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164-612: The origins of the family are unclear. Their own medieval origin stories ascribed them an ancient and prestigious origin in ancient Roman Italy , descended from some of the Romans that had accompanied Constantine the Great to Constantinople upon its foundation in 330. It is more likely that they originated significantly later in Anatolia since the earliest known member of the family, possibly its founder, Nikephoros Palaiologos , served as

328-577: A Pragmatic sanction which maintained most of the organization of Diocletian . The "Prefecture of Italy" thus survived, and was reestablished under Roman control in the course of Justinian 's Gothic War . As a result of the Lombard invasion in 568, the Byzantines lost most of Italy, except the territories of the Exarchate of Ravenna – a corridor from Venice to Lazio via Perugia – and footholds in

492-727: A Social War in the middle of Italy. However, Roman citizenship was recognized to the rest of the Italians by the end of the conflict and then extended to Cisalpine Gaul when Julius Caesar became Roman dictator . In the context of the transition from Republic to Principate , Italy swore allegiance to Octavian Augustus and was then organized in eleven regions from the Alps to the Ionian Sea with more than two centuries of stability afterward. Several emperors made notable accomplishments in this period: Claudius incorporated Britain into

656-455: A cotton or sugar plantation. Ferdinand died in 1670 and was survived only by his son, Theodore . Theodore left Barbados to work as a privateer , serving aboard a ship called Charles II , and died at A Coruña , Spain in 1693. Theodore had a son, who probably predeceased him, and was survived only by a posthumous daughter, Godscall Paleologue , born in January 1694. Nothing

820-543: A Byzantine prince, born in the purple , would be sent to live among, and rule over, Latins, was bad enough but there were also fears that he and his descendants might become 'Latinized' and that the Italians, as a result of the Montferrat inheritance, could launch an invasion in the future in hopes of placing a Catholic Palaiologos on the Byzantine throne. In the end, Andronikos II's fourth son (in order to not jeopardize

984-664: A certain noble status. Theodore was one of the key players in the Greek community in Venice , having helped the Greek refugees there achieve permission to construct the San Giorgio dei Greci church in the first place, and his family was highly regarded by the locals. Theodore's descendants and relatives lived on in Venice and its territories long after his death. His nephew, Zuanne Paleologo, and two of Zuanne's sons, died on Cyprus, fighting

1148-521: A client state to the new Ottoman Empire. Their rule of the empire continued until 1453 when Ottoman sultan Mehmed the Conqueror conquered Constantinople and the final Palaiologan emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos , died in the city's defense. During their rule as emperors, the Palaiologoi were not well-liked by their subjects, mostly on account of their religious policy. The repeated attempts by

1312-467: A commander there in the second half of the 11th century. Over the course of the 12th century, the Palaiologoi were mostly part of the military aristocracy, not recorded as occupying any administrative political offices, and they frequently intermarried with the then ruling Komnenos family, increasing their prestige. When Constantinople fell to the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the Palaiologoi fled to

1476-564: A crusade against the Ottomans. Though Pius II was eager to go through with the idea, and Thomas rode around Italy in the hopes of drumming up support for the venture, no crusade materialized this time either. Thomas died on 12 May 1465 and shortly thereafter Zoe, Andreas and Manuel arrived in Rome. In Rome, the three children were taken care of by Cardinal Bessarion , also a Byzantine refugee. In 1472, according to Bessarion's plans, Zoe (whose name

1640-464: A free comune (municipality). In a period in which the popes had difficulties asserting their authority over Rome, Viterbo became their favourite residence, beginning with Pope Eugene III (1145–1146) who was besieged in vain in the city walls. In 1164, Frederick Barbarossa made Viterbo the seat of his antipope Paschal III . Three years later, he called it a "city" and used its militias against Rome. In 1172, Viterbo started its expansion, destroying

1804-630: A frequent feature of medieval houses. The San Pellegrino quarter has an abundance of them, reflecting an architectural style that is unique to the town and the nearby region. In the valley of the Arcione River just to the west of Viterbo are a number of springs celebrated for the healing qualities of their waters, and in use since Etruscan and Roman days. In fact, the imposing ruins of a great Roman bath are still to be seen and were drawn in plan and perspective by Renaissance artists including Giuliano da Sangallo , Michelangelo , and Vasari . One of

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1968-708: A hostage to Alfonso the Magnanimous of Aragon and Naples. Supposedly, Rogerio was responsible for erecting the Spirito Santo church, which still stands, in Casalsottano , a hamlet of the Italian comune San Mauro Cilento . Rogerio was supposedly survived by his two children John (Giovanni) and Angela. Giovanni was supposedly granted Perito and Ostigliano in Salerno and his descendants adopted

2132-452: A purported third son of Thomas Palaiologos. Their genealogy mainly derives from the tombstone of Theodore Paleologus (d. 1636), which lists Theodore's male-line ancestors five generations back, reaching Thomas. With the sole exception of Thomas's purported son John, the existence of the rest of Theodore's immediate ancestors can be verified through records at Pesaro. The earliest record of John's existence other than Theodore's tombstone are

2296-545: A result of the civil war allowed Stefan Dušan of Serbia to invade Macedonia , Thessaly and Epirus in 1346–1348, creating the Serbian Empire . In the meantime, John VI Kantakouzenos attempted to consolidate his own dynasty on the imperial throne, marrying his daughter Helena to John V and proclaiming his son Matthew Kantakouzenos as co-emperor. Clearly intending to usurp the throne, a new series of civil wars from 1352 to 1357 were eventually won by John V, deposing

2460-464: A strenuous ascension up to the Piazza di Santa Rosa, its final resting place. Each Macchina's lifespan differs, but contests for a new design are held every few years. The Rome Viterbo Airport was opened in 1936 as part of Viterbo Air Force Base , located 3 kilometres (2 miles) from the town. On 26 November 2007, Italian transport minister Alessandro Bianchi announced that Viterbo had been chosen as

2624-537: A term in Greek to taunt converts to Catholicism to this day. The union was passionately opposed by the Byzantine people and of Byzantine rulers not actually under Michael VIII's control, such as John II Megas Komnenos , Emperor of Trebizond, and Nikephoros I Komnenos Doukas , the ruler of Epirus. Despite Michael VIII's efforts, the union was disrupted in 1281, after just seven years, when he was excommunicated by Pope Martin IV . When Michael VIII died in 1282 he died condemned as

2788-407: A thermal hospital in 1927, the building was blown up by retreating German forces in 1944. Despite all the travails, much of the original Bagno del Papa built by Popes Nicholas V and Pius II survives, including the corner towers and the vaulted chambers where Renaissance patrons once bathed. Viterbo became a centre of military aviation due to its proximity to Rome , especially after the opening of

2952-775: A traitor and a heretic by his people, who saw him as someone who had bullied them into submission under the Church of Rome. He was denied the traditional funeral pomps of an Orthodox Emperor. Though Michael's successor Andronikos II quickly repudiated the Union of the Churches, many of the Palaiologan emperors worked to ensure its restoration. As the Ottoman Empire grew to encompass more and more Byzantine territory, emperors such as John V and Manuel II labored intensely to restore

3116-489: A western wing to the building. Travelers' descriptions, etched views, and local guidebooks chronicle the fate of the Renaissance Bagno del Papa over the years and through several rebuildings resulting in a general assumption that most of the original 15th-century structure had vanished. A guide to Viterbo from 1911 does note that some remnants were still to be detected in basement piers and vaults. In operation as

3280-616: A young age, makes it unlikely that he married and had a son. Another family which claims to descend from the old imperial dynasty are the Paleologu of Romania, claiming to be the descendants of an otherwise unattested son of Theodore II Palaiologos, Despot of the Morea, called Emanuel Petrus (Manuel Petros in Greek). The Paleologu also live in Malta and France, one of the most famous members of

3444-480: Is known of Godscall's life, the only record of her existence being her baptismal records. She was the last recorded member of the family and, if their claim to descend from the imperial dynasty was true, the last true heir of the Palaiologan emperors. Because Venice was the only major non-Muslim power in the Eastern Mediterranean, it represented an appealing destination for Byzantine refugees as

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3608-757: Is last attested in the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent ( r.   1520–1566) and is not believed to have had children of his own. Thus, the documented male line of the imperial branch of the House of Palaiologos probably went extinct at some point in the early 16th century. When the Byzantines reconquered Constantinople in 1261 under Michael VIII Palaiologos, the Papacy suffered a loss of prestige and endured severe damage to its spiritual authority. For 57 years, Constantinople had been under Catholic rule through

3772-518: Is made of iron, wood and papier-mâché . At the top of the tower, the statue of the patron saint is enthusiastically acclaimed by the people in the streets of the town centre, where lights are turned off for the occasion. One hundred Viterbesi men (known as the Facchini ) carry the Macchina from Porta Romana through each of the major streets of Viterbo to seven churches to be blessed, concluding with

3936-480: Is no authority except that deriving from God. There is no evidence that the final emperor, Constantine XI, ever repudiated the union achieved at Florence in 1439. Many of his subjects had chastised him as a traitor and heretic while he lived and he, like many of his predecessors before him, died in communion with the Church of Rome. Nevertheless, Constantine's actions during the Fall of Constantinople and his death fighting

4100-647: Is not impossible. None of their own contemporaries appear to have doubted their imperial descent. In 1578, the members of the family living in Pesaro were embroiled in a scandal as brothers Leonidas and Scipione Paleologus, and their nephew Theodore, were arrested for attempted murder. What happened to Scipione is not known, but Leonidas was executed. On account of his young age, Theodore was exiled from Pesaro rather than executed. Following his exile, Theodore established himself as an assassin and appears to have garnered an impressive reputation. In 1599, he entered into

4264-456: Is that she helped to eradicate those few who supported the emperors instead of the popes, around 1250. Saint Lawrence is the male patron saint. The transport of the Macchina di Santa Rosa takes place every year, on 3 September, at 9 o'clock in the evening. The Macchina is an artistic illuminated bell-tower with an imposing height of 30 m. It weighs between 3.5 and 5 tonnes and

4428-514: Is the wettest with 127.09 millimetres (5.00 in), while July is the driest with only 30.64 millimetres (1.21 in). Viterbo's historic center is one of the best preserved medieval towns of central Italy. Many of the older buildings (particularly churches) are built on top of ancient ruins, recognizable by their large stones, 50 centimeters to a side. Viterbo is unique in Italy for its concentration of 'profferli', external staircases that were

4592-531: The imperium domi (police power) as an alternative to the imperium militiae (military power). Italy's inhabitants included Roman citizens , communities with Latin Rights , and socii . The period between the end of the 2nd century BC and the 1st century BC was turbulent , beginning with the Servile Wars , continuing with the opposition of aristocratic élite to populist reformers and leading to

4756-519: The Armistice of Cassibile and heavily bombed by the Allies , suffering over twenty raids between July 1943 and June 1944; this left a third of the city destroyed or badly damaged, and caused heavy damage to cultural heritage and 1,017 civilian deaths. On 20 March 2024, an unexploded MK IV Bomb was found in a construction site causing an evacuation of more than 30,000 people in a range of 1400m until

4920-534: The Avignonese popes to recover the Papal States, who built the castle. In 1375, the city gave its keys to Francesco Di Vico , son of the previous tyrant, but thirteen years later the people killed him and assigned the city first to Pope Urban VI , and then to Giovanni di Sciarra di Vico , Francesco's cousin. But Pope Boniface IX 's troops drove him away in 1396 and established a firm papal suzerainty over

5084-645: The Crisis of the Third Century the Roman Empire was on the verge of disintegration under the combined pressures of invasions, military anarchy, civil wars, and hyperinflation. In 284, Emperor Diocletian restored political stability. He carried out thorough administrative reforms to maintain order. He created the so-called Tetrarchy whereby the empire was ruled by two senior emperors called Augusti and two junior vice-emperors called Caesars . He decreased

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5248-521: The Despot of Serbia , but the three younger children, and Thomas's wife Catherine Zaccaria , and a retinue of other refugees, accompanied him as he escaped to the Venetian-held island of Corfu . The local authorities on Corfu were not eager to house the despot out of fear of provoking the Ottomans, so Thomas soon left the island and travelled to Rome, hoping to convince Pope Pius II of calling for

5412-607: The Dioecesis Italiciana . It included Raetia . It was subdivided into the following provinces: Constantine subdivided the Empire into four praetorian prefectures . The Diocesis Italiciana became the Praetorian prefecture of Italy ( praefectura praetoria Italiae ), and was subdivided into two dioceses. It still included Raetia . The two dioceses and their provinces were: Diocesis Italia annonaria (Italy of

5576-593: The Edict of Thessalonica under Theodosius I . Italy was invaded several times by the wandering Germanic peoples and fell under the control of Odoacer , when Romulus Augustus was deposed in 476 AD. Since then, no single authority was established in Italy as a whole except for a brief Period when the Byzantine Empire reconquered Italy. Even the modern Republic of Italy only consists of most of Italian region , excluding Corsica and some other areas. Following

5740-766: The Empire of Nicaea ). 'Palaiologos' as a last name continues to survive to this day in various variants. Common versions of the last name used today include the standard Palaiologos (approximately 1,800 people, most common in Greece), Palaiologou (approximately 2,000 people, again most common in Greece), Paleologos (approximately 500 people, most common in the United States but present worldwide) and Paleologo (approximately 250 people, most common in Italy). These modern Palaiologoi cannot be confidently proven to descend from

5904-529: The Empire of Nicaea , a Byzantine successor state ruled by the Laskaris family, where they continued to play an active role and occupied many offices of high rank. In 1259, Michael VIII Palaiologos became co-emperor to the young John IV Laskaris through a coup and in 1261, following the recapture of Constantinople from the Latin Empire , John IV was deposed and blinded. Michael's successors ruled

6068-564: The First Ottoman–Venetian War of 1463–1479. The Venetian Palaiologoi were not related to the imperial family, but they might have been distant cousins. One of the earliest references to Palaiologoi in Venice is a 1479 Senate decision concerning Theodore Palaiologos , who had recently proven himself in a campaign in Friuli . Theodore had a well-documented career as a stratiote . Born in 1452, and probably originally from Mystras in

6232-476: The Komnenos dynasty during its rule over the Byzantine Empire (1081–1185). When the crusaders of the Fourth Crusade took Constantinople in 1204 and overthrew the Byzantine Empire in favor of the new, Catholic, Latin Empire , the Palaiologoi followed Theodore I Laskaris to the Empire of Nicaea , where they played an active role and continued to occupy offices of high rank. Andronikos Palaiologos , father of

6396-500: The Latin and Italian languages), also referred to as Roman Italy , was the homeland of the ancient Romans . According to Roman mythology , Italy was the ancestral home promised by Jupiter to Aeneas of Troy and his descendants, Romulus and Remus , who were the founders of Rome . Aside from the legendary accounts, Rome was an Italic city-state that changed its form of government from Kingdom to Republic and then grew within

6560-458: The March of Montferrat until 1536 and died out in 1566. Because the family was extensive before it produced emperors, the name Palaiologos was legitimately held not only by nobles part of the actual imperial dynasty. As a result, many Byzantine refugees who fled to Western Europe in the aftermath of Constantinople's fall possessed the name and in order to earn prestige, some fabricated closer links to

6724-539: The Ottoman Turks to expand almost unopposed through the Balkans and in the second half of the 14th century, the empire passed almost without a fight under Ottoman sovereignty, forced to pay tribute and offer military aid if needed. In 1373, John V's son and heir Andronikos IV Palaiologos rebelled against his father in an attempt to seize the throne, instigating a fourth series of Palaiologan civil wars . John V

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6888-659: The Roman expansion in the peninsula , when Rome formed a permanent association with most of the local tribes and cities. The strength of the Italian confederacy was a crucial factor in the rise of Rome , starting with the Punic and Macedonian wars between the 3rd and 2nd century BC. As Roman provinces were being established throughout the Mediterranean, Italy maintained a special status with political, religious and financial privileges. In Italy, Roman magistrates exercised

7052-615: The annona - its inhabitants had the obligation to provide the court, the administration and the troops, first allocated in Milan and then in Ravenna, supplies, wine and timber) Diocesis Italia suburbicaria (Italy "under the government of the urbs ", i.e. Rome) In 330, Constantine completed the rebuilding of Byzantium as Constantinople . He established the Imperial court, a Senate, financial and judicial administrations, as well as

7216-442: The 16th century did little to stop individuals in various parts of Europe from claiming descent from the old imperial dynasty. The family name Palaiologos had been relatively widespread in the Byzantine Empire, and the family had been quite extensive before a branch of it acceded to the imperial throne. Many of the non-imperial Byzantine Palaiologoi were part of the nobility and served as generals or powerful landowners. In addition to

7380-579: The Air Force base (now the Rome Viterbo Airport but still used for military purposes) during the 1930s. The Army Aviation Command headquarters and training school ( Italian : Scuola marescialli dell'Aeronautica Militare ) are both located there. The Army's NCO training establishment ( Italian : Scuola sottufficiali dell'Esercito Italiano ) is also located in the city. St. Rose is the patron saint of Viterbo. The legend of Santa Rosa

7544-593: The Bagno della Crociata (named either after a Crusader who supposedly discovered the spring or from a corruption of the Italian word for crutch). Early 15th-century documents describe a bath building that covered three distinct thermal springs all under one roof. This bath house was transformed circa 1454 by the Pope Nicholas V , who commissioned a bath palace (according to Nicholas's biographer, Giannozzo Manetti ) "with such magnificence and with such expense that it

7708-537: The Byzantine Empire at its weakest point in history, and much of the Palaiologan period was a time of political and economic decline, partly due to external enemies such as the Bulgarians , Serbs and Ottoman Turks , and partly due to frequent civil wars between members of the Palaiologos family. By the beginning of the 15th century, the emperors had lost any real power, with the empire effectively having become

7872-512: The Doukas family and later Alexios I Komnenos , Anna's brother-in-law, against Botaneiates. George served as the doux of Dyrrhachium in the reign of Alexios I and was accorded the title of kouropalates . In the 12th century, the Palaiologoi were mainly recorded as members of the military aristocracy, not occupying any administrative political offices. They are recorded numerous times as donors to monasteries, and intermarried several times with

8036-799: The East and West respectively, established themselves at Nicomedia , in north-western Anatolia (closer to the Persian frontier in the east) and Milan , in northern Italy (closer to the European frontiers) respectively. The seats of the Caesars were Augusta Treverorum (on the River Rhine frontier) for Constantius Chlorus and Sirmium (on the River Danube frontier) for Galerius , who also resided at Thessaloniki. Under Diocletian Italy became

8200-674: The Eastern Orthodox Church with the Catholic Church of Rome, to ensure legitimacy in the eyes of the West and in an attempt to secure aid against the many enemies of their empire. Michael VIII succeeded in a union at the Second Council of Lyons in 1274, which formally reunited the churches after more than two centuries of schism . Michael VIII was taunted with the words "you have become a Frank ", which remains

8364-502: The French Byzantinist Jean-François Vannier believes the correct etymology to be "antique collector". The earliest known member of the family, possibly its founder, was Nikephoros Palaiologos , commander (possibly doux ) of the Theme of Mesopotamia in the second half of the 11th century, in the reign of Emperor Michael VII Doukas . Nikephoros supported the revolt of Nikephoros III Botaneiates against Michael VII, but his son, George Palaiologos , married Anna Doukaina and thus supported

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8528-436: The Imperial boundaries. Christianity then began to establish itself as the dominant religion from Constantine 's reign (306–337), raising the power of Eastern metropolises, later grouped into Pentarchy . Although not founded as a capital city in 330, Constantinople grew in importance. It finally gained the rank of eastern capital when given an praefectus urbi in 359 and the senators who were clari became senators of

8692-423: The Kantakouzenoi. In 1382, the Kantakouzenoi were also driven out of the Morea (the modern-day Peloponnese ) and John V's son Theodore was placed to govern it as the semi-independent Despot of the Morea , an important victory as the region was quickly becoming the most important Byzantine province. The Byzantine civil wars, and the collapse of Stefan Dušan's Serbian Empire following his death in 1355, had allowed

8856-405: The King of Sicily, Charles of Anjou , periodically enjoyed Papal support, and several Popes considered the idea of calling for a new crusade against Constantinople to once more impose Catholic rule. Michael VIII succeeded in achieving a union of the Catholic and Orthodox churches at the Second Council of Lyons in 1274, legitimizing him and his successors as rulers of Constantinople in the eyes of

9020-408: The Latin Empire and now the easterners had once more asserted their right not only to the position of Roman emperor but also to a church independent of the one centered in Rome. The Popes in the immediate aftermath of the Latin Empire's fall pursued a policy of attempting to assert their religious authority over the Byzantine Empire. Some Western pretenders who wished to restore the Latin Empire, such as

9184-525: The Morea fell in 1460. Many Byzantine refugees, though unrelated to the emperors, legitimately bore the name Palaiologos due to the extensive nature of the family. Because the name could lend whoever bore it prestige (as well as possible monetary support), many refugees fabricated closer links to the imperial dynasty. Many Western rulers were conscious of their failure to prevent Byzantium's fall and welcomed these men at their courts. The refugees were helped in that many in Western Europe would have been unaware of

9348-435: The Morea, Theodore was originally a debt collector for the Ottomans in the Morea. In 1478, Theodore travelled to Venice with his father, Paul, and became a stratiote . For his merits in the service of Venice, Theodore was granted the island Cranae , though he later ceded it to another family. In 1495, Theodore partook in a siege of Novara and also partook in later battles in Savona and Cephalonia . Due to his knowledge of

9512-431: The Ottoman dynasty (and as such a potential rival to Mehmed), who was held prisoner in Constantinople. The ill-advised threat gave Mehmed a casus belli and late in 1451, preparations were already underway for a new Ottoman siege of Constantinople. To prevent aid coming from the Morea, now governed by Thomas and Demetrios, Mehmed II sent one of his generals, Turahan Bey (who had raided the Morea twice before) to devastate

9676-510: The Ottomanist Halil İnalcık termed a "Greek faction" at the court of Mehmed II. Numerous people with the last name Palaiologos, living on the island of Syros in Greece, have historically claimed descent from a supposed son of Andronikos Palaiologos , one of Emperor Manuel II's sons and Despot of Thessaloniki. Their descent is questionable since there is no surviving contemporary evidence that Andronikos had children. That Andronikos suffered from elephantiasis and epilepsy , and that he died at

9840-478: The Ottomans during the 1570 Siege of Nicosia in the Fourth Ottoman–Venetian War . The 1570 will of Demetri Paleologo, a son of Theodore, begins with "Io Demetri Palleollogo, da Constantinopoli ...". Over a century had passed since Constantinople, a city Demetri had never seen, had fallen and yet he retained lingering dreams of the city. A man by the name Andrea Paleologo Graitzas, attested in Venice in 1460, supposedly has living descendants, with numerous people with

10004-448: The Ottomans, the Byzantines continued to act with hostility against them. In 1394, Manuel II ceased to pay tribute to the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I , who responded by besieging Constantinople. Bayezid's siege lasted for more than a decade, with Western aid through the Crusade of Nicopolis (1396) failing to stop the sultan. The situation was so dire that Manuel left Constantinople to travel around Western Europe asking for further aid against

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10168-558: The Ottomans, visiting Italy, France and England. Ultimately, the siege was resolved peacefully by Manuel through signing a peace treaty with Bayezid's son and successor, Mehmed I , in 1403, which among other things returned the city of Thessaloniki , captured by the Ottomans in 1387, to Byzantine rule. There was peace between the Palaiologans and the Ottomans until 1421, when Mehmed I died and Manuel retired from state affairs, to pursue scholarly and religious interests. Manuel's son, John VIII Palaiologos , co-emperor since before 1416, ignored

10332-418: The Ottomans. The Phanariots sent to Wallachia and Moldavia included people with the last name Palaiologos, ancestors of the Paleologu family. Some Italian genealogies from the 17th century onwards ascribe further sons to Thomas Palaiologos, in addition to both Andreas, Manuel and the unverified John. Notably, these include a supposed older son called Rogerio or Ruggerio, supposedly born around 1430 and sent as

10496-622: The Palaiologan Marquises of Montferrat paid little attention to affairs in the eastern Mediterranean. The only Marquis to seriously consider using his Byzantine connection was Theodore's son, John II of Montferrat , who wished to take advantage of the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347, between Andronikos II's great-grandson John V and John VI Kantakouzenos, in order to invade the empire and conquer Thessaloniki. In his will from 1372, John II claimed that Andronikos II's deposition in 1328 by his grandson Andronikos III (John V's father) had been unlawful and thus disqualified Andronikos III and all his heirs from

10660-465: The Palaiologos family are unclear. According to several later oral traditions , the family had originated in Italy, supposedly in the city of Viterbo . As per this version, the family name Palaiologos ( Palaios logos , lit. "old word") was a Greek translation of vetus verbum , a dubious etymology of Viterbo. Such stories were popularized by later obscure Palaiologoi who had settled in northern Italy and were tempted to invent an ancestral link with

10824-680: The Papal Guard and dead in 1508 was his son. According to Russian sources, he might also have had a daughter, Maria Palaiologina , who married a Russian prince. A Fernando Palaiologos , referred to as the "son of the Despot of the Morea" by Ludovico Sforza , Duke of Milan, in 1499 might also have been a son of Andreas. Andreas's brother Manuel died in Constantinople at some point during the reign of Mehmed II's son and successor Bayezid II ( r.   1481–1512). Manuel had two sons; John Palaiologos, who died young, and Andreas , probably named after Manuel's brother. Manuel's son Andreas converted to Islam and might have served as an Ottoman court official. He

10988-421: The Roman Empire, Vespasian subjugated the Great Revolt of Judea and reformed the financial system, Trajan conquered Dacia and defeated Parthia , and Marcus Aurelius epitomized the ideal of the philosopher king . During these centuries of imperial stability , Italy was referred to as rectrix mundi ("governor of the world") and omnium terrarum parens ("parent of all lands"). The Crisis of

11152-501: The Third Century hit Italy particularly hard, but the Roman empire managed to survive and reconquer breakaway regions. In 286 AD, the Emperor Diocletian moved the imperial residence associated with the western provinces (the later Western Roman Empire ) from Rome to Mediolanum . Meanwhile, the islands of Corsica , Sardinia , Sicily and Malta were added to Italy by Diocletian in 292 AD, and Italian cities such as Mediolanum and Ravenna continued to serve as de facto capitals for

11316-417: The Turkish language, Theodore also accompanied Venetian ambassadors in diplomatic missions to the Ottoman Empire, visiting Constantinople several times. He died in 1532, being buried in the Orthodox church of San Giorgio dei Greci . Theodore had married Maria, a daughter of a man by the name Demetrios Kantakouzenos. That he could marry a genuine member of the noble Kantakouzenos family indicates that he held

11480-452: The Turks redeemed the popular view of the Palaiologan dynasty. The Greeks forgot or ignored that Constantine had died a "heretic", many considering him a martyr . In the eyes of the Orthodox church, Constantine's death sanctified him and he died a hero. As Ottoman rule continued, many Greeks dreamed of a day when a new emperor would once more rule a sizeable Greek domain. Some even believed that Constantine XI would return to rescue them, that he

11644-401: The West. Although, in late antiquity , Italy was also sub-divided into provinces, it remained the centre of the Western Roman Empire and had a status that gave her the name of domina provinciarum ("ruler of the provinces") by glossators of the Corpus Iuris Civilis . The Bishop of Rome had gained importance gradually from the reign of Constantine , and was given religious primacy with

11808-662: The West. Michael's son and successor Andronikos II wished to further legitimize the rule of the Palaiologan dynasty. Other crusader states had been formed in Greece as a result of the Fourth Crusade, notably the Kingdom of Thessalonica , which had been ruled by the Aleramici family of Montferrat . In an effort to rid himself of the threat that an Aleramici pretender might launch an invasion and attempt to seize Thessaloniki in

11972-457: The architect of the project in Viterbo. There is, however, no documentation or architectural evidence to connect Rossellino directly with the construction of the Bagno del Papa. To the contrary, Vatican payment records from 1454, preserved in the state archives in Rome, identify a stonemason from Lombardy, named Stefano di Beltrame, as the builder who "had done or was doing in the house ordered by

12136-430: The battle, whereas others were taken prisoner and executed. Nobles that could escape mostly did, many fleeing to the Morea where they had estates. There, they faced a dilemma. The Byzantine Empire had fallen and the rulers of the Morea, Thomas and Demetrios, appeared more interested in their own rivalry than in organizing resistance against the Ottomans. As such, many of them escaped into Western Europe either before or after

12300-454: The bomb could be disposed of. Viterbo experiences a hot-summer mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification : Csa ). The annual average temperature is 14.5 °C (58.1 °F), the hottest month in August is 24.4 °C (75.9 °F), and the coldest month is 6.4 °C (43.5 °F) in January. The annual precipitation is 869.93 millimetres (34.25 in), of which November

12464-516: The brothers broke out into civil war as Thomas, with the aid of some of the Albanian lords in the Morea, seized a series of fortresses held by Demetrios. The ongoing civil war, and the possibility that Thomas could receive aid from the West since he had proclaimed the war against his brother as a holy war against the Muslims, caused Mehmed to invade the Morea in 1460. Mehmed was victorious and annexed

12628-463: The city and become emperor himself. John VIII, aided by Constantine, successfully repulsed this attack and Demetrios was briefly imprisoned as punishment. After John VIII's death in June 1448, the candidates for the throne were brothers Constantine, Demetrios and Thomas. To avoid infighting, their mother Helena Dragaš decided that Constantine was to be the next emperor. Constantine XI Palaiologos's rise to

12792-542: The city is through ancient gates. Apart from agriculture, Viterbo's main resources are pottery, peperino stone, and wood. The town is home to the Italian gold reserves, an important Academy of Fine Arts, the University of Tuscia , and the Italian Army 's Aviation Command headquarters and training centre. It is located in a wide thermal area, attracting many tourists from all over central Italy. The first report of

12956-529: The city of Viterbo was forged based on a specious etymological connection of the Latin Vetus verbum (Viterbo) and the Greek Palaios logos . This link gave a certain degree of prominence to several obscure Palaiologoi who had settled in Italy during the late Middle Ages, and was held as an argument that the family had its roots in the city. Theodore Spandounes mentions a story, according to which

13120-564: The city was lost to the crusaders. John IV, the last representative of the imperial Laskaris dynasty, was pushed aside in order to consolidate the Palaiologos family on the throne. On John IV's eleventh birthday, 25 December 1261, the boy was deposed, blinded and confined to a monastery. Once news of the act, the blinding of not only the legitimate emperor, but an underage boy, got out, the Patriarch of Constantinople, Arsenios Autoreianos , excommunicated Michael. The emperor's excommunication

13284-474: The city. The last Di Vico to hold power in Viterbo was Giacomo, who was defeated in 1431. Thenceforth Viterbo became a city of secondary importance, following the vicissitudes of the Papal States. In the 16th century it was the birthplace of Latino Latini . It became part of Italy in 1871. In 1927 Viterbo was made a provincial capital . During World War II Viterbo was occupied by the Wehrmacht after

13448-518: The civil war). When Andronikos III died in 1341, his underage son John V Palaiologos inherited the throne. Disputes between John V's mother Anna of Savoy and the Patriarch John XIV on one side and Andronikos III's friend and megas domestikos John Kantakouzenos on the other led to a new and devastating civil war , lasting until 1347 and won by John Kantakouzenos, who became senior co-emperor as John VI. The weakening of Byzantium as

13612-957: The context of a peninsula dominated by the Gauls , Ligures , Veneti , Camunni and Histri in the North , the Etruscans , Latins , Falisci , Picentes and Umbri tribes (such as the Sabines ) in the Centre , and the Iapygian tribes (such as the Messapians ), the Oscan tribes (such as the Samnites ), and Greek colonies in the South . The consolidation of Italy into a single entity occurred during

13776-517: The corners of its southern façade. Located outside Viterbo, the spa would have been an easy target for assaults had the building not assumed a militant character, which also affirmed papal authority. Aside from the regal apartments described by Manedtti there were vaulted chambers at the lowest level to accommodate the patrons of the several thermal springs. Manetti and Vasari both named the Florentine architect and sculptor Bernardo Rossellino as

13940-434: The creation of a new independent Greek state , the provisional government of liberated Greece sent a delegation to Western Europe in search of possible descendants of those imperial Palaiologoi that had escaped into exile. The delegation visited places in Italy where Palaiologoi were known to have resided and even came to Cornwall , where Theodore Paleologus had lived in the 17th century. Local tradition on Barbados has it that

14104-642: The current region of Calabria ); later the term was extended by Romans to include the Italian Peninsula up to the Rubicon , a river located between Northern and Central Italy . In 49 BC, with the Lex Roscia , Julius Caesar gave Roman citizenship to the people of the Cisalpine Gaul ; while in 42 BC the hitherto existing province was abolished, thus extending Italy to the north up to

14268-499: The decline of the city of Rome (which was sacked in 410 for the first time in almost eight centuries). The name Italia covered an area whose borders evolved over time. According to Strabo 's Geographica , before the expansion of the Roman Republic , the name was used by Greeks to indicate the land between the strait of Messina and the line connecting the gulf of Salerno and gulf of Taranto (corresponding roughly to

14432-505: The delegation also sent a letter to the authorities on Barbados , inquiring if descendants of Ferdinand Paleologus still lived on the island. The letter supposedly requested that if that was the case, the head of the family should be provided with the means of returning to Greece, with the trip paid for by the Greek government. Ultimately, the delegation's search was in vain and they found no living embodiments of their lost empire. Roman Italy Timeline Italia (in both

14596-490: The dynasty as a whole. The role of the Palaiologoi as the final Christian dynasty to rule over Greek lands also accorded them a more positive remembrance among Greeks during the period of Ottoman rule. The last certain members of the imperial line of the Palaiologoi died out in the 16th century, but female-line descendants survive to the present day. A cadet branch in Italy, the Palaeologus-Montferrat , ruled

14760-547: The elder brother, as Constantine's successor and the new Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans. The brothers were divided in their policies. Thomas retained hope that the Papacy might yet call for a crusade to restore the Byzantine Empire whereas Demetrios, probably the more realistic of the two, had more or less given up hope of Christian aid from the West and believed it to be best to placate the Turks. In January 1459, rivalry between

14924-732: The emperors to reunite the Greek Orthodox Church with the Roman Catholic Church , and thus place the Byzantine church in submission under the Papacy , was viewed as heresy and treason. Though Constantine XI died in communion with Rome (and thus as a "heretic"), his death in battle against the Ottomans, defending Constantinople, made the Greeks and the Orthodox church remember him as a hero, redeeming popular opinion of

15088-501: The empire fell. Numerous people with the last name Paleologus are recorded in Venice in the 15th and 16th centuries, many serving as stratioti (mercenary light-armed cavalrymen of Greek or Albanian origin). Venetian documents frequently refer to their "strenuous" prowess in service to the Venetian Republic. Venice had first become interested in hiring stratioti after witnessing the prowess of Greek and Albanian soldiers in

15252-408: The empire underwent significant economical and political decline. Even in this state, the empire, famous for its frequent civil wars, was unable to stay united. In 1320, Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos attempted to disinherit his grandson Andronikos III Palaiologos , despite the death of Andronikos II's son, heir and co-emperor Michael IX Palaiologos (Andronikos III's father). Andronikos III secured

15416-448: The empire. However, it soon became apparent Constantine's closest relatives, his brothers in the Morea, represented little more than a nuisance to Mehmed II and they were thus allowed to keep their titles and lands as Ottoman vassals. Under their rule, the Morea was transformed into somewhat of a Byzantine government-in-exile, as Byzantine refugees from Constantinople and elsewhere fled to their courts, some even wishing to proclaim Demetrios,

15580-406: The empire. Theodore II died in that same year and was succeeded by his eight-year-old son John IV Laskaris . Just a few days after Theodore's death, Michael led a coup against the bureaucrat George Mouzalon , who had been appointed regent by Theodore II. Michael seized the guardianship of the child emperor and was invested with the titles of megas doux and despotes . On 1 January 1259, Michael

15744-587: The end of the Social War in 87 BC, Rome had allowed its fellow Italian allies full rights in Roman society and granted Roman citizenship to all fellow Italic peoples . After having been for centuries the heart of the Roman Empire , from the 3rd century the government and the cultural center began to move eastward: first the Edict of Caracalla in 212 AD, extended Roman citizenship to all free men within

15908-415: The end of the fourth century by eight consulares ( Venetiae et Histriae , Aemiliae , Liguriae , Flaminiae et Piceni annonarii , Tusciae et Umbriae , Piceni suburbicarii , Campaniae , and Siciliae ), two correctores ( Apuliae et Calabriae and Lucaniae et Bruttiorum ) and seven praesides ( Alpium Cottiarum , Rhaetia Prima and Secunda , Samnii , Valeriae , Sardiniae , and Corsicae ). In

16072-401: The existence of Rogerio as fantasy, given his clearly Italian first name, the unlikelihood of a potential imperial heir being kept as a hostage in Italy and that there are no mentions of such a figure in Byzantine records. The contemporary historian George Sphrantzes , who described the life of Thomas Palaiologos in detail, wrote on the birth of Andreas Palaiologos on 17 January 1453 that the boy

16236-631: The family being the French diplomat Maurice Paléologue , who in his lifetime repeatedly asserted his imperial descent. The ancestry of the Paleologu can be traced to Greeks with the name Palaiologos, but not to the imperial family. In the 18th century, several Phanariots (members of prominent Greek families in the Fener quarter of Constantinople) were granted governing positions in the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (predecessors of Romania) by

16400-563: The family, originally Romans who arrived in Constantinople in the 4th century, moved to Italy during the exarchate and one of them married in Viterbo. Later, a soldier of the family was said to have come from Viterbo to Greece in the aid of the Lascarid Emperors, where he married and had his son, allegedly the future Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos (Michael's true parents were Andronikos and Theodora who had lived in

16564-420: The famous noble houses of their Byzantine past. Some might be genuine descendants of the imperial family as several of the imperial Palaiologoi are recorded as having had illegitimate children; for instance, Theodore II, Despot of the Morea, is known to have had several illegitimate children. The Paleologus family in Pesaro, attested from the early 16th century onwards, claimed descent from 'John Palaiologos',

16728-597: The fifth century, with the Emperors controlled by their barbarian generals, the Western Imperial government maintained weak control over Italy itself, whose coasts were periodically under attack. In 476, with the abdication of Romulus Augustulus , the Western Roman Empire had formally fallen unless one considers Julius Nepos , the legitimate emperor recognized by Constantinople as the last. He

16892-502: The fragile peace with the Ottomans and supported Mustafa Çelebi , a pretender to the Ottoman throne, in a rebellion against Mehmed I's successor Murad II . Murad defeated Mustafa's rebellion and besieged Constantinople in 1422 , though the Byzantines successfully repulsed him. Even during the final decades of the Byzantine Empire, the Palaiologoi often found it difficult to cooperate with each other. During Manuel II's reign, John VIII and

17056-564: The fruit of John VIII's labor, ended only in disaster as it was defeated by the Turks at the Battle of Varna in 1444. In 1798, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem , Anthemus , wrote that the Ottoman Empire had been imposed by God himself as the supreme empire on Earth due to the heretical dealings of the Palaiologan emperors with Christians in the West. Behold how our merciful and omniscient Lord has managed to preserve

17220-581: The future, Andronikos married Yolande of Montferrat in 1284, bringing her dynastic claims to Thessaloniki into his own family line. Since Yolande was second-in-line to the throne of the March of Montferrat , the marriage had the unexpected result of creating the possibility that a Byzantine prince might inherit Montferrat. When Yolande's brother, John I of Montferrat , died without children in 1305, Montferrat legitimately passed to Yolande and her children. The Byzantine aristocracy were less than eager of sending one of Andronikos II's sons to claim Montferrat. That

17384-566: The governor of the towns of Melnik and Serres in Thrace, and though he and his family were distinguished among the aristocracy, he was frequently mistrusted by the ruling Laskaris dynasty. In 1253, Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes accused him of plotting against the throne, though Michael escaped the accusation without punishment following a trial by ordeal of holding a red-hot iron. Though Michael continued to be mistrusted even after this, he married John III's grandniece Theodora Vatatzaina and

17548-437: The imperial dynasty, or the medieval family which produced it. Because people with the name live throughout the world and might not even be related in the first place, creating an all-encompassing modern Palaiologos genealogy is next to impossible. It is possible that many of the modern people who bear the name are descended from wealthy Greeks in the Ottoman period, who commonly assumed Byzantine surnames and claimed descent from

17712-445: The imperial family. The genealogies of many supposedly surviving branches of the imperial dynasty have readily been dismissed as fantasy by modern researchers. Various lineages of non-imperial Palaialogoi, whose relation to the medieval Palaiologoi and each other are unclear, survived into the modern period and thousands of people, particularly in Greece, still have the last name Palaiologos, or variants thereof, today. The origins of

17876-471: The integrity of our holy Orthodox faith and to save (us) all; he brought forth out of nothing the powerful Empire of the Ottomans, which he set up in the place of our Empire of the Romaioi, which had begun in some ways to deviate from the path of the Orthodox faith; and he raised this Empire of the Ottomans above every other in order to prove beyond doubt that it came into being by the will of God .... For there

18040-531: The intricacies of Byzantine naming customs; to Western Europeans, the name Palaiologos meant the imperial dynasty. Though such Palaiologoi, imperial or not, were mainly concentrated in northern Italy, such as in Pesaro , Viterbo, or Venice , other Greek refugees travelled across Europe, many ending up in Rome, Naples , Milan , Paris or in various cities in Spain. A special link between the family of Palaiologos and

18204-564: The last Byzantine Emperors. Another tale maintained that the ancestors of Palaiologoi were among the Roman patricians who traveled to Constantinople accompanying Constantine the Great when the city was founded and designated as the Roman Empire 's new capital in 330. This origin story is similar to the traditions of other Byzantine noble families, such as the Doukas or Phokas clans, who also used stories of ancient Roman descent to bolster their prestige and somewhat legitimize their claims to

18368-542: The last name Palaiologos (or variations thereof) living in Athens today claiming to descend from him. Some nobles with the last name Palaiologos remained in Ottoman Constantinople, and even prospered in the immediate post-conquest period. In the decades after 1453, Ottoman tax registers show a consortium of noble Greeks co-operating to bid for the lucrative tax farming district including Constantinople and

18532-515: The late 13th century. Advances in science and the arts, referred to as the Palaiologan Renaissance , lasted throughout the dynasty's rule, encouraged by the efforts of some emperors such as Andronikos II and Manuel II. By the 15th century, the Byzantine emperors had lost any real power, with the Ottoman sultans increasingly becoming the real regulators of political matters within the empire. Despite their de facto submission under

18696-441: The later emperor Michael VIII , was proclaimed megas domestikos (commander-in-chief), probably by Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes . The Palaiologoi's many marriages with prominent Byzantine families was reflected in their choice of surnames, with earlier members of the imperial dynasty using the surnames of several of the previous ruling dynasties to reinforce their legitimacy. For instance, Michael VIII Palaiologos's full name

18860-493: The legitimacy of the Pesaro line. Allatius gives the sons of Thomas as "Andrea, Manuele and Ioanne". It would be difficult to explain why Allatius, a respected scholar, would simply make up a member of an ancient dynasty. The absence of any mentions of John Palaiologos in contemporary sources means that the Paleologus family's status as genuine male-line descendants of the last few Byzantine emperors can not be proven, but it

19024-519: The legitimate line of succession to the throne of Byzantium. John II also pointed out that since Andronikos II had disinherited Andronikos III, John II was thus the rightful emperor as the only true heir to Andronikos II. John II even petitioned the Papacy to recognize his claims to Thessaloniki and to the empire, and to help him conquer them. An expedition to "recover" these territories was never organized. The final Palaeologus Marquis, John George, Marquis of Montferrat , died in 1533 and rule of Montferrat

19188-547: The line of succession), Theodore, was chosen to travel to Montferrat, arriving there in 1306. Byzantine fears of Latinization became true; Theodore converted to Catholicism and on his visits to Constantinople, Theodore shocked the Byzantines with his shaven face and Western customs. Theodore's descendants, the Palaeologus-Montferrat family, ruled at Montferrat until the 16th century, though they were sometimes given Greek names, such as Theodore and Sophia, most of

19352-492: The lowest rank as clarissimi . As a result, Italy began to decline in favour of the provinces, which resulted in the division of the Empire into two administrative units in 395: the Western Roman Empire , with its capital at Mediolanum (now Milan ), and the Eastern Roman Empire , with its capital at Constantinople (now Istanbul ). In 402, the Imperial residence was moved to Ravenna from Milan, confirming

19516-499: The military structures. The new city, however, did not receive an urban prefect until 359 which raised it to the status of eastern capital. After the death of Theodosius in 395 and the subsequent division of the Empire, Italy was home base of the Western Roman Empire . As a result of Alaric's invasion in 402 the western seat was moved from Mediolanum to Ravenna . Alaric , king of Visigoths , sacked Rome itself in 410; something that had not happened for eight centuries. Northern Italy

19680-546: The most famous were the thermal springs known as the "Bullicame", or bubbling place, whose reputation had even reached the ears of the exiled poet Dante Alighieri . Canto 14 (lines 79–81) of Dante's Inferno describes how: In silence we had reached a place where flowed a slender watercourse out of the wood—a stream whose redness makes me shudder still. As from the Bullicame pours a brook whose waters are then shared by prostitutes , so did this stream run down across

19844-422: The name Paleologo Mastrogiovanni (or just Mastrogiovanni ) in his honour. The Paleologo Mastrogiovanni family is an extant family in Italy, but their claimed family history mainly derives from oral tradition, with few documents supporting it. None of the documents have been authenticated and there are several issues with the overall reconstruction of events and descent. Modern researchers overwhelmingly dismiss

20008-517: The neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium ) in its early history. It is approximately 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of GRA ( Rome ) on the Via Cassia , and it is surrounded by the Monti Cimini and Monti Volsini . The historic center is surrounded by the medieval walls of Viterbo , which are still mainly intact, built during the 11th and 12th centuries. Entrance to the walled center of

20172-593: The new city dates to the eighth century AD, when it is identified as Castrum Viterbii . It was fortified in 773 by the Lombard King Desiderius in his vain attempt to conquer Rome. When the popes switched to the Frankish support, Viterbo became part of the Papal States . Still, this status was to be highly contested by the emperors in the following centuries, until 1095 when it was known as

20336-478: The non-imperial Palaiologoi that were descendants of older collateral lines, Byzantine genealogy is also made complicated by the fact that it was common in Byzantium to adopt the family name of one's spouse or mother, if the name was more prestigious. Many Byzantine nobles found themselves in Constantinople in 1453, fighting against the Ottomans in their final attack. Some, such as Theophilos Palaiologos , died in

20500-538: The number of Roman citizens throughout the empire. The surviving totals were 4,063,000 in 28 BC, 4,233,000 in 8 BC, and 4,937,000 in AD 14, but it is still debated whether these counted all citizens, all adult male citizens, or citizens sui iuris . Estimates for the population of mainland Italy, including Cisalpine Gaul, at the beginning of the 1st century range from 6,000,000 according to Karl Julius Beloch in 1886, to 14,000,000 according to Elio Lo Cascio in 2009. During

20664-436: The old city of Ferento and conquering other lands. In this age it was a rich and prosperous comune , one of the most important of Central Italy, with a population of almost 60,000. In 1207, Pope Innocent III held a council in the cathedral, but the city was later excommunicated as the favourite seat of the heretical Patarines and even defeated by the Romans. In 1210, however, Viterbo managed to defeat Emperor Otto IV and

20828-408: The old emperors. Andreas and Manuel soon faced financial problems, with the pension once provided to their father having been split between the two of them and constantly cut back by the Papacy. Andreas attempted to sell his claims to various Byzantine titles to earn money, but since Manuel did not have any claims to sell (as he was the second son), he instead travelled around Europe hoping to enter into

20992-507: The past, in the 18th century. The name "Montferrato-Paleologo" is recorded on the Greek island of Cephalonia until the 17th century, though it is uncertain how they were connected to the Italian family. A modern Italian family, called the Paleologo-Oriundi , claim that they descend from Flaminio , an illegitimate son of John George. The probable extinction of the senior branch of the imperial Palaiologos family at some point in

21156-446: The peninsula. Constantine also sent desperate pleas for aid to Western Europe, though little help ever arrived. After a 53-day long siege, the city finally fell to the Ottomans on 29 May 1453. Constantine XI died fighting in its defense. In the aftermath of Constantinople's fall, one of the most pressing threats to the new Ottoman regime was the possibility that one of Constantine XI's relatives would secure support and return to reclaim

21320-399: The pope at the bagni della Grotta and Crociata of Viterbo." Construction at the Bagno del Papa was continued on through the reigns of several popes after Nicholas V. The Vatican accounts mention of payments "for building done at the bath palace of Viterbo" during the reigns of Calixtus III , Paul II , and Sixtus IV . There also is evidence Pope Pius II was responsible for the addition of

21484-475: The ports of western Anatolia. This group included names like "Palologoz of Kassandros" and "Manuel Palologoz". This group stood in close contact with two powerful viziers, Mesih Pasha and Hass Murad Pasha , both of whom were reportedly nephews to Constantine XI Palaiologos and had been forced to convert to Islam after Constantinople's fall, as well as with other converted scions of Byzantine and Balkan aristocratic families like Mahmud Pasha Angelović , forming what

21648-566: The region directly into the Ottoman Empire, ending Palaiologan rule in Greece. Demetrios surrendered to the Ottomans without a fight and Thomas escaped into exile. Demetrios lived in the Ottoman Empire for the rest of his life, dying in 1470. His only child, his daughter Helena, never married the sultan nor entered the sultan's harem , possibly because the sultan feared that she would poison him. She predeceased her father, dying in 1469. Thomas had four children; Helena , Zoe , Andreas and Manuel . Helena had already been married to Lazar Branković ,

21812-527: The sacrifice". Other popes elected in Viterbo were Gregory X (1271) and John XXI (1276) (who died in the papal palace when the ceiling of the recently built library collapsed on him while he slept), Nicholas III and the French Martin IV . The Viterbese, who did not agree with the election of a foreigner directed by the King of Naples , Charles I of Anjou , invaded the cathedral where the conclave

21976-565: The sand. Not far from the Bullicame, whose waters were apparently always taken in the open, is the Terme dei Papi ("Bath of the Popes"). Almost totally concealed within the structure of a modern luxury spa hotel are the remains of a Renaissance bath palace that attracted the attention of two popes. Actually, the origins of this bathing establishment date to the Middle Ages when it was known as

22140-520: The seat of Pope Alexander IV , who also died there. His successor Urban IV was elected in Viterbo. In 1266–1268, Clement IV chose Viterbo as the base of his ruthless fight against the Hohenstaufen . Here, from the loggia of the Papal Palace , he excommunicated the army of Conradin of Swabia which was passing on the Via Cassia , with the prophetical motto of the "lamb who is going to

22304-637: The service of Henry Clinton , the Earl of Lincoln , in England. Theodore lived in England for the rest of his life and fathered six children, whose fates were caught up in the English Civil War of 1642–1651. His son Ferdinand Paleologus , escaping the war, settled on the recently colonized island of Barbados in the Caribbean , where he became known as the "Greek prince from Cornwall" and owned

22468-439: The service of some noble. After not receiving any satisfactory offers, Manuel surprised the establishment in Rome by travelling to Constantinople in 1476 and presenting himself before Sultan Mehmed II. The sultan generously received him and Manuel stayed in Constantinople for the rest of his life. Andreas died poor in Rome in 1502. Whether he had any children is uncertain. It is possible that a Constantine Palaiologos , employed in

22632-575: The site of the next airport in Lazio to serve Rome. However, in 2013 those plans were abandoned. Viterbo is served by regional trains departing from Station Ostiense, Trastevere, S. Pietro and sometimes at Termini in Rome. Porta Romana is the station serving the old city center. The city is home to the Tuscia University , established in 1979. It is also the city where students of School Year Abroad 's Italy program study, their school housed in

22796-598: The size of the Roman provinces by doubling their number to reduce the power of the provincial governors. He grouped the provinces into several dioceses (Latin: diocesis) and put them under the supervision of the Imperial vicarius (vice, deputy), who was the head of the diocese. During the Crisis of the Third Century the importance of Rome declined because the city was far from the troubled frontiers. Diocletian and his colleagues usually resided in four Imperial seats. The Augusti, Diocletian and Maximian , who were responsible for

22960-499: The south Naples and the toe and heel of the peninsula. 42°00′00″N 12°30′00″E  /  42.0000°N 12.5000°E  / 42.0000; 12.5000 Viterbo Viterbo ( Italian: [viˈtɛrbo] ; Viterbese : Veterbe ; Medieval Latin : Viterbium ) is a city and comune (municipality) in the Lazio region of Italy , the capital of the province of Viterbo . It conquered and absorbed

23124-643: The southern foot of the Alps . Under Augustus, the peoples of today's Aosta Valley and of the western and northern Alps were subjugated (so the western border of Roman Italy was moved to the Varus river ), and the Italian eastern border was brought to the Arsia in Istria . Lastly, in the late 3rd century, Italy came to also include the islands of Sicily , Corsica and Sardinia , as well as Raetia and part of Pannonia . The city of Emona (modern Ljubljana , Slovenia)

23288-405: The support of a significant number of the aristocracy and a period of civil war , not ended until 1328, ensued. Although Andronikos III was ultimately victorious and Andronikos II was deposed, the empire was damaged economically and for the first time, foreign states such as Bulgaria and Serbia had appeared as significant regulating factors in imperial dynastic disputes (joining opposite sides of

23452-542: The throne of the Byzantine Empire , the Roman Empire's medieval continuation. In contrast to these ancient and prestigious origin stories, the Palaiologoi probably actually originated relatively late in Anatolia , possibly in the Anatolic Theme . The etymology of their family name was believed to be "ragman" by Soviet-American Byzantinist Alexander Kazhdan , possibly referencing humble origins, whereas

23616-436: The throne was also accepted by Murad II, who by now had to be consulted for any appointments. Constantine XI's reign would prove to be brief. Murad II's young son and successor, Mehmed II , who became sultan in 1451, was obsessed with the idea of conquering Constantinople. In an effort to extort money from Mehmed, Constantine implicitly threatened to release Orhan Çelebi, Mehmed's cousin and the only other known living member of

23780-571: The union, much to the dismay of their subjects. At the Council of Florence in 1439, Emperor John VIII reaffirmed the Union in the light of imminent Turkish attacks on what little remained of his empire. To the Byzantine citizens themselves, the Union of the Churches, which to John VIII served as an assurance of a great western crusade against the Ottomans, was a death warrant for their empire. John VIII had betrayed their faith and as such their entire imperial ideology and world view. The promised crusade ,

23944-468: The writings of the Greek scholar Leo Allatius , who wrote in 1648, too late for his works to be considered independent evidence. Allatius was the keeper of the Vatican Library and would have had access to its vast collection of books and records and might have deduced his findings from there. As such, it is possible that Allatius had access to earlier documents, now lost, which would have proven

24108-460: The younger son Constantine appear to have got on well with each other, but the relations between Constantine and the younger brothers Demetrios and Thomas were not as friendly. Through most of John VIII's reign, Constantine and Thomas ruled as Despots of the Morea, with Demetrios governing a stretch of land in Thrace. Demetrios was unhappy with his subordinate position and assaulted Constantinople in 1442, with Ottoman help, in an attempt to seize

24272-448: Was Michael Komnenos Doukas Angelos Palaiologos . Michael Palaiologos, born in 1223, was the son of Andronikos Palaiologos, megas domestikos in the Empire of Nicaea. Through the preceding century or so of Palaiologan marriages to other imperial families, his ancestry could be traced back to the three most recent dynasties that had ruled the empire before the Fourth Crusade (Doukas, Komnenos and Angelos). In his youth, Michael had served as

24436-425: Was "a continuator and heir" of the Palaiologan lineage, a phrase which makes little sense if Andreas was not Thomas's first-born son. During most of their tenure as Byzantine emperors, the Palaiologan dynasty was not well-liked by their subjects. Not only were the means the family had used to gain the throne grim, but their religious policy alienated many within the empire. The Palaiologan emperors aspired to reunite

24600-511: Was again at war against Rome. In the thirteenth century it was ruled alternately by the tyrants of the Gatti and Di Vico families. Frederick II drew Viterbo to the Ghibelline side in 1240, but when the citizens expelled his turbulent German troops in 1243 he returned and besieged the city, but in vain. From that point Viterbo was always a loyal Guelph city. Between 1257 and 1261 it was

24764-777: Was appointed as the megas konostaulos of the Latin mercenaries employed by the empire. After John III's death in 1254, Michael briefly took service with the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum , frequent enemies of the empire, and from 1256 to 1258 he was the commander of the Christian mercenaries fighting for the Seljuk Sultan Kaykaus II . John III's son and successor, Theodore II Laskaris , recalled Michael in 1258 and after they had exchanged guarantees of safety and oaths of loyalty, Michael returned to service within

24928-498: Was assassinated in 480 and may have been recognized by Odoacer. Italy remained under Odoacer and his Kingdom of Italy , and then under the Ostrogothic Kingdom . The Germanic successor states under Odoacer and Theodoric the Great continued to use the Roman administrative apparatus, as well as being nominal subjects of the Eastern emperor at Constantinople . In 535 Roman Emperor Justinian invaded Italy which suffered twenty years of disastrous war. In August 554, Justinian issued

25092-491: Was attacked by Attila 's Huns in 452. Rome was sacked in 455 again by the Vandals under the command of Genseric . According to Notitia Dignitatum , one of the very few surviving documents of Roman government updated to the 420s, Roman Italy was governed by a praetorian prefect , Prefectus praetorio Italiae (who also governed the Diocese of Africa and the Diocese of Pannonia ), one vicarius , and one comes rei militaris . The regions of Italy were governed at

25256-429: Was held, arresting two of the cardinals. They were subsequently excommunicated, and the popes avoided Viterbo for 86 years. Without the popes, the city fell into the hands of the Di Vicos . In the fourteenth century, Giovanni di Vico had created a seignory extending to Civitavecchia , Tarquinia , Bolsena , Orvieto , Todi , Narni and Amelia . His dominion was crushed by Cardinal Gil de Albornoz in 1354, sent by

25420-415: Was initially victorious, imprisoning and disinheriting Andronikos IV and appointing a younger son, Manuel II Palaiologos , as his successor instead. However, Andronikos eventually escaped from prison and successfully took the throne in 1376 with aid from Genoa , imprisoning his father and his younger brother. John V retook the throne in 1379 but reached an agreement with Andronikos in 1381, wherein Andronikos

25584-407: Was later changed to Sophia) was married to Duke Ivan III of Moscow . As the oldest son, Andreas was recognized by the Papacy as Thomas's heir and the rightful Despot of the Morea. From the 1480s onwards, Andreas also claimed the title Imperator Constantinopolitanus ('Emperor of Constantinople'). Some Byzantine refugees, such as historian George Sphrantzes , recognized Andreas as the rightful heir of

25748-415: Was not actually dead but merely asleep, awaiting a call from the heavens to return and restore Christian control over Constantinople. Beyond Constantine's martyrdom, the Palaiologos dynasty had a lasting impact on the Greeks throughout the centuries of Ottoman rule, having been the last family to govern independent Greek lands. As late as the 19th century, after the Greek War of Independence had resulted in

25912-439: Was not lifted until nine years into his reign, upon the appointment of Patriarch Joseph I . The blinding of John IV was a stain on the Palaiologan dynasty. In 1284, Michael's son and successor Andronikos II Palaiologos visited the blinded and then 33-year-old John IV during a journey in Anatolia, hoping to demonstrate his disapproval with his father's actions. The Palaiologoi ruled Byzantium at its weakest point in history, and

26076-417: Was not only deemed suitable for a stay and salutary for the sick but seemed an edifice destined to have rooms fit for princes and for living regally". A more precise description of Pope Nicholas' palace was described by the Viterbese chronicler Niccola della Tuccia in the 1470s, who stated the new Bagno del Papa as a battlemented building, resembling a fortress, about 30 x 20 m in size with high towers at

26240-410: Was privileged by Augustus and his heirs, with the construction, among other public structures, of a dense network of Roman roads . The Italian economy flourished: agriculture, handicraft and industry had noticeable growth, allowing the export of goods to the provinces. The Italian population may have grown as well: three censuses were ordered by Augustus, in his role as Roman censor , in order to record

26404-464: Was proclaimed as co-emperor at Nymphaion , probably without John IV being present. On 25 July 1261, Nicene forces under general Alexios Strategopoulos recaptured Constantinople from the Latin Empire , restoring the city to Byzantine rule after almost sixty years in foreign hands. After the recapture of the capital and the restoration of the Byzantine Empire, Michael took care to be crowned emperor in Hagia Sophia , as Byzantine emperors had been before

26568-426: Was the easternmost town of Italy. At the beginning of the Roman Imperial era, Italy was a collection of territories with different political statuses. Some cities, called municipia , had some independence from Rome, while others, the coloniae , were founded by the Romans themselves. Around 7 BC, Augustus divided Italy into eleven regiones , as reported by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia : Italy

26732-423: Was then given to Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua , by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V . The last female member, Margaret Paleologa , married to Federico II, died in 1566, rendering the Montferrat cadet branch extinct. Her and Federico II's descendants, with the Gonzaga name, ruled Montferrat until they were supplanted by the House of Savoy , which had also intermarried with the Palaeologus-Montferrat family in

26896-405: Was to succeed him as emperor, passing over Manuel. Andronikos died in 1385 and his son, John VII Palaiologos briefly managed to usurp the throne in 1390. Following this, Manuel II was firmly established as John V's successor, becoming senior emperor upon John's death in 1391. Though most of the Palaiologan era was defined by decline and war, it was also an age of cultural flourishing, beginning in

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