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Isaac I

(Encyclopedia)Isaac I (Isaac Comnenus) īˈzək kŏmnēˈnəs [key], c.1005–1061, Byzantine emperor (1057–59), first of the Comnenus dynasty. Proclaimed emperor by the army, he deposed Michael VI, who had succe...

Anna Comnena

(Encyclopedia)Anna Comnena kŏmnēˈnə [key], b. 1083, d. after 1148, Byzantine princess and historian; daughter of Emperor Alexius I. She plotted, during and after her father's reign, against her brother, John II...

Southampton, Thomas Wriothesley, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Southampton, Thomas Wriothesley, 1st earl of, c.1500–1550, lord chancellor of England. Appointed a clerk of the signet in 1530, he rose in the favor of Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII, who granted hi...

Totila

(Encyclopedia)Totila bădyo͞oĭlˈə [key], d. 552, last king of the Ostrogoths (541–52). By defeating the Byzantines at Faenza and Mugello (542) and by taking Naples (543) and Rome (546), he became master of ce...

Marcian

(Encyclopedia)Marcian märˈshən [key], 396–457, Roman emperor of the East (450–57); successor of Theodosius II, whose sister Pulcheria he married in 450. Orthodox in religious affairs, he convoked (451) the C...

Popes of the Roman Catholic Church (table)

(Encyclopedia)Popes of the Roman Catholic ChurchIn the following list, the date of election, rather than of consecration, is given. Before St. Victor I (189), dates may err by one year. Antipopes—i.e., those men...

Romanus I

(Encyclopedia)Romanus I (Romanus Lecapenus), d. 948, Byzantine emperor (920–44). An admiral, he usurped the throne during the minority of his son-in-law, Constantine VII. He defended Constantinople against the Bu...

Amalasuntha

(Encyclopedia)Amalasuntha ăˌmələsŭnˈthə [key], d. 535, Ostrogothic queen in Italy (534–35), daughter of Theodoric the Great. After her father's death (526) she was regent for her son Athalaric. He died in ...

John of Ephesus

(Encyclopedia)John of Ephesus ĕfˈəsəs [key], c.505–c.585, Syrian Monophysite historian, bishop of Ephesus. He became a leader of the Monophysites (see Monophysitism), and Byzantine Emperor Justinian, whose fa...

Byzantium

(Encyclopedia)Byzantium bīzănˈshēəm, –shəm, –tēəm [key], ancient city of Thrace, on the site of the present-day İstanbul, Turkey. Founded by Greeks from Megara in 667 b.c., it early rose to importance ...