period. Use of the term Anglo-Saxon assumes that the words Angles, Saxons or Anglo-Saxon have the meaning in all the sources. Assigning ethnic labels such as Anglo-Saxon is fraught with difficulties and this term began to be used only in the 8th century to distinguish the Germanic groups in Britain from those on the continent. The Old English ethnonym Angul-Seaxan comes from the Latin Angli-Saxones and became the name of the peoples Bede calls Anglorum, Anglo-Saxon is a term that was rarely used by Anglo-Saxons themselves, it is not an autonym. It is likely they identified as ængli, Seaxe or, more probably, also, the use of Anglo-Saxon disguises the extent to which people identified as Anglo-Scandinavian after the Viking age or the conquest of 1016, or as Anglo-Norman after the Norman conquest. The earliest historical references using this term are from outside Britain, referring to piratical Germanic raiders, Saxones who attacked the shores of Britain, procopius states that Britain was settled by three races, the Angiloi, Frisones, and Britons. The term Angli Saxones seems to have first been used in writing of the 8th century. The name therefore seemed to mean English Saxons, the Christian church seems to have used the word Angli, for example in the story of Pope Gregory I and his remark, Non Angli sed angeli. The terms ænglisc and Angelcynn were also used by West Saxon King Alfred to refer to the people, at other times he uses the term rex Anglorum, which presumably meant both Anglo-Saxons and Danes. Alfred the Great used Anglosaxonum Rex, the term Engla cyningc is used by Æthelred
31.
Varangian Guard
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The Varangian Guard was an elite unit of the Byzantine Army, from the 10th to the 14th centuries, whose members served as personal bodyguards to the Byzantine Emperors. They are known for being composed of Germanic peoples, specifically Norsemen. The Rus provided the earliest members of the Varangian Guard and they were in Byzantine service from as early as 874. The Guard was first formally constituted under Emperor Basil II in 988, Vladimir, who had recently usurped power in Kiev with an army of Varangian warriors, sent 6,000 men to Basil as part of a military assistance agreement. Immigrants from Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland kept a predominantly Norse cast to the organization until the late 11th century, composed primarily of Norsemen and Rus for the first 100 years, the Guard began to see increased numbers of Anglo-Saxons after the Norman conquest of England. By the late 13th century, Varangians were mostly assimilated by the Byzantine Greeks. In 1400, there were some people identifying themselves as Varangians in Constantinople. The earliest members of the Varangian guard came from Kievan Rus, a treaty between Rus and the Byzantine empire under Basil I was agreed in 874 after a period of hostilities. A clause in the treaty obliged Rus to provide men for Byzantine service, renewed hostilities between 907 and 911 ended with a new treaty under which any Rus who chose could serve Byzantium as a right. As early as 911, Varangians are mentioned as fighting as mercenaries for the Byzantines, a unit of 415 Varangians was involved in the Italian expedition of 936. It is also recorded there were Varangian contingents among the forces that fought the Arabs in Syria in 955. During this period, the Varangian mercenaries were included in the Great Companions, in 988, Basil II requested military assistance from Vladimir I of Kiev to help defend his throne. In compliance with the treaty made by his father after the Siege of Dorostolon, Vladimir took the opportunity to rid himself of his most unruly warriors which in any case he was unable to pay. This is the date for the formal, permanent institution of an elite guard. In exchange for the warriors, Vladimir was given Basils sister, Anna, Vladimir also agreed to convert to Christianity and to bring his people into the Christian faith. In 989, these Varangians, led by Basil II himself, on the field of battle, Phokas died of a stroke in full view of his opponent, upon the death of their leader, Phokas troops turned and fled. The brutality of the Varangians was noted when they pursued the fleeing army and these men formed the nucleus of the Varangian Guard, which saw extensive service in southern Italy in the eleventh century, as the Normans and Lombards worked to extinguish Byzantine authority there. In 1018, Basil II received a request from his catepan of Italy, Basil Boioannes, a detachment of the Varangian Guard was sent and in the Battle of Cannae, the Byzantines achieved a decisive victory
32.
Via Egnatia
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The Via Egnatia was a road constructed by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. It crossed the Roman provinces of Illyricum, Macedonia, and Thrace, running through territory that is now part of modern Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Greece, and European Turkey. Starting at Dyrrachium on the Adriatic Sea, the followed a difficult route along the river Genusus, over the Candaviae mountains. It then turned south, following several high mountain passes to reach the coastline of the Aegean Sea at Thessalonica. From there it ran through Thrace to the city of Byzantium and it covered a total distance of about 1,120 km. Like other major Roman roads, it was six metres wide. It may have succeeded an earlier road from Illyria to Byzantium, as described by Polybius and Cicero. The Via Egnatia was constructed in order to link a chain of Roman colonies stretching from the Adriatic Sea to the Bosphorus. The termini of the Via Egnatia and the Via Appia, leading from Rome itself, were almost directly opposite each other on the east and west shores of the Adriatic Sea, the route, thus gave the colonies of the southern Balkans a direct connection to Rome. It was repaired and expanded several times but experienced lengthy periods of neglect due to Romes civil wars, the road was used by the Apostle Paul on his second missionary journey as he traveled from Philippi to Thessalonica. Surviving milestones record that the emperor Trajan undertook extensive repairs of the prior to his campaign of 113 against the Parthians. However, by the 5th century AD the road had fallen into disuse as a result of violent instability in the region. A 5th-century historian noted that the sections of the Via Egnatia were in such a poor state that travellers could barely pass along it. Almost all Byzantine overland trade with western Europe traveled along the Via Egnatia, during the Crusades, armies traveling to the east by land followed the road to Constantinople before crossing into Asia Minor. In the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, control of the road was vital for the survival of the Latin Empire as well as the Byzantine successor states the Empire of Nicaea, during the first European conquests of Ottoman Turks sol kol was following the Via Egnatia. Todays modern highway, Egnatia Odos, runs in parallel with the Via Egnatia between Thessaloniki and the Turkish border on the Evros river and its name means Via Egnatia in Greek, alluding to its ancient predecessor. Listed from west to east,1994, official Journal of the European Communities. Amore, M G, L Bejko, Y Cerova, and I Gjipali, archaeological Reports and Notes - Via Egnatia Project, Results of Fieldwork 2002
33.
Kastoria
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Kastoria is a city in northern Greece in the region of West Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria regional unit and it is situated on a promontory on the western shore of Lake Orestiada, in a valley surrounded by limestone mountains. The town is known for its many Byzantine churches, Byzantine and Ottoman-era domestic architecture, fur clothing industry, although Procopius refers to it as a city of Thessaly, the description is undoubtedly that of Kastoria, a city on a promontory in a lake. There are several theories about the origin of the name Kastoria, the dominant of these is that the name derives from the Greek word κάστορας. Trade in the fur, sourced from nearby Lake Orestiada, has traditionally been an important element of the citys economy. Other theories propose that the name derives from the Greek word κάστρο or from the mythical hero Κάστωρ, the word is sometimes written with a C, Castoria, especially in older works. From Greek, the name was borrowed into Turkish as Kesriye, the Serbian, Bulgarian and Slav Macedonian name of the city is Kostur.330 km2, the municipal unit 57.318 km2. For Orthodox and Latin ecclesiastical history, see Metropolis of Kastoria Kastoria is believed to have ancient origins, livy mentions a town near a lake in Orestis, called Celetrum, whose inhabitants surrendered to Sulpitius during the Roman war against Philip V of Macedon. The ancient town was located on a hill above the towns current location. The Roman Emperor Diocletian founded the town of Diocletianopolis in the vicinity, tafel, in his study on the Via Egnatia, suggested that Celetrum, Diocletianopolis and Kastoria are three successive names of the same place. Kastoria itself does not appear, however, until the Byzantine–Bulgarian wars of the late 10th/early 11th century, the town was in Bulgarian hands until 1018, when it was conquered by Basil II. Kastoria was occupied by the Normans under Bohemond I in 1082/83, the town had a significant Jewish presence, most notably the 11th-century scholar Tobiah ben Eliezer. During the 13th and 14th centuries, the town became contested between several powers and changed hands often, the Second Bulgarian Empire held the city under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II, until it was recovered by the Despotate of Epirus. The Nicaean Empire captured it in ca,1252, but lost it again to Epirus in ca. 1257, only for the Nicaeans to recapture it following the Battle of Pelagonia, in the early 14th century, Kastoria was part of the domain of John II Doukas, doux of Great Vlachia and Kastoria. After his death, the became part of the semi-autonomous domain of Stephen Gabrielopoulos. The Serbian ruler Stephen Dushan finally captured Kastoria in 1342/3, taking advantage of the ongoing Byzantine civil war, after Dushans death, Kastoria became the seat of Symeon Uroš. The town came later under the Epirote ruler Thomas Preljubović, and finally under the Albanian Muzaka family, the Ottoman Turks conquered Kastoria around 1385, but it is unclear whether by force or by an agreement with its Albanian rulers
34.
Balkans
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The Balkan Peninsula, or the Balkans, is a peninsula and a cultural area in Eastern and Southeastern Europe with various and disputed borders. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch from the Serbia-Bulgaria border to the Black Sea, the highest point of the Balkans is Mount Musala 2,925 metres in the Rila mountain range. In Turkish, Balkan means a chain of wooded mountains, the name is still preserved in Central Asia with the Balkan Daglary and the Balkan Province of Turkmenistan. A less popular hypothesis regarding its etymology is that it derived from the Persian Balā-Khāna, from Antiquity through the Middle Ages, the Balkan Mountains had been called by the local Thracian name Haemus. According to Greek mythology, the Thracian king Haemus was turned into a mountain by Zeus as a punishment, a reverse name scheme has also been suggested. D. Dechev considers that Haemus is derived from a Thracian word *saimon, a third possibility is that Haemus derives from the Greek word haema meaning blood. The myth relates to a fight between Zeus and the monster/titan Typhon, Zeus injured Typhon with a thunder bolt and Typhons blood fell on the mountains, from which they got their name. The earliest mention of the name appears in an early 14th-century Arab map, the Ottomans first mention it in a document dated from 1565. There has been no other documented usage of the word to refer to the region before that, there is also a claim about an earlier Bulgar Turkic origin of the word popular in Bulgaria, however it is only an unscholarly assertion. The word was used by the Ottomans in Rumelia in its meaning of mountain, as in Kod̲j̲a-Balkan, Čatal-Balkan, and Ungurus-Balkani̊. The concept of the Balkans was created by the German geographer August Zeune in 1808, during the 1820s, Balkan became the preferred although not yet exclusive term alongside Haemus among British travelers. Among Russian travelers not so burdened by classical toponymy, Balkan was the preferred term, zeunes goal was to have a geographical parallel term to the Italic and Iberian Peninsula, and seemingly nothing more. The gradually acquired political connotations are newer and, to a large extent, after the dissolution of Yugoslavia beginning in June 1991, the term Balkans again received a negative meaning, especially in Croatia and Slovenia, even in casual usage. A European Union initiative of 1999 is called the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, and its northern boundary is often given as the Danube, Sava and Kupa Rivers. The Balkan Peninsula has an area of about 470,000 km2. It is more or less identical to the known as Southeastern Europe. As of 1920 until World War II, Italy included Istria, the current territory of Italy includes only the small area around Trieste inside the Balkan Peninsula. However, the regions of Trieste and Istria are not usually considered part of the Balkans by Italian geographers, the Western Balkans is a neologism coined to describe the countries of ex-Yugoslavia and Albania
35.
Ioannina
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The Folk Art Museum of Epirus - Kostas Frontzos is a museum in Ioannina, Greece. The museum is housed in a building of the first decade of the 19th century, in 1976 it was bought by the Society for Epirotic Studies and was converted to a Folk Art Museum. A new wing was added during the 1990s and its diversity and qualitative presentation make it unique in Epirus and notable to the rest of Greece. Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism / www. about-ioannina. gr www. ioannina-portal. gr www. n-ioanninon. gr
36.
Arta, Greece
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Arta is a city in northwestern Greece, capital of the regional unit of Arta, which is part of Epirus region. The city was known in ancient times as Ambracia, Arta is known for the medieval bridge over the Arachthos River. Arta is also known for its ancient sites from the era of Pyrrhus of Epirus, artas Byzantine history is reflected in its many Byzantine churches, perhaps the best known is the Panagia Paregoretissa, built about 1290 by Despot Nikephoros I Komnenos Doukas. The city is the seat of the Technological Educational Institute of Epirus, the first settlement in the area of the modern city dates to the 9th century B. C. Ambracia was founded as a Corinthian colony in the 7th century B. C, Pyrrhus managed to achieve great but costly victories against the Romans, hence the phrase Pyrrhic victory which refers in particular to an exchange at the Battle of Asculum. Nevertheless, Pyrrhus found the time and means to adorn his capital with a palace, in 146 BC, Ambracia became part of the Roman Republic. Despite the existence several churches from the 9th and 10th centuries, in the Komnenian period, the city flourished as a commercial centre, with links to Venice, and quickly rose to become an archbishopric. By the end of the 12th century, Arta probably formed a distinct district within the wider theme of Nicopolis. In 1205, after the fall of Constantinople to the Fourth Crusade and it continued to prosper under its new rulers, despite repeated attempts by another Greek successor state, the Empire of Nicaea, to subdue Epirus. Fortified in 1227, Arta was briefly occupied in 1259, following the Battle of Pelagonia, serbian rule was followed by Albanian rule, until it was taken by Carlo I Tocco, Count palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos. The city remained in Toccos hands until 1449, when the Ottoman Empire captured it, archaeological finds also attest to a local ceramic industry. Under Ottoman rule, the town was called in Turkish Narda and it was occupied by Venetians in 1717 and the French in 1797, but the Ottomans retook it in 1799. Several battles took place near the city during the Greek War of Independence, the city was finally annexed to the Greek Kingdom in 1881 by the Treaty of Berlin. The modern city is on the site of ancient Ambracia, remains of the classic era include the ancient walls, the ruins of an ancient temple of Apollo, a small theatre, and remnants of the southwest cemetery. The towns fortifications were built by Michael I Komnenos Doukas in the early 13th century, secular architecture from the Byzantine period, including the palace of the Despots of Epirus, has vanished completely, but the city preserves numerous churches. The most important Byzantine church is the cathedral Church of the Paregoretissa, built ca.1290 by Nikephoros I Komnenos Doukas, archaeological Museum of Arta Church of the Paregoretissa Folk museum Skoufas Historical museum Skoufas Private folk museum in Kypseli. It has four Faculties and thirteen Departments, Arta is located NNW of Antirrio, Messolongi and Agrinio, NE of Preveza, SSE of Ioannina and nearly SW of Trikala. Regular bus lines connect Arta with all bigger Greek cities, the city is linked with the GR-5 and the GR-30 which links with Peta and Trikala
37.
Macedonia (region)
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Macedonia /ˌmæsᵻˈdoʊniə/ is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, however it came to be defined as the geographical region by the mid 19th century. Nowadays the region is considered to include parts of six Balkan countries, Greece and it covers approximately 67,000 square kilometres and has a population of 4.76 million. Its oldest known settlements date back approximately 9,000 years, from the middle of the 4th century BC, the Kingdom of Macedon became the dominant power on the Balkan peninsula, since then Macedonia has had a diverse history. The definition of Macedonia has changed several times throughout history, expansion of Kingdom of Macedon,1. Kingdom of Perdiccas I, Macedonian Kingdom of Emathia consisting of six provinces Emathia, Pieria, Bottiaea, Mygdonia, Eordea, Kingdom of Alexander I, All the above provinces plus the eastern annexations Crestonia, Bisaltia and the western annexations Elimiotis, Orestis and Lynkestis. Kingdom of Philip II, All the above plus the appendages of Pelagonia and Macedonian Paeonia to the north, Sintike, Odomantis and Edonis to the east. In the 2nd century, Macedonia covered approximately the area where it is considered to be today, for reasons that are still unclear, over the next eleven centuries Macedonias location was changed significantly. The Roman province of Macedonia consisted of what is today Northern and Central Greece, much of the area of the present-day Republic of Macedonia. Simply put, the Romans created a larger administrative area under that name than the original ancient Macedon. In the Byzantine Empire, a province under the name of Macedonia was carved out of the original Theme of Thrace and this thema variously included parts of Thrace and gave its name to the Macedonian dynasty. Hence, Byzantine documents of this era that mention Macedonia are most probably referring to the Macedonian thema, during medieval and modern times, Macedonia has been known as a Balkan region inhabited by ethnic Greeks, Albanians, Vlachs, Serbs, Bulgarians, Jews, and Turks. Today, as a region where several very different cultures meet. Macedonian Greeks self-identify culturally and regionally as Macedonians and they form the majority of the regions population. They number approximately 2,500,000 and, today, smaller Greek minorities exist in Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia, although their numbers are difficult to ascertain. Ethnic Macedonians self-identify as Macedonians in a sense as well as in the regional sense. They are the second largest ethnic group in the region, because of their primarily Slavic origin they are also known as Macedonian Slavs and Slav Macedonians. They form the majority of the population in the Republic of Macedonia where according to the 2002 census, according to the latest Bulgarian census held in 2001, there are 3,117 people declaring themselves ethnic Macedonians in the Blagoevgrad Province of Bulgaria
38.
Thessaly
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Thessaly is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, Thessaly became part of the modern Greek state in 1881, after four and a half centuries of Ottoman rule. Since 1987 it has formed one of the countrys 13 regions and is further sub-divided into 5 regional units and 25 municipalities, the capital of the region is Larissa. Thessaly lies in central Greece and borders the regions of Macedonia on the north, Epirus on the west, Central Greece on the south, the Thessaly region also includes the Sporades islands. In Homers epic, the Odyssey, the hero Odysseus visited the kingdom of Aeolus, the Plain of Thessaly, which lies between Mount Oeta/Othrys and Mount Olympus, was the site of the battle between the Titans and the Olympians. According to legend, Jason and the Argonauts launched their search for the Golden Fleece from the Magnesia Peninsula, Thessaly was home to extensive Neolithic and Chalcolithic cultures around 6000–2500 BC. Mycenaean settlements have also discovered, for example at the sites of Iolcos, Dimini. In Archaic and Classical times, the lowlands of Thessaly became the home of baronial families, in the summer of 480 BC, the Persians invaded Thessaly. The Greek army that guarded the Vale of Tempe evacuated the road before the enemy arrived, not much later, Thessaly surrendered to the Persians. The Thessalian family of Aleuadae joined the Persians subsequently, in the 4th century BC, after the Greco-Persian Wars had long ended, Jason of Pherae transformed the region into a significant military power, recalling the glory of Early Archaic times. Shortly after, Philip II of Macedon was appointed Archon of Thessaly, the Avars had arrived in Europe in the late 550s. They asserted their authority over many Slavs, who were divided into numerous petty tribes, many Slavs were galvanized into an effective infantry force, by the Avars. In the 7th century the Avar-Slav alliance began to raid the Byzantine Empire, laying siege to Thessalonica, relations between the Slavs and Greeks were probably peaceful apart from the initial settlement and intermittent uprisings. Being agriculturalists, the Slavs probably traded with the Greeks inside towns and it is likely that the re-Hellenization had already begun by way of this contact. This process would be completed by a newly reinvigorated Byzantine Empire, with the abatement of Arab-Byzantine Wars, the Byzantine Empire began to consolidate its power in those areas of mainland Greece occupied by Proto-Slavic tribes. Following the campaigns of the Byzantine general Staurakios in 782–783, the Byzantine Empire recovered Thessaly, apart from military expeditions against Slavs, the re-Hellenization process begun under Nicephorus I involved transfer of peoples. Many Slavs were moved to other parts of the such as Anatolia. In return, many Greeks from Sicily and Asia Minor were brought to the interior of Greece, to increase the number of defenders at the Emperors disposal, even non-Greeks such as Armenians were transferred to the Balkans
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Larissa
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Larissa is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region, the fifth most populous in Greece and capital of the Larissa regional unit. It is an agricultural centre and a national transportation hub, linked by road and rail with the port of Volos. Larissa, within its municipality, has 162,591 inhabitants, legend has it that Achilles was born here, and that Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, died here. Today, Larissa is a commercial and industrial centre in Greece. The region is linked to the rest of Europe through the International Airport of Central Greece located in Nea Anchialos a short distance from Larissa. Larissa lies on the river Pineios, the municipality Larissa has an area of 335.98 km2, the municipal unit Larissa has an area of 122.586 km2, and the community Larissa has an area of 88.167 km2. The Larissa Chasma, a gash in the surface of Dione. The climate of Larissa is transitional, the winter is cold and wet, and some snowstorms may occur. The summer is hot, and temperatures of 40 °C may occur, thunderstorms or heavy rain may cause agricultural damage. Larissa receives 450 mm of rain per year, according to Greek mythology it is said that the city was founded by Acrisius, who was killed accidentally by his grandson, Perseus. There lived Peleus, the hero beloved by the gods, in mythology, the nymph Larissa was a daughter of the primordial man Pelasgus. In this paragraph, Homer shows that the Pelasgians, Trojan allies and it is likely that this city of Larissa was different to the city that was the birthplace of Achilles. The Larissa that features as a Trojan ally in the Iliad was likely to be located in the Troad, traces of Paleolithic human settlement have been recovered from the area, but it was peripheral to areas of advanced culture. The area around Larissa was extremely fruitful, it was agriculturally important, the name Larissa is in origin a Pelasgian word for fortress. There were many ancient Greek cities with this name, the name of Thessalian Larissa is first recorded in connection with the aristocratic Aleuadai family. Larissa is thought to be where the famous Greek physician Hippocrates, when Larissa ceased minting the federal coins it shared with other Thessalian towns and adopted its own coinage in the late 5th century BC, it chose local types for its coins. The obverse depicted the nymph of the spring, Larissa, for whom the town was named. The reverse depicted a horse in various poses, the horse was an appropriate symbol of Thessaly, a land of plains, which was well known for its horses
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Barker, Ernest (1911). "Bohemund". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 135–136.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the 