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Constantine IV, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Constantine IV, c.652–685, Byzantine emperor (668–85), son and successor of Constans II. He defended Constantinople against the annual naval attacks of the Muslims, who finally withdrew in 678; Gr...

Constantine V, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Constantine V (Constantine Copronymus), 718–75, Byzantine emperor (741–75), son and successor of Leo III. An able general and administrator, he fought successfully against the Arabs, Slavs, and Bu...

Constantine VI, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Constantine VI, b. c.770, Byzantine emperor (780–97), son and successor of Leo IV. His mother, Irene, was regent until 790, when she was deposed by a military revolt. Constantine recalled her in 792...

Constantine VII, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Constantine VII (Constantine Porphyrogenitus), 905–59, Byzantine emperor (913–59). He acceded after the brief reign of his uncle Alexander, who succeeded Constantine's father, Leo VI. A regency (9...

Constantine XI, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Constantine XI (Constantine Palaeologus), d. 1453, last Byzantine emperor (1449–53), brother and successor of John VIII. To secure Western aid against the Turkish assault on what remained of the emp...

emperor

(Encyclopedia)emperor [Lat. imperator=one holding supreme power, especially applied to generals], the sovereign head of an empire. In the Roman republic the term imperator referred to the chief military commander a...

Gelasius I, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Gelasius I, Saint jĭlāˈshēəs [key], d. 496, pope (492–96); successor of St. Felix III (also known as Felix II). He was a firm upholder of the papal supremacy in a dispute with Anastasius, the B...

Constantine I, Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Constantine I or Constantine the Great kŏnˈstəntēn, –tīn [key], 288?–337, Roman emperor, b. Naissus (present-day Niš, Serbia). He was the son of Constantius I and Helena and was named in ful...

Theodore I , Byzantine emperor of Nicaea

(Encyclopedia)Theodore I (Theodore Lascaris), d. 1222, Byzantine emperor of Nicaea (1204–22), son-in-law of the Byzantine emperor Alexius III. He escaped from Constantinople after it was captured (1204) by the La...