1.
Alfonso Jordan
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Alfonso Jordan was the Count of Tripoli, Count of Rouergue and Count of Toulouse, Margrave of Provence and Duke of Narbonne. He was the son of Raymond IV of Toulouse by his third wife and he was born in the castle of Mont Pèlerin in Tripoli while his father was on the First Crusade. He was given the name Jourdain after being baptised in the Jordan River, alfonsos father died when he was two years old and he remained under the guardianship of his cousin, William Jordan, Count of Cerdagne, until he was five. He was then taken to Europe, where his half-brother Bertrand had given him the county of Rouergue, upon Bertrands death in 1112, Alfonso succeeded to the county of Toulouse and marquisate of Provence. In 1114, Duke William IX of Aquitaine, who claimed Toulouse by right of his wife Philippa, daughter of Count William IV, invaded the county, Alfonso recovered a part in 1119, but he was not in full control until 1123. When at last successful, he was excommunicated by Pope Callixtus II for having expelled the monks of Saint-Gilles, Alfonso next had to fight for his rights in Provence against Count Raymond Berengar III of Barcelona. Not until September 1125 did their war end in peace and concord, at this stage, Alfonso was master of the regions lying between the Pyrenees and the Alps, the Auvergne and the sea. His ascendancy was, according to one commentator, a good to the country, for during a period of fourteen years art. In March 1126, Alfonso was at the court of Alfonso VII of León when he acceded to the throne, according to the Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris, Alfonso and Suero Vermúdez took the city of León from opposition magnates and handed it over to Alfonso VII. Among those who may have accompanied Alfonso on one of his extended stays in Spain was the troubadour Marcabru. About 1134 Alfonso seized the viscounty of Narbonne and ruled it during the minority of the Viscountess Ermengarde, in 1141 King Louis VII pressed the claim of Philippa on behalf of his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, even besieging Toulouse, but without result. In 1144, Alfonso again incurred the displeasure of the church by siding with the citizens of Montpellier against their lord, in 1145, Bernard of Clairvaux addressed a letter to him full of concern about a heretic named Henry in the diocese of Toulouse. Bernard even went there to preach against the heresy, an expression of Catharism. A second time he was excommunicated, but in 1146 he took the cross at a meeting in Vézelay called by Louis VII, in August 1147, he embarked for the near east on the Second Crusade. He lingered on the way in Italy and probably in Constantinople, Alfonso finally arrived at Acre in 1148. Among his companions he had enemies and he was destined to take no share in the crusade he had joined. He died at Caesarea, and there were accusations of poisoning, usually levelled against either by Eleanor of Aquitaine, the wife of Louis, or Melisende, the mother of King Baldwin III of Jerusalem. By his wife since 1125, Faydiva dUzès, he left two sons, Raymond, who succeeded him, and Alfonso
2.
Count of Toulouse
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The Count of Toulouse was the ruler of Toulouse during the 8th to 13th centuries. Originating as vassals of the Frankish kings, the counts ruled the city of Toulouse. The counts and other members were also at various times counts of Quercy, Rouergue, Albi, and Nîmes. Count Raymond IV founded the Crusader state of Tripoli, and his descendants were also counts there. They reached the zenith of their power during the 11th and 12th centuries, during the youth of young Louis the Pious his tutor, Torson, ruled at Toulouse as the first count. In 788, Count Torson was captured by the Basques under Adalric, upon his release, Charlemagne, at the Council of Worms, replaced him with his Frankish cousin, William of Gellone. William in turn successfully subdued the Gascons, in the ninth century, Toulouse suffered in common with the rest of western Europe. It was besieged by Charles the Bald in 844, and taken four years later by the Normans, about 852, Raymond I, count of Quercy, succeeded his brother Fredelo as Count of Rouergue and Toulouse. It is from Raymond that all the counts of Toulouse document their descent. Raymond IIs grandson, William III, married Emma of Provence, from this time on, the counts of Toulouse were powerful lords in southern France. Raymond IV, assumed the titles of Marquis of Provence, Duke of Narbonne. Afterward, the count set sail with the First Crusade, after the conquest of Jerusalem, he set siege to the City of Tripoli in the Levant. Raymond died before the city was taken in 1109, but is considered the first Count of Tripoli and his son, Bertrand, then took the title. He and his successors ruled the Crusader state until 1187, Raymonds son and successor, Bertrand, had followed him to the Holy Land in 1109. Therefore, at Raymonds death the great estates and Toulouse went to Bertrands brother. His rule, however, was disturbed by the ambition of William IX and his granddaughter, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who urged her husband Louis VII of France to support her claims to Toulouse by war. Upon her divorce from Louis and her subsequent marriage to Henry II of England, Eleanor pressed her claims through Henry, Raymond V, a patron of the troubadours, died in 1194, and was succeeded by his son, Raymond VI. Following the 1208 assassination of the Papal legate, Pierre de Castelnau, Raymond was excommunicated, Raymond was eager to appease the Pope, and was pardoned
3.
William IV, Count of Toulouse
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William IV of Toulouse was Count of Toulouse, Margrave of Provence, and Duke of Narbonne from 1061 to 1094. He succeeded his father Pons of Toulouse upon his death in 1061 and his mother was Almodis de la Marche, but she was kidnapped by and subsequently married to Ramon Berenguer I, Count of Barcelona when William was a boy. He was married to Emma of Mortain, who gave him one daughter and he also had an illegitimate son, William-Jordan, with his half-sister Adelaide. He married twice, and produced two sons, neither, however, survived infancy, leaving daughter Philippa as his heiress. As Toulouse had no tradition of inheritance, this raised a question with regard to succession. In 1088, when William departed for the Holy Land, he left his brother, Raymond of Saint-Gilles, meade, Marion, Eleanor of Aquitaine Medieval Lands Project on William IV, Count of Toulouse
4.
Citadel of Raymond de Saint-Gilles
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The Citadel of Raymond de Saint-Gilles, also known as Qalaat Sanjil an Qalaat Tarablus in Arabic, is a citadel and fort on a hilltop in Tripoli, Lebanon. It takes its name from Raymond de Saint-Gilles, the Count of Toulouse and it is a common misconception that he was responsible for its construction when in 1103 he laid siege to the city. It was essential to have a stronghold in Tripoli for the sultan’s troops, temporarily garrisoned in Hisnal-Akrád. Many of the walls, ramps and terraces of the citadel seen today were built in his time. Apparently this sultan, who lived a life of luxury and debauch, was in constant need of extra revenues, in order to fill his depleted treasury, he imposed a heavy registration tax upon all feudal land concessions and appropriations. This tax was unpopular and was going to stir up discontent among his subjects. To forestall any uprising and gain the support of his troops and it was the custom that a Mamluk soldier, under contract for a specified number of years, received an annual gratuity which amounted to slightly over eleven days extra pay. If the soldier died before the end of his contract, the sultan had the right to claim the extra sum of money which had accumulated during the years of service. Sha’bán abandoned his rights to claim, once and for all. In 1516 Syria and Egypt fell to the Ottoman Sultan Selim I and his son and successor Suleiman I, called the Magnificent, soon after his accession made an inspection tour of his newly-conquered lands. He gathered about him in Damascus all his provincial governors and on occasion took the decision to rebuild the great citadel of Tripoli. In the early 19th century, the citadel was restored by the Ottoman governor of Tripoli Mustafa Agha Barbar. Very little of the original Crusader structure has survived until this day
5.
Tripoli, Lebanon
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Tripoli is the largest city in northern Lebanon and the second-largest city in the country. Situated 85 kilometers north of the capital Beirut, it is the capital of the North Governorate, Tripoli overlooks the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and it is the northernmost seaport in Lebanon. It holds a string of four small islands offshore, and they are also the islands in Lebanon. The Palm Islands were declared an area because of their status of haven for endangered loggerhead turtles, rare monk seals. Tripoli borders the city of El Mina, the port of the Tripoli District, Tripoli had a number of different names as far back as the Phoenician age. In the Amarna letters the name Derbly, possibly a Semitic cognate of the citys modern Arabic name Ṭarābulus, was mentioned, in an engraving concerning the invasion of Tripoli by the Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal II, it is called Mahallata or Mahlata, Mayza, and Kayza. Under the Phoenicians, the name Athar was used to refer to Tripoli, when the Ancient Greeks settled in the city they called it Τρίπολις, meaning three cities, influenced by the earlier phonetically similar but etymologically unrelated name Derbly. The Arabs called it Ṭarābulus and Ṭarābulus al-Šām, today, Tripoli is also known as al-fayḥā′, which is a term derived from the Arabic verb faha which is used to indicate the diffusion of a scent or smell. Tripoli was once known for its vast orange orchards, during the season of blooming, the pollen of orange flowers was said to be carried on the air, creating a splendid perfume which filled the city and suburbs. Tripoli has a Mediterranean Climate with mild winters and moderately hot summers, temperatures are moderated throughout the year due to the warm Mediterranean Current coming from Western Europe. Therefore, temperatures are warmer in the winter by around 10 °C, although snow is an extremely rare event that only occurs around once every 5 years, hail and sleet are very common and occur fairly regularly in the winter. Rainfall is concentrated in the months, with the summer typically being very dry. There is evidence of settlement in Tripoli that dates back as early as 1400 BCE, under Hellenistic rule, Tripoli was used as a naval shipyard and the city enjoyed a period of autonomy. It came under Roman rule around 64 BCE, the 551 Beirut earthquake and tsunami destroyed the Byzantine city of Tripoli along with other Mediterranean coastal cities. During Umayyad rule, Tripoli became a commercial and shipbuilding center and it achieved semi-independence under Fatimid rule, when it developed into a center of learning. The Crusaders laid siege to the city at the beginning of the 12th century and were finally to enter it in 1109. This caused extensive destruction, including the burning of Tripolis famous library, Dar al-Ilm, during the Crusaders rule the city became the capital of the County of Tripoli. In 1289, it fell to the Mamluks and the old part of the city was destroyed
6.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
7.
House of Toulouse
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The House of Toulouse, sometimes called House of Saint-Gilles, is the name of the dynasty that ruled the County of Toulouse. The county of Toulouse is a county in southern France. Starting with Fulcoald of Rouergue, the County of Toulouse became hereditary and his son Fredelo becomes Count of Toulouse in 849. His brother Raymond I succeeded him in 852, from the ninth century, the House of Toulouse was established in its fief. The elder line of the House of Rouergue became Counts of Toulouse, the functions of the Marquis of Gothia and Duke of Narbonne, which they also possessed, became empty and meaningless titles which were transmitted to the younger branch of Rouergue. At the death of the Countess Bertha of Rouergue, these titles were inherited by a scion of the line, Raymond, Count of Saint-Gilles. Hence, when William IV died, Raymond succeeded his brother as Raymond IV of Toulouse, although the succession was claimed by Philippa, William IVs daughter, who married William IX, Duke of Aquitaine. Raymond of Saint-Gilles managed to establish the principality as a power, Bertrand, with his brother Alfonso Jordan, must fight against the Duke of Aquitaine, who seized Toulouse several times, but had to evacuate each time due to popular revolt. Then the counts of Toulouse fought against the Counts of Barcelona as they competed for expanding their influence in Languedoc, peace was finally concluded in the second half of the 12th century. At that time, the city of Toulouse is one of the largest in Europe, the counts of Toulouse, who played a significant part in the Crusades, also possessed the County of Tripoli in the Holy Land. In the 12th century, a new heresy, Catharism, developed in the region, the murder of the papal legate Pierre de Castelnau triggered the Albigensian Crusade. Launched in 1208 by Pope Innocent III, it aimed to crush heresy and to subdue the powerful lords of the south, in 1215, Simon de Montfort, who took the leadership of the Crusade, defeated the army of Toulouse and entered the city. He proclaimed himself Count of Toulouse but was killed in 1218 by the inhabitants, after this event, the counts of Toulouse sided with the people against the royal armies. But after a new offensive launched by King Louis VIII, Raymond VII gave in, the repression against the Cathars increased and the County of Toulouse gradually passes under the domination of royal power. Joan of Toulouse, daughter of Raymond VII, married Alphonse of Poitiers, as Count of Toulouse, Alphonse administered the city from Paris. In 1271, the county of Toulouse merged into the crown as an inheritance of Philip III, King of France, from 852, the County of Toulouse is the possession of the counts of Rouergue, and transmitted hereditarily. The Counts of Rouergue settled their capital in Toulouse, the senior line became Counts of Toulouse while a cadet branch retained the County of Rouergue. During the Crusades, Raymond of Saint-Gilles established the county of Tripoli and it remained in the family until 1187, when it passed to the House of Antioch
8.
Pons, Count of Toulouse
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Pons William was the Count of Toulouse from 1037. He was the eldest son and successor of William III Taillefer and he thus inherited the title marchio Provincæ. He is known to have owned many allods and he relied on Roman, Salic, already in 1030, he possessed a lot of power in the Albigeois. In 1037, he gave many allodial churches and castles, including one half of that of Porta Spina, in the Albigeois, Nimois, in 1038, he split the purchase of the Diocese of Albi with the Trencavel family. In 1040, he donated property in Diens to Cluny, in 1047, he first appears as count palatine in a charter donating Moissac to Cluny. Pons married first wife, Majore, in 1022 and his only child by Majore, Pons the Younger, did not inherit his county or march. In 1045, he married, Almodis de La Marche, former wife of Hugh V of Lusignan and they had, William IV, Count of Saint-Gilles Raymond IV, Count Saint-Gilles, succeeded his brother. Almodis, married the Count of Melgueil, Pons died in Toulouse and was buried in Saint-Sernin, probably late in 1060 or early in 1061. The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718–1050, university of Texas Press, Austin,1965
9.
Almodis de la Marche
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Almodis de la Marche was the daughter of Bernard I, Count of Marche and wife Amélie. He kidnapped her from Narbonne with the aid of a fleet sent north by his ally and they married immediately and they appear with their twin sons in a charter the next year. Pope Victor II excommunicated Almodis and Ramon for this marriage until 1056. A few years before, in 1060, Hugh V of Lusignan had revolted against his lord, Duke William VIII of Aquitaine and her sons supported one another in military campaigns, Hugh VI of Lusignan, Raymond IV of Toulouse, and Berenguer Ramon all took the Cross. Her third husband Ramon was married to her sister Rangearde de la Marches daughter Isabela Trencavel and their son, Peter Raymundi, was Ramons original heir. He murdered her in October 1071, Pere-Ramon was disinherited and exiled for his crime wherefore he fled the country. When his father died in 1076, Barcelona was split between Berenguer Ramon and Ramon Berenguer, Almodis sons, the family history of murder did not end with Pere-Ramon, as Berenguer Ramon earned his nickname The Fratricide when he killed his own twin brother. Chronicles of the abbey of St. Maixent Reilly, B. F, the Conquest of Christian and Muslim Spain,1992
10.
Roman Catholicism
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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church or the Universal Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.28 billion members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history, headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, the churchs doctrines are summarised in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Its central administration is located in Vatican City, enclaved within Rome, the Catholic Church is notable within Western Christianity for its sacred tradition and seven sacraments. It teaches that it is the one church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christs apostles. The Catholic Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it declares as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as such as mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders. Among the sacraments, the one is the Eucharist, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body, the Catholic Church practises closed communion, with only baptised members in a state of grace ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Queen of Heaven and is honoured in numerous Marian devotions. The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture, Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world, from the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines on sexuality, its refusal to ordain women and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in the letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name Catholic Church was used to distinguish it from other groups that call themselves the church. The use of the adjective Roman to describe the Church as governed especially by the Bishop of Rome became more widespread after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages. Catholic Church is the name used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, in parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both, additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services
11.
Kingdom of France
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The Kingdom of France was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Western Europe. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe and a great power since the Late Middle Ages and it was also an early colonial power, with possessions around the world. France originated as West Francia, the half of the Carolingian Empire. A branch of the Carolingian dynasty continued to rule until 987, the territory remained known as Francia and its ruler as rex Francorum well into the High Middle Ages. The first king calling himself Roi de France was Philip II, France continued to be ruled by the Capetians and their cadet lines—the Valois and Bourbon—until the monarchy was overthrown in 1792 during the French Revolution. France in the Middle Ages was a de-centralised, feudal monarchy, in Brittany and Catalonia the authority of the French king was barely felt. Lorraine and Provence were states of the Holy Roman Empire and not yet a part of France, during the Late Middle Ages, the Kings of England laid claim to the French throne, resulting in a series of conflicts known as the Hundred Years War. Subsequently, France sought to extend its influence into Italy, but was defeated by Spain in the ensuing Italian Wars, religiously France became divided between the Catholic majority and a Protestant minority, the Huguenots, which led to a series of civil wars, the Wars of Religion. France laid claim to large stretches of North America, known collectively as New France, Wars with Great Britain led to the loss of much of this territory by 1763. French intervention in the American Revolutionary War helped secure the independence of the new United States of America, the Kingdom of France adopted a written constitution in 1791, but the Kingdom was abolished a year later and replaced with the First French Republic. The monarchy was restored by the great powers in 1814. During the later years of the elderly Charlemagnes rule, the Vikings made advances along the northern and western perimeters of the Kingdom of the Franks, after Charlemagnes death in 814 his heirs were incapable of maintaining political unity and the empire began to crumble. The Treaty of Verdun of 843 divided the Carolingian Empire into three parts, with Charles the Bald ruling over West Francia, the nucleus of what would develop into the kingdom of France. Viking advances were allowed to increase, and their dreaded longboats were sailing up the Loire and Seine rivers and other waterways, wreaking havoc. During the reign of Charles the Simple, Normans under Rollo from Norway, were settled in an area on either side of the River Seine, downstream from Paris, that was to become Normandy. With its offshoots, the houses of Valois and Bourbon, it was to rule France for more than 800 years. Henry II inherited the Duchy of Normandy and the County of Anjou, and married Frances newly divorced ex-queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, after the French victory at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, the English monarchs maintained power only in southwestern Duchy of Guyenne. The death of Charles IV of France in 1328 without male heirs ended the main Capetian line, under Salic law the crown could not pass through a woman, so the throne passed to Philip VI, son of Charles of Valois
12.
First Crusade
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The First Crusade was the first of a number of crusades that attempted to capture the Holy Land, called by Pope Urban II in 1095. An additional goal became the principal objective—the Christian reconquest of the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. During the crusades, nobility, knights, peasants and serfs from many regions of Western Europe travelled over land and by sea, first to Constantinople and then on towards Jerusalem. The Crusaders arrived at Jerusalem, launched an assault on the city and they also established the crusader states of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, and the County of Edessa. The First Crusade was followed by the Second to the Ninth Crusades and it was also the first major step towards reopening international trade in the West since the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The majority view is that it had elements of both in its nature, the origin of the Crusades in general, and particularly that of the First Crusade, is widely debated among historians. The confusion is due to the numerous armies in the first crusade. The similar ideologies held the armies to similar goals, but the connections were rarely strong, the Umayyad Caliphate had conquered Syria, Egypt, and North Africa from the predominantly Christian Byzantine Empire, and Hispania from the Visigothic Kingdom. In North Africa, the Umayyad empire eventually collapsed and a number of smaller Muslim kingdoms emerged, such as the Aghlabids, who attacked Italy in the 9th century. Pisa, Genoa, and the Principality of Catalonia began to battle various Muslim kingdoms for control of the Mediterranean Basin, exemplified by the Mahdia campaign and battles at Majorca and Sardinia. Essentially, between the years 1096 and 1101 the Byzantine Greeks experienced the crusade as it arrived at Constantinople in three separate waves, in the early summer of 1096, the first large unruly group arrived on the outskirts of Constantinople. This wave was reported to be undisciplined and ill-equipped as an army and this first group is often called the Peasants’ or People’s Crusade. It was led by Peter the Hermit and Walter Sans Avoir and had no knowledge of or respect for the wishes of Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. The second wave was not under the command of the Emperor and was made up of a number of armies with their own commanders. Together, this group and the first wave numbered an estimated 60,000, the second wave was led by Hugh I, Count of Vermandois, the brother of King Philip I of France. Also among the wave were Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse. It was this wave of crusaders which later passed through Asia Minor, captured Antioch in 1098 and finally took Jerusalem 15 July 1099. ”The third wave, composed of contingents from Lombardy, France. At the western edge of Europe and of Islamic expansion, the Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula was well underway by the 11th century and it was intermittently ideological, as evidenced by the Codex Vigilanus compiled in 881
13.
Margrave of Provence
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The land of Provence has a history quite separate from that of any of the larger nations of Europe. Its independent existence has its origins in the nature of the dukedom in Merovingian Gaul. Provence was eventually joined to the other Burgundian kingdom, but it remained ruled by its own powerful, in the eleventh century, Provence became disputed between the traditional line and the counts of Toulouse, who claimed the title of Margrave of Provence. In the High Middle Ages, the title of Count of Provence belonged to families of Frankish origin, to the House of Barcelona, to the House of Anjou. After 1032, the county was part of the Holy Roman Empire and it was inherited by King Louis XI of France in 1481, and definitively incorporated into the French royal domain by his son Charles VIII in 1484. Provence was usually a part of the division of the Frankish realm known as Kingdom of Burgundy and their title sometimes appears as rector Provinciae. This is an incomplete list of the known Merovingian-appointed dukes of Provence, out of this division came the Kingdom of Provence, given to Lothairs youngest son, Charles. A heritage of royal rule was thus inaugurated in Provence that, though it was subsumed into one of its larger neighbouring kingdoms. The kingdom of Provence was also known as Lower Burgundy and its capital was first Vienne then Arles and it is therefore sometimes known as Arelate. Charles Provence divided between surviving brothers, Lothair II and the Emperor Louis II, Louis II, also Holy Roman Emperor from 855 As with his Kingdom of Italy, Louiss Provence goes to his uncle on his death. Charles the Bald, also Holy Roman Emperor from 875 Louis the Stammerer With the death of Louis, Charles successor, boso married Ermengard, daughter of Louis II, to strengthen his and his sons claim. Hugh never used the title in Provence. Hugh In 933, Provence ceases to be a kingdom as Hugh exchanged it with Rudolph II of Upper Burgundy for the Iron Crown of Lombardy. It was in the aftermath of the death of Louis the Blind that Provence began to be ruled by local counts placed under the authority of a margrave, firstly, Hugh of Arles served as duke and regent during Louis long blindness. Secondly, Hugh gave the march of Vienne and duchy of Provence to Rudolf II of Burgundy in a treaty of 933, Rudolf was never recognised by the nobles of the country and instead appointed Hugh, Duke of Burgundy, its first margrave. At the time, the counts in the region were the counts of Arles. Those who would first bear the title comes Provinciae or count of Provence descended from one Rotbold of Arles, William I and Rotbold I did not divide their fathers domains and this indivisibility was maintained by their respective descendants. It is thus impossible to ascertain who succeeded whom in the county as various reigns overlap, the margravial title also continued in their family until it passed to Bertrand, Count of Toulouse in 1062
14.
County of Tripoli
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The County of Tripoli was the last of the Crusader states. It was founded in the Levant in the region of Tripoli, northern Lebanon and parts of western Syria which supported an indigenous population of Christians, Druze. When the Crusaders, captured the region in 1109, Bertrand of Toulouse became the first Count of Tripoli as a vassal of King Baldwin I of Jerusalem. From that time, rule of the county was decided not strictly by inheritance but by such as military force, favour. In 1289 the County of Tripoli fell to Sultan Qalawun of the Muslim Mamluks of Cairo, the county was absorbed into Mamluk Egypt. Raymond IV of Toulouse was one of the wealthiest and most powerful of the Prince Crusaders, even so, after the First Crusade, he had failed to secure any land holdings in the Near East. Meanwhile, the County of Edessa, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Tripoli was an important strategic goal as it linked the French in the south with the Normans in the north. It was a fertile and well populated area, in 1102, Raymond IV occupied Tortosa and in 1103, he prepared, together with veterans of the 1101 crusade, to take Tripoli. On a natural ridge, which he named Mons Peregrinus,3 kilometres from Tripoli, Raymond IV began the construction of a large castle, despite this new fortress and seasoned troops, Raymond IVs siege of Tripoli failed to secure the port. He died on 25 February 1105, Bertrand of Toulouse, who was supported by Baldwin I of Jerusalem, arrived in the Near East with a substantial army and a large Genoese fleet. In order to resolve the issue, Baldwin I created a partition treaty. It specified that William was to hold northern Tripoli and pay homage to Tancred while Bertrand was to hold south Tripoli as a vassal of Baldwin, under a united Christian onslaught, Tripoli fell on 12 July 1109, completing the Kingdom of Jerusalem. When William died of an arrow through the heart, Bertrand became the first Count of Tripoli, the extent of the County of Tripoli was determined in part by pre-existing Byzantine borders and in part by victory in battle, tempered by the demands of neighbouring crusader states. At its height, the county controlled the coastline from Maraclea in the north to Beirut in the south, inland, the countys control extended to the Krac des Chevaliers fortress. The rich inland agricultural land of the Homs Gap was known as La Bocquée, the county was divided into lordships, areas based roughly around its coastal ports. The Count of Tripoli himself held the port of Tripoli and its surrounds and he also controlled the hostile region of Montferrand, now modern-day Barin, Syria, lying to the east. Approximately one quarter of the land seized around Tripoli was given to the Genoese as payment for military aid, the Genoese admiral Guglielmo Embriaco was awarded the city of Jubail. Despite his contribution to its establishment, Baldwin I did not directly control the County of Tripoli, nevertheless, the County of Tripoli owed fealty and homage to him, and he, in return, provided support to the county in times of trouble
15.
Saint-Gilles, Gard
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Saint-Gilles or Saint-Gilles-du-Gard is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. It is the second most populous commune in the Nîmes metropolitan area, Saint-Gilles is located at the northern edge of the Petite Camargue, between Arles and Nîmes. With a land area of 153.73 km², it is large by continental French standards. The Benedictine abbey of Saint-Gilles was founded during the seventh century traditionally by the hermit Saint Giles, the former abbey church was listed in 1998 among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as part of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France. The abbey churchs west portal is among the most beautiful of the great Romanesque portals, the church has three naves and a famed spiral staircase of cantilevered stone steps. During the French Wars of Religion the Protestants fortified themselves within the abbey, the shrine of Saint Gilles, located in the crypt of the church, is the subject of pilgrimage in particular by women wishing to become pregnant or dealing with infertility. Saint-Gilles was the birthplace of Guy Foulques, Pope Clement IV, Saint-Gilles is more recently the birthplace of the author Georges-Jean Arnaud. The Nîmes-Alès-Camargue-Cévennes Airport, sometimes called Garons Airport, is located on the territory of the commune, communes of the Gard department Costières de Nîmes AOC INSEE Whitney S. Stoddard,1973. Gilles-du-Gard Regordane Info - The independent portal for The Regordane Way or St Gilles Trail The Regordane finishes in Saint-Gilles
16.
Philippa, Countess of Toulouse
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Philippa was the sovereign Countess of Toulouse, as well as the duchess consort of Aquitaine by marriage to Duke William IX of Aquitaine. Philippa was born in approximately 1073 to Count William IV of Toulouse and she was his only surviving child, and thus, by the laws of Toulouse, his heir. In 1088, William went on a pilgrimage to Palestine, leaving his brother Raymond of Saint-Gilles as regent, Philippas early life – if she was not married to Sancho Ramirez of Aragon – is something of a mystery. What is certain is that, upon the death of Count William, Philippas claims were ignored, when Raymond IV of Toulouse set out on the First Crusade in the autumn of 1096, he left his son Bertrand to rule the County. However, in the Spring of 1098, William and Philippa marched into the city of Toulouse, in the next year, she gave birth to her first child in the city, William the Toulousain. In 1099, her husband went on crusade and he left her as regent in Poitou and she was an admirer of Robert of Arbrissel and persuaded her husband to grant him land in Poitou to establish a religious community dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In 1100 he founded Fontevraud Abbey there and she was stunned in 1100 when her husband mortgaged Toulouse to her cousin Bertrand in exchange for a vast sum of money, which the Duke used to go on Crusade himself. Philippa, removed from her home, was sent to his capital of Poitiers, after Williams return, he and Philippa for a time lived contentedly with each other, producing a further five daughters, and a son, Raymond. She also ignored the Dukes sexual boasting in song and talk, instead concentrating on religion, especially the teachings of its founder, who preached the superiority of women over men. Her obsession with a doctrine considered offensive by many men of that time, combined with Williams growing dissatisfaction with her, thus, by 1114, Philippa was spending most of her time ruling there. Philippa appealed to friends and the church for assistance in ousting her husbands mistress, in 1116, a humiliated Philippa, devastated by her husbands repayment of her service to him for so many years, left the Court, taking refuge at the Abbey of Fontevrault. There she became a friend of her husbands first wife, Ermengarde of Anjou. However, for all Philippas devotion to the Abbey and its ideals, she found peace there. Doran, John, Smith, Damian J. eds, pope Innocent II, The World vs the City. Medieval Lands Project on Philippa of Toulouse
17.
William IV of Toulouse
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William IV of Toulouse was Count of Toulouse, Margrave of Provence, and Duke of Narbonne from 1061 to 1094. He succeeded his father Pons of Toulouse upon his death in 1061 and his mother was Almodis de la Marche, but she was kidnapped by and subsequently married to Ramon Berenguer I, Count of Barcelona when William was a boy. He was married to Emma of Mortain, who gave him one daughter and he also had an illegitimate son, William-Jordan, with his half-sister Adelaide. He married twice, and produced two sons, neither, however, survived infancy, leaving daughter Philippa as his heiress. As Toulouse had no tradition of inheritance, this raised a question with regard to succession. In 1088, when William departed for the Holy Land, he left his brother, Raymond of Saint-Gilles, meade, Marion, Eleanor of Aquitaine Medieval Lands Project on William IV, Count of Toulouse
18.
Provence
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The largest city of the region is Marseille. The Romans made the region into the first Roman province beyond the Alps and called it Provincia Romana and it was ruled by the Counts of Provence from their capital in Aix-en-Provence until 1481, when it became a province of the Kings of France. While it has been part of France for more than five hundred years, it retains a distinct cultural and linguistic identity. The coast of Provence has some of the earliest known sites of habitation in Europe. Primitive stone tools dated to 1 to 1.05 million years BC were found in the Grotte du Vallonnet near Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, tools dating to the Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic were discovered in the Observatory Cave, in the Jardin Exotique of Monaco. The Paleolithic period in Provence saw great changes in the climate, with the arrival, at the beginning of the Paleolithic period, the sea level in western Provence was 150 meters higher than it is today. By the end of the Paleolithic, it had dropped 100 to 150 metres lower than sea level. The cave dwellings of the inhabitants of Provence were regularly inundated by the rising sea or left far from the sea. The changes in the sea led to one of the most remarkable discoveries of signs of early man in Provence. In 1985, a diver named Henri Cosquer discovered the mouth of a submarine cave 37 metres below the surface of the Calanque de Morgiou near Marseille, the entrance led to a cave above sea level. Inside, the walls of the Cosquer Cave are decorated with drawings of bison, seals, auks, horses and outlines of human hands, dating to between 27,000 and 19,000 BC. The end of the Paleolithic and beginning of the Neolithic period saw the sea settle at its present level, a warming of the climate and the retreat of the forests. The disappearance of the forests and the deer and other easily hunted game meant that the inhabitants of Provence had to survive on rabbits, snails, since they were settled in one place they were able to develop new industries. Inspired by the pottery from the eastern Mediterranean, in about 6000 BC they created the first pottery to be made in France. Around 6000 BC, a wave of new settlers from the east and they were farmers and warriors, and gradually displaced the earlier pastoral people from their lands. They were followed in about 2500 BC by another wave of people, also farmers, known as the Courronniens, traces of these early civilisations can be found in many parts of Provence. A Neolithic site dating to about 6,000 BC was discovered in Marseille near the Saint-Charles railway station, and a dolmen from the Bronze Age can be found near Draguignan. Between the 10th and 4th century BC the Ligures were found in Provence from Massilia as far as modern day Liguria and they were of uncertain origin, they may have been the descendants of the indigenous neolithic peoples
19.
Jerusalem
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Jerusalem is a city located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is considered a city in the three major Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, the part of Jerusalem called the City of David was settled in the 4th millennium BCE. In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent, today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger, Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old Citys boundaries. These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, the sobriquet of holy city was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity, conserved in the Septuagint which Christians adopted as their own authority, was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesuss crucifixion there, in Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina. As a result, despite having an area of only 0, outside the Old City stands the Garden Tomb. Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the captured and later annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it into Jerusalem, one of Israels Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the countrys undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset, the residences of the Prime Minister and President, the international community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, and the city hosts no foreign embassies. Jerusalem is also home to some non-governmental Israeli institutions of importance, such as the Hebrew University. In 2011, Jerusalem had a population of 801,000, of which Jews comprised 497,000, Muslims 281,000, a city called Rušalim in the Execration texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt is widely, but not universally, identified as Jerusalem. Jerusalem is called Urušalim in the Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba, the name Jerusalem is variously etymologized to mean foundation of the god Shalem, the god Shalem was thus the original tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city. The form Yerushalem or Yerushalayim first appears in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua, according to a Midrash, the name is a combination of Yhwh Yireh and the town Shalem. The earliest extra-biblical Hebrew writing of the word Jerusalem is dated to the sixth or seventh century BCE and was discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei near Beit Guvrin in 1961. The inscription states, I am Yahweh thy God, I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem, or as other scholars suggest, the mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem
20.
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
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The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, a few steps away from the Muristan. The tomb is enclosed by the 18th-century shrine, called the Aedicule, within the church proper are the last four Stations of the Via Dolorosa, representing the final episodes of Jesus Passion. The main denominations sharing property over parts of the church are the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Roman Catholic, and to a lesser degree the Egyptian Copts, Syriacs and Ethiopians. According to Eusebius of Caesarea, the Roman emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD built a dedicated to the goddess Venus in order to bury the cave in which Jesus had been buried. The first Christian emperor, Constantine the Great, ordered in about 325/326 that the temple be replaced by a church, during the building of the Church, Constantines mother, Helena, is believed to have rediscovered the tomb. Socrates Scholasticus, in his Ecclesiastical History, gives a description of the discovery. The remains are enveloped by a marble sheath placed some 500 years before to protect the ledge from Ottoman attacks. However, there are several thick window wells extending through the marble sheath and they appear to reveal an underlying limestone rock, which may be part of the original living rock of the tomb. The church was starting in 325/326, and was consecrated on 13 September 335. From pilgrim reports it seems that the housing the tomb of Jesus was freestanding at first. Each year, the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the anniversary of the consecration of the Church of the Resurrection on 13 September and this building was damaged by fire in May of 614 when the Sassanid Empire, under Khosrau II, invaded Jerusalem and captured the True Cross. In 630, the Emperor Heraclius restored it and rebuilt the church after recapturing the city, after Jerusalem came under Arab rule, it remained a Christian church, with the early Muslim rulers protecting the citys Christian sites. A story reports that the Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab visited the church and stopped to pray on the balcony and he feared that future generations would misinterpret this gesture, taking it as a pretext to turn the church into a mosque. Eutychius added that Umar wrote a decree prohibiting Muslims from praying at this location, the building suffered severe damage due to an earthquake in 746. Early in the century, another earthquake damaged the dome of the Anastasis. The damage was repaired in 810 by Patriarch Thomas, in the year 841, the church suffered a fire. In 935, the Orthodox Christians prevented the construction of a Muslim mosque adjacent the Church, in 938, a new fire damaged the inside of the basilica and came close to the rotunda. In 966, due to a defeat of Muslim armies in the region of Syria, the doors and roof were burnt, and the Patriarch John VII was murdered
21.
Adhemar of Le Puy
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Adhemar de Monteil was one of the principal figures of the First Crusade and was bishop of Puy-en-Velay from before 1087. He was the representative of Pope Urban II for the expedition to the Holy Land. Remembered for his prowess, he led knights and men into battle and fought beside them, particularly at Dorylaeum. He was also said to have gone on pilgrimage to Jerusalem around 1086, at the Council of Clermont in 1095, Adhemar showed great zeal for the crusade. Adhemar was named apostolic legate and appointed to lead the crusade by Pope Urban II on 27 November 1095, in part, Adhemar was selected to lead because he had already undertaken a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1086 and 1087. Departing on 15 August 1096, he accompanied Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, whilst Raymond and the other leaders often quarrelled with each other over the leadership of the crusade, Adhemar was always recognized as the spiritual leader of the crusade. Adhemar was protected by a band of Crusaders led by Henry of Esch to preserve the relic, when Kerbogha was defeated, Adhemar organized a council in an attempt to settle the leadership disputes, but he died on 1 August 1098, probably of typhus. The disputes among the nobles went unsolved and the march to Jerusalem was delayed for months. However, the soldiers continued to think of Adhemar as a leader. Some of them claimed to have been visited by his ghost during the siege of Jerusalem and this was done and Jerusalem was taken by the Crusaders in 1099. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
22.
Papal legate
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A papal legate or Apostolic legate is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters, the legate is appointed directly by the pope. The term legation is applied both to a mandate and to the territory concerned. In the High Middle Ages, papal legates were often used to strengthen the links between Rome and the parts of Christendom. More often than not, legates were learned men and skilled diplomats who were not from the country they were accredited to. The Italian-born Guala Bicchieri served as legate to England in the early 13th century. Papal legates often summoned legatine councils, which dealt with church government, during the Middle Ages, a legatine council was the usual means that a papal legate imposed his directives. There are several ranks of papal legates in diplomacy, some of which are no longer used, a nuncio performs the same functions as an ambassador and has the same diplomatic privileges. Under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, to which the Holy See is a party and this highest rank is normally awarded to a priest of cardinal rank. It is an investiture and can either be focused or broad in scope. The legate a latere is the ego of the Pope. The legatus natus would act as the representative in his province. Although limited in their jurisdiction compared to legati a latere, a legatus natus were not subordinate to them, literally sent legate, possessing limited powers for the purpose of completing a specific mission. This commission is normally focused in scope and of short duration, some administrative provinces of the Papal states in Italy were governed by a Papal Legate. This has been the case in Benevento, in Pontecorvo and in Viterbo, in four cases, including Bologna, this post was awarded exclusively to Cardinals, the Velletri post was created for Bartolommeo Pacca. The title could be changed to Apostolic Delegate, as happened in Frosinone in 1827, Papal diplomacy Nuncio – an envoy whose diplomatic status is recognized by the receiving state – usually a titular archbishop. Papal apocrisiarius List of papal legates to England Other Pontifical legate Catholic Encyclopedia, Legate WorldStatesmen - Italy to 1860 - Papal State Maseri, de Legatis et Nunciis Apostolicis Iudiciis Ecclesiasticis Civilibus et Criminalibus Oneribusque Civitatum Cameralibus et Communitativis. Commentatio Canoncia de Legatis et Nuntiis Pontificum, die englische Legation des Cardinals Guido Fulcodi, des spaeteren P. Clemens IV
23.
Constantinople
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Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine Empire, and also of the brief Latin, and the later Ottoman empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, Constantinople was famed for its massive and complex defences. The first wall of the city was erected by Constantine I, Constantinople never truly recovered from the devastation of the Fourth Crusade and the decades of misrule by the Latins. The origins of the name of Byzantion, more known by the later Latin Byzantium, are not entirely clear. The founding myth of the city has it told that the settlement was named after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas. The later Byzantines of Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honour of two men, Byzas and Antes, though this was likely just a play on the word Byzantion. During this time, the city was also called Second Rome, Eastern Rome, and Roma Constantinopolitana. As the city became the remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew. In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently, the medieval Vikings, who had contacts with the empire through their expansion in eastern Europe used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr, and later Miklagard and Miklagarth. In Arabic, the city was sometimes called Rūmiyyat al-kubra and in Persian as Takht-e Rum, in East and South Slavic languages, including in medieval Russia, Constantinople was referred to as Tsargrad or Carigrad, City of the Caesar, from the Slavonic words tsar and grad. This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις, the modern Turkish name for the city, İstanbul, derives from the Greek phrase eis tin polin, meaning into the city or to the city. In 1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script, in time the city came to be known as Istanbul and its variations in most world languages. In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpolis/Konstantinoúpoli or simply just the City, apart from this, little is known about this initial settlement, except that it was abandoned by the time the Megarian colonists settled the site anew. A farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c.150 BC which stipulated tribute in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and had in the Golden Horn an excellent and spacious harbour. He would later rebuild Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta Antonina, fortifying it with a new city wall in his name, Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, yet it had been the capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Constantinople was built over 6 years, and consecrated on 11 May 330, Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis
24.
Bohemond I of Antioch
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Bohemond I was the Prince of Taranto from 1089 to 1111 and the Prince of Antioch from 1098 to 1111. He was a leader of the First Crusade, which was governed by a committee of nobles, the Norman monarchy he founded in Antioch arguably outlasted those of England and of Sicily. Bohemond was the son of Robert Guiscard, Count of Apulia and Calabria and he was born between 1050 and 1058—in 1054 according to historian John Julius Norwich. He was baptised Mark, possibly because he was born at his fathers castle at San Marco Argentano in Calabria and he was nicknamed Bohemond after a legendary giant. His parents were related within the degree of kinship that made their marriage invalid under canon law, with the annulment of his parents marriage, Bohemond became a bastard. Before long, Alberada married Robert Guiscards nephew, Richard of Hauteville and she arranged for a knightly education for Bohemond. Robert Guiscard was taken ill in early 1073. Fearing that he was dying, Sikelgaita held an assembly in Bari, Roberts nephew, Abelard of Hauteville, was the only baron to protest, because he regarded himself Roberts lawful heir. Bohemond fought in his fathers army during the rebellion of Jordan I of Capua, Geoffrey of Conversano and his father dispatched him at the head of an advance guard against the Byzantine Empire in early 1081 and he captured Valona. He sailed to Corfu, but did not invade the island since the local garrison outnumbered his army and he withdrew to Butrinto to await the arrival of his fathers forces. After Robert Guiscard arrived in the half of May, they laid siege to Durazzo. The Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos came to the rescue of the town but, on 18 October, Bohemond commanded the left flank, which defeated the Emperors largely Anglo-Saxon Varangian Guard. The Normans captured Durazzo on 21 February 1082 and they marched along the Via Egnatia as far as Kastoria, but Alexioss agents stirred up a rebellion in Southern Italy, forcing Robert Guiscard to return to his realm in April. He charged Bohemond with the command of his army in the Balkans, Bohemond defeated the Byzantines at Ioannina and at Arta, taking control of most of Macedonia and Thessaly, however, the six-month siege of Larissa was unsuccessful. Supply and pay problems undermined the morale of the Norman army, during his absence, most of the Norman commanders deserted to the Byzantines and a Venetian fleet recaptured Durazzo and Corfu. Bohemond accompanied his father to the Byzantine Empire again in 1084, an epidemic decimated the Normans and Bohemond, who was taken seriously ill, was forced to return to Italy in December 1084. Robert Guiscard died at Cephalonia on 17 July 1085 and she persuaded the army to acclaim Roger Borsa his fathers successor and they hurried back to Southern Italy. Two months later, the assembly of the Norman barons confirmed the succession and he made an alliance with Jordan of Capua, and captured Oria and Otranto
25.
Alexios I Komnenos
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Alexios I Komnenos, was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power, the basis for this recovery were various reforms initiated by Alexios. His appeals to Western Europe for help against the Turks were also the catalyst that contributed to the convoking of the Crusades. Alexios was the son of the Domestic of the Schools John Komnenos and Anna Dalassena, Alexios father declined the throne on the abdication of Isaac, who was thus succeeded by four emperors of other families between 1059 and 1081. Under one of these emperors, Romanos IV Diogenes, Alexios served with distinction against the Seljuq Turks. Under Michael VII Doukas Parapinakes and Nikephoros III Botaneiates, he was employed, along with his elder brother Isaac, against rebels in Asia Minor, Thrace. In 1074, western mercenaries led by Roussel de Bailleul rebelled in Asia Minor, in 1078, he was appointed commander of the field army in the West by Nikephoros III. Alexios was ordered to march against his brother-in-law Nikephoros Melissenos in Asia Minor and this did not, however, lead to a demotion, as Alexios was needed to counter the expected invasion of the Normans of Southern Italy, led by Robert Guiscard. While Byzantine troops were assembling for the expedition, the Doukas faction at court approached Alexios, the mother of Alexios, Anna Dalassena, was to play a prominent role in this coup détat of 1081, along with the current empress, Maria of Alania. First married to Michael VII Doukas and secondly to Nikephoros III Botaneiates, she was preoccupied with the future of her son by Michael VII, furthermore, to aid the conspiracy Maria had adopted Alexios as her son, though she was only five years older than he. Maria was persuaded to do so on the advice of her own Alans and her eunuchs, given Annas tight hold on her family, Alexios must have been adopted with her implicit approval. As a result, Alexios and Constantine, Marias son, were now adoptive brothers, by secretly giving inside information to the Komnenoi, Maria was an invaluable ally. As stated in the Alexiad, Isaac and Alexios left Constantinople in mid-February 1081 to raise an army against Botaneiates, however, when the time came, Anna quickly and surreptitiously mobilized the remainder of the family and took refuge in the Hagia Sophia. From there she negotiated with the emperor for the safety of family members left in the capital, the tutor discovered they were missing and eventually found them on the palace grounds, but Anna was able to convince him that they would return to the palace shortly. However, before they were to gain entry into the sanctuary, Straboromanos and she refused to go with them and demanded that they allow her to pray to the Mother of God for protection. This request was granted and Anna then manifested her true theatrical and manipulative capabilities, Nikephoros III Botaneiates was forced into a public vow that he would grant protection to the family. Straboromanos tried to give Anna his cross, but for her it was not sufficiently enough for all bystanders to witness the oath. She also demanded that the cross be personally sent by Botaneiates as a vow of his good faith and he obliged, sending a complete assurance for the family with his own cross
26.
Siege of Nicaea
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The Siege of Nicaea took place from May 14 to June 19,1097, during the First Crusade. Nicaea, located on the shore of Lake İznik, had been captured from the Byzantine Empire by the Seljuk Turks in 1081. In 1096, the Peoples Crusade, the first stage of the First Crusade, had plundered the surrounding the city. As a result, Sultan Kilij Arslan I initially felt that the wave of crusaders were not a threat. He left his family and his treasury behind in Nicaea and went east to fight the Danishmends for control of the Melitene, the crusaders began to leave Constantinople at the end of April 1097. They arrived on May 6, severely short on food, but Bohemond arranged for food to be brought by land and they put the city to siege beginning on May 14, assigning their forces to different sections of the walls, which were well-defended with 200 towers. Bohemond camped on the side of the city, Godfrey on the south. On May 16, the Turkish defenders sallied out to attack the crusaders, the Turks sent messages to Kilij Arslan begging him to return, and when he realized the strength of the crusaders he quickly turned back. An advance party was defeated by troops under Raymond and Robert of Flanders on May 20, and on May 21, losses were heavy on both sides but in the end the Sultan retreated, despite the pleas of the Nicaean Turks. The rest of the crusaders arrived throughout the rest of May, with Robert Curthose, meanwhile Raymond and Adhemar built a large siege engine, which was rolled up to the Gonatas Tower in order to engage the defenders on the walls while miners mined the tower from below. The tower was damaged but no progress was made. Byzantine emperor Alexios I chose not to accompany the crusaders, but marched out behind them and made his camp at nearby Pelecanum. From there, he sent boats, rolled over the land, to help the crusaders blockade Lake Ascanius, the boats arrived on June 17, under the command of Manuel Boutoumites. The general Tatikios was also sent, with 2,000 foot soldiers, Alexios had instructed Boutoumites to secretly negotiate the surrender of the city without the crusaders knowledge. This was done, and on June 19 the Turks surrendered to Boutoumites, when the crusaders discovered what Alexios had done, they were quite angry, as they had hoped to plunder the city for money and supplies. Boutoumites, however, was named dux of Nicaea and forbade the crusaders from entering in groups larger than 10 men at a time, Boutoumites also expelled the Turkish generals, whom he considered just as untrustworthy. Kilij Arslans family went to Constantinople and were released without ransom. Alexios gave the money, horses, and other gifts
27.
Battle of Dorylaeum (1097)
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The Battle of Dorylaeum took place during the First Crusade on July 1,1097, between the crusaders and the Seljuk Turks, near the city of Dorylaeum in Anatolia. The crusaders had left Nicaea on June 26, with a deep distrust of the Byzantines, on June 29, they learnt that the Turks were planning an ambush near Dorylaeum. Contemporary figures place this number between 25, 000-30,000, more recent estimates are between 6,000 and 8,000 men, fulcher of Chartres gives the exaggerated number of 360,000. In addition to numbers of noncombatants, Bohemonds force probably numbered about 10,000. Military figures of the time often imply perhaps several men-at-arms per knight, on the evening of June 30, after a three-day march, Bohemonds army made camp in a meadow on the north bank of the river Thymbres, near the ruined town of Dorylaeum. On July 1, Bohemonds force was surrounded outside Dorylaeum by Kilij Arslan, Godfrey and Raymond had separated from the vanguard at Leuce, and the Turkish army attacked at dawn, taking Bohemonds army entirely by surprise, shooting arrows into the camp. Bohemonds knights had quickly mounted but their sporadic counterattacks were unable to deter the Turks, while this formed a battle line and sheltered the more vulnerable men-at-arms and noncombatants, it also gave the Turks free rein to maneuver on the battlefield. The Turkish mounted archers attacked in their usual style - charging in, shooting their arrows, the archers did little damage to the heavily armoured knights, but they inflicted heavy casualties on the horses and unarmoured foot soldiers. Bohemond had sent messengers to the other Crusader army and now struggled to hold on until help arrived, just after midday, Godfrey arrived with a force of 50 knights, fighting through the Turkish lines to reinforce Bohemond. Through the day small groups of reinforcements arrived, some killed by the Turks, as the Crusader losses mounted, the Turks became more aggressive and the Crusader army found itself forced from the marshy banks of the river into the shallows. Adhemars force fell on the Turkish camp, and attacked the Turks from the rear, the crusaders did indeed become rich, at least for a short time, after capturing Kilij Arslans treasury. The Turks fled and Arslan turned to other concerns in his eastern territory and they also took the male Greek children from the region extending from Dorylaeum to Iconium, some of whom were sent as slaves to Persia. On the other hand, the crusaders were allowed to march virtually unopposed through Anatolia on their way to Antioch and it took almost three months to cross Anatolia in the heat of the summer, and in October they began the siege of Antioch. John Doukas re-established Byzantine rule in Chios, Rhodes, Smyrna, Ephesus, Sardis and this success is ascribed by Alexios daughter Anna to his policy and diplomacy, but by the Latin historians of the crusade to his treachery and falseness
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Siege of Antioch
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The Siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade in 1097 and 1098. The first siege, by the crusaders against the Muslim-held city, Antioch lay in a strategic location on the crusaders route to Palestine. Supplies, reinforcements and retreat could all be controlled by the city, anticipating that it would be attacked, the Muslim governor of the city, Yaghi-Siyan, began stockpilling food and sending requests for help. The Byzantine walls surrounding the city presented an obstacle to its capture. The crusaders arrived outside the city on 21 October and began the siege, the garrison sortied unsuccessfully on 29 December. After stripping the area of food, the crusaders were forced to look farther afield for supplies, opening themselves to ambush. On the 31 December, a force of 20,000 crusaders encountered an army led by Duqaq of Damascus heading to Antioch. As the siege went on, supplies dwindled and in early 1098 one in seven of the crusaders was dying from starvation, a second relief force, this time under the command of Ridwan of Aleppo, advanced towards Antioch, arriving on 9 February. Like the army of Duqaq before, it was defeated, Antioch was captured on 3 June, although the citadel remained in the hands of the Muslim defenders. Kerbogha began the siege, against the crusaders who had occupied Antioch. The second siege ended when the crusaders exited the city to engage Kerboghas army in battle, on seeing the Muslim army routed, the defenders remaining in the citadel surrendered. There are a number of sources relating to the Siege of Antioch. There are four accounts, those of Fulcher of Chartres, Peter Tudebode, and Raymond of Aguilers. Nine letters survive relating to or from the army, five of them were written while the siege was underway and another in September. While there are many sources the number of people on crusade is unclear because they fluctuated regularly, lying on the slopes of the Orontes Valley, in 1097 Antioch covered more than 3.5 square miles and was encircled by walls studded by 400 towers. The river ran along the northern wall before entering Antioch from the northwest. Mount Silpius, crested by a citadel, was the Antiochs highest point, there were six gates through which the city could be entered, three along the northern wall, and one on each of the south, east, and west sides. The valley slopes made approaching from the south, east, or west difficult, the citys defences dated from the reign of the Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century
29.
Antioch
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Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient Greco-Roman city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. Its ruins lie near the city of Antakya, Turkey. Antioch was founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, the citys geographical, military, and economic location benefited its occupants, particularly such features as the spice trade, the Silk Road, and the Persian Royal Road. It eventually rivaled Alexandria as the city of the Near East. It was also the center of Hellenistic Judaism at the end of the Second Temple period. Most of the development of Antioch was done during the Roman Empire. Antioch was called the cradle of Christianity as a result of its longevity, the Christian New Testament asserts that the name Christian first emerged in Antioch. It was one of the four cities of the Syrian tetrapolis, a single route proceeds south in the Orontes valley. The settlement of Meroe pre-dated Antioch, a shrine of the Semitic goddess Anat, called by Herodotus the Persian Artemis, was located here. This site was included in the suburbs of Antioch. There was a village on the spur of Mount Silpius named Io and this name was always adduced as evidence by Antiochenes anxious to affiliate themselves to the Attic Ionians—an eagerness which is illustrated by the Athenian types used on the citys coins. Io may have been an early colony of trading Greeks. John Malalas also mentions a village, Bottia, in the plain by the river. Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great is said to have camped on the site of Antioch and this account is found only in the writings of Libanius, a 4th-century orator from Antioch, and may be legend intended to enhance Antiochs status. But the story is not unlikely in itself, after Alexanders death in 323 BC, his generals divided up the territory he had conquered. Seleucus I Nicator won the territory of Syria, and he proceeded to found four sister cities in northwestern Syria, one of which was Antioch and he is reputed to have built sixteen Antiochs. Seleucus founded Antioch on a site chosen through ritual means, an eagle, the bird of Zeus, had been given a piece of sacrificial meat and the city was founded on the site to which the eagle carried the offering. Seleucus did this on the 22nd day of the month of Artemisios in the year of his reign
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Seljuq dynasty
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The Seljuqs established both the Seljuk Empire and Sultanate of Rum, which at their heights stretched from Anatolia through Iran and were targets of the First Crusade. During the 10th century, due to events, the Oghuz had come into close contact with Muslim cities. Around 985, Seljuq converted to Islam, in the 11th century the Seljuqs migrated from their ancestral homelands into mainland Persia, in the province of Khurasan, where they encountered the Ghaznavid empire. In 1025,40,000 families of Oghuz Turks migrated to the area of Caucasian Albania, the Seljuqs defeated the Ghaznavids at the battle of Nasa plains in 1035. Tughril, Chaghri, and Yabghu received the insignias of governor, grants of land, at the battle of Dandanaqan they defeated a Ghaznavid army, and after a successful siege of Isfahan by Tughril in 1050/51, they established an empire later called the Great Seljuk Empire. The Seljuqs mixed with the population and adopted the Persian culture. The Great Seljuqs were heads of the family, in theory their authority extended over all the other Seljuq lines, turkish custom called for the senior member of the family to be the Great Seljuq, although usually the position was associated with the ruler of western Persia. Muhammads son Mahmud II succeeded him in western Persia, but Ahmad Sanjar, the rulers of western Persia, who maintained a very loose grip on the Abbasids of Baghdad. Several Turkic emirs gained a level of influence in the region. Kerman was a province in southern Persia, between 1053 and 1154, the territory also included Umman. Kerman was eventually annexed by the Khwarezmid Empire in 1196, the Empire of the Steppes, a History of Central Asia. Early Seljuq History, A New Interpretation, New York, NY, Routledge,2010 Previté-Orton, C. W
31.
Holy Lance
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The Holy Lance, also known as the Holy Spear, the Spear of Destiny, or the Lance of Longinus, according to the Gospel of John, is the lance that pierced the side of Jesus as he hung on the cross. The lance is mentioned in the Gospel of John, but not the Synoptic Gospels, the gospel states that the Romans planned to break Jesus legs, a practice known as crurifragium, which was a method of hastening death during a crucifixion. Just before they did so, they realized that Jesus was already dead, to make sure that he was dead, a Roman soldier stabbed him in the side. One of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance, and immediately came out blood. The phenomenon of blood and water was considered a miracle by Origen, the blood symbolizes his humanity, the water his divinity. In most variants of the Orthodox Divine Liturgy, the priest lances the host with a spear before it is divided in honor of the Trinity, the Theotokos. The deacon recites the relevant passage from the Gospel of John, the main piece becomes The Lamb, the host that is consecrated on the altar and distributed to the faithful for Holy Communion. A form of the name Longinus occurs on a miniature in the Rabula Gospels, in the miniature, the name LOGINOS is written in Greek characters above the head of the soldier who is thrusting his lance into Christs side. This is one of the earliest records of the name, if the inscription is not a later addition, there have been three or four major relics that are claimed to be the Holy Lance or parts of it. The Holy Lance in Rome is preserved beneath the dome of Saint Peters Basilica, a mention of the lance occurs in the so-called Breviarius at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The presence in Jerusalem of the relic is attested by Cassiodorus as well as by Gregory of Tours, in 615, Jerusalem and its relics were captured by the Persian forces of King Khosrau II. This point of the lance, which was now set in an icon, was acquired by the Latin Emperor, Baldwin II of Constantinople, the point of the lance was then enshrined with the crown of thorns in the Sainte Chapelle in Paris. During the French Revolution these relics were removed to the Bibliothèque Nationale but the point subsequently disappeared. As for the portion of the lance, Arculpus claimed he saw it at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre around 670 in Jerusalem. Some claim that the relic had been conveyed to Constantinople in the 8th century. At this time great doubts as to its authenticity were felt at Rome, as Johann Burchard records, because of the presence of other rival lances in Paris, Nuremberg and this relic has never since left Rome, and its resting place is at Saint Peters. The Holy Lance in Vienna is displayed in the Imperial Treasury or Weltliche Schatzkammer at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, in the tenth century, the Holy Roman Emperors came into possession of the lance, according to sources from the time of Otto I. In 1000, Otto III gave Boleslaw I of Poland a replica of the Holy Lance at the Congress of Gniezno, in 1084, Henry IV had a silver band with the inscription Nail of Our Lord added to it
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Monk
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A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of other monks. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many religions, in the Greek language the term can apply to women, but in modern English it is mainly in use for men. The word nun is typically used for female monastics, although the term monachos is of Christian origin, in the English language monk tends to be used loosely also for both male and female ascetics from other religious or philosophical backgrounds. However, being generic, it is not interchangeable terms that denote particular kinds of monk, such as cenobite, hermit, anchorite, hesychast. In Eastern Orthodoxy monasticism holds a special and important place. Orthodox monastics separate themselves from the world in order to pray unceasingly for the world and they do not, in general, have as their primary purpose the running of social services, but instead are concerned with attaining theosis, or union with God. However, care for the poor and needy has always been an obligation of monasticism, the level of contact though will vary from community to community. Hermits, on the hand, have little or no contact with the outside world. Orthodox monasticism does not have religious orders as are found in the West, basil the Great and the Philokalia, which was compiled by St. Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios of Corinth. Hesychasm is of importance in the ascetical theology of the Orthodox Church. Meals are usually taken in common in a dining hall known as a trapeza. Food is usually simple and is eaten in silence while one of the brethren reads aloud from the writings of the Holy Fathers. The monastic lifestyle takes a deal of serious commitment. Within the cenobitic community, all monks conform to a way of living based on the traditions of that particular monastery. In struggling to attain this conformity, the comes to realize his own shortcomings and is guided by his spiritual father in how to deal honestly with them. For this same reason, bishops are almost always chosen from the ranks of monks, Eastern monasticism is found in three distinct forms, anchoritic, cenobitic, and the middle way between the two, known as the skete. One normally enters a community first, and only after testing and spiritual growth would one go on to the skete or, for the most advanced. However, one is not necessarily expected to join a skete or become a solitary, in general, Orthodox monastics have little or no contact with the outside world, including their own families
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Peter Bartholomew
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Peter Bartholomew was a soldier and mystic from France who was part of the First Crusade as part of the army of Raymond of Saint-Gilles. Peter was initially a servant to William, Lord of Cunhiat, in December 1097 during the siege of Antioch, Peter reportedly began to have visions, mostly of Saint Andrew. Peter claimed Saint Andrew took him to the Church of St. Peter, inside Antioch, Saint Andrew instructed Peter to tell the Crusade leaders about this and to give the Lance to Raymond of St. Gilles when it was found. Peter did not immediately inform Raymond or the leaders and was visited four more times before June 1098. He began to lose his sight in February 1098, probably because of the famine afflicting the Crusaders, after the Crusaders captured Antioch, Peter and Raymond began excavating the floor of the church. On 14 June 1098, Peter apparently discovered the Lance and claimed to have been visited once more by St. Andrew that night, who told him to establish a feast day in honor of the discovery. Many people, including the papal legate Adhemar of Le Puy, after Adhemars death later in 1098, Peter said Adhemar visited him to confirm the authenticity of the Lance. The discovery of the Lance was at first considered to be a good omen, the Lance was credited with ensuring the Crusader victory in this siege, just as Saint Andrew had promised. Nevertheless, Peters reputation was tarnished because many of the nobles still did not believe him and he later claimed Christ had visited him and instructed the Crusaders to march barefoot to Jerusalem, although this was largely ignored. Other visions, from Christ, Saint Andrew, Adhemar and others, revealed divine anger at the various sins, on 8 April 1099, Peter went through an ordeal by fire by his own choice in an attempt to prove himself. In the 2001 film The Crusaders, Peter Bartholomew was portrayed by Flavio Insinna, a History of the Crusades, Volume 1, The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Riley-Smith, Jonathan, The First Crusaders, 1095-1131, Cambridge University Press, the Holy Lance of Antioch, Power, Devotion and Memory on the First Crusade, Reading Medieval Studies 33, 3-36
34.
Maarrat al-Nu'man
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Maarat al-Numaan, also known as al-Maʿarra, is a city in northwestern Syria,33 km south of Idlib and 57 km north of Hama, with a population of about 58,008. It is located at the highway between Aleppo and Hama and near the Dead Cities of Bara and Serjilla. The city, known as Arra to the Greeks, has its present-day name combined of the Greek name and of its first Muslim governor an-Nu‘man ibn Bashir, a companion of Muhammad. Today the city has a museum with mosaics from the Dead Cities, the Great Mosque of Maarrat al-Numan, the city is also a birthplace of the poet Al-Maʿarri. In 891 Ya‘qubi described Maarrat al-Nu‘man as an ancient city, now a ruin and it lies in the Hims province. By the time of Estakhri the place had recovered, as he described the city full of good things. Figs, pistachios and vines were cultivated, in 1047 Nasir Khusraw visited the city, and described it as a populous town with a stone wall. There was a Friday Mosque, on a height, in the middle of the town, the bazaars were full of traffic. Considerable areas of cultivated land surrounded the town, with plenty of fig-trees, olives, pistachios, almonds, the most infamous event from the citys history dates from late 1098, during the First Crusade. After the Crusaders, led by Raymond de Saint Gilles and Bohemond of Taranto and their raids on the surrounding countryside during the winter months did not help the situation. By December 12 when they reached Ma‘arra, many of them were suffering from starvation and malnutrition and they managed to breach the citys walls and massacred about 8000 inhabitants. However, this time, as they could not find enough food, one of the crusader commanders wrote to Pope Urban II, A terrible famine racked the army in Ma‘arra, and placed it in the cruel necessity of feeding itself upon the bodies of the Saracens. Radulph of Caen, another chronicler, wrote, In Ma‘arra our troops boiled pagan adults in cooking-pots, they impaled children on spits and devoured them grilled. Thou holy Hermit, counsel us, and help us at our need, Help, for Gods grace, but Peter answered, Out, ye drones, a helpless pack that cry, While all unburied round about the slaughtered Paynim lie. A dainty dish is Paynim flesh, with salt and roasting due, from The Leaguer of Antioch Those events had a strong impact on the local inhabitants of Southwest Asia. The crusaders already had a reputation for cruelty and barbarism towards Muslims, Jews and even local Christians, Catholic, the accuracy of the events described by the contemporary writers have been disputed. The famine and cannibalism are recognised but the torture and killing of Muslim captives for cannibalism by Radulph of Caen are very unlikely since there are no Arab or Muslim records of the events, had they occurred they would have undoubtedly been recorded. Ibn al-Muqaddam received lands in Maarat al-Nuʿman in 1179 as part of his compensation for yielding Baalbek to Saladins brother Turan Shah, ibn Jubayr passed by the town in 1185, and wrote that Everywhere around the town are gardens
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Principality of Antioch
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The Principality of Antioch was one of the crusader states created during the First Crusade which included parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria. The principality was much smaller than the County of Edessa or the Kingdom of Jerusalem and it had roughly 20,000 inhabitants in the 12th century, most of whom were Armenians and Greek Orthodox Christians, with a few Muslims outside the city itself. Few of the inhabitants apart from the Crusaders were Roman Catholic even though the city was turned into a Latin Patriarchate in 1100. While Baldwin of Boulogne and Tancred headed east from Asia Minor to set up the County of Edessa, Bohemond of Taranto commanded the siege which commenced in October 1097. With over four hundred towers, the defenses were formidable. Bohemond convinced a guard in one of the towers, an Armenian and former Christian named Firouz, only four days later, a Muslim army from Mosul, led by Kerbogha, arrived to besiege the Crusaders themselves. Alexius I Comnenus, the Byzantine emperor, was on his way to assist the Crusaders, the Crusaders withstood the siege, with help from a mystic named Peter Bartholomew. Peter claimed he had visited by St. Andrew, who told him that the Holy Lance. The cathedral of St. Peter was excavated, and the Lance was discovered by Peter himself, although Peter most likely planted it there himself, it helped raise the spirits of the Crusaders. There was a dispute over who should control the city. Bohemond and the Italian Normans eventually won, and Bohemond named himself prince, meanwhile, an unknown epidemic spread throughout the Crusader camp, Adhemar of Le Puy was one of the victims. Following Bohemonds capture in battle with the Danishmends in 1100, his nephew Tancred became regent, Tancred expanded the borders of the Principality, seizing the cities of Tarsus and Latakia from the Byzantine Empire. However those newly captured cities along with other territory were lost after the Battle of Harran when Baldwin II of Edessa was captured, Bohemond was released in 1103 and went to Italy to raise more troops in 1104, during which time Tancred remained regent of Antioch. Bohemond used the troops he raised to attack the Byzantines in 1107, Bohemond was defeated at Dyrrhachium in 1108 and was forced by Alexius I to sign the Treaty of Devol, making Antioch a vassal state of the Byzantine Empire upon Bohemonds death. Bohemond had promised to any land that was seized from the Muslims when the Crusaders passed through Constantinople in 1097. Bohemond also fought at Aleppo with Baldwin and Joscelin of the County of Edessa, Bohemond left Tancred as regent once more and returned to Italy, where he died in 1111. Alexius wanted Tancred to return the Principality in its entirety to Byzantium, but Tancred was supported by the County of Tripoli, Tancred, in fact, had been the only Crusade leader who did not swear to return conquered land to Alexius. Tancred died in 1112 and was succeeded by Bohemond II, under the regency of Tancreds nephew Roger of Salerno, on June 27,1119, Roger was killed at the Ager Sanguinis, and Antioch became a vassal state of Jerusalem with King Baldwin II as regent until 1126
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Krak des Chevaliers
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The site was first inhabited in the 11th century by a settlement of Kurdish troops garrisoned there by the Mirdasids, as a result it was known as Hisn al-Akrad, meaning the Castle of the Kurds. In 1142 it was given by Raymond II, Count of Tripoli and it remained in their possession until it fell in 1271. It became known as Crac de lOspital, the name Krak des Chevaliers was coined in the 19th century, the Hospitallers began rebuilding the castle in the 1140s and were finished by 1170 when an earthquake damaged the castle. The order controlled a number of castles along the border of the County of Tripoli, Krak des Chevaliers was among the most important, and acted as a center of administration as well as a military base. After a second phase of building was undertaken in the 13th century and this phase created the outer wall and gave the castle its current appearance. The first half of the century has been described as Krak des Chevaliers golden age, at its peak, Krak des Chevaliers housed a garrison of around 2,000. Such a large garrison allowed the Hospitallers to exact tribute from a wide area, renewed interest in Crusader castles in the 19th century led to the investigation of Krak des Chevaliers, and architectural plans were drawn up. In the late 19th or early 20th century a settlement had created within the castle. The 500 inhabitants were moved in 1933 and the castle was given over to the French state, when Syria declared independence in 1946, it assumed control. Today, a village called al-Husn exists around the castle and has a population of nearly 9,000, Krak des Chevaliers is located approximately 40 kilometres west of the city of Homs, close to the border of Lebanon, and is administratively part of the Homs Governorate. Since 2006, the castles of Krak des Chevaliers and Qalat Salah El-Din have been recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. It was partially damaged in the Syrian civil war from shelling, the extent of the damage is unknown. The modern Arabic word for a castle is Kalaa, but Krak des Chavaliers is known as a Hosn and this derives from the name of an earlier fortification on the same site called Ḥoṣn al-Akrād, meaning fort of the Kurds. It was called by the Franks Le Crat and then by a confusion with karak, Crat was probably the Frankish version of Akrād, the word for Kurds. After the Knights Hospitaller took control of the castle, it known as Crac de lOspital. The castle sits atop a 650-metre-high hill east of Tartus, Syria, on the other side of the gap,27 kilometres away, was the 12th-century Gibelacar Castle. The route through the strategically important Homs Gap connects the cities of Tripoli, to the north of the castle lies the Jebel Ansariyah, and to the south Lebanon. The surrounding area is fertile, benefiting from streams and abundant rainfall, compared to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the other Crusader states had less land suitable for farming, however, the limestone peaks of Tripoli were well-suited to defensive sites
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Siege of Jerusalem (1099)
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The Siege of Jerusalem took place from June 7 to July 15,1099, during the First Crusade. The climax of the First Crusade, the siege saw the Crusaders seize Jerusalem from the Fatimid Caliphate. After the successful siege of Antioch in June 1098, the Crusaders remained in the area for the rest of the year, the papal legate Adhemar of Le Puy had died, and Bohemond of Taranto had claimed Antioch for himself. Baldwin of Boulogne remained in Edessa, captured earlier in 1098, there was dissent among the princes over what to do next, Raymond of Toulouse, frustrated, left Antioch to capture the fortress at Maarrat al-Numan in the Siege of Maarat. By the end of the year the minor knights and infantry were threatening to march to Jerusalem without them. Eventually, on January 13,1099 Raymond began the south, down the coast of the Mediterranean, followed by Robert of Normandy and Bohemonds nephew Tancred. On their way the Crusaders besieged Arqa but failed to capture it, therefore, he expelled all of Jerusalems Christian inhabitants. Further march towards Jerusalem met no resistance, on 7 June, the crusaders reached Jerusalem, which had been recaptured from the Seljuqs by the Fatimids only the year before. Many Crusaders wept upon seeing the city they had journeyed so long to reach. As with Antioch the crusaders put the city to a siege, in which the crusaders themselves probably suffered more than the citizens of the city, due to the lack of food and water around Jerusalem. The city was well-prepared for the siege, and the Fatimid governor Iftikhar ad-Daula had expelled most of the Christians, of the estimated 5,000 knights who took part in the Princes Crusade, only about 1,500 remained, along with another 12,000 healthy foot-soldiers. Early in the siege, some low-class knights claimed to have been visited by Adhemar, the papal regate for the crusade and they claimed that this was a Battle of Jericho situation, and that he instructed them to march around the city walls barefoot. They did so for a few days, singing holy chants, after which, Peter the Hermit held religious sermons in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, in the Garden of Gethsemane, and on the Mount of Olives, sending the crusading knights lost into religious zeal. It was at time that they were ready for a siege. A direct assault on the walls on June 13 was a failure, without water or food, both men and animals were quickly dying of thirst and starvation and the crusaders knew time was not on their side. Coincidentally, soon after the first assault, two Genoese galleys sailed into the port at Jaffa, the crusaders also began to gather wood from Samaria in order to build siege engines. They were still short on food and water, and by the end of June there was news that a Fatimid army was marching north from Egypt, the prime need of the crusaders was for ladders and siege towers to scale the walls of Jerusalem. The Egyptian Fatimid garrison had cleared the area of trees
