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The greatest Medival King

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  Quote Mohamed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: The greatest Medival King
    Posted: 05-Jan-2006 at 19:22
I would liked to know who in your opinion is the best Medival King.
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  Quote Jay. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05-Jan-2006 at 19:27
Best European Medieval King?
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  Quote Isbul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05-Jan-2006 at 19:36
Should the ruler have the title "king" or it is allowed to be "emperor","Kniiaz",......aswell?
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  Quote Mila Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05-Jan-2006 at 19:45
In my opinion, the greatest leader among our people was Husein Gradascevic, 'Dragon of Bosnia'.



He was wise and fair and while he allowed the aristrocracy to rule he never let the common people be neglected as they had been in the past. For example, when he went to war - aristocrats were required to become soldiers while for common peasants it was voluntary.

In a global sense, I would say my favorite medieval leader would be Sulejman the Magnificent. He was no better than many others but the wealth of architecture remaining from his rule is very beautiful to me.
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  Quote Maju Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05-Jan-2006 at 20:34
I am under the impression that the best rulers of the Middle ages were ofte rulers of smaller states, such as the Kings of Pamplona/Navarre, Counts of Tolouse, Counts of Champagne, Dukes of Burgundy, Doges of Venice, Dukes of Florence, etc. They oftern promoted the prosperity of their realms without being necessarily overambitious.

Among the great leaders,maybe the most important of all, due to his legacy, was King Charlemagne of the Franks (and Roman Emperor). Other names that come to my mind are Justinian the Great, Abd al-Rhaman III of Cordoba, the early Umayyad Caliphs, Salahdin, Batu, Otto the Great, Knut the Great, Boleslaw of Greater Moravia...

This just in Europe, the Mediterranean and West Asia.

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  Quote ArmenianSurvival Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05-Jan-2006 at 21:17
Originally posted by Maju

I am under the impression that the best rulers of the Middle ages were ofte rulers of smaller states


Ruben I of Cilician Armenia. After the fall of Armenia to the Seljuks and Byzantines in 1045 and 1064, he migrated to Cilicia and established an independent state while fighting and defeating the Byzantine Empire and their allies of the Hetumid royal house of Armenia. After all that, he still had to defend the kingdom from the Byzantine Empire in the west and the Seljuk Empire to the east. The kingdom lasted from about 1080 to 1375.


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  Quote Jay. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05-Jan-2006 at 21:35
I would say Julious Ceaser was the best King/Emperor of the Medeival period...
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  Quote Maju Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05-Jan-2006 at 22:35
Originally posted by Jay.

I would say Julious Ceaser was the best King/Emperor of the Medeival period...


Are you joking? Caesar belongs to the Ancient Period. The Middle Ages commonly refer to the 500-1500 period.

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  Quote Constantine XI Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06-Jan-2006 at 00:36
Ah I love this, everyone promoting their own national heroes . As I live in a country which never had a medieval King, I suppose I am the only one who can be expected to be objective

Well I will go with Edward Longshanks then. As a ruler he made a massive contribution to the development not just of England, but of Britain as a whole. Integration between Normans and their Anglo-Saxon inferiors continued apace under his rule. Wales was subjugated and he did a good job of protecting English interests in France. He also conquered Scotland, an achievement his successor would have done well to consolidate on. After the tumultuous period earlier in the 13th century, the progress, stability and prosperity that Edward provided did much for the welfare of his people.
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  Quote NikeBG Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06-Jan-2006 at 03:07
From the Bulgarian emperors - Tsar Simeon and Tsar Ivan Assen II. The two with the widest borders. The first - extremely well educated man (in the Magnaura "university" in Constantinople), often called "half-Hellene" by the Byzantines because of his great knowledge on ancient literature, a good diplomat and a great commander. Although the second one (Ivan Assen II) is my personal favourite - again "Bulgaria on three seas", but with almost no wars and mainly with diplomacy, with great development of architecture, writing, art schools and spiritual life, with a huge political influence, called by G. Akropolit (a Byzantine scholar) "loved not only by the Bulgarians, but also by the Romeans (Byzantines) and by the other nations"...
From the foreign rulers I would point out Basil II "The Bulgar-slayer". Despite of his nickname, for me he is one of the best commanders and in the same time a wise ruler. Furthermore, when he conquered Bulgaria he was smart enough to leave everything the way it was - with the low Bulgarian taxes, with Bulgarian clergy in the churches etc. Something his descendants were too stupid to do, so that after another rise of taxes they lost Bulgaria again.
As for the western rulers, I'm sorry to say that I'm not familiar enough with them, so if somebody else could say something more about his favourite kings, it would be nice...
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  Quote JimmyCrusader Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06-Jan-2006 at 13:35

As Constantine says, we all seem to be promoting our national heroes

- following the trend I'd have to go for Alfred the Great. He almost single-handedly managed to defeat the 'Viking' invasion of England, and won many a' decisive battle, often when hideosly outnumbered. On top of this, England was a country of farmers, whereas the 'Northlands' bred a people of whom every male was a ferocious warrior, and the women weren't tto bad either.

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  Quote Komnenos Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06-Jan-2006 at 15:11
Well, I'm gonna break the habit of only suggesting our own national heroes.

My choice would be Komnenos, Alexios Komnenos, that is, who probably single-handedly saved the Byzantine Empire from certain fall when he came to power in 1081, restored much of its former power in the Eastern Mediterranean, started the Crusades by calling for Western help against the Seljuks ( although that might not have been a good thing), and gave the East-Romans another 350 years lease of life. Not the greatest, not the most important, but surely one of the best rulers for his country.
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  Quote Jay. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06-Jan-2006 at 16:07
I take mine back, Maju . The best medeival king was Stefan Nemanja. (And yes, I am promoting my own national hero).
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  Quote poirot Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06-Jan-2006 at 16:10
How about John and Manuel Komnenos?  Equally brilliant, and equally important to the Byzantine Empire. 
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  Quote Komnenos Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06-Jan-2006 at 16:24
Originally posted by poirot

How about John and Manuel Komnenos? Equally brilliant, and equally important to the Byzantine Empire.


Agree, almost the whole Komnenos clan could be nominated here, but Alexios is my choice, as he created what the others could built on.
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  Quote Jay. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06-Jan-2006 at 16:26
Hmm was Manuel Comnenos the fourth son of John Comnenos?
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  Quote Komnenos Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06-Jan-2006 at 16:59
He was indeed, his two eldest brothers died in 1142 of the same mysterous illness, and his father,John choose Manuel over his surviving elder brother Isaakios, who didn't give up his somewhat more rightful inheritance without resistance.
Anyway, Manuel turned out to be a good choice.
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  Quote ill_teknique Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06-Jan-2006 at 17:07
Tvrtko Kotromanic I


Beside that Abd al-Rahman the first of the Spanish Umayyads and one of the most influential men in the Mediterranean and Western Civilization that is oft overlooked.
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  Quote Constantine XI Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06-Jan-2006 at 20:52
Originally posted by poirot

How about John and Manuel Komnenos?  Equally brilliant, and equally important to the Byzantine Empire. 


Interestingly, John II Komnenos was the only Byzantine ruler which the venomous Edward Gibbon regards as irreproachable. How I would hate to have a biographer like Gibbon........

Manuel I Komnenos was indeed brilliant, which makes it all the more aweful how his reign turned out. I read about his many and diverse talents and obvious energy. He was so well endowed to finally reverse all mistakes of the 11th century and remake Byzantium as any capable successor of Basil II would have done in 1025. But he failed, and failed miserably. I regard him as brilliant and consequently an incredible underachiever.
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  Quote Reginmund Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Jan-2006 at 15:43
Discussing who's the "very best" of the medieval kings I suspect will be fruitless, one of the greatest however, was undoubtedly Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. An intellectual born ahead of his time, Frederick would probably have been more at home in renaissance Europe than the high medieval world of ignorance and religious superstitions. As such, he is IMO far greater than those who achieved their greatness solely trough mere military might. Indeed, Frederick is as far as I know the only one in history to have conquered Jerusalem without shedding a single drop of blood.
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