text:
Latinized
Epirus
Thessaly
Thessalonica
Macedonia
western Thrace
John
Demetrios
scion
Byzantine
Komnenos
Doukas
Angelos
conquest
Constantinople
Fourth Crusade
Theodore I Laskaris
Empire of Nicaea
Michael I Komnenos Doukas
Michael II
Serbia
Kingdom of Thessalonica
Latin Emperor
Peter II of Courtenay
John III Doukas Vatatzes
Byzantine imperial throne
Bulgaria
Battle of Klokotnitsa
Manuel
Thrace
Albania
John II Asen
vassal
Irene
blinded
Despot
suzerainty
sebastokrator
John Doukas
Constantine Angelos
Alexios I Komnenos
Isaac II Angelos
Alexios III Angelos
Empire of Trebizond
Doukai
Komnenoi
disastrous reign
Angeloi
Palaiologos
Nikephoros Gregoras
Theodore Skoutariotes
George Akropolites
Fourth Crusade
captured
Constantinople
Theodore Laskaris
Asia Minor
Empire of Nicaea
Metropolitan of Corfu
George Bardanes
apologist
Karl Hopf
Antoine Bon
Argos
Leo Sgouros
Peloponnese
Raymond-Joseph Loenertz
Michael I Komnenos Doukas
independent Greek principality
Michael II Komnenos Doukas
Maria Petraliphaina
Kingdom of Thessalonica
Thessaly
Dyrrhachium
Corfu
Latin Empire
Philip Van Tricht
until 1217
Theodora of Arta
Byzantine Empire
Serbia
Albanian clans
Principality of Arbanon
Demetrios
magnate
Gregory Kamonas
Zeta
Stefan II Nemanjić
Bulgarians
Manuel Komnenos Doukas
Stefan Radoslav
Archbishop of Ohrid
Demetrios Chomatianos
consanguinity
Eudokia Angelina
Anna
Macedonia
Strez
Boril
Ohrid
Prilep
Pelagonia
Prosek
Strymon River
canonist
Michael Autoreianos
Patriarch of Constantinople
Naupaktos
John Apokaukos
Manuel I Sarantenos
autocephaly
Serbian Church
Rastko, renamed Sava
Alexius Slav
Melnik
Latin Emperor
Henry of Flanders
Boniface of Montferrat
Demetrius
malaria
Maria of Bulgaria
Pope Innocent III
Peter II of Courtenay
Philip II Augustus
Pope Honorius III
Rome
Brindisi
Yolanda of Flanders
Norman
William II of Sicily
Via Egnatia
Annales Ceccanenses
Richard of San Germano
Philippe Mouskes
Robert of Auxerre
Giovanni Colonna
Catholic Church
Fifth Crusade
Latin Bishop of Salona
William I of Sancerre
Ephraim
I. D. Romanos
Alain Ducellier
John Van Antwerp Fine
William VI of Montferrat
Principality of Achaea
Cardinal Pelagius
Romans
Doge of Venice
Andrew II of Hungary
Ancona
Baldwin II
Geoffrey II of Villehardouin
Maria of Courtenay
Constantine Komnenos Doukas
Aetolia
Acarnania
Duchy of Athens
Neopatras
Lamia
Platamon Castle
Thermaic Gulf
Serres
excommunicate
Adriatic
Frederick II
Robert of Courtenay
John III Doukas Vatatzes
Oberto II of Biandrate
Guy Pallavicini
Battle of Poimanenon
Halmyros
Metropolitan of Naupaktos
Germanus II
Metropolitan of Thessalonica
Constantine Mesopotamites
Arta
Lucien Stiernon
Apostolos D. Karpozilos
Eleni Bees-Seferli
Alkmini Stavridou-Zafraka
Despot
John Plytos
panhypersebastos
mesazon
doux
sebastos
megalodoxotatos
Tzakones
kastrophylax
basileus
autokrator
ancient see
Justiniana Prima
Constantine Kabasilas
John II Asen
Chalcidice
Mount Athos
Thrace
Christopolis
Xanthi
Gratianopolis
Mosynopolis
Didymoteicho
Adrianople
Evros River
protostrator
John Ises
John Kammytzes
Anseau de Cayeux
Bizye
Vrysis
Theodosian Walls
Cephallonia
Sixth Crusade
John of Brienne
Narjot of Toucy
Ainos
Battle of Klokotnitsa
Holy Forty Martyrs Church
Tarnovo
Duchy of Philippopolis
Rhodope Mountains
fait accompli
blinded
Irene
John Komnenos Doukas
Attaleia
Demetrias
Constantine Maliasenos
Farsala
Larissa
Vodena
Ostrovo
appanage
Kaliman
Mongol
invasion of Asia Minor
Demetrios Angelos Doukas
Michael Asen
chrysobull
Lentiana
Bithynia
Grand Domestic
Andronikos Palaiologos
Nikephoros
Theodora Petraliphaina
Pegae
Veles
Kastoria
John Glabas
Theodore Petraliphas
Kruja
Golem
Donald Nicol
Anna Angelina Komnene Doukaina
Stefan Radoslav
John Komnenos Doukas
Irene Komnene Doukaina
Demetrios Angelos Doukas

categories: Emperors of Thessalonica,Despots of Epirus,1180s births,13th-century rulers in Europe,13th-century Byzantine people,Byzantine people of the Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars,Eastern Orthodox monarchs,1253 deaths,Komnenodoukas dynasty

paragraph: Theodore Komnenos Doukas

paragraph: Theodore Komnenos Doukas (, "Theodōros Komnēnos Doukas", Latinized as Theodore Comnenus Ducas, died 1253) was ruler of Epirus and Thessaly from 1215 to 1230 and of Thessalonica and most of Macedonia and western Thrace from 1224 to 1230. He was also the power behind the rule of his sons John and Demetrios over Thessalonica in 1237–1246.

paragraph: Theodore was the scion of a distinguished Byzantine aristocratic family related to the imperial Komnenos, Doukas, and Angelos dynasties. Nevertheless, nothing is known about Theodore's life before the conquest of Constantinople and dissolution of the Byzantine Empire by the Fourth Crusade in 1204. Following the fall of Constantinople, he served Theodore I Laskaris, founder of the Empire of Nicaea, for a few years before being called to Epirus, where his bastard half-brother Michael I Komnenos Doukas had founded an independent principality. When Michael died in 1215, Theodore sidelined his brother's underage and illegitimate son Michael II and assumed the governance of the Epirote state. Theodore continued his brother's policy of territorial expansion. Allied with Serbia, he expanded into Macedonia, threatening the Latin Kingdom of Thessalonica. The capture of the Latin Emperor Peter II of Courtenay in 1217 opened the way to the gradual envelopment of Thessalonica, culminating in the city's fall in 1224.

paragraph: As ruler of Thessalonica, Theodore quickly declared himself emperor, challenging the Nicaean emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes's claims to the Byzantine imperial throne. In 1225, he advanced to the outskirts of Constantinople, but his final attack against the seat of the much-reduced Latin Empire was delayed until 1230. In that year, Theodore amassed an army to besiege Constantinople, but then diverted it against Bulgaria, an ambivalent ally which threatened his northern flank. Theodore was defeated and captured at the Battle of Klokotnitsa, and spent the next seven years in captivity. In the meantime, he was succeeded by his brother Manuel. Manuel quickly lost Thrace, most of Macedonia, and Albania to the Bulgarian Tsar John II Asen. Thessalonica itself became a Bulgarian vassal, while in Epirus proper power was seized by Michael II, returning from exile.

paragraph: Theodore was released in 1237 when his daughter Irene married John Asen, and quickly managed to regain control of Thessalonica, ousting Manuel. Having been blinded during his captivity and thus disqualified from occupying the throne again, he installed his eldest son John as emperor, but remained the "de facto" regent of the state. Manuel tried to regain Thessalonica with Nicaean support, but a negotiated settlement was reached which gave him Thessaly and left Thessalonica and its environs to Theodore and John. In 1241, John III Vatatzes invited Theodore to visit Nicaea. He was welcomed and treated with great honour, but was effectively detained there until the spring of next year, when Vatatzes marched on Thessalonica with Theodore in tow. Theodore was sent in to negotiate with his son and convince him to accept demotion to the rank of Despot and to recognize the suzerainty of Nicaea. John died in 1244 and was succeeded by Theodore's younger son Demetrios. In 1246, Vatatzes overthrew the unpopular Demetrios and annexed Thessalonica. Theodore influenced his nephew Michael II to launch an attack on Thessalonica in 1251, but in 1252, Vatatzes campaigned against them and forced Michael to come to terms. Theodore was taken prisoner and sent into exile in Nicaea, where he died around 1253.

paragraph: Section::::Early life and career.

paragraph: Born between 1180 and 1185, Theodore was a son of the "sebastokrator" John Doukas and of Zoe Doukaina. His paternal grandparents were Constantine Angelos and Theodora, a daughter of the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (). Theodore's uncle, Andronikos, was the father of the emperors Isaac II Angelos () and Alexios III Angelos (), who were Theodore's first cousins. As with most members of his family, he preferred to use the surname of "Doukas" or "Komnenos Doukas" (Κομνηνὸς ὁ Δούκας); contemporaries variously called him "Doukas", "Komnenos", or even "Grand Komnenos" (μέγας Κομνηνός), an appellation more usually found among the ruling family of the Empire of Trebizond. Theodore evidently preferred to be associated with the more successful dynasties of the Doukai and the Komnenoi, rather than the disastrous reign of the Angeloi; indeed the only medieval writers to call him "Angelos" were the later, hostile pro-Palaiologos historians Nikephoros Gregoras and Theodore Skoutariotes, while George Akropolites refers to him as "Komnenos" until his defeat at Klokotnitsa in 1230 and as "Angelos" after.

paragraph: Theodore's early life is obscure. After the Fourth Crusade captured Constantinople in 1204, he followed Theodore Laskaris to Asia Minor, where Laskaris founded the Empire of Nicaea. Theodore's service under Laskaris is relatively unknown except for a brief reference in a letter written by the Metropolitan of Corfu, George Bardanes, one of Theodore's apologists. Bardanes writes that Theodore "took many dangers for his sake and wrested many fortresses from the enemies and subdued them to Laskaris' rule", distinguishing himself through his valour and receiving many rewards from the Nicaean ruler. Some modern scholars, such as Karl Hopf and Antoine Bon, have identified a certain Theodore, who appears as "lord of Argos" and was the successor of Leo Sgouros in leading the resistance against the Crusaders in the northwestern Peloponnese after Sgouros' death in 1208, with Theodore Komnenos Doukas. This view has been questioned by Raymond-Joseph Loenertz, who argues that there is no evidence for such an assumption, and that conversely it is well established that Theodore was in Nicaean service at the time.

paragraph: Around 1210, Theodore was invited by his half-brother Michael I Komnenos Doukas to Epirus, where Michael had founded an independent Greek principality. Michael wanted Theodore's aid, as his only son, the future Michael II Komnenos Doukas, was underage and illegitimate, while Michael's other half-brothers were considered to lack the ability to rule. Laskaris allowed Theodore to leave, but bound him with an oath of allegiance to himself and his heirs. Before going to Epirus, Theodore had married Maria Petraliphaina, with whom he had four children.

paragraph: Section::::Ruler of Epirus.

paragraph: From 1210 on, Michael I Komnenos Doukas was engaged in territorial expansion, chiefly at the expense of the Latin Kingdom of Thessalonica to his east; after initial reverses, much of Thessaly was conquered. By 1214, Dyrrhachium and Corfu had been recovered from the Latins as well. The traditional view of historians is that these events marked Michael I's repudiation of the allegiance he had sworn to the Latin Empire, but historian Philip Van Tricht argues that both Michael and later Theodore remained, at least in theory, vassals of the Latin Empire until 1217. Michael was assassinated by a servant in late 1214 or in 1215. As Michael II was illegitimate and too young, Theodore had no trouble in sidelining the boy. According to the hagiography of St. Theodora of Arta, the boy and his mother spent the duration of Theodore's reign exiled in the Peloponnese.

paragraph: Section::::Ruler of Epirus.:Relations with Serbia and Nicaea.

paragraph: Theodore was capable and extremely ambitious. Notwithstanding his oath to Laskaris, he aspired not only to expand his state at the expense of Thessalonica, but to eventually recover Constantinople and revive the Byzantine Empire with himself as its ruler. To secure his northern flank, Theodore allied himself with Serbia and the Albanian clans. The Principality of Arbanon had already come in the Epirote political orbit under Michael I, and closer ties developed when its ruler, Demetrios, died in 1215, leaving his principality to his widow, who promptly remarried the next year to a Greek magnate, Gregory Kamonas. Against the Serbs, Theodore abandoned Michael I's attempt to pursue a northward expansion into Zeta, and instead pursued an alliance with the Serbian prince Stefan II Nemanjić () that was directed towards keeping the Bulgarians in check. The ties between Epirus and Serbia were solidified by the marriage of Theodore's brother Manuel Komnenos Doukas to one of Stefan II's sisters . Stefan II then sought to wed one of his sons—in all likelihood his eldest son and heir, Stefan Radoslav—to Michael I's second daughter Theodora. The Archbishop of Ohrid, Demetrios Chomatianos, refused to sanction the marriage due to consanguinity—Theodora was a second cousin of Stefan Radoslav's mother, Eudokia Angelina, a daughter of Alexios III Angelos. In 1217, Stefan II tried to circumvent this by suggesting himself as the groom to Theodora's half-sister Maria, but Chomatianos vetoed this proposal as well on similar grounds. Finally, Stefan Radoslav married Theodore's firstborn daughter Anna in winter 1219/20.

paragraph: With his position thus strengthened, Theodore expanded his territory into northern Macedonia, although it is possible that at least part of this region had already been captured by Michael I after the death of the local Bulgarian ruler Strez in 1214. It is unclear to what extent Theodore's expansion involved direct conflict with the Bulgarian Tsar Boril (), but by 1217 he held Ohrid, Prilep, and most of the plain of Pelagonia, at least up to Strez's old capital at Prosek, and likely beyond, approaching the Strymon River. As the Greek historian Konstantinos Varzos has noted, the capture of Ohrid, seat of the eponymous archbishopric, was particularly important for the standing of the Epirote state and Theodore's aspirations. Theodore sponsored the election of the distinguished canonist Chomatianos to the archiepiscopal throne in 1217, and Chomatianos would repay that support with his steadfast championing of Epirote claims to the Byzantine imperial inheritance vis-à-vis the rival claims of Nicaea.

paragraph: Following the Fourth Crusade, the Orthodox clergy in the two main Greek states, Epirus and Nicaea, had effectively become separated. In 1208, the Nicaeans had convened a synod and elected Michael Autoreianos as successor to the vacant see of the Patriarch of Constantinople. The election was uncanonical and therefore of questionable legitimacy. This in turn meant that Laskaris' imperial title was also open to challenge, as he had been crowned by the same Michael Autoreianos. Already under Michael I, two local synods of bishops had emerged in the Epirote domains to carry on administration of the Church, largely independent of the Patriarch, one at Naupaktos under John Apokaukos, and one at Ohrid under Chomatianos. The more ambitious Chomatianos soon became the pre-eminent "western" bishop, and sought to strengthen the "de facto" Epirote autonomy in ecclesiastical affairs, including the appointment of bishops for the local sees without the Patriarch's interference. This policy, which dovetailed with Theodore's own ambitions of independence from and rivalry towards Nicaea, brought the two branches of the Greek Church to an open quarrel, as the Nicaea-based patriarch Manuel I Sarantenos began appointing bishops of his own to Epirote sees, whom the Epirotes refused to accept. Despite his close ties to Epirus, Stefan II Nemanjić exploited the Epirote–Nicaean rivalry to his advantage to secure autocephaly for the Serbian Church, which traditionally had been under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Ohrid. Brushing aside Chomatianos' vehement objections, Stefan managed to have his brother Rastko, renamed Sava, consecrated by Manuel Sarantenos as autocephalous archbishop of Serbia in 1219. Theodore took care not to let the quarrels of the churchmen affect his cordial relations with the Serbian ruler.

paragraph: Theodore's drive into Macedonia disquieted another local strongman, Alexius Slav, ruler of Melnik. A sworn enemy of Boril, Alexius had been abandoned by his erstwhile ally, the Latin Emperor, Henry of Flanders (), who in 1213 allied himself with Bulgaria. Facing a possible attack by Theodore as well, Alexius now preferred to make common cause with him, and married a niece of Theodore's wife.

paragraph: Section::::Ruler of Epirus.:Capture of Peter of Courtenay.

paragraph: The Epirote successes in Macedonia worried the Latins, as they opened the way to another attack on Thessalonica. The Kingdom of Thessalonica had been much weakened after the death of its founder, Boniface of Montferrat, in 1207, since which it had been ruled by a regency for his underage son Demetrius (). Interrupting a campaign against the Nicaeans in Asia Minor, Henry of Flanders hastened to Thessalonica. He took up contact with Boril and was preparing to march against Theodore when he suddenly died on 11 June 1216, probably of malaria, although poisoning by his second wife Maria of Bulgaria has also been suggested. The death of the warlike Henry, followed by that of Pope Innocent III, the instigator of the Fourth Crusade, a month later, was a major stroke of good fortune for Theodore as it removed two of his most eminent and capable opponents.

paragraph: The barons of the Latin Empire then elected Peter II of Courtenay, a cousin of King Philip II Augustus of France, as the new Latin Emperor. Receiving news of his election, Peter assembled a small army of 160 knights and 5,500 foot and horse, and set out from France. After being crowned by Pope Honorius III in Rome, he set sail from Brindisi in April 1217. Peter landed at Dyrrhachium, which he had promised to conquer and return to Venice, while his wife Yolanda of Flanders sailed on to Constantinople. As in the Norman invasion of William II of Sicily () in 1185, Peter intended (after capturing Dyrrhachium) to follow the ancient Via Egnatia to Thessalonica, wresting Albania and Macedonia from Epirote control in the process.

paragraph: The commonly accepted version of events is that Dyrrhachium resisted with success, and as his casualties mounted Peter was forced to raise the siege and start his march towards Thessalonica. The march proved difficult, due to both the harsh terrain and the open hostility of the local population—the Western sources (the "Annales Ceccanenses", Richard of San Germano, Philippe Mouskes, and the continuator of Robert of Auxerre) also stress the loyalty of the local Albanian population to Theodore. After a few days, Theodore with his army confronted Peter. Theodore requested talks with the papal legate, Giovanni Colonna, whom he assured of his goodwill and support. Western sources claim that Theodore offered to recognize the primacy of the Catholic Church and the suzerainty of the Latin Empire—as well as to support Peter in his planned participation in the Fifth Crusade—and offered the Latins food and guides through the mountains. Peter was glad to receive this unexpected help, and an agreement between the two was concluded. As soon as the Latins let their guard down, Theodore fell upon them. Peter of Courtenay, Colonna, the Latin Bishop of Salona, Count William I of Sancerre, and many Latin nobles were taken captive, while Peter's army scattered into small roving bands trying to survive. Akropolites, the chronicler Ephraim, and some Western sources on the other hand claim that Dyrrhachium was captured, and are followed by some modern scholars, including the Greek I. D. Romanos and the French Alain Ducellier. According to this view, Theodore offered to acknowledge Peter's suzerainty after the city's fall, only to treacherously ambush and defeat him. As the historian John Van Antwerp Fine remarks, "it is not important which version is correct"; the outcome was the same, and if lost, Dyrrhachium was quickly retaken after Peter's capture.

paragraph: According to Philip Van Tricht, Theodore's actions were motivated by several factors, which led him to regard Peter as a threat to himself and his principality. Peter's attempt to return Dyrrhachium to Venice, even if it had failed for the moment, boded ill for the future. Peter's recognition of the rights of Demetrius' half-brother William VI of Montferrat over Thessalonica opened the way for William to take power there, and Theodore was loath to see Thessalonica—whose rulers still claimed suzerainty over Epirus—strengthened, particularly given the presence of his exiled nephew Michael II in the court of the Latin Principality of Achaea. At the same time, Theodore and his court resented the increased papal interference in Greek affairs, especially in the aftermath of the mission of Cardinal Pelagius, the previous papal legate to Constantinople, whose actions had deepened the rift between Greeks and Latins further.

paragraph: Section::::Ruler of Epirus.:Wars with the Latins and the capture of Thessalonica.

paragraph: Whatever the true course of events, Theodore's unexpected victory echoed throughout the Greek world, and greatly enhanced his standing; even the usually hostile Akropolites was forced to admit in his history that this feat was "of great help to the Romans". Conversely it dismayed Pope Honorius, who sent letters to the Latin princes of Greece as well as the Doge of Venice and Peter of Courtenay's son-in-law King Andrew II of Hungary (), urging them to engage themselves to secure the release of Peter and Colonna. He even wrote to Andrew and the French bishops to call for a crusade against Theodore, with which he also threatened Theodore in a letter. With the first contingents for the crusade assembling at Ancona in late 1217, and the Venetians eager to profit from the crusade to recover Dyrrhachium, the pressure bore fruit: in March 1218, Colonna was released, with Theodore offering his apologies and assurances of loyalty to the Pope. Honorius then changed his policy to the point of forbidding the Doge of Venice to harm Theodore in the slightest, hoping thereby to secure the release of more prisoners. Although some of the lesser barons were freed, Peter and many of the most senior lords remained in captivity until their death. It is unknown when Peter of Courtenay died, but this was probably before September 1219.

paragraph: The capture of Peter of Courtenay left both major Latin states in northern Greece, Thessalonica and Constantinople, in the hands of female regents. Before arriving in Constantinople, where she gave birth to Peter's posthumous son, Baldwin II (), Yolanda had stopped at the Peloponnese. There she quickly came to appreciate the wealth and strength of the Principality of Achaea, and arranged the marriage of her daughter Agnes to the principality's heir, Geoffrey II of Villehardouin (). A politically astute ruler, Yolanda also secured her eastern border by offering her daughter Maria of Courtenay in marriage to Theodore Laskaris, who had just been widowed for the second time.

paragraph: Before launching his final stroke against Thessalonica, Theodore also took care to secure his southern flank, by appointing his brother Constantine Komnenos Doukas as governor in Aetolia and Acarnania. An energetic governor, Constantine not only effectively shielded the Epirote domains from the threat of the Duchy of Athens, but soon recovered Neopatras and Lamia as well. Theodore himself turned his attention to clearing Thessaly of any remaining Latin presence, culminating in the surrender of the great Platamon Castle in 1218. Over the next few years, one by one, Theodore captured the fortresses around Thessalonica itself. Platamon controlled the entrance to the Thermaic Gulf, and with the surrender of Serres in late 1221, Theodore cut the land connection between Constantinople and Thessalonica as well. Thessalonica was left thereby, in the words of John Fine, "more or less an island in the midst of Theodore's possessions".

paragraph: As the fall of Thessalonica appeared imminent, Pope Honorius excommunicated Theodore, ordered an embargo on horses, troops, and supplies from the Adriatic ports, and sent letters to Constantinople urging assistance to Demetrius. Demetrius himself went to Italy to seek aid, being received by the Pope in Rome in March 1222 and by Emperor Frederick II () soon after. A crusade was proclaimed against Theodore, and troops began to gather in Italy. In the meantime, the Latin Empire, now under Robert of Courtenay (), was once more embroiled in warfare with Nicaea as it supported Laskaris' brothers in their challenge against the new Nicaean emperor, John III Doukas Vatatzes (). The first detachments of the assembling crusade, under Count Oberto II of Biandrate, arrived at Thessalonica in summer 1222 and joined the "de facto" regent, Guy Pallavicini. Theodore now hastened his move against Thessalonica. After preliminary operations in late 1222, in early 1223 he laid siege to the city. Honorius excommunicated him again, and redoubled his effort to promote the crusade, which had come to a standstill in the meantime. At the Pope's urging, Venice and Emperor Frederick promised aid. Robert of Courtenay also pledged to assist, while Honorius called upon the Latin princes of southern Greece to join in the effort. The crusade finally assembled at Brindisi in March 1224. In his instructions to his legate, however, Honorius did not rule out the possibility of Theodore coming to terms with the Crusaders. True to his word, in April 1224 Robert of Courtenay sent an army to besiege Serres. During the siege, the Latin generals learned of the disastrous defeat of the main Latin army at the hands of John III Doukas Vatatzes at the Battle of Poimanenon. They lifted the siege and hastened back to Constantinople, only to be intercepted by Theodore's men; most of the Latin army were killed or taken prisoner.

paragraph: This double disaster destroyed the Pope's plans for the crusade, as he had envisaged it to land in Theodore's rear while he was engaged with Robert's army. At the same time, the prospective leader of the crusade, William VI of Montferrat, fell ill. In November, the Pope was forced to postpone the crusade's departure for the next spring. With news of the Latin defeats and the postponement of the crusade, the exhausted defenders of Thessalonica surrendered the city to Theodore sometime in December 1224. The crusade to relieve it sailed in March 1225, and landed in Thessaly at Halmyros. The Crusader army was soon decimated by dysentery, allegedly because the Greeks had poisoned the local water supply. William of Montferrat himself succumbed to it, and the remnants of the army left Greece. Demetrius of Montferrat still hoped to recover his realm with the help of Frederick II, but died in 1227.

paragraph: Section::::Emperor of Thessalonica.

paragraph: The capture of Thessalonica, traditionally the second city of the Byzantine Empire after Constantinople, was a major stroke against the Latins and greatly boosted Theodore's standing, so much that he now regarded himself as superior to Vatatzes, and openly claimed the Byzantine imperial title by putting on the purple boots reserved to the emperor. Indeed, one of his major supporters, the eminent Metropolitan of Naupaktos, John Apokaukos, in a letter to the Patriarch in 1222 declared that the Epirotes already regarded Theodore as their "God-sent regent and emperor", and later wrote to Theodore's wife expressing the hope that he might be able to assist at their imperial coronation at Thessalonica.

paragraph: Section::::Emperor of Thessalonica.:Coronation controversy with Nicaea.

paragraph: According to Byzantine custom, the coronation of an emperor could only take place in Constantinople and be performed by the Patriarch; yet Constantinople was still in Latin hands, and the Patriarch (now Germanus II, 1223–40) resided in Nicaea. Theodore thus turned to the Metropolitan of Thessalonica, Constantine Mesopotamites, whom he had just restored to his see after removing the Latin prelate. Mesopotamites however recognized the Patriarch at Nicaea as legitimate, and steadfastly refused to perform the rite, despite pressure from Theodore, his brother Constantine, and John Apokaukos. Rather than submit, he preferred to return to exile. In response, in March 1225 Theodore convened a council of the bishops of his domains at Arta, chaired by Apokaukos. The council approved a declaration, composed by Apokaukos, which extolled Theodore's achievements against the Latins and Bulgarians, his liberation of Greek lands, eviction of Catholic priests and restoration of Orthodox bishops, and his imperial descent, and declared that the council recognized only him as emperor. Armed with this declaration, Theodore had the loyal Archbishop of Ohrid, Demetrios Chomatianos, perform the coronation instead.

paragraph: Although Theodore appears to have assumed, and was addressed by, the imperial title almost immediately after the capture of Thessalonica, the date of his actual coronation is unknown. The French scholar Lucien Stiernon places it in the period between June 1227 and April 1228, but the Greek Apostolos D. Karpozilos rejects this, reasoning that Theodore had no obvious reason to delay his coronation for so long, and suggested that he was crowned in 1225, immediately after the council of Arta. Eleni Bees-Seferli on the other hand, based on the letters of Apokaukos, suggests a date between 3 April and August 1227, while Alkmini Stavridou-Zafraka has narrowed the date down to 29 May 1227.

paragraph: As befitted a Byzantine emperor, Theodore began setting up a court at his new capital, and dispensed the usual court titles to his relatives and followers. Not much is known about the men that staffed Theodore's regime; most of the available information comes from the writings of Chomatianos. Theodore's brothers Manuel and Constantine were raised to the rank of Despot, the long-serving John Plytos became "panhypersebastos" and "mesazon" (chief minister), and a number of scions of old Byzantine aristocratic families, who had sought refuge in Epirus, were appointed as provincial governors alongside members of the local aristocracy. The title of "doux" was used, but unlike earlier times these were mostly civilian governors with little military authority. Theodore awarded titles with such largesse that formerly exclusive titles such as "sebastos" or "megalodoxotatos" were devalued and came to be held by city notables. His Nicaean rivals, notably Akropolites, mocked him for the haphazard way in which the titles were used and awarded, ignoring the old customs of Constantinople, as if he were "a Bulgarian or rather a barbarian". To secure his new capital, Theodore instituted a guard of "Tzakones" under a "kastrophylax".

paragraph: John Vatatzes initially reacted to Theodore's proclamation as emperor by offering to recognize him as a sort of viceroy in his lands, but Theodore rejected this and publicly assumed the full titulature of the Byzantine emperors, as ""basileus" and "autokrator" of the Romans". Theodore's coronation deepened the rift between the western Greeks and Nicaea, which once again was expressed in the ecclesiastic sphere. At first, the Nicaeans tried to limit the blame to Chomatianos: though writing respectfully of Theodore himself, Patriarch Germanus II expressed his indignation at the presumption of Chomatianos in usurping the patriarchal privilege of crowning an emperor, while Chomatianos claimed that, as the successor of the ancient see of Justiniana Prima, he was an independent prelate and had the authority to do so.

paragraph: In 1227, a synod of Epirote bishops in Arta tried to find a compromise, acknowledging the overall authority of the Patriarch at Nicaea but requesting administrative autonomy, i.e. the right for Theodore to appoint bishops in his domains. They gave the Patriarch three months to reply, and suggested that if he did not heed their proposals, they might be forced to recognize the supremacy of the Pope instead. Germanus replied by having the patriarchal synod condemn Theodore's assumption of the imperial title. The conflict escalated when Germanus appointed his own candidate to the vacant see of Dyrrhachium. Theodore expelled the bishop, and the Epirote synod instead elected a friend of Chomatianos, Constantine Kabasilas, as the bishop. Germanus now attacked Theodore directly. In response, George Bardanes composed a letter to Germanus, which insisted on Epirote ecclesiastical autonomy and challenged the very legality of Germanus' claims to the patriarchate. The result was a full schism between the Nicaean and Epirote churches that lasted until 1232/3.

paragraph: Section::::Emperor of Thessalonica.:Expansion into Thrace.

paragraph: Following Theodore's coronation, there were four rulers who claimed the imperial title and vied for control of Constantinople: Theodore, the Latin Emperor, Robert of Courtenay, John III Doukas Vatatzes of Nicaea, and the young but ambitious John II Asen () of Bulgaria. The Latin Empire was a shadow of its former strength: following Poimanenon, the Latins had lost most of their territories in Asia, while in Europe, it was soon reduced to the environs of Constantinople itself. Already in 1224, or at least in 1225, Theodore captured Chalcidice with Mount Athos, and in spring 1225, he advanced through eastern Macedonia and western Thrace, seizing Christopolis, Xanthi, Gratianopolis, Mosynopolis and Didymoteicho. In an attempt to pre-empt him and block his advance onto Constantinople, the Nicaeans had answered the summons of the inhabitants of Adrianople and taken over the city from the Latins. Theodore however crossed the Evros River and blockaded the city, until it agreed to surrender. The Nicaean army, under the "protostrator" John Ises and John Kammytzes, was allowed to withdraw unmolested to Asia with ships provided by Theodore.

paragraph: The capture of Adrianople opened the path to Constantinople for Theodore. In order to secure his northern flank, he concluded an alliance with John Asen, sealed by the (second) marriage of his brother Manuel to Maria, an illegitimate daughter of Asen. At the same time, the Latins turned to Nicaea and concluded a peace treaty in exchange for further territorial concessions. This pact too was sealed by a marriage, of Theodore Laskaris' daughter Eudokia to the Latin baron Anseau de Cayeux. In the same summer of 1225, Theodore led his army to the environs of Constantinople, reaching the towns of Bizye and Vrysis. Anseau de Cayeux, leading the Latin army, was heavily wounded in the clashes, but Constantinople itself was not attacked. Not only was Theodore unprepared for a siege against the mighty Theodosian Walls, but news of William of Montferrat's landing at Thessaly forced him to break off operations and return west.

paragraph: For reasons that are unknown, Theodore did not renew his attack on Constantinople in 1226 or the years thereafter. Instead, he seems to have occupied himself with domestic affairs, as well as taking care to improve relations with Frederick II during the latter's stop-over at Corfu and Cephallonia to lead the Sixth Crusade in 1228. In 1229, he even sent a company of Greek troops to serve under Frederick in Italy. At the same time, Theodore presided over a rupture in relations with Venice, after his governor in Corfu sequestered the cargo of a shipwrecked Venetian ship. Theodore issued an edict on 19 August 1228 prohibiting Venetian merchants from practising commerce in his realm. In January of the same year, Robert of Courtenay died, leaving the throne of the Latin Empire to his eleven-year-old brother, Baldwin II. With a regency taking over the governance of the state, the Latin Empire stood further enfeebled. At this moment, John Asen offered an alliance. Baldwin II would marry his daughter Helena, while John Asen would take over the regency and lend his assistance at repelling Theodore's attacks. The Latin barons viewed the offer with mistrust, as it would offer John Asen every opportunity to take over Constantinople himself; instead, they strung out negotiations, and eventually chose the 80-year-old but energetic John of Brienne () as regent. Although the Bulgarian offer failed, it served to open a rift between Theodore and his nominal ally. In a move clearly directed against John Asen, in September 1228, Theodore agreed to a one-year truce with the Latin Empire's regent, Narjot of Toucy, with the border between the two empires running along a line from Ainos to Vrysis.

paragraph: Section::::Klokotnitsa and Bulgarian captivity.

paragraph: Finally, in late 1229, Theodore began assembling his forces at Thessalonica—including a contingent of troops sent by Frederick II—for the projected final attack on Constantinople. As his troops marched east in spring 1230, he unexpectedly turned his army north and followed the Evros valley into Bulgaria. Theodore's motives for this sudden change are debated. Contemporary and later historians like Akropolites denounced this as a sign of Theodore's duplicity and treachery. A more likely suggestion is that Theodore, hitherto undefeated in battle, desired to check Bulgarian power and avoid the possibility of the Bulgarians striking in his rear while he was engaged in besieging Constantinople. Although caught by surprise, John Asen reacted rapidly. Allegedly affixing the text of the broken treaty to one of his spears as a flag, he rallied his troops and met Theodore in battle in April 1230. The ensuing Battle of Klokotnitsa was a crushing victory for the Bulgarian ruler, who took Theodore and many of his officers captive.

paragraph: In the aftermath of Klokotnitsa, Bulgaria emerged as the mightiest power in the Balkans. Deprived of its energetic ruler, Theodore's empire collapsed: within a few months Thrace, most of Macedonia, and Albania, fell under Bulgarian rule. As John Asen boasted in an inscription in the Holy Forty Martyrs Church at his capital of Tarnovo, he "occupied all the land from Adrianople to Dyrrhachium, Greek, Serbian, and Albanian alike", although Dyrrhachium itself apparently remained in Greek hands. The Latin Duchy of Philippopolis was also annexed, and Alexius Slav's principality in the Rhodope Mountains was extinguished in the process, with Alexius spending the rest of his life at Asen's court.

paragraph: Theodore's brother Manuel, who managed to escape from Klokotnitsa, now took over the throne in Thessalonica. His domain was reduced to the environs of the city and his family's core territories in Epirus and Thessaly, as well as Dyrrhachium and Corfu, while his brother Constantine in Aetolia and Acarnania recognized his suzerainty. As a son-in-law of John Asen, Manuel was allowed to maintain internal autonomy, but to all intents and purposes he was a client of the Bulgarian Tsar. At about the same time, Michael I's bastard son Michael II returned from exile and quickly succeeded, apparently with the support of the local population, in taking over control of Epirus. Manuel was forced to recognize the "fait accompli" under the pretense that Michael recognized his suzerainty, in token of which Manuel conferred him the title of Despot. In reality Michael was fully independent, and very quickly ceased to acknowledge Manuel's suzerainty; by 1236, he had seized Corfu. In order to preserve some freedom of manoeuvre and counter Asen's attempts to subordinate the Epirote Church to the Bulgarian Church of Tarnovo, Manuel turned to his brother's erstwhile rivals in Nicaea and brought an end to the ecclesiastical schism by acknowledging the legitimacy and superiority of the Nicaea-based Patriarch.

paragraph: Theodore himself remained in captivity at Tarnovo for seven years. Initially he was treated with honour, but at some point during his captivity he was accused of plotting against John Asen and blinded as a result. This was the customary Byzantine punishment for treason and means of sidelining potential political rivals. According to a contemporary letter written in Hebrew, Asen initially ordered two Jews to carry out the deed, for Theodore had been persecuting the Jews in his territory and confiscating their wealth to fund his campaigns. Theodore begged to be spared, and they refused to carry out the blinding, whereupon the enraged Tsar had them thrown from a cliff. Finally, in 1237 Theodore was released when Asen, recently widowed, fell in love with Theodore's sole unmarried daughter, Irene. Immediately after the marriage, Theodore was released and allowed to depart Tarnovo to wherever he wished.

paragraph: Section::::Return to Thessalonica and final years.:Recovery of Thessalonica.

paragraph: As soon as he was set free, Theodore returned to Thessalonica. Lacking any escort or followers, he disguised himself as a beggar in order to enter the city in secret. There he contacted old supporters and favourites, and organized a conspiracy that soon ousted Manuel and took over the city. As Byzantine custom barred him from re-assuming the imperial office due to his blinding, Theodore installed his son John Komnenos Doukas () as emperor (without a coronation ceremony), but remained the real ruler of the empire in his son's name. John himself appears to have been mostly interested in religion, and more inclined to enter a monastery than to become emperor. Theodore had to persuade him that being named emperor was a God-given gift, and that he was indeed the rightful Emperor of the Romans due to his imperial descent.

paragraph: The deposed Manuel was sent to exile at Attaleia in Asia Minor, while his wife Maria was allowed to return to her father. Despite Theodore's actions and the overthrow of his daughter and son-in-law, Akropolites reports that John Asen remained favourably disposed towards Theodore due to his passionate love for Irene. Manuel did not remain quiescent in exile; determined to avenge himself, from Attaleia he secured passage through Turkish lands to Nicaea. There John Vatatzes welcomed him and agreed to support him, but not before he secured from Manuel oaths of loyalty to himself. Thus in early 1239 Manuel with six Nicaean ships set sail for Greece, landing near Demetrias in Thessaly. He received widespread support in the province, perhaps even from the local governor, Michael I's son-in-law Constantine Maliasenos, allowing him to raise an army and in a short time occupy Farsala, Larissa, and Platamon. Faced with the option of open civil war, Manuel and Theodore eventually came to terms by dividing the territories of Thessalonica among themselves. Manuel renounced his allegiance to Vatatzes and received Thessaly, John and Theodore kept Thessalonica and the remaining parts of Macedonia as far west as Vodena and Ostrovo, and Constantine was confirmed in his appanage of Aetolia and Acarnania. To further secure their position, both Theodore and Michael concluded treaties with the powerful Prince of Achaea, Geoffrey II of Villehardouin.

paragraph: Section::::Return to Thessalonica and final years.:Submission of Thessalonica to Nicaea.

paragraph: Michael II in Epirus was not part of the brothers' agreement, and continued to pursue his own policies independently of his uncles. In 1241, when Manuel died, Michael moved quickly to occupy Thessaly. In June of the same year, John Asen died, leaving the throne to his seven-year-old son Kaliman (). Coupled with the increasingly deteriorating situation of the Latin Empire, this development left John Vatatzes of Nicaea as the pre-eminent ruler of the region, and the obvious candidate for the capture of Constantinople.

paragraph: Before undertaking any moves against Constantinople, Vatatzes realized the need to settle affairs with Thessalonica, and in particular with Theodore, whose ambition, capability, and machinations he feared. In 1240 or 1241 he therefore issued an invitation, with assurances of safe-conduct, to Theodore to visit Nicaea. Theodore accepted, and was treated with great honours by Vatatzes, who deferred to him as his "uncle" and dined with him at the same table. In reality, Theodore was a prisoner in Nicaea; he was not allowed to leave, and throughout his sojourn in the Nicaean court, preparations were in full swing for a campaign against Thessalonica. In spring 1242, Vatatzes crossed over into Europe at the head of his army, with Theodore accompanying him as an honorary prisoner. Facing no resistance, the Nicaean army and fleet arrived before Thessalonica. The city's garrison and inhabitants resisted with success and the Nicaean army, lacking heavy siege equipment, had to settle for a drawn-out blockade. Soon, however, news arrived of a Mongol invasion of Asia Minor, which forced Vatatzes to break off the campaign and return to Nicaea. Nevertheless, the Nicaean emperor kept this news a secret, and sent Theodore to his son to negotiate. John himself reportedly was willing to surrender the city outright, but his father convinced him to hold out for better terms. In the end, after 40 days of negotiations, John was allowed to keep control of Thessalonica, but renounced his imperial title and accepted Nicaean suzerainty and the title of Despot. Theodore was also allowed to remain at Thessalonica at his son's side.

paragraph: John ruled as Despot in Thessalonica for two years, until his death in 1244. Theodore himself retired to Vodena, from where he supervised the affairs of state. On John's death he raised his younger son Demetrios Angelos Doukas () in his place, and sent an embassy to Nicaea to announce the succession, as befitted the terms of vassalage agreed in 1242. If John was a religious ascetic, Demetrios was a dissolute youngster who enjoyed partying with his favourites and seducing married women. Although Theodore remained in charge of governance, Demetrios quickly became so unpopular that many leading citizens began viewing direct Nicaean rule with favour.

paragraph: Things came to a head in autumn 1246, when Kaliman of Bulgaria died, leaving the country in the hands of a regency for his younger brother Michael Asen (). Vatatzes quickly attacked Bulgaria, and within three months captured most of Thrace and all of eastern and northern Macedonia, while Michael II of Epirus also took advantage of the opportunity to expand into Albania and northwestern Macedonia. At the close of this campaign in November, as Vatatzes was encamped at Melnik, he was informed of a conspiracy to depose Demetrios and deliver Thessalonica to him in exchange for a chrysobull guaranteeing the traditional rights and privileges of the city. Vatatzes readily granted this, and sent envoys to Demetrios calling for him to appear in person at his camp. Demetrios, suspicious of Vatatzes' intentions, refused, and the Nicaeans marched on Thessalonica. After a few days, the conspirators opened one of the gates to the Nicaean army, and the city was quickly captured. Demetrios was captured and exiled to Lentiana in Bithynia, while Thessalonica and all of Macedonia were placed under the governance of the Grand Domestic Andronikos Palaiologos. Theodore himself, isolated and without power in his refuge at Vodena, apparently remained uninvolved in these events.

paragraph: Section::::Return to Thessalonica and final years.:Final throw of the dice and death.

paragraph: With Thessalonica secured, Vatatzes turned to Epirus, offering Michael II a marriage alliance between Michael's eldest son Nikephoros and his own granddaughter Maria. The offer was enthusiastically accepted by Michael's wife, Theodora Petraliphaina (a niece of Theodore's own wife), and the young couple were engaged at Pegae. Michael, who had not abandoned his family's ambitions, remained ambivalent about the Nicaean alliance, and Theodore used his influence over his nephew to turn him against it. Thus, in spring 1251, Michael launched a sudden attack on Thessalonica. The city resisted successfully, and in spring of the next year Vatatzes once more crossed into Europe to campaign against the Komnenoi Doukai. Theodore with Michael had turned to the north, capturing Prilep and Veles, and when they received news of Vatatzes' arrival, they withdrew to Epirus via Kastoria. Vatatzes besieged and captured Theodore's stronghold of Vodena, but soon became bogged down in skirmishing in the area of Kastoria. The stalemate was broken when two Epirote generals, John Glabas and Theodore Petraliphas, defected to the Nicaeans, followed shortly after by the ruler of Kruja, Golem. This forced Michael to come to terms with Vatatzes, ceding the fortresses he had captured as well as his remaining holdings in Macedonia, and reconfirming the marriage alliance with Nicaea. Furthermore, Vatatzes explicitly demanded the handing over of Theodore. The Epirote ambassadors met Vatatzes at Vodena, where they offered Theodore and the young Nikephoros as hostages. The latter was granted the title of Despot and soon allowed to return to Epirus, but Theodore was moved as a prisoner to Asia Minor. He died shortly after, around 1253.

paragraph: Section::::Assessment.

paragraph: The modern biographer of the Komnenoi, Konstantinos Varzos, described Theodore as an "energetic, resourceful, and exceedingly ambitious statesman, who inherited from his ancestor Alexios I Komnenos his endurance and persistence, but not the latter's intelligence, diplomacy, and ability to adapt". Varzos furthermore points out that despite his great ability, Theodore's ambition to be the one to recover Constantinople and his irreconcilable rivalry with Nicaea actually hampered and delayed the restoration of the Byzantine Empire by several decades.

paragraph: Theodore's legacy left a lasting mark on the political worldview of the western Greeks: Byzantinist Donald Nicol remarks that "the memory of Theodore Doukas's victories and of his title to the Byzantine crown lived on in northern Greece and in the hearts of his descendants for many years to come". Michael II continued his uncle's rivalry with Nicaea, further delaying the recovery of Constantinople, and even after the restoration of the Byzantine Empire by Nicaea in 1261, the rulers of Epirus would continue to challenge the revived empire and uphold their own claim to the Byzantine throne.

paragraph: Section::::Family.

paragraph: By his wife Maria Petraliphaina, Theodore had four children:

paragraph: BULLET::::1. Anna Angelina Komnene Doukaina, who married King Stefan Radoslav of Serbia

paragraph: BULLET::::2. John Komnenos Doukas, who became Emperor of Thessalonica in 1237

paragraph: BULLET::::3. Irene Komnene Doukaina, who married John Asen

paragraph: BULLET::::4. Demetrios Angelos Doukas, who succeeded as ruler of Thessalonica in 1244

description: Byzantine Emperor

wikidata_label: Theodore Komnenos Doukas

wikipedia_title: Theodore Komnenos Doukas


text: Lieutenant Junior Grade

text: Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service

text: Imperial Navy

text: China

text: Zero

text: Zuikaku

text: Battle of the Coral Sea

text: Rabaul, New Britain

text: Truk Atoll

text: Carolines

text: Philippines

text: kamikaze

text: Hiroyoshi Nishizawa

text: Indian

text: Pacific Ocean

text: Sapporo

text: Hokkaidō

text: Japan

text: Shimane Prefecture

text: Ryūjō

text: Kōkūtai

text: Nanchang

text: Kyūshū

text: Japan

text: Nanjing

text: China

text: Type 96 land-based attack aircraft

text: flak

text: Type 96 carrier fighters

text: Order of the Golden Kite

text: Order of the Rising Sun, Green Paulownia Leaves Medal

text: Douglas MacArthur's

text: blacklisted

text: cat's-paw

text: Masuda

text: enteritis

text: appendicitis

text: sepsis

categories: Japanese naval aviators,1955 deaths,Infectious disease deaths in Japan,Deaths from sepsis,1916 births,Japanese World War II flying aces

paragraph: Tetsuzō Iwamoto

paragraph: Lieutenant Junior Grade was one of the top scoring aces among Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) fighter pilots. He entered the Imperial Navy in 1934 and completed pilot training in December 1936. His first combat occurred over China in early 1938. He emerged as the top ace of the Imperial Japan during WWII, credited with at least 87 aerial victories including 14 victories in China. Subsequently, he flew Zeros from the aircraft carrier "Zuikaku" from December 1941 to May 1942, including at the Battle of the Coral Sea.

paragraph: In late 1943, Iwamoto's air group was sent to Rabaul, New Britain, resulting in three months of air combat against Allied air raids.

paragraph: Subsequent assignments were Truk Atoll in the Carolines and the Philippines, being commissioned an ensign in October 1944. Following the evacuation of the Philippines, Iwamoto served in home defense and trained kamikaze pilots.

paragraph: As a result of the Japanese use of the British naval practices, the IJNAS scoring system was based on the system the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force (RAF) adopted from World War I until World War II. This system differed from the scoring system used by some other nations during World War II. Research by academics surnamed Izawa and Hata in 1971 estimated his score at about 80 or more than 87. In December 1993 Izawa wrote that Iwamoto was "virtually" the top ace of the IJNAS.

paragraph: As of mid-1944, there remained only two IJNAS fighter pilots who were credited with over 100 victories. Depending on various totals cited, Tetsuzō Iwamoto or Hiroyoshi Nishizawa was Japan's top ace. Iwamoto was known as the Chūtai leader (Flying Company, squadron of 8 to 16 fighters). Iwamoto was one of few survivors of the IJNAS from the early part of the Second World War. He fought over the Indian and the Pacific Ocean from north to south, and trained young pilots even in the last months of the war. Like many Japanese veterans, Iwamoto was reported to have fallen into depression after the war. His diary was found after his death, with claims of 202 Allied aircraft destroyed.

paragraph: Section::::Early life.

paragraph: Tetsuzo was the third son of the Iwamoto family. He was born on a border town, southern part of Karafuto 15 June 1916, later grew up in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan. He enjoyed skiing in his elementary school days. When he lived in Sapporo, his father was a chief police officer.

paragraph: When he was 13, his father retired and Tetsuzo moved with his family to his father's hometown, Masuda, Shimane Prefecture. He studied at the Prefectural Masuda Agricultural and Forestry High School. His favorite school subjects were mathematics and geometry; in these subjects, he always scored "A"s on his school report.

paragraph: He was an active and nimble boy. He joined a school club brass band as a trumpeter. Another hobby was growing plants and flowers. He helped local fishermen in the fishing season, going out to the sandy beach early in the morning and driving fish into the nets. He talked down to his teachers sometimes in discussions, which was very impolite for a school student in pre-war Japan. He was regarded as the most opinionated student in his school.

paragraph: Section::::Starting military career.

paragraph: Iwamoto started his military career in 1934 after he graduated the school at 18. Following the advice from his parents to study while young, Tetsuzo left for a large city where he was supposed to take a college entrance examination. He, however, secretly applied for and passed the examination for acceptance as an Imperial Japanese naval airman 4th class, and was promoted to 3rd class 5 months later. His parents were very disappointed, for they became reliant upon Tetsuzo rather than his eldest brother, who was already studying at some university in a large city and would not return to Masuda.

paragraph: In 1936, when he was a naval mechanic 2nd class and a crewman on the light aircraft carrier Ryūjō, he studied hard and passed the difficult IJNAS exam, taken by thousands of applicants. He was enrolled in the class 34th Soju-Renshusei ("Soren" means "flight trainee program") for naval petty officers and sailors. He graduated as one of the select 26 young aviators of the class 34th Soju-Renshusei (flight trainee program) in December of that year.

paragraph: On April 4, 1936, he was sent to Kasumigaura-Ku (Kasumigaura FR(AG)) as a probationer in the class 34th Sojyu-Renshusei (flight trainee program), then on April 28, formally joined Kasumigaura-Ku. While his training going on November 1, 1936, he was promoted to naval mechanic 1st class. Finally on December 26, he graduated 34th class of Sojyu-Renshusei, was promoted to airman 1st class (old rank name of pre-war Japan, equivalent to senior airman). During flight training school at the Tomobe branch of Kasumigaura-Ku (Kasumigaura FR(AG)), his fighter course instructor was the well-known Chitoshi Isozaki.

paragraph: In December 1936. Iwamoto entered Saeki "Kōkūtai" (a "Kōkūtai" was a Naval Air Group, whether being based at land or on board a carrier) for 6 months of advanced training (termed "extended education"), finished and next entered Omura "Kōkūtai" on July 16, 1937. He had hard training there every day from senior pilots including Air Petty Officer 1st class Toshio Kuroiwa (rank grade was at that time), who was the IJNAS legendary dogfight master pilot. Tetsuzo Iwamoto (called "Tetsu" in short from his senior pilots) had to wait for his debut until February 10, 1938.

paragraph: Section::::China front.

paragraph: Tetsuzo's ability as a fighter pilot was recognized by all on his first air mission with the 13th Flying Group on February 25, 1938, over Nanchang, China.

paragraph: After combat training, on February 10, 1938, Tetsuzō Iwamoto was led by his leader APO 1/C Toshio Kuroiwa, flying for two and a quarter hours over the China Sea from Omura Airbase at Kyūshū Japan to the airfield outside of Nanjing China.

paragraph: His squadron on the Chinese frontline was the 13th Flying Group Fighter Squadron. This Flying Group was highly regarded and was famed as the "Nango Fighter Squadron", named after its former squadron leader, Mochifumi Nango, who had showed considerable courage and conspicuous leadership.

paragraph: Iwamoto's first combat came on February 25, 1938, over Nanchang. His squadron's fighters escorted bombers Type 96 land-based attack aircraft. Chinese fighters attacked, and the squadron's leader Lieutenant Takuma was lost on this mission.

paragraph: Iwamoto described his first combat in his notes. During the escort mission, his squadron was intercepted by sixteen I-15s and I-16s at an altitude of 5000 meters. Iwamoto claimed 4 victories (1 probable) in the combat. He secured his first victory by firing when within 50m of the enemy fighter. He first saw white smoke, then the enemy burned up and crashed. He was then at an altitude of 4000 m. When he looked back, there was an enemy fighter just behind him. He instantly made a Split S maneuver and narrowly escaped.

paragraph: He got his second victory against an I-15. He saw it below him, turned and attacked from its 6 o'clock high. When it was hit, it climbed sharply and went spinning downward out of control and crashed into the ground. He kept his altitude of 4,000 m. He got an I-16 at the top of its roll in his gunsight and fired a burst, its engine burning and out of control; Tetsuzo lost sight of it before it crashed, and he reported this as probable. Another I-15 came down to him from 12 o'clock ahead. Both made a climb and were soon in a dogfight. The I-15 tried to break free of him and made a straight dive. That action made it easier for Tetsuzo to aim. He downed this I-15 on farmland near the airfield. He was flying at an altitude of 2000 m.

paragraph: Above him, many enemy fighters were maneuvering. He found one of them coming down with landing gear down. He chased it to an altitude of 200 m and fired a burst. The I-16 was surprised and made a split S maneuver, but crashed at a corner of the airfield. This was his 4th victory.

paragraph: Anti-aircraft guns started firing heavily, and he found himself in an intense barrage of flak. Rushing to escape at full throttle with a number of enemy fighters behind him, he succeeded in returning safely from the battlefield. His leader Kuroiwa had already returned to the Wuhu airfield, Anhui China, waiting for his return. Kuroiwa scolded Tetsu severely for the rash attacks he made on the day.

paragraph: The 13th Flying Group Fighter Squadron was merged with the 12th Fighter Squadron on March 22, 1938, where Type 96 carrier fighters for 1st Chutai had landing gear painted in red and were called "Red legs squadron" while 2nd Chutai had gear painted in blue and were called "Blue legs squadron".

paragraph: Iwamoto was awarded the citation of flying group Cmdr Tsukahara for his extreme courage and conspicuous gallantry in action above and beyond the call of duty as a fighter pilot against intense Chinese air force on April 29, 1938. He made 82 sorties and 14 victories credited in the China front. Tetsuzō Iwamoto became the top IJNAS ace. His activities subsequently earned him "Order of the Golden Kite – 5th class" recommendation in 1940.

paragraph: In September 1938, 22-year-old Iwamoto was ordered back to Japan, where he became a member of the Saiki Air Group and appointed to a training staff.

paragraph: Section::::His flight log.

paragraph: Only experienced fighter pilots in the IJNAS could execute instrument flight with their single-seat fighter aircraft on combat missions; few IJNAS officer pilots could fly on instruments.

paragraph: Section::::Tactics.

paragraph: Single to single dogfight tactic – from losing to winning

paragraph: Formation tactics –

paragraph: No.3 Aerial Bomb attack tactic –

paragraph: Section::::Aerial victories claimed in his diary.

paragraph: BULLET::::- F4F victories – 7 (Coral Sea, 8 May 1942; Rabaul, late 1943 – 10AM 19 February 1944 the escort fighters of Martin flying boat)

paragraph: BULLET::::- P-38 victories – 4 (Rabaul, late 1943 – 1944)

paragraph: BULLET::::- F4U victories – 48; unconfirmed 1 (Rabaul, late 1943 – February 1944; Mobara-airbase outskirts of Tokyo, Japan, February 16, 1945; Operation Kikusui (Imperial Chrysanthemum on the Water – divine wind), Okinawa, March 10 – June 24, 1945). This is more than 1 in 4 of all F4U air-to-air losses during the Second World War.

paragraph: BULLET::::- P-39 victories – 2 (Rabaul, late 1943)

paragraph: BULLET::::- P-40 victory – 1 (Rabaul, late 1943)

paragraph: BULLET::::- F6F victories – 29 (Rabaul, late 1943 - Feb. 1944; Truk 28–29 April 1944; Operation Kikusui, Okinawa, March 10 – June 15, 1945)

paragraph: BULLET::::- P-47 victory – 1 (Rabaul, late 1943 - 1944)

paragraph: BULLET::::- P-51 victory – 1 (Rabaul, AM 19 February 1944, the Allied 2nd air-raid of the day, recognized as the latest-style escort fighters)

paragraph: BULLET::::- British "Spitfire" (= Hurricane) – 4; burned on the ground 2 (Indian Ocean, 9 April 1942)

paragraph: BULLET::::- SBD victories – 48; unconfirmed 7 (Coral Sea, 8 May 1942; Rabaul, late 1943 – February 1944; Truk 28, 29 April 1944; Battle off Formosa, 12 October 1944)

paragraph: BULLET::::- SBD w/No.3 Aerial Bomb victories – 30 (Rabaul, late 1943 – 1944)

paragraph: BULLET::::- TBF victories – 5; unconfirmed 19 (Rabaul, late 1943 – 1110 19 February 1944, the Allied 6th and the 3rd final air-raid of the day to Rabaul)

paragraph: BULLET::::- SB2C victories – 5 (Rabaul, late 1943 – 1944)

paragraph: BULLET::::- B-25 victories – 8 (Rabaul, late 1943 0900 19 February 1944, the Allied 4th air-raid of the day)

paragraph: BULLET::::- B-26 victories – 2 (Rabaul, late 1943 - 1944)

paragraph: BULLET::::- B-24 victories – 6; w/No. 3 Aerial Bomb victories (SH) 24, damaged 2 (Truk, 6 March – June 1944, confirmed by ground members)

paragraph: BULLET::::- B-29 victory – 1 (Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan, April 1945)

paragraph: BULLET::::- PBY5A flying boat victory – (SH) 1 (Indian Sea, April 5, 1942)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Martin Mariner flying boat victory – (SH) 1 (Rabaul, 10AM 19 February 1944, interlude between Allied air-raids of the day, escorted by 12 F4Fs)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Strafed Destroyers – 3 (Rapopo Rabaul, Night February 5, 1944)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Strafed Landing Craft – some hundreds (Kerama islands, Okinawa, night March 26, 1945)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Strafed Airfields – Lae, Eastern New Guinea, January 23, 1942; Torokina, Bougainville, Solomons, night 1944)

paragraph: Section::::Promotions.

paragraph: "from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia"

paragraph: BULLET::::- Sailor Fourth Class (Seaman Recruit) – June 1, 1934

paragraph: BULLET::::- Sailor Third Class (Seaman) – November 15, 1934

paragraph: BULLET::::- Sailor Second Class (Able Seaman) – November 2, 1935

paragraph: BULLET::::- Sailor First Class (Leading Seaman) – December 26, 1935

paragraph: BULLET::::- Petty Officer Third Class – May 1, 1938

paragraph: BULLET::::- Petty Officer Second Class (Petty Officer) – November 1, 1939

paragraph: BULLET::::- Petty Officer First Class (Chief Petty Officer) – May 1, 1941

paragraph: BULLET::::- Chief Petty Officer (regrading of Petty Officer First Class) – November 1, 1942

paragraph: BULLET::::- Commissioned an Ensign – November 1, 1944

paragraph: BULLET::::- Promoted to Sub-Lieutenant upon retirement – September 5, 1945

paragraph: Section::::Promotions.:Awards.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Order of the Golden Kite, Fifth Class – August 1, 1942

paragraph: BULLET::::- Order of the Rising Sun, Green Paulownia Leaves Medal – Seventh Class – August 1, 1942

paragraph: Section::::Post-war life.

paragraph: The Allied Occupation Forces searched for war criminals in the Japanese Officer Corps. Iwamoto was summoned twice for questioning to Douglas MacArthur's Allied GHQ office in Tokyo. Although he managed to avoid being declared a war criminal, he was nevertheless blacklisted from public sector employment. Managers of nongovernmental businesses and local factories in his hometown also did not dare to employ him, in order to comply with the wishes of the new Allied GHQ. In general, anyone who had been an officer in the IJA or IJN was disliked by the Allied Occupation Forces.

paragraph: Japanese journalists who had promoted Japanese militarism campaign during the war started a radio program of anti-militarism postwar called "Shin-Jitsu wa Kō Da" ("The Truth Is This"). The program considered people such as Iwamoto the cat's-paws of militarism.

paragraph: Iwamoto struggled to survive until the San Francisco Peace Conference was held, after which, in the spring of 1952, the Allied Occupation Forces finally left Japan.

paragraph: In 1952, Iwamoto finally obtained employment at the Masuda spinning mill of Daiwa Bōseki (since renamed to "Daiwabō" Co., Ltd, 大和紡績 ).

paragraph: In the summer of 1953, Iwamoto developed a stomach ache. A surgeon examined him and diagnosed enteritis. It was found later to be appendicitis. After a series of operations, he complained of a backache. Doctors decided to operate on him again. For reasons which are not entirely clear, the surgical team decided to remove three or four ribs without anesthesia. This led to sepsis.

paragraph: Iwamoto died on 20 May 1955, at the age of just 38 years old. His wife recalled his final words: "When I get well, I want to fly again."

paragraph: Section::::Movie.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Nippon Eiga-sha, Feb.16, 1944, "Nippon News No.194 Solomon no Gekisen Nankai-Kessenjo (means, Southern Ocean Battle Fields of Solomon)"

paragraph: BULLET::::- Nippon Eiga-sha, Feb.2, 1944, "Nippon News No.192 Rabaul (means, Fortress Rabaul)"

alias:
Tetsuzou Iwamoto
Tetsuzo Iwamoto

description: Japanese flying ace

wikidata_label: Tetsuzō Iwamoto

wikipedia_title: Tetsuzō Iwamoto


text:
Greek
Athenian
black figure
François Vase
Ergotimos
Gordion cup
Gordion
François vase
Naukratis
Vari
John Beazley
Painter of Acropolis 606
Black-figure vase painting
Klitias in the Beazley-Archive

categories: 6th-century BC Athenians,6th-century BC deaths,Ancient Greek vase painters,Year of birth unknown

paragraph: Kleitias

paragraph: Kleitias (Greek: Κλειτίας, sometimes rendered as Klitias) was an ancient Athenian vase painter of the black figure style who flourished c. 570–560 BCE. Kleitias' most celebrated work today is the François Vase (c. 570 BCE), which bears over two hundred figures in its six friezes. Painted inscriptions on four pots and one ceramic stand name Kleitias as their painter and Ergotimos as their potter, showing the craftsmen's close collaboration. A variety of other fragments have been attributed to him on a stylistic basis.

paragraph: Section::::Signed works.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Berlin, Antikensammlung V. I. 4604: Gordion cup from Gordion

paragraph: BULLET::::- Florence, Museo Archeologico 4209 ("François vase" also known as "Klitias krater"): Volute krater

paragraph: BULLET::::- London, British Museum 1948.8-15.1 u. 2; 88.6-1.215, 424, 427 + Cambridge N 206: Fragments of a cup from Naukratis

paragraph: BULLET::::- London, British Museum 88.6-1.237, 324, 426; 1948.8-15.3 u. 4: Fragments of a cup from Naukratis

paragraph: BULLET::::- New York, Metropolitan Museum 31.11.4: Stand from Vari

paragraph: Section::::Bibliography.

paragraph: BULLET::::- John Beazley: "Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters", Oxford 1956, p. 76-78.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Bettina Kreuzer: "Klitias", in: Künstlerlexikon der Antike Vol 1, 2001, p. 419-420.

paragraph: Section::::See also.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Painter of Acropolis 606

paragraph: BULLET::::- Black-figure vase painting

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Klitias in the Beazley-Archive

description: Ancient Greek vase painter

wikidata_label: Kleitias

wikipedia_title: Kleitias


text: fashion designer

text: Milan

text: lace

text: Swarovski

text: pearl

text: embroidery

text: Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture

text: Project Runway: Middle East

text: Kate Middleton

text: Royal Ascot

text: Beirut

text: Maronite Catholic

text: models

text: Paris

text: atelier

text: embroidery

text: National Chamber of Italian Fashion

text: ready-to-wear

text: Princess Stéphanie of Monaco

text: emerald

text: diamond

text: Oscar

text: Halle Berry

text: Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture

text: haute couture

text: ready-to-wear

text: Tina Knowles

text: House of Deréon

text: Giorgio Armani

text: Versace

text: The Beyoncé Experience

text: Madame Tussauds

text: Kate Winslet

text: 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards

text: Kate Middleton

text: Royal Ascot

text: Prince William

text: Lebanese American University

text: London College of Fashion

text: bachelor’s degree

text: Doha

text: Hong Kong

text: Moscow

text: New York City

text: Mexico

text: Project Runway: Middle East

text: Mayfair

text: Manhattan

text: Queen Rania of Jordan

text: Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden

text: Princess Madeleine of Sweden

text: Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece

text: Queen Rania of Jordan

text: married in a civil ceremony

text: Princess Claire of Luxembourg

text: Brigitte Macron

text: Halle Berry

text: burgundy gown by Saab

text: 2002 Academy Awards

text: Best Actress

text: Debenhams

text: The Daily Telegraph

text: Cosmopolitan

text: Sandra Bullock

text: 85th Academy Awards

text: Ocean's 8

text: Rose Leslie

text: Game of Thrones

text: Nicole Kidman

text: Eva Green

text: Yulia Alipova

text: Nicki Minaj

text: Beyoncé

text: Aishwarya Rai

text: Anna Kendrick

text: Christina Aguilera

text: Catherine Zeta-Jones

text: Angelina Jolie

text: Celine Dion

text: Elena Anaya

text: Elsa Zylberstein

text: Heidi Klum

text: Karlie Kloss

text: Helen Mirren

text: Emilia Clarke

text: Priyanka Chopra

text: Sonam Kapoor

text: Kendall Jenner

text: Taylor Swift

text: taffeta

text: organza

text: satin

text: Lebanon

text: Gal Gadot

text: National Board of Review

text: Project Runway: Middle East

categories: 1964 births,Lebanese Christians,Lebanese fashion designers,Lebanese businesspeople in fashion,People from Geneva,Wedding dress designers,Living people,People from Beirut

paragraph: Elie Saab

paragraph: Elie Saab (Arabic: إيلي صعب) (born 4 July 1964) is a Lebanese fashion designer. His main workshop is in Lebanon, with additional workshops in Milan and Paris. He started his business in the early 1980s and specialized in bridal couture (expensive fabrics, lace, gemstones, Swarovski crystals, pearls, detailed embroidery, etc.).

paragraph: He is the first Arab to be admitted to the fashion industry’s governing body, Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.

paragraph: Saab appeared as a judge on "Project Runway: Middle East" in 2016. As of March 2017, his couture collections are available in Paris, London, and Beirut, while his ready-to-wear clothes were in 160 retailers and his own boutiques.

paragraph: Kate Middleton wore a Saab gown to Royal Ascot in 2019, marking the first occasion where Saab has dressed a royal.

paragraph: Section::::Early life.

paragraph: Elie Saab is the eldest son of a wood merchant who raised five children in Damour, a southern coastal Beirut suburb. Born to Maronite Catholic parents in Beirut, Saab began sewing as a child. At the age of eight, his attention had turned to fashion. With his sisters serving as models, he would cut patterns out of newspaper and search his mother's closet for materials.

paragraph: Section::::Career.

paragraph: Section::::Career.:Early years in fashion.

paragraph: In 1981, Saab moved to Paris to study fashion. He later dropped out to return to Beirut and open his fashion label. In 1982, when he was 18 years old, he worked with a team of 15 employees. At first his atelier specialized in bridal couture, making wedding dresses and gowns using expensive fabrics, lace, detailed embroidery, pearls, crystals and silk threads. In Beirut his reputation grew from dressing women in his neighborhood, and was soon enhanced by high society women sporting his designs.

paragraph: In 1997, Saab was the first non-Italian designer to become a member of the National Chamber of Italian Fashion, and in 1997 he showed his first collection outside Lebanon in Rome.

paragraph: In 1998, he started his ready-to-wear line in Milan, as well as an accessories line. Later that year Elie Saab signed a contract with Beauté Prestige International for fragrance and cosmetics. During the same year, Saab held a fashion show in Monaco, with Princess Stéphanie of Monaco in attendance.

paragraph: In 1999, one of his dresses thickly embroidered with emeralds and diamonds was reportedly sold for $2.4 million.

paragraph: Section::::Career.:Exposure internationally.

paragraph: Saab became more well known in the United States after he became the first Lebanese designer to dress an Oscar winner, Halle Berry, in 2002. In May 2003, the "Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture" invited him to become a member, and he showed his first "haute couture" collection in Paris in July 2003.

paragraph: In 2003, he teamed up with Pronovias to create a bridal line, Elie by Elie Saab. (Pronovias is a business headquartered in Barcelona that creates wedding and cocktail wear and dresses for sale.)

paragraph: The Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture inducted him as a "membre correspondant" in 2006. His first ready-to-wear collection in Paris was the Spring-Summer 2006 collection.

paragraph: Saab, Tina Knowles, House of Deréon, Giorgio Armani, Versace, and Herve Leger served as the designers for the outfits of the 2007 The Beyoncé Experience tour. In 2010, Saab dressed 102 celebrities for events overall, up from 40 in 2009. The figure for 2011, up until March, was 88. In 2011, Madame Tussauds unveiled a wax statue of Kate Winslet draped in the Elie Saab dress she wore at 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2011, Elie Saab launched his first fragrance "Le Parfum".

paragraph: Kate Middleton wore an Elie Saab gown while attending the 2019 Royal Ascot with her husband, Prince William. This was the first time one of Saab's gowns was worn by a royal.

paragraph: Section::::Career.:Recent dresses and collaborations.

paragraph: In 2012, he worked with the Lebanese American University and London College of Fashion to launch a bachelor’s degree in fashion design. As of 2013, the brand had boutiques located in Beirut, Dubai, Doha, Paris, London, Geneva, Hong Kong, Moscow, New York City, and Mexico, with 100 retail outlets total. Saab's son, Elie Saab Jr, became brand director in 2013.

paragraph: Saab appeared as a judge on "Project Runway: Middle East" in 2016. Between 2015 and 2017, the Elie Saab company opened a second Paris boutique and a new location in London's Mayfair, and in Manhattan. The Manhattan store that opened in October 2016 was his first in the country. As of March 2017, his couture collections are available in Paris, London, and Beirut, while his ready-to-wear clothes were in 160 retailers and his own boutiques. Also that month, the Elie Saab company opened a new Madison Avenue store.

paragraph: Section::::Career.:Elie Saab X Emaar.

paragraph: The Lebanese fashion designer and the real estate development company Emaar reveal luxurious Elie Saab at Emaar Beachfront property in Dubai.The luxurious gated island property, Grand Bleu Tower at Emaar Beachfront, will include one ,two and three-bedroom apartments as well as four-bedroom penthouses with interiors by Elie Saab. The residential tower boasts views of the Arabian Sea, The Palm and Dubai Marina.

paragraph: Section::::Notable clients and projects.

paragraph: He has been worn by Queen Rania of Jordan, Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, Princess Madeleine of Sweden, Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece and Stéphanie, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. In 1999, Queen Rania of Jordan wore Elie Saab for her enthronement. Countess Stéphanie and the Hereditary Grand Duke married in a civil ceremony married in 2012, where the bride wore a dress designed by Elie Saab. Princess Claire of Luxembourg also wore an Saab-designed dress on her wedding. First Lady of France Brigitte Macron wore an Elie Saab outfit of military coat and skinny trousers during a state visit to China.

paragraph: Halle Berry wore a burgundy gown by Saab to the 2002 Academy Awards when she won for Best Actress. In a poll by Debenhams published in "The Daily Telegraph" the dress was voted the 8th greatest red carpet gown of all time. "Cosmopolitan" magazine cited the dress as one of the Best Oscar dresses of all time. Berry later wore another dress by Saab to the 2003 Oscars.

paragraph: Sandra Bullock wore Elie Saab at the 85th Academy Awards in 2013 and at the world premiere of the movie "Ocean's 8" in New York.

paragraph: In 2018, Rose Leslie wore a floral embroidered Elie Saab wedding dress when she wed her "Game of Thrones" co-star Kit Harington.

paragraph: Other notable clients of Saab's work have included Nicole Kidman, Eva Green, Yulia Alipova, Nicki Minaj, Beyoncé, Aishwarya Rai, Anna Kendrick, Christina Aguilera, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Angelina Jolie, Celine Dion, Elena Anaya, Elsa Zylberstein, Heidi Klum, Karlie Kloss, Helen Mirren, Emilia Clarke, Priyanka Chopra, Sonam Kapoor, Kendall Jenner and Taylor Swift.

paragraph: Section::::Style.

paragraph: Elie Saab's style is a unique fusion of western and eastern culture. He uses noble materials such as taffeta, organza, and satin paired with more fluid and light fabrics.

paragraph: Section::::Personal life.

paragraph: Saab and his wife Claudine live with their family in Lebanon, and together have three sons. The family also have property in Geneva and France.

paragraph: Section::::Controversies.

paragraph: In January 2018, Saab received backlash on social media after his label's Instagram account posted a picture of Israeli actor and former Israel Defense Forces combat trainer Gal Gadot wearing one of his dresses to the National Board of Review awards with the caption "A flawless Gal Gadot in Elie Saab Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2018 at the national board of review annual gala in New York". The post was later deleted.

paragraph: Section::::Filmography.

paragraph: BULLET::::- 2016: "Project Runway: Middle East" - judge

description: Lebanese fashion designer

wikidata_label: Elie Saab

wikipedia_title: Elie Saab


text: hydraulic

text: internal combustion engine

text: Eugenio Barsanti

text: Lucca

text: Florence

text: Belgium

text: Belgium

text: hydrometer

text: rain gauge

text: internal combustion engine

text: Nikolaus August Otto

text: Barsanti-Matteucci engine

text: Capannori

text: Lucca

text: Archive of Museo Galileo

categories: Hydraulic engineers,People from Lucca,Italian engineers,1808 births,Italian inventors,1887 deaths

paragraph: Felice Matteucci

paragraph: Felice Matteucci (February 12, 1808 – September 13, 1887) was an Italian hydraulic engineer who co-invented an internal combustion engine with Eugenio Barsanti. Their patent request was granted in London on June 12, 1854, and published in London's Morning Journal under the title "Specification of Eugene Barsanti and Felix Matteucci, Obtaining Motive Power by the Explosion of Gases", as documented by the Fondazione Barsanti e Matteucci.

paragraph: Born in Lucca, Tuscany, Matteucci studied hydraulic and mechanical engineering, first in Paris, then in Florence. In 1851 he met Father Barsanti and appreciated his ideas for a new type of engine. They worked together to turn the primary concept into a manufacturable item, eventually developing a model suitable for mass production. Its construction was entrusted to Bauer & Co. of Milan, a company also known as Helvetica, which delivered the motor at the beginning of 1863.

paragraph: The success of the engine, which was much more efficient that the steam-engine, was so great that orders started pouring in from as far away as Constantinople. Matteucci and Barsanti reached an agreement for the production of the motor with a company in Belgium, and Barsanti departed for Belgium on February 18, 1864 to oversee the work personally. On the following April 19, Barsanti died suddenly, and all their work came to an end.

paragraph: Matteucci returned to his previous work as a hydraulic engineer. He studied new hydrometers (to measure the level of a river), rain gauges, and hydraulic operations over rivers.

paragraph: In 1877, Matteucci defended that he and Barsanti were the originators of the invention of the internal combustion engine. The patent registered by Nikolaus August Otto was indeed very similar to the Barsanti-Matteucci engine. This frustration contributed to Matteucci's illness that eventually caused his death, in his own home in Capannori, near Lucca. The documents concerning the priority of Barsanti and Matteucci’s engine and their patents in England, Piedmont, France, Belgium and Prussia are kept in the archive of the library of the Museo Galileo in Florence.

paragraph: Section::::See also.

paragraph: BULLET::::- History of the internal combustion engine

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Archive of Museo Galileo

description: Italian engineer

wikidata_label: Felice Matteucci

wikipedia_title: Felice Matteucci


text:
Grand Prix
motorcycle
road racing
world champion
Modena
Emilia Romagna
1984
MBA
1986
125cc World Championship
Garelli
Giacomo Agostini
Yamaha
1986
1991
Honda
250cc World Championship
Erv Kanemoto
Honda NSR250
1992
1993
Wayne Rainey's
Kenny Roberts
Yamaha
Mick Doohan
1994
1996
NSR500
1997
WCM
Red Bull
1998
Jean-Michel Bayle
MuZ
1999
Kenny Roberts
Modenas

categories: Italian motorcycle racers,1963 births,500cc World Championship riders,250cc World Championship riders,125cc World Championship riders,Living people,People from Modena

paragraph: Luca Cadalora

paragraph: Luca Cadalora (born 17 May 1963) is an Italian former Grand Prix motorcycle road racing world champion.

paragraph: Section::::Racing career.

paragraph: Born in Modena, Emilia Romagna, Cadalora began his professional motorcycle racing career in 1984, riding an MBA in the 125cc world championship. In 1986, he won the 125cc World Championship while riding for the Garelli factory racing team. His success earned him a promotion to the 250cc class with Giacomo Agostini's Marlboro Yamaha factory racing team in 1986. In 1991, Cadalora switched to the Rothmans Honda factory racing team and won the 250cc World Championship aboard an Erv Kanemoto-tuned Honda NSR250. He successfully defended his title with Honda in 1992, claiming his third world championship.

paragraph: In 1993 he rose to the premier 500cc division as Wayne Rainey's teammate in the Kenny Roberts-Yamaha team. In three seasons on the Roberts Yamaha, he displayed flashes of brilliance, finishing as high as second to Mick Doohan in 1994. Cadalora rejoined Kanemoto for the 1996 season racing a Honda NSR500. Despite lacking any major sponsors, he still managed to finish the season in third place aboard the Kanemoto-Honda.

paragraph: For the 1997 season, he got a contract as official Yamaha rider in the new Promotor Racing team backed by an Austrian businessman. However, after few races the team failed due to financial problems. WCM rescued the team with the help of a Red Bull sponsorship and Cadalora ended the season in sixth place. At the beginning of the 1998 season, WCM and Cadalora lost Yamaha official support. He returned to the Rainey-Yamaha works team for a few races to replace an injured Jean-Michel Bayle, then helped develop the new MuZ race bike. In 1999 he was again with MuZ. Cadalora finished his career with Kenny Roberts' Modenas team in 2000.

paragraph: He retired with 34 Grand Prix victories in three different classes.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: BR

description: motorcycle racer

wikidata_label: Luca Cadalora

wikipedia_title: Luca Cadalora


categories: People from Reykjavík,20th-century sculptors,Icelandic sculptors,1923 births,1989 deaths

paragraph: Ragnar Kjartansson (sculptor)

description: Icelandic sculptor (1923-1988)

wikidata_label: Ragnar Kjartansson

wikipedia_title: Ragnar Kjartansson (sculptor)


text:
Portuguese
João Gonçalves Zarco
Bartolomeu Perestrelo
archipelago of Madeira
Henry the Navigator
conquest of Ceuta
Porto Santo
Captain-major

categories: 1395 births,History of Madeira,Portuguese navigators,Portuguese nobility,Portuguese explorers,15th-century explorers,Maritime history of Portugal,1480 deaths

paragraph: Tristão Vaz Teixeira

paragraph: Tristão Vaz Teixeira (c. 1395–1480) was a Portuguese navigator and explorer who, together with João Gonçalves Zarco and Bartolomeu Perestrelo, was the official discoverer and one of the first settlers of the archipelago of Madeira (1419–1420).

paragraph: Section::::Biography.

paragraph: He was born Tristão Vaz, adding the name Teixeira after his marriage with Branca Teixeira.

paragraph: Tristão was a nobleman of Prince Henry the Navigator's House, taking part in the conquest of Ceuta. Around 1418, while exploring the coast of Africa, he and João Gonçalves Zarco were taken off course by bad weather, and came upon an island which they called Porto Santo (Holy Harbor). Shortly after, they were ordered by Prince Henry to settle the island, together with Bartolomeu Perestrelo. Following a rabbit outbreak that made it difficult to grow crops, they moved to the nearby island of Madeira. It proved to be hospitable and cultivable, so Prince Henry sent for more settlers to colonize the island. The governance of Madeira was divided between Zarco and Tristão, who were appointed Captain-majors ("capitães-donatários") of Funchal and Machico, respectively. Tristão was officially designated to the post in May 11, 1440.

paragraph: Tristão Vaz took part in further raids and explorations along the coast of Africa throughout his life. He died at Silves, at an advanced age.

description: Portuguese nobleman

wikidata_label: Tristão Vaz Teixeira

wikipedia_title: Tristão Vaz Teixeira


text:
Italian
Capitão Donatário
Lord
Governor
Porto Santo
Portuguese
Porto Santo Island
João Gonçalves Zarco
Tristão Vaz Teixeira
Filippo Pallastrelli
Lombard
knight
Leonor of Aragon
John I of Portugal
Coat of Arms
Verona
Milan
Coimbra
Lombard
nobleman
Piacenza
Fidalgo
Esquire
Infante João, Lord of Reguengos
Order of Saint James
Porto Santo
Filipa Moniz Perestrelo
Christopher Columbus
Madeira
Porto Santo
rabbit
Eleanor of Aragon, Queen of Portugal
mistress
Gijón
Archbishop of Lisbon
John II of Portugal
Ana de Mendonça
Graciosa
Azores
Torres Vedras
Secretary
John I of Portugal
Rafael Perestrello

categories: 15th-century Portuguese people,History of Madeira,People from Porto Santo,1390s births,15th-century explorers,1457 deaths,Portuguese explorers

paragraph: Bartolomeu Perestrello

paragraph: Bartolomeu Perestrello (, in Italian "Bartolomeo Perestrello"), 1st Capitão Donatário, Lord and Governor of the Island of Porto Santo ( 1395 – 1457) was a Portuguese navigator and explorer that is claimed to have discovered and populated Porto Santo Island (1419) together with João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira. The account of his participation in the discovery is disputed by some historians.

paragraph: Section::::Biography.

paragraph: He was a son of "Micer" Filippo Pallastrelli (called Filipe Perestrello in Portugal), a Lombard knight who came to Portugal some say erroneously in the train of Queen Leonor of Aragon and here he was a Nobleman of John I of Portugal, who recognized his Coat of Arms and made him a Nobleman of Coat of Arms in 1433; he was married to Caterina Visconti (of the Visconti of Verona not from the ones of Milan), with whom he came to Portugal in 1385, and granted, in 1437, two houses at the Sub-Ripas Street in the City of Coimbra. He was the son of "Micer" Gabriele Pallastrelli, a Lombard nobleman from Piacenza, and second wife Bertolina Bracciforti.

paragraph: Nobleman and Fidalgo-Esquire of the House of Infante João, Lord of Reguengos and master of the Portuguese Order of Saint James (Santiago), he was granted in 1446, as a hereditary fief (capitania), the island of Porto Santo and, together with his fellow fleet commanders, started the colonization of the islands.

paragraph: One of his daughters, Filipa Moniz Perestrelo (born c. 1455), around 1479 married Christopher Columbus, who lived in Madeira and Porto Santo.

paragraph: A legend attributes the responsibility for the poor vegetation of Porto Santo to him. On his first disembarkation in the island he brought one pregnant doe-rabbit that escaped and its progeny overran the island in a few years. In fact, the island was poor in water, and what seemed to be a good enterprise for him became the cause of his family financial ruin.

paragraph: Section::::Family.

paragraph: He married four times, firstly to Margarida Martins, without known issue, secondly with Branca Dias, fathering Branca Dias Perestrello, lady-in-waiting to Eleanor of Aragon, Queen of Portugal, and mistress of Dom Pedro de Noronha (Castle of Gijón, 1379 – August 20, 1452), 4th Archbishop of Lisbon (1424–1452), by whom she had issue, including D. Pedro de Noronha, Lord Chamberlain to King John II of Portugal. Thirdly in 1446 to Brites Furtado de Mendonça, (aunt of King John II's mistress Ana de Mendonça) and had issue including Izeu Perestrelo, wife of Pedro Correia, First Captain of Graciosa Island in the Azores and one of King John II's twenty-five bodyguards. His fourth marriage to Isabel Moniz also had issue, including Filipa, one of the 12 "Comendadoras" of Santiago, who married Columbus, Violante who married Miguel Molyarte and lived in Seville, Spain and Bartolomeu Perestrelo II, Third Captain of Porto Santo.

paragraph: He was the brother of Rafael Perestrello, head of the Perestrellos of Torres Vedras. He also had two sisters: Catarina Perestrello, married to Aires Anes de Beja, "Escrivão da Puridade" (a Secretary) of John I of Portugal.

paragraph: Section::::See also.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Rafael Perestrello

paragraph: Section::::Further reading.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Renault, "The Caravels of Christ"

description: Portuguese explorer

wikidata_label: Bartolomeu Perestrello

wikipedia_title: Bartolomeu Perestrello