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Julius Valerius Majorianus

Julius Valerius Majorianus

Iulius Valerius Maiorianus (November 420 - 7 August 461), commonly known as Majorian, was Western Roman Emperor (457 - 461). He had distinguished himself as a general by victories over the Franks and Alemanni, and six months after the deposition of Avitus he was declared emperor by the regent Ricimer, which created problems with Emperor Leo in Constantinople who declared Majorian a usurper. Problems arising from this would last for the better part of Majorian's short reign. After repelling an attack by the Vandals upon Campania in 458 he prepared a large force, composed chiefly of Germans, to invade Africa, which he previously visited in disguise. Having during his stay in Gaul defeated Theodoric the Visigoth and then concluded an alliance with him, at the beginning of 460 he crossed the Pyrenees with the purpose of joining the powerful fleet which he had collected at Cartagena. The Vandal king Genseric, however, after all overtures of peace had been rejected, succeeded through the treachery of certain officers in surprising the Roman fleet, most of the ships being either taken or destroyed. Majorian thereupon made peace with Genseric. But his ill-success had destroyed his military reputation; his efforts to put down abuses and improve the condition of the people had roused the hatred of the officials; and Ricimer, jealous of his fame and influence, stirred up the foreign troops against him. A mutiny broke out in Lombardy, and on the August 2, 461 Majorian was forced to resign by Ricimer. He died five days afterwards, either of dysentery or by violence. Majorian was the author of a number of remarkable laws, contained in the Codex Theodosianus. He remitted all arrears of taxes, the collection of which was for the future placed in the hands of the local officials. He revived the institution of defensores or administrators of cities, whose duty it was to protect the poor and inform the emperor of abuses committed in his name. The practice of pulling down the ancient monuments to be used as building material, which was connived at by venal officials, was strictly prohibited. He also passed laws against compulsory ordination and premature vows of celibacy.

References


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External links

Category:420s births Category:461 deaths Category:Roman emperors

Julius

:For other meanings of Julius see Julius (disambiguation) Julius (fem. Julia) is the nomen of the gens Julia, an important patrician family of ancient Rome supposed to have descended from Julus. (See also: Julio-Claudian dynasty - Julia Caesaris) The name is also seen as Iulius and Iulia. There were many thousands of people bearing it, since the freedman took the gens name of their previous owners, thus many freedmen of the Julio-Claudian emperors received this name. Members of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty:
- Gaius Julius Caesar, the dictator
- Julius Caesar, the others
- Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus (by adoption)
- Julia Augusta (by adoption)
- Tiberius Julius Caesar (by adoption)
- Germanicus Julius Caesar (by adoption)
- Julius Caesar Nero, son of Germanicus and Agrippina
- Julia Caesaris, several women related to Julius and Augustus Caesar
- Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus (Caligula) Several other emperors:
- Marcus Julius Verus Philippus
- Flavius Julius Valens (Valens)
- Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus (Maximinus Thrax)
- Julius Valerius Maiorianus (Majoran)
- Julius Nepos Other people:
- Gnaeus Julius Agricola, conqueror of Britannia
- Gaius Julius Civilis, leader of the Batavian rebellion (69)
- Gaius Julius Hyginus, writer, 1st century
- Sextus Julius Frontinus, writer and politician, 1st century
- Gaius Julius Alpinus Classicianus, governor of Britannia, 1st century
  - Julia Pacata, wife of the previous
  - Julius Indus, Gaulish commander, father of the previous
- Gaius Julius Callistus, freedman, 1st century
- Sextus Julius Africanus, historian, 3rd century
- Gaius Julius Solinus, grammarian 3rd century
- Iulius Obsequens, ancient UFO writer, middle 4th century
- Gaius Julius Eurycles
- Julius Atticus
- Julius Graecinus
- Gaius Julius Vindex, governor of Lusitania
- Julius Sacrovir, noble of Aedui
- Gaius Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappus, consul and Syrian prince
- Julius Paulus, jurist
- Julius Exsuperantius, historian 4th century ---- The name lives on as a personal name.
- Pope Julius I
- Pope Julius II
- Pope Julius III ---- The faction House of Julii from the computer game Rome: Total War uses Julius as the family name (loosely based on the patrician family in ancient Rome). Category:Families of Rome Category:Julio-Claudian Dynasty

420

Events


- End of the Jin Dynasty in China. Liu Yu (Song Wu Di) is the first ruler of the Song Dynasty.
- Beginning of Southern Dynasties in China.
- Bahram V of Persia succeeds Yazdegerd I of Persia.
- Pharamond leads the Franks across the Rhine. My name is gilford barr and this is my number for our math,

Births


- Glycerius, western Roman Emperor (approximate date)
- Rah Jah, Kim dynasty

Deaths


- September 30 - Saint Jerome, translator of the Vulgate
- Orosius, Spanish historian and theologian
- Yazdegerd I of Persia (b. 399) Category:420

See also


- 420 (cannabis culture) ko:420년

7 August

August 7 is the 219th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (220th in leap years), with 146 days remaining. There are 94 days in North Hemisphere summer, South Hemisphere winter. The Northern Hemisphere is considered to be halfway through the summer on August 7.

Events


- 1679 - The brigantine Le Griffon, commissioned by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, is towed to the southern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes of North America.
- 1782 - George Washington orders the creation of the Badge of Military Merit to honor soldiers wounded in battle. It is later renamed to the more poetic Purple Heart.
- 1789 - The United States War Department is established.
- 1794 - Whiskey Rebellion begins: Farmers in the Monongahela Valley of Pennsylvania rebel against the federal tax on liquor and distilled drinks.
- 1819 - Simón Bolívar triumphs over Spain in the Battle of Boyacá.
- 1879 - The opening of the Poor Man's Palace in Manchester.
- 1927 - The Peace Bridge opens, between Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York.
- 1942 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal begins - U.S. Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with a landing on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
- 1944 - IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I).
- 1945 - President Harry Truman announces the successful bombing of Hiroshima with a atomic bomb while returning from the Potsdam Conference aboard the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31) in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
- 1947 - Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, 7000-km (4375-mile) journey across the Pacific Ocean proving that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.
- 1947 - The Bombay Municipal Corporation formally takes over the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).
- 1955 - Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering, the precursor to Sony, begins selling its first transistor radios in Japan.
- 1959 - Explorer program: The United States launches Explorer 6 from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
- 1960 - Côte d'Ivoire becomes independent.
- 1964 - Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving US President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on American forces.
- 1965 - Singapore is expelled and separated from the Federation of Malaysia.
- 1966 - Race riots occur in Lansing, Michigan.
- 1967 - Vietnam War: The People's Republic of China agrees to give North Vietnam an undisclosed amount of aid in the form of a grant.
- 1970 - California Judge Harold Haley is taken hostage in his courtroom and killed during in an effort to free George Jackson from police custody.
- 1976 - Viking program: Viking 2 enters into orbit around Mars.
- 1978 - United States President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal.
- 1981 -The Washington Star ceases all operations after 128 years of publication.
- 1985 - Takao Doi, Mamoru Mohri and Chiaki Mukai are chosen to be Japan's first astronauts.
- 1988 - Rioting in New York City's Tompkins Square Park
- 1989 - U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX) and 15 others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia.
- 1990 - At 12:34:56 (both AM and PM) the time and date by British reckoning was 12:34:56 7/8/90 i.e. 1234567890.
- 1995 - Operation Storm is officialy declared over in Croatia, resulting in total Croat victory over rebel Serb forces.
- 1997 - Fine Air Flight 101, a cargo flight from Miami to Santo Domingo crashes onto NW 72nd Ave near Miami International Airport, killing five people.
- 1998 - 1998 U.S. embassy bombings: Bombing of the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, kill 224 people and injure over 4,500.
- 1999 - A group of Indian army veterans launch the political party Rashtriya Raksha Dal.
- 2000 - deviantART.com is created by Scott Jarkoff, Matteo Stevens, and Angelo Sortia.
- 2005 - Russian Priz class mini-submarine AS-28 and its seven crewmembers are rescued off the Pacific coast
- 2005 - Singer Marc Cohn is shot in the head during a carjacking attempt in Denver; he survives.

Births


- 1400 - Guillaume Dufay, French composer (d. 1474)
- 1533 - Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga, Basque soldier and poet (d. 1595)
- 1560 - Elizabeth Báthory, Hungarian serial killer (d. 1614)
- 1574 - Robert Dudley, styled Earl of Warwick, English writer (d. 1649)
- 1598 - Georg Stiernhielm, Swedish poet (d. 1672)
- 1726 - James Bowdoin, American Revolutionary leader and politician (d. 1790)
- 1742 - Nathanael Greene, American Revolutionary general (d. 1786)
- 1779 - Louis de Freycinet, French explorer (d. 1842)
- 1779 - Carl Ritter, German geographer (d. 1859)
- 1860 - Alan Leo, British astrologer (d. 1917)
- 1867 - Emil Nolde, German painter (d. 1956)
- 1876 - Mata Hari, Dutch spy (d. 1917)
- 1877 - Ulrich Salchow, Swedish figure skater (d. 1949)
- 1885 - Billie Burke, American actress (d. 1970)
- 1904 - Ralph Bunche, American diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1971)
- 1925 - M. S. Swaminathan, Indian scientist
- 1926 - Stan Freberg, American voice comedian
- 1928 - James Randi, Canadian magician
- 1929 - Don Larsen, baseball player
- 1932 - Abebe Bikila, Ethiopan athlete
- 1936 - Rahsaan Roland Kirk, American saxophonist
- 1940 - Jean-Luc Dehaene, Prime Minister of Belgium
- 1942 - Garrison Keillor, American writer and radio host
- 1942 - B.J. Thomas, American singer
- 1943 - Dino Valente, American musician Quicksilver Messenger Service (d. 1994)
- 1945 - Alan Page, American football player
- 1949 - Walid Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze
- 1955 - Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer
- 1958 - Bruce Dickinson, English singer (Iron Maiden)
- 1960 - David Duchovny, American actor
- 1966 - Jimmy Wales, American founder of Wikipedia
- 1973 - Danny Graves, American baseball player
- 1975 - David Hicks, Australian alleged terrorist
- 1975 - Charlize Theron, South African actress
- 1978 - Jamey Jasta, AMerican Singer (Hatebreed)
- 1982 - Yana Klochkova, Ukrainian swimmer
- 1987 - Sidney Crosby, Canadian hockey player

Deaths


- 461 - Majorian, Roman Emperor (assassinated) (b. 420)
- 479 - Emperor Yūryaku of Japan
- 1106 - Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1050)
- 1485 - Alexander Stewart, 1st Duke of Albany, English prince
- 1613 - Thomas Fleming, English judge (b. 1544)
- 1616 - Vincenzo Scamozzi, Italian architect (b. 1548)
- 1635 - Friedrich von Spee, German writer (b. 1591)
- 1661 - Jin Shengtan, Chinese editor, writer and critic (b. 1608)
- 1817 - Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, French industrialist (b. 1739)
- 1834 - Joseph Marie Jacquard, French weaver and inventor (b. 1752)
- 1848 - Jöns Jakob Berzelius, Swedish chemist (b. 1779)
- 1855 - Mariano Arista, President of Mexico (b. 1802)
- 1912 - François-Alphonse Forel, Swiss hydrologist (b. 1841)
- 1931 - Bix Beiderbecke, American musician (b. 1903)
- 1941 - Rabindranath Tagore, Indian author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
- 1957 - Oliver Hardy, American comedian and actor (b. 1892)
- 1974 - Rosario Castellanos, Mexican poet (b. 1925)
- 1989 - Mickey Leland, U.S. Congressman (D-TX) (b. 1944)
- 1995 - Brigid Brophy, British author (b. 1929)
- 1999 - Brion James, American actor (b. 1945)
- 2004 - Red Adair, American firefighter (b. 1915)
- 2004 - Colin Bibby, English ornithologist (b. 1948)
- 2005 - Peter Jennings, Canadian-born news anchor (b. 1938)

Holidays and observances


- The Day of railman in Russia

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/7 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050807.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- August 6 - August 8 - July 7 - September 7 -- listing of all days ko:8월 7일 ms:7 Ogos ja:8月7日 simple:August 7 th:7 สิงหาคม

461

Events
- August 2 - Majorian resigns as Western Roman Emperor; shortly afterwards Libius Severus is declared western Roman emperor by Ricimer
- November 19 - Hilarius succeeds Leo as Pope
- Saint Patrick returns to Ireland as a Christian missionary. Births Deaths
- August 7 - Majorian, western Roman emperor
- November 10 - Pope Leo I
- Palladius - "first bishop to the Irish believing in Christ" Category:461 ko:461년

457

Events
- February 7 - Leo I becomes East Roman emperor.
- Childeric I succeeds Merovech as king of the Franks (or 458).
- Majorian is declared emperor by Ricimer.
- Victorius of Aquitania computes new tables for celebrating Easter.
- Hormizd III becomes king of Persia.
- Peroz I rebels against his brother Hormizd III.
- 4.000 Britons are slain at the Crayford in battle against Hengist and his son Esc. (According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle)
- In India, Skandagupta of the Gupta Empire defeats the Hunas (Ephthalites); not until 480 does the empire collapse under their attacks. Births Deaths
- October 28, Ibas, bishop of Edessa
- Marcian, East Roman emperor
- Theodoret, Christian bishop and theologian
- Yazdegerd II, king of Persia
- St. Valerian, bishop of Abbenza Category:457 ko:457년

Franks

:Francia redirects here. For the Bolognese artist, see Francesco Raibolini. The Franks or the Frankish people were one of several west Germanic tribes who entered the late Roman Empire from Frisia as foederati and established a lasting realm (sometimes referred to as Francia) in an area that covers most of modern-day France and the western regions of Germany (Franconia, Rhineland, Hesse), forming the historic kernel of both these two modern countries. The conversion to Christianity of the pagan Frankish king Clovis was a crucial event in the history of Europe. The Frankish realm underwent many partitions and repartitions, since the Franks divided their property among surviving sons, and lacking a broad sense of a res publica, they conceived of the realm as a large extent of private property. This practice explains in part the difficulty of describing precisely the dates and physical boundaries of any of the Frankish kingdoms and who ruled the various sections. The contraction of literacy while the Franks ruled compounds the problem: they produced few written records. In essence however, two dynasties of leaders succeeded each other, first the Merovingians and then the Carolingians. The Merovingian kings claimed descent of their dynasty from the Sicambri, a Scythian or Cimmerian tribe, asserting that this tribe had changed their name to "Franks" in 11 BC, following their defeat and relocation by Drusus, under the leadership of a certain chieftain called Franko. The ethnonym has also been traced to a
- frankon "javelin, lance" (Old English franca, compare the Saxons, named after the seax, and the Lombards, named after the battle-axe; the throwing axe of the Franks is known as the Francisca), but conversely, the weapon may also have been named after the tribe. The meaning of "free" (English frank, frankly) arose because after the conquest of Gaul, only Franks had the status of freemen. Initially two main subdivisions existed within the Franks: the Salian ("salty") and the Ripuarian ("river") Franks. By the 9th century, if not earlier, this division had in practice become virtually non-existent, but continued for some time to have implications for the legal system under which a person could go on trial.

The earliest records of the Franks

9th century, Germany.]] The earliest Frankish history remains relatively unclear. Our main source, the Gallo-Roman chronicler Gregory of Tours, whose Historia Francorum (History of the Franks) covers the period up to 594, quotes from otherwise lost sources like Sulpicius Alexander and Frigeridus and profits from Gregory's personal contact with many Frankish notables. Apart from Gregory's History there exist some earlier Roman sources, such as Ammianus and Sidonius Apollinaris. Gregory states that the Franks originally lived in Pannonia, but later settled on the banks of the Rhine. Additional early sources likewise relate that the Franks migrated in prehistoric times from the mouth of the Danube on the Black Sea, to the Rhine, where they adopted their name (circa. 11 BC) in honour of a hereditary chieftain called Franko – replacing the earlier tribal name Sicambri (or Sugambri) – said to be an offshoot of the Cimmerians or Scythians. This legend of a Scythian or Cimmerian background is thus consistent with the origin legends of nearly all other European nations as well. Modern scholars of the period of the migrations have similarly suggested that the Frankish Confederacy emerged from the unification of various earlier, smaller Germanic groups (including the Sugambri, Usipeti, Tencteri, and Bructeri) who inhabited the Rhine valley and lands immediately to the east – a social development perhaps accelerated by increasing upheaval in the area arising from the war between Rome and the Marcomanni beginning in 166, and subsequent conflicts of the late 2nd century and the 3rd century. A region in the north-east of the modern-day Netherlands – north of the erstwhile Roman border – bears the name Salland, and may have received that name from the Salians – likewise, the island of Sjælland in Denmark. Around 250, one group of Franks, taking advantage of a weakened Roman Empire, penetrated as far as Tarragona in present-day Spain, plaguing this region for about a decade before Roman forces subdued them and expelled them from Roman territory. About forty years later, the Franks had the Scheldt region under control and interfered with the waterways to Britain; Roman forces pacified the region, but did not expel the Franks.

Foundation of the Frankish kingdom

In 355–358, the later Emperor Julian once again found the shipping lanes on the Rhine under control of the Franks and again pacified them. Rome granted a considerable part of Gallia Belgica to the Franks. From this time on they became foederati of the Roman Empire. A region roughly corresponding to present-day Flanders and the Netherlands south of the rivers remains a Germanic-speaking region to this day. (The West Germanic language known as Dutch predominates there now.) The Franks thus became the first Germanic people who permanently settled within Roman territory. See this [http://www.roman-emperors.org/nouest4.htm external map]. From their heartland, the Franks gradually conquered most of Roman Gaul north of the Loire valley and east of Visigothic Aquitaine. At first they helped defend the border as allies; for example, when a major invasion of mostly East Germanic tribes crossed the Rhine in 406, the Franks fought against these invaders. The major thrust of the invasion passed south of the Loire river. (In the region of Paris, Roman control persisted until 486, a decade after the fall of the emperors of Ravenna, in part due to alliances with the Franks.)

The Merovingians

:Main article: Merovingian. The reigns of earlier Frankish chieftains – Pharamond (about 419 until about 427) and Clodio (Chlodio) (about 427 until about 447) – seem to owe more to myth than fact, and their relationship to the Merovingian line remains uncertain. Gregory mentions Chlodio as the first king who started the conquest of Gaul by taking Camaracum (Cambrai) and expanding the border of frankish territory south to the Somme. This probably took some time; Sidonius relates that Aëtius surprised the Franks and drove them back (probably around 431). This period marks the beginning of a situation that would endure for many centuries: the Germanic Franks became rulers over an increasing number of Gallo-Roman subjects. In 451, Aëtius called upon his Germanic allies on Roman soil to help fight off an invasion by the Huns. The Salian Franks answered the call, the Ripuarians fought on both sides as some of them lived outside the Empire. Gregory's sources tentatively identify Meroveus (Merovech) as king of the Franks and possibly a son of Chlodio. Meroveus was succeeded by Childeric I, whose grave, rediscovered in 1653, contained a ring that identified him as king of the Franks.

Clovis

:Main article: Clovis I Childeric's son Clovis engaged in a campaign of consolidating the various Frankish kingdoms in Gaul and the Rhineland, which included defeating Syagrius in 486. This victory ended Roman control in the Paris region. In the Battle of Vouillé (507), Clovis, with the help of the Burgundians, defeated the Visigoths, expanding his realm eastwards down to the Pyrenees mountains. The conversion of Clovis to Trinitarian Roman Christianity, after his marriage to the Catholic Burgundian princess Clothilde in 493, may have helped to increase his standing in the eyes of the Pope and the other orthodox Christian rulers. Clovis' conversion signalled the conversion of the rest of the Franks. Because they were able to worship with their Catholic neighbours, the newly-Christianized Franks found much easier acceptance from the local Gallo-Roman population than did the Arian Visigoths, Vandals or Burgundians. The Merovingians thus built what eventually proved the most stable of the successor-kingdoms in the west. :Main article: Merovingian Stability, however, did not feature day-to-day in the Merovingian era. While casual violence existed to a degree in late Roman times, the introduction of the Germanic practice of the blood-feud to obtain personal justice led to a perception of increased lawlessness. Disruptions to trade occurred, and civic life became increasingly difficult, which led to an increasingly localized and fragmented society based on self-sufficient villas. Literacy practically disappeared outside of churches and monasteries. The Merovingian chieftains adhered to the Germanic practice of dividing their lands among their sons, and the frequent division, reunification and redivision of territories often resulted in murder and warfare within the leading families. So though Clovis drove the Visigoths out of Gaul, at his death in 511, his four sons divided his realm between themselves, and over the next two centuries his descendants shared the kingship. The Frankish area expanded further under Clovis' sons, eventually covering most of present-day France, but including areas east of the Rhine river as well, such as Alamannia (today's southwestern Germany) and Thuringia (from 531). Saxony, however, remained outside the Frankish realm until conquered by Charlemagne centuries later. After a temporary reunification of the separate kingdoms under Clotaire I, the Frankish lands split once again in 561 into Neustria, Austrasia, and Burgundy, which had been absorbed into the Frankish realms through a combination of political marriage and force of arms. In each Frankish kingdom the Mayor of the Palace served as the chief officer of state. A series of premature deaths beginning with that of Dagobert I in 639 led to a series of under age kings. By the turn of the 8th century, this had allowed the Austrasian Mayors to consolidate power in their own hereditary regency, laying the foundation for a new dynasty: their descendants the Carolingians.

The Carolingians

:Main articles: Carolingian, Carolingian Empire The Carolingian kingship traditionally begins with the deposition of the last Merovingian king, with papal assent, and the accession in 751 of Pippin the Short, father of Charlemagne. Pippin had succeeded his own father, Charles Martel, as Mayor of the Palace of a reunited and re-erected Frankish kingdom comprised of the formerly independent parts. Pippin reigned as an elected king. Although such elections happened infrequently, a general rule in Germanic law stated that the king relied on the support of his leading men. These men reserved the right to choose a new "kingworthy" leader out of the ruling clan if they felt that the old one could not lead them in profitable battle. While in later France the kingdom became hereditary, the kings of the later Holy Roman Empire proved unable to abolish the elective tradition and continued as elected rulers until the Empire's formal end in 1806. Pippin solidified his position in 754 by entering into an alliance with Pope Stephen III, who presented the king of the Franks a copy of the forged "Donation of Constantine" at Paris and in a magnificent ceremony at Saint-Denis anointed the king and his family and declared him patricius Romanorum ("protector of the Romans"). The following year Pippin fulfilled his promise to the pope and retrieved the Exarchate of Ravenna, recently fallen to the Lombards, and returned it, not to the Byzantine emperor again, but to the Papacy. Pippin donated the re-conquered areas around Rome to the Pope, laying the foundation for the Papal States in the "Donation of Pippin" which he laid on the tomb of St Peter. The papacy had good cause to expect that the remade Frankish monarchy would provide a deferential power base (potestas) in the creation of a new world order, centred on the Pope.

Charlemagne

:Main article Charlemagne Upon Pippin's death in 768, his sons, Charles and Carloman, once again divided the kingdom between themselves. However, Carloman withdrew to a monastery and died shortly thereafter, leaving sole rule to his brother, who would later become known as Charlemagne or Karl der Große (Charles the Great), a powerful, intelligent, and modestly literate figure who became a legend for the later history of both France and Germany. Charlemagne restored an equal balance between emperor and pope. From 772 onwards, Charles conquered and eventually defeated the Saxons to incorporate their realm into the Frankish kingdom. This campaign expanded the practice of non-Roman Christian rulers undertaking the conversion of their neighbours by armed force; Frankish Catholic missionaries, along with others from Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England, had entered Saxon lands since the mid-8th century, resulting in increasing conflict with the Saxons, who resisted the missionary efforts and parallel military incursions. Charles' main Saxon opponent, Widukind, accepted baptism in 785 as part of a peace agreement, but other Saxon leaders continued to fight. Upon his victory in 787 at Verden, Charles ordered the wholesale killing of thousands of pagan Saxon prisoners. After several more uprisings, the Saxons suffered definitive defeat in 804. This expanded the Frankish kingdom eastwards as far as the Elbe river, something the Roman empire had only attempted once, and at which it failed in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 AD). In order to more effectively Christianize the Saxons, Charles founded several bishoprics, among them Bremen, Münster, Paderborn, and Osnabrück. At the same time (773–774), Charles conquered the Lombards and thus could include northern Italy in his sphere of influence. He renewed the Vatican donation and the promise to the papacy of continued Frankish protection. In 788, Tassilo, dux (duke) of Bavaria rebelled against Charles. Quashing the rebellion incorporated Bavaria into Charles' kingdom. This not only added to the royal fisc, but also drastically reduced the power and influence of the Agilolfings (Tassilo's family), another leading family among the Franks and potential rivals. Until 796, Charles continued to expand the kingdom even farther southeast, into today's Austria and parts of Croatia. Croatia when a treaty split it amongst his grandsons: Central Franks ruled by Lothair I (green), East Franks ruled by Louis the German (yellow), and Charles the Bald led West Franks (purple).]] Charles thus created a realm that reached from the Pyrenees in the southwest (actually, including an area in Northern Spain (Marca Hispanica) after 795) over almost all of today's France (except Brittany, which the Franks never conquered) eastwards to most of today's Germany, including northern Italy and today's Austria. In the hierarchy of the church, bishops and abbots looked to the patronage of the king's palace, where the sources of patronage and security lay. Charles had fully emerged as the leader of Western Christendom, and his patronage of monastic centres of learning gave rise to the "Carolingian Renaissance" of literate culture. On Christmas Day, 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charles as "Emperor of the Romans" in Rome in a ceremony presented as if a surprise (Charlemagne did not wish to be indebted to the bishop of Rome), a further papal move in the series of symbolic gestures that had been defining the mutual roles of papal auctoritas and imperial potestas. Though Charlemagne, in deference to Byzantine outrage, preferred the title "Emperor, king of the Franks and Lombards", the ceremony formally acknowledged the Frankish Empire as the successor of the (Western) Roman one (although only the forged "Donation" gave the pope political authority to do this), thus triggering a series of disputes with the Byzantines around the Roman name. After an initial protest at the usurpation, in 812, the Byzantine Emperor Michael I Rhangabes acknowledged Charlemagne as co-Emperor. The coronation gave permanent legitimacy to Carolingian primacy among the Franks. The Ottonians later resurrected this connection in 962. Upon Charlemagne's death on January 28, 814 in Aachen, he was buried in his own Palace Chapel at Aachen.

Later Carolingians

Charlemagne had several sons, but only one survived him. This son, Louis the Pious, followed his father as the ruler of a united Empire. But sole inheritance remained a matter of chance, rather than intent. When Louis died in 840, the Carolingians adhered to the custom of partible inheritance, and the Treaty of Verdun in 843 divided the Empire in three: # Louis' eldest surviving son Lothair I became Emperor and ruler of the Central Franks. His three sons in turn divided this kingdom between them into Lotharingia, Burgundy and (Northern) Italy. These areas would later vanish as separate kingdoms. # Louis' second son, Louis the German, became King of the East Franks. This area formed the kernel of the later Holy Roman Empire, which eventually evolved into modern Germany. For a list of successors, see the List of German Kings and Emperors. # His third son Charles the Bald became King of the West Franks; this area became the foundation for the later France. For his successors, see the List of French monarchs. Subsequently, at the Treaty of Mersen (870) the partitions were recast, to the detriment of Lotharingia. On December 12, 884, Charles the Fat reunited most of the Carolingian Empire, aside from Burgundy. In late 887, his nephew, Arnulf of Carinthia revolted and assumed the title as King of the East Franks ('Germany'). Charles retired and soon died on January 13, 888. Odo, Count of Paris was chosen to rule in the west ('France'), and was crowned the next month. The Carolingians were 10 years later restored in France, and ruled until 987, when the last Frankish King, Louis V, died

Carolingian legacy

Although an historical accident, the unification of most of what is now western and central Europe under one chief ruler provided a fertile ground for the continuation of what is known as the Carolingian Renaissance. Despite the almost constant internecine warfare that the Carolingian Empire endured, the extension of Frankish rule and Roman Christianity over such a large area ensured a fundamental unity throughout the Empire. Each part of the Carolingian Empire developed differently; Frankish government and culture depended very much upon individual rulers and their aims. Those aims shifted as easily as the changing political alliances within the Frankish leading families. However, those families, the Carolingians included, all shared the same basic beliefs and ideas of government. These ideas and beliefs had their roots in a background that drew from both Roman and Germanic tradition, a tradition that began before the Carolingian ascent and continued to some extent even after the deaths of Louis the Pious and his sons.

Crusaders and other Western Europeans as "Franks"

Because the Frankish kingdom dominated Western Europe for centuries, terms derived from "Frank" were used by many in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and beyond as a synonym for Roman Christians (e.g., al-Faranj in Arabic, Feringhee or Feringhi in Hindustani, Falangji in Chinese, and Frangos in Greek). During the crusades, which were at first led mostly by nobles from northern France who claimed descent from Charlemagne, both Muslims and Christians used these terms as ethnonyms to describe the Crusaders. This usage is often followed by modern historians, who call Western Europeans in the eastern Mediterranean "Franks" regardless of their country of origin. Compare with Rhomaios, Rûmi ("Roman"), used for Orthodox Christians.

See also


- List of Frankish Kings
- Old Frankish language
- List of French monarchs
- List of German monarchs
- List of Holy Roman Emperors
- History of France
- History of Germany
- Holy Roman Empire

Further reading


- Geary, Patrick J. Before France and Germany: the Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. ISBN 0195044584.
- Category:Ancient Germanic peoples Category:History of the Germanic peoples Category:Ancient Roman enemies and allies Category:Ethnic groups of Europe als:Franken (Volk) ja:フランク人

Alamanni

The Alamanni, Allemanni or Alemanni, were an alliance of warbands formed from Germanic tribes, first mentioned by Dio Cassius when they fought Caracalla in 213. They apparently dwelt in the basin of the Main River, to the south of the Chatti.

Tribal connections

The Alamanni emerged from the Irminones. According to Asinius Quadratus their name —"all men"—indicates that they were a conglomeration of various tribes formed into warbands, similar to the contemporary Huns. There can be little doubt, however, that the ancient Hermunduri formed the bulk of the nation. Other groups included the Brisgavi, Juthungi, Bucinobantes, Lentienses, and perhaps the Armalausi. Close allies of the Alamanni were the east Germanic Suebi, or Suabi (hence Swabia). The Hermunduri had apparently belonged to the Suebi, but it is likely enough that reinforcements from new Suebic tribes had now moved westward. In later times the names Alamanni and Suebi seem to be synonymous, although some of the Suebi later migrated to Hispania and established an independent kingdom there that endured well into the 6th century.

Conflicts with the Roman Empire

The tribe was continually engaged in conflicts with the Roman Empire. They launched a major invasion of Gaul and northern Italy in 268, when the Romans were forced to denude much of their German frontier of troops in response to a massive invasion of the Goths. Their depredations in the three parts of Gaul remained traumatic: Gregory of Tours (d. 695) mentions their destructive force at the time of Valerian and Gallienus, when the Alemanni assembled under their "king" whom he calls Chrocus "by the advice, it is said, of his wicked mother, and overran the whole of the Gauls, and destroyed from their foundations all the temples which had been built in ancient times. And coming to Clermont he set on fire, overthrew and destroyed that shrine which they call Vasso Galatae in the Gallic tongue," martyring many Christians ([http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/gregory-hist.html#book3 Historia Francorum Book I.32-34]). Thus 6th century Gallo-Romans of Gregory's class, surrounded by the ruins of Roman temples and public buildings, attributed the destruction they saw to the plundering raids of the Alemanni. In the early summer, the Emperor Gallienus halted their advance in Italy, but then had to deal with the Goths. When the Gothic campaign ended in Roman victory at the Battle of Naissus in September, Gallienus' successor Claudius II Gothicus turned north to deal with the Alamanni, who were swarming over all Italy north of the Po River. After efforts to secure a peaceful withdrawal failed, Claudius forced the Alamanni to battle at the Battle of Lake Benacus in November. The Alamanni were routed, forced back into Germany, and did not threaten Roman territory for many years afterwards. Their most famous battle against Rome took place in Argentoratum (Strasbourg), in 357, where they were defeated by Julian, later Emperor of Rome, and their king Chnodomar ("Chonodomarius") was taken prisoner. On January 2, 366 the Alamanni crossed the frozen Rhine in large numbers, to invade the Roman Empire. In the great mixed invasion of 406, the Alamanni appear to have crossed the Rhine river, conquered and then settled what is today Alsace and a large part of Switzerland. Fredegar's Chronicle gives an account. At Alba Augusta (Aps) the devastation was so complete, the Christian bishopric was removed to Viviers, but Gregory's account that at Mende in Lozere, also deep in the heart of Gaul, bishop Privatus was forced to sacrifice to idols in the cave where he was later venerated may be a generic figure epitomizing the horrors of barbarian violence.

List of battles between Romans and Alamanni


- 268 - Battle of Lake Benacus - Romans under Emperor Claudius II defeat the Alamanni.
- 271 -
  - Battle of Placentia - Emperor Aurelian is defeated by the Alamanni forces invading Italy
  - Battle of Fano - Aurelian defeats the Alamanni, who begin to retreat from Italy
  - Battle of Pavia (271) - Aurelian destroys the retreating Alamanni army.
- 298 -
  - Battle of Lingones - Caesar Constantius Chlorus defeats the Alamanni
  - Battle of Vindonissa - Constantius again defeats the Alamanni
- 356 - Battle of Reims - Caesar Julian is defeated by the Alamanni
- 357 - Battle of Strasbourg - Julian expels the Alamanni from the Rhineland
- 367 - Battle of Solicinium - Romans under Emperor Valentinian I defeat yet another Alamanni incursion.
- 378 - Battle of Argentovaria - Western Emperor Gratianus is victorious over the Alamanni, yet again.

Alamanni and Franks

The kingdom (or duchy) of Alamannia between Strasbourg and Augsburg lasted until 496, when the Alamanni were conquered by Clovis I at the Battle of Tolbiac. The war of Clovis with the Alamanni forms the setting for the conversion of Clovis, briefly treated by Gregory of Tours ([http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/gregory-clovisconv.html#n30 Book II.31]) Subsequently the Alamanni formed part of the Frankish dominions and were governed by a Frankish duke. In 746, Carloman ended an uprising by summarily executing all Alemannic nobility at the blood court at Cannstatt, and for the following century, Alamannia was ruled by Frankish dukes. Following the treaty of Verdun of 843, Alamannia became a province of the eastern kingdom of Louis the German, the precursor of the Holy Roman Empire. The duchy persisted until 1268.

List of Alamannic rulers

Kings
- Chrocus 306
- Mederich (father of Agenarich, brother to Chnodomar)
- Chnodomar 350, 357
- Vestralp 357, 359
- Ur 357, 359
- Agenarich (Serapio) 357
- Suomar 357, 358
- Hortar 357, 359
- Gundomad 354 (co-regent of Vadomar)
- Ursicin 357, 359
- Makrian 368 - 371
- Rando 368
- Hariobaud 4th c.
- Vadomar vor 354 - 360
- Vithicab 360 - 368
- Priarius ? - 378
- Gibuld (Gebavult) c. 470 Dukes under Frankish rule
- Butilin 539 - 554
- Leuthari I before 552 - 554
- Haming 539 - 554
- Lantachar until 548 (Avenches diocese)
- Magnachar 565 (Avenches diocese)
- Vaefar 573 (Avenches diocese)
- Theodefrid
- Leutfred I until 588
- Uncilin 588 - 607
- Gunzo 613
- Chrodobert 630
- Leuthari II 642
- Gotfrid until 709
- Willehari 709 - 712 (in Ortenau)
- Lantfrid 709 - 730
- Theudebald 709 - 744

Christianization

Christianization of the Alamanni took place during Merovingian times (6th to 8th centuries). Sources are sparse, but in the mid-6th century, the byzantine chronicler Agathias of Myrina records, in the context of the wars of the Goths and Franks against Byzantium, That the Alamanni fighting among the troops of Frankish king Theudebald were like the Franks in all respects except religion, since they :"worship trees, rivers, hills and gorges as gods, and decapitate horses and cows, and innumerable other animals, as if it were a holy rite" Adding the particular ruthlessness of the Alamani in destroying Christian sanctuaries and plundering churches, while the genuine Franks were respectful towards Christian sanctuaries. Agathias expresses his hope that the Alamanni would assume better manners through prolongued contact with the Franks, which is by all appearances what eventually happened. Apostles of the Alamanni were Saint Columbanus and his disciple Saint Gall. Jonas of Bobbio records that Columbanus was active in Bregenz, where he disrupted a beer sacrifice to Wodan. For some time, the Alamanni seem to have continued their pagan cult activities, with only superficial or syncretistic Christian elements. In particular, there is no change in burial practice, and warrior graves continued throughout Merovingian times. Syncretism of traditional Germanic theriomorph style with Christian symbolism is also present in artwork, but Chrisian symbolism becomes more and more prevalent during the 7th century. Unlike the later Christianization of the Saxon and of the Slavs, the Alamanni seem to have adopted Christianity gradually, and voluntarily, spread by emulation of the Merovingian elite. From ca. the 520s to the 620s, there was a surge of Alamannic Elder Futhark inscriptions. About 80 specimens have survived, roughly half of them on fibulae, others on belt buckles (see Pforzen buckle) and other jewellry and weapon parts. Use of runes subsides with the advance of Christianity. The establishment of the bishopric of Constance cannot be dated exactly and was possibly undertaken by Columbanus himself (before 612). In any case, it predates 635, when Gunzo appointed John of Grab as bishop of the already existing bishopric. Constance was a missionary bishopric in newly converted lands, and did not look back on late Roman church history (unlike Basel, episcopal seat from 740, which continued the line of Bishops of Augusta Raurica, see Bishop of Basel, and the Raetian bishopric of Chur, established 451). The establishment of the church as an institution recognized by worldly rulers is also visible in legal history. The early 7th century Pactus Alamannorum marginally mentions special privileges of the church, while Lantfrid's Lex Alamannorum of 720 has an entire chapter reserved for ecclesial matters. See also: Germanic Christianity.

Modern Alemanni

Allemania lost its distinct jurisdictional identity when Charles Martel absorbed it into the Frankish empire, early in the 8th century. Today, Alemannic is a linguistic term, encompassing the dialects of the southern two thirds of Baden-Württemberg (German State), in western Bavaria (German State), in Vorarlberg (Austrian State), in Switzerland and Alsace (France) (see Alemannic German). The word "Frankish" eventually gave its name to France and Franconia, while the Alamanni gave their name for "German" in French (Allemand), Spanish (Alemán) and Portuguese (Alemão).

References


- Franks and Alamanni in the Merovingian Period: An Ethnographic Perspective (Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology); Ian Wood (Foreword) ISBN 1843830353

See also


- Alemannic German -----
- als:Alamannen

Avitus

Marcus Maecilius Flavius Eparchius Avitus (c. 395 - 456), Western Roman Emperor (455 - 456). Made Magister militum (or Master of Soldiers) by the emperor Petronius Maximus, Avitus was sent on a diplomatic mission to his old student, Theodoric II king of the Visigoths, and was at Theodoric's court in Toulouse when Gaiseric invaded Rome, bringing Petronius Maximus's rule to a sudden end. Theodoric seized the opportunity and urged Avitus to assume the imperial throne, and with the acclamation of a gathering of Gallo-Roman senators, allowed himself to be persuaded. On July 9, 455, he was proclaimed emperor by the soldiers, and reached Rome that September. The Italian populace never fully accepted his rule, so when his campaign against the Vandals failed in 456, and they pressed their blockade against Rome, his position became tenuous. Famine in Rome forced him to disband his Gothic bodyguard. But they needed to be paid, and he did not improve his standing with the Roman citizenry when he melted down a number of bronze statues to pay their outstanding wages. Ricimer and Majorian exploited this discontent by starting a general revolt. Avitus fled to safety in Arles. A plea for help to Theodoric went unanswered, as the Gothic king was away in Spain campaigning against the Suevians. Avitus raised the best force he could and returned to Italy. He was defeated near Placentia, modern day Piacenza, and captured. His life was spared, and was allowed to become bishop of Placentia on October 17 or 18, 456; however, he still feared for his life and attempted to escape to safety in Gaul. He died on the way, by some accounts murdered. His grandson was the poet Avitus of Vienne.

External links

Category:390s births Category:456 deaths Category:Roman emperors Category:Late Antiquity

Ricimer

.]] Ricimer (c. 405 – August 18, 472) was master of the Western Roman Empire during part of the fifth century. Ricimer was an Arian Christian barbarian and was the son of a prince of the Suebi and the daughter of Wallia, king of the Visigoths. His youth was spent at the court of the western Roman emperor Valentinian III, where he won distinction fighting under Flavius Aëtius, Valentinian's magister militum of the western portion of the Roman Empire. The deaths of Valentinian and Aëtius in 454–55 created a power vacuum in the west. At first, Petronius Maximus attempted to seize control of the imperial throne, but he was killed when the Vandal king Geiseric sacked Rome in May of 455. Avitus was then made Emperor by the Visigoths. Following his arrival in Rome, Avitus appointed Ricimer as commander of the stricken Western Empire (by then reduced to Italy and a part of southern Gaul). He raised a new army and navy from among the Germanic mercenaries available to him. After leaving Rome, Geiseric had left a powerful fleet blockading the Italian coast. In 456, Ricimer led his own fleet out to sea, and defeated the Vandals in a sea-fight near Corsica. He also defeated the Vandals on land near Agrigentum in Sicily. Backed by the popularity thus acquired, Ricimer gained the consent of the Roman Senate for an expedition against the emperor Avitus, whom he defeated in a bloody battle at Piacenza on October 16, 456. Avitus was taken prisoner, made bishop of Piacenza, and shortly afterwards sentenced to death. Ricimer then obtained from Leo I, the eastern emperor at Constantinople, the title of Patrician. Ricimer spent the rest of his life as the de facto ruler of what was left of the western empire. However, the way in which he exercised power made him one of the most controversial figures of his time. As a German, he could not assume the title of Augustus (emperor) himself; on the other hand, power over the Augustus in Rome gave him prestige and offered him some influence over the other Germanic peoples occupying Gaul, Hispania, and Northern Africa. This left him with two options — dissolve the western imperial court and rule officially as a dux, or governor, of a single emperor in Constantinople, or set up his own figurehead emperors and rule through them. He chose to do the latter, even going so far as to have his name inscribed on the coinage along with the emperor. In 457, Ricimer set up Majorian as his own emperor in the West and induced Leo to give his consent. However, Majorian proved to be a capable ruler and soon became uncomfortably independent. Majorian was defeated (possibly by treachery) by Geiseric near the modern city of Valencia, Spain, while trying to organize an expedition against him, in 461. Ricimer then forced him to abdicate and caused his assassination on August 7, 461. The successor whom Ricimer placed upon the throne was Libius Severus, who proved to be more docile than Majorian, but had to face the disapproval of Leo in the East and rivalry of Aegidius in Gaul. Upon Libius Severus' death in 465 — said to be due to poisoning by Ricimer — this emperor-maker ruled the West for eighteen months without an emperor. Finally, after a lengthy debate in which he and Geiseric, now working together, tried to force their own candidate as emperor upon Leo, Ricimer accepted Leo's candidate Anthemius. He diplomatically married Anthemius' daughter, and for some time lived in peace with him. Ricimer commanded a large portion of the Roman forces in an expedition mounted by Leo against Geiseric in 468. His behavior raised suspicions that Ricimer secretly wanted the expedition to fail, which it ultimately did. Four years later, Ricimer moved to Mediolanum (Milan), ready to declare war upon Anthemius. St. Epiphanius, bishop of Milan, patched up a short-lived truce, after which Ricimer was again before Rome with an army of Germans. He proclaimed as emperor Olybrius, the candidate for emperor he and Geiseric had once favored. After a three months' siege, he took the city, on July 1, 472. Anthemius was killed and Rome was a prey to Ricimer's soldiers. However, he died less than two months later of malignant fever. His title of Patrician was assumed by his nephew Gundobad. Ricimer defended the provinces against the Ostrogoths and the Alani, and built the Arian church of Sant'Agata in Rome, later known as Sant'Agata of the Goths.

References


- Category:405 births Category:472 deaths Category:Ancient Roman enemies and allies Category:Roman generals Category:Goths

Constantinople

:This article details the history of Constantinople before the Turkish Conquest of 1453. For details on the city since 1453, see İstanbul. İstanbul Constantinople (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις) was the original and best known name of the modern city of İstanbul in Turkey in its role over more than a millennium as capital, first of the Eastern Roman Empire, subsequently of the Byzantine Empire. The last imperial designation reveals the city's even more ancient Greek name: Byzantium. Constantinople was located strategically between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe met Asia, and was highly significant as the successor to ancient Rome and the largest and wealthiest city in Europe throughout the Middle Ages.

Names

The name of Constantinople is an honorific eponym referencing its founder, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. Constantine established the Greek city of Byzantium as the second capital of the Roman Empire on May 11, AD 330, naming the city Nova Roma (New Rome). That particular name, however, enjoyed little common use, and it was as the 'City of Constantine' (Constantinopolis) that it lived through the subsequent centuries. A historical Slavic name for the city was Tsargrad. The word is an Old Church Slavonic translation of the Greek, presumably of Βασιλεως Πόλις, "the city of the emperor [king]": combining the Slavonic words tsar for "Caesar" and grad for "city", it stood for "the City of the Emperor [Caesar]". As fashions have changed the term has faded, and the word Tsargrad is now an archaic term in Russian, but is still used occasionally in Bulgarian. The Ottoman Turks called the city Stamboul or İstanbul, adopting a usage in Greek "eis tin Poli" (to or at the City). But they still used "Konstantiniyye" ("Constantine's City", or Constantinople) as the official name. When the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923, the capital was moved to Ankara. Constantinople was officially renamed İstanbul by the Republic of Turkey in 1930.

Byzantium

Constantine's foundation of New Rome on this site reflected its strategic and commercial importance from the earliest times, lying as it does astride both the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black or Euxine Sea to the Mediterranean, whilst also being possessed of an excellent and spacious harbour in the Golden Horn. No doubt for these reasons, a city was first founded on the site in the early days of Greek colonial expansion, when in 667 BC the legendary Byzas established it with a group of citizens from the town of Megara. This city was named Byzantium (Greek: Βυζάντιον), after its founder.

Constantine's Foundation

Byzantium, ca. 1000)]] Constantine had altogether more ambitious plans. Having restored the unity of the empire, now overseeing the progress of major governmental reforms and sponsoring the consolidation of the Christian church, Constantine was well aware that Rome had become an unsatisfactory capital for several reasons. Located in central Italy, Rome lay too far from the eastern imperial frontiers, and hence also from the legions and the Imperial courts.Moreover, Rome offered an undesirable playground for disaffected politicians; it also suffered regularly from flooding and from malaria. It seemed impossible to many that the capital could be moved. Nevertheless, Constantine identified the site of Byzantium as the correct place: a city where an emperor could sit, readily defended, with easy access to the Danube or the Euphrates frontiers, his court supplied from the rich gardens and sophisticated workshops of Roman Asia, his treasuries filled by the wealthiest provinces of the empire. Constantine laid out the expanded city, dividing it into 14 regions, and ornamenting it with great public works worthy of a great imperial city. Yet initially Constantinople did not have all the dignities of Rome, possessing a proconsul, rather than a prefect of the city. Furthermore, it had no praetors, tribunes or quaestors. Although Constantinople did have senators, they held the title clarus, not clarissimus, like those of Rome. Nor did it have the panoply of other administrative offices regulating the food-supply, the police, the statues, the temples, the sewers, the aqueducts and other public works. The new program of building was carried out in great haste: columns, marbles, doors and tiles were taken wholesale from the temples of the empire and removed to the new city. By the same token, however, many of the greatest works of Greek and Roman art were soon to be seen in its squares and streets. The emperor stimulated private building by promising householders gifts of land from the imperial estates in Asiana and Pontica, and on 18 May 332 he announced that, as in Rome, free distributions of food would be made to citizens. At the time the amount is said to have been 80,000 rations a day, doled out from 117 distribution points around the city.

Public buildings

332 Constantinople was a Christian city, lying in the most Christianised part of the Empire. Justinian made the temples of Byzantium into ruins, and erected the splendid Church of the Holy Wisdom, Sancta Sophia (also known as Hagia Sophia in Greek), as the centrepiece of his Christian capital. He oversaw also the building of the Church of the Holy Apostles, and that of St Irene. Constantine laid out anew the square at the centre of old Byzantium, naming it the Augusteum in honour of his mother, Helena. Sancta Sophia lay on the north side of the Augusteum. The new senate-house (or Curia) was housed in a basilica on the east side. On the south side of the great square was erected the Great Palace of the emperor with its imposing entrance, the Chalke, and its ceremonial suite known as the Palace of Daphne. Located immediately nearby was the vast Hippodrome for chariot-races, seating over 80,000 spectators, and the Baths of Zeuxippus (both originally built in the time of Severus). At the entrance at the western end of the Augusteum was the Milestone, a vaulted monument from which distances were measured across the Eastern Empire. From the Augusteum a great street, the Mese, led, lined with colonnades. As it descended the First Hill of the city and climbed the Second Hill, it passed on the left the Praetorium or law-court. Then it passed through the oval Forum of Constantine where there was a second senate-house, then on and through the Forum of Taurus and then the Forum of Bous, and finally up the Sixth Hill and through to the Golden Gate on the Propontis. The Mese would be seven Roman miles long to the Golden Gate of the Walls of Theodosius. Constantine erected a high column in the centre of the Forum, on the Second Hill, with a statue of himself at the top, crowned with a halo of seven rays and looking towards the rising sun.

Constantinople in the Divided Empire

Walls of Theodosius, on a contemporary silver plate (Royal Academy of History, Madrid)]] The first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople was Honoratus, who took office on 11 December 359 and held it until 361. The emperor Valens built the Palace of Hebdomon on the shore of the Propontis near the Golden Gate, probably for use when reviewing troops. All the emperors, up to Zeno and Basiliscus, who were elevated at Constantinople, were crowned and acclaimed at the Hebdomon. Theodosius I founded the church of John the Baptist to house a relic of the saint, put up a memorial pillar to himself in the Forum of Taurus, and turned the ruined temple of Aphrodite into a coachhouse for the Praetorian Prefect; Arcadius built a new forum named after himself on the Mese, near the walls of Constantine. Gradually the importance of the city increased. Following the shock of the Battle of Adrianople in 376, when the emperor Valens with the flower of the Roman armies was destroyed by the Goths within a few days' march of the city, Constantinople looked to its defences, and Theodosius II built in 413-414 the 60-foot tall walls which were never to be breached until the coming of gunpowder. Theodosius also founded a University at the Capitolium near the Forum of Taurus, on 27 February 425. In the 5th century, when the barbarians overran the Western Empire, its emperors retreated to Ravenna before it collapsed altogether. Thereafter, Constantinople became in truth the greatest city of the Empire, and the greatest in the world. Emperors were no longer peripatetic between various court capitals and palaces. They remained in their palace in the Great City, and sent generals to command their armies. The wealth of the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia flowed into Constantinople.

The City under Justinian

The emperor Justinian (527-565) was known for his successes in war, for his legal reforms and for his public works. It was from Constantinople that his expedition for the reconquest of Africa set sail on or about 21 June 533. Before their departure the ship of the commander, Belisarius, anchored in front of the Imperial palace, and the Patriarch offered prayers for the success of the enterprise. Chariot-racing had been important in Rome for centuries. In Constantinople, the hippodrome became over time increasingly a place of political significance. It was where (as a shadow of the popular elections of old Rome) the people by acclamation showed their approval of a new emperor; and also where they openly criticised the government, or clamoured for the removal of unpopular ministers. In the time of Justinian, public order in Constantinople became a critical political issue. The entire late Roman and early Byzantine period was one where Christianity was resolving fundamental questions of identity, and the dispute between the orthodox and the monophysites became the cause of serious disorder, expressed through allegiance to the horse-racing parties of the Blues and the Greens, and in the form of a major rebellion in the capital of 532 AD, known as the "Nika" riots (from the battle-cry of "Victory!" of those involved). "Nika" riots Fires started by the Nika rioters consumed the basilica of St Sophia, the city's principal church. Justinian commissioned Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus to replace it with the incomparable St Sophia, the great cathedral of the Orthodox Church, whose dome was said to be held aloft by God alone, and which was directly connected to the palace so that the imperial family could attend services without passing through the streets (St Sophia was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of the city, and is now a museum). The dedication took place on Christmas Day of 537 AD in the presence of the Emperor, who exclaimed, "O Solomon, I have outdone thee!" Justinian also had Anthemius and Isidore demolish and replace the original Church of the Holy Apostles, built by Constantine, with a new church under the same dedication. This was designed in the form of an equally-armed cross with five domes, and ornamented with beautiful mosaics. This church was to remain the burial place of the emperors from Constantine himself until the eleventh century. When the city fell to the Turks in 1453, the church was demolished to make room for the tomb of Mehmet II the Conqueror.

The City after Justinian

Justinian was succeeded in turn by Justin II, Tiberius II and Maurice, able emperors who had to deal with a deteriorating military situation, especially on the eastern frontier. Subsequently there was a period of near-anarchy, which was exploited by the enemies of the Empire. After the Avars came to threaten Constantinople from the west and simultaneously the Persians from the East, Heraclius, the exarch of Africa, set sail for the city and assumed the purple. He found the situation so dire that at first he contemplated moving the imperial capital to Carthage, but with military genius he succeeded in expelling the invaders. No sooner had he carried war into their own territories, however, and achieved an advantageous peace with Persia, than he was faced with the Arab expansion. Constantinople was besieged twice by the Arabs, once in a long blockade between 674 and 678, and once again in 717.

Importance of the City in its prime

Constantinople was historically important for a number of reasons. 717 Byzantium, later Constantinople, was one of the larger and richer urban centers in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Hellenic period and later during the Roman Empire, mostly due to its strategic position commanding the trade routes between the Aegean and the Black Sea. During the Fourth Century AD the Emperor Constantine relocated his eastern capital to Byzantium, hence the name Constantinople (Constantine's City), in an attempt to reinvigorate the Empire. It would remain the capital of the eastern, Greek speaking empire, short several interregnums, for over a thousand years. As the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (now commonly known as the Byzantine Empire), the Greeks called Constantinople simply "the City", while throughout Europe it was known as the "Queen of Cities." In its heyday, roughly corresponding to what is now known as the Middle Ages, it was the richest and largest European city, exerting a powerful cultural pull and dominating economic life in the Mediterranean. Visitors and merchants were especially struck by the beautiful monasteries and churches of the city, particularly the Hagia Sophia, or the Church of Holy Wisdom. A Russian 14th-century traveller, Stephen of Novgorod, wrote, "As for St Sofia, the human mind can neither tell it nor make description of it". The influence of Byzantine architecture and art can be seen in its extensive copying throughout Europe, particular examples include St. Mark's in Venice, the basilica of Ravenna and many churches throughout the Slavic East. Also, alone in Europe until the 13th century Italian florin, the Empire continued to produce sound gold coinage, the solidus of Diocletian becoming the bezant prized throughout the Middle Ages. Its city walls (the Theodosian Walls) and urban infrastructure was moreover a marvel throughout the Middle Ages, keeping a memory alive of the skill and technical expertise of the Roman Empire. The city, also provided a defence for the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire against the invasions of the 5th century, for Europe against the Arabs, and for European Christendom against Islam. Constantine assured the position of the Bishop or Patriarch of Constantinople as pre-eminent in the Eastern Empire. This action placed Constantinople at the religious heart of Orthodoxy. The Patriarch of Constantinople is still considered first among equals in the Orthodox Church along with the Patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, and the later Slavic Patriarchs. This position is largely ceremonial but still carries emotional weight.

The Isaurians

In the eighth and ninth centuries the iconoclast movement caused serious political unrest throughout the Empire. The emperor Leo III issued a decree in 726 against images, and ordered the destruction of a statue of Christ over one of the doors of the Chalke, an act which was fiercely resisted by the citizens. Constantine V convoked a church council in 754 which condemned the worship of images, after which many treasures were broken, burned, or painted over. Following the death of his son Leo IV in 780, the empress Irene