Irene of the Byzantine Empire - Irene of the Byzantine Empire Saint Irene (752-803), the wife of Leo IV, was Byzantine emperor from 797 to 802. Originally a poor but beautiful Athenian orphan, she speedily gained the love and confidence of her feeble husband, and at his death in 780 was left by him sole guardian of the empire and of their ten-year-old son Constantine VI. Seizing the supreme power in the name of the latter, Irene ruled the empire at her own discretion for ten years, displaying great firmness and sagacity in her government. She called herself basileus, the male form of the word "emperor," rather than basilissa, "empress." Her most notable act was the restoration of the orthodox veneration of icons or images, a policy which she always had secretly favoured,.
Empire - Empire For alternative meanings, see Empire (disambiguation) An empire is a large, multi-ethnic state, whose political structure is held together by coercion. (Compare with a federation, where a large multi-ethnic state is based on mutual agreement between the participants.) The modern term is derived from the Latin imperium, which was coined in what was possibly the most famous example of this sort of political structure, the Roman Empire founded in 31 BC. The actual political concept, however, predates the Romans by several thousand years. Probably the first example was the Akkadian Empire of Sargon of Akkad. An empire can take several forms. Empires have been traditionally ruled by powerful monarchies under the leadership of a hereditary (or in some cases, self-appointed) emperor. Historically, most empires came.
Empire of Nicaea - Empire of Nicaea The Empire of Nicaea was the largest of the states founded by refugees from the Byzantine Empire after Constantinople was conquered during the Fourth Crusade. Foundation In 1204, Byzantine emperor Alexius V fled Constantinople rather than face the crusader army in battle. Theodore Lascaris, the son-in-law of Emperor Alexius III, was proclaimed emperor, but he too fled, to the city of Nicaea in Bithynia, realizing the situation in Constantinople was hopeless. The Latin Empire which was established by the crusaders in Constantinople had poor control over former Byzantine territory, and Byzantine successor states sprung up in Epirus and Trebizond as well as Nicaea. Nicaea, however, was the closest to the Latin Empire and was in the best position to attempt to re-establish the.
Karl Krumbacher - Karl Krumbacher (1856-1909), German Byzantine scholar, was born at Kurnach in Bavaria on September 23 1856. He was educated at the universities of Munich and Leipzig, and held the professorship of the middle age and modern Greek language and literature in the former from 1897 to his death. His greatest work is his Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur von Justinian bis zum Ende des Ostroemischen Reiches (from Justinian to the fall of the Eastern Empire, 1453), a second edition of which was published in 1897, with the collaboration of A. Ehrhard (section on theology) and H Gelzer (general sketch of Byzantine history, AD 395-1453). The value of the work is greatly enhanced by the elaborate bibliographies contained in the body of the work and in a special supplement. Krumbacher also founded the.
Kavala - Gold mines in the Pangaion hills nearby made it prosperous. It became a Roman civitas in 168 BC, and was a base for Brutus and Cassius in 42 BC, before their defeat in the Battle of Philippi. The Apostle Paul landed at Kavala on his first voyage to Europe, and in Byzantine times the city was renamed Christoupolis. Kavala was part of the Ottoman Empire from 1371 to 1912. Mehmet Ali was born here in 1769. Some of it's most recognisable landmarks is a Venecian castle, in the hill of Panagia, and an aquaduct built by Suleiman I during his reign. The later serves still today as a city logo. It is a twin city of Nuremberg. Postage stamps Between 1893 and 1903, the French post office in the city issued.
Katharevousa - an expatriate in Paris. A classical scholar, Korais was repelled by the Byzantine influence in Greek society and was a fierce critic of the ignorance of the clergy and their subservience to the Ottoman Empire. He realized that education was a precursor to Greek liberation. The 'purified' Greek was to be the midpoint between Ancient Greek and Modern (of that time). Katharevousa actually contained archaicised forms of modern words, purged of 'non-Greek' vocabulary from other European languages and Turkish and a simplified, archaic grammar. The purpose of its creation was to mediate the struggle between the 'archaists' (those scholars who preferred Ancient Greek to Modern) and the 'modernists' (those who preferred Modern Greek). One reason the Archaists preferred Ancient Greek was that Modern Greek includes many Latin, Italian and Turkish loan.
Kerak - has been inhabited since at least the Iron Age, and was an important city for the Moabites and the Nabateans. In the Bible it is called Qer Harreseth, and the Romans conquered it from the Nabateans in 105. Under the Byzantine Empire it was a bishopric, and remained predominantly Christian under the Arabs. Construction of the Crusader castle began in the 1140s, under Paganus, the butler of King Fulk. The Crusaders called it Crac des Moabites. Paganus was also Lord of Oultrejordain (Transjordan), and Kerak became the centre of his power. Because of its position east of the Jordan River, Kerak was able to control Bedouin herders as well as the trade routes from Damascus to Egypt and Mecca. In 1176 Raynald of Chatillon gained possession of Kerak after marrying Stephanie,.
Khazars - kingdom also included territory in what is now eastern Ukraine, southern Russia, and Crimea. The name 'Khazar' itself seems to be tied to a Turkic verb meaning "wandering." Khazar history is intimately tied with that of the Gokturk empire, founded when the Asena clan overthrew the Juan Juan in AD 552. With the collapse of the Gokturk empire/tribal confederation due to internal conflict in the seventh century, the western half of the Turk empire itself split into two confederations, the Bulgars, led by the Dulo clan, and the Khazars, led by the Asena clan, the traditional rulers of the Gok Turk empire. By 670, the Khazars had broken the Bulgar confederation, leaving the three Bulgar remnants on the Volga, the Black Sea and the Danube. Their first significant appearance in history.
Khazaria - of post-communist Russia List of famous Russians Khazaria also known as Khazar khaganate was the country of the Khazars, neighboring the Byzantine Empire in the southwest, Kievan Rus' in the northwest, and Azerbaijan in the southeast. This Turkic people adopted Judaism in the 8th or 9th century. As an independent state, Khazaria existed between about 652 and 1016. Its supreme ruler was known by the title "khagan". Its last khagan was named George Tsul. Much of Khazaria was covered by steppe land. Khazaria bordered the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The Volga River passed through eastern Khazaria. Major cities of Khazaria included: Along the Caspian coast and Volga delta -- Atil Khazaran Samandar In the Caucasus -- Balanjar Sambalut Samiran Sarir Maghas (Alan capital) Sukhumi (Abkhazian capital) In the Crimea and.
Khios - also produces olives, figs, and wine. The Korai Library, one of the most important in Greece, is in Khios, it contains 95,000 volumes. Khíos was colonized by Ionians but has been occupied by the Persians, part of the Delian League and the Byzantine Empire. Before passing through the possession of the Latin emperors of Constantinople, the Genoese, the Ottoman Turks (there was a massacre of the islanders after a rebellion in 1822) and finally the Greeks after the First Balkan War (1912). Khíos claims to be the birthplace of Homer, Hippokrates the mathematician, and Oenopides. Oenopion, a legendary king, is said to have brought winemaking to the island..
Khalid bin Walid - Muhammad personally and apologized for his previous actions, and asked Muhammad to pray to God to forgive Khalid. Khalid also vowed to raise his sword in the path of Islam, rather than fighting against it. Despite the initial mistrust of some Muslims, Khalid won the trust of his new comrades and became a commander of Muslim armies. During the caliphate of Abu Bakr, Khalid was responsible for putting down the rebellion led by the imposter Mosailima at the Battle of Akraba. And later he took Iraq from the Persian Empire in one campaign. During the reign of Umar ibn al-Khattab, Khalid led the Muslim armies in Syria against the Byzantine Empire. Under his leadership, Damascus was captured by the Muslim armies. At the Battle of Yarmuk, all of Syria was taken.
Kiev - World War II as part of Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany occupied Kiev. On September 29 and 30 at Babi Yar, near Kiev, SS Einsatzgruppen carried out the mass murder of 33,771 Jews. The city remained in German hands until it was retaken by the Soviet Red Army on November 6, 1943. After 57 years as the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union, Kiev in 1991 became the capital of independent Ukraine. The church of Hagia Sophia in Kiev, begun in 1037, was designed to emulate the splendor of Byzantine churches, reflecting the reception of Christianity from the Byzantine Empire. Though it is dedicated to "Holy Wisdom", as was the great cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, the building has a very different form - rather than.
Kievan Rus' - in about 860 before moving south and extending his authority to Kiev. The chronicle cites the Scandinavian Rurik as the progenitor of a dynasty that ruled in Eastern Europe until 1598. Another Varagnian, Oleg (Helgi), who was a close relative of Rurik, moved south from Novgorod to expel the Khazars from Kiev and founded Kievan Rus' about 880. During the next thirty-five years, "Oleg" and his Viking and Slavic, warriors subdued the various Eastern Slavic tribes. In 907, he led an attack against Constantinople, and in 911 he signed a commercial treaty with the Byzantine Empire as an equal partner. The new Slavic Kievan state prospered because it controlled the trade route from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea and because it had an abundant supply of furs, wax, honey,.
King Henry - years shown below are the regnal years. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Byzantine Empire 2 England 3 France 4 Germany and Holy Roman Empire 4.1 Dukes of Saxony 4.2 Princes zu Reuss 5 Portugal 6 Spain 6.3 Navarre Byzantine Empire Henry of Flanders (1206-1216) (Latin Empire) England Henry I of England r. (1100 - 1135) Henry II Plantagenet of England r. (1154 - 1189) Henry III of England r. (1216 - 1272) Henry IV of England r. (1399 - 1413) Henry V of England r. (1413 - 1422) Henry VI of England r. (1429 - 1471) Henry VII of England r. (1485 - 1509) Henry VIII of England r. (1509 - 1547) France Henry I of France (1031 - 1060) Henry II of France (1547 - 1559) Henry III of France.
Kilij Arslan II - his father Mas'ud in 1156. In 1159 Kilij Arslan attacked Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus as he marched past Iconium (the capital of Rum) as Manuel returned from negotiating with Nur ad-Din in Syria. In 1161 Manuel's nephew John Contostephanus defeated Kilij Arslan, and the sultan travelled to Constantinople in a show of submission. In 1173 Kilij Arslan, now at peace with the Byzantines, allied with Nur ad-Din against Mosul. The peace treaty with the Byzantines lasted until 1175, when Kilij Arslan refused to hand over to Manuel recently conquered territory from the Danishmends, although both sides had for some time been building up their fortifications and armies in preparation for a renewed war. Kilij Arslan tried to negotiate, but Manuel invaded the sultanate in 1176, intending to capture Iconium itself..
Kingdom of Thessalonica - the Crusaders and Byzantines to become the new emperor after the conquest of Constantinople in 1204. However, the Venetians felt Boniface was too closely tied to the Byzantine Empire, as his brother Conrad had married into the Byzantine royal family. The Venetians wanted an emperor whom they could control more easily, and elected Baldwin of Flanders emperor of the new Latin Empire. Boniface reluctantly accepted this, and set out to conquer Thessalonica, the second-largest Byzantine city after Constantinople. At first he had to compete with Emperor Baldwin, who also wanted the city, but Boniface won this dispute by handing over his territory on Crete to the Venetians. He then went on to capture the city later in 1204 and set up a kingdom there, subordinate to Baldwin, although the title of.
Kos - ancient physician Hippocrates is thought to have been born on Kos, and just outside the town is the Plane Tree of Hippocrates, where the physician is traditionally supposed to have taught. The town also has the International Hippocratic Institute and the Hippocratic Museum dedicated to him. The island was originally colonised by the Kares who were invaded by the Dorinians in the 11th century BC, who developed into what became known as the Athenian Federation, expelling the Persians twice. In 366 BC the town of Kos was built, then soon after the island became a part of the Roman Empire, then the Byzantine empire. A few hundred years later, the island was conquered by the Venetians, who then sold it to The Knights of Saint John of Rhodes. Two hundred years.
Krum - the lands between the Danube and the Carpathians. More Slavic tribes were incorporated into the state. A border was established between the Frankish Empire and Bulgaria, forcing the empire of Charlemagne to reckon with his Balkan neighbor. Khan Krum aimed to incorporate all lands inhabited by Slavs and Bulgars into his state. The Byzantine Empire, under the leadership of Nicephorus I Genik, was alarmed. First Byzantine attempt to attack Bulgaria was prevented by an internal plot. Before the end of 809, the Bulgarian forces had defeated the Byzantine army in the Struma valley. Serdika, which was later to become Bulgaria's capital, was captured at this time. In 811 the Byzantine army captured Pliska and slaughtered its residents. After the palace was destroyed Krum was said to sue for peace offering Nicephorus.
Kubrat - arrived as hostage in Constantinople and was soon baptized. His maternal uncle Organa (also Organ or Ornag) acted as regent over his tribe the Unogundur until he was old enough to rule. Kubrat established peace with Byzantium, due to his respect for Byzantine culture. He was buried near Poltava (from Balt-Avar, meaning Chief of Avars). His Kurgan was excavated in 1912. After Kubrat's death, Bezmer (also called Bezmes Bayan and Batbayan) inherited his rule, but soon other "sons" led factions of the once great empire in secession. The first, called Kotrag after the tribes he led, moved up the Volga to found the state of Great Bulgaria. Then Ultzindur or Balkor led a rebel Kuber tribe into Pannonia only to break away and move south. Atilkese, moved southwest from Ukraine with.
January 11 - 1947) 1859 - George Nathaniel Curzon (Lord Curzon), British statesman (†1925) 1860 - Marie Bashkirtseff, artist, (†1884) 1885 - Alice Paul, women's rights activist 1899 - Eva LeGallienne, actress (†1991) 1903 - Alan Paton, writer (†1988) 1906 - Albert Hofmann, chemist, discoverer of LSD effects 1923 - Jacqueline Maillan, French actress 1924 - Slim Harpo, musician (†1970) 1925 - Grant Tinker, television executive 1925 - William Styron, writer 1926 - Lev Demin, cosmonaut (†1998) 1928 - David L. Wolper, producer 1930 - Rod Taylor, Australian actor 1934 - Jean Chrétien, twentieth Prime Minister of Canada 1938 - Arthur Scargill British trade union leader. 1942 - Clarence Clemens, musician (E Street Band) 1943 - Jim Hightower, radio host, author 1946 - Naomi Judd, country music singer.
