1.
Pope Benedict III
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Pope Benedict III was Pope from 29 September 855 to his death in 858. Little is known of Benedicts life before his papacy and he was educated and lived in Rome and was cardinal priest of the church of San Callisto at the time of his election. Benedict had a reputation for learning and piety and he was elected upon the refusal of Hadrian, the initial choice of the clergy and people. A group of important people preferred a different candidate, Anastasius and this latter group had Benedicts election disavowed and Anastasius installed. However, popular opinion was so strong that Benedicts consecration was allowed, the envoys of Holy Roman Emperor Louis II forced Benedict to handle Anastasius and his adherents leniently. The schism helped to weaken the hold of the emperors upon the popes, Benedict intervened in the conflict between the sons of Lothair I on the latters death. He was active in other cases as well and adopted a position towards Constantinople. Æthelwulf of Wessex and his son, the future king Alfred the Great, the Schola Anglorum, which was destroyed by fire in 847, was restored by Benedict. A medieval tradition claimed that Pope Joan, a woman disguised as a man, was Benedicts immediate predecessor, the legendary Joan is generally believed to be fictitious. 9th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica Cheetham, Nicolas, Keepers of the Keys, New York, ISBN 0-684-17863-X Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes
2.
Pope Adrian II
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Pope Adrian II was Pope from 14 December 867 to his death in 872. He was a member of a noble Roman family who became pope at an advanced age and he maintained, but with less energy, the policies of his predecessor Nicholas I. Adrian sought to maintain relations with Louis, since the latters campaigns in southern Italy had the potential to free the papacy from the threat posed by the Muslims. An Ecumenical Council was convoked as the Fourth Council of Constantinople to decide this matter. Adrian had in his youth married a woman named Stephania, by whom he had a daughter and they were carried off and assassinated by Anastasius brother Eleutherius in 868. Adrian died in 872 after exactly five years as pope, opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes Attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Adrian s. v
3.
Pope Leo IV
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Pope Saint Leo IV was Pope from 10 April 847 to his death in 855. He is remembered for repairing Roman churches that had damaged during Arab raids on Rome. A Roman by birth, he was chosen to succeed Sergius II. When he was elected, on 10 April 847, he was cardinal of Santi Quattro Coronati and had been subdeacon of Gregory IV, the Saracens were besieging Gaeta, which led to Leos order that the walls of the city be restored and strengthened between 848 and 849. When the Muslims approached Portus, he summoned the Repubbliche Marinare – Naples, Gaeta, the command of the unified fleet was given to Cesarius, son of Duke Sergius I of Naples. The district enclosed by the walls is known as the Leonine City. Following the restoration of St. Peters, Leo appealed to the Christian kingdoms to confront the Arab raiders, Leo IV held three synods, one in 850 that was distinguished by the presence of Holy Roman Emperor Louis II, but the other two of little importance. The history of the struggle with Hincmar of Reims, which began during Leos pontificate. Leo IV died on 17 July 855 and was buried in St. Peters Basilica, benedict III was Leos immediate successor. A medieval tradition claimed that a woman, Pope Joan, succeeded him, disguising herself as a man, Leo IV was originally buried in his own monument, however some years after his death, his remains were put into a tomb that contained the first four Pope Leos. In the 18th century, the relics of Leo the Great were separated from the other Leos, Leo IV had the figure of a rooster placed on the Old St. It is reputed that Pope Gregory I had previously said that the cock was the most suitable emblem of Christianity, being the emblem of St Peter. After Leo IV, Pope Nicholas I, who had made a deacon by Leo IV. List of Catholic saints List of popes Cheetham, Nicolas, Keepers of the Keys, New York, ISBN 0-684-17863-X Catholic Encyclopedia, Pope St. Leo IV Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes Colonnade Statue in St Peters Square
4.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
5.
Pope
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The pope is the Bishop of Rome and, therefore, the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church. The current pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013, the office of the pope is the papacy. The pope is considered one of the worlds most powerful people because of his diplomatic and he is also head of state of Vatican City, a sovereign city-state entirely enclaved within the Italian capital city of Rome. The papacy is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in world history, the popes in ancient times helped in the spread of Christianity and the resolution of various doctrinal disputes. In the Middle Ages, they played a role of importance in Western Europe. Currently, in addition to the expansion of the Christian faith and doctrine, the popes are involved in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, charitable work, Popes, who originally had no temporal powers, in some periods of history accrued wide powers similar to those of temporal rulers. In recent centuries, popes were gradually forced to give up temporal power, the word pope derives from Greek πάππας meaning father. The earliest record of the use of title was in regard to the by then deceased Patriarch of Alexandria. Some historians have argued that the notion that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, the writings of the Church Father Irenaeus who wrote around AD180 reflect a belief that Peter founded and organised the Church at Rome. Moreover, Irenaeus was not the first to write of Peters presence in the early Roman Church, Clement of Rome wrote in a letter to the Corinthians, c. 96, about the persecution of Christians in Rome as the struggles in our time and presented to the Corinthians its heroes, first, the greatest and most just columns, the good apostles Peter and Paul. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote shortly after Clement and in his letter from the city of Smyrna to the Romans he said he would not command them as Peter and Paul did. Given this and other evidence, many agree that Peter was martyred in Rome under Nero. Protestants contend that the New Testament offers no proof that Jesus established the papacy nor even that he established Peter as the first bishop of Rome, others, using Peters own words, argue that Christ intended himself as the foundation of the church and not Peter. First-century Christian communities would have had a group of presbyter-bishops functioning as leaders of their local churches, gradually, episcopacies were established in metropolitan areas. Antioch may have developed such a structure before Rome, some writers claim that the emergence of a single bishop in Rome probably did not occur until the middle of the 2nd century. In their view, Linus, Cletus and Clement were possibly prominent presbyter-bishops, documents of the 1st century and early 2nd century indicate that the Holy See had some kind of pre-eminence and prominence in the Church as a whole, though the detail of what this meant is unclear. It seems that at first the terms episcopos and presbyter were used interchangeably, the consensus among scholars has been that, at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, local congregations were led by bishops and presbyters whose offices were overlapping or indistinguishable
6.
Christian
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A Christian is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christian derives from the Koine Greek word Christós, a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mashiach, while there are diverse interpretations of Christianity which sometimes conflict, they are united in believing that Jesus has a unique significance. The term Christian is also used as an adjective to describe anything associated with Christianity, or in a sense all that is noble, and good. According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there were 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, by 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey Christianity will remain the worlds largest religion in 2050, about half of all Christians worldwide are Catholic, while more than a third are Protestant. Orthodox communions comprise 12% of the worlds Christians, other Christian groups make up the remainder. Christians make up the majority of the population in 158 countries and territories,280 million Christian live as a minority. In the Greek Septuagint, christos was used to translate the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ, in other European languages, equivalent words to Christian are likewise derived from the Greek, such as Chrétien in French and Cristiano in Spanish. The second mention of the term follows in Acts 26,28, where Herod Agrippa II replied to Paul the Apostle, Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. The third and final New Testament reference to the term is in 1 Peter 4,16, which believers, Yet if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed. The city of Antioch, where someone gave them the name Christians, had a reputation for coming up with such nicknames, in the Annals he relates that by vulgar appellation commonly called Christians and identifies Christians as Neros scapegoats for the Great Fire of Rome. Another term for Christians which appears in the New Testament is Nazarenes which is used by the Jewish lawyer Tertullus in Acts 24, the Hebrew equivalent of Nazarenes, Notzrim, occurs in the Babylonian Talmud, and is still the modern Israeli Hebrew term for Christian. A wide range of beliefs and practices is found across the world among those who call themselves Christian, denominations and sects disagree on a common definition of Christianity. Most Baptists and fundamentalists, for example, would not acknowledge Mormonism or Christian Science as Christian, in fact, the nearly 77 percent of Americans who self-identify as Christian are a diverse pluribus of Christianities that are far from any collective unity. The identification of Jesus as the Messiah is not accepted by Judaism, the term for a Christian in Hebrew is נוּצְרי, a Talmudic term originally derived from the fact that Jesus came from the Galilean village of Nazareth, today in northern Israel. Adherents of Messianic Judaism are referred to in modern Hebrew as יְהוּדִים מָשִׁיחַיים, the term Nasara rose to prominence in July 2014, after the Fall of Mosul to the terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The nun or ن— the first letter of Nasara—was spray-painted on the property of Christians ejected from the city, where there is a distinction, Nasrani refers to people from a Christian culture and Masihi is used by Christians themselves for those with a religious faith in Jesus. In some countries Nasrani tends to be used generically for non-Muslim Western foreigners, another Arabic word sometimes used for Christians, particularly in a political context, is Ṣalībī from ṣalīb which refers to Crusaders and has negative connotations
7.
Lothair II
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Lothair II was the king of Lotharingia from 855 until his death. He was the son of Emperor Lothair I and Ermengarde of Tours. He was married to Teutberga, daughter of Boso the Elder, for political reasons, his father made him marry Teutberga in 855. Upon his fathers death in 855, he received the Middle Francia territory west of the Rhine stretching from the North Sea to the Jura mountains and it became known as Regnum Lotharii and early in the 10th century as Lotharingia or Lorraine. His elder brother Louis II received northern Italy and the title of Emperor, and his younger brother Charles received the parts of his fathers domains, Burgundy. A synod of Frankish bishops met at Metz in 863 and confirmed this decision, but Teutberga fled to the court of Charles the Bald, and Pope Nicholas I voided the decision of the synod. Teutberga, however, either from inclination or compulsion, now expressed her desire for an annulment, and Lothair went to Italy to obtain the assent of the new pope, Adrian II. Placing a favourable interpretation upon the words of the pope, he had set out on the return journey and his son, Hugh, by Waldrada, was declared illegitimate, so his heir was his brother, Emperor Louis II of Italy. As Louis was at that time campaigning against the Emirate of Bari, his kingdom was divided by and they had two sons Hugh of Italy and Boso of Tuscany. Ermengarde Odo Hincmar, Opusculum de divortio Lotharii regis et Tetbergae reginae, in Cursus completus patrologiae, tome cxxv
8.
Lotharingia
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It was named after King Lothair II who received this territory after the kingdom of Middle Francia of his father Lothair I was divided among his sons in 855. Neither Lotharingia nor Middle Francia had any natural coherence, but each was conceived after territorial division of a larger realm. Conflict between East and West Francia over Lotharingia was based on the fact that these were the old Frankish homelands of Austrasia, the latter term, formed with the Germanic suffix -ing, indicating ancestral or familial relationships, gave rise to the Latin term Lotharingia in the tenth century. Later French terms like Lorraine and Lothier are derived from this Latin term, in 817 emperor Louis the Pious made plans for division of the Carolingian Empire among his three sons after his death. Unforeseen in 817 was a further heir besides Louiss three grown sons, a fourth son, Charles the Bald was born to Louiss second wife Judith of Bavaria in 823. When Louis tried in 833 to re-divide the empire for the benefit of Charles, he met with opposition of his sons, Lothair, Pepin. A decade of war and fluctuating alliances followed, punctuated by brief periods of peace. Pepin died in 838, and Louis the Pious in 840, the remaining three brothers made peace and divided Empire with the 843 Treaty of Verdun. Lothair, as the eldest, kept the title and received a long strip of territories stretching from the North Sea to southern Italy. Middle Francia thus included all the land between Aachen and Rome and it has sometimes called by historians the Lotharingian axis. In 855, when Lothair I was dying in Prüm Abbey, to the eldest son, Louis II went Italy, with the imperial title. To the youngest, Charles, still a minor, went Provence, to the middle son, Lothair II, went the remaining territories to the north of Provence, a kingdom which lacked ethnic or linguistic unity. Lothair II ruled from Aachen and did not venture outside his kingdom, when he died in 869 Lothair II left no legitimate children, but one illegitimate son - Hugh, Duke of Alsace. Thus Lotharingia, as a kingdom, ceased to exist for some years. In 876 Charles the Bald invaded eastern Lotharingia with the intent to capture it, in 879 Louiss son, king Louis the Younger was invited by a faction of the West Frankish nobility to succeed king Louis the Stammerer, Charless son, on the throne of West Francia. After a brief war, Louis the Stammerers young sons, Carloman II and Louis III, the border between the two kingdoms was established at Saint-Quentin in 880 by the Treaty of Ribemont. In November 887 Arnulf of Carinthia called a council of East Frankish nobility to depose emperor Charles the Fat, who by 884 had succeeded to thrones of all the kingdoms of the Empire. The Lotharingian aristocracy, in attempt to assert its right to elect a sovereign, joined the other East Frankish nobles in deposing Charles the Fat in 887 and elected Arnulf as their king
9.
Carolingian dynasty
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The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name Carolingian derives from the Latinised name of Charles Martel, the Carolingian dynasty reached its peak in 800 with the crowning of Charlemagne as the first Emperor of Romans in over three centuries. His death in 814 began a period of fragmentation of the Carolingian empire and decline that would eventually lead to the evolution of the Kingdom of France. This picture, however, is not commonly accepted today, the greatest Carolingian monarch was Charlemagne, who was crowned Emperor by Pope Leo III at Rome in 800. His empire, ostensibly a continuation of the Western Roman Empire, is referred to historiographically as the Carolingian Empire, the Carolingian rulers did not give up the traditional Frankish practice of dividing inheritances among heirs, though the concept of the indivisibility of the Empire was also accepted. The Carolingians had the practice of making their sons kings in the various regions of the Empire. The Carolingians were displaced in most of the regna of the Empire by 888 and they ruled in East Francia until 911 and held the throne of West Francia intermittently until 987. One chronicler of Sens dates the end of Carolingian rule with the coronation of Robert II of France as junior co-ruler with his father, Hugh Capet, the dynasty became extinct in the male line with the death of Eudes, Count of Vermandois. His sister Adelaide, the last Carolingian, died in 1122, the Carolingian dynasty has five distinct branches, The Lombard branch, or Vermandois branch, or Herbertians, descended from Pepin of Italy, son of Charlemagne. Though he did not outlive his father, his son Bernard was allowed to retain Italy, Bernard rebelled against his uncle Louis the Pious, and lost both his kingdom and his life. Deprived of the title, the members of this branch settled in France. The counts of Vermandois perpetuated the Carolingian line until the 12th century, the Counts of Chiny and the lords of Mellier, Neufchâteau and Falkenstein are branches of the Herbertians. With the descendants of the counts of Chiny, there would have been Herbertian Carolingians to the early 14th century, the Lotharingian branch, descended from Emperor Lothair, eldest son of Louis the Pious. At his death Middle Francia was divided equally between his three surviving sons, into Italy, Lotharingia and Lower Burgundy, the sons of Emperor Lothair did not have sons of their own, so Middle Francia was divided between the western and eastern branches of the family in 875. The Aquitainian branch, descended from Pepin of Aquitaine, son of Louis the Pious, since he did not outlive his father, his sons were deprived of Aquitaine in favor of his younger brother Charles the Bald. The German branch, descended from Louis the German, King of East Francia, since he had three sons, his lands were divided into Duchy of Bavaria, Duchy of Saxony and Duchy of Swabia. His youngest son Charles the Fat briefly reunited both East and West Francia — the entirety of the Carolingian empire — but it again after his death. With the failure of the lines of the German branch, Arnulf of Carinthia
10.
Byzantine Empire
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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, cultural, 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, Egypt 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, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also 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 also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
11.
Ignatios of Constantinople
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St. Ignatius or Ignatios, was a Patriarch of Constantinople from July 4,847, to October 23,858, and from November 23,867, to his death on October 23,877. In the Roman and Eastern Christian Churches, he is regarded as a saint, Ignatios, originally named Niketas, was a son of the Emperor Michael I Rangabe and Prokopia. His maternal grandfather was Nikephoros I, although he was still a child, Niketas had been appointed nominal commander of the new corps of imperial guards, the Hikanatoi. He was forcibly castrated and tonsured after his fathers deposition in 813 and he founded three monasteries on the Princes Islands, a favourite place for exiling tonsured members of the imperial house. The Empress Mother Theodora appointed Ignatios, an opponent of Iconoclasm. Ignatios took the side of the conservative Stoudites and deposed the archbishop of Syracuse, Gregory Asbestas, Asbestas appealed for redress to Pope Leo IV and thus inaugurated a period of friction in relations between the Roman and Constantinopolitan churches. A fervent critic of the Caesar Bardas, Ignatios lost support after Emperor Michael III, Ignatios was forced to resign and was replaced by the layman Photios. When Photios reversed some of his predecessors policies, Ignatioss supporters appealed to Pope Nicholas I, who at first tried to out of the controversy. The immediate issues in the conflict were the question of precedence over the patriarch. In 867 Basil I the Macedonian usurped the throne and, seeking an alliance with Nicholas I and Louis II, Holy Roman Emperor, banished Photios, reinstated, Ignatios refused to yield to the papacy and drew Bulgaria back into the orbit of the Byzantine Church in 870. Since Ignatios and Photios pursued the policy, the latter was recalled and reinstated as tutor to the emperors children. When Ignatios died in October 877, Photios was reinstated as patriarch, the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press,1991. Herbermann, Charles, ed. St. Ignatius of Constantinople
12.
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
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The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in world history. The ecumenical patriarchs in ancient times helped in the spread of Christianity, in the Middle Ages they played a major role in the affairs of the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as in the politics of the Orthodox world, and in spreading Christianity among the Slavs. Within the five sees of the Pentarchy, the Ecumenical Patriarch is regarded as the successor of Andrew the Apostle. The current holder of the office is Bartholomew I, the 270th holder of the title, in his role as head of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, he also holds the title Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome. The see of Byzantium, whose foundation was ascribed to Andrew the Apostle, was originally a common bishopric. It gained importance when Emperor Constantine elevated Byzantium to a second capital alongside Rome, the sees ecclesiastical status as the second of five Patriarchates were developed by the Ecumenical Councils of Constantinople in 381 and Chalcedon in 451. The Turkish government recognizes him as the leader of the Greek minority in Turkey. The Patriarch was subject to the authority of the Ottoman Empire after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, today, according to Turkish law, he is subject to the authority of the state of Turkey and is required to be a citizen of Turkey to be Patriarch. The Patriarch of Constantinople has been dubbed the Ecumenical Patriarch since the 6th century, the monastic communities of Mount Athos are stauropegic and are directly under the jurisdiction of Ecumenical Patriarch, who is the only bishop with jurisdiction thereover. The Ecumenical Patriarch has a role among Orthodox bishops, though it is not without its controversy. He is primus inter pares, as he is senior among all Orthodox bishops and this primacy, expressed in canonical literature as presbeia, grants to the Ecumenical Patriarch the right to preside at pan-Orthodox synods. Additionally, the literature of the Orthodox Church grants to the Ecumenical Patriarch the right to hear appeals in cases of dispute between bishops. Historically, the Ecumenical Patriarch has heard such appeals and sometimes was invited to intervene in other disputes and difficulties. Even as early as the 4th century, Constantinople was instrumental in the deposition of multiple bishops outside its traditional jurisdiction. This still occurs today, as when in 2006 the patriarchate was invited to assist in declaring the archbishop of the Church of Cyprus incompetent due to his having Alzheimers disease. Additionally, in 2005, the Ecumenical Patriarchate convoked a synod to express the Orthodox worlds confirmation of the deposition of Patriarch Irenaios of Jerusalem. That is, his role is one of promoting and sustaining Church unity. Such a title is acceptable if it refers to this unique role, the five patriarchs of the ancient Pentarchy are to be given seniority of honour, but have no actual power over other bishops other than the power of the synod they are chairing
13.
Pope Sergius II
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Pope Sergius II was Pope from January 844 to his death in 847. On the death of Gregory IV, the archdeacon John was proclaimed pope by acclamation, while the nobility elected Sergius. The opposition was suppressed, with Sergius intervening to save Johns life, Sergius was then consecrated immediately by the nobles, without seeking the ratification of the Frankish court. He sent an army under his son Louis, the recently appointed Viceroy of Italy, the Church and the Emperor reached an accommodation, with Louis being crowned king of Lombardy by Sergius, although the Pope did not accede to all the demands made upon him. Sergius contributed to urban redevelopment in Rome, relying on what some consider to be means of gaining money. Simony is said to have flourished during the reign of Sergius II, during his pontificate the ouskirts of Rome were ravaged, and the churches of St. Peter and St. Paul were sacked by Arabs, who also approached Porto and Ostia in August 846. During the raid, he looked on helplessly as they hid behind the Aurelian walls, despite having been forewarned of the intentions of the raiders, Sergius is seen as having not acted adequately enough to prepare for that which eventuated. Sergius died while negotiating between two patriarchs and was succeeded by Pope Leo IV, Pope Sergius was portrayed by John Goodman in the 2009 film, Pope Joan. Cheetham, Nicolas, Keepers of the Keys, New York, ISBN 0-684-17863-X Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes
14.
Holy Roman Emperor
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The Holy Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. From an autocracy in Carolingian times the title evolved into an elected monarchy chosen by the Prince-electors, until the Reformation the Emperor elect was required to be crowned by the Pope before assuming the imperial title. The title was held in conjunction with the rule of the Kingdom of Germany, in theory, the Holy Roman Emperor was primus inter pares among the other Catholic monarchs, in practice, a Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances made him. Various royal houses of Europe, at different times, effectively became hereditary holders of the title, after the Reformation many of the subject states and most of those in Germany were Protestant while the Emperor continued to be Catholic. The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved by the last Emperor as a result of the collapse of the polity during the Napoleonic wars, from the time of Constantine I the Roman emperors had, with very few exceptions, taken on a role as promoters and defenders of Christianity. In the west, the title of Emperor was revived in 800, as the power of the papacy grew during the Middle Ages, popes and emperors came into conflict over church administration. The best-known and most bitter conflict was known as the Investiture Controversy. After Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III, no pope appointed an emperor again until the coronation of Otto the Great in 962. Under Otto and his successors, much of the former Carolingian kingdom of Eastern Francia fell within the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire, the various German princes elected one of their peers as King of the Germans, after which he would be crowned as emperor by the Pope. After Charles Vs coronation, all succeeding emperors were called elected Emperor due to the lack of papal coronation, the term sacrum in connection with the medieval Roman Empire was first used in 1157 under Frederick I Barbarossa. Charles V was the last Holy Roman Emperor to be crowned by the Pope, the final Holy Roman Emperor-elect, Francis II, abdicated in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars that saw the Empires final dissolution. The standard designation of the Holy Roman Emperor was August Emperor of the Romans, the word Holy had never been used as part of that title in official documents. In German-language historiography, the term Römisch-deutscher Kaiser is used to distinguish the title from that of Roman Emperor on one hand, the English term Holy Roman Emperor is a modern shorthand for emperor of the Holy Roman Empire not corresponding to the historical style or title. Successions to the kingship were controlled by a variety of complicated factors, elections meant the kingship of Germany was only partially hereditary, unlike the kingship of France, although sovereignty frequently remained in a dynasty until there were no more male successors. The Electoral council was set at seven princes by the Golden Bull of 1356, another elector was added in 1690, and the whole college was reshuffled in 1803, a mere three years before the dissolution of the Empire. After 1438, the Kings remained in the house of Habsburg and Habsburg-Lorraine, with the exception of Charles VII. Maximilian I and his successors no longer travelled to Rome to be crowned as Emperor by the Pope, Maximilian therefore named himself Elected Roman Emperor in 1508 with papal approval. This title was in use by all his uncrowned successors, of his successors only Charles V, the immediate one, received a papal coronation
15.
Louis II of Italy
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Louis II, sometimes called the Younger, was the King of Italy and Roman Emperor from 844, co-ruling with his father Lothair I until 855, after which he ruled alone. Louiss usual title was imperator augustus, but he used imperator Romanorum after his conquest of Bari in 871 and he was called imperator Italiae in West Francia while the Byzantines called him Basileus Phrangias. The chronicler Andreas Bergomatis, who is the source for Louiss activities in southern Italy. Louis was born in 825, the eldest son of the Junior Emperor Lothair I and his father was the son of the reigning Emperor, Louis the Pious. His grandfather, the elderly Emperor Louis I, died the next year, under his fathers rule, he was crowned king and co-emperor to the middle aged Emperor Lothair at Rome by Pope Sergius II on 15 June 844. This ceremony mirrors the crowning of Lothair by his father, a tradition started by Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious, who were, respectively, great grandfather and grandfather of Louis II. He marched into the south of Italy in the year of his coronation and compelled the rival dukes of Benevento, Radelchis I and Siconulf. His mediation split the Lombard duchy and gave Radelchis his share with Benevento as his capital, Radelchis, now pacified, had no need of his Saracen mercenaries and happily betrayed them to the emperor. Louis fell on them and they were massacred and he then quashed some accusations against Pope Leo and held a Diet at Pavia. He confirmed the usurping regent Peter as prince of Salerno in December 853, on the death of his father in September 855, he became sole emperor. In 863, on the death of his brother Charles, Louis received the kingdom of Provence, in his efforts to restore order in Italy, Louis met with considerable success both against Italys turbulent princes and against the Saracens who were ravaging southern Italy. In 866, after issuing a call for assistance to fight the Saracens, he routed these invaders, but could not follow up his successes owing to the lack of a fleet. So in 869 he made alliance with the emperor, Basil I, who sent him ships to assist in the capture of Bari, capital of a local Islamic emirate. Meanwhile, his brother Lothair had died in 869, and owing to his detention in southern Italy, Louis failed to prevent the partition of Lotharingia between Louis the German and Charles the Bald. Some jealousy between Louis and Basil followed the victory at Bari, and in reply to an insult from the eastern emperor Louis attempted to justify his right to the emperor of the Romans. He had withdrawn into Benevento to prepare for a campaign when he was treacherously attacked in his palace, robbed and imprisoned by Adelchis, prince of Benevento. Returning to Rome, he was released from his oath, and was crowned a second time as emperor by Pope Adrian II on 18 May 872. Then Louis won further successes against the Saracens, who were driven from Capua, but the emperors attempts to punish Adelchis were not very successful
16.
St. Peter's Basilica
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The Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, or simply St. Peters Basilica, is an Italian Renaissance church in Vatican City, the papal enclave within the city of Rome. While it is neither the church of the Catholic Church nor the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. It has been described as holding a position in the Christian world. Catholic tradition holds that the Basilica is the site of Saint Peter, one of Christs Apostles. Saint Peters tomb is supposedly directly below the altar of the Basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred at St. Peters since the Early Christian period, construction of the present basilica, which would replace Old St. Peters Basilica from the 4th century AD, began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626. St. Peters is famous as a place of pilgrimage and for its liturgical functions. The Pope presides at a number of liturgies throughout the year, drawing audiences of 15,000 to over 80,000 people, either within the Basilica or the adjoining St. Peters Square. St. Peters has many associations, with the Early Christian Church, the Papacy. As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age, St. Peters is one of the four churches in the world that hold the rank of Major Basilica, all four of which are in Rome. Contrary to popular misconception, it is not a cathedral because it is not the seat of a bishop, St. Peters is a church built in the Renaissance style located in the Vatican City west of the River Tiber and near the Janiculum Hill and Hadrians Mausoleum. Its central dome dominates the skyline of Rome, the basilica is approached via St. Peters Square, a forecourt in two sections, both surrounded by tall colonnades. The first space is oval and the second trapezoid, the basilica is cruciform in shape, with an elongated nave in the Latin cross form but the early designs were for a centrally planned structure and this is still in evidence in the architecture. The central space is dominated both externally and internally by one of the largest domes in the world, the entrance is through a narthex, or entrance hall, which stretches across the building. One of the bronze doors leading from the narthex is the Holy Door. The interior is of vast dimensions when compared with other churches and this in its turn overwhelms us. The nave which leads to the dome is in three bays, with piers supporting a barrel-vault, the highest of any church. The nave is framed by wide aisles which have a number of chapels off them, there are also chapels surrounding the dome
17.
Papal primacy
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Papal primacy, also known as the primacy of the Bishop of Rome, is an ecclesiastical doctrine concerning the respect and authority that is due to the pope from other bishops and their sees. English academic and Roman Catholic priest Aidan Nichols wrote that at root, only one issue of substance divides the Orthodox and the Catholic Churches, the power that it attributes to the popes primatial authority has limitations that are official, legal, dogmatic, and practical. In 1983 CIC canon 331, the bishop of Roman Church is both the vicar of Christ and pastor of the universal Church on earth. Knut Walf, in New commentary on the Code of Canon Law, notes that this description, bishop of the Roman Church, is found in this canon. Heinrich Denzinger, Peter Hünermann et al, the bishop of Rome is the supreme authority of the sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches. This primacy over the entire Church includes primacy over Eastern Catholic patriarchs and eparchial bishops, over governance of institutes of consecrated life, Primacy of the bishop of Rome was also codified in the 1917 Code of Canon Law canons 218–221. The Roman Catholic Church bases its doctrine of papal primacy on the primacy among the apostles that Jesus gave to Peter in Matthew 16, 16-19, Blessed are you, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Accordingly, it would be a mistake to expect to find the modern fully developed doctrine of papal primacy in the first centuries, thereby failing to recognize the Churchs historical reality. The figure of the pope as leader of the church developed over time. This distinction of levels does not diminish the sacramental equality of every bishop or the catholicity of each local Church and this being the case then, all congregations had to abide by the regulations set in Rome. Not all Roman Catholic theologians see a special providential providence as responsible for the result, the same witnesses imply that Peter was the virtual founder of the Church of Rome, though not its founder in the sense of initiating a Christian community there. Classic Roman Catholic tradition maintained that the primacy of the bishop of Rome was divinely instituted by Jesus Christ. Today, scriptural scholars of many traditions agree that it is possible to discern in the New Testament an early tradition that attributes a special position to Peter among Christs twelve apostles. The Church built its identity on them as witnesses, and responsibility for leadership was not restricted to Peter. In Matthew 16,19, Peter is explicitly commissioned to bind and loose, later, in Matthew 18,18, Christ directly promises all the disciples that they will do the same. Similarly, the foundation upon which the Church is built is related to Peter in Matthew 16,16, and to the whole apostolic body elsewhere in the New Testament. Irenaeus of Lyon wrote that Peter and Paul had founded the Church in Rome and had appointed Pope Linus to the office of the episcopate and it was from their time, and not before, that an orderly and meetly ordained succession of Bishops originated
18.
History of Islam in southern Italy
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The history of Islam in southern Italy began with the first Muslim settlement in Sicily, at Mazara, which was captured in 827. The subsequent rule of Sicily and Malta started in the 10th century, Islamic rule over all Sicily began in 902, and the Emirate of Sicily lasted from 965 until 1061. The Muslim raids were part of a struggle for power in Italy and Europe, with Christian Byzantine, Frankish, Norman. Muslims were sometimes sought as allies by various Christian factions against other factions, the first permanent Arab settlement on Sicily occurred in 827, but it was not until Taormina fell in 902 that the entire island fell under their sway, though Rometta held out until 965. In that year the Kalbids established the independence of their emirate from the Fatimid caliphate, in 1061 the first Norman conquerors took Messina, and by 1071 Palermo and its citadel were captured. In 1091 Noto fell to the Normans, and the conquest was complete, Malta fell later that year, though the Arab administration was kept in place, marking the final chapter of this period. Widespread conversion ensued, leading to the disappearance of Islam in Sicily by the 1280s, in 1245, Muslim Sicilians were deported to the settlement of Lucera, by order of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. In 1300, Giovanni Pipino di Barletta, count of Altamura, seized Lucera and exiled or sold into slavery its population, the first attacks by Islamic ships on Sicily, then part of the Byzantine Empire, occurred in 652 under the Rashidun Caliphate of Uthman. These were Arab warriors directed by the Governor of Syria, Muawiyah I, and led by Muawiya ibn Hudayj of the Kindah tribe, olympius, the Byzantine exarch of Ravenna, came to Sicily to oust the invaders but failed. Soon after, the Arabs returned to Syria after collecting a large amount of booty. A second Arab expedition to Sicily occurred in 669 and this time, a strong, ravaging force consisting of 200 ships from Alexandria attacked the island. They sacked Syracuse, Sicily and returned to Egypt after a month of pillaging, after the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb, attacks from Muslim fleets repeated in 703,728,729,730,731,733, and 734. The last two Arab assaults were met with substantial Byzantine resistance, the first true conquest expedition was launched in 740. In that year, Habib ibn Abi Obeida al-Fihri, who had participated in the 728 attack, though ready to conquer the whole island, the expedition was forced to return to Tunisia by a Berber revolt. A second attack in 752 aimed only to sack Syracuse again, in 812, Ibrahims son, Abdallah I, sent an invasion force to conquer Sicily. His ships were first harassed by the intervention of Gaeta and Amalfi and were destroyed in great number by a tempest. However, they managed to conquer the island of Lampedusa and to ravage Ponza, a further agreement between the new patrician Gregorius and the emir established the freedom of commerce between southern Italy and Ifriqiya. After a further attack in 819 by Mohammed ibn-Adballad, cousin of Amir Ziyadat Allah I of Ifriqiya, the Muslim conquest of Sicily and parts of southern Italy lasted 75 years
19.
Ostia Antica
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Ostia Antica is a large archeological site, close to the modern suburb of Ostia, that was the location of the harbour city of ancient Rome, which is approximately 30 kilometres to the northeast. Ostia is a derivation of os, the Latin word for mouth, at the mouth of the River Tiber, Ostia was Romes seaport, but due to silting the site now lies 3 kilometres from the sea. The site is noted for the excellent preservation of its ancient buildings, magnificent frescoes, Ostia may have been Romes first colonia. An inscription seems to confirm the establishment of the old castrum of Ostia in the 7th century BC, the oldest archaeological remains so far discovered date back to only the 4th century BC. The most ancient buildings currently visible are from the 3rd century BC, notably the Castrum, Ostia was a scene of fighting during the period of the civil wars Sullas first civil war between Gaius Marius and Sulla during the 1st century BC. In 87 BC, Marius attacked the city in order to cut off the flow of trade to Rome, forces led by Cinna, Carbo and Sertorius crossed the Tiber at three points before capturing the city and plundering it. After his victory here, Marius moved on to attack and capture Antium, Aricia, in 68 BC, the town was sacked by pirates. During the sack, the port was set on fire, the war fleet was destroyed. Within a year, the pirates had been defeated, the town was then re-built, and provided with protective walls by the statesman and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero. During Julius Caesars time as Dictator, one of his improvements to the city was his establishment of better supervision of the supply of grain to Rome and he proposed better access to grain by the use of a new harbor in Ostia along with a canal from Tarracina. The town was developed during the first century AD under the influence of Tiberius. The town was also enriched by the construction of a new harbor on the northern mouths of the Tiber. The new harbor, not surprisingly called Portus, from the Latin for harbor, was excavated from the ground at the orders of the emperor Claudius. This harbor became silted up and needed to be supplemented later by a built by Trajan finished in the year 113 AD, it has a hexagonal form. Moreover, it must remember also that at a short distance. These elements took business away from Ostia itself and began its commercial decline, Ostia itself was provided with all the services a town of the time could require, in particular, a famous lighthouse. By 1954 eighteen mithraea had been discovered, Mithras had his largest following among the population that were the majority of this port town. Archaeologists also discovered the public latrinae, organised for collective use as a series of seats that allow us to imagine today that their function was also a social one
20.
Ravenna
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Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the city of the Western Roman Empire from 402 until that empire collapsed in 476. It then served as the capital of the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths until it was re-conquered in 540 by the Eastern Roman Empire. Afterwards, the city formed the centre of the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna until the invasion of the Lombards in 751, although an inland city, Ravenna is connected to the Adriatic Sea by the Candiano Canal. It is known for its well-preserved late Roman and Byzantine architecture, the origin of the name Ravenna is unclear, although it is believed the name is Etruscan. Some have speculated that ravenna is related to Rasenna, the term that the Etruscans used for themselves, the origins of Ravenna are uncertain. Ravenna consisted of houses built on piles on a series of islands in a marshy lagoon – a situation similar to Venice several centuries later. The Romans ignored it during their conquest of the Po River Delta, in 49 BC, it was the location where Julius Caesar gathered his forces before crossing the Rubicon. Later, after his battle against Mark Antony in 31 BC and this harbor, protected at first by its own walls, was an important station of the Roman Imperial Fleet. Nowadays the city is landlocked, but Ravenna remained an important seaport on the Adriatic until the early Middle Ages, during the German campaigns, Thusnelda, widow of Arminius, and Marbod, King of the Marcomanni, were confined at Ravenna. Ravenna greatly prospered under Roman rule, Emperor Trajan built a 70 km long aqueduct at the beginning of the 2nd century. During the Marcomannic Wars, Germanic settlers in Ravenna revolted and managed to seize possession of the city, for this reason, Marcus Aurelius decided not only against bringing more barbarians into Italy, but even banished those who had previously been brought there. In AD402, Emperor Honorius transferred the capital of the Western Roman Empire from Milan to Ravenna, at that time it was home to 50,000 people. However, in 409, King Alaric I of the Visigoths simply bypassed Ravenna, after many vicissitudes, Galla Placidia returned to Ravenna with her son, Emperor Valentinian III and the support of her nephew Theodosius II. The late 5th century saw the dissolution of Roman authority in the west, Odoacer ruled as King of Italy for 13 years, but in 489 the Eastern Emperor Zeno sent the Ostrogoth King Theoderic the Great to re-take the Italian peninsula. After losing the Battle of Verona, Odoacer retreated to Ravenna, Theoderic took Ravenna in 493, supposedly slew Odoacer with his own hands, and Ravenna became the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy. Both Odoacer and Theoderic and their followers were Arian Christians, but co-existed peacefully with the Latins, Ravennas Orthodox bishops carried out notable building projects, of which the sole surviving one is the Capella Arcivescovile. Theoderic allowed Roman citizens within his kingdom to be subject to Roman law, the Goths, meanwhile, lived under their own laws and customs
21.
Pavia
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Pavia is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy,35 kilometres south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c, the city was the capital of the Kingdom of the Lombards from 572 to 774. Pavia is the capital of the province of Pavia, known for agricultural products including wine, rice, cereals. Although there are a number of industries located in the suburbs, Pavia is the episcopal seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Pavia. The city possesses many artistic and cultural treasures, including several important churches and museums, dating back to pre-Roman times, the town of Pavia, then known as Ticinum, was a municipality and an important military site under the Roman Empire. It was said by Pliny the Elder to have founded by the Laevi and Marici. It was at Pavia in 476 AD that the reign of Romulus Augustulus, ten months after Romulus Augustulus’s reign began, Orestes’s soldiers under the command of one of his officers named Odoacer, rebelled and killed Orestes in the city of Pavia in 476. Without his father Romulus Augustulus was powerless, instead of killing Romulus Augustulus, Odoacer pensioned him off at 6,000 solidi a year before declaring the end of the Western Roman Empire and himself king of the new Kingdom of Italy. Odoacer’s reign as king of Italy did not last long, because in 488 the Ostrogothic peoples led by their king Theoderic invaded Italy and waged war against Odoacer. After fighting for 5 years Theoderic defeated Odoacer and on March 15,493 assassinated Odoacer at a banquet meant to negotiate a peace between the two rulers, with the establishment of the Ostrogoth kingdom based in northern Italy, Theoderic began his vast program of public building. Pavia was among several cities that Theodoric chose to restore and expand and he began the construction of the vast palace complex that would eventually become the residence of Lombard monarchs several decades later. Near the end of Theoderic’s reign the Christian philosopher Boethius was imprisoned in one of Pavia’s churches from 522 to 525 before his execution for treason and it was during Boethius’s captivity in Pavia that he wrote his seminal work the Consolation of Philosophy. Pavia played an important role in the war between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Ostrogoths that began in 535, after the capitulation of the Ostrogothic leadership in 540 more than a thousand men remained garrisoned in Pavia and Verona dedicated to opposing Eastern Roman rule. The resilience of Ostrogoth strongholds like Pavia against invading forces allowed pockets of Ostrogothic rule to limp along until finally being defeated in 561, Pavia and the peninsula of Italy didn’t remain long under the rule of the Eastern Roman Empire for in 568 a new people invaded Italy. This new invading people in 568 were the Lombards, in their invasion of Italy in 568, the Lombards were led by their king Alboin, who would become the first Lombard king of Italy. Alboin captured much of northern Italy in 568 but his progress was halted in 569 by the city of Pavia. Meanwhile Alboin, after driving out the soldiers, took possession of everything as far as Tuscany except Rome and Ravenna and some other fortified places which were situated on the shore of the sea. ”The Siege of Ticinum finally ended with the Lombards capturing the city of Pavia in 572. Pavia’s strategic location and the Ostrogoth palaces located within it would make Pavia by the 620s the main capital of the Lombards’ Kingdom of Pavia, under Lombard rule many monasteries, nunneries, and churches were built at Pavia by the devout Christian Lombard monarchs
22.
Roman Catholic Diocese of Trier
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The Roman Catholic diocese of Trier, in English traditionally known by its French name of Treves, is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in Germany. When it was the archbishopric and Electorate of Trier, it was one of the most important states of the Holy Roman Empire, unlike the other Rhenish dioceses — Mainz and Cologne, Trier was the former Roman provincial capital of Augusta Treverorum. Given its status, Trier has always been the seat of a bishop since Roman times, the diocese was elevated to an Archdiocese in the time of Charlemagne and was the metropolitan for the dioceses of Metz, Toul, and Verdun. After the victory of Napoleon Bonaparte of France, the archdiocese was lowered to a diocese and is now a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Cologne, the diocesan cathedral is the Cathedral of Saint Peter. The bishops of Trier were already virtually independent territorial magnates in Merovingian times, in his will he also elevated the diocese to the Archdiocese of Trier, with suffragans on both sides of the Rhine. This arrangement lasted over a thousand years, in Early Modern times, the archdiocese of Trier still encompassed territory along the Moselle River between Trier, near the French border, and Koblenz on the Rhine. The Archbishop of Trier, as holder of an office was traditionally an Imperial Elector of the German king. The purely honorary office of Archchancellor of Gaul arose in the 13th century, in this context that was taken to mean the Kingdom of Arles, or Burgundy, technically from 1242 and permanently from 1263, and nominally until 1803. Arles along with Germany and Italy was one of the three component kingdoms of the Empire, the last elector removed to Koblenz in 1786. In 1803, what was left of the Archbishopric was secularized and annexed by the Princes of Nassau,130, uncertain Eucharius c.250 Valerius c.250 Maternus c.707 Basinus 671–697 d.706. Johannes Enen Nikolaus Schienen Peter Binsfeld Gregor Helfenstein Otto von Senheim, Gregor Virneburg Hubert Yffz, O. Praem
23.
Archbishop of Cologne
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Since the early days of the Catholic Church, there have been ninety-four bishops and archbishops of Cologne. Seven of these ninety-four retired by resignation, including four resignations which were in response to impeachment, eight of the bishops and archbishops were coadjutor bishops before they took office. Seven individuals were appointed as coadjutors freely by the Pope, one of the ninety-four moved to the Curia, where he became a cardinal. Additionally, six of the archbishops of Cologne were chairmen of the German Bishops Conference, currently, Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki is the Archbishop of Cologne, since his 2014 transfer from Berlin, where he had been Cardinal Archbishop. All names before Maternus II are to be approached with considerable skepticism, Maternus was present at a council in Rome in 313. The bishops between Severinus and Charentius are also apocryphal, Domitianus was the Bishop of Maastricht. The given dates of office before Gunther are also conjectural, at best, 88–128 Paulinus Marcellinus Aquilinus Levoldus c. 470–500 Domitianus fl. c.535 Charentinus fl. c.570 Eberigisil II
24.
Hincmar
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Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, the friend, advisor and propagandist of Charles the Bald, was one of the most remarkable figures in the ecclesiastical history of the Carolingian period. He belonged to a family of northern Francia. Destined to the life, he was brought up at Saint-Denis under the direction of the abbot Hilduin. After the death of Louis the Pious Hincmar supported Charles the Bald, in 845 he obtained through the kings support the archbishopric of Reims, and this choice was confirmed at the synod of Beauvais. Archbishop Ebbo, whom he replaced, had deposed in 835 at the synod of Thionville for having broken his oath of fidelity to the emperor Louis. After the death of Louis, Ebbo succeeded in regaining possession of his see for some years and it was in these circumstances that Hincmar succeeded, and in 847 Pope Leo IV sent him the pallium. One of the first cares of the new prelate was the restitution to his see of the domains that had been alienated under Ebbo. From the beginning of his episcopate Hincmar was in constant conflict with the clerks who had been ordained by Ebbo during his reappearance and this conflict, however, bred an antagonism of which Hincmar was later to feel the effects. During the next thirty years the archbishop of Reims played a prominent part in church. His authoritative and energetic will inspired, and in great measure directed and his first encounter was with Gottschalk, whose predestinarian doctrines claimed to be modelled on those of St Augustine. Hincmar placed himself at the head of the party that regarded Gottschalks doctrines as heretical, for a part at least of his doctrines Gottschalk found ardent defenders, such as Lupus of Ferrières, Prudentius of Troyes, the deacon Florus, and Amolo of Lyons. Gottschalk died in prison in 868, the question of the divorce of Lothair II, king of Lorraine, who had repudiated his wife Theutberga to marry his concubine Waldrada, engaged Hincmars literary activities in another direction. In the middle of the century there appeared in Gaul the collection of false decretals commonly known as the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals. The importance assigned by these decretals to the bishops and the councils, as well as to the direct intervention of the Holy See. Rothad, bishop of Soissons, one of the most active members of the party in favour of the pseudo-Isidorian theories, deposed in 863 at the council of Soissons that was presided over by Hincmar, Rothad appealed to Rome. Hincmar experienced another check when he endeavoured to prevent Wulfad, one of the deposed clerics ordained by Ebbo, after a synod held at Soissons, Pope Nicholas I pronounced himself in favour of the deposed clerics, and Hincmar was constrained to submit. He was more successful in his contest with his nephew Hincmar, bishop of Laon, the bishop of Laon was sent into exile, probably to Aquitaine, where his eyes were put out by order of Count Boso. In Hincmars eyes this was an encroachment on the jurisdiction of the archbishops, at the same time he wrote a life of St Remigius, in which he endeavoured by audacious falsifications to prove the supremacy of the church of Reims over the other churches
25.
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bourges
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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bourges is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The Archdiocese comprises the departements of Cher and Indre in the Region of Val de Loire, since 2002 it has lost its metropolitical function, its province having ceased to exist. The Archdiocese is now suffragan to the Archdiocese of Tours, other dioceses until recently dependent on Bourges are now suffragans of the Clermont-Ferrand Archdiocese. From 2000 it was led by Archbishop Hubert Barbier, but his resignation was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI on September 11,2007 and his successor as Archbishop-elect is Bishop Armand Maillard of the Diocese of Laval. The diocese was founded in the 3rd century and its first bishop was St. Ursinus of Bourges. In the Middle Ages there was a dispute between the bishop of Bourges and the bishop of Bordeaux about the primacy of Aquitaine, Bourges was the place of many synods. The synods 1225 and 1226 are the most important and dealt with the Albigenses, honoratus of Bourges 533-535 Saint Honoré II 535-537 Saint Arcade 537-538. Saint Désiré Saint Probien 552-559 Saint Félix 560-573 Remedius Sulpitius I of Bourges Saint Eustase 591-591 Saint Apollinaire 591 - †, series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae, quotquot innotuerunt a beato Petro apostolo. Ratisbon, Typis et Sumptibus Georgii Josephi Manz, hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi V. Patavii, Messagero di S. Antonio. Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi VI, le clergé de France, ou tableau historique et chronologique des archevêques, évêques, abbés, abbesses et chefs des chapitres principaux du royaume, depuis la fondation des églises jusquà nos jours. Les évêques et les archevêques de France depuis 1682 jusquà1801, lépiscopat français depuis le Concordat jusquà la Séparation. Centre national des Archives de lÉglise de France, L’Épiscopat francais depuis 1919, retrieved, archevêques de Bourges Lists of Bishops and Archbishops
26.
Charles the Bald
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Charles the Bald was the King of West Francia, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor. After a series of wars during the reign of his father, Louis the Pious. He was a grandson of Charlemagne and the youngest son of Louis the Pious by his second wife and he was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder brothers were already adults and had been assigned their own regna, or subkingdoms, by their father. The attempts made by Louis the Pious to assign Charles a subkingdom, first Alemannia, at a diet in Aachen in 837, Louis the Pious bade the nobles do homage to Charles as his heir. Pepin of Aquitaine died in 838, whereupon Charles at last received that kingdom, which angered Pepins heirs, the death of the emperor in 840 led to the outbreak of war between his sons. In the following year, the two confirmed their alliance by the celebrated Oaths of Strasbourg. The war was brought to an end by the Treaty of Verdun in August 843, Louis received the eastern part of the Carolingian Empire, known then as East Francia and later as Germany. Lothair retained the title and the Kingdom of Italy. He also received the regions from Flanders through the Rhineland. The first years of Charless reign, up to the death of Lothair I in 855, were comparatively peaceful, during these years the three brothers continued the system of confraternal government, meeting repeatedly with one another, at Koblenz, at Meerssen, and at Attigny. In 858, Louis the German, invited by disaffected nobles eager to oust Charles, Charles was so unpopular that he was unable to summon an army, and he fled to Burgundy. He was saved only by the support of the bishops, who refused to crown Louis the German king, and by the fidelity of the Welfs, in 860, he in his turn tried to seize the kingdom of his nephew, Charles of Provence, but was repulsed. On the death of his nephew Lothair II in 869, Charles tried to seize Lothairs dominions, besides these family disputes, Charles had to struggle against repeated rebellions in Aquitaine and against the Bretons. Led by their chiefs Nomenoë and Erispoë, who defeated the king at the Battle of Ballon and the Battle of Jengland, the Bretons were successful in obtaining a de facto independence. Charles also fought against the Vikings, who devastated the country of the north, the valleys of the Seine and Loire, at the Vikings successful siege and sack of Paris in 845 and several times thereafter Charles was forced to purchase their retreat at a heavy price. By the same edict, he ordered fortified bridges to be put up at all rivers to block the Viking incursions, two of these bridges at Paris saved the city during its siege of 885–886. In 875, after the death of the Emperor Louis II, Charles the Bald, supported by Pope John VIII, traveled to Italy, receiving the crown at Pavia. Louis the German, also a candidate for the succession of Louis II, revenged himself by invading and devastating Charles dominions, and Charles had to return hastily to West Francia
27.
Synod of Milan
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But the Synod of Milan here alluded to is placed about the year 345, soon after the Synod of Sardica. St. Maximinus was at this synod and this council was convened at Milan in the newly erected Basilica Nova. The council however did not follow the hopes of the Pope due to the number of Arians bishops. The bishop of Milan Dionysius initially seemed ready to follow the Arians in condemning Athanasius, accused not of heresy, with the arrival of Eusebius the situation changed, Eusebius requested an immediate subscription of the Nicaean faith by the bishops. Eusebius, Lucifer and Dionysius signed, but the Arian bishop Valens of Mursia violently shreded the act of faith, Constantius, unaccustomed to independence on the part of the bishops, moved the synod to his palace and grievously maltreated the papal embassy. Hilary was flogged and the exiled along with Pancratius and the two Nicaean bishops, the synod, now governed by the Arians bishops of the court of Constantius, ended supporting Arian statements. Augustines On the Good of Marriage was written against somewhat that still remained of the heresy of Jovinian and he mentions this error in b. ii. c. Jovinianus, he says, who a few years since tried to found a new heresy, said that the Catholics favored the Manichæans and that heresy took its rise from one Jovinianus, a monk, in our own time, when we were yet young. And he adds that it was soon overborne and extinguished, say about A. D.390, having been condemned first at Rome, then at Milan. There are letters of Pope Siricius on the subject to the Church of Milan, jerome had refuted Jovinian, but was said to have attempted the defense of the excellency of the virgin state, at the expense of condemning marriage. St. Maximus of Turin was at a synod of Milan in 389 at which Jovinianus was condemned, among nineteen subscribers Maximus is the eighth, and since the order was determined by age, Maximus must then have been about seventy years old. A synod that took place in Milan in 860 summoned Ingiltrud, wife of Boso, Pope Nicholas I commanded the bishops in the dominions of Charles the Bald to excommunicate her unless she returned to her husband. As she paid no attention to the summons, she was put under the ban, Milan as an early center of Christianity
28.
Judith of Flanders
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Judith of Flanders was queen consort of Wessex and countess consort of Flanders. She was the eldest daughter of the West Frankish King and later Holy Roman Emperor Charles the Bald, through her marriages to two Kings of Wessex, Æthelwulf and Æthelbald, she was twice a queen. Her first two marriages were childless, but through her marriage to Baldwin, she became the first Countess of Flanders. One of her sons by Baldwin married Ælfthryth, a daughter of Æthelbalds brother and she was also an ancestor of Matilda of Flanders, the consort of William the Conqueror, and thus of later monarchs of England. In 855 King Æthelwulf of Wessex made a pilgrimage to Rome, in July Æthelwulf became engaged to Charless daughter, Judith, who was no more than fourteen, while Æthelwulf was about fifty years old. On 1 October 856 they were married at Verberie in northern France, the marriage was a diplomatic alliance, both men were suffering from Viking attacks, and for Æthelwulf the union had the advantage of associating him with Carolingian prestige. In addition, the wedding was considered an event by contemporaries. Carolingian princesses rarely married and were sent to nunneries. Judith was crowned queen and anointed by Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, in Wessex it was not customary for wives to be queens. Although empresses had been anointed before, this is the first definitely known anointing of a Carolingian queen. In addition, West Saxon custom was that the wife of a king of Wessex could not be called queen or sit on the throne with her husband—she was merely the kings wife. The marriage provoked a rebellion by Æthelwulfs eldest surviving son, Æthelbald, however, father and son negotiated a compromise under which Æthelwulf received the eastern districts of the kingdom and Æthelbald the western. It is not known whether this meant that Æthelwulf took Kent and Æthelbald Wessex, Judith had no children by Æthelwulf, who died on 13 January 858. He was succeeded by Æthelbald, who married Judith, his step-mother, Judith was still childless when Æthelbald died in 860 after a reign of two-and-a-half years. Following Æthelbalds death, Judith sold her properties in Wessex and returned to France, according to the Chronicle of St. Presumably, Charles may have intended to arrange another marriage for his daughter. However, around Christmas 861, Judith eloped with Baldwin, later Count of Flanders, the two were likely married at the monastery of Senlis at this time. Unsurprisingly, Judiths father was furious and ordered his bishops to excommunicate the couple and they later fled to the court of Judiths cousin Lothair II of Lotharingia for protection, before going to Pope Nicholas I to plead their case. The Pope took diplomatic action and asked Judiths father to accept the union as legally binding, the couple then returned to France and were officially married at Auxerre on 13 December 862
29.
Baldwin I, Margrave of Flanders
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Baldwin I, also known as Baldwin Iron Arm, was the first Margrave of Flanders. At the time Baldwin first appears in the records he was already a count, presumably in the area of Flanders, Count Baldwin rose to prominence when he eloped with princess Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald, king of West Francia. Judith had previously married to Æthelwulf and his son Æthelbald, kings of Wessex. She fled north with Count Baldwin, Charles had given no permission for a marriage and tried to capture Baldwin, sending letters to Rorik of Dorestad and Bishop Hungar, forbidding them to shelter the fugitive. After Baldwin and Judith had evaded his attempts to capture them, Judith and Baldwin responded by travelling to Rome to plead their case with Pope Nicholas I. Their plea was successful and Charles was forced to accept the situation, the marriage took place on 13 December 862 in Auxerre. By 870, Baldwin had acquired the lay-abbacy of St. Pieter in Ghent and is assumed to have acquired the counties of Flanders and Waasland. Baldwin developed himself as a faithful and stout supporter of Charles. He is named in 877 as one of willing to support the emperors son. During his life, Baldwin expanded his territory into one of the principalities of Western Francia. He died in 879 and was buried in the Abbey of St-Bertin, Baldwin was succeeded by his and Judiths son, Baldwin II. The couples first son, Charles, named after his maternal grandfather and his third son Raoul became Count of Cambrai around 888, but he and his brother joined king Zwentibold of Lotharingia in 895. In 896, they attacked Vermandois and captured Arras, Saint-Quentin and Peronne, Baldwin I of Flanders Counts of Flanders Glay, Edward Le. Histoire des comtes de Flandre et des Flamands au moyen âge
30.
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
31.
Michael III
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Michael III was Byzantine Emperor from 842 to 867. Michael III was the third and traditionally last member of the Amorian dynasty, Michael was the youngest child of the emperor Theophilos and his empress Theodora. Already crowned co-ruler by his father in his infancy in 840, during his minority, the empire was governed by a regency headed by his mother Theodora, her uncle Sergios, and the minister Theoktistos. The empress had iconodule sympathies and deposed Patriarch John VII of Constantinople and this put an end to the second spell of iconoclasm. As the emperor was growing up, the courtiers around him fought for influence, increasingly fond of his uncle Bardas, Michael invested him with the title kaisar and allowed him to murder Theoktistos in November 855. With the support of Bardas and another uncle, a general named Petronas, Michael III overthrew the regency on March 15,856 and relegated his mother. The internal stabilization of the state was not entirely matched along the frontiers, Byzantine forces were defeated by the Abbasids in Pamphylia, Crete, and on the border with Syria, but a Byzantine fleet of 85 ships did score a victory over the Arabs in 853. There were also many operations around the Aegean and off the Syrian coast by at least three more fleets, numbering 300 ships total, Michael was also responsible, as per the writings of Constantine VII, for the subjugation of the Slavs settled in the Peloponnese. A conflict between the Byzantines and Bulgarian Empire occurred during 855 and 856, the Byzantine Empire wanted to regain its control over some areas of Thrace, including Philippopolis and the ports around the Gulf of Burgas on the Black Sea. At the time of this campaign the Bulgarians were distracted by a war with the Franks under Louis the German, in 853 Boris had allied himself to Rastislav of Moravia against the Franks. The Bulgarians were heavily defeated by the Franks, following this the Moravians changed sides, in 859, he personally led a siege on Samosata, but in 860 had to abandon the expedition to repel an attack by the Rus on Constantinople. In 863, Petronas defeated and killed the emir of Melitene at the battle of Lalakaon, Bardas justified his usurpation of the regency by introducing various internal reforms. Photios, originally a layman, had entered holy orders and was promoted to the position of patriarch on the dismissal of the troublesome Ignatios in 858. This created a schism within the Church and, although a Constantinopolitan synod in 861 confirmed Photios as patriarch, Ignatios appealed to Pope Nicholas I, who declared Photios illegitimate in 863. The conflict over the throne and supreme authority within the church was exacerbated by the success of the active missionary efforts launched by Photios. Under the guidance of Patriarch Photios, Michael sponsored the mission of Saints Cyril, Michael III stood as sponsor, by proxy, for Boris at his baptism. Boris took the name of Michael at the ceremony. The Byzantines also allowed the Bulgarians to reclaim the contested border region of Zagora, the conversion of the Bulgarians has been evaluated as one of the greatest cultural and political achievements of the Byzantine Empire
32.
Filioque
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Filioque is a Latin term added to the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. It has been the subject of controversy between Eastern and Western Christianity. Who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, whether that term Filioque is included, as well as how it is translated and understood, can have important implications for how one understands the central Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Over time, the became a symbol of conflict between Eastern Christianity and Western Christianity, although there have been attempts at resolving the conflict. Among the early attempts at harmonization are the works of Maximus the Confessor, the Filioque is included in the form of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed used in most Western Christian churches, first appearing in the 6th century. It was accepted by the only in 1014 and is rejected by the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches. Differences over this doctrine and the question of papal primacy have been, Siecienski writes that ltimately what was at stake was not only Gods trinitarian nature, but also the nature of the Church, its teaching authority and the distribution of power among its leaders. Hubert Cunliffe-Jones identifies two opposing Eastern Orthodox opinions about the Filioque, a view and a rigorist view. The liberal view sees the controversy as being largely a matter of mutual miscommunication, in this view, both East and West are at fault for failing to allow for a plurality of theologies. Each side went astray in considering their theological framework as the one that was doctrinally valid. Thus, neither side would accept that the dispute was not so much about conflicting dogmas as it was about different theologoumena or theological perspectives, while all Christians must be in agreement on questions of dogma, there is room for diversity in theological approaches. However, this view is vehemently opposed by those Eastern Orthodox whom Cunliffe-Jones identifies as holding a rigorist view. Many in the rigorist camp consider the Filioque to have resulted in the role of the Holy Spirit being underestimated by the Western Church and thus leading to serious doctrinal error. According to Siecienski, the question was perhaps whether Eastern and Western Christianity had wound up developing differing. From the view of the West, the Eastern rejection of the Filioque denied the consubstantiality of the Father, in the East, the interpolation of the Filioque seemed to many to be an indication that the West was teaching a substantially different faith. In John 15,26 Jesus says that the Holy Spirit But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, basil of Caesarea wrote, Through the one Son is joined to the Father. He also said that the goodness, inherent holiness. Cyril of Alexandria provides a host of quotations that seemingly speak of the Spirits procession from both the Father and the Son
33.
Nicene Creed
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The Nicene Creed is a Symbol of faith widely used in Christian liturgy. It is called Nicene /ˈnaɪsiːn/ because it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the First Council of Nicaea in 325. In 381, it was amended at the First Council of Constantinople, the Anglican and many Protestant denominations generally use the singular form, but sometimes use the plural. The Apostles Creed is also used in the Latin West, on Sundays and some other days, one or other of these two creeds is recited in the Roman Rite Mass after the homily. The Nicene Creed is also part of the profession of faith required of those important functions within the Catholic Church. In the Byzantine Rite, the Nicene Creed is sung or recited at the Divine Liturgy, immediately preceding the Anaphora, Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed can stand for the revised version of Constantinople or the later Latin version or various other versions. Icon/Symbol of the Faith is the designation for the revised version of Constantinople 381 in the Orthodox churches. Profession of Faith of the 318 Fathers refers specifically to the version of Nicaea 325, profession of Faith of the 150 Fathers refers specifically to the version of Constantinople 381. In musical settings, particularly when sung in Latin, this Creed is usually referred to by its first word, the purpose of a creed is to provide a doctrinal statement of correct belief, or orthodoxy. For that reason a creed was called in Greek a σύμβολον, a word that meant half of an object which. The Greek word passed through Latin symbolum into English symbol, which later took on the meaning of an outward sign of something. The Nicene Creed was adopted in the face of the Arian controversy, whose leader, Arius objected to Alexanders apparent carelessness in blurring the distinction of nature between the Father and the Son by his emphasis on eternal generation. Alexander accused Arius of denying the divinity of the Son and also of being too Jewish, both Arius and Alexander rejected Gnosticism, Manichaeism and Sabellian formulae. The Nicene Creed was created as a result of the adoption of the doctrine of Arius far outside Alexandria. The Nicene Creed of 325 explicitly affirms the co-essential divinity of the Son, the 381 version speaks of the Holy Spirit as worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son. The Athanasian Creed describes in much detail the relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Apostles Creed makes no statements about the divinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit, but, in the view of many who use it. The original Nicene Creed was first adopted in 325 at the First Council of Nicaea, at that time, the text ended with the words We believe in the Holy Spirit, after which various anathemas against Arian propositions were added
34.
Bulgaria
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Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, with a territory of 110,994 square kilometres, Bulgaria is Europes 16th-largest country. Organised prehistoric cultures began developing on current Bulgarian lands during the Neolithic period and its ancient history saw the presence of the Thracians, Greeks, Persians, Celts, Romans, Goths, Alans and Huns. With the downfall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1396, its territories came under Ottoman rule for five centuries. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 led to the formation of the Third Bulgarian State, the following years saw several conflicts with its neighbours, which prompted Bulgaria to align with Germany in both world wars. In 1946 it became a one-party socialist state as part of the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc, in December 1989 the ruling Communist Party allowed multi-party elections, which subsequently led to Bulgarias transition into a democracy and a market-based economy. Bulgarias population of 7.2 million people is predominantly urbanised, most commercial and cultural activities are centred on the capital and largest city, Sofia. The strongest sectors of the economy are industry, power engineering. The countrys current political structure dates to the adoption of a constitution in 1991. Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic with a high degree of political, administrative. Human activity in the lands of modern Bulgaria can be traced back to the Paleolithic, animal bones incised with man-made markings from Kozarnika cave are assumed to be the earliest examples of symbolic behaviour in humans. Organised prehistoric societies in Bulgarian lands include the Neolithic Hamangia culture, Vinča culture, the latter is credited with inventing gold working and exploitation. Some of these first gold smelters produced the coins, weapons and jewellery of the Varna Necropolis treasure and this site also offers insights for understanding the social hierarchy of the earliest European societies. Thracians, one of the three primary groups of modern Bulgarians, began appearing in the region during the Iron Age. In the late 6th century BC, the Persians conquered most of present-day Bulgaria, and kept it until 479 BC. After the division of the Roman Empire in the 5th century the area fell under Byzantine control, by this time, Christianity had already spread in the region. A small Gothic community in Nicopolis ad Istrum produced the first Germanic language book in the 4th century, the first Christian monastery in Europe was established around the same time by Saint Athanasius in central Bulgaria. From the 6th century the easternmost South Slavs gradually settled in the region, in 680 Bulgar tribes under the leadership of Asparukh moved south across the Danube and settled in the area between the lower Danube and the Balkan, establishing their capital at Pliska
35.
Boris I of Bulgaria
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Boris I, also known as Boris-Mikhail and Bogoris, was the ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire in 852–889. At the time of his baptism in 864, Boris was named Michael after his godfather, the historian Steven Runciman called him one of the greatest persons in history. Despite a number of setbacks, the reign of Boris I was marked with significant events that shaped Bulgarian and European history. With the Christianization of Bulgaria the traditional state religion Tengriism was abolished, when in 885 the disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius were banished from Great Moravia, Boris I gave them refuge and provided assistance to develop the Bulgarian alphabet and literature. After he abdicated in 889, his eldest son and successor tried to restore the old pagan religion but was deposed by Boris I. He is regarded as a saint in the Orthodox Church, as the Prince and baptizer of Bulgaria, after his official act of conversion to Christianity, Boris adopted the Christian name Michael. He is sometimes called Boris-Michael in historical research, the only direct evidence of Boriss title are his seals and the inscription found near the town of Ballsh, modern Albania, and at Varna. There he is called by the Byzantine title Archon of Bulgaria, which is translated as ruler. In the Bulgarian sources from that period, Boris I is called Knyaz or Tsar, in modern historiography Boris is called by different titles. Most historians accept that he changed his title after his conversion to Christianity, according to them, before the baptism he had the title Khan or Kanasubigi, and after that Knyaz. According to another theory, the title Knyaz was used by Bulgarian rulers since the reign of Asparukh, as early as 781, the Empress Irene began to seek a closer relationship with the Carolingian dynasty and the Papacy. She negotiated a marriage between her son, Constantine, and Rotrude, a daughter of Charlemagne by his third wife Hildegard. Irene went as far as to send an official to instruct the Frankish princess in Greek, however, Irene herself broke off the engagement in 787, against her sons wishes. While this improved relations with the Papacy, it did not prevent the outbreak of a war with the Franks, when Charlemagne was proclaimed Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Leo III, the Pope was effectively nullifying the legitimacy of Irene. He certainly desired to increase the influence of the papacy and to honour his protector Charlemagne, Irene, like many of her predecessors since Justinian I, was too weak to protect Rome and its much reduced citizenry and the city was not being ruled by any emperor. Thus, Charlemagnes assumption of the title was not seen as an usurpation in the eyes of the Franks or Italians. It was, however, seen as such in Byzantium, but protests by Irene, mojmír I managed to unite some Slavic princes and established Great Moravia in 833. His successor, Rastislav, also fought against the Germans, both states tried to maintain good relations with Bulgaria on account of its considerable military power
36.
Louis the German
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Louis the German, also known as Louis II, was the first king of East Francia. His early years were spent at the court of his grandfather, Charlemagne. Louis ruled from Regensburg, the old capital of the Bavarii, in 825 he became involved in wars with the Wends and Sorbs on his eastern frontier. In 827 he married Hemma, sister of his stepmother Judith of Bavaria, Louis soon began to interfere in the quarrels arising from Judiths efforts to secure a kingdom for her son Charles the Bald and the consequent struggles of his brothers with their father. In 832 he led an army of Slavs into Alamannia and completely subjugated it, Louis the Pious disinherited him, but to no effect, the emperor was soon captured by his own rebellious sons and deposed. Upon his swift reinstatement, however, the emperor Louis made peace with his son Louis, Louis was the instigator of the third civil war, which began in 839. A strip of his land having been given to the young haf-brother Charles and this time emperor Louis responded quickly, and soon the younger Louis was forced into the far southeastern corner of his realm, the March of Pannonia. Peace was then made by force of arms, in June 842 the three brothers met on an island in the river Saône to negotiate a peace, and each appointed forty representatives to arrange the boundaries of their respective kingdoms. His territories included Bavaria, Thuringia, Franconia, and Saxony, Louis may be called the founder of the German kingdom, though his attempts to maintain the unity of the Empire proved futile. Having in 842 crushed the Stellinga rising in Saxony, in 844 he compelled the Obotrites to own his authority and put their prince, Gozzmovil, to death. Thachulf, Duke of Thuringia, then undertook campaigns against the Bohemians, Moravians, and other tribes, in 852 Louis sent his son Louis the Younger to Aquitaine, where nobles had grown resentful of Charles the Balds rule. The younger Louis did not set out until 854, and returned the following year, encouraged by his nephews Pepin of Herstal and Charles of Provence, Louis invaded in West Francia in 858. Charles the Bald could not even raise an army to resist the invasion, later that year Louis issued a charter dated the first year of the reign in West Francia. In 868 at Metz Louis and Charles agreed to partition Lotharingia, when Lothair II died in 869, Louis was lying seriously ill, and his armies were engaged in a war with the Moravians. The later years of Louis the German were troubled by rebellions of his sons, the eldest, Carloman of Bavaria, revolted in 861 and again two years later. This was followed by the second son Louis the Younger, who was joined by his brother Charles the Fat, in 864 Louis was forced to grant Carloman the kingdom of Bavaria, which he himself had once held under his father. In 865 he divided the remainder of his lands - Saxony with Franconia and Thuringia went to Louis the Younger and Swabia with Raetia to Charles the Fat. A report that the emperor Louis II of Italy had died led to a peace between father and sons and attempts by Louis the German to gain the crown for his oldest son Carloman
37.
East Francia
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East Francia or the Kingdom of the East Franks was a successor state of Charlemagnes empire and precursor of the Holy Roman Empire. Until 911 it was ruled by Carolingian dynasty and it was created after the 840-43 civil war between Charlemagnes grandchildren which ended with the Treaty of Verdun which divided the former empire into three kingdoms. In August 843, after three years of war following the death of emperor Louis the Pious on 20 June 840. The division of lands was based on the Meuse, Scheldt. The contemporary East Frankish Annales Fuldenses describes the kingdom being divided in three and Louis acceding to the eastern part, while West and Middle Francia contained the traditional Frankish heartlands, the East consisted mostly of lands only annexed to the Frankish empire in the eighth century. These included the duchies of Alemannia, Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia, as well as the northern and eastern marches with the Danes, in 869 Lotharingia was divided between West and East Francia under the Treaty of Meersen. The short lived Middle Francia turned out to be the theatre of Franco-German wars up until the 20th century, all the Frankish lands were briefly reunited by Charles the Fat, but in 888 he was deposed by nobles and in East Francia Arnulf of Carinthia was elected king. The increasing weakness of royal power in East Francia meant that dukes of Bavaria, Swabia, Franconia, Saxony, Kings increasingly had to deal with regional rebellions. Because Conrad I was one of the dukes, he found it hard to establish his authority over them. Duke Henry of Saxony was in rebellion against Conrad I until 915 and struggle against Arnulf, on his deathbed Conrad I chose Henry of Saxony as the most capable successor. This kingship changed from Franks to Saxons, who had suffered greatly during the conquests of Charlemagne, by his death in July 936 Henry had prevented collapse of royal power as was happening in West Francia and left a much stronger kingdom to his successor Otto I. After Otto I was crowned as the Emperor in Rome in 962 the era of the Holy Roman Empire began, the term orientalis Francia originally referred to Franconia and orientales Franci to its inhabitants, the ethnic Franks living east of the Rhine. The use of the term in a sense, to refer to the eastern kingdom, was an innovation of Louis the Germans court. Since eastern Francia could be identified with old Austrasia, the Frankish heartland, under his grandson, Arnulf, the terminology was largely dropped and the kingdom, when it was referred to by name, was simply Francia. When it was necessary, as in the Treaty of Bonn with the West Franks, Henry I refers to himself as rex Francorum orientalium, king of the East Franks, in the treaty. By the 12th century, the historian Otto of Freising, in using the Carolingian terminology had to explain that the kingdom of the Franks was now called the kingdom of the Germans. The regalia of the Carolingian empire had divided by Louis the Pious on his deathbed between his two faithful sons, Charles the Bald and Lothair. Louis the German, then in rebellion, received nothing of the jewels or liturgical books associated with Carolingian kingship
38.
First Bulgarian Empire
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The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state that existed in southeastern Europe between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It was founded circa 681 when Bulgar tribes led by Asparukh moved to the north-eastern Balkans, there they secured Byzantine recognition of their right to settle south of the Danube by defeating – possibly with the help of local South Slavic tribes – the Byzantine army led by Constantine IV. At the height of its power, Bulgaria spread from the Danube Bend to the Black Sea, as the state solidified its position in the Balkans, it entered into a centuries-long interaction, sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile, with the Byzantine Empire. Bulgaria emerged as Byzantiums chief antagonist to its north, resulting in several wars, Byzantium had a strong cultural influence on Bulgaria, which also led to the eventual adoption of Christianity in 864. After the disintegration of the Avar Khaganate, the country expanded its territory northwest to the Pannonian Plain, later the Bulgarians confronted the advance of the Pechenegs and Cumans, and achieved a decisive victory over the Magyars, forcing them to establish themselves permanently in Pannonia. During the late 9th and early 10th centuries, Simeon I achieved a string of victories over the Byzantines, thereafter, he was recognized with the title of Emperor, and proceeded to expand the state to its greatest extent. After the annihilation of the Byzantine army in the battle of Anchialus in 917, the Byzantines, however, eventually recovered, and in 1014, under Basil II, inflicted a crushing defeat on the Bulgarians at the Battle of Kleidion. By 1018, the last Bulgarian strongholds had surrendered to the Byzantine Empire, and it was succeeded by the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1185. After the adoption of Christianity, Bulgaria became the center of Slavic Europe. Old Bulgarian became the lingua franca of much of Eastern Europe, in 927, the fully independent Bulgarian Patriarchate was officially recognized. The Bulgars and other tribes in the empire gradually adopted an essentially foreign Slavic language. Since the late 9th century, the names Bulgarians and Bulgarian gained prevalence and became permanent designations for the local population, the First Bulgarian Empire became known simply as Bulgaria since its recognition by the Byzantine Empire in 681. Some historians use the terms Danube Bulgaria, First Bulgarian State, during its early existence, the country was also called the Bulgar state or Bulgar qaghanate. Between 864 and 917/927, the country was known as the Principality of Bulgaria or Knyazhestvo Bulgaria, in English language sources, the country is often known as the Bulgarian Empire. The eastern Balkan Peninsula was originally inhabited by the Thracians who were a group of Proto-Indo-European tribes, the whole region as far north as the Danube River was gradually incorporated into the Roman Empire by the 1st century AD. The decline of the Roman Empire after the 3rd century AD, nonetheless, it never relinquished the claim to the whole region up to the Danube. A series of administrative, legislative, military and economic reforms somewhat improved the situation, the group of Slavs that came to be known as the South Slavs was divided into Antes and Sclaveni who spoke the same language. The Slavic incursions in the Balkans increased during the half of Justinian Is reign and while these were initially pillaging raids
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope St. Nicholas I". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton.
