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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 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...

Leo IV, Saint, pope

(Encyclopedia)Leo IV, Saint, d. 855, pope (847–55), a Roman; successor of Sergius II. He had seen the Saracen attack on Rome (846), and to prevent its recurrence he fortified the city and its suburbs. He built a ...

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...

Alexander III, pope

(Encyclopedia)Alexander III, d. 1181, pope (1159–81), a Sienese named Rolandus [Bandinelli?], successor of Adrian IV. He was a canonist who had studied law under Gratian and had taught at Bologna. He came to Rome...

Nicephorus, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Nicephorus, Saint nīsĕfˈərəs [key], 758?–829?, patriarch of Constantinople (806–15), Byzantine historian and theologian. St. Nicephorus attended the Second Council of Nicaea as lay representa...

Ignatius of Constantinople, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Ignatius of Constantinople, Saint, c.800–877, Greek churchman, patriarch of Constantinople. A son of Byzantine Emperor Michael I, he was castrated and shut up in a monastery (813) by the man who dep...

Leo I, Saint, pope

(Encyclopedia)Leo I, Saint (Saint Leo the Great), c.400–461, pope (440–61), an Italian; successor of St. Sixtus III. A Doctor of the Church, he was one of the greatest pontiffs of the early years of the church....

Boleslaus III

(Encyclopedia)Boleslaus III, 1085–1138, duke of Poland (1102–38). The kingdom had been divided by his father, Ladislaus Herman, between Boleslaus and his elder brother Zbigniew, whose legitimacy was disputed. Z...

Simeon I

(Encyclopedia)Simeon I, c.863–927, ruler (893–927) and later first czar of Bulgaria. He was placed on the throne by his father, Boris I, who had returned from a monastery to depose his first son, Vladimir (reig...