The Burgundian laws published by king Gondebaud 501
Alaric defeated by Clovis at the battle of Vorcillè near
Poitiers 507
Paris made the capital of the French dominions 510
Constantinople besieged by Vitalianus, whose fleet is
burned with a brazen speculum by Proclus 514
The computing of time by the christian era, introduced
first by Dionysius 516
Justin I., a peasant of Dalmatia, makes himself emperor 518
Justinian I. nephew of Justin succeeds. Under his glorious
reign flourished Belisarius, Jornandes, Paul the
Silentiary, Simplicius, Dionysius, Procopius, Proclus,
Narses, &c. 527
Justinian publishes his celebrated code of laws, and four
years after his digest 529
Conquest of Africa by Belisarius, and that of Rome, two
years after 534
Italy is invaded by the Franks 538
The Roman consulship suppressed by Justinian 542
A great plague, which arose in Africa, and desolated Asia
and Europe 543
The beginning of the Turkish empire in Asia 545
Rome taken and pillaged by Totila 547
The manufacture of silk introduced from India into Europe
by monks 551
Defeat and death of Totila the Gothic king of Italy 553
A dreadful plague over Africa, Asia, and Europe, which
continues for 50 years 558
Justin II., son of Vigilantia the sister of Justinian,
succeeds 565
Part of Italy conquered by the Lombards from Pannonia, who
form a kingdom there 568
Tiberius II., an officer of the imperial guards, is adopted,
and soon after succeeds 578
Latin ceases to be the language of Italy about this time 581
Maurice the Cappadocian, son-in-law of Tiberius, succeeds 582
Gregory I., surnamed the Great, fills St. Peter’s chair at
Rome. The few men of learning who flourished the latter
end of this century were Gildas, Agathias, Gregory of
Tours the father of French history, Evagrius, and St.
Augustin the monk 590
Augustin the monk, with 40 others, comes to preach
christianity in England 597
About this time the Saxon heptarchy began in England 600
Phocas, a simple centurion, is elected emperor after the
revolt of the soldiers, and the murder of Maurice and of
his children 602
The power of the popes begins to be established by the
concessions of Phocas 606
Heraclius, an officer in Africa, succeeds, after the murder
of the usurper Phocas 610
The conquests of Chosroes king of Persia, in Syria, Egypt,
Asia Minor, and afterwards his siege of Rome 611
The Persians take Jerusalem with the slaughter of 90,000
men, and the next year they overrun Africa 614
Mahomet, in his 53rd year, flies from Mecca to Medina,
on Friday, July 16th, which forms the first year of the
Hegira, the era of the Mahometans 622
Constantinople is besieged by the Persians and Arabs 626
Death of Mahomet 632
Jerusalem taken by the Saracens, and three years after
Alexandria and its famous library destroyed 637
Constantine III. son of Heraclius, in partnership with
Heracleonas, his brother by the same father, assumes
the imperial purple. Constantine reigns 103 days, and
after his death, his son. Constantine’s son Constans is
declared emperor, though Heracleonas, with his mother
Martina, wished to continue in possession of the supreme
power 641
Cyprus taken by the Saracens 648
The Saracens take Rhodes, and destroy the Colossus 653
Constantine IV., surnamed Pogonatus, succeeds, on the
murder of his father in Sicily 668
The Saracens ravage Sicily 669
Constantinople besieged by the Saracens, whose fleet is
destroyed by the Greek fire 673
Justinian II. succeeds his father Constantine. In his
exile of 10 years the purple was usurped by Leontius
and Absimerus Tiberius. His restoration happened 704.
The only men of learning in this century were Secundus,
Isidorus, Theophylactus, Georgius Pisides, Callinicus,
and the venerable Bede 685
Pepin engrosses the power of the whole French monarchy 690
Africa finally conquered by the Saracens 709
Bardanes, surnamed Philippicus, succeeds at Constantinople,
on the murder of Justinian 711
Spain is conquered by the Saracens. Accession of Artemius,
or Anastasius II., to the throne 713
Anastasius abdicates, and is succeeded by Theodosius III.,
who, two years after, yields to the superior influence of
Leo III., the first of the Isaurian dynasty 715
Second, but unsuccessful, siege of Constantinople by the
Saracens 717
Tax called Peter-pence begun by Ina king of Wessex, to
support a college at Rome 727
Saracens defeated by Charles Martel between Tours and
Poitiers in October 732
Constantine V., surnamed Copronymus, succeeds his father
Leo 741
Dreadful pestilence for three years over Europe and Asia 746
The computation of years from the birth of Christ first
used in historical writings 748
Learning encouraged by the race of Abbas caliph of the
Saracens 749
The Merovingian race of kings ends in France 750
Bagdad built, and made the capital of the caliphs of the
house of Abbas 762
A violent frost for 150 days from October to February 763
Monasteries dissolved in the east by Constantine 770
Pavia taken by Charlemagne, which ends the kingdom of the
Lombards, after a duration of 206 years 774
Leo IV. son of Constantine succeeds, and, five years after,
is succeeded by his wife Irene and his son Constantine VI. 775
Irene murders her son and reigns alone. The only men
of learning in this century were Johannes Damascenus,
Fredegaire, Alcuinus, Paulus Diaconus, and George the
monk 797
Charlemagne is crowned emperor of Rome and of the western
empire. About this time the popes separate themselves
from the princes of Constantinople 800
Egbert ascends the throne of England, but the total
reduction of the Saxon heptarchy is not effected till
26 years after 801
Nicephorus I., great treasurer of the empire, succeeds 802
Stauracius son of Nicephorus, and Michael I., surnamed
Rhangabe, the husband of Procopia sister of Stauracius,
assume the purple 811
Leo V. the Armenian, though but an officer of the palace,
ascends the throne of Constantinople 813
Learning encouraged among the Saracens by Almanon, who
made observations on the sun, &c. 816
Michael II. the Thracian, surnamed the Stammerer, succeeds,
after the murder of Leo 821
The Saracens of Spain take Crete, which they call Candia 823
The Almagest of Ptolemy translated into Arabic by order of
Almanon 827
Theophilus succeeds his father Michael 829
Origin of the Russian monarchy 839
Michael III. succeeds his father Theophilus with his mother
Theodora 842
The Normans get possession of some cities in France 853
Michael is murdered, and succeeded by Basil I. the
Macedonian 867
Clocks first brought to Constantinople from Venice 872
Basil is succeeded by his son Leo VI. the philosopher.
In this century flourished Mesué, the Arabian physician
Eginhard, Rabanus, Albumasar, Godescalchus, Hincmarus,
Odo, Photius, John Scotus, Anastasius the librarian,
Alfraganus, Albategni, Reginon, John Asser 886
Paris besieged by the Normans, and bravely defended by
bishop Goslin 887
Death of Alfred king of England, after a reign of 30 years 900
Alexander brother of Leo succeeds, with his nephew
Constantine VII., surnamed Porphyrogenitus 911
The Normans establish themselves in France under Rollo 912
Romanus I., surnamed Lecapenus, general of the fleet,
usurps the throne, with his three sons, Christopher,
Stephen, and Constantine VIII. 919
Fiefs established in France 923
Saracen empire divided by usurpation into seven kingdoms 936
Naples seized by the eastern emperors 942
The sons of Romanus conspire against their father, and
the tumults this occasioned produced the restoration of
Porphyrogenitus 945
Romanus II. son of Constantine VII., by Helena the daughter
of Lecapenus, succeeds 959
Romanus, poisoned by his wife Theophana, is succeeded
by Nicephorus Phocas II., whom the empress, unable to
reign alone under the title of protectress of her young
children, had married 963
Italy conquered by Otho, and united to the German empire 964
Nicephorus, at the instigation of Theophana, is murdered by
John Zimisces, who assumes the purple 969
Basil II., and Constantine IX., the two sons of Romanus by
♦Theophana, succeed on the death of Zimisces 975
♦ ‘Theopana’ replaced with ‘Theophana’
The third or Capetian race of kings in France begins July
3rd 987
Arithmetical figures brought into Europe from Arabia by the
Saracens 991
The empire of Germany first made elective by Otho III. The
learned men of this century were Eudes de Cluni, Azophi,
Luitprand, Alfarabius, Rhazes, Geber, Abbo, Aimoin,
Gerbert 996
A general massacre of the Danes in England, Nov. 13th 1002
All old churches about this time rebuilt in a new manner
of architecture 1005
Flanders inundated in consequence of a violent storm 1014
Constantine becomes sole emperor on the death of his
brother 1025
Romanus III., surnamed Argyrus, a patrician, succeeds by
marrying Zoe the daughter of the late monarch 1028
Zoe, after prostituting herself to a Paphlagonian
money-lender, causes her husband Romanus to be poisoned,
and afterwards marries her favourite, who ascends the
throne under the name of Michael IV. 1034
The kingdoms of Castile and Arragon begin 1035
Zoe adopts for her son Michael V., the trade of whose
father (careening vessels) had procured him the surname
of Calaphates 1041
Zoe and her sister Theodora are made sole empresses by the
populace, but after two months Zoe, though 60 years old,
takes for her third husband Constantine X., who succeeds 1042
The Turks invade the Roman empire 1050
After the death of Constantine, Theodora recovers the
sovereignty, and, 19 months after, adopts, as her
successor, Michael VI., surnamed Stratioticus 1054
Isaac Commenus I. chosen emperor by the soldiers 1057
Isaac abdicates, and when his brother refuses to succeed
him, he appoints his friend Constantine XI., surnamed
Ducas 1059
Jerusalem conquered by the Turks from the Saracens 1065
The crown of England is transferred from the head of Harold
by the battle of Hastings, October the 14th, to William
the Conqueror, duke of Normandy 1066
On the death of Ducas, his wife Eudocia, instead of
protecting his three sons, Michael, Andronicus, and
Constantine, usurps the sovereignty, and marries
Romanus III., surnamed Diogenes 1067
Romanus being taken prisoner by the Turks, the three young
princes ascend the throne, under the name of Michael
Parapinaces VII., Andronicus I., and Constantine XII. 1071
The general Nicephorus Botaniates III. assumes the purple 1078
Doomsday-book begun to be compiled from a general survey
of the estates of England, and finished in six years 1080
Alexius Commenus I. nephew of Isaac I. ascends the throne.
His reign is rendered illustrious by the pen of his
daughter, the princess Anna Commena. The Normans, under
Robert of Apulia, invade the eastern empire 1081
Asia Minor finally conquered by the Turks 1084
Accession of William II. to the English throne 1087
The first crusade 1096
Jerusalem taken by the crusaders 15th July. The only
learned men of this century were Avicenna, Guy d’Arezzo,
Glaber, Hermannus, Franco, Peter Damiani, Michael
Celularius, George Cedrenus, Berenger, Psellus, Marianus
Scotus, Arzachel, William of Spires, Suidas, Peter the
Hermit, Sigebert 1099
Henry I. succeeds to the throne of England 1100
Learning revived at Cambridge 1110
John, or Calojohannes, son of Alexius, succeeds at
Constantinople 1118
Order of Knights Templars instituted 1118
Accession of Stephen to the English crown 1135
Manuel son of John succeeds at Constantinople 1143
The second crusade 1147
The canon law composed by Gratian, after 24 years’ labour 1151
The party names of Guelfs and Gibbelines begin in Italy 1154
Henry II. succeeds in England 1154
The Teutonic order begins 1164
The conquest of Egypt by the Turks 1169
The famous council of Clarendon in England, January 25th.
Conquest of Ireland by Henry II. 1172
Dispensing of justice by circuits first established in
England 1176
Alexius II. succeeds his father Manuel 1180
English laws digested by Glanville 1181
From the disorders of the government, on account of the
minority of Alexius, Andronicus the grandson of the great
Alexius is named Guardian, but he murders Alexius, and
ascends the throne 1183
Andronicus is cruelly put to death, and Isaac Angelus,
a descendant of the great Alexius by the female line,
succeeds 1185
The third crusade, and siege of Acre 1188
Richard I. succeeds his father Henry in England 1189
Saladin defeated by Richard of England in the battle of
Ascalon 1192
Alexius Angelus brother of Isaac revolts, and usurps the
sovereignty by putting out the eyes of the emperor 1195
John succeeds to the English throne. The learned men
of this century were Peter Abelard, Anna Commena,
St. Bernard, Averroes, William of Malmesbury, Peter
Lombard, Otho ♦Frisingensis, Maimonides, Humenus,
Wernerus, Gratian, Jeoffry of Monmouth, Tzetzes,
Eustathius, John of Salisbury, Simeon of Durham, Henry
of Huntingdon, Peter Comestor, Peter of Blois, Ranulph
Glanville, Roger Hoveden, Campanus, William of Newburgh 1199
♦ ‘Trisingensis’ replaced with ‘Frisingensis’
Constantinople is besieged and taken by the Latins, and
Isaac is taken from his dungeon and replaced on the
throne with his son Alexius. This year is remarkable
for the fourth crusade 1203
The father and son are murdered by Alexius Mourzoufle,
and Constantinople is again besieged and taken by
the French and Venetians, who elect Baldwin count of
Flanders emperor of the east. In the mean time, Theodore
Lascaris makes himself emperor of Nice; Alexius grandson
of the tyrant Andronicus becomes emperor of Trebizond;
and Michael, an illegitimate child of the Angeli, founds
an empire in Epirus 1204
The emperor Baldwin is defeated by the Bulgarians, and
next year is succeeded by his brother Henry 1205
Reign and conquests of the great Zingis Khan first emperor
of the Moguls and Tartars, till the time of his death,
1227 1206
Aristotle’s works imported from Constantinople are
condemned by the council of Paris 1209
Magna Charta granted to the English barons by king John 1215
Henry III. succeeds his father John on the English throne 1216
Peter of Courtenay, the husband of Yolanda sister of the
two last emperors, Baldwin and Henry, is made emperor by
the Latins 1217
Robert son of Peter Courtenay succeeds 1221
Theodore Lascaris is succeeded on the throne of Nice by
his son-in-law John Ducas Vataces 1222
John of Brienne, and Baldwin II. son of Peter, succeeded
on the throne of Constantinople 1228
The inquisition which had been begun 1204 is now trusted
to the Dominicans 1233
Baldwin alone 1237
Origin of the Ottomans 1240
The fifth crusade 1248
Astronomical tables composed by Alphonso XI. of Castile 1253
Ducas Vataces is succeeded on the throne of Nice by his
son Theodore Lascaris II. 1255
Lascaris succeeded by his son John Lascaris, a minor 1259
Michael Palæologus son of the sister of the queen of
Theodore Lascaris ascends the throne, after the murder
of the young prince’s guardian 1260
Constantinople is recovered from the Latins by the Greek
emperors of Nice 1261
Edward I. succeeds on the English throne 1272
The famous Mortmain act passes in England 1279
Eight thousand French murdered during the Sicilian vespers,
30th of March 1282
Wales conquered by Edward and annexed to England 1283
Michael Palæologus dies, and his son Andronicus, who had
already reigned nine years conjointly with his father,
ascends the throne. The learned men of this century are
Gervase, Diceto, Saxo, Walter of Coventry, Accursius,
Anthony of Padua, Alexander Halensis, William of Paris,
Peter de Vignes, Matthew Paris, Grosseteste, Albertus,
Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventura, John Joinville, Roger Bacon,
Cimabue, Durandus, Henry of Ghent, Raymond Lulli, Jacob
Voragine, Albertet, Duns Scotus, Thebit 1293
A regular succession of English parliaments from this time 1293
The Turkish empire begins in Bithynia 1298
The mariner’s compass invented or improved by Flavio 1302
The Swiss cantons begin 1307
Edward II. succeeds to the English crown 1307
Translation of the holy see to Avignon, which alienation
continues 68 years, till the return of Gregory XI. 1308
Andronicus adopts, as his colleagues, Manuel, and his
grandson the younger Andronicus. Manuel dying, Andronicus
revolts against his grandfather, who abdicates 1320
Edward III. succeeds in England ♦1327
♦ ‘1337’ replaced with ‘1327’
First comet observed, whose course is described with
exactness, in June 1337
About this time flourished Leo Pilatus, a Greek professor
at Florence, Barlaam, Petrarch, Boccace, and Manuel
Chrysoloras, where may be fixed the era of the revival
of Greek literature in Italy 1339
Andronicus is succeeded by his son John Palæologus in the
ninth year of his age. John Cantacuzene, who had been
left guardian of the young prince, assumes the purple.
First passage of the Turks into Europe 1341
The knights and burgesses of parliament first sit in the
same house 1342
The battle of Crecy, August 26th 1346
Seditions of Rienzi at Rome, and his elevation to the
tribuneship 1347
Order of the Garter in England established April 23rd 1349
The Turks first enter Europe 1352
Cantacuzene abdicates the purple 1355
The battle of Poictiers, September 19th 1356
Law pleadings altered from French into English as a favour
from Edward III. to his people, in his 50th year 1362
Rise of Timour, or Tamerlane, to the throne of Samarcand,
and his extensive conquests till his death, after a reign
of 35 years 1370
Accession of Richard II. to the English throne 1377
Manuel succeeds his father John Palæologus 1391
Accession of Henry IV. in England. The learned men of
this century were Peter Apono, Flavio, Dante, Arnoldus
Villa, Nicholas Lyra, William Occam, Nicephoras Gregoras,
Leontius Pilatus, Matthew of Westminster, Wickliff,
Froissart, Nicholas Flamel, &c. 1399
Henry IV. is succeeded by his son Henry V. 1413
Battle of Agincourt, October 25th 1415
The island of Madeira discovered by the Portuguese 1420
Henry VI. succeeds to the throne of England. Constantinople
is besieged by Amurath II. the Turkish emperor 1422
John Palæologus II. succeeds his father Manuel 1424
Cosmo de Medici recalled from banishment, and rise of that
family at Florence 1434
The famous pragmatic sanction settled in France 1439
Printing discovered at Mentz, and improved gradually in
22 years 1440
Constantine, one of the sons of Manuel, ascends the throne
after his brother John 1448
Mahomet II. emperor of the Turks besieges and takes
Constantinople on the 29th of May. Fall of the eastern
empire. The captivity of the Greeks, and the extinction
of the imperial families of the Commeni and Palæologi.
About this time the House of York in England began to
aspire to the crown, and, by their ambitious views, to
deluge the whole kingdom in blood. The learned men of
the 15th century were Chaucer, Leonard Aretin, John Huss,
Jerome of Prague, Poggio, Flavius Blondus, Theodore Gaza,
Frank Philelphus, Georgius Trapezuntius, Gemistus Pletho,
Laurentius Valla, Ulugh Beigh, John Guttemberg, John
Faustus, Peter Schoeffer, Wesselus, Peurbachius, Æneas
Sylvius, Bessarion, Thomas à Kempis, Argyropulus,
Regiomontanus, Platina, Agricola, Pontanus, Ficinus,
Lascaris, Tiphernas, Annius of Viterbo, Merula, Savonarola,
Picus, Politian, Hermolaus, Grocyn, Mantuanus, John Colet,
Reuchlin, Lynacre, Alexander ab Alexandro, Demetrius
Chalcondyles, &c. 1453
A CLASSICAL DICTIONARY,
ETC., ETC.
A
=ABA= and =Abæ=, a town of Phocis, famous for an oracle of Apollo,
surnamed Abæus. The inhabitants, called Abantes, were of Thracian
origin. After the ruin of their country by Xerxes, they migrated
to Eubœa, which from them was called Abantis. Some of them passed
afterwards from Eubœa into Ionia. _Herodotus_, bk. 8, ch. 33.――
_Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 55.――――A city of Caria.――――Another of
Arabia Felix.――――A mountain near Smyrna. _Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 24.――
_Strabo_, bk. 10.
=Abacēne=, a country of Sicily near Messana. _Diodorus_, bk. 14.
=Abălus=, an island in the German ocean, where, as the ancients
supposed, the amber dropped from the trees. If a man was drowned
there, and his body never appeared above the water, propitiatory
sacrifices were offered to his manes during a hundred years. _Pliny_,
bk. 37, ch. 2.
=Abāna=, a place of Capua. _Cicero_, _De Lege Agraria contra Rullum_.
=Abantes=, a warlike people of Peloponnesus, who built a town in
Phocis called Aba, after their leader Abas, whence also their
name originated. They afterwards went to Eubœa. _See:_ Abantis.
_Herodotus_, bk. 1, ch. 146.
=Abantias= and =Abantiădes=, a patronymic given to the descendants
of Abas king of Argos, such as Acrisius, Danae, Perseus, Atalanta,
&c. _Ovid._
=Abantĭdas=, made himself master of Sicyon, after he had murdered
Clinias the father of Aratus. He was himself soon after assassinated,
B.C. 251. _Plutarch_, _Aratus_.
=Abantis=, or =Abantias=, an ancient name of the island of Eubœa,
received from the Abantes, who settled in it from Phocis. _Pliny_,
bk. 4, ch. 12.――――Also a country of Epirus. _Pausanias_, bk. 5,
ch. 22.
=Abarbarea=, one of the Naiades, mother of Æsepus and Pedasus by
Bucolion, Laomedon’s eldest son. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 6, li. 23.
=Abarīmon=, a country of Scythia, near mount Imaus. The inhabitants
were said to have their toes behind their heels, and to breathe no
air but that of their native country. _Pliny_, bk. 7, ch. 2.
=Abăris=, a man killed by Perseus. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 5,
li. 86.――――A Rutulian killed by Euryalus. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 9,
li. 344.――――A Scythian, son of Seuthes, in the age of Crœsus, or
the Trojan war, who received a flying arrow from Apollo, with which
he gave oracles, and transported himself wherever he pleased. He
is said to have returned to the Hyperborean countries from Athens
without eating, and to have made the Trojan Palladium with the bones
of Pelops. Some suppose that he wrote treatises in Greek; and it
is reported, that there is a Greek manuscript of his epistles to
Phalaris, in the library of Augsburg. But there were probably two
persons of that name. _Herodotus_, bk. 4, ch. 36.――_Strabo_, bk. 7.
――_Pausanias_, bk. 3, ch. 33.
=Abārus=, an Arabian prince, who perfidiously deserted Crassus in his
expedition against Parthia. _Appian_, _Parthia_.――――He is called
Mezeres by _Florus_, bk. 3, ch. 11, and Ariamnes by _Plutarch_,
_Crassus_.
=Abas=, a mountain in Syria, where the Euphrates rises.――――A river
of Armenia Major, where Pompey routed the Albani. _Plutarch_,
_Pompey_.――――A son of Metanira, or Melaninia, changed into a lizard
for laughing at Ceres. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 5, fable 7.
――――The 11th king of Argos, son of Belus, some say of Lynceus and
Hypermnestra, was famous for his genius and valour. He was father to
Prœtus and Acrisius, by Ocalea, and built Abæ. He reigned 23 years,
B.C. 1384. _Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 16; bk. 10, ch. 35.――_Hyginus_,
fable 170, &c.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 2.――――One of Æneas’s
companions, killed in Italy. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 10, li. 170.――――
Another lost in the storm which drove Æneas to Carthage. _Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 1, li. 125.――――A Latian chief, who assisted Æneas
against Turnus, and was killed by Lausus. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 10,
li. 170, &c.――――A Greek, son of Eurydamus, killed by Æneas during
the Trojan war. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 286.――_Homer_, _Iliad_,
bk. 5, li. 150.――――A centaur, famous for his skill in hunting.
_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 12, li. 306.――――A soothsayer, to
whom the Spartans erected a statue in the temple of Apollo, for
his services to Lysander. _Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 9.――――A son of
Neptune. _Hyginus_, fable 157.――――A sophist who wrote two treatises,
one on history, the other on rhetoric. The time in which he lived
is unknown.――――A man who wrote an account of Troy. He is quoted by
Servius in _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 9.
=Abāsa=, an island in the Red sea, near Æthiopia. _Pausanias_, bk. 6,
ch. 26.
=Abasītis=, a part of Mysia in Asia. _Strabo._