Richard I Lionheart 621kings of France. The town became well known for the
quality of its schools until it was eclipsed by PARISin the
12th century. The archbishop maintained tight control
over Rheims which was populated with numerous clerics.
See also HINCMAR OF RHEIMS; STAINED GLASS;
SYLVESTERII, POPE.
Further reading: Hans, Jantzen, High Gothic: The
Classic Cathedrals of Chartres, Reims, Amiens,trans. James
Palmes (New York: Pantheon Books, 1962).
rhetoric In ancient Rome rhetoric was taught to the
elite to prepare them to deliver speeches. In the Middle
Ages it was considered second among the SEVEN LIBERAL
ARTS. It was taught with commentaries on ancient poets
and prose writers, especially Cicero, and manuals and
exercises created in imitation of the masters of antiquity. It
was deemed especially important for diplomacy, chancery
letter writing, and PREACHING. With the rediscovery of
ARISTOTELIANthought and the advent of SCHOLASTICISM,
rhetoric began to be considered as more of a scientific sys-
tem valuable in dialectical exposition. The notarial culture
of 13th-century ITA LYused rhetorical texts in its educa-
tional system, preparing students for notarial legal busi-
ness and the conduct of communal government.
Rhetoric always had an important role in Byzantine
culture and education. There it was considered an aristo-
cratic art, the province of an elite who cultivated elo-
quence as a distinguishing and refined ability.
See also ARSPRAEDICANDI;BRUNETTOLATINI;GREGORY
OF NAZIANZUS,SAINT; NOTARIES AND THE NOTARIATE;
PSELLOS, MICHAEL; UNIVERSITIES AND SCHOOLS.
Further reading:Martin Camargo, “Rhetoric,” in The
Seven Liberal Arts in the Middle Ages,ed. David L. Wagner
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983), 96–124;
George A. Kennedy, Classical Rhetoric and Its Christian
and Secular Tradition from Ancient to Modern Times,2d ed.
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999);
Jerrold E. Seigel, Rhetoric and Philosophy in Renaissance
Humanism: The Union of Eloquence and Wisdom, Petrarch
to Valla (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press,
1968); Jody Enders, Rhetoric and the Origins of Medieval
Drama (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1992);
Douglas Kelly, Medieval Imagination: Rhetoric and the
Poetry of Courtly Love(Madison: University of Wisconsin
Press, 1978); Joseph M. Miller, ed., Readings in Medieval
Rhetoric(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1973);
James J. Murphy, Medieval Rhetoric: A Select Bibliography,
2d ed. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989); Scott
D. Troyan, Textual Decorum: A Rhetoric of Attitudes in
Medieval Literature(New York: Garland, 1994).
Rhodes Medieval Rhodes was the principal island of
the Dodecanese in the Aegean Sea. It was strategically
situated at a crossroads in the eastern Mediterranean,
at the juncture of the north-south route between
CONSTANTINOPLE and ALEXANDRIA and the west-east
route between ROMEand PALESTINEand the Levant. It
was captured in 654 by the Arabs and pillaged several
times in the eighth century, especially between 751 and- It was soon reintegrated in the BYZANTINEEmpire’s
system of naval defense, serving as an important base
blocking the route to Constantinople from the south and
east. Regaining prosperity in the 11th century, with the
recovery of maritime commerce then, it became a staging
area and port of passage for the CRUSADES. From 1204 to
1234, it was a principality temporarily held by Leo
Gabalas (fl. 1190–1234), a former Byzantine governor
who took possession of its during the chaos after the cap-
ture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. From
1234 it was ruled by the Byzantines from the Empire of
NICAEA, the Venetians, and then the Genoese. In 1309, it
passed into the hands of the HOSPITALLERS, who made it
their home base after their departure from SYRIA.
The knights survived several attempts to conquer it by
the OTTOMANTurks in the 15th century, especially the
famous siege in 1480, but in the end they were forced to
surrender and abandon it in 1522 when they moved their
headquarters west to MALTA.
See alsoANATOLIA;VENICE.
Further reading:Marc Angel, The Jews of Rhodes: The
History of a Sephardic Community(New York: Sepher-
Hermon Press, 1978); Elias Kollias, The Knights of
Rhodes: The Palace and the City (Athens: Ekdotike
Athenon, 1991); Jonathan Riley-Smith, Hospitallers: The
History of the Order of St. John (London: Hambledon
Press, 1999); H. J. A. Sire, The Knights of Malta(New
Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1994).
Rhodes, Knights of SeeHOSPITALLERS; RHODES.rib SeeGOTHIC.Richard I Lionheart(Coeur de Lion)(1157–1199)
king of England, warrior, crusader
Richard was born on September 8, 1157, the third son of
HENRYII and ELEANORof AQUITAINE. Richard was not
expected to inherit the English Crown, but the premature
death in 1183 of his older surviving brother, Henry,
changed that. He was always more interested in AQUITAINE,
his mother’s duchy, which he obtained in 1172 as duke. He
rebelled against his father with his brothers in 1173–74 but
was defeated and pardoned by his father. Apart from a few
months in 1189–90, when he was preparing for CRUSADE,
and again in 1194, when he quelled a rebellion by his
brother, JOHNLACKLAND, he was on crusade between 1190
and 1194 in the East or protecting his continental posses-
sions from 1194 to 1199. The administrative institutions
and competence of his father’s government allowed him to
leave his kingdom for long periods.