Nikephoros III Botaneiates
Nikephoros III Botaneiates, Latinized as Nicephorus III Botaniates, was Byzantine emperor from 1078 to 1081. He belonged to a family claiming descent from the Byzantine Phokas family, Nikephoros Botaneiates had served as general from the reign of Constantine IX. Drawn to politics, he had been a participant in the uprising that brought Isaac I to the throne in 1057. Although considered a competent general, he had suffered a number of humiliating setbacks throughout his career. In 1064, he, together with Basil Apokapes, doux of Paradounavon, defended the Balkan frontiers against the invading Oghuz Turks, but was defeated and suffered the humiliation of being taken captive. The outbreak of an epidemic soon began decimating the Turks, however, in 1067, Nikephoros had been considered as a possible husband for the empress Eudokia Makrembolitissa, widowed wife of Constantine X, but she eventually set her heart on Romanos IV Diogenes. Excluded from Romanoss campaign at Manzikert, he retired to his estates in Anatolia, under Michael VII Doukas, he became strategos of the Anatolic theme and commander of the troops in Asia Minor.
In 1078 he revolted against Michael VII and his finance minister Nikephoritzes, with the support of the Seljuk Turks, who provided him with valuable troops, he marched upon Nicaea, where he proclaimed himself emperor. In the face of another general, Nikephoros Bryennios, his election was ratified by the aristocracy and clergy, while Michael VII abdicated. On 24 March 1078, Nikephoros III Botaneiates entered Constantinople in triumph and was crowned by Patriarch Kosmas I of Constantinople, with the help of his general Alexios Komnenos, he defeated Bryennios and other rivals but failed to clear the invading Turks out of Asia Minor. To solidify his position after the death of his wife, Nikephoros III sought to marry Eudokia Makrembolitissa, the mother of Michael VII. Nikephoros administration did not win him support, as his favored courtiers alienated much of the older court bureaucracy. Apart from the discontent of the Byzantine aristocracy, several Armenian princes in Asia Minor attempted to establish their independence from the empire, two Paulician leaders launched their own rebellion in Thrace, in a brutal religious conflict that was not easily suppressed.
The deposed emperor retired into the monastery he had endowed at the Church of St. Mary Peribleptos, where he died the same year
Anatolia
Anatolia, in geography known as Asia Minor, Asian Turkey, Anatolian peninsula, or Anatolian plateau, is the westernmost protrusion of Asia, which makes up the majority of modern-day Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Black Sea to the Armenian Highlands, traditionally Anatolia is the territory that comprises approximately the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. The Turkification of Anatolia began under the Seljuk Empire in the late 11th century, various non-Turkic languages continue to be spoken by minorities in Anatolia today, including Kurdish, Armenian, Laz and Greek. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line running from the Gulf of Alexandretta to the Black Sea.
This traditional geographical definition is used, for example, in the latest edition of Merriam-Websters Geographical Dictionary, under this definition, Anatolia is bounded to the east by the Armenian Highlands, and the Euphrates before that river bends to the southeast to enter Mesopotamia. To the southeast, it is bounded by the ranges that separate it from the Orontes valley in Syria, the first name the Greeks used for the Anatolian peninsula was Ἀσία, presumably after the name of the Assuwa league in western Anatolia. As the name of Asia came to be extended to areas east of the Mediterranean. The name Anatolia derives from the Greek ἀνατολή meaning “the East” or more literally “sunrise”, the precise reference of this term has varied over time, perhaps originally referring to the Aeolian and Dorian colonies on the west coast of Asia Minor. In the Byzantine Empire, the Anatolic Theme was a theme covering the western, the modern Turkish form of Anatolia is Anadolu, which again derives from the Greek name Aνατολή.
The Russian male name Anatoly and the French Anatole share the same linguistic origin, in English the name of Turkey for ancient Anatolia first appeared c. It is derived from the Medieval Latin Turchia, which was used by the Europeans to define the Seljuk controlled parts of Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert. Human habitation in Anatolia dates back to the Paleolithic, neolithic Anatolia has been proposed as the homeland of the Indo-European language family, although linguists tend to favour a origin in the steppes north of the Black Sea. However, it is clear that the Anatolian languages, the oldest branch of Indo-European, have spoken in Anatolia since at least the 19th century BC. The earliest historical records of Anatolia stem from the southeast of the region and are from the Mesopotamian-based Akkadian Empire during the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 24th century BC, scholars generally believe the earliest indigenous populations of Anatolia were the Hattians and Hurrians. The region was famous for exporting raw materials, and areas of Hattian-, one of the numerous cuneiform records dated circa 20th century BC, found in Anatolia at the Assyrian colony of Kanesh, uses an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines.
They were speakers of an Indo-European language, the Hittite language, originating from Nesa, they conquered Hattusa in the 18th century BC, imposing themselves over Hattian- and Hurrian-speaking populations. According to the most widely accepted Kurgan theory on the Proto-Indo-European homeland, the Hittites adopted the cuneiform script, invented in Mesopotamia
Nikephoritzes
Nikephoritzes was an influential Byzantine eunuch official, who served as chief minister and virtual ruler of the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Emperor Michael VII Doukas. His actual name was Nikephoros, he received the nickname Nikephoritzes as a result of his youth when he first entered service in the court. He became widely unpopular due to his harsh taxation and meddling with Constantinoples grain supply and this resentment led to the outbreak of two major rebellions in 1077, and the eventual abdication of Michael VII. Nikephoritzes himself was captured and tortured to death, Nikephoritzes was born in the Bucellarian Theme and entered service in the imperial secretariat under Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos. Under Constantine X Doukas, he was sent away from the court to assume the governorship of Antioch, because he allegedly slandered the Empress Eudokia Makrembolitissa, following the emperors death and her assumption of the regency, he was imprisoned. He was released by the new emperor, Romanos IV Diogenes, and appointed as praetor of the themes of Hellas.
Back in Constantinople, Nikephoritzes was appointed logothetes tou dromou, as the de facto ruler of the Byzantine Empire, Nikephoritzes set about reorganizing the state, trying to restore its strength and re-establish central control. His first priority was to replenish the treasury, for this he resorted to brutal taxation, which caused major hardship both in the provinces and in Constantinople. He established a warehouse at Rhaidestos in an effort to centralize, regulate. According to Michael Attaleiates, admittedly a hostile source, his policies resulted in shortages in grain, by the winter of 1076/1077, Constantinople was experiencing famine. At the same time, a rebellion broke out in the Danubian province of Paristrion, because Nikephoritzes stopped payment of the subsidies to the local mixobarbaroi. The vestarches Nestor, who was sent to settle things, joined the rebellion, the rebels demanded only one thing, the dismissal of Nikephoritzes, and when they took Rhaidestos, they burned down the corn warehouse.
Nikephoritzes tried to reform the army, and revived the regiment of the Immortals, although undeniably a capable administrator, his financial measures and centralizing tendencies were generally resented. In this, they focus especially on the monastery at Hebdomon, which he administrated, opposition coalesced around the Patriarch of Antioch Aemilian, an old enemy of Nikephoritzes from his time in Antioch, with support from several bishops and the capitals guilds. In addition, in the summer of 1077, Nikephoros Bryennios in the Balkans, Bryennios marched against Constantinople, hoping it would surrender, but the pillaging of its suburbs by his troops deterred the capitals inhabitants, and he had to retreat. In turn, a group of bishops opposing Nikephoritzes gathered in Hagia Sophia on January 7,1078, Nikephoritzes responded by forcibly removing them from the cathedral, for which he was excommunicated by the Patriarch of Constantinople. Nikephoritzes fled the capital and sought refuge in Heraclea Pontica, where Roussel de Bailleul was encamped, however, had him arrested and delivered to the new emperor.
Nikephoritzes was exiled to the island of Prote and Oxeia, where he was brutally tortured by the megas hetaireiarches Romanos Straboromanos and died as a result
Byzantine Empire
It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city.
Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, the Roman Republic, and as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika.
The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
Malik-Shah I
Jalāl al-Dawla Muizz al-Dunyā Wal-Din Abul-Fatḥ ibn Alp Arslān, better known by his regnal name of Malik-Shah I, was sultan of the Seljuq Empire from 1072 to 1092. During his youth, he spent his time participating in the campaigns of his father Alp Arslan, during one of such campaigns in 1072, Alp Arslan was fatally wounded and died only a few days later. After that, Malik-Shah was crowned as the new sultan of the empire, Malik-Shah did not access the throne peacefully, and had to fight his uncle Qavurt, who claimed the throne. Although Malik-Shah was the head of the Seljuq state, the vizier Nizam al-Mulk held near absolute power during his reign. Malik-Shah spent the rest of rest waging war against the Karakhanids on the eastern side, Malik-Shahs death to this day remains under dispute, according to some scholars, he was poisoned by the Caliph, while others say that he was poisoned by the supporters of Nizam al-Mulk. Although he was known by names, he was mostly known as Malik-Shah, a combination of the Arabic word malik.
Malik-Shah was born on 16 August 1055 and spent his youth in Isfahan, according to the 12th-century Persian historian Muhammad bin Ali Rawandi, Malik-Shah had fair skin, was tall and somewhat bulky. In 1064, Malik-Shah, only 9 years old by then, along with Nizam al-Mulk, the same year, Malik-Shah was married to Terken Khatun, the daughter of the Karakhanid khan Ibrahim Tamghach-Khan. In 1066, Alp Arslan arranged a ceremony near Merv, where he appointed Malik-Shah as his heir, in 1071, Malik-Shah took part in the Syrian campaign of his father, and stayed in Aleppo when his father fought the Byzantine emperor Romanos IV Diogenes at Manzikert. In 1072, Malik-Shah and Nizam al-Mulk accompanied Alp-Arslan during his campaign in Transoxiana against the Karakhanids, Alp-Arslan was badly wounded during his expedition, and Malik-Shah shortly took over the army. Alp-Arslan died some days later, and Malik-Shah was declared as the new sultan of the empire, Malik-Shah replied by sending the following message, A brother does not inherit when there is a son.
This message enraged Qavurt, who thereafter occupied Isfahan, in 1073 a battle took place near Hamadan, which lasted three days. Qavurt was accompanied by his seven sons, and his army consisted of Turkmens, while the army of Malik-Shah consisted of ghulams and contingents of Kurdish, during the battle, the Turks of Malik-Shahs army mutinied against him, but he nevertheless managed to defeat and capture Qavurt. Qavurt begged for mercy and in return promised to retire to Oman, Nizam al-Mulk declined the offer, claiming that sparing him was an indication of weakness. After some time, Qavurt was strangled to death with a bowstring, after having dealt with that problem, Malik-Shah appointed Qutlugh-Tegin as the governor of Fars and Sav-Tegin as the governor of Kerman. Malik-Shah eventually managed to repel the Karakhanids and captured Tirmidh, giving Sav-Tegin the key of the city, Malik-Shah appointed his other brother Shihab al-Din Tekish as the ruler of Tukharistan and Balkh. In 1074, Malik-Shah ordered the Turkic warlord Arghar to restore what he had destroyed during his raids in the territory of the Shirvanshah Fariburz I, during the same year, he appointed Qavurts son Rukn al-Dawla Sultan-Shah as the ruler of Kerman.
One year later, Malik-Shah sent an army under Sav-Tegin to Arran, Sav-Tegin managed to easily conquer the region, thus ending Shaddadid rule
Monastery of Stoudios
The residents of the monastery were referred to as Stoudites. The ruins of the monastery are situated not far from the Propontis in the section of the city called Psamathia and it was founded in 462 by the consul Flavius Studius, a Roman patrician who had settled in Constantinople, and was consecrated to Saint John the Baptist. Its first monks came from the monastery of Acoemetae and they were driven from the monastery and the city by Emperor Constantine V, after his death however, some of them returned. Hegumenos Sabas of Stoudios zealously defended the Orthodox doctrines against the Iconoclasts at the Seventh Ecumenical Council in Nicaea and his successor was Theodore the Studite to whom the monastery owes most of its fame, and who especially fostered academic and spiritual study. During St. Theodores administration the monks were harassed and driven away several times, Theodores pupil, Naukratios, re-established discipline after the Iconoclastic dispute had come to an end. Hegumenos Nicholas refused to recognize the Patriarch St.
Photios and was on this account imprisoned in his own monastery and he was succeeded by five abbots who recognized the patriarch. The brilliant period of the Stoudios came to an end at this time, as regards the intellectual life of the monastery in other directions, it is especially celebrated for its famous school of calligraphy which was established by Theodore. The art of illumination was cultivated, with many brilliant products of the monastic scriptorium now residing in Venice, Vatican City. The Theodore Psalter, created at the monastery in the century is in the collection of the British Library. In the eighth and eleventh centuries, the monastery was the centre of Byzantine religious poetry, besides Theodore and Niketas, a number of other theological writers are known. Three of the Stoudite monks rose to become the ecumenical patriarchs, in 1204, the monastery was destroyed by the Crusaders and was not fully restored until 1290, by Constantine Palaiologos. The Russian pilgrims Anthony and Stephen were amazed by the size of the monastic grounds and it is thought that the cloister sheltered as much as 700 monks at the time.
The greater part of the monastery was destroyed when the Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453. The ancient structure sustained damage from the great fires of 1782 and 1920. The church building, presently a museum, after the end of its restoration in 2014 had plans to be converted into a mosque. Degrees of Orthodox monasticism History of Eastern Orthodox Christianity Sabas of Stoudios This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Charles. Official Website of the Ecumenical Patriarch | Studius Media related to Monastery of Stoudios at Wikimedia Commons Byzantium 1200 | Monastery of Saint John of Stoudios
Miliaresion
The miliaresion, was a name used for a number of Byzantine silver coins. In its most specific sense, it refers to a type of silver coin struck in the 8th–11th centuries. Originally, the name was given to a series of coins issued in the 4th century that were struck 72 to the pound and were the equivalent of 1,000 nummi. Thereafter and until the 7th century, the Byzantines did not use silver coins, only from the reign of Emperor Theophilos did the coin become regular issue, struck throughout an emperors reign. In the 10th century, Emperor Alexander introduced a bust of Christ on the obverse and this process culminated in the 11th century, when images of emperors and the Virgin Mary began to appear. In the 11th century, 2⁄3 and 1⁄3 fractions of the miliaresion began to be minted and it was discontinued after 1092, except as a money of account equal to 1⁄12 of the nomisma. Under the Komnenian emperors, it was replaced by a very low-grade billon trachy coin, initially worth a quarter of a miliaresion.
The miliaresion was essentially revived in the form of the basilikon issued from circa 1300 onwards, the name passed into Western European languages, where milliarès was used for various kinds of Muslim silver coins. New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press, studies in the Byzantine Monetary Economy c. The Miliaresion Poet, The Dactylic Inscription on a Silver Coin of Romanos III Argyros, media related to Miliaresion at Wikimedia Commons
Histamenon
Histamenon was the name given to the gold Byzantine solidus when the slightly lighter tetarteron was introduced in the 960s. To distinguish the two, the histamenon was changed in form from the solidus, becoming wider and thinner. Later usually shortened to stamenon, it was discontinued after 1092, in the 12th and 13th centuries, the name stamenon came to be applied to the concave billon and copper trachea coins. The Byzantine emperor Nikephoros II Phokas, introduced a new coin, the latter now became known as the histamenon, from the Greek verb ἵστημι, to stand up, implying that these followed the traditional standard. Initially, the two coins were virtually indistinguishable except in weight, during the reign of Basil II, the tetarteron began to be minted in a thicker and smaller form, while the histamenon became correspondingly thinner and wider. Only during the rule of Constantine VIII, did the two coins become iconographically distinct as well. In addition, under Michael IV the Paphlagonian, it began to be minted in a concave form, possibly to increase the thin coins strength.
Flat coins were struck at times, but scyphate ones came to predominate from Constantine IX on. These concave coins were known as histamena trachea or simply trachea from their shape, starting with Michael IV, who was a former money lender, the gold content began to be increasingly lowered and the coins debased. After a period of stability in circa 1055–1070, the gold content declined dramatically in the disastrous 1070s and 1080s. The michaelata of Michael VII Doukas still contained some 16 carats of gold, but by the time of Alexios I Komnenos, the nomismata struck contained almost no gold at all
Normans
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 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 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 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 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
Emperor Shenzong of Song
Emperor Shenzong of Song, personal name Zhao Xu, was the sixth emperor of the Song dynasty in China. His original personal name was Zhao Zhongzhen but he changed it to Zhao Xu after his coronation and he reigned from 1067 until his death in 1085. During his reign, Emperor Shenzong became interested in Wang Anshis policies, Wang implemented his famous New Policies aimed at improving the situation for the peasantry and unemployed, which some have seen as a forerunner of the modern welfare state. These acts became the hallmark reform of Emperor Shenzongs reign, Emperor Shenzong sent failed campaigns against the Vietnamese ruler Lý Nhân Tông of the Lý dynasty in 1076. Emperor Shenzongs other notable act as emperor was his attempt to weaken the Tangut-led Western Xia state by invading and expelling the Western Xia forces from Gansu Province. The Song army was quite successful at these campaigns, but during the battle for the city of Yongle, in 1082. As a result, Western Xia grew more powerful and subsequently continued to be a thorn in the side of the Song Empire over the ensuing decades and this book records historical events from the Zhou dynasty to the Song dynasty.
Aside from the ancient Roman embassies to Han and Three-Kingdoms era China, from Chinese records it is known that Michael VII Doukas of Fo lin dispatched a diplomatic mission to Chinas Song dynasty that arrived in 1081, during the reign of Emperor Shenzong. Emperor Shenzong died in 1085 at the age of 36 and was succeeded by his son, Emperor Shenzongs younger sister was married to Wang Shen. Wang Anshi Shen Kuo List of emperors of the Song dynasty Song dynasty
Bari
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 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
Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek colony that became Constantinople, and still Istanbul. Byzantium was colonised by the Greeks from Megara in c. 657 BC, the etymology of Byzantion is unknown. It has been suggested that the name is of Thraco-Illyrian origin and it may be derived from a Thracian or Illyrian personal name, Byzas. Ancient Greek legend refers to a king Byzas, the leader of the Megarian colonists, the form Byzantium is a Latinisation of the original name. Much later, the name Byzantium became common in the West to refer to the Eastern Roman Empire and this usage was introduced only in 1555 by the historian Hieronymus Wolf, a century after the empire had ceased to exist. During the time of the empire, the term Byzantium was restricted to just the city, the European side featured only two fishing settlements and Semistra. The origins of Byzantium are shrouded in legend, the traditional legend has it that Byzas from Megara founded Byzantium in 667 BC when he sailed northeast across the Aegean Sea.
The tradition tells that Byzas, son of King Nisos, planned to found a colony of the Dorian Greek city of Megara, Byzas consulted the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, which instructed Byzas to settle opposite the Land of the Blind. Leading a group of Megarian colonists, Byzas found a location where the Golden Horn and he adjudged the Chalcedonians blind not to have recognized the advantages the land on the European side of the Bosphorus had over the Asiatic side. In 667 BC he founded Byzantium at their location, thus fulfilling the oracles requirement and it was mainly a trading city due to its location at the Black Seas only entrance. Byzantium conquered Chalcedon, across the Bosporus on the Asiatic side, Byzantium was besieged by Greek forces during the Peloponnesian War. As part of Spartas strategy for cutting off supplies to Athens. The Athenian military took the city in 408 BC, after siding with Pescennius Niger against the victorious Septimius Severus, the city was besieged by Roman forces and suffered extensive damage in 196 AD.
Byzantium was rebuilt by Septimius Severus, now emperor, and quickly regained its previous prosperity and it was bound to Perinthos during the period of Septimius Severus. The location of Byzantium attracted Roman Emperor Constantine I who, in 330 AD, after his death the city was called Constantinople. This combination of imperialism and location would affect Constantinoples role as the nexus between the continents of Europe and Asia and it was a commercial and diplomatic centre. With its strategic position, Constantinople controlled the trade routes between Asia and Europe, as well as the passage from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea. On May 29,1453, the city fell to the Ottoman Turks, and again became the capital of a powerful state, the Turks called the city Istanbul, the name derives from eis-tin-polin
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Michael: Michael VII". Encyclopædia Britannica. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 359.
