Manuel I Comnenus was a Byzantine Emperor of the 12th century who presided over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium and the Mediterranean. Eager to restore his empire to its past glories as the superpower of the Mediterranean world, Manuel pursued an energetic and ambitious foreign policy. In the process he made alliances with the Pope and the resurgent west, invaded Italy, successfully handled the passage of the dangerous Second Crusade through his empire, and established a Byzantine protectorate over the Crusader kingdoms of Outremer. Facing the Islamic jihad in the Holy Land, he made common cause with the Kingdom of Jerusalem and participated in a combined invasion of Fatimid Egypt. Manuel reshaped the political map of the Balkans and the east Mediterranean, placing the kingdoms of Hungary and Outremer under Byzantine hegemony and campaigning aggressively against his neighbours both in the west and in the east. However, towards the end of his reign Manuel's achievements in the east were compromised by an embarrassing defeat at Myriokephalon, which in large part resulted from his arrogance in attacking a well-defended Turkish position.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1204: Fourth Crusade: Count Baldwin IX of Flanders was crowned the first Latin Emperor in Constantinople. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Empire)

1527: The Medici were driven from Florence and a republic was re-established. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence)

1866: Root beer was first prepared commercially. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_beer)

1929: The first Academy Awards were handed out at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Awards)

1943: World War II: SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop put an end to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the first mass uprising in Poland against the Nazi occupation during the Holocaust. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto_Uprising)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"I like quoting Einstein. Know why? Because nobody dares contradict you." -- Studs Terkel (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Studs_Terkel)