History Focus September 24

Pepin the Short
(0714-0778)

Father of Charlemagne.Pepin the short died on September 24, 0768.

Pepin the Short was the son of the Frankish ruler Charles Martel. He was king of the the Franks from 751 through 768. He was crowned by Pope Stephen II in 754. In 754 the pope was threatened by the Lombards of northern Italy. Pepin the Short led an army to defeat the Lombards. Pepin then ceded to the pope territory that included Ravenna and other cities. This grant, was called the Donation of Pepin, and laid the foundation for the Papal States.

Pepin the Short enlarged his own kingdom by capturing Aquitaine in southwestern France. At his death he was succeeded by his sons Carloman and Charlemagne as joint kings.

Sources: | On this Day| Microsoft(R) Encarta(R)

Manuel I Comnenus

(1120-1180)

Manuel I Comnenus was the Byzantine emperor from 1143 through 1180. Manuel tried unsuccessfully to restore Byzantine power in Italy. His good friend was the German king Conrad III. In 1146 he married a sister-in-law of king Conrad III. In 1147 Manuel I cooperated with Conrad III and the other leaders of the unsuccessful Second Crusade.

He formed an alliance with Venice to fight against Roger II of Sicily in 1147-1149. In 1155 he invaded the Sicilian Kingdom. He was defeated by Roger's successor, William I, and withdrew his army from the Sicilian Kingdom in 1158.

After the death of his friend Conrad III, he supported the north Italian cities and Pope Alexander III against Conrad's successor, Frederick I. In the 1160's his alliance with Venice began to deterioate. By 1171 he had revoked the trading privileges of Venetian merchants in the Byzantine Empire. He then confiscated all of their property. From 1174 to 1176 he was at war with Kilij Arslan II, the Seljuk sultan of Rum. Kilij Arslan II defeated him at Myriocephalon in 1176. Manuel I Comnenus died in 1180 and was succeeded by Alexius II Comnenus, his son by his second wife.

Sources: | Microsoft(R) Encarta(R)