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Basil II

(Encyclopedia)Basil II, c.958–1025, Byzantine emperor (976–1025), surnamed Bulgaroktonos [Bulgar slayer]. With his brother, Constantine VIII, he nominally succeeded his father, Romanus II, in 963, but had no sh...

Alfonso VII, Spanish king of Castile and León

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso VII (Alfonso the Emperor), 1104–57, Spanish king of Castile and León (1126–57), son and successor of Urraca. He recovered the places in Castile that his stepfather, Alfonso I of Aragón, ...

Zoë

(Encyclopedia)Zoë zōˈē [key], c.978–1050, Byzantine empress (1028–50), daughter and successor of Constantine VIII. Zoë was first married when she was 50 years old at the request of her father to insure sta...

Ferdinand VII, king of Spain

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand VII, 1784–1833, king of Spain (1808–33), son of Charles IV and María Luisa. Excluded from a role in the government, he became the center of intrigues against the chief minister Godoy an...

Maximin, d. 313, Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Maximin (Galerius Valerius Maximinus), d. 313, Roman emperor (308–13); kinsman of Galerius. He is called Maximin Daia. He was made caesar in 305 and in 308 proclaimed himself augustus in opposition ...

Justinian II

(Encyclopedia)Justinian II (Justinian Rhinotmetus), 669–711, Byzantine emperor (685–95, 705–11), son and successor of Constantine IV. He successfully invaded Arab territory but lost the advantage through a tr...

Constans II

(Encyclopedia)Constans II (Constans Pogonatus), 630–68, Byzantine emperor (641–68), son and successor of Constantine III and grandson of Heraclius. Early in his reign Armenia and Asia Minor were invaded by the ...

Palaeologus

(Encyclopedia)Palaeologus pālēŏlˈəgəs [key], Greek dynasty that ruled the Byzantine Empire from its restoration in 1261 to its final conquest by the Turks in 1453. The first emperor was Michael VIII, restorer...

Theodore of Studium, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Theodore of Studium, Saint sto͞oˈdēəm [key], 759–826, Byzantine Greek monastic reformer, also called St. Theodore the Studite. As an abbot he was early exiled for opposing the marriage of Empero...

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 ...