1.
Zeno (emperor)
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Zeno the Isaurian, originally named Tarasis Kodisa Rousombladadiotes /ˈtærəsᵻs/, was Eastern Roman Emperor from 474 to 475 and again from 476 to 491. Domestic revolts and religious dissension plagued his reign, which succeeded to some extent in foreign issues. His reign saw the end of the Western Roman Empire under Romulus Augustus, Zenos original name was Tarasis, and more accurately Tarasikodissa in his native Isaurian language. Tarasis was born in Isauria, at Rusumblada, later renamed Zenonopolis in Zenos honour and his father was called Kodisa, his mother Lallis, his brother Longinus. Tarasis had a wife, Arcadia, whose name indicates a relationship with the Constantinopolitan aristocracy, the Isaurians were a people who lived inland from the Mediterranean coast of Anatolia, in the core of the Taurus Mountains. Like most borderland tribes, they were looked upon as barbarians by the Romans even though they had been Roman subjects for more than five centuries. However, being Orthodox Christians rather than Arians, as the Goths and other Germanic tribes were, they were not formally barred from the throne. According to some scholars, in the mid-460s, Eastern Roman Emperor Leo I wanted to balance the weight of the Germanic component of the army and he thought that Tarasis and his Isaurians could be that counterweight, and called him, with many Isaurians, to Constantinople. This interpretation, however, has been contested, by mid-460s, Arcadia and Zeno had been living at Constantinople for some time, where also Lallis and Longinus lived, the latter married to a Valeria, possibly a woman of aristocrat rank. Through these letters, which Tarasis gave to Leo, the Emperor could dismiss Ardabur, as reward for his loyalty, which Leo praised with Daniel the Stylite, Tarasis was appointed comes domesticorum, an office of great influence and prestige. This appointment could mean that Tarasis had been a protector domesticus, either at Leos court in Constantinople, or attached at Ardaburs staff in Antioch. In 465, Leo and Aspar quarreled about the appointment of consuls for the year, it was on this occasion that Tarasis position was strengthened, as he became friend. To make himself acceptable to the Roman hierarchy and the population of Constantinople, Tarasis adopted the Greek name of Zeno. In mid-late 466, Zeno married Ariadne, elder daughter of Leo I and Verina, as there is no reference to a divorce with Arcadia, she should have died in those years. Zeno, however, was not present at the birth of his son, as in 467, Zeno, as member of the protectores domestici, did not take part in the disastrous expedition against the Vandals, led in 468 by Leos brother-in-law Basiliscus. The following year, during which he held the honour of the consulate, he was appointed magister militum per Thracias, the sources do not clearly state what enemy he fought there, and historians had proposed either Goths or Huns, or the rebels of Anagastes. What happened was that Leo sent some of his soldiers with Zeno to protect him. Zeno was informed of their intention and fled to Serdica, and because of this episode, after the attack, Zeno did not return to Constantinople, where Aspar and Ardabur were and had still considerable power
2.
Visigoths
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The Visigoths were the western branches of the nomadic tribes of Germanic peoples referred to collectively as the Goths. These tribes flourished and spread throughout the late Roman Empire in Late Antiquity, the Visigoths emerged from earlier Gothic groups who had invaded the Roman Empire beginning in 376 and had defeated the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. Relations between the Romans and the Visigoths were variable, alternately warring with one another and making treaties when convenient, the Visigoths invaded Italy under Alaric I and sacked Rome in 410. The Visigoths first settled in southern Gaul as foederati of the Romans – a relationship established in 418, however, they soon fell out with their Roman hosts and established their own kingdom with its capital at Toulouse. They next extended their authority into Hispania at the expense of the Suebi, in 507, however, their rule in Gaul was ended by the Franks under Clovis I, who defeated them in the Battle of Vouillé. After that, the Visigoth kingdom was limited to Hispania, in or around 589, the Visigoths under Reccared I converted from Arianism to Nicene Christianity, gradually adopting the culture of their Hispano-Roman subjects. Their legal code, the Visigothic Code abolished the practice of applying different laws for Romans. Once legal distinctions were no longer being made between Romani and Gothi, they became known collectively as Hispani, in the century that followed, the region was dominated by the Councils of Toledo and the episcopacy. In 711 or 712, a force of invading African Moors defeated the Visigoths in the Battle of Guadalete and their king and many members of their governing elite were killed, and their kingdom rapidly collapsed. During their governance of the Kingdom of Hispania, the Visigoths built several churches that survive and they also left many artifacts, which have been discovered in increasing numbers by archaeologists in recent times. The Treasure of Guarrazar of votive crowns and crosses is the most spectacular and they founded the only new cities in western Europe from the fall of the Western half of the Roman Empire until the rise of the Carolingian dynasty. Many Visigothic names are still in use in modern Spanish and Portuguese, contemporaneous references to the Gothic tribes use the terms Vesi, Ostrogothi, Thervingi, and Greuthungi. Most scholars have concluded that the terms Vesi and Tervingi were both used to refer to one particular tribe, while the terms Ostrogothi and Greuthungi were used to refer to another. In addition, the Notitia Dignitatum equates the Vesi with the Tervingi in a reference to the years 388–391, the earliest sources for each of the four names are roughly contemporaneous. The first recorded reference to the Tervingi is in a eulogy of the emperor Maximian, delivered in or shortly after 291 and it says that the Tervingi, another division of the Goths, joined with the Taifali to attack the Vandals and Gepidae. The first known use of the term Ostrogoths is in a document dated September 392 from Milan and this would explain why the latter terms dropped out of use shortly after 400, when the Goths were displaced by the Hunnic invasions. Wolfram believes that the people Zosimus describes were those Tervingi who had remained behind after the Hunnic conquest, for the most part, all of the terms discriminating between different Gothic tribes gradually disappeared after they moved into the Roman Empire. The last indication that the Goths whose king reigned at Toulouse thought of themselves as Vesi is found in a panegyric on Avitus by Sidonius Apollinaris dated 1 January 456, most recent scholars have concluded that Visigothic group identity emerged only within the Roman Empire
3.
Jurchen people
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The Jurchen established the Jin Dynasty, whose empire conquered the Northern Song in 1127, gaining control of most of North China. Jin control over China lasted until their 1234 conquest by the Mongols, the Manchus would later conquer the Ming and establish the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until their overthrow in 1911. The obscurity of the origin of the Jurchen is reflected in the confusion surrounding their name and it is recorded variously in different languages and different eras. The apparently cognate ethnonyms Sushen and Jizhen are recorded in ancient Chinese geographical works like the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the present name dates back to at least the 10th century, when Balhae was destroyed by the Khitans. It was the source of Fra Mauros Zorça and Marco Polos Ciorcia, vajda considers that the Jurchens name probably derives from the Tungusic words for reindeer people and is cognate with the names of the Orochs of Khabarovsk Province and the Oroks of Sakhalin. In Manchu, this word was often used to describe the serfs—though not slaves—of the free Manchu people. To describe the people who founded the Jin dynasty, they reborrowed the Mongolian name as Jurcit. The initial Khitan form of the name was said to be Lüzhen, at the same time, the Jurchen were interchangeably known as the Nrjo-drik. Aisin Gioro, however, argues that this was a folk etymology. Under the Liao, a distinction was made between the Charted Jurchens who submitted to their rule and the Uncharted Jurchens who lived beyond their frontier. The former were divided into the Jianzhou and Haixi Jurchens and the latter included the Yeren Jurchens, in earlier records, this area was known as the home of the Sushen, the Yilou, the Wuji, and the Mohe or Malgal. Under the Qing and within modern scholarship, some sources stress the continuity between these peoples with the Jurchen but this remains conjectural. The Tungusic Mohe tribes were subjects of the Korean state of Balhae, the Mohe enjoyed eating pork, practiced pig farming extensively, and were mainly sedentary. They used both pig and dog skins for coats and they were predominantly farmers and grew soybean, wheat, millet, and rice in addition to hunting. By the 11th century, the Jurchens had become vassals of the Khitan rulers of the Liao dynasty, the Jin dynasty captured the Northern Song dynastys capital, Bianjing, in 1127. The name of the Jurchens dynasty—the Chinese word for gold—derived from the Gold River in their ancestral homeland, at first, the Jurchen tribesmen were kept in readiness for warfare, but decades of urban and settled life in China eroded their original warlike lifestyle in Manchurian tundra and marshes. Eventually, intermarriage with other groups in China was permitted. The Jin rulers themselves came to follow Confucian norms, by 1215, after losing much territory to the Mongols, the Jurchens moved their capital south from Zhongdu to Kaifeng
4.
Kaifeng
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Kaifeng, known previously by several names, is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan, China. It was once the capital of the Song dynasty, and is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China, there are currently nearly 5 million people living in its metropolitan area. The postal romanization for the city is Kaifeng and its official one-character abbreviation in Chinese is 汴. Its name was originally Qifeng, but the syllable qi was changed to the essentially synonymous kai to avoid the naming taboo of Liu Qi, as with Beijing, there have been many reconstructions during its history. In 364 BC during the Warring States period, the State of Wei founded a city called Daliang as its capital in this area, during this period, the first of many canals in the area was constructed linking a local river to the Yellow River. When the State of Wei was conquered by the State of Qin, Kaifeng was destroyed and abandoned except for a market town. Early in the 7th century, Kaifeng was transformed into a commercial hub when it was connected to the Grand Canal as well as through the construction of a canal running to western Shandong. In 781 during the Tang dynasty, a new city was reconstructed and named Bian, Bian was the capital of the Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Zhou of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The Song dynasty made Bian its capital when it overthrew the Later Zhou in 960, shortly afterwards, the city underwent further expansion. During the Song, when it was known as Dongjing or Bianjing, Kaifeng was the capital, typhus was an acute problem in the city. In 1049, the Youguosi Pagoda – or Iron Pagoda as it is called today – was constructed measuring 54.7 metres in height and it has survived the vicissitudes of war and floods to become the oldest landmark in this ancient city. Another Song-dynasty pagoda, Po Tower, dating from 974, has partially destroyed. Another well-known sight was the clock tower of the engineer, scientist. Kaifeng reached its peak importance in the 11th century when it was a commercial and industrial center at the intersection of four major canals. During this time, the city was surrounded by three rings of city walls and probably had a population of between 600,000 and 700,000 and it is believed that Kaifeng was the largest city in the world from 1013 to 1127. This period ended in 1127 when the city fell to Jurchen invaders during the Jingkang Incident and it subsequently came under the rule of the Jurchen Jin dynasty, which had conquered most of North China during the Jin–Song Wars. While it remained an important administrative center, only the city area inside the city wall of the early Song remained settled. One major problem associated with Kaifeng as the capital of the Song was its location
5.
Song dynasty
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The Song dynasty was an era of Chinese history that began in 960 and continued until 1279. It succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, coincided with the Liao and Western Xia dynasties and it was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or true paper money nationally and the first Chinese government to establish a permanent standing navy. This dynasty also saw the first known use of gunpowder, as well as the first discernment of true north using a compass, the Song dynasty is divided into two distinct periods, Northern and Southern. During the Northern Song, the Song capital was in the city of Bianjing. The Southern Song refers to the period after the Song lost control of its half to the Jurchen Jin dynasty in the Jin–Song Wars. During this time, the Song court retreated south of the Yangtze, the Southern Song dynasty considerably bolstered its naval strength to defend its waters and land borders and to conduct maritime missions abroad. To repel the Jin, and later the Mongols, the Song developed revolutionary new military technology augmented by the use of gunpowder, in 1234, the Jin dynasty was conquered by the Mongols, who took control of northern China, maintaining uneasy relations with the Southern Song. Möngke Khan, the fourth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire and his younger brother Kublai Khan was proclaimed the new Great Khan, though his claim was only partially recognized by the Mongols in the west. In 1271, Kublai Khan was proclaimed the Emperor of China, after two decades of sporadic warfare, Kublai Khans armies conquered the Song dynasty in 1279. The Mongol invasion led to a reunification under the Yuan dynasty, the population of China doubled in size during the 10th and 11th centuries. The Northern Song census recorded a population of roughly 50 million, much like the Han and this data is found in the Standard Histories. However, it is estimated that the Northern Song had a population of some 100 million people and this dramatic increase of population fomented an economic revolution in pre-modern China. The expansion of the population, growth of cities, and the emergence of a national economy led to the withdrawal of the central government from direct involvement in economic affairs. The lower gentry assumed a role in grassroots administration and local affairs. Appointed officials in county and provincial centers relied upon the gentry for their services, sponsorship. Social life during the Song was vibrant, citizens gathered to view and trade precious artworks, the populace intermingled at public festivals and private clubs, and cities had lively entertainment quarters. The spread of literature and knowledge was enhanced by the expansion of woodblock printing. Technology, science, philosophy, mathematics, and engineering flourished over the course of the Song, although the institution of the civil service examinations had existed since the Sui dynasty, it became much more prominent in the Song period
6.
Constantinople
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Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine Empire, and also of the brief Latin, and the later Ottoman empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, Constantinople was famed for its massive and complex defences. The first wall of the city was erected by Constantine I, Constantinople never truly recovered from the devastation of the Fourth Crusade and the decades of misrule by the Latins. The origins of the name of Byzantion, more known by the later Latin Byzantium, are not entirely clear. The founding myth of the city has it told that the settlement was named after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas. The later Byzantines of Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honour of two men, Byzas and Antes, though this was likely just a play on the word Byzantion. During this time, the city was also called Second Rome, Eastern Rome, and Roma Constantinopolitana. As the city became the remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew. In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently, the medieval Vikings, who had contacts with the empire through their expansion in eastern Europe used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr, and later Miklagard and Miklagarth. In Arabic, the city was sometimes called Rūmiyyat al-kubra and in Persian as Takht-e Rum, in East and South Slavic languages, including in medieval Russia, Constantinople was referred to as Tsargrad or Carigrad, City of the Caesar, from the Slavonic words tsar and grad. This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις, the modern Turkish name for the city, İstanbul, derives from the Greek phrase eis tin polin, meaning into the city or to the city. In 1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script, in time the city came to be known as Istanbul and its variations in most world languages. In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpolis/Konstantinoúpoli or simply just the City, apart from this, little is known about this initial settlement, except that it was abandoned by the time the Megarian colonists settled the site anew. A farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c.150 BC which stipulated tribute in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and had in the Golden Horn an excellent and spacious harbour. He would later rebuild Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta Antonina, fortifying it with a new city wall in his name, Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, yet it had been the capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Constantinople was built over 6 years, and consecrated on 11 May 330, Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis
7.
Basiliscus
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Basiliscus was Byzantine Emperor from 475 to 476. A member of the House of Leo, he came to power when Emperor Zeno had been forced out of Constantinople by a revolt, Basiliscus was the brother of Empress Aelia Verina, who was the wife of Emperor Leo I. Basiliscus succeeded in seizing power in 475, exploiting the unpopularity of Emperor Zeno, the successor to Leo. Also, his policy of securing his power through the appointment of men to key roles antagonised many important figures in the imperial court. So, when Zeno tried to regain his empire, he found no opposition, triumphantly entering Constantinople. The struggle between Basiliscus and Zeno impeded the Eastern Roman Empires ability to intervene in the fall of the Western Roman Empire, likely of Balkan origin, Basiliscus was the brother of Aelia Verina, wife of Leo I. It has been argued that Basiliscus was uncle to the chieftain of the Heruli and this link is based on the interpretation of a fragment by John of Antioch, which states that Odoacer and Armatus, Basiliscus nephew, were brothers. However, not all accept this interpretation, since sources do not say anything about the foreign origin of Basiliscus. It is known that Basiliscus had a wife, Zenonis, and at least one son, Basiliscus military career started under Leo I. The Emperor conferred upon his brother-in-law the dignities of dux, or commander-in-chief, in this country Basiliscus led a successful military campaign against the Bulgars in 463. He succeeded Rusticius as magister militum per Thracias, and had several successes against the Goths, basiliscuss value rose in Leos consideration. Verinas intercession in favour of her brother helped Basiliscus military and political career, with the conferral of the consulship in 465, however, his rise was soon to meet a serious reversal. In 468, Leo chose Basiliscus as leader of the military expedition against Carthage. The plan was concerted between Eastern Emperor Leo, Western Emperor Anthemius, and General Marcellinus, who enjoyed independence in Illyricum and it appears that the combined forces met in Sicily, whence the three fleets moved at different periods. Ancient and modern historians provided different estimations for the number of ships and troops under the command of Basiliscus, the most conservative estimation for expedition expenses is of 64,000 pounds of gold, a sum that exceeded a whole years revenue. Sardinia and Libya were already conquered by Marcellinus and Heraclius, when Basiliscus cast anchor off the Promontorium Mercurii, now Cap Bon, opposite Sicily, Geiseric requested Basiliscus to allow him five days to draw up the conditions of a peace. During the negotiations, Geiseric gathered his ships and suddenly attacked the Roman fleet, the Vandals had filled many vessels with combustible materials. During the night, these ships were propelled against the unguarded
8.
Erwig
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Erwig was a king of the Visigoths in Hispania. He was the only Visigothic king to be a puppet of the bishops. Ardabast, was probably an Armenian or Persian Christian exile in Constantinople or in Byzantine Africa, in Hispania he was made a count. After his predecessor Wamba had taken the habit while on the verge of death, he was forced to retire from the kingship, even though he recovered. He appointed Erwig his successor and the latter was anointed in Toledo on 31 October 680, later, 9th-century legends attributed to Erwig the poisoning of the king, who was made a penitent by his supporters while Erwigs supporters raised him to the throne. Nonetheless, some historians have seen in the rapidity of Erwigs unction after the king had received the penitential sacrament evidence for a palace coup. Erwig began his reign in a climate of uneasiness concerning the way in which he reached the throne, probably feeling insecure himself, the nobles and bishops took advantage. Erwig restored to favour those who had out of it in the time of Wamba. After the Twelfth Council, the Thirteenth and Fourteenth followed in quick succession, the councils confirmed Erwigs legitimacy for a second time and wrote many laws to protect the life and rule of the king and his family, including that of his queen, Liuvigoto. Erwig issued 28 laws condemning Jews with the support of the Twelfth Council and he himself stated to the council his desire to return to the legislation of the reign of Sisebut, though he was a little more lenient, dispensing with the death penalty. These laws were part of a revised and expanded version of the Liber Iudiciorum which is attached to Erwigs name, all of the laws, dealing with Jews, have been attributed to the influence of Julian of Toledo, the fanatically anti-Jewish archbishop of Toledo. When the Ervigian code was promulgated in November 681, Erwig had added six more of his own new laws, there is no evidence, however, that the Ervigian code superseded the Recceswinthian and manuscripts of both continued to be produced and sold. Declaring them a plague on the kingdom, he called for their removal from the kingdom. Such a decree had been issued by Erwigs predecessor Wamba and much as that one Erwigs also failed, so in 681 he issued another decree, this time requiring that all Jews become Christians or leave the kingdom. Jews were officially discriminated against from henceforth as the monarchy attempted to restrict Jewish commercial activities, the Twilight of the Goths, The Rise and Fall of the Kingdom of Toledo, c. Murphy, Francis X. Julian of Toledo and the Fall of the Visigothic Kingdom in Spain, são-Payo, Luíz Paulo Manuel de Menezes de Mello Vaz de. A Herança Genética de Dom Afonso I Henriques, Porto, Centro de Estudos de História da Família da Universidade Moderna do Porto,2002. Continuité des élites à Byzance durante les siècles obscurs, les princes caucasiens et lEmpire du VIe au IXe siècle
