Ravenna

1693. A geographical dictionary representing the present and ancient names by Edmund Bohun.

Ravenna, a City of Romandiola in Italy, of great antiquity; which is an Archbishops See, and the Capital of that Province. It stands on a marshy Ground; forty five Miles from Bononia to the East, thirty from Rimini, forty two from Ferrara; near the Shoars of the Adriatick Sea, upon which it had a great Harbor; now filled up with Sand. Built by the Sabins, as Pliny saith; as others, by the Ʋmbrians about four hundred and ten years after the Flood A. M. 1766. In the latter times of the Roman Empire under Honorius, it became the Seat of the Emperors: fortified with new and strong Walls for that purpose. Augustus had before made it the Station of his Fleets, on the Adriatick Sea; and made a noble Haven here, which may be supposed to have contributed something to its growth and this change. Theodorick, King of the Goths, in 493. took it after a Siege of three years; and made it the Seat of his Kingdom. In 539. Belisarius, General under Justinian the Emperor, recovered it to the Empire. In 569. it became the Seat of the Exarchs, or Vice-Roys of Italy, under the Constantinopolitan Emperours. In 725. it was Sacked by Luitprandus, King of Lombardy, upon the Emperors Edict against Images; but recovered by the Exarch, by the assistance of the Pope and the Venetians, two years after. In 752. Aristulphus, King of the Lombards, took it from the Greeks; and drove out the Exarchs. In 774. Charles the Great took it from the Lombards, and gave it to the Church of Rome. This City maintained a War against the Venetians, in 1140. In 1441. the Venetians took it and kept it till 1509: when it was forced from them by a League of the Emperor, King of France, Pope, the Duke of Milan, and a joynt War of all these Princes upon them. But the Pope salling out with the French King, Lewis XII. lost the City to him again and an Army of sixteen thousand Men in 1512: they were soon after sorced to desert it. The Archbishops See was founded by Valentinian the Emperor, about 425: and never subject to the Pope till 684: when the Pope after a great contest obtained this point from Constantinus Pogonatus, (Emperor of Greece), who was a great admirer of the Sanctity of Benedict II. and with respect to that, subjected this See to Rome. There was a Council held here in 901. which confirmed all the proceedings of a Council at Rome under Pope John IX for the cassating of Pope Stephen VI. his Acts against the memory of Pope Formosus. And another in 967, in the presence of Pope John XIII. and the Emperor Otho I. touching the reformation of Ecclesiastical Discipline; with divers others, of the same subject. The City is now in a declining condition, and decays sensibly.

Long. 34. 53. Lat. 43. 54. //Paris Meridian was used in the book

1694. The great historical, geographical and poetical dictionary by Louis Moreri.

Ravenna, an ancient City of Italy in Romania with the Title of an Archbishop's See, belonging to the See of Rome. It stands on a Marshy Ground 45 miles from Bononia to the E. 30 from Rimini, and 42 from Ferrara near the Shoars of the Adriatick Sea, upon which it had a great Harbor, and was the Station of Augustus's Fleet on the Adriatick Sea, in the decline of the Roman Empire: The Emperor Honorius kept his Residence in it, and fortified it with a double Wall. The Authors of the Roman Histories make frequent mention of it. Ravenna was the Residence of Theodoricus King of the Goths, and since, of the Exarcha's or Vice-Roys, which the Emperors of Constantinople sent into Italy: Longuin was the first, sent thither by Justin about 567 or 568; Smaragdus succeeded him, and next came Romanus Calliniquus, and the same Smaragdus again; John Remigus or Demigez, Eleutherus, Isaac, Theodorus Calliopas, Olympius, Theodorus Calliopas a second time, another Theodorus, John called Plato, Theophilactus, John surnamed Rizocopus or Francheracinus, Scholasticus and Paulus, during whose Government Ravenna was taken by Luitprand King of the Lombards, and the Vice-Roy re-took it in 727, with the assistance of the Pope and Venetians. Eutyches, the last Vice-Roy, govern'd after Paulus. Aistulphus, King of the Lombards took Ravenna again, and expelled him out of Italy in 752; but he kept not that City long, for King Pepin in 756 obliged that Prince to give it up, with the Exarchate to the Pope; the which was confirmed by Charlemaign in 774. Ravenna hath since suffered divers Misfortunes. In 1512 the Army of King Lewis XII. led by Gaston de Foix, took Ravenna, and won a famous Victory near it. Ravenna is not at this day so considerable as it has been in times past. It has one Gate of Marble, which the People call the Golden or Beautiful Gate. It's principal Church is supported by four rows of Marble-Pillars. It's Port hath sometimes served for a Retreat to the Roman Navy. In the Church of St. Mary de la Rotunda, which was built about 757, without the Town of Ravenna after it was freed from the Dominion of the Lombards. The Stone-key of the Vault of the Dome is of one entire Stone, ten Foot broad, and two hundred thousand pound weight, which renders this Church very famous, there being scarce any thing else remarkable. The Violence of Pope Stephen VI. against the Memory of Formosus, had caused great Disorders in Rome; to terminate which, John II. Stephen's Successor assembled a Council at Rome in 901, where all was annulled that had been done against the said Formosus, and at the same time the Coronation of Lambert was confirmed, and that of Berenger made void, these two taking upon them to be Emperors or Kings of Italy. Some time after the celebration of this Synod, seventy four Bishops assembled at Ravenna by the means of the same Lambert, and confirmed all that had been done at Rome. There was another Council celebrated in 967, in the presence of Pope John XIII. and the Emperor Otho I. for the re-establishment of the Ecclesiastical Discipline, and divers others since, but none considerable. Leander Alberti.