A dynasty that plunged the Byzantine Empire into a sectarian division between those who venerated icons in their worship and those who saw it as idolatry. The Isaurian Dynasty (717 - 802) confronted the continuous threat of Muslim as well as Bulgar expansion and the emergence of the Frankish Empire. It met an ending under a woman Basileus.
Founders: Who is Emperor Leo III the Isaurian?
Emperor Leo III (r. 717 - 740) of the Byzantine Empire established the Isaurian Dynasty that ruled the Eastern Roman Empire until 802. He put an end to almost 20 years of political instability that witnessed several Emperors, coups, rebellions, monastic vows, and mutilation. He ended a turmoil, only to create a new controversy that characterized the house he had established.
Byzantine Covert Operations - Leo III in the Caucasus
Covert operations and proxy wars filed the history of the Cold War – a battle between 2 superpowers of the 20th century. Covert operations and proxy wars, however, already existed way before and used by many of the great empires in history to weaken or humiliate rival powers. Such as the case of the Byzantine Empire and the Umayyad Caliphate in the late 7th and early 8th century, when Emperor Justinian II sent his spartharios, the future Emperor Leo III, to the Alans and help them defeat the Abasgians who switched their fealty in favor of the Muslim Empire.
Empress Irene: the Woman that Built the Holy Roman Empire
In 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as Imperator Romanus – Emperor of Rome. Leo’s decision to crown a new Roman Emperor despite one already existing in Constantinople stemmed from the fact that the holder of this title in the east was a woman – Irene of Athens. But who was this female Emperor who ruled one of the most powerful and prestigious Empires in the Middle Ages?
Woodcut Illustration of Empress Irene (in the left) and Charlemagne (in the right), from Penn Provenance Project, CC by 2.0 |
Who was King Premsyl Ottokar II?
“Rolls to
the ocean: Ottokar his name:
Who in his
swaddling clothes was of more worth
Than Wenceslaus
his son, a bearded man,
Pampered
with rank luxuriousness and ease.”
- Canto VII in Dante's Purgatorio
In 1278, a
King laid dying on the battlefield with him passed away the hopes of a Bohemian
Empire covering much of central Europe and all the way down to the Adriatic
Sea. King Premysl Ottokar II built an empire by seizing opportunities from
deaths and marriages. Nevertheless, his luck finally ran out in face of a
growing ambitious house that came to dominate the region – the Habsburgs.
Who was King Wladyslaw I of Poland?
Between chaos and greatness in Polish history, the reign of Wladyslaw I Ĺokietek (Ladislaus I) the Short of the Elbow-High as he came to be known laid in the middle. As a father of Casimir III the Great, he reunified the country ending about 200
years of the divide. His reign set the stage for a new chapter in Polish history.
The Premyslid Dynasty of Bohemia
A story of a
dynasty overshadowed by another. They shaped Bohemia and built the foundation
of the modern Czech people. The Premyslid dynasty ruled Bohemia from around 9th
century to the 1306 and contented for greatness, but fell short against the
rising prominent house – the Habsburgs – ultimately ending with their
extinction.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Popular Posts This Week
-
A mosaic from the city of Ur showing the activities of Sumerians such as weaving, herding, and farming Laid in one of the most fert...
-
John Cockerill The industrial revolution changed the world. It caused a shift from people relying on farming in the countryside to wor...
-
A propaganda poster where Mussolini stands in a tractor In 1925, Benito Mussolini, a World War I veteran and a socialist turned cons...
-
Great Britain and France – a rivalry that ran for more than a half a millennium, but in the quest for industrial revolution, unfortunatel...
-
In the 1860s with the country facing imminent collapse, the Tongzhi Restoration gave a sigh of relief for the ailing Qing Dynasty. After the...