Daily Medieval

Some Byzantine rulers invaded lands far enough from Constantinople that it made sense to establish the territories as separate empires. One ...

In June of 1097, the First Crusade captured Nicaea, at that time under the control of the Seljuk Turks. An attempt at defense by Kilij Arsl...

When Emperor John II Comnenos chose his younger son Manuel over the older Isaac as his heir, some eyebrows were raised. One explanation offe...

As the eldest son of Emperor Alexios I Comnenos , John had the status of Porphyrogenitus , "born to the purple." He had an older a...

[I am on a brief vacation, so here is a post from the past. This post first appeared 2 December 2012.] When Anna Comnena was born in 10...