Showing posts with label Byzantine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Byzantine. Show all posts

Sunday, January 10, 2021

Byzantium & Khazaria; the Quinisext Council


Gog and Magog were apocryphal terms for the Khazar, descendants from the east-Asian steppe in following the Sabir war-machine, and departure of the far eastern Hun. Bearing ethnocentric composition of both Asian and Caucasians, the empire was preempted with the first collapse of Tong Yabghu Qaghan’s Western Turkic Khaganate from 618 to 628 AD. Described in the Old Book of Tang as having ‘occupied the land of Wusun and moved... to Qianquan north of Tashkent’ while Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang whence visiting the western Göktürk capital Suyab in modern Kyrgyzstan described Tong Yabghu as wearing “a green satin robe; his hair, which was ten feet long, was free. A band of white silk wound round his forehead and hung down behind”. Attributed to be the leader mentioned in Byzantine sources as having (as khagan of the Khazars) campaigned with the Emperor Heraclius in the Caucasus against the Sassanid Persian Empire in 627–628. Scholars disagree though as to whether Sipi Khagan was the ruler, who was Tong Yabghu's uncle; maintaining authority in the West. The generations following Tong Yabghu Qaghan’s assasination were composed by a mixture of regimes imposed under military Generals of which scholars cannot definitively attribute any sovereign authority to a Khagar again until 740 - 786 with Bulan Khazar who famously converted to Judaism. The Khazar capital was originally Balanjar but following sustained conflict with the Arabs (see Al-Tabari) after the seventh century it was moved to Atil.

Ibn Fadlan accounted for the Khāqān, or Khan’s as “Emperors” and “Kings” in modern English; having invaded territories of the Black Sea where the Khazar would consolidate it’s multi-ethnic State. The Khan, so typical of the Orient, can only appear in public once every four months. The ruling deputy in command of the armies would actually manage the affairs of the kingdom, predominately in collecting homage and in daily council, considered as ritual. The armies were deemed to never lay eyes on their Emperor as for example when out riding, the entire army accompanies him at a distance of one mile and on return all subjects prostrate themselves. Such armies will forfeit their lives on retreat from battle or otherwise abandonment while it’s General's possessions were publicly distributed prior to his execution, or if favored nonetheless, kept in service of the State as a stable boy. The Great Khāqān bore innumerable wives and concubines sourced from neighboring kingdoms who had sworn fealty to the ruler. A Great Khāqān’s rule is said to expire precisely after forty years, where if just one day late his subjects should execute him while maintaining his mind to be defective, and his judgement impaired. On death, his subjects are required to build a large dwelling over a river, in which twenty tents are erected and twenty graves are dug. Those who bury the Khāqān are beheaded upon completion of their task so that no one knows the final location of the corpses interment in its “Garden”.

The Islamic Caliphate inadvertently brought Byzantium and Khazaria into alliance. Likewise the Khagar acted as proxy of the Byzantines, in consolidated opposition to Kievan Rus’ control of Kiev; the western edge of the Khazar silk road, even though consistently disputing control over Crimea. Following the son of Saint Olga, who converted to Orthodox Christianity at the court of Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in 957. Sviatoslav I Igorevich’s reign, his name meaning ‘holy glory’, created the largest European State at the time when moving the Kievan Rus’ capital from Kiev into retreat in modern day Romania. Following a failed Bulgarian campaign he was forced to accept peaceful terms with Byzantine emperor John I Tzimiskes, submitting southern Crimea as a concession. He was ambushed and killed at 30 years of age as a consequence. Following Sviatoslav's death, tensions among his sons grew. A war of legitimization followed first between Oleg and Yaropolk, in 976, with the later prevailing. In 977 his third son Vladimir fled Novgorod for Scandinavia, he subsequently raised an army of Varangians and returned in 980 to defeat Yaropolk becoming the sole ruler of Kievan Rus'. Converting to Chalcedonian Christianity he maintained peaceful accords at large since his father’s paganism was a main point of consternation with the Byzantine, and the Bulgars were crippled following his campaigns there.

Sources of the modern Byzantium-Khazaria alliance occur over disputation of the Eastern Roman Empires control of Constantinople. Under Byzantine Emperor Tiberius III, following the reigns of Justinian II who appeared before the Khazar Khāqān and married the Khāqān’s sister; Justinian II, the eldest son of Emperor Constantine IV, was raised as joint emperor in 681 on the fall of his uncles Heraclius and Tiberius, attaining the rank of Emperor at age 16. Three years later he thwarted the Arabs in Armenia usurping the Umayyad Caliphate partially regaining control over Cyprus. In addition to securing the incomes of Armenia and Iberia, he liberated 12,000 Lebanese Christian Maronites, who maintained resistance against the Caliphate. His first military campaign was in 688–689, in defeating the Bulgars of Macedonia; Justinian was able to enter Thessalonica, the second most important Byzantine city in Europe and prior under consistent invasion attempts from the Avars and Slavs. Provisioning for 30,000 Slavic troops which he had forcibly resettled in Anatolia, Justinian commenced military campaigns against the Arabs, which proved disastrous as the Arabs turned the mercenary Slavs against Justinian at the Battle of Sebastopolis. Armenia was claimed by the Patrician Symbatius who resumed dealings with the Arabs, but in turn was conquered by 695. Justinian II, after attempting genocide of the regional Slavs, commenced persecution of Manichean's, and became immensely unpopular for this and through his extreme taxation policies and forcible resettlement plans. Despite dedicating himself to a religious council and hence regional security, his reign was doomed. Firstly, in 695 the population rose up against Justinian, under Leontios, the strategos of Hellas, proclaiming him to be Emperor. Justinian was deposed, his nose was cut off, and he was exiled to Cherson in Crimea. Leontius, after a reign of three years, was in turn dethroned and imprisoned by Tiberius Apsimarus. It was then having escaped Crimea, Justinian, and taking to Khazar Khāqān, with a new golden nose, wed the Khāqān’s sister, renaming her Theodora at Baptismal. Theodora would soon enough herself save Justinan’s life. 

Tiberios having heard of the marital alliance, bribed Busir for the head of Justinian. According to the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor, ca. 704, Busir dispatched two agents to murder his brother-in-law, Balgitzin and Papatzys. The then pregnant Theodora, discovering the assassination plot, warned her husband Justinian II, who supposedly strangled both of his assassins. He then secretly set sail in a fishing boat back to Crimea, leaving Theodora under the protection of her brother. In 705, Justinian forged a new alliance with Tervel of Bulgaria, offering him the title Ceasar, and in ceding Bulgaria to him from the empire’s holdings and granting him his own daughter Anastasia to be wed. With an army of 15,000 Bulgarian horsemen, Justinian succeeded to invade Constantinople though by subterfuge via an unused water conduit. He successfully roused supporters, seizing control of the city in a midnight coup d'état. In deposing Tiberios III and reclaiming his throne, Theodora was crowned Augusta and their son Tiberios proclaimed co-Emperor to secure his succession rights. After the public execution of Tiberius and Leontios he blinded and exiled Patriarch Kallinikos I of Constantinople to Rome. Betraying Tervel in turn he failed to reclaim Bulgaria on military expedition, and while struggling against the Caliphate he claimed minor victories in Asia minor, specifically Cappadocia. 

Requiring Pope John VII to recognize the decisions of the Quinisext Council, the Pope visited Constantinople and for the last time in over one thousand years. After receiving Holy Communion by the hands of the Pope, Justinian renewed all the privileges of the Roman Church. The Quinisext Canons found their way into Byzantine canonical collections even in the iconoclast period (despite the approval given to images of Christ in Canon 82). They did not, however, attain a wholly equal status to the canons of earlier councils until the great canonists of the twelfth century such as Balsamon. The immediate reaction of the Holy See was fiercely hostile, partly because two canons (13 and 55) explicitly criticized Roman practices, but more because Rome resented being expected to approve a whole sheaf of new canons retrospectively. In 711, however, Pope Constantine appears to have accepted a compromise whereby Rome accepted the validity of the canons in the East, while being allowed to continue existent western practices where these differed. Later a letter by Pope Hadrian I (dating to 785) citing Byzantine approval of the canons was misread in the West as a statement of approval by Hadrian himself. Partly in consequence of this error but also in view of their quality, Gratian (twelfth-century) cited many of the Quinisext Canons in his own great collection of canons, the Decretum. Where, however, they clashed with western canons or practice, he set them aside as representing Byzantine practice, just lacking universal validity. Gratian's work remained authoritative in the West until the first systematic Code of Catholic Canon Law was issued in 1917.

In retaliation for his treatment at the hands of the Khazars, Justinian II orchestrated an invasion of Crimea. Raising a Greek army of 100,000 soldiers, their Khazarian influence was underestimated. While succeeding to establish a governor in the city of Cherson, three quarters of the army didn’t return to Constantinople due to excessive weather, loyalties or both. The son of Armenian patrician Nikephorus was Philippicus, originally named Bardanes; who with support of the Monothelites during the first rebellion against Justinian, was after pretension for the throne, relegated to Cephalonia by Tiberius Apsimarus, and subsequently banished to Cherson by order of Justinian. When Cherson rebelled against the second reign of Justinian it was under General Bardanes with Khazar support. Emperor Justinian's forces thus after visibly failing to take Cherson, joined the rebellion, returning to seize Constantinople. Philippikus (General Bardanes) hence obtained the throne from Justinian II whilst he was on route to Armenia, and subsequently captured and beheaded. Justinian’s son Tiberius was likewise apprehended at the sanctuary of St. Mary's Church in Blachernae and executed. Among the first acts as Emperor was the deposition of Cyrus, the orthodox patriarch of Constantinople, in favor of John VI, a member of the Emperor Philippicus' private sect. Consequently, summoning a Conciliabulum of eastern bishops to abolish the canons of the Sixth Ecumenical Council, the Holy See refused to recognize the Emperor or his patriarch. Tervel (Caesar) took upon the opportunity to plunder Constantinople as far as the citadel. After only two years in power, the Opsikion troops rebelled in Thrace. Several of their officers captured and blinded Philippicus in the hippodrome, while he died in the same year.

Monday, December 28, 2020

Rurik’s Kievan Rus’; Russian-Viking origin

Nestor's Chronicle or The Chronicle of Nestor, is a history of the Kievan Rus' from about 850 to 1110, originally compiled in Kiev about 1113 by Nestor (c. 1056 – c. 1114); hence scholars refer often to Nestor's Chronicle or of Nestor's manuscript as the source of Russian history.  The original compilation now lost, was produced at the court of Sviatopolk II of Kiev (ruled 1093–1113), likely bearing Sviatopolk's Scandinavian allegiances. Nestor's Pan-Scandinavian attitude was confirmed by a Polish historian and archaeologist Wladyslaw Duczko, and he argued that the central aims of the Chronicle’s narrative was to ‘give an explanation how the Rurikids came to power in the lands of the Slavs, why the dynasty was the only legitimate one and why all the princes should terminate their internal fights and rule in peace and brotherly love’. Later accounts are the Laurentian Codex compiled by the Nizhegorod monk Laurentius for the Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich in 1377, which details the Russian periods until 1305, whilst the years 898–922, 1263–83 and 1288–94 are missing in context. Whereas the Laurentian (Muscovite) text traces the Kievan legacy through to the Muscovite princes. Another, the Hypatian traces the Kievan legacy through the rulers of the Halych principality. The Hypatian codex was rediscovered in Kiev in the 1620s written in Church Slavonic language.

The Primary Chronicle (Nestor's) describes the Rurik dynastic origin while accosted by the Tributaries of the Varangians (Vikings), “There was no law among them, but tribe rose against tribe. Discord thus ensued among them, and they began to war one against another. They said to themselves, "Let us seek a prince who may rule over us and judge us according to the Law." They accordingly came from overseas to the Varangian Russes: these particular Varangians (Vikings) were known as Russes, just as some are called Swedes, and others Normans, English, and Gotlanders, for they were thus named. The Chuds, the Slavs, the Krivichians, and the Ves' then said to the people of Rus', "Our land is great and rich, but there is no order in it. Come to rule and reign over us." They thus selected three brothers, with their kinsfolk, who took with them all the Russes and migrated. The oldest, Rurik, located himself in Novgorod; the second, Sineus, at Beloozero; and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. On account of these Varangians, the district of Novgorod became known as the land of Rus”. The account is precluded by a vast narrative traced back to the descendants of Noah; Shem, Ham and Japeth, with the latter's descendants being Varangians, Swedes, Normans, and the Russians. Andrew the Apostle charted the Slavic migrations in detail surrounding the River Danube, as running east to west and straight across Eastern Europe, in addition to the western source of the Danube which was also the source of the Vistula river running north to south and reaching the Black Sea across modern Poland.

In AD 860, Rurik, the Varangian chieftain of the Rus' who maintained control of Ladoga, drove his kinsmen, the Vikings, back beyond the sea in refusing them further tribute. His port at Lagoda was a key strategic entry to the Balkans linking Kiev with Constantipole to which his descendants would take arms. The Greek-Arabic trade goods flowed along this route by the Dniester or Dnieper rivers, an alternative to the western route via the Vistula. The Russians so set out to govern themselves under Rurik I who remained in power until death in 879. Rurik bequeathed his realm to Oleg, who belonged to his kin, and entrusted to Oleg's hands his son Igor, who was too young to rule. At the time and according to Olof von Dalin, Askold (as Asleik Bjornson (Diar)), was the son of Björn Ironside, who ruled over Kiev with Dir. Accounts later relayed askold Dir as termed by the Rus' of their first Kievan ruler, whether in kind, meaning 'strange'. The Primary Chronicle details; Oleg set forth, taking with him many warriors from among the Varangians, the Chuds, the Slavs, the Merians and all the Krivichians. He thus arrived with his Krivichians before Smolensk, captured the city, and set up a garrison there. Soon he went on to capture Lyubech, before arriving at the hills of Kyiv. Here he saw how Askold and Dir reigned and so schemed to take control. Hiding his warriors in their boats, he went forward in a peaceful approach to Askold and Dir bearing the child Igor as any stranger on his way to Greece on an errand. Though on summons to which Askold and Dir responded his soldiers emerged, when Oleg denounced him and bringing forward Igor who Oleg proclaimed as the son of Rurik. Askold and Dir, were carried off to the Hungarian hill, executed and buried there, where the castle of Ol'ma now stands. Igor the heir of Rurik would twice besiege Constantinople in 941 and 944, via the Kyiv stronghol and although Greek fire destroyed part of his fleet, he concluded a favorable treaty in 945 with the Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VII. In 913 and 944 the Rus' plundered the Arabs in the Caspian Sea during the Caspian expeditions of the Rus'. The Byzantines consequently accounted for Igor’s torture and death while collecting tribute from the Drevlians in 945. The Primary Chronicle points out that he attempted to collect tribute for a second time in a month. Igor's wife, Olga of Kyiv, avenged him by punishing the Drevlians and mandated a new legal system of tribute gathering (poliudie) as a result.

It was the Polyanians (Ukrainian: Поляни, Polyany, Russian: Поляне Polyane, Polish: Polanie) indeed who had built Kiev and named it after their ruler, Kyi. Polyanians were an East Slavic tribe between the 6th and the 9th century, which inhabited both sides of the Dnieper river, east of the Black Sea, running from Liubech to Rodnia and also down the lower streams of the rivers Ros', Sula, Stuhna, Teteriv, Irpin', Desna and Pripyat. In the Early Middle Ages there were two separate Slavic tribes bearing the name of Polans, one being the eastern, and the other being the western Polan, a West Slavic tribe. The name Polan is derived from the Old East Slavic word поле, meaning ‘field’, as according to the Primary Chronicle, such was entitled to those who lived in their fields and hence as farmers, the people were, whilst dependent on water for their crops, not necessarily so on the direct yields from the riverbanks nor it's boatmen. In the 9th and 10th centuries the Polans had well-developed arable land Farming, Cattle-breeding, Hunting, Fishing, Wild-hive Beekeeping and various handicrafts such as Blacksmithing, Casting, Pottery, Goldsmithing, etc. Thousands of (pre-Polan) kurgans, found by archaeologists in the Polan region, indicates their land had a relatively high population density too. They lived in small families in semi Dug-outs ("earth-houses") and wore homespun clothes and modest jewelry. Before converting to Christianity, the inhabitants used to burn their dead and erect kurgan-like embankments over them. Concerning the nomenclature of the distinct languages emergent during the Middle Ages; Ruthenian or Old Ruthenian is one source for a split, where in modern texts, the language in question is sometimes called "Old Ukrainian" or "Old Belarusian" (Ukrainian: Староукраїнська мова) and (Belarusian: Старабеларуская мова). As Ruthenian always bore a diglossic opposition to Church Slavonic, the vernacular language was and still is often called prosta(ja) mova (Cyrillic проста(я) мова), literally as ‘simple speech’.

Under the rulership of Emperor Heraclius, many of the Slavs were invaded and oppressed by the Bulgars, Avars, and Pechenegs. The Slavs from the Dnieper fell under the lordship of the Khazars of whom had had command of Kiev preceding the Rus', and were required to pay tribute. By the middle of the twelfth century, Kievan Rus′ had dissolved into independent principalities, each ruled by a different branch of the Rurik dynasty. Conflict was yet integral, such as Mstislav Vladimirovich’s campaigns, one of the earliest attested princes of Tmutarakan and Chernigov in Kievan Rus. He was a younger son of Vladimir the Great, Grand Prince of Kiev. His father appointed him to rule Tmutarakan, an important fortress by the Strait of Kerch, in or after 988. Subsequently he invaded the core territories of Kievan Rus, which were ruled by his brother, Yaroslav the Wise (978 – 1054), in 1024. Although Mstislav could not take Kiev, he forced the East Slavic tribes dwelling to the east of the Dniester River to accept his suzerainty. Yaroslav the Wise also accepted the division of Kievan Rus' along the river after Mstislav had defeated him in a battle fought at Listven by Chernigov (presents-day Chernihiv, Ukraine). Mstislav transferred his seat to the latter town, and became the first ruler of the principality emergent.

The Rurik dynasty underwent a schism after the death of Yaroslav the Wise in 1054, dividing into three branches on the basis of descent from three successive ruling Grand Princes: Izyaslav (1024–1078), Svyatoslav (1027–1076), and Vsevolod (1030–1093). In the 10th century the Council of Liubech made some amendments to the rules of succession and so divided Ruthenia into several autonomous principalities that had equal rights to obtain the throne of Kiev. The Rurik dynasty (or Rurikids) ultimately became the Tsardom of Russia whilst the last Rurikid to rule Russia, Tsar Vasily IV (from the House of Shuysky, cadet branch of the House of Rurik), reigning until 1610; Vasily Tatishchev referred to the Loachim Chronicle in referencing his own legacy as partisan to the Wends (Old English: Winedas; Old Norse: Vindr; German: Wenden, Winden; Danish: vendere; Swedish: vender; Polish: Wendowie).


Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Francia Part 2: Charlemagne & the Papacy

Western Europe after the Carolingian’s ascension was a complex multi-culturalist society where unified rule was impossible before the polyglot communities. Whilst the reign of fear associated with military based rule had previously served to bind even those of different creed, it’s suppression was now the uniting force by still warrior chiefs, but apostolic transitional authority. This transactional value to state power would become popular, assuring bureaucracy based accord instead of military, where succession and transition is exposed. Intellectual and artistic stirrings throughout Latin Christendom would achieve reestablishment of contact with the classical and patristic past thereby; a crucial requirement in renewal and continuity in Christian society. The power divide traditionally inciting war was mortally bound thus, with the divine right bestowed upon the Carlolingian dynasty and security assured in return for the Papacy under Frankish protection. A diarchy had proved the strongest and safest means of control hereby, exercised between brothers such as Pepin and Carloman, dual rulers of France. Having continued their father Charles Martel’s work by supporting Saint Boniface, reforming the Frankish church, and evangelising the Saxons. In their earliest years in power in the Kingdom of France, Pepin III ruled in Neustria, Burgundy, and Provence, while the elder Carloman ruled Austrasia, Alemannia and Thuringia. Both were active in suppressing revolts led by the Bavarians, Aquitanians, Saxons, and the Alemanni. Pepin soon enough assumed total rule of France, and quelled his own half-brother Grifo's attempt to usurp power twice, along with Carloman's son, Drogo. When Pepin's son Charlemagne would assume power, it was after an undefeated reign.

The most illustrious ruler of the middle ages, Charlemagne (2 April 742 – 28 January 814) was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day at Rome's Old Street, Peter's Basilica. During a more tedious power struggle with his brother than Pepin his father endured, Charlemagne sort marriage with King Desiderius’s daughter (of the Lombard’s), to affix power in furthering peace for the Papacy’s territory. Though this was against the mandate of Pope Stephan III, as Charles was already married to Himiltrude. Pepin’s previous grant to the Papacy of the territory of central Italy, was in jeopardy however still, and due to the eastern powers centred in Constantinople. When Charlemagne’s father, Pepin had welcomed Pope Stephan to the Carolingian Royal Palace at Ponthion in 754, Pepin had acted to restore Papal lands taken by Aistulf in central Italy. Aistulf, the military ruler of the Lomabards had seized the imperial capital of Ravenna from the Papacy. In 755 and 756 Pepin, Charlemagne’s father entered Italy to vindicate Pope Stephan, and defeated Aistulf in the Alps, after an attempted siege on Rome. A mandate for peace was attained after Frankish forces pursued Aistulf’s army to and plundered his land around Pavia. Yet Aistulf proved ever troublesome continuing to taunt the Papacy with a second attempt on Rome also quelled again by the Franks in 756. The keys to a number of cities and territories in central Italy that had submitted to Papal authority were collected duly with the list of the cities involved, as described in the Confession of St. Peter.

Charlemagne’s primary military activity against the Saxons would compel him for 30 years, after which achieving the annexation of a large block of territory between the Rhine and the Elbe rivers. The period is stained by pillaging, broken truces, hostage taking, mass killings, deportation of rebellious Saxons, draconian measures to compel acceptance of Christianity, and occasional Frankish defeats. The Frisians, Saxon allies living along the North Sea east of the Rhine, were also forced into submission in turn. During this time Charlemagne attained sole authority over the Franks, with the death of his own brother and co-ruler of Francia, Carloman. The authority of the Holy See, in according Monarchy, and Ducal powers was contested however and crisis ensued after the death of Pope Paul I in 767. Desiderius had seized a priest named Philip from the Monastery of St. Vitus on the Esquiline Hill in Rome on Sunday, July 31, 768, and summarily appointed him Pope. This Antipope Philip was never recognised nor gained a significant following, thus returning to the monastery where he was never heard from or seen again, leaving the Papacy to appoint Pope Adrian I without contestation.

Afterwards (See Chronology of Carloman I) Charlemagne repudiated his wife and King Desiderius’s daughter, and married a beautiful Swabian. Furious, Desiderius's Lombard’s again marched on Rome after attacking Pope Adrian first and invading the Pentapolis. The embassies of Adrian and Desiderius met at Thionville and Charlemagne favoured the Pope; marching on the Lombard capital of Ticinum with his full Frankish force. Desiderius' son Adelchis was raising an army at Verona meanwhile, but the young prince fled to Constantinople to escape Charlemagne. The siege on Pavia was absolved when, in return for the lives of his soldiers and subjects, Desiderius surrendered and opened the gates, henceforth sent to exile at Corbie Abbey. On entry to Rome, Charlemagne had, and after a series of consolidated campaigns such as against the Lombard duchy of Benevento in southern Italy; defined the territory of Italy. Installing his second son to wife Hildegard, King Pippin from 781–810. Pippin would in turn vitally securitise relations with the Byzantines.

Charlemagne’s relations with the papacy, especially with Pope Adrian I, were good and brought him valuable support for his religious program and praise for his qualities as a Christian leader. The expanded Frankish presence in Italy and the Balkans intensified diplomatic encounters with the Eastern emperors, which strengthened the Frankish position with respect to the Eastern Roman Empire, weakened by internal dissension and threats by Muslims and Bulgars on its eastern and northern frontiers. Charlemagne also established friendly relations with the ʿAbbāsid caliph in Baghdad (Hārūn al-Rashīd), the Anglo-Saxon kings of Mercia and Northumbria, and the ruler of the Christian kingdom of Asturias in northwestern Spain. Charlemagne obtained the role as protector of Jerusalem furthermore. The Eastern Orthodox Church however would come to consider Charlemagne a heterodox for supporting the filioque (concerns generational advance of the Holy Spirit). Their disdain likewise was in recognition by the Bishop of Rome as a legitimate Roman Emperor, rather than the ‘basilissa’, Irene of Athens of the Eastern Roman Empire. These and more machinations led to the split of Rome and Constantinople in the Great Schism of 1054.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Third Crusade: King Guy, Conrad of Montferrat, & the Regency

The Crusader state established in the Southern Levant in 1099 after the first crusade, lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks. As Jerusalem was surrounded by hostile enemies at the time, in 1170 Saladin the Arab leader invaded Jerusalem. Saladin, who was set up as Vizier of Egypt, was declared Sultan in 1171 upon the death of the last Fatimid caliph. Saladin's rise to Sultan was an unexpected reprieve for Jerusalem, as Nur ad-Din was now preoccupied with reining in his powerful vassal. Nevertheless, in 1171 King Amalric (also Amaury 1136 – 11 July 1174) visited Constantinople along with issuing envoys to the Kings of Europe for a second time. No help was received until the Third Crusade (1189–1192), also known as the Kings' Crusade, which was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin (Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb).

Beginning the siege of Acre in anticipation of the arrival of a vanguard of the Third Crusade in 1191 (with a primary goal of reclaiming Jerusalem), Guy of Lusignan (c. 1150 – 18 July 1194) a Poitevin knight, son of Hugh VIII of the Lusignan dynasty, departed Acre with a small fleet and landed at Limassol to seek support from Richard I of England, whose vassal he had been in Poitou. He swore fealty to King Richard, and had attended his wedding to Berengaria of Navarre. He participated in the campaign against Isaac Comnenus of Cyprus thus. In return for this aid, when Richard and his army arrived at Acre, Richard supported Guy entirely while Conrad naturally had the support of his kinsmen Philip II of France and Leopold V of Austria.
When Saladin invaded the kingdom and captured almost everything except the stronghold of Tyre, held by Conrad of Montferrat, Baldwin V's uncle; Guy, after his release from captivity, set had about besieging Acre; however, Sibylla, his wife and their two daughters died of disease in the camp in summer 1190. Despite this Guy continued to call himself King and demanded to be recognised thus, although Isabella, Amalrics daughter, was de jure Queen. Her supporters, notably her mother Maria and Balian of Ibelin, realised that Isabella needed a suitable king – who at the time was not her current husband. This situation was not without precedent: Isabella's father had been forced to divorce his first wife in order to succeed to the throne, and Sibylla had been pressed – but had refused – to have Guy annulled. Humphrey of Toron, whom Isabella liked very much, having practically grown up with him, had no great desire to be king. He had let down her cause in 1186, and was still a staunch supporter of Guy. He was more of a diplomat than a warrior, and even the Itinerarium Peregrinorum, which was highly sympathetic to him, suggests he was slightly effeminate. In autumn 1190, Maria and Balian abducted Isabella from Humphrey, and forced her to consent to an annulment because she had been under-age at the time of her marriage, and had been coerced by her half-brother, Baldwin IV. They intended to marry her to the ambitious Conrad, who was Baldwin V's nearest male kinsman, and had already proved himself capable politically and militarily.
After much political pressure, and a challenge to a trial by combat by Guy III of Senlis (which he refused), Humphrey consented to an ecclesiastical annulment by Ubaldo Lanfranchi, Archbishop of Pisa, who was Papal legate, and Philip of Dreux, bishop of Beauvais, who was a second-cousin of Conrad. Philip married Conrad and Isabella on 24 November, despite objections that the marriage was canonically incestuous (Isabella's half-sister Sibylla having been married to Conrad's older brother). Some modern popular writers have suggested this was a grim fate for the young Queen, to be married off to a "grizzled old warrior" who had twice been married before. However, Conrad, then about 45, was an intelligent, well-educated, handsome man of great personal courage and vitality. She compensated Humphrey by restoring to him his title to Toron, Chastel Neuf and related estates, which had been taken into the Royal domain on their marriage, before returning to Tyre with her new husband.
By virtue of his marriage to Isabella, Conrad became de jure uxoris King of Jerusalem. However, for seventeen months Guy of Lusignan, despite the death of Sibylla, continued his claim. Eventually, after Philip's departure, Conrad's kingship was confirmed by election in April 1192, which Guy accepted.
The news was brought to the couple in Tyre by Count Henry II of Champagne, the nephew of both the Kings of England and of France, who then returned to Acre. Only a few days later, on 28 April, Isabella and her ladies were late for dinner through lingering at the hammam. Conrad called on the Bishop of Beauvais, hoping to dine with him, but finding the bishop had already dined, set off back to the palace. On the way, he was set upon in the street and stabbed by Hashshashin. He died of his wounds that same day. Isabella was already known to be carrying their first child – Maria of Montferrat, who later succeeded her mother as Queen Regnant (see the Old French Continuation of William of Tyre, the Brevis Regni Hierosolymitani Historia in the Annals of Genoa, and the Muslim chronicler Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani). When Conrad had denied sanctuary to Sibylla and Guy, (Guy was imprisoned in Damascus prior), Guy and Conrads conflict continued throughout the siege of Acre, although it was not his character to assassinate a alternative claimant to the throne, in fact Guy had gallantly saved Conrad's life when he was surrounded by the enemy during the Acre seige. Richard, Philip, and Leopold had however quarrelled over the spoils of the victory from the claiming of Acre. When Leopold's Ducal flag were raised in the city by Leopold's cousin Conrad of Montferrat, Richard removed Leopold's colours. In the struggle for the Kingship of Jerusalem, he had proclaimed Guy would continue to rule but that Conrad would receive the crown upon his death. Frustrated with Richard (and in Philip's case, in poor health), Philip and Leopold had taken their armies and left the Holy Land. Philip also left 10,000 French crusaders and 5,000 silver marks to pay them.
The Crusader campaign continued based largely at Ascalon, when both Saladin and Richard made a political treaty, whereby in exchange for access to Ascalon, along with a three-year truce Christian access to Jerusalem was permitted. After the agreement was signed on September 2, 1192, Richard departed Israel on plan with Robert de Sablé the Templar grand master(a order founded by Hugh de Payens in 1119), for a safe return, though foiled by bad weather, on land break in December 1192/93 Leopold captured Richard, imprisioning him in Weitra Castle. Accused of his cousin Conrads murder, a ransom 2–3 times the annual income for the English Crown under Richard (65,000 pounds of silver) was paid by England. Eleanor of Aquitaine worked to raise the ransom meanwhile Duke Leopold and Henry VI were excommunicated by Pope Celestine III for their crime. Even though John, Richard's brother, and King Philip of France offered 80,000 marks for his continued detainment, after being held by Henry VI of Hohenstaufen at Trifels Castle for three weeks in March 1193, and over three months altogether Richard and Henry ceremoniously reconciled at the Hoftag in Speyer during Holy Week 1194. Henry VI had been aggrieved by the support the Plantagenets (Angevin Empire) had given to the family of Henry the Lion, and by Richard's recognition of Tancred in Sicily. Also Henry needed money to raise an army and assert his rights over southern Italy which he promptly conquered.

Isabella while pregnant had remained Queen and married Richard's nephew Henry II of Champagne; when he died in 1197, Isabella married Amalric II (known as Aimery he was Guy's brother and also the son of Hugh VIII of Lusignan who had himself campaigned in the Holy Land since the 1160s - In 1198, at the end of the Crusade of 1197, Aimery was able to procure a five years' truce with the Muslims, owing to the struggle between Saladin's brothers and his sons for the inheritance of his territories. The truce was disturbed by raids on both sides, but in 1204 it was renewed for six years) Guy was compensated for the dispossession of his crown by being given lordship of Cyprus in 1192, which Richard had annexed from the Byzantine Empire en route to the Levant. Isabella Queen regnant of Jerusalem from 1190/1192 until her death, by her four marriages, Isabella was successively Lady of Toron, Marchioness of Montferrat, Countess of Champagne and Queen of Cyprus.
She was the daughter of Amalric I of Jerusalem and his second wife Maria Comnena, Amalric of Jerusalem (also Amaury) (1136 – 11 July 1174) who was King of Jerusalem 1163–1174, and Count of Jaffa and Ascalon. Amalric was the second son of Melisende of Jerusalem and Fulk of Jerusalem, and succeeded his older brother Baldwin III King of Jerusalem at the time of Saladins invasion. When Baldwin IV finally succumbed to his leprosy in 1185 dying in Jerusalem in spring 1185. Baldwin V became King then, but he was a sickly child and died within a year. Guy went with Sibylla to Jerusalem for his stepson's funeral in 1186, along with an armed escort, with which he garrisoned the city. Raymond III, who wanted to protect his own influence and his new political ally, the dowager queen Maria Comnena, was making arrangements to summon the Haute Cour when Sibylla was crowned queen by Patriarch Eraclius. Raynald of Châtillon gained popular support for Sibylla by affirming that she was "li plus apareissanz et plus dreis heis dou rouame" ("the most evident and rightful heir of the kingdom"). With the clear support of the church Sibylla was undisputed sovereign.
However, before she was crowned she agreed with oppositional court members that she would annul her marriage with Guy to please them, as long as she would be given free choice in her next husband. The leaders of the Haute Cour agreed, and Sibylla was crowned thereafter as Queen regent. Taking her choice as husband, to the astonishment of the rival court faction, she remarried Guy, who became King in August 1186. The Queen removed the crown from her head and handed it to Guy, permitting him to crown himself, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, in September 1186. As Hamilton writes, "there could be no doubt after the ceremony that Guy only held the crown matrimonial". Sibylla's half-sister Isabella and her husband Humphrey IV of Toron were Raymond III and the Ibelins' choice for the throne. As Sibylla's parents marriage had been annulled and both she and Baldwin had been legitimised by the church, Isabella was seen by many as the legal heiress. However, Humphrey would not assert his wife's claim, and he disassociated himself from them, swearing fealty instead to Sibylla. Humphrey would become one of King Guy's (1186 to 1192) closest allies in his Kingdom.


A recommended alternative source for information on the Crusades: http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com.au

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Carolingian dynasty

Pippinids


Pippin of Landen

Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia under the Merovingian king Dagobert I from 623 to 629. Also mayor for Sigebert III from 639 until his own death. Pippin (also called the Elder) was lord of a great part of Brabant. He became the governor of Austrasia too when Theodebert II King of that country was defeated by Theodoric II. King of Burgundy, In 613. Through the marriage of his daughter Begga to Ansegisel, a son of Arnulf of Metz, the clans of the Pippinids and the Arnulfings were united, giving rise to Carolingians.


Begga

Bega or Beggue, means the Shining. Born around 620 she died 17 December 692, 693 or 695, daughter of the Frankish mayor of the palace Pepin of Landen. Begga, after the death of her husband Ansegisel, took pilgrimage to Rome, and is said to have built seven chapels in association with the seven main churches of Rome, starting with the Benedictine monastery at Nevelles.


Grimoald

Grimoald (616–657), was the Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia from 643 to 656. He convinced the childless King (Sigebert III) to adopt his son, named Childebert at his baptism. Sigebert eventually had an heir, Dagobert II, but Grimoald feared the fate of his own dynasty and exiled the young Dagobert to either an Irish monastery or the Cathedral school of Poitiers. Upon Sigebert’s death, probably in 651, Grimoald put his son on the throne who Clovis II eventually captured and executed in 657. Grimoald was deposed and executed by the King of Neustria, reuniting the Kingdom of the Franks.


Arnulfings

Arnulf of Metz

Arnold (English) was a Frankish bishop of Metz (582–640) and advisor to the Merovingian court of Austrasia; retired to the Abbey of Remiremont around 628 (a hermitage at a mountain site in the Vosges). Arnulf gave distinguished service under Theudebert II. He distinguished himself both as a military commander and in the civil administration; at one time he had under his care six distinct provinces. Arnulf was married to Doda in 596. Originating to the Arnulfing line as sourced to Zerah, King David, and Joseph of Arimathea.


Ansegisel

(d. 662 or 679) Served King Sigbert III of Austrasia (634-656) as a duke (Latin dux, a military leader) and domesticus. He was killed sometime before 679, slain in a feud by his enemy Gundewin but there are two differing accounts of his death, the other being his death was a hunting accident. Through his son Pepin, Ansegisel's descendants became Frankish kings and ruled the Carolingian Empire.


Chlodulf of Metz

In 657, Chlodulf (d. 696 or 697) became bishop of Metz until 697, the third successor of his father, he held that office for 40 years. During this time he richly decorated the cathedral St. Stephen while in close contact with his sister-in-law Saint Gertrude of Nivelles.


Pepin of Herstal

Frankish statesman and military leader who de facto ruled Francia as the Mayor of the Palace from 680 until death (635-714). Pepin subsequently embarked on several wars to expand his power. He united all the Frankish realms by the conquest of Neustria and Burgundy in 687. In foreign conflicts, Pepin increased the power of the Franks by his subjugation of the Alemanni, the Frisians, and the Franconians. He also began the process of evangelisation of Germany. Around 670, Pepin had married Plectrude, who had inherited substantial estates in the Moselle region.


Grimoald II

Mayor of the Palace of Neustria from 695 (d. 714). He was the second son of Pepin of Heristal and Plectrude. He married Theudesinda (or Theodelinda), daughter of Radbod, King of the Frisians. While en route to visit the tomb of Saint Lambert at Liège, he was assassinated by a certain Rangar, in the employ of his father-in-law. His sons carried on a fight to be recognised as Pepin of Heristal's true heirs, since Grimoald predeceased his father and his bastard half-brother Charles Martel usurped the lands and offices of their father.


Drogo of Champagne

Duke of Champagne by appointment of his father in 690 and duke of Burgundy from the death of Nordebert in 697. He was the mayor of the palace of Burgundy from 695. He married Anstrude, the daughter of Ansflede and Waratton, the former mayor of the palace of Neustria and Burgundy, and also the widow of the mayor of the palace Berthar and they had four sons. Drogo predeceased his father and left the duchy of Champagne to his second-eldest son Arnulf, as the first born Hugh had entered a monastery. Drogo is buried in Metz in Saint-Pierre-aux-Nonnains.


Theudoald

Mayor of the Palace of Neustria, briefly unopposed in 714 until Ragenfrid was acclaimed in Neustria and Charles Martel in Austrasia (d. 741). Plectrude tried to have him recognised by his grandfather as the legitimate heir to all the Pippinid lands, instead of the illegitimate Charles Martel. His grandmother surrendered on his behalf in 716 to Chilperic II of Neustria and Ragenfrid.


Carolingians

Charles Martel

Frankish statesman and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was de facto ruler of Francia from 718 until his death (686–741). He restored centralised government in Francia and began the series of military campaigns that re-established the Franks as the undisputed masters of all Gaul. In foreign wars, Martel subjugated Bavaria, Alemannia, and Frisia, vanquished the pagan Saxons, and halted the Islamic advance into Western Europe at the Battle of Tours. Martel was a great patron of Saint Boniface and made the first attempt at reconciliation between the Papacy and the Franks. The Pope wished him to become the defender of the Holy See and offered him the Roman consulship which Martel refused. "the Hero of the Age," & "Champion of the Cross against the Crescent."


Carloman

(716– 17 August 754) was instrumental in consolidating their power at the expense of the ruling Merovingian Kings of the Franks. Called "the first of a new type of saintly king,” he withdrew from public life in 747 to take up the monastic habit; "more interested in religious devotion than royal power, who frequently appeared in the following three centuries and who was an indication of the growing impact of Christian piety on Germanic society”. Gaining support of the Anglo-Saxon

missionary Winfrid (later Saint Boniface), the so-called "Apostle of the Germans,” whom he charged with restructuring the church in Austrasia; Carloman was instrumental in convening the Concilium Germanicum in 742, the first major synod of the Catholic Church to be held in the eastern regions of the Frankish Kingdom. After repeated armed revolts and rebellions, Carloman in 746 convened an assembly of the Alemanni magnates at Cannstatt and then had most of the magnates, numbering in the thousands, arrested and executed for high treason in the Blood Court at Cannstatt.


Pepin the Short

King of the Franks from 751 until his death (714–768). The younger son of the Frankish prince Charles Martel he received ecclesiastical education from the monks of St. Denis. He reformed the legislation of the Franks and continued the ecclesiastical reforms of Boniface. Pepin also intervened in favour of the Papacy of Stephen II against the Lombards in Italy. He was able to secure several cities, which he then gave to the Pope as part of the Donation of Pepin. This formed the legal basis for the Papal States in the Middle Ages. The Byzantines, keen to make good relations with the growing power of the Frankish empire, gave Pepin the title of Patricius. In wars of expansion, Pepin conquered Septimania from the Islamic Ummayads, and subjugated the southern realms by repeatedly defeating Waifer of Aquitaine and his Basque troops, after which the Basque and Aquitanian lords saw no option but to pledge loyalty to the Franks. Pepin was, however, troubled by the relentless revolts of the Saxons and the Bavarians.


Carloman I

King of the Franks from 768 until his death in 771 (b.751). He was the second surviving son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon and was a younger brother of Charlemagne. Carloman's reign proved short and troublesome. The brothers shared possession of Aquitaine, which broke into rebellion upon the death of Pepin the Short; when Charlemagne in 769 led an army into Aquitaine to put down the revolt, Carloman led his own army there to assist, before quarrelling with his brother at Moncontour, near Poitiers, and withdrawing, troops and all. This, it had been suggested, was an attempt to undermine Charlemagne's power, since the rebellion threatened the latter's rule; Charlemagne, however, crushed the rebels, whilst Carloman's behaviour had simply damaged his own standing amongst the Franks. Carloman's position was never strong and he had been left without allies. He attempted to use his brother's alliance with the Lombards to his own advantage in Rome, offering his support against the Lombards to Stephen III and entering into secret negotiations with the Primicerius, Christopher, whose position had also been left seriously isolated by the Franco-Lombard rapprochement; but after the violent murder of Christopher by Desiderius, Stephen III chose to give his support to the Lombards and Charlemagne. Carloman's position was rescued, however, by Charlemagne's sudden repudiation of his Lombard wife, Desiderius' daughter. Desiderius, outraged and humiliated, appears to have made some sort of alliance with Carloman following this, in opposition to Charlemagne and the Papacy, which took the opportunity to declare itself against the Lombards. Carloman died on 4 December 771 while he and his brother Charlemagne were close to outright war.


Charlemagne

Charles the Great (742–814), Latin: Carolus or Karolus Magnus, French: Charles Le Grand or Charlemagne, German: Karl der Große, Italian: Carlo Magno or Carlomagno or Charles I, was the King of the Franks from 768, the King of Italy from 774, and from 800 the first Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. Charlemagne died in 814, having ruled as emperor for just over thirteen years.


Louis the Pious

Louis the Pious (778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair, and the Debonaire; was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor (as Louis I) with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. As the only surviving adult son of Charlemagne and Hildegard, he became the sole ruler of the Franks after his father's death in 814, a position which he held until his death, save for the period 833–34, during which he was deposed. In the 830s his empire was torn by civil war between his sons, only exacerbated by Louis's attempts to include his son Charles by his second wife in the succession plans. Though his reign ended on a high note, with order largely restored to his empire, it was followed by three years of civil war.


Lothair I

Lotharius (795 – 29 September 855) was the Emperor of the Romans (817–855), co-ruling with his father until 840, and the King of Bavaria (815–817), Italy (818–855) and Middle Francia (840–855). The territory of Lorraine (Lothringen in German) is named after him. During Lothair's early life, was probably passed at the court of his grandfather Charlemagne. Lothair was sent to govern Bavaria in 815. He first comes to historical attention in 817, when Louis the Pious drew up his Ordinatio Imperii. In this, Louis designated Lothair as his principal heir and ordered that Lothair would be the overlord of Louis' younger sons Pippin of Aquitaine and Louis the German, as well as his nephew Bernard of Italy. Lothair would also inherit their lands if they were to die childless. Lothair was then crowned joint emperor by his father at Aachen. At the same time, Aquitaine and Bavaria were granted to his brothers Pippin and Louis, respectively, as subsidiary kingdoms. Following the murder of Bernard by Louis the Pious, Lothair also received the Kingdom of Italy. In 821, Lothair married Ermengarde (d. 851), daughter of Hugh the Count of Tours.


Charles the Bald

Born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, The two years of Charles's reign were 875–877. The three brothers continued the system of "confraternal government", meeting repeatedly with one another, at Koblenz (848), at Meerssen (851), and at Attigny (854). Charles had to struggle against repeated rebellions in Aquitaine and against the Bretons. Led by their chiefs Nomenoë and Erispoë, who defeated the King at the Battle of Ballon (845) and the Battle of Jengland (851), the Bretons were successful in obtaining a de facto independence. Charles also fought against the Vikings, who devastated the country of the north, the valleys of the Seine and Loire, and even up to the borders of Aquitaine.


Louis the Stammerer

Louis le Bègue 1 November 846 – 10 April 879 was the King of Aquitaine and later King of West Francia. He was the eldest son of Charles the Bald and Ermentrude of Orléans. He succeeded his younger brother in Aquitaine in 866 and his father in West Francia in 877, though he was never crowned Emperor. Described "a simple and sweet man, a lover of peace, justice, and religion”, In 878, he gave the countries of Barcelona, Girona, and Besalú to Wilfred the Hairy. His final act was to march against the Vikings a campaign he died during.


Charles III

(17 September 879 – 7 October 929), called the Simple or the Straightforward (from the Latin Carolus Simplex), was the King of Western Francia from 898 until 922 and the King of Lotharingia from 911 until 919–23. the third and posthumous son of Louis the Stammerer by his second wife, Adelaide of Paris. In 893 Charles was crowned but didn’t become the official monarch until the death of Odo in 898. In 911, a group of Vikings led by Rollo besieged Paris and Chartres. After a victory near Chartres on 26 August, Charles decided to negotiate with Rollo, resulting in the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. For the Vikings' loyalty, they were granted all the land between the river Epte and the sea, as well as Brittany, which at the time was an independent country which France had unsuccessfully tried to conquer. Rollo also agreed to be baptised and to marry Charles' daughter, Gisela.

The nobles, completely exasperated with Charles' policies and especially his favouritism of count Hagano had him deposed in 922 as the Franks revolted raising a Norman army in return during 923 he was defeated on 15 June near Soissons by Robert of Neustria, who however died in the battle. Charles was captured and imprisoned in a castle at Péronne under the guard of Herbert II of Vermandois where he died. Robert's son-in-law Rudolph of Burgundy was elected to succeed him. In 925 the Lotharingians were subsumed into the Kingdom of Germany.


Louis of Lower Lorraine


Last legitimate Carolingian, (c. 980 – after 1012) second son of Charles of Lorraine's three sons and the eldest by his second marriage to Adelaide, the daughter of a vassal of Hugh Capet. Unlike his elder brother Otto, Duke of Lower Lorraine (970–1012) , who inherited their father's duchy of Lower Lorraine; Louis went with his father to France, where Charles fought for the French throne. They both were imprisoned, through the perfidy of Adalberon, Bishop of Laon, by Hugh at Orléans in 991, when Louis was still a child. His father died in prison in or by 993, but Louis was released. It was asserted by Ferdinand Lot that Louis's life after 995 or 1000 was completely unknown, but more recent research has shed some light upon it. It was William IV of Aquitaine who sheltered Louis afterwards, from 1005 until 1012. He opened the Palace of Poitiers to him and treated him as royalty, regarding him as the true heir to the French throne. Louis even subscribed a charter of William's as Lodoici filii Karoli regis. Young Louis drifted, eventually to be utilised by Robert II, Archbishop of Rouen, who was plotting against the Capetians. Louis was imprisoned again, permanently, this time at Sens, where he died.

Paternal Descendants Listing. Generations unto Elizabeth I of England


1. CLODIUS the Long-Haired King of the Salian Franks at Tournai (428 – 448 AD) – Also called Chlodion(Born c395 AD – Died 448 AD at Vicus Helena) He was killed by the Roman commander Flavius Aetius. Clodius was married (c415 AD) to ILDEGONDE of Cologne, the daughter of Marcomir II, King of the Franks at Cologne and his wife Ildegonde of Lombardy, the daughter of Agelmund, King of Lombardy (c380 – 410 AD). Clodius and Queen Ildegonde were the parents of,

2. CHILDEBERT of Cologne King of the Riprarian Franks at Cologne (448 – 483 AD) (Born c425 – Died 483 AD) Childebert was married (c450 AD) to AMALABERGA N (Born c435 – Died before 483 AD), the daughter of Chlodwig, a Frankish chieftain from Cologne. Childebert and Queen Amalaberga were the parents of,

3. SIGEBERT the Lame King of Cologne (483 AD – 509) (Born c452 AD – Murdered in 509 whilst hunting in the forest of Buchau) King Sigebert was murdered by his son Cloderic at the instigation of his kinsman, Clovis I, King of the Salian Franks. Sigebert was married (c470 AD) to THEUDELINDE of Burgundy (Born c455 AD – Died before 509), the daughter of Godesgesil, King of Burgundy (474 AD – 504) and his wife Theudelinde of the Salian Franks, the daughter of Clodius ‘the Long-Haired, King of the Salian Franks at Tournai (428 – 448 AD) Sigebert the Lame and Queen Theudelinde were the parents of,

4. CLODERIC the Parracide Merovingian King of Cologne (509) (Born c473 AD – Murdered 509 at Cologne) He was killed by agents of King Clovis I who had encouraged Cloderic to murder his father Sigebert, for which crime Clovis had him killed. Cloderic was married (c490 – c495 AD) to N of Bavaria, the daughter of Theodo I, Duke of Bavaria and his wife Reginpurga N, and sister to Agilulf. Cloderic and his unnamed queen were the parents of,

5. MUNDERIC of Cologne Merovingian prince of Cologne and Lord of Vitry-en-Perthois (Born c495 – Killed 532) He was executed after leading an unsuccessful rebellion against Theuderic I of Austrasia. Munderic was married (c525) to ARTEMIA of Geneva (Born c510 – Died after 532), the daughter of Bishop Florentinus of Geneva and his wife Artemia. She was the sister of Sacerdos, Archbishop of Lyons, and was of the family of St Gregory, Bishop of Tours. Munderic and Artemia were the parents of,

6. BODEGISEL I Duke in Provence (Born c518 – Died 581) He was the brother of St Gondulf (died 607), Bishop of Tongres. Bodesgesil I was married (before 550) to PALATINA of Troyes (Bron c530 – Died after 562), who was praised by the poet Venantius Fortunatus, the daughter of Gallomagnus, Bishop of Troyes (573 and 581 – 583) Bodesgesil and Palatina were the parents of,

7. BODEGISEL II Duke (dux) of Austrasia and Governor of Aquitaine (Born c550 – Murdered 588 at Carthage in Africa, whilst returning from an embassy to Constantinople) Bodesgesil was married (c580) to ODA of Alemannia (Born c565 – Died 634) later foundress of the abbey of Hamage, near Huy, on the Meuse river), daughter of Leutfrid, Duke of Alemannia and Swabia (553 – 587). As a widow Duchess Oda founded the Abbey of Hamage near Huy on the Meuse River, where she became a nun. Bodesgesil II and Duchess Oda were the parents of,

8. DODA of Austrasia – Also called Oda (Born c587 – Died after 629 at the Abbey of Treves, Austrasia) Buried within the cloister there Doda became the wife (c600 – c605) of ARNULF, Margrave of Scheldt and later Bishop of Metz (611) (Born after Aug 13, 582 – Died Aug 16, 641, at Remiremont in Lorraine), the son of Arnoald I, Margrave of Scheldt and his second wife Blithilde of Austrasia, the daughter of Theudebald, King of Austrasia (547 – 555) Doda and Arnulf separated in order to embrace the religious life, and she became a nun at the Abbey of Treves, taking the religious name of Clotilda. Doda and Arnulf were the parents of,

9. ANISEGAL of Scheldt Merovingian Mayor of Austrasia (632) (Born 612 – Died 662) He was accidentally killed whilst hunting Anisegal was married (c640) to BEGA of Landen (Born 615 – Died Dec 17, 693 at Andenne in Austrasia), the daughter of Pepin I of Landen, Duke (Mayor) of Austrasia, by his wife Iduberga of Aquitaine, the daughter of Grimoald of Austrasia, Duke of Aquitaine and Itta of Gascony. Anisegal and Bega of Landen were the parents of,

10. PEPIN II of Heristal Duke of Austrasia (Born 645 – Died Dec 16, 714) He was married (c675) to Plectrude of Austrasia (Born c659 – Died after 718 in Cologne, and was buried there), the daughter of Count Hugobert of Austrasia and his wife Irmina of Liege, the granddaughter of Dagobert I, King of Neustria and Austrasia (629 – 639). Pepin II had a concubine ALPHAIDA (Alpais) (Born c670 – Died Sept, c720 as a nun at Judoque in Brabant), the daughter of Childebrand who served as a councilor to the Merovingian kings and his wife Emma (Imma). Pepin II and Alphaida were the parents of,

11. CHARLES MARTEL Duke of Austrasia (737 – 741) (Born 690 – Died Oct 22, 741, at Querzy-sur-Oise) Charles was married firstly (c705,) to ROTRUDE of Haspengau (Hesbaye) (Born c690 – Died 724), the daughter of Lantbert II, Count of Haspengau and his wife Chrodelinde of Neustria, the daughter of Theuderic III, King of Neustria (675 – 690) Charles was marrieds secondly (725) to Suanachilde of Bavaria (Born 707 – Died after 755, as a nun at the Abbey of St Marie at Chelles, near Paris), the daughter of Tassilo II, Duke of Bavaria (715 – c720) and his wife Imma of Alemannia. Charles and Duchess Rotrude were the parents of,

12. PEPIN III King of the Franks (751 – 768) (Born 715 – Died Sept 24, 768 at Jupille) Buried within the Abbey of St Denis at Rheims, near Paris Pepin III was married (c740) to BERTRADA of Laon (Born c725 – Died July 12, 783 at the Palace of Choisy at Annecy), the daughter of Carobert, Count of Laon and his wife Bertrada of Neustria, the daughter of Theuderic III, King of Neustria. Pepin III and Queen Bertrada were the parents of,

13. CHARLEMAGNE King (768 – 814) and first Emperor of the Franks (800 – 814) (Born April 2, 746, at Ingelheim, near Mainz – Died Jan 28, 814, at Aachen) Buried at Aachen Charlemagne was married thirdly (771) to HILDEGARDE of Vinzgau (Born 757 – Died April 30, 783 at the Abbey of Kaufingen, Thionville), the daughter of Gerold I, Count of Vinzgau and Kraichagu, and Prefect of Bavaria by his wife Emma of Alemannia, the daughter of Nebi (Hnabi), Duke of Alemannia. Charlemagne and Queen Hildegarde were the parents of,

14. LOUIS I the Pious King of Aquitaine and Emperor of the Franks (814 – 840) (Born Aug, 778, at the villa of Chasseneuil, near Agenois – Died June 20, 840, at the Palace of Ingelheim, near Mainz) Louis was married firstly (794 at Orleans) to Ermengarde of Hesbaye (Born c780 – Died Oct 3, 818, at Angers in Anjou), the daughter of Ingelramnus, Count and Duke of Hesbayne (Haspengau) and his wife Rotrude, probably the daughter of Thurincbert, Count of Breisgau. Emperor Louis married secondly (Feb, 819) to JUDITH of Altdorf (Born 805 – Died 843 at Tours) the daughter of Welf II, Count of Altdorf and Swabia and his wife Heilwig of Engern, the daughter of Bruno II, Count of Engern. Louis I and Empress Judith were the parents of,

15. GISELA of Neustria Imperial Princess (Born 820 – Died after July 1, 874) Buried in the Abbey of St Calixtus at Cysoing Gisela was married (836) to EBERHARD, Duke of Friuli (Born c805 – Died 866, and buried within the Abbey of St Calixtus), the son of Unruoch of Ternois, Duke of Friuli and his wife Ingeltrude of Paris, the daughter of Leuthard of Paris, Count of Fezensac. Gisela and Duke Eberhard were the parents of,

16. INGELTRUDE of Friuli (Born c839 – Died after July 1, 874) Buried within the Abbey of St Calixtus at Cysoing Ingeltrude was married (c853) to HENRY of Grabfeldgau (Born c830 – Died Aug 28, 886 outside Paris, being killed in battle, and was buried within the Abbey of St Medard at Soissons), Duke of Franconia and Austrasia, Margrave of Nordmark and Count in the Saalgau, the son of Poppo I, Count of Grabfeldgau and Saalgau. Duchess Ingeltrude and Duke Henry were the parents of,

17. HEDWIG of Grabfeldgau (Born c854 – Died Dec 24, 903) Buried within the Abbey of Gandersheim, near Goslar Hedwig was married (869) to OTTO I the Illustrious (Born 836 – Died Nov 30, 912, and buried within the Abbey of Gandersheim), Duke of Saxony (880 – 912), the son of Luidolf, Duke of Saxony and his wife Oda of Franconia, the daughter of Billung I of Franconia, Count of Thuringia and his wife Aeda of Neustria, the granddaughter of the Emperor Charlemagne. Duchess Hedwig and Otto were the parents of,

18. HENRY I the Fowler Henry I, Duke of Saxony (912 – 936) and Holy Roman Emperor (919 – 936) (Born 876, at Memleben – Died July 12, 936, at Memleben) Buried within the Basilica of St Servatius within the Abbey of Quedlinburg Henry was married firstly (905) to Hathburga of Merseburg (Born c877 – Died after 909), the widow of NN (an unidentified nobleman), and the daughter of Count Erwin of Merseburg. Hathburga had apparently taken vows as a nun at the Abbey of Altenburg when Prince Henry married her. Bishop Sigismund of Halberstadt denounced the marriage as unlawful, and the church forced the couple to separate (909). Their only child Thankmar was considered illegitimate and thus rendered ineligible to wear the Imperial crown. Henry then remarried secondly (911, at the Abbey of Nordhausen, Saxony) to MATHILDA of Westphalia (Born 897 – Died March 14, 968, at the Abbey of Quedlinburg, near Halberstadt in Germany, and was interred within the Basilica of St Servatius at Quedlinburg), the daughter of Theodoric, Count of Westphalia and Ringelheim and his wife Reginlinda of Friesland, the daughter of Godfrey of Friesland, King of Haithabu. Emperor Henry and Empress Mathilda were the parents of,

19. GERBERGA of Saxony (Born 913 at Abbey of Nordhausen, Saxony – Died May 5, 984, at Rheims, Marne) Buried within the Chapel of St Remi in the Abbey of St Denis at Rheims Gerberga was married firstly (929) to GISELBERT (Born 890 – Died Oct 2, 939, at Echternach), Duke of Lorraine (928 – 939) and Lay Abbot of Echternach in Luxemburg (915 – 939), the son of Rainer I of Hainault, Duke of Lorraine (900 – 916) and his second wife Alberada of Mons, the daughter of Count Adalbert (Albert) of Mons. Duchess Gerberga was married secondly (939) to Louis IV (Born Sept 10, 921 at Laon, Aisne – Died Sept 10, 954 at Rheims, Marne, and buried within the Chapel of St Remi in the Abbey of St Denis at Rheims), King of France (936 – 954), the son of Charles III the Simple, King of France (893 – 922) and his second wife Otgifa of England, the daughter of Edward the Elder, King of England (899 – 924). Gerberga and Giselbert of Lorraine were the parents of,

20. ALBERADA of Lorraine (Born c930 – Died March 15, 973) Alberada was married (before 947) to RAINALD of Roucy (Born c920 – Died May 10, 967, and was buried within the Abbey of St Remi at Rheims), the son of Ragnvald, a Norse invader who settled in Burgundy. Alberada and Count Rainald were the parents of,

21. ERMENTRUDE of Roucy (Born c954 – Died March 8, 1005) Eremntrude was married firstly (c970) to Alberic II (Born c935 – Died 980), Count of Macon (965 – 980), the son of Lietaud II, Count of Macon (945 – 965) and his first wife Ermengarde of Chalons. Ermentrude then became the first wife (982) of OTTO I WILLIAM of Burgundy (Born c961 – Died Oct 21, 1026, and was buried within the Abbey of St Benigne at Dijon), King of Lombardy and Count of Macon (Born c961 – Died 1026), the son of Adalbert of Ivrea, King of Lombardy and his wife Gerberga of Chalons (later the wife of Duke Eudes of Burgundy). Queen Ermentrude and Otto William were the parents of,

22. RAINALD I of Burgundy Count of Burgundy and Macon (1026 – 1057) (Born c990 – Died Sept 4, 1057) Rainald was married firstly (1016) to ADELIZA of Normandy (Born 1000 at Rouen – Died after July 1, 1037), the eldest daughter of Richard II, Duke of Normandy (996 – 1026) and his first wife Judith of Rennes, the daughter of Conan I the Red, Duke of Brittany. Rainald I and Countess Adeliza were the parents of,

23. WILLIAM II the Great of Burgundy Count of Burgundy and Macon (1057 – 1087) (Born c1024 – Died Nov 12, 1087) – Nicknamed Tete-Hardi William was married (c1150) to STEPHANIE of Metz (Born c1035 – Died 1109), the heiress of the county of Longwy, daughter of Adalbert III of Metz, Duke of Upper Alsace and Count of Longwy, and his wife Clemencia of Foix, the daughter of Bernard Roger of Bigorre, Count of Foix. William II and Countess Stephanie were the parents of,

24. ERMENTRUDE of Burgundy (Born c1055 – Died after March 8, 1105) Ermentrude became the wife (before 1070) of THIERRY II (Born c1045 – Died Jan 2, 1105), Count of Bar and Montbeliard (c1076 – 1105), the son of Louis II, Count of Bar and Montbeliard, and his wife Sophia of Bar, heiress of the county of Bar, the daughter of Frederick II, Duke of Upper Lorraine and Count of Bar and his wife Matilda of Swabia, the daughter of Hermann II, Duke of Swabia (997 – 1003). Countess Ermentrude and Thierry II were the parents of,

25. RAINALD I of Bar Count of Bar-le-Duc and Mousson (1026 – 1050) (Born c1090 – Died June 24, 1150) He founded the Abbey of Rieval and the Priory of Moncon Rainald was married firstly (c1108) to GISELA of Lorraine (Born c1090 – Died c1126), the daughter of Gerhard I of Lorraine, Count of Vaudement by his wife Hedwig of Egisheim, the daughter of Gerard III, Count of Egisheim. Rainald was married secondly (c1127) to NN, the widow of Rainald, Count of Toul, whose identity remains unknown. Rainald I and Countess Gisela were the parents of,

26. RAINALD II of Bar Count of Bar (1150 – 1170) (Born c1115 – Died July 25, 1170) Rainald was married (1155) to Agnes of Champagne (Born c1138 – Died Aug 7, 1207), the daughter of Theobald II, Count of Champagne (V of Blois-Chatres) and his wife Matilda of Carinthia, the daughter of Engelbert II, Duke of Carinthia and his wife Uta of Passau, the daughter of Ulrich, Count of Passau. Rainald II and Countess Agnes were the parents of,

27. THEOBALD I of Bar Count of Bar (1170 – 1214) and of Briey and Luxemburg (Born 1158 – Died Feb 2, 1214) Buried within the Abbey of St Michael Theobald was married firstly (c1174) to Adelaide of Looz (Laurette) (Born c1150 – Died c1184), the widow of Gilles, Count of Clermont, and the daughter of Louis I, Count of Looz, and his wife Agnes of Metz, the daughter of Volmar V, Count of Metz. Theobald married secondly (c1185) to ISABELLE of Bar (Ermesent) (Born c1158 – Died c1192), the widow of Anseau II, Seigneur of Trainel, and the daughter of Guy, Count of Bar-sur-Saone and his wife Peronelle de Chacenay, the daughter of Ansery de Chacenay, Baron de Chacenay of Champagne. Theobald was married thirdly (1193) to Ermesinde of Luxembourg (Born July, 1186 – Died May 9, 1246) sovereign Countess of Luxemburg and Namur, the daughter of Henry IV the Blind, Count of Luxembourg-Namur and his second wife Agnes of Gueldres, the daughter of Henry II, Count of Gueldres and Zutphen and his wife Agnes von Arnstein. Countess Ermesinde remarried to Waleran IV, Count of Limburg. Theobald and his second wife Countess Isabelle were the parents of,

28. HENRY II of Bar Count of Bar (1214 – 1239) and Count of Luxemburg and Namur (Born c1188 – Died Nov 13, 1239 at Gaza, Palestine, being killed in battle) Henry was married (1219) to PHILIPPA of Dreux (Born 1192 – Died March 17, 1242), heiress of the seigneurie of Toucy, the daughter of Robert II, Count of Dreux and his second wife Yolande of Coucy, the daughter of Raoul I of Marle, Seigneur of Coucy and his first wife Agnes of Hainault, the daughter of Baldwin IV, Count of Hainault. Henry II and Countess Philippa were the parents of,

29. THEOBALD II of Bar Count of Bar (1239 – 1297) (Born c1221 – Died 1297) Theobald was married firstly (c1245) to Jeanne of Dampierre (Born c1227 – Died c1275), the widow of Hugh III, Count of Rethel, and daughter of Margaret, Countess of Hainault and Flanders, by her second husband, William II, Count of Dampierre. Theobald was married secondly (c1278) to JEANNE of Toucy (Born c1261 – Died c1317), the daughter of Jean I, Vicount of Toucy and his wife Emma de Laval, the daughter of Guy VI, Seigneur de Laval. Theobald II and Jeanne of Toucy were the parents of,

30. ISABELLA of Bar (Born c1280 – Died c1320) Isabella was married (before 1300) to GUY of Flanders (Born c1275 – Died 1338), Lord of Termonde, the son of William of Flanders, Lord of Termonde and his wife Alice of Clermont, the daughter of Raoul, Count of Clermont. Guy was the grandson of Count Guy of Flanders (1229 – 1305). Isabella and Guy were the parents of,

31. ALIX of Flanders (Born c1310 – Died 1346) Alix was married (c1326) to JEAN I (Born c1305 – Died 1364), Count of Luxembourg-Ligny-Roussy, the son of Waleran II, Count of Luxembourg-Ligny and his wife Guiotte de Hautbourdin, the daughter of Jean VI de Hautbourdin, Seigneur de Lille and his wife Beatrice of Clermont, the daughter of Simon II, Count of Clermont. Alix and Jean I were the parents of,

32. GUY VI of Luxembourg-Ligny Count of Luxemburg-Ligny (1364 – 1371) and Chatelain of Lille in Flanders (Born c1329 – Killed 1371, at the battle of Baesewilder) Guy was married (c1354) to MATILDA of Chatillon (Born c1330 – Died 1378), sovereign Countess of St Pol, the only child and heiress of John I of Luxembourg, Count of St Pol and his wife Jeanne de Fiennes, the daughter of Jean, Seigneur de Fiennes, and sister of Robert ‘Moreau’ de Fiennes, Constable of France (died c1385) Guy VI and Countess Matilda were the parents of,

33. JEAN II of Luxembourg Count of St Pol (1378 – 1397) and Seigneur de Beaurevoir (Born c1356 – Died 1397) He was married (c1379) to MARGEURITE d’Enghien (Born c1362 – Died 1393), the daughter of Louis d’Enghien, Count of Brienne, and his wife Isabella, Countess of Brienne and Leece, the daughter of Walter V, Duke of Athens and Count of Brienne. Jean II and Countess Margeurite were the parents of,

34. PIERRE I of Luxembourg Count of St Pol (1415 – 1433) (Born c1380 – Died 1433) He was married (c1405) to MAGARET del Balzo (Born c1390 – Died 1469), the daughter of Francesco del Balzo (des Baux), Duke of Andria and his second wife Sueva di Orsini (Justina), the daughter of Nicholas di Orsini, Count di Nola and Senator of Rome. Pierre and Countess Margaret were the parents of,

35. JACQUETTA of Luxembourg (Born 1416 – Died May 30, 1472) Jacquetta was married firstly (April 20, 1433, at Therouanne) as his second wife, to John Plantagenet, Prince of England, Duke of Bedford (Born June 30, 1389 – Died Sept 14, 1435 at Rouen, France), the son of Henry IV, King of England (1399 – 1413) and his first wife Lady Mary de Bohun, the younger daughter and co-heiress of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford and Essex. Duchess Jacquetta was married secondly (secretly) (before March 23, 1436) to Sir RICHARD WOODVILLE (born c1405, executed by the Lancastrians at Kenilworth, Aug 12, 1469, after the battle of Edgecot), the first Earl of Rivers, the son of Richard Woodville of the Mote in Maidstone, Kent, and his wife Mary Bedleygate. Duchess Jacquetta and Richard Woodville were the parents of,

36. LADY ELIZABETH WOODVILLE (Born 1437 at Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire – Died June 7, 1492, at Bermondsey Abbey, London) Buried within St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in Berkshire Elizabeth was married firstly (c1452) to Sir John Grey of Groby (Born 1432 – Killed by the Yorkists 1461), the son of Sir Edward Grey of Groby, 7th Baron Ferrers, and his wife Elizabeth, Baroness Ferrers, the daughter and heiress of William, 6th Baroness Ferrers. Elizabeth was married secondly (secretly) (May 1, 1464, at the manor of Grafton Regis) to EDWARD IV 9Born April 28, 1442, at Rouen in Normandy – Died April 9, 1483, at Westminster Palace in London, and was buried in St George’s Chapel at Windsor) King of England (1461 – 1483), the son of Richard, Duke of York and his wife Lady Cecilia Neville, the daughter of Sir Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland. Queen Elizabeth and Edward IV were the parents of,

37. ELIZABETH of York Princess of England (Born Feb 11, 1465, at Westminster Palace, London – Died in childbirth (Feb 11, 1503, at the Tower of London) Buried within Westminster Abbey, London Elizabeth was married (Jan 18, 1486, at Westminster Abbey, London) to HENRY VII (Born Jan 28, 1457, at Pembroke Castle in Wales – Died April 21, 1509, at Richmond Palace, Surrey, and was buried within Westminster Abbey), King of England (1485 – 1509), the only son of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, by his wife Lady Margaret Beaufort, the only child and heiress of John Beaufort, first Duke of Somerset and his wife Margaret de Beauchamp (later wife of Lionel, 6th Baron Wells), the widow of Sir Oliver St John, of Bletsoe in Bedfordshire, and daughter of John de Beauchamp, 3rd Baron Beauchamp of Bletsoe. Queen Elizabeth and Henry VII were the parents of,

38. HENRY VIII of England King of England (1509 – 1547) (Born June 28, 1491, at Greenwich Palace, Kent – Died Jan 28, 1547, at Whitehall Palace, London) Buried within St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in Berkshire) Henry VIII was married many times and bore a single son with Queen Jane Seymur, who died from child birth complications. Henry VIII and Jane Seymour were the parents of;

39. Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) born at Hampton Court Palace in Midlesex, King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. The last King of the Tudor dynasty Edward died at the age of 15 at Greenwich Palace on 6 July, from a suspected tumor of the lung.

40. MARY I of England Queen regnant of England July 1553– Nov 1558 (Born 18 February 1516 at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, Died 17 November 1558). Daughter of Henry VIII and Queen Catherine of Aragon. Married to Philip of Spain, who was Prince Consort, son of Charles V and Infanta Isabella of Portugal. Mary had no heirs and over religious difference seized the Throne from Lady Jane Grey, who was pronounced successor by Edward upon his death, only holding title for 9 days. Mary was Buried 14 December 1558 Westminster Abbey, London.

41. ELIZABETH I of England Elizabeth Tudor, Queen regnant of England (1558 – 1603) (Born Sept 7, 1533, at Greenwich Palace, Kent – Died March 24, 1603, at Richmond Palace, Surrey. Daughter of Henry VIII and Queen Anne Boleyn. Buried within Westminster Abbey, London Remained unmarried until death which brought the Tudor Dynasty to an end(1485 – 1603).

Sermon of Christ at the Lake Genezareth

Sermon of Christ at the Lake Genezareth

Edgar Barclay's Stonehenge, 1891

Edgar Barclay's Stonehenge, 1891

C.Verrusson's Haghia Sophia

C.Verrusson's Haghia Sophia

Utimuni the Zulu nephew of Chaka

Utimuni the Zulu nephew of Chaka

Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives by Edward Lear

Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives by Edward Lear

Laconian bronze banqueter 530-500 BCE. Dodona British Museum

Laconian bronze banqueter 530-500 BCE. Dodona British Museum

The Battle of Oroi-Jalatu

The Battle of Oroi-Jalatu