Kabasilas, Neilos (ca.1300-1363): Writer of theological works. He was initially a teacher (of Demetrios Kydones among others), later an employee of the government of John VI Kantakouzenos and finally a hieromonk. He wrote treatises in favour of Palamas and against the union of the Churches, among which one directed against Nikephoros Gregoras.
Kaffa: Ancient Theodosia, a strategic post on the southeastern coast of Crimea, between the Black Sea and the Azov Sea. Around 1266 the Genoese founded a colony there, which soon developed into the biggest trading centre of Eastern Europe.
Kaikaus I: Sultan of Ikonion (1210-20).
Kaikaus II: Sultan of Ikonion (1246-57).
Kalekas, Manuel: Rhetor, theologian and grammarian.An anti-Palamite and pro-Latin scholar, he copied manuscripts and was an active writer of theological treatises and a translator of Latin texts. He died in Lesbos in 1410.
Kalenderhane Camii: Church in Constantinople that dates from the 12th century. It was previously wrongly considered to be the katholikon of the Christ Akataleptos monastery. Its Byzantine name is unknown to date.
Kallistos I: Patriarch of Constantinople (1350-53 and 1355-64) and successor to Isidore I. He was distinguished for his virtue and ecclesiastical activity.
Kalojan or Ioannitza: Bulgarian sovereign (1197-1207). He called himself "Rhomaioktonos" ("killer of the Romans") because of his cruelty towards the Byzantines who in their turn called him "Skyloioannes" ("John the dog").
Kapnikon (from kapnos=smoke): "hearth" tax, household tax.
Kastriota Skanderberg, George (1405-1468): Albanian hero, leader of the resistance against the Turks in the mid-15th century.
Katepania: a territory, which usually included a city along with the land around it.
Katepano (from "epano","above"): governor of a katepania.
Katholikon: the main church of a monastery complex.
Kilise Camii: Byzantine church probably dedicated to St Theodore. An 11th-century building, decorated with mosaics around 1300, when an exonarthex was also added.
Kingdom of Sicily: Kingdom in the southern part of continental Italy from 1130 to 1861, with Naples as its capital. Together with the island of Sicily, it formed the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In medieval times it was ruled successively by the Normans (12th-13th century), by the Angevins and the Aragonese until the middle of the15th century, and later by the Spaniards.
Kommerkion: tax on merchandise.
Komnenoi: Noble family of Byzantium, from which came the dynasty that ruled the empire from 1081 to 1185.
Komnenodoukas: Name of the sovereigns of Epiros, created by the joining of the names of the two important imperial families of Byzantium, the Komnenoi and the Doukes.
Kralj: Slavic title for the king or ruler.
Kritoboulos Michael: Historian of the 15th century and governor of Imbros from 1456 to 1466. He was appointed to this post by the sultan Mehmet II, to whom Kritoboulos dedicated his History of the Ottomans.