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August 15 - Komnenos Death

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  Quote Komnenos Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: August 15 - Komnenos Death
    Posted: 14-Aug-2005 at 19:15
A day to remember a tragic event in my family:

On August 15, 1118, Basileios Alexios I Komnenos (1048-1118), Byzantine Emperor, died in Constantinople.

At the moment of his succession to the throne in 1081, his daughter, the historian Anna Komnena, would say, the Byzantine Empire reached from Adrianople to the Bosporus.
When he died, the Empire once more stretched from the Balkans to the centre of Anatolia, and was in a much better shape than it had been for a long time.

The Komnenoi were one of the most distinguished aristocratic families of the Empire, Alexios uncle Isaakios had reigned for a couple of years from 1057-59. Alexios embarked on a military career to become one of the foremost generals of the Empire during the reign of Manolis II Dukas.
After the death of Manolis the Empire had been torn apart in Civil Wars, and the eventual victor of these conflicts, Nikephoros III had turned out to be a weak Emperor, not capable of holding the crumbling Empire together.
At Easter 1081, General Alexios Komnenos, having already been proclaimed Emperor by parts of the army, entered Constantinople with his mainly mercenary troops, persuaded a grateful Nikephoros to abdicate and thus ascended to the throne.
The main task for the new Emperor was only too clear: In order to only have the slightest chance to survive much longer, the Empire must regain its old heartlands, Anatolia, from the Seljuk Turks.
But before Alexios could dedicate himself to this enterprise, he had to deal with another enemy, the Norman Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia. Robert had established a power base in Dyrrachium in the Byzantine province of Epiros, and from there threatened to advance further into Greece to conquer the capital.
With the help of the Venetians and the Seljuk Sultan of Nikaia, and lots of good fortune and after Roberts untimely death, Alexios finally managed in1083/84 to drive the Normans out of Epirus and recapture Dyrrachium, where he lost a battle against Robert Giuscard only a year before.
When the Normans had gone, the Pechenegs and Kumans, two semi-nomadic Turkic people, came, pillaged Thrace for a few years; and only in 1091 Alexios defeated the two tribes decisively.

At last, his hands were free and he could finally turn his attention to the Seljuks.
At this point, Alexios must have had a sudden inspiration, a cunning plan that seemed a good idea at the time. He appealed to Western Europe for help to drive the Muslim Seljuks out of Anatolia.
Somehow his message must have been misunderstood, then when the first help arrived in 1096, instead of the expected mercenary troops, half of Western Europe came down the Balkans and not to expel the Seljuks from Anatolia, but to march straight down to Palestine to re-conquer the Holy cities of Christendom.
Alexios had opened a Pandora s Box and without knowing it, had started the Crusades that were to ravage the Eastern Mediterranean for the next two centuries.
Only with great diplomatic skill managed Alexios to divert the passing Crusader armies from Constantinople, and persuaded them on the way to swear allegiance to him, recognize him as their sovereign and to hand all conquered territories back to the Empire.
The Crusaders, led by Godfrey of Bouillon, duly defeated the Seljuks, returned much of Anatolia back to the Byzantine Empire, and serious problems only began when they came to Antioch, which Bohemond ,the son of his old arch-enemy Guiscard, refused to give back to Alexios. But thats another story.

Alexios managed to hold on to the regained lands for the last twenty years of his reign, concentrated his efforts on re-organising the internal structures of the Empire, shifting the power away from the Imperial bureaucracy to the land-owning feudal aristocracy, and on persecuting the heretic dualist sects that had sprung up everywhere in the Empire.



Alexios I Komnenos


After a reign of 37 years, Alexios I Komnenos died in the evening of August 15 1118 in the Palace of the Magana in Constantinople, and shortly before his death he designated his son Ioannis as his heir, thus founding a dynasty that lasted until the last reigning Komnenos, David, the last Emperor and "Megas Komnenos" of Trebizond surrendered his city to Mehmet II in 1461.
Alexios I Komnenos had taken over the Empire at one of its lowest points, restored it once again to a serious power in the Levant and in the Balkans, and thus he and his successors at least temporarily halted the inevitable decline of the Byzantine Empire.

Anna Komnena's account of her father's reign can be found here:

Anna Komnena: The Alexiad


What else happened on this day?

1620 The Mayflower leaves Southampton, to bring the first English settlers to North-America

1945 Nine days after the Atom bombing of Hiroshima, Japan capitulates unconditionally, and WW2 comes to an end.

1947 After more than 200 years of British rule, India gaines independence.

Full list:

Wikipedia



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  Quote Constantine XI Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2005 at 02:30
Alexius I certainly deserves his share of credit. I found it incredible that even Gibbon could find a way of slighting and undermining this most resourceful of men. I loved the Alexiad, a remarkably detailed and truly fascinating read by the world's first female historian.
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  Quote azimuth Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2005 at 04:32

 

i think Today is India's independence day

 

 

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  Quote Phallanx Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2005 at 04:44
I found this event quite interesting:

August 15. 1877 -
Thomas Edison wrote the president of the Telegraph Company in Pittsburgh, PA. The letter stated that the word, 'hello' would be a more appropriate greeting than 'ahoy', as suggested by Alexander Graham Bell when answering the telephone.
And so it is that we pick up the phone anywhere in the world and say: Allo. Alo. Bueno. Pronto. Hallo. Aloha. Mo simosi. Hello
To the gods we mortals are all ignorant.Those old traditions from our ancestors, the ones we've had as long as time itself, no argument will ever overthrow, in spite of subtleties sharp minds invent.
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  Quote Raider Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2005 at 06:16

 

AD 798 August 15:

The death of count Roland, the famous paladin by the basques at Roncesvalles.

AD 1534 August 15.:

The foundation of Jesus Society.

AD 1038 August 15.:

The death of Saint Stephen of Hungary.

 

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  Quote Komnenos Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2005 at 08:48
Originally posted by azimuth


i think Today is India's independence day



In the interest of political balance one should mention, that yesterday, August 14, was Pakistan's independence anniversary.


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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2005 at 09:51
my condoleances
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  Quote Maju Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2005 at 10:30

AD 798 August 15:

The death of count Roland, the famous paladin by the basques at Roncesvalles.


It's 778 August 15!

And Roland's death is just the romantic view of history. The most important was that Charlemagne faced one of his worst defeats and that the Basque territory south of the Pyrenees remained therefore free from Frankish intervention allowing the formation of the Kingdom of Pamplona soon after.
Roland was count or margrave of Brittany and possibly nephew of Charlemagne (though this could be part of the romantic legend as well), with him the very elite of the Frankish knights was slayed.

The battle took place at dusk in an unidentified place of the passages between Pamplona and the north, possibly not far from the place known as Roncesvaux-Orreaga but not necessarily in that very site. When Charlemagne and the bulk of the army could turn back and arrive at the battlefield the next day, there was nothing but corpses and vultures.

The Chanson de Roland is an ulterior creation, possibly by the Britonic followers of count Roland (Hroland), forming the first of its kind in known European history. In the poem, the Basque guerrilla is conveniently replaced by Muslim attackers but contemporary chronicles leave no doubt about who were the attackers.


NO GOD, NO MASTER!
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  Quote Seko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2005 at 10:49
60'th anniversary of Japan's WWII surrender.
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  Quote Komnenos Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2005 at 11:03
Originally posted by azimuth


i think Today is India's independence day


Originally posted by Seko

60'th anniversary of Japan's WWII surrender.


Is anybody actually reading my posts?
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  Quote pikeshot1600 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2005 at 11:25

Komnenos:

I feel your pain.  You are the victim of collective attention deficit disorder.

The attention span that most of these topics command seems to be somwhere between 45 minutes, and 24 hours.

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  Quote Seko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2005 at 12:14
Actually read it when I first saw it. Now the family name is the famous Komnenoi. Is the affinity you have in namesake only or are we talking more than that?
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  Quote Komnenos Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2005 at 14:07
Originally posted by Seko

Actually read itwhen I first saw it. Now the family name is the famous Komnenoi. Is the affinity you have in namesake only or are we talking more than that?


I'm indeed the last of the Komnenoi, Georgios I Komnenos, and becoming a moderator on All Empires is the first step on the road back to glory.

Not really!
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  Quote morticia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2005 at 15:32
Good Day to all.
My condolences to Komnenos...however, I am sure that Basileios is very appreciative that you are still keeping his name alive to date!!

A few of U.S. historical events for today are as follows:

1635 - 1st recorded US hurricane hit the Plymouth Colony
1824 - Freed American slaves forms country of Liberia
1893 - US no longer allowed exclusive rights in Bering Sea
1923 - Mexico and US reaches accord over oil concession of 1917
1939 - "Wizard of Oz" premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theater, Hollywood
1965 - Beatles play to 55,000 at Shea Stadium
1989 - US Venus probe Magellan launched from Space shuttle

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Morty
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  Quote Komnenos Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2005 at 15:53
Originally posted by morticia


1824 - Freed American slaves forms country of Liberia


Yeah, i read about this too, but didn't know anything about the background. Could anybody enlighten us!
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  Quote ill_teknique Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2005 at 16:21
The govt bought the land to form Liberia.
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  Quote Johnny Darko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2005 at 17:32

1309 - The city of Rhodes surrenders to the forces of the Knights ST John, completing their conquest of Rhodes . The knights establish their headquartes on the island, and rename themselves as the Knights of Rhodes

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