Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Dzungaria, Tibet, Qing, & the British Raj

The Ganden Phodrang was first famed by the 5th Dalai Lama (r. 1642–1682), known for unifying the Tibetan heartland under the control of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, and after defeating the rival Kagyu and Jonang sects, along with the secular ruling Tsangpa prince. All efforts of Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso were successful because of aid from Güshi Khan, the Oirat leader who established the Khoshut Khanate. Güshi Khan independently bestowed supreme authority on Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso the 5th Dalai Lama for the whole of Tibet at a ceremony at Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse, such that all power and authority lay in the hands of the Dalai Lama right up to his death and no other would forcibly interfere in the administration and its policies. The Tibetan Mongol alliance was keen such that at the age of 7, Galdan Boshugtu Khan was sent to Lhasa to be educated as a lama under the 5th Dalai Lama at Tashilhunpo Monastery. He spent 20 years studying Buddhist canons, philosophy, astronomy, astrology and basics of medicine and pharmacology. In this sense, he was one of the best educated kings of Mongolian history. In 1678, Galdan received from the Dalai Lama the title of Boshogtu Khan, making the Dzungars the leading tribe within the Oirats.

 

The Dzungar rulers used the title of Khong Tayiji or Crown Prince, and between 1680 and 1688, the Dzungars conquered the Tarim Basin, which is now Southern Xinjiang, and defeated the Eastern Khalkha Mongols. In 1696, Galdan was defeated by the Qing dynasty and lost Outer Mongolia. In 1705, the Qing conspired with a Dzungar faction to kidnap and murder the 6th Dalai Lama, his regent and government officials. In 1717 Tsewang Rabtan returned to claim Tibet by deposing the 7th Dalai Lama, and Lha-bzang Khan became the last ruler of the Khoshut Khanate. Lha-bzang Khan and his entire family were executed prior to the Battle of the Salween River, though this matter may be considered conjecture or propaganda. In response, an expedition sent by the Kangxi Emperor, together with Tibetan forces under Polhané Sönam Topgyé of Tsang and Kangchennas, the governor of Western Tibet, expelled the Dzungars from Tibet by 1720 which initiated Qing rule of Tibet. China additionally took advantage of a Dzungar civil war to conquer Dzungaria with ambitions for total genocide of the Dzungar people. Estimates are that about 80% of the Dzungar population, or around 500,000 to 800,000 people, were killed by a combination of warfare and disease during or after the Qing conquest in 1755–1757. After wiping out the native population of Dzungaria (children, women, and the elderly were reported spared for enslavement as bondservants ), the Qing government then resettled Han, Hui, Uyghur, and Sibe people on State farms in Dzungaria, along with Manchu Bannermen to repopulate the area under the Xinjiang political administrative unit.

 

The Great Game is a term ascribed to rivalry between the 19th-century British and Russian Empires over influence in Central Asia, primarily in Afghanistan, Persia, and Tibet. By the early 20th century, a line of independent states, tribes, and monarchies from the shore of the Caspian Sea to the Eastern Himalayas were made into protectorates and territories of the two empires. The British moved in fear that the Qing Dynasty had reached a secret understanding with the Russians over Tibet, and that Russia was providing arms and fighting forces to Tibet. If it were the case that Russia had a direct route to British India it would break the chain of quasi-autonomous buffer-states which separated the British Raj from the Russian Empire. Their fears were fueled by Russian explorers and the courtier Agvan Dorjiyev who had met with the Dalai Lama and acted as ambassador for the Tsar. All the while the Dalai Lama declined British courtiers in full. Even the possibility of a Tibet authority under Russian protection was a situation the British would retaliate against most vehemently.

 

Under the Governor-General Curzon's belief that the Dalai Lama intended to place Tibet firmly within a sphere of Russian influence and end its neutrality, he unofficially issued an ultimatum In 1903. This was a request by the British Raj to the Ganden Phodrang for negotiations to be held at Khampa Dzong, a tiny Tibetan village north of Sikkim. The Chinese ambans were willing to accept this meeting with the British, however, the Dalai Lama refused, and also denied transport for the Palace’s Chinese official You Tai, to attend. The Tibet Frontier Commission heading the British expedition to Tibet in 1903–04 thus trumped up charges for a ground invasion into Tibet across the occupied territory of Sikkim, the trump rumored to be herdsmans cattle ranging over the border.


The Dalai Lama summoned a military contingency in response to the troops marching on his capital but British military might was far superior. In 1904 the British soldiers caused the Massacre of Chumik Shenko, killing 700 Tibetans outright with less than a dozen British casualties. Another 200 Tibetans were murdered at Red Idol Gorge soon thereafter. For three months skirmishes continued by British forces as they marched on Lhasa applying scorched earth policy in decimating the people, land and infrastructure on the way. At Lhasa on 3 August 1904 the thirteenth Dalai Lama had fled to Urga, the capital of Outer Mongolia. Chinese officials to the city issued a writ for their Emperor to depose the Dalai Lama hence, since the Chinese Qing bore no actual powers of law in Tibet. Whence arriving, the British expedition forced a brutal treaty with the Regent and Assembly of Lhasa such that the British had exclusive trading rights in Yatung, Gyantse, and Gartok, all while Tibet was to pay indemnity of 7,500,000 rupees. This fine was later reduced by two-thirds, with the Chumbi Valley ceded to Britain.


George Curzon the Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905 had fulfilled his Geo-political strategic agenda in averting potential Russian threats in the East and by dealing a crippling blow to Tibet. The full extent of the British game regarding suzerainty of China and potential for Russian expansion was such that;


1. "No portion of Tibetan territory shall be ceded, sold, leased, mortgaged or otherwise given for occupation, to any foreign Power;

2. "No such Power shall be permitted to intervene in Tibetan affairs;

3. "No Representatives or Agents of any foreign Power shall be admitted to Tibet;

4. "No concessions for railways, roads, telegraphs, mining or other rights, shall be granted to any foreign Power, or the subject of any foreign Power. In the event of consent to such concessions being granted, similar or equivalent concessions shall be granted to the British Government;

5. "No Tibetan revenues, whether in kind or in cash, shall be pledged or assigned to any foreign Power, or to the subject of any foreign Power."

 

After the fall of the Qing empire in 1912, the Ganden Phodrang government lasted until the 1950s, when Tibet was again occupied by China’s PRC. During most of the time from the early Qing period until the end of Ganden Phodrang rule, a governing council known as the Kashag (established by the Qing in 1721) had operated Qhinese authority within the Ganden Phodrang. Ganden (དགའ་ལྡན) is the Tibetan name for the Tushita heaven, which, according to Buddhist cosmology, is where the future Buddha Maitreya resides. Tuṣita (Sanskrit) or Tusita (Pāli) is one of the six deva-worlds of the Desire Realm (Kāmadhātu), located between the Yāma heaven and the Nirmāṇarati heaven.

 

Friday, October 20, 2023

Tibet & the Tang

Tibet is the highest region on Earth, with an average elevation of 4,380 m (14,000 ft). Located in the Himalayas, the highest elevation surrounding the Tibetan plateau is Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain, rising 8,848.86 m (29,032 ft) above sea level. The Alexandrian known as Claudius Ptolemy, 100 – c. 170 AD identified the country Batai at an Eastern perimeter in his seminal work Geographia. Proceeding Ptolemy the Egyptian-Greek work Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (1st century CE) identifies Batai as a prospective trading partner. The regional "Bhutan" is derived from the Sanskrit term "Bhotanta," which means "the end of Tibet" or "the land of the Tibetans", however the country is identified in Dzongkha language as "Brug-yul" which translates as The Land of the Thunder Dragon. Bhauṭṭa is the Sanskrit geopolitical equivalent for the modern Bod (བོད་) or ‘Tibet’ in English. The earliest Chinese record pertains to the 7th C. onward and under the name "Tǔfān" (吐蕃) meaning Western Barbarians, or seminally Xīfān (西番) pertaining to the expansion period. Thus the etymology is formally a Tibeto-Burman language of the Sino-Tibetan language family, of which Sino-Tibetan, and that through it Tibetan and Burmese are mere distant cousins of Chinese.

The earliest Tibetan historical texts identify the Zhang Zhung culture as a people who migrated from the Amdo region into what is now the region of Guge in western Tibet. Zhang Zhung is considered to be the original home of the Bön religion, and according to Rolf Alfred Stein’s Tibetan Civilization, the area of Shang Shung was not historically a part of Tibet and was a distinctly foreign territory to the Tibetans


"... then further west, the Tibetans encountered a distinctly foreign nation. – Shangshung, with its capital at Khyunglung. Mt. Kailāśa (Tise) and Lake Manasarovar formed part of this country., whose language has come down to us through early documents. Though still unidentified, it seems to be Indo European .... Geographically the country was certainly open to India, both through Nepal and by way of Kashmir and Ladakh. Kailāśa is a holy place for the Indians, who make pilgrimages to it. No one knows how long they have done so, but the cult may well go back to the times when Shangshung was still independent of Tibet. How far Shangshung stretched to the north, east and west is a mystery .... We have already had an occasion to remark that Shangshung, embracing Kailāśa sacred Mount of the Hindus, may once have had a religion largely borrowed from Hinduism. The situation may even have lasted for quite a long time. In fact, about 950, the Hindu King of Kabul had a statue of Vişņu, of the Kashmiri type (with three heads), which he claimed had been given him by the king of the Bhota (Tibetans) who, in turn had obtained it from Kailāśa."

By the 1st Century BCE a neighbouring Kingdom arose in the Yarlung valley. The Yarlung King Drigum Tsenpo attempted to remove the influence of the Zhang Zhung by expelling the Zhang's Bön priests from Yarlung. He was assassinated and Zhang Zhung continued its dominance of the region. Great Tibet then became centred on the Tibetan Plateau, formed as a result of imperial expansion under the mythological Yarlung dynastic rulers heralded by its 33rd king, Songtsen Gampo, in the 7th century. Songtsen Gampo 569–649 [sroŋpʦan zɡampo], The 33rd King and founder of the Tibetan Empire is accredited with the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet after ascending at age 13 according to the Old Book of Tang. Later influenced by his Nepali consort Bhrikuti, of Nepal's Licchavi dynasty, as well as with the unification of what had previously been several Tibetan kingdoms, he is regarded as responsible for the creation of the Tibetan script and therefore the establishment of Classical Tibetan, although this must remain a contested matter and it’s mostly likely he only adopted Mādhyamaka philosophy not the Buddhist religion. Perhaps mythically thus he is said to have issued the order for minister Thonmi Sambhota to travel to India to devise a script for Classical Tibetan, this led to the creation of the first Tibetan literary works and translations, court records and constitution, and so relocated his Capital from the Yarlung Valley to the Kyichu Valley, the site of the future city of Lhasa. According to sources, during the reign of Songtsen Gampo, examples of Handicrafts and Astrological systems were imported from China and the Western Xia; the Dharma and the Art of Writing came from India; material wealth and treasures from the Nepalis and the lands of the Mongols, while Model laws and Administration were imported from the Uyghurs of the Second Turkic Khaganate. 


The Old Tibetan Annals, are composed of two wholly secular manuscripts written in Old Tibetan language found in the early 20th century in a hidden library within the Mogao Grottoes near Dunhuang in northwestern Gansu province, believed to have been sealed in the 11th century CE, they form Tibet's earliest extant history. The libraries Old Tibetan Chronicle alternatively was probably compiled between 800-840 CE, whilst the Annals begin with a very brief account of the early events of the reign of Songtsen Gampo and from a time the Chinese Princess Wencheng arrived in 643 CE until Songtsen Gampo's death in 650, following with year-by-year précis of important events from 650 to 764 CE. The Old Tibetan Chronicle maintains that during the reign of King Trisong Detsen (755 to 797 or 804 CE), "The incomparable religion of the Buddha had been received and there were viharas (monasteries) in the centre as well as the borderlands of the country", an advent much later than the military conquests of Songtsen Gampo between Indian and Chinese borders 200 years prior.


Since the Kings Tagri Nyensig and Namri Songtsen (570-620) the struggle to unify ‘’Tibet’’ was thwarted with difficulties. The empire further expanded under its 38th king, Trisong Detsen, and expanded to its greatest extent under the 41st King Rapalchen in the 780s to 790s spanning territory across modern-day Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan. The Kingdom of Nanzhao (in Yunnan and neighbouring regions) remained under Tibetan control from 750 to 794, when they turned on their Tibetan overlords and helped the Chinese inflict a serious defeat on the Tibetans.


In 747, the hold of Tibet was first loosened by the campaign of the Tang general Gao Xianzhi, who tried to re-open the direct communications between Central Asia and Kashmir. By 750, the Tibetans had lost almost all of their central Asian possessions to the Chinese. However, after Gao Xianzhi's defeat by the Arabs and Qarluqs at the Battle of Talas (751) and the subsequent civil war known as the An Lushan Rebellion (755), Chinese influence decreased rapidly and the Tibetans resumed regional superiority. As a part of the Muslim Conquest the Abbasid Caliphate  who were allied with the Tibetans, co-opted the Karluk Turks 20,000 strong force who defected, betraying the Tang forces (only 10,000 soldiers) and in joining the Caliphate, the battle within the valley of the Talas River which vied for control over the Syr Darya had assured the Caliphate’s control over Transoxiana for the next 400 years ending the Chinese expansion West by the Imperial Tang Dynasty (618 to 907). Emperor Rapalchen’s 821–823 treaty concluded conflicts between the Tibetan Empire and the Tang dynasty. The terms of this treaty, including the fixed borders between the two countries, are recorded in a bilingual inscription on a stone pillar outside the Jokhang temple in Lhasa.

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Greece; Laconophilia & the Thirty Tyrants

Several dynasties claimed descent from Heracles, such as the Agiads and Eurypontids of Sparta, or the Temenids of Macedonia. Of pre-classical dialects and traditions in southern Greece, the ones that prevailed in Classical Greece followed. According to Herodotus, Macedonian tribes called Dorians charged South [from the mountains of Epirus] to reclaim their ancestral territories en mass within the Peloponnese, where they subjugated the local tribes before commencing territorial expansions. The Return of the Heracleidae was orchestrated by the brothers Kresphontes and Temenos, as well as the twins Eurysthenes and Prokles who accordingly divided the Peloponnese into three parts: Kresphontes took Messenia, Temenos the north-east, and the twins Laconia, thus becoming the first dual kings of Sparta.

By expanding their frontiers major battles were fought against Argos and the Arcadians. Heraclids in mythology were numerous, all descendants of Heracles (Hercules) and were the Dorian kings who conquered Mycenae, and Sparta also. Known as Heracleidae they include Macaria, Lamos, Manto, Bianor, Tlepolemus, and Telephus. Within Doric proper and Northwest Doric subgrouped dialects Tsakonian is
included, under which ancient leaders are identified as Laconophiles. Tsakonian, likewise a descendant of Laconian Doric (Spartan), is also still spoken in modern Greece. Original sources from Sparta include the 7th century poet Alcman, and Philoxenus of Alexandria’s treatise On the Laconian dialect. Attic and Ionic dialects would respectively centralize, before Attic dominated becoming Hellenization.
The Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War were largely played out between Athens and Sparta, but the division on ethical standards must be considerably the cause of Athenian-Spartan rivalry, which ultimately destabilized Greece sufficiently enough that the Roman invasion succeeded. Cimon, an Athenian general of the Greco-Persian War explained that while laconians actively subjugated citizens and held various suzerains, they in fact, though bearing a fully dedicated military creed, actually needed Athens. Cimon had Athens send 4000 hoplites under his command to assist Sparta during a helots revolt, whence the renegades fortified Mount Ithome, but the Spartans repudiated military aid from Athens lest their democratic ideals influence their helots or the Perioeci. Laconophilia hence presents an awkward synthetization of codes of military law with affirmative general knowledge, and as the predecessor of Hellenization, is oriented by the opinions of tyrannical governments or democracies of the people, and in asserting rights of mankind on general populations. Haphazardly Laconophilia is considered a philosophy thus particular to the love of Sparta, and some of Socrates' followers so identified, whilst Socrates is said to have just praised the laws of Sparta. Indeed since Spartans didn't account for Laconophilia, rather as an Athenian creation, and induced under the rivalry of inter-state association, it's bound to be prejudiced by a democratic tradition espousing philosophy.

Critias, first cousin of Plato's mother, subsequently enforced oligarchic rule as one of the Thirty Tyrants in the substitute interim government. Xenophon, another disciple of Socrates, fought for the Spartans against Athens. Plato, it's argued, preferred a Spartan-type regime over a democratic one, and Aristotle regarded the kind of laws adopted by Sparta as especially apt to produce virtuous and law-abiding citizens. Aristotle also however criticized the Spartans as incompetent and corrupt, and built on a culture of war. Here in diverging in a simple culture of an elite warrior society, scholars have proposed that Greek Mycenaeans also originally reflected exogenous impositions of archaic Indo-Europeans from the Eurasian steppe. A tenuous relationship between Aegean and northern steppe populations during the Bronze Age led to another theory that Mycenaean culture in Greece dates back to circa 3000 BC with Indo-European migrants entering a mainly-depopulated area, while others argue for earlier dating conferred by the spread of agriculture and chariot technology.


The Thirty Tyrants were a Spartan supported oligarchy installed in Athens after the defeat in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC. The Thirty appointed a large council to serve the judicial functions formerly belonging to all the citizens. Choosing 3,000 hand-selected individual Athenian men to act as officials with increased rights to carry weapons, have a jury trial, and to reside within city limits; their participation lent privilege under scrutiny for devotion to the regime. Led by Critias, the Thirty Tyrants executed a reign of terror over Athens, seizing detractors' property and possessions in a State-wide apartheid. Both Isocrates and Aristotle (the latter in the Athenian Constitution) have reported that the Thirty executed 1,500 people without trial during the reign which was regularly enforced with lash-bearers or whip-bearing men. Shortly however an uprising overthrew the Thirty, orchestrated by a group of Athenian exiles led by Thrasybulus. Critias was killed in the battle near Piraeus, the port of Athens amid members and supporters of the Thirty, and aided by the Spartan garrison.

Socrates was accounted for refusing to present one respected democratic citizen to the Thirty for execution, as written by Plato in the Apology. Plato, only a child during the events, recounted his teacher’s rejection of the iniquitous deeds by which the Thirty applied guilt-by-association. Critias is reputed to have directly exercised leniency on his former teacher for still maintaining the integrity of democracy subsequent to the humiliating defeat at the Battle of Aegospotami by a Spartan-Persian-Corinthian coalition.
 




Artwork by Midjourney.

Thursday, November 10, 2022

Siam; the Haw & the Indochinese Federation

The widespread colonization in the Orient by the Dutch, French, Portuguese, British and Spanish Europeans, wasn't universal in practice as the different political maneuvers enacted in Thailand ensured sovereignty was maintained irrespective of the technological superiority Europeans exercised. The French were the primary antagonists for King Chulalongkornin through which his prince Maha Vajirunhis, Crown Prince of Siam would die of Typhoid fever. The Indochinese Union and after 1947 as the Indochinese Federation, was a grouping of French colonial territories in Southeast Asia until its demise in 1954. It comprised Cambodia, Laos (from 1899), the Chinese territory of Guangzhouwan (from 1898 until 1945), and the Vietnamese regions of Tonkin in the north, Annam in the centre, and Cochinchina in the south. The capital for most of its history (1902–45) was Hanoi; Saigon was the capital from 1887 to 1902 and again from 1945 to 1954.

King Chulalongkorn's coronation was in 1868 at age 16, as the 5th monarch of the House of Chakri. The King mitigated the Eastern threat by building three new forts on the Chao Phraya and bolstering the garrison at the gulf port of Chantaburi (Chantaboon). Also by forming a professional standing army and dismantling the feudal territories in favor of a constituted national government with strict borders. Additionally abolishing slavery (33% of Thai people), liberating free speech, religious practice, enshrining tax collection and generally aligning the nations administration with Europe and America. The young Chulalongkorn visited Singapore and Java in 1870 and British India during 1870–1872 to study the administration of British colonies. He toured the administrative centers of Calcutta, Delhi, Bombay, and back to Calcutta in early-1872. Chulalongkorn would provide aid to the British in their occupation of Burma.  

In the northern Laotian lands bordering China, insurgents of the Taiping Rebellion had taken refuge since the reign of King Mongkut. The Haw were generally bandits and pillagers, but had consolidated banners and drew a serious response from Chao Oun Kham, the ruling prince of Luang Prabang in 1874. The Prince appealed to Siam for aid when in 1875 Chulalongkorn sent troops from Bangkok to crush the rebellious Haw who had ravaged as far as Vientiane by the time. In 1868 Liu Yongfu abandoned Wu Yuanqing's rebels as new Chinese national forces were routing the nations rebels, and crossed into Vietnam with a force of 200 loyal soldiers. He feigned to be the famous 'General of the Black Tiger', and branded his Black Flag Army, heiqi jun (hei-ch'i chun, 黑旗軍). The Black Flags marched slowly through northern Tonkin, engaging the local montagnards after which attaining recognition and rank as a Vietnamese military governor. Recruiting men to their standard as they went, the Haw set up camp just outside Son Tay, on the northern bank of the Red River, before taking over Lao Cai and centralizing there as now forming the modern border of Vietnam and China.

In 1869, having conciliated the Vietnamese, Liu also won favor with the Chinese authorities by committing the Black Flag Army to a Chinese punitive campaign against the Yellow Flags, the other insurgent offshoot of the Yunan province. A Chinese expedition into the region was commanded by the veteran general Feng Zicai, who would later win fame during the Sino-French War (August 1884–April 1885) by defeating a French column at the Battle of Zhennan Pass (24 March 1885). 'The storming of the thirteen passes' ensued when Liu's Black Flags fought their way through the mountains and attacked Huang Chongying's headquarters at Hayang, a town on the Clear River near the border with Yunnan, forcing the Yellow Flag leader to take refuge with his montagnard allies. Although the Chinese and Black Flags failed to annihilate the Yellow Flags, they taught them a severe lesson, and Feng rewarded Liu for his help by offering him an honorary commission in the Chinese army.

In the next few years Liu Yongfu established a profitable protection racket on commerce on the Red River between Son Tay and Lao Cai. Traders were taxed at the rate of 10% of the value of their goods. The profits that accrued from this extortion were so great that Liu's army swelled in numbers during the 1870s, attracting to its ranks adventurers from all over the world. Although most of the soldiers were Chinese, many mercenaries were American or European expats, some of whom had fought in the Taiping Rebellion. Liu used their western expertise to transform the Black Flag Army into a formidable fighting force. Liu now commanded 7,000 Black Flag soldiers from Guangdong and Guangxi around Tonkin. 

What would be Thailand's last military expeditions into the region, Chulalongkorn's forces marched to capture a supposed Haw stronghold at Chiangkham in spring of 1875. Siamese forces crossed the River Mekong at Nong Khai, and after suffering losses against the proxy militia retreated all the way to Isan in 1885. New, modernized forces were next sent along with the British James McCarthy who accounted for the Haw's demoralizing tactics, trapping territories and guerilla warfare. This force was divided into two groups attacking the Haw from both Chiang Kam and Pichai. The Haw were defeated only as much as scattering into the hills and mountains, many taking to Vietnam.

In 1893 Auguste Pavie, the French vice-consul of Luang Prabang, requested the cession of all Laotian lands east of the Mekong River which was Siam's suzerain. Siam resented the demand, embarking on the Franco–Siamese War of 1893. Governor-General Jean de Lanessan sent three military columns into the disputed region to assert French control in April. Eight small Siamese garrisons west of the Mekong withdrew upon the arrival of the central column, but the advance of the other columns met with resistance. The French came under siege on the island of Khoung, with the capture of an officer, Thoreaux. The occupation proceeded smoothly until an ambush by the Siamese on the village of Keng Ker.

The column was at first successful in evicting the Siamese commissioner at Khammuan by 25 May. Shortly afterward on 5 June, the Siamese commissioner organized a surprise ambush on the village of Kien Ket, where Grosgurin, confined to his sickbed, had encamped with his militia. The commissioner had apparently been instructed by Siamese government representatives to "compel their [French troops] retirement, by fighting, if necessary, to the utmost of their strength". The ambush resulted in the razing of the village and the killing of Grosgurin and 17 Vietnamese.

Conflict climaxed when the French Navy aviso Inconstant and the gunboat Comete arrived on July 13 at Paknam with the intention of crossing the bar into the Chao Phraya River and join the French gunboat Lutin already anchored off the French embassy in Bangkok. Makut Ratchakuman and Coronation led the Siamese fleet but were ill-equipped with weaponry compared to the more modern French flotilla. 

The French gunboat Le Lutin entered the Chao Phraya en route for the French consulate to ready a full assault. Fighting between French and Siamese forces were underway on the Eastern frontier. The French Foreign Minister, Jules Develle, ordered Admiral Edgar Humann, the commander of the French Far Eastern Naval Division, to concentrate his nine warships off Saigon on Siam maintaining the need to "round off our Indochinese empire", with the most optimal means of technological superiority. The French in Bangkok believed that the Siamese were well-prepared for battle however in tutelage of the Dutch. Chulachomklao Fort had just been modernized with seven 6-inch Armstrong Whitworth disappearing guns and was under the command of Andreas du Plessis de Richelieu, a Danish naval officer granted the noble title of Phraya Chonlayutyothin. Further upriver at Paknam Island, the smaller Phi Seua Samut fortress had also been fitted with three of the same guns. The Siamese had placed a sorte of water traps from below the Fort to the center of the river. Above this, two chain and stake barrages plus several sunken vessels off both banks caused a bottle neck.

The Phra Chulachomklao Fort opened fire with two blank rounds but the French continued on, so a third, live, warning shot was fired and hit the water in front of the Jean Baptiste Say. When this warning was ignored, a fourth shot was fired so the gunboats Makhut Ratchakuman and Coronation opened up at 18:50. Inconstant returned fire on the fort while the Comete engaged the gunboats. At least two shots from the fortress hit the Inconstant but coordinated strikes lacked on both side. After firing two shots the carriage of the 70-pound gun aboard the Coronation broke through the deck and could no longer be fired. In the ensuing confusion the Coronation was nearly rammed by the Inconstant which fired two shells into the Coronation. The Jean Baptiste Say was hit several times by cannon fire and the Captain was forced to ground her on Laem Lamphu Rai. No shells hit the Phra Chulachomklao Fort. Within 25 minutes the Inconstant and the Comete had broken through the line of Siamese defenses at a cost of fifteen Siamese and two French lives. A short time later the ships passed the Phi Seua fortress at Paknam with ineffective retaliation, and one report of civilian casualties by the Port.

By the break of day the Siamese captured the steamer Jean Baptiste Say taking hostages, and were unable to sink the vessel. The French gunboat Forfait shortly arrived at Paknam but was repelled attempting to board Jean Baptiste Say. This was a minor victory for the Siamese since Captain Borey had anchored off the French Embassy in Bangkok at around 22:00 on July 13 his ships' guns were targeted on the Royal palace. Forced negotiations ensued when the French sent an ultimatum: an indemnity of three million francs, as well as the cession of and withdrawal from Laos, lest a full attack ensue on the capital Bangkok. Siam did not accept the ultimatum evacuating where required and setting course for prolonged war. French troops then blockaded the Gulf of Siam and occupied Chantaburi and Trat.

King Chulalongkorn sent Rolin-Jacquemyns to negotiate and appealed to Britain for assistance likewise. Britain proposed an agreement with France in arbitration guaranteeing the integrity of the rest of Siam. In exchange, Siam needed to surrender any territorial claim on the Thai-speaking Shan region as north-eastern Burma to the British, and cede Laos to France.

The Siamese agreed to cede Laos to France, significantly expanding French Indochina. In 1896, France signed a treaty with Britain defining the border between Laos and British territory in Upper Burma. The Kingdom of Laos became a protectorate, initially placed under the Governor General of Indochina in Hanoi. French vice-consul Pavie, who almost single-handedly brought Laos under French administration, saw to the officialization in Hanoi.

The French and British both had strong interests in controlling parts of Indochina and Thailand as a middle-ground bode well for the region. Twice in the 1890s, the two superpowers were on the verge of war over two different routes leading to Yunnan. But several difficulties discouraged them from war. The geography of the land made troop movements difficult, and any warfare far more costly and less effective. Both countries were fighting a difficult conflict within their respective colonies likewise and troop consignment was impossibly forthcoming. Malaria was common and deadly too. Ultimately, the imagined trade routes never really came into use and the economic results of the colonization in entirety remains dubious. In 1904, the French and the British put aside their many differences with the Entente Cordiale, ending their own disputes waged in southeastern Asia.

Friday, April 16, 2021

Zoroaster & the Throne of Solomon


The three monotheistic religions of Christianity/Catholicism, Islam and Judaism, referred to as Abrahamic, are claimed under the Takht-e-Sulaiman which is both atop a mountain in Pakistan (Takht-e-Sulaiman) and by a thermal pool at Iran’s Takht-e Soleyman (also known as the Azar Goshnasp Fire Temple). The literal meaning of Takht-e-Sulaiman, the Throne of Solomon is discerned against it’s metonymy alluding to such an idea of a supernatural holding as well as where Zoroastrians originated and may claim a birthplace of Zoroaster in West Azerbaijan Provinces Nosratabad circa seventeen century BCE. The Zoroastrians continue to practice the maintenance of the eternal flame in the fire temple to this day, such as at Yazd Atash Behram. The myth of this particular fire temple at Takht-e-Sulaiman as the origin of world religions is based on the story of the three wise men (Magi), which includes the practice of astrology, magic, and idol worship particularly of course also practically instills the three things fire truly serves in good living; warmth, light and cooking.
  

 
If conducting transnational trade in the ancient world the obstacles to financial success were complicated, it was identifiably less so for Zoroastrians. From the mountain in Pakistan surrounded by olive groves and pine nut forests, which at its peak of 3,487 meters (11,440 ft) the general zenith for living; the prophet Solomon didn’t transgress this distance east, rather overlooked India to see it’s cover of darkness, before returning west. Choreography of a journey across such regions, often covered in snow, is of course the trepidation surrounding such allegory, when merchants seek both to secure the route in good living standards, and avoid the impasse of many kinds including banditry. The basis of the Silk road for instance; it’s trail from east to west and vice-a-versa hence is between stationed securities which requires some obligatory measure of standards, easily enforced under the certainty of Zoroaster when potentially the traders on the lucrative trade routes from East and Southern Asia to the West weren’t privy to accept intoxications of a classical Indo-Iranian religious belief system (such as soma and haoma).
Zoroastrianism or Mazdayasna the State religion of Iran from 600 BCE to 650 CE, has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil and an eschatology, predicting the ultimate conquest of evil by good. Zoroastrianism exalts the uncreated and benevolent deity of wisdom, Ahura Mazda. Featuring monotheism, messianism, judgment after death, heaven and hell, and free will all which was adopted by other religious and philosophical systems, including Second Temple Judaism, Gnosticism, Greek philosophy, Christianity, Islam, the Baháʼí Faith, and Buddhism. The Avesta is it’s central writing (of Zoroaster) composing Gathas, with 17 Hymns, in Gathic or Old Avestan, of the old Iranian language group that is a sub-group of Eastern families of the Indo-European languages. Also the Yasna, the constituent chapters of which define the ceremony and function to strengthen the orderly spiritual and material creations of Ahura Mazda against the assault of the destructive forces of Angra Mainyu, and via a lengthy eulogy which culminates in an offering and or strengthening of the waters. 
The historical identity of Zoroaster isn’t well discerned and potentially for good reason. For example while the birthplace of Buddha, or Jesus acts to centralize these faiths, the Gathas means both the teaching of Zoroaster and the community that accepts that teaching. As origins go, magic itself is such an illusion more often than not, of multiple meanings, which either so entertained, seeks to embellish or deceive, and so acquire uncertainty for recompense. As such the Avestan maga- and the Sanskrit magha-, should confer while there is no reason to suppose something, that thing rather as belief acts in force, on what may be, and however is, which is what is known as faith. The Magi, the priests of Zoroaster first appear in the trilingual inscription written by Darius the Great, known as the Behistun Inscription. Old Persian texts, predating the Hellenistic period, refer to a magus as a Zurvanic, and presumably Zoroastrian, priest. Such accounts of course defy the nature of the Magus, which necessarily imparts undefined methodology, superstitions perhaps, and so often regarded, but the mystical life, which is often embellished with the motivation to aspire to greatness.




The creation of fable as designed to expel indignity, generate positivity and endure generations is the essential contribution we should expect from those in deep discussions cloistered around an eternal flame. The so called source of Zoroaster, for instance, his said birthplace by the Azar Goshnasp Fire Temple, imbues the sanctity of the best potential where the harshest climate can still be reveled in. So riding the trade route along the Silk road one caravan traveling day in and day out, holds that in the whitest winter when reaching the thermal lake at Nosratabad, those may bathe, and dry at it’s temple fire. Indulgence hence in remoteness is so sought, but not only to just receive sustenance in good company, but availing profit in security whilst too securing the opportunity to wed.

Sunday, January 10, 2021

Byzantium & Khazaria; the Quinisext Council


Gog and Magog were apocryphal terms for the Khazar, descendants from the east-Asian steppe in following the Sabir war-machine, and departure of the far eastern Hun. Bearing ethnocentric composition of both Asian and Caucasians, the empire was preempted with the first collapse of Tong Yabghu Qaghan’s Western Turkic Khaganate from 618 to 628 AD. Described in the Old Book of Tang as having ‘occupied the land of Wusun and moved... to Qianquan north of Tashkent’ while Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang whence visiting the western Göktürk capital Suyab in modern Kyrgyzstan described Tong Yabghu as wearing “a green satin robe; his hair, which was ten feet long, was free. A band of white silk wound round his forehead and hung down behind”. Attributed to be the leader mentioned in Byzantine sources as having (as khagan of the Khazars) campaigned with the Emperor Heraclius in the Caucasus against the Sassanid Persian Empire in 627–628. Scholars disagree though as to whether Sipi Khagan was the ruler, who was Tong Yabghu's uncle; maintaining authority in the West. The generations following Tong Yabghu Qaghan’s assasination were composed by a mixture of regimes imposed under military Generals of which scholars cannot definitively attribute any sovereign authority to a Khagar again until 740 - 786 with Bulan Khazar who famously converted to Judaism. The Khazar capital was originally Balanjar but following sustained conflict with the Arabs (see Al-Tabari) after the seventh century it was moved to Atil.

Ibn Fadlan accounted for the Khāqān, or Khan’s as “Emperors” and “Kings” in modern English; having invaded territories of the Black Sea where the Khazar would consolidate it’s multi-ethnic State. The Khan, so typical of the Orient, can only appear in public once every four months. The ruling deputy in command of the armies would actually manage the affairs of the kingdom, predominately in collecting homage and in daily council, considered as ritual. The armies were deemed to never lay eyes on their Emperor as for example when out riding, the entire army accompanies him at a distance of one mile and on return all subjects prostrate themselves. Such armies will forfeit their lives on retreat from battle or otherwise abandonment while it’s General's possessions were publicly distributed prior to his execution, or if favored nonetheless, kept in service of the State as a stable boy. The Great Khāqān bore innumerable wives and concubines sourced from neighboring kingdoms who had sworn fealty to the ruler. A Great Khāqān’s rule is said to expire precisely after forty years, where if just one day late his subjects should execute him while maintaining his mind to be defective, and his judgement impaired. On death, his subjects are required to build a large dwelling over a river, in which twenty tents are erected and twenty graves are dug. Those who bury the Khāqān are beheaded upon completion of their task so that no one knows the final location of the corpses interment in its “Garden”.

The Islamic Caliphate inadvertently brought Byzantium and Khazaria into alliance. Likewise the Khagar acted as proxy of the Byzantines, in consolidated opposition to Kievan Rus’ control of Kiev; the western edge of the Khazar silk road, even though consistently disputing control over Crimea. Following the son of Saint Olga, who converted to Orthodox Christianity at the court of Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in 957. Sviatoslav I Igorevich’s reign, his name meaning ‘holy glory’, created the largest European State at the time when moving the Kievan Rus’ capital from Kiev into retreat in modern day Romania. Following a failed Bulgarian campaign he was forced to accept peaceful terms with Byzantine emperor John I Tzimiskes, submitting southern Crimea as a concession. He was ambushed and killed at 30 years of age as a consequence. Following Sviatoslav's death, tensions among his sons grew. A war of legitimization followed first between Oleg and Yaropolk, in 976, with the later prevailing. In 977 his third son Vladimir fled Novgorod for Scandinavia, he subsequently raised an army of Varangians and returned in 980 to defeat Yaropolk becoming the sole ruler of Kievan Rus'. Converting to Chalcedonian Christianity he maintained peaceful accords at large since his father’s paganism was a main point of consternation with the Byzantine, and the Bulgars were crippled following his campaigns there.

Sources of the modern Byzantium-Khazaria alliance occur over disputation of the Eastern Roman Empires control of Constantinople. Under Byzantine Emperor Tiberius III, following the reigns of Justinian II who appeared before the Khazar Khāqān and married the Khāqān’s sister; Justinian II, the eldest son of Emperor Constantine IV, was raised as joint emperor in 681 on the fall of his uncles Heraclius and Tiberius, attaining the rank of Emperor at age 16. Three years later he thwarted the Arabs in Armenia usurping the Umayyad Caliphate partially regaining control over Cyprus. In addition to securing the incomes of Armenia and Iberia, he liberated 12,000 Lebanese Christian Maronites, who maintained resistance against the Caliphate. His first military campaign was in 688–689, in defeating the Bulgars of Macedonia; Justinian was able to enter Thessalonica, the second most important Byzantine city in Europe and prior under consistent invasion attempts from the Avars and Slavs. Provisioning for 30,000 Slavic troops which he had forcibly resettled in Anatolia, Justinian commenced military campaigns against the Arabs, which proved disastrous as the Arabs turned the mercenary Slavs against Justinian at the Battle of Sebastopolis. Armenia was claimed by the Patrician Symbatius who resumed dealings with the Arabs, but in turn was conquered by 695. Justinian II, after attempting genocide of the regional Slavs, commenced persecution of Manichean's, and became immensely unpopular for this and through his extreme taxation policies and forcible resettlement plans. Despite dedicating himself to a religious council and hence regional security, his reign was doomed. Firstly, in 695 the population rose up against Justinian, under Leontios, the strategos of Hellas, proclaiming him to be Emperor. Justinian was deposed, his nose was cut off, and he was exiled to Cherson in Crimea. Leontius, after a reign of three years, was in turn dethroned and imprisoned by Tiberius Apsimarus. It was then having escaped Crimea, Justinian, and taking to Khazar Khāqān, with a new golden nose, wed the Khāqān’s sister, renaming her Theodora at Baptismal. Theodora would soon enough herself save Justinan’s life. 

Tiberios having heard of the marital alliance, bribed Busir for the head of Justinian. According to the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor, ca. 704, Busir dispatched two agents to murder his brother-in-law, Balgitzin and Papatzys. The then pregnant Theodora, discovering the assassination plot, warned her husband Justinian II, who supposedly strangled both of his assassins. He then secretly set sail in a fishing boat back to Crimea, leaving Theodora under the protection of her brother. In 705, Justinian forged a new alliance with Tervel of Bulgaria, offering him the title Ceasar, and in ceding Bulgaria to him from the empire’s holdings and granting him his own daughter Anastasia to be wed. With an army of 15,000 Bulgarian horsemen, Justinian succeeded to invade Constantinople though by subterfuge via an unused water conduit. He successfully roused supporters, seizing control of the city in a midnight coup d'état. In deposing Tiberios III and reclaiming his throne, Theodora was crowned Augusta and their son Tiberios proclaimed co-Emperor to secure his succession rights. After the public execution of Tiberius and Leontios he blinded and exiled Patriarch Kallinikos I of Constantinople to Rome. Betraying Tervel in turn he failed to reclaim Bulgaria on military expedition, and while struggling against the Caliphate he claimed minor victories in Asia minor, specifically Cappadocia. 

Requiring Pope John VII to recognize the decisions of the Quinisext Council, the Pope visited Constantinople and for the last time in over one thousand years. After receiving Holy Communion by the hands of the Pope, Justinian renewed all the privileges of the Roman Church. The Quinisext Canons found their way into Byzantine canonical collections even in the iconoclast period (despite the approval given to images of Christ in Canon 82). They did not, however, attain a wholly equal status to the canons of earlier councils until the great canonists of the twelfth century such as Balsamon. The immediate reaction of the Holy See was fiercely hostile, partly because two canons (13 and 55) explicitly criticized Roman practices, but more because Rome resented being expected to approve a whole sheaf of new canons retrospectively. In 711, however, Pope Constantine appears to have accepted a compromise whereby Rome accepted the validity of the canons in the East, while being allowed to continue existent western practices where these differed. Later a letter by Pope Hadrian I (dating to 785) citing Byzantine approval of the canons was misread in the West as a statement of approval by Hadrian himself. Partly in consequence of this error but also in view of their quality, Gratian (twelfth-century) cited many of the Quinisext Canons in his own great collection of canons, the Decretum. Where, however, they clashed with western canons or practice, he set them aside as representing Byzantine practice, just lacking universal validity. Gratian's work remained authoritative in the West until the first systematic Code of Catholic Canon Law was issued in 1917.

In retaliation for his treatment at the hands of the Khazars, Justinian II orchestrated an invasion of Crimea. Raising a Greek army of 100,000 soldiers, their Khazarian influence was underestimated. While succeeding to establish a governor in the city of Cherson, three quarters of the army didn’t return to Constantinople due to excessive weather, loyalties or both. The son of Armenian patrician Nikephorus was Philippicus, originally named Bardanes; who with support of the Monothelites during the first rebellion against Justinian, was after pretension for the throne, relegated to Cephalonia by Tiberius Apsimarus, and subsequently banished to Cherson by order of Justinian. When Cherson rebelled against the second reign of Justinian it was under General Bardanes with Khazar support. Emperor Justinian's forces thus after visibly failing to take Cherson, joined the rebellion, returning to seize Constantinople. Philippikus (General Bardanes) hence obtained the throne from Justinian II whilst he was on route to Armenia, and subsequently captured and beheaded. Justinian’s son Tiberius was likewise apprehended at the sanctuary of St. Mary's Church in Blachernae and executed. Among the first acts as Emperor was the deposition of Cyrus, the orthodox patriarch of Constantinople, in favor of John VI, a member of the Emperor Philippicus' private sect. Consequently, summoning a Conciliabulum of eastern bishops to abolish the canons of the Sixth Ecumenical Council, the Holy See refused to recognize the Emperor or his patriarch. Tervel (Caesar) took upon the opportunity to plunder Constantinople as far as the citadel. After only two years in power, the Opsikion troops rebelled in Thrace. Several of their officers captured and blinded Philippicus in the hippodrome, while he died in the same year.

Monday, December 28, 2020

Rurik’s Kievan Rus’; Russian-Viking origin

Nestor's Chronicle or The Chronicle of Nestor, is a history of the Kievan Rus' from about 850 to 1110, originally compiled in Kiev about 1113 by Nestor (c. 1056 – c. 1114); hence scholars refer often to Nestor's Chronicle or of Nestor's manuscript as the source of Russian history.  The original compilation now lost, was produced at the court of Sviatopolk II of Kiev (ruled 1093–1113), likely bearing Sviatopolk's Scandinavian allegiances. Nestor's Pan-Scandinavian attitude was confirmed by a Polish historian and archaeologist Wladyslaw Duczko, and he argued that the central aims of the Chronicle’s narrative was to ‘give an explanation how the Rurikids came to power in the lands of the Slavs, why the dynasty was the only legitimate one and why all the princes should terminate their internal fights and rule in peace and brotherly love’. Later accounts are the Laurentian Codex compiled by the Nizhegorod monk Laurentius for the Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich in 1377, which details the Russian periods until 1305, whilst the years 898–922, 1263–83 and 1288–94 are missing in context. Whereas the Laurentian (Muscovite) text traces the Kievan legacy through to the Muscovite princes. Another, the Hypatian traces the Kievan legacy through the rulers of the Halych principality. The Hypatian codex was rediscovered in Kiev in the 1620s written in Church Slavonic language.

The Primary Chronicle (Nestor's) describes the Rurik dynastic origin while accosted by the Tributaries of the Varangians (Vikings), “There was no law among them, but tribe rose against tribe. Discord thus ensued among them, and they began to war one against another. They said to themselves, "Let us seek a prince who may rule over us and judge us according to the Law." They accordingly came from overseas to the Varangian Russes: these particular Varangians (Vikings) were known as Russes, just as some are called Swedes, and others Normans, English, and Gotlanders, for they were thus named. The Chuds, the Slavs, the Krivichians, and the Ves' then said to the people of Rus', "Our land is great and rich, but there is no order in it. Come to rule and reign over us." They thus selected three brothers, with their kinsfolk, who took with them all the Russes and migrated. The oldest, Rurik, located himself in Novgorod; the second, Sineus, at Beloozero; and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. On account of these Varangians, the district of Novgorod became known as the land of Rus”. The account is precluded by a vast narrative traced back to the descendants of Noah; Shem, Ham and Japeth, with the latter's descendants being Varangians, Swedes, Normans, and the Russians. Andrew the Apostle charted the Slavic migrations in detail surrounding the River Danube, as running east to west and straight across Eastern Europe, in addition to the western source of the Danube which was also the source of the Vistula river running north to south and reaching the Black Sea across modern Poland.

In AD 860, Rurik, the Varangian chieftain of the Rus' who maintained control of Ladoga, drove his kinsmen, the Vikings, back beyond the sea in refusing them further tribute. His port at Lagoda was a key strategic entry to the Balkans linking Kiev with Constantipole to which his descendants would take arms. The Greek-Arabic trade goods flowed along this route by the Dniester or Dnieper rivers, an alternative to the western route via the Vistula. The Russians so set out to govern themselves under Rurik I who remained in power until death in 879. Rurik bequeathed his realm to Oleg, who belonged to his kin, and entrusted to Oleg's hands his son Igor, who was too young to rule. At the time and according to Olof von Dalin, Askold (as Asleik Bjornson (Diar)), was the son of Björn Ironside, who ruled over Kiev with Dir. Accounts later relayed askold Dir as termed by the Rus' of their first Kievan ruler, whether in kind, meaning 'strange'. The Primary Chronicle details; Oleg set forth, taking with him many warriors from among the Varangians, the Chuds, the Slavs, the Merians and all the Krivichians. He thus arrived with his Krivichians before Smolensk, captured the city, and set up a garrison there. Soon he went on to capture Lyubech, before arriving at the hills of Kyiv. Here he saw how Askold and Dir reigned and so schemed to take control. Hiding his warriors in their boats, he went forward in a peaceful approach to Askold and Dir bearing the child Igor as any stranger on his way to Greece on an errand. Though on summons to which Askold and Dir responded his soldiers emerged, when Oleg denounced him and bringing forward Igor who Oleg proclaimed as the son of Rurik. Askold and Dir, were carried off to the Hungarian hill, executed and buried there, where the castle of Ol'ma now stands. Igor the heir of Rurik would twice besiege Constantinople in 941 and 944, via the Kyiv stronghol and although Greek fire destroyed part of his fleet, he concluded a favorable treaty in 945 with the Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VII. In 913 and 944 the Rus' plundered the Arabs in the Caspian Sea during the Caspian expeditions of the Rus'. The Byzantines consequently accounted for Igor’s torture and death while collecting tribute from the Drevlians in 945. The Primary Chronicle points out that he attempted to collect tribute for a second time in a month. Igor's wife, Olga of Kyiv, avenged him by punishing the Drevlians and mandated a new legal system of tribute gathering (poliudie) as a result.

It was the Polyanians (Ukrainian: Поляни, Polyany, Russian: Поляне Polyane, Polish: Polanie) indeed who had built Kiev and named it after their ruler, Kyi. Polyanians were an East Slavic tribe between the 6th and the 9th century, which inhabited both sides of the Dnieper river, east of the Black Sea, running from Liubech to Rodnia and also down the lower streams of the rivers Ros', Sula, Stuhna, Teteriv, Irpin', Desna and Pripyat. In the Early Middle Ages there were two separate Slavic tribes bearing the name of Polans, one being the eastern, and the other being the western Polan, a West Slavic tribe. The name Polan is derived from the Old East Slavic word поле, meaning ‘field’, as according to the Primary Chronicle, such was entitled to those who lived in their fields and hence as farmers, the people were, whilst dependent on water for their crops, not necessarily so on the direct yields from the riverbanks nor it's boatmen. In the 9th and 10th centuries the Polans had well-developed arable land Farming, Cattle-breeding, Hunting, Fishing, Wild-hive Beekeeping and various handicrafts such as Blacksmithing, Casting, Pottery, Goldsmithing, etc. Thousands of (pre-Polan) kurgans, found by archaeologists in the Polan region, indicates their land had a relatively high population density too. They lived in small families in semi Dug-outs ("earth-houses") and wore homespun clothes and modest jewelry. Before converting to Christianity, the inhabitants used to burn their dead and erect kurgan-like embankments over them. Concerning the nomenclature of the distinct languages emergent during the Middle Ages; Ruthenian or Old Ruthenian is one source for a split, where in modern texts, the language in question is sometimes called "Old Ukrainian" or "Old Belarusian" (Ukrainian: Староукраїнська мова) and (Belarusian: Старабеларуская мова). As Ruthenian always bore a diglossic opposition to Church Slavonic, the vernacular language was and still is often called prosta(ja) mova (Cyrillic проста(я) мова), literally as ‘simple speech’.

Under the rulership of Emperor Heraclius, many of the Slavs were invaded and oppressed by the Bulgars, Avars, and Pechenegs. The Slavs from the Dnieper fell under the lordship of the Khazars of whom had had command of Kiev preceding the Rus', and were required to pay tribute. By the middle of the twelfth century, Kievan Rus′ had dissolved into independent principalities, each ruled by a different branch of the Rurik dynasty. Conflict was yet integral, such as Mstislav Vladimirovich’s campaigns, one of the earliest attested princes of Tmutarakan and Chernigov in Kievan Rus. He was a younger son of Vladimir the Great, Grand Prince of Kiev. His father appointed him to rule Tmutarakan, an important fortress by the Strait of Kerch, in or after 988. Subsequently he invaded the core territories of Kievan Rus, which were ruled by his brother, Yaroslav the Wise (978 – 1054), in 1024. Although Mstislav could not take Kiev, he forced the East Slavic tribes dwelling to the east of the Dniester River to accept his suzerainty. Yaroslav the Wise also accepted the division of Kievan Rus' along the river after Mstislav had defeated him in a battle fought at Listven by Chernigov (presents-day Chernihiv, Ukraine). Mstislav transferred his seat to the latter town, and became the first ruler of the principality emergent.

The Rurik dynasty underwent a schism after the death of Yaroslav the Wise in 1054, dividing into three branches on the basis of descent from three successive ruling Grand Princes: Izyaslav (1024–1078), Svyatoslav (1027–1076), and Vsevolod (1030–1093). In the 10th century the Council of Liubech made some amendments to the rules of succession and so divided Ruthenia into several autonomous principalities that had equal rights to obtain the throne of Kiev. The Rurik dynasty (or Rurikids) ultimately became the Tsardom of Russia whilst the last Rurikid to rule Russia, Tsar Vasily IV (from the House of Shuysky, cadet branch of the House of Rurik), reigning until 1610; Vasily Tatishchev referred to the Loachim Chronicle in referencing his own legacy as partisan to the Wends (Old English: Winedas; Old Norse: Vindr; German: Wenden, Winden; Danish: vendere; Swedish: vender; Polish: Wendowie).


Most Popular

Carolingian dynasty

Pippinids


Pippin of Landen

Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia under the Merovingian king Dagobert I from 623 to 629. Also mayor for Sigebert III from 639 until his own death. Pippin (also called the Elder) was lord of a great part of Brabant. He became the governor of Austrasia too when Theodebert II King of that country was defeated by Theodoric II. King of Burgundy, In 613. Through the marriage of his daughter Begga to Ansegisel, a son of Arnulf of Metz, the clans of the Pippinids and the Arnulfings were united, giving rise to Carolingians.


Begga

Bega or Beggue, means the Shining. Born around 620 she died 17 December 692, 693 or 695, daughter of the Frankish mayor of the palace Pepin of Landen. Begga, after the death of her husband Ansegisel, took pilgrimage to Rome, and is said to have built seven chapels in association with the seven main churches of Rome, starting with the Benedictine monastery at Nevelles.


Grimoald

Grimoald (616–657), was the Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia from 643 to 656. He convinced the childless King (Sigebert III) to adopt his son, named Childebert at his baptism. Sigebert eventually had an heir, Dagobert II, but Grimoald feared the fate of his own dynasty and exiled the young Dagobert to either an Irish monastery or the Cathedral school of Poitiers. Upon Sigebert’s death, probably in 651, Grimoald put his son on the throne who Clovis II eventually captured and executed in 657. Grimoald was deposed and executed by the King of Neustria, reuniting the Kingdom of the Franks.


Arnulfings

Arnulf of Metz

Arnold (English) was a Frankish bishop of Metz (582–640) and advisor to the Merovingian court of Austrasia; retired to the Abbey of Remiremont around 628 (a hermitage at a mountain site in the Vosges). Arnulf gave distinguished service under Theudebert II. He distinguished himself both as a military commander and in the civil administration; at one time he had under his care six distinct provinces. Arnulf was married to Doda in 596. Originating to the Arnulfing line as sourced to Zerah, King David, and Joseph of Arimathea.


Ansegisel

(d. 662 or 679) Served King Sigbert III of Austrasia (634-656) as a duke (Latin dux, a military leader) and domesticus. He was killed sometime before 679, slain in a feud by his enemy Gundewin but there are two differing accounts of his death, the other being his death was a hunting accident. Through his son Pepin, Ansegisel's descendants became Frankish kings and ruled the Carolingian Empire.


Chlodulf of Metz

In 657, Chlodulf (d. 696 or 697) became bishop of Metz until 697, the third successor of his father, he held that office for 40 years. During this time he richly decorated the cathedral St. Stephen while in close contact with his sister-in-law Saint Gertrude of Nivelles.


Pepin of Herstal

Frankish statesman and military leader who de facto ruled Francia as the Mayor of the Palace from 680 until death (635-714). Pepin subsequently embarked on several wars to expand his power. He united all the Frankish realms by the conquest of Neustria and Burgundy in 687. In foreign conflicts, Pepin increased the power of the Franks by his subjugation of the Alemanni, the Frisians, and the Franconians. He also began the process of evangelisation of Germany. Around 670, Pepin had married Plectrude, who had inherited substantial estates in the Moselle region.


Grimoald II

Mayor of the Palace of Neustria from 695 (d. 714). He was the second son of Pepin of Heristal and Plectrude. He married Theudesinda (or Theodelinda), daughter of Radbod, King of the Frisians. While en route to visit the tomb of Saint Lambert at Liège, he was assassinated by a certain Rangar, in the employ of his father-in-law. His sons carried on a fight to be recognised as Pepin of Heristal's true heirs, since Grimoald predeceased his father and his bastard half-brother Charles Martel usurped the lands and offices of their father.


Drogo of Champagne

Duke of Champagne by appointment of his father in 690 and duke of Burgundy from the death of Nordebert in 697. He was the mayor of the palace of Burgundy from 695. He married Anstrude, the daughter of Ansflede and Waratton, the former mayor of the palace of Neustria and Burgundy, and also the widow of the mayor of the palace Berthar and they had four sons. Drogo predeceased his father and left the duchy of Champagne to his second-eldest son Arnulf, as the first born Hugh had entered a monastery. Drogo is buried in Metz in Saint-Pierre-aux-Nonnains.


Theudoald

Mayor of the Palace of Neustria, briefly unopposed in 714 until Ragenfrid was acclaimed in Neustria and Charles Martel in Austrasia (d. 741). Plectrude tried to have him recognised by his grandfather as the legitimate heir to all the Pippinid lands, instead of the illegitimate Charles Martel. His grandmother surrendered on his behalf in 716 to Chilperic II of Neustria and Ragenfrid.


Carolingians

Charles Martel

Frankish statesman and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was de facto ruler of Francia from 718 until his death (686–741). He restored centralised government in Francia and began the series of military campaigns that re-established the Franks as the undisputed masters of all Gaul. In foreign wars, Martel subjugated Bavaria, Alemannia, and Frisia, vanquished the pagan Saxons, and halted the Islamic advance into Western Europe at the Battle of Tours. Martel was a great patron of Saint Boniface and made the first attempt at reconciliation between the Papacy and the Franks. The Pope wished him to become the defender of the Holy See and offered him the Roman consulship which Martel refused. "the Hero of the Age," & "Champion of the Cross against the Crescent."


Carloman

(716– 17 August 754) was instrumental in consolidating their power at the expense of the ruling Merovingian Kings of the Franks. Called "the first of a new type of saintly king,” he withdrew from public life in 747 to take up the monastic habit; "more interested in religious devotion than royal power, who frequently appeared in the following three centuries and who was an indication of the growing impact of Christian piety on Germanic society”. Gaining support of the Anglo-Saxon

missionary Winfrid (later Saint Boniface), the so-called "Apostle of the Germans,” whom he charged with restructuring the church in Austrasia; Carloman was instrumental in convening the Concilium Germanicum in 742, the first major synod of the Catholic Church to be held in the eastern regions of the Frankish Kingdom. After repeated armed revolts and rebellions, Carloman in 746 convened an assembly of the Alemanni magnates at Cannstatt and then had most of the magnates, numbering in the thousands, arrested and executed for high treason in the Blood Court at Cannstatt.


Pepin the Short

King of the Franks from 751 until his death (714–768). The younger son of the Frankish prince Charles Martel he received ecclesiastical education from the monks of St. Denis. He reformed the legislation of the Franks and continued the ecclesiastical reforms of Boniface. Pepin also intervened in favour of the Papacy of Stephen II against the Lombards in Italy. He was able to secure several cities, which he then gave to the Pope as part of the Donation of Pepin. This formed the legal basis for the Papal States in the Middle Ages. The Byzantines, keen to make good relations with the growing power of the Frankish empire, gave Pepin the title of Patricius. In wars of expansion, Pepin conquered Septimania from the Islamic Ummayads, and subjugated the southern realms by repeatedly defeating Waifer of Aquitaine and his Basque troops, after which the Basque and Aquitanian lords saw no option but to pledge loyalty to the Franks. Pepin was, however, troubled by the relentless revolts of the Saxons and the Bavarians.


Carloman I

King of the Franks from 768 until his death in 771 (b.751). He was the second surviving son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon and was a younger brother of Charlemagne. Carloman's reign proved short and troublesome. The brothers shared possession of Aquitaine, which broke into rebellion upon the death of Pepin the Short; when Charlemagne in 769 led an army into Aquitaine to put down the revolt, Carloman led his own army there to assist, before quarrelling with his brother at Moncontour, near Poitiers, and withdrawing, troops and all. This, it had been suggested, was an attempt to undermine Charlemagne's power, since the rebellion threatened the latter's rule; Charlemagne, however, crushed the rebels, whilst Carloman's behaviour had simply damaged his own standing amongst the Franks. Carloman's position was never strong and he had been left without allies. He attempted to use his brother's alliance with the Lombards to his own advantage in Rome, offering his support against the Lombards to Stephen III and entering into secret negotiations with the Primicerius, Christopher, whose position had also been left seriously isolated by the Franco-Lombard rapprochement; but after the violent murder of Christopher by Desiderius, Stephen III chose to give his support to the Lombards and Charlemagne. Carloman's position was rescued, however, by Charlemagne's sudden repudiation of his Lombard wife, Desiderius' daughter. Desiderius, outraged and humiliated, appears to have made some sort of alliance with Carloman following this, in opposition to Charlemagne and the Papacy, which took the opportunity to declare itself against the Lombards. Carloman died on 4 December 771 while he and his brother Charlemagne were close to outright war.


Charlemagne

Charles the Great (742–814), Latin: Carolus or Karolus Magnus, French: Charles Le Grand or Charlemagne, German: Karl der Große, Italian: Carlo Magno or Carlomagno or Charles I, was the King of the Franks from 768, the King of Italy from 774, and from 800 the first Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. Charlemagne died in 814, having ruled as emperor for just over thirteen years.


Louis the Pious

Louis the Pious (778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair, and the Debonaire; was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor (as Louis I) with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. As the only surviving adult son of Charlemagne and Hildegard, he became the sole ruler of the Franks after his father's death in 814, a position which he held until his death, save for the period 833–34, during which he was deposed. In the 830s his empire was torn by civil war between his sons, only exacerbated by Louis's attempts to include his son Charles by his second wife in the succession plans. Though his reign ended on a high note, with order largely restored to his empire, it was followed by three years of civil war.


Lothair I

Lotharius (795 – 29 September 855) was the Emperor of the Romans (817–855), co-ruling with his father until 840, and the King of Bavaria (815–817), Italy (818–855) and Middle Francia (840–855). The territory of Lorraine (Lothringen in German) is named after him. During Lothair's early life, was probably passed at the court of his grandfather Charlemagne. Lothair was sent to govern Bavaria in 815. He first comes to historical attention in 817, when Louis the Pious drew up his Ordinatio Imperii. In this, Louis designated Lothair as his principal heir and ordered that Lothair would be the overlord of Louis' younger sons Pippin of Aquitaine and Louis the German, as well as his nephew Bernard of Italy. Lothair would also inherit their lands if they were to die childless. Lothair was then crowned joint emperor by his father at Aachen. At the same time, Aquitaine and Bavaria were granted to his brothers Pippin and Louis, respectively, as subsidiary kingdoms. Following the murder of Bernard by Louis the Pious, Lothair also received the Kingdom of Italy. In 821, Lothair married Ermengarde (d. 851), daughter of Hugh the Count of Tours.


Charles the Bald

Born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, The two years of Charles's reign were 875–877. The three brothers continued the system of "confraternal government", meeting repeatedly with one another, at Koblenz (848), at Meerssen (851), and at Attigny (854). Charles had to struggle against repeated rebellions in Aquitaine and against the Bretons. Led by their chiefs Nomenoë and Erispoë, who defeated the King at the Battle of Ballon (845) and the Battle of Jengland (851), the Bretons were successful in obtaining a de facto independence. Charles also fought against the Vikings, who devastated the country of the north, the valleys of the Seine and Loire, and even up to the borders of Aquitaine.


Louis the Stammerer

Louis le Bègue 1 November 846 – 10 April 879 was the King of Aquitaine and later King of West Francia. He was the eldest son of Charles the Bald and Ermentrude of Orléans. He succeeded his younger brother in Aquitaine in 866 and his father in West Francia in 877, though he was never crowned Emperor. Described "a simple and sweet man, a lover of peace, justice, and religion”, In 878, he gave the countries of Barcelona, Girona, and Besalú to Wilfred the Hairy. His final act was to march against the Vikings a campaign he died during.


Charles III

(17 September 879 – 7 October 929), called the Simple or the Straightforward (from the Latin Carolus Simplex), was the King of Western Francia from 898 until 922 and the King of Lotharingia from 911 until 919–23. the third and posthumous son of Louis the Stammerer by his second wife, Adelaide of Paris. In 893 Charles was crowned but didn’t become the official monarch until the death of Odo in 898. In 911, a group of Vikings led by Rollo besieged Paris and Chartres. After a victory near Chartres on 26 August, Charles decided to negotiate with Rollo, resulting in the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. For the Vikings' loyalty, they were granted all the land between the river Epte and the sea, as well as Brittany, which at the time was an independent country which France had unsuccessfully tried to conquer. Rollo also agreed to be baptised and to marry Charles' daughter, Gisela.

The nobles, completely exasperated with Charles' policies and especially his favouritism of count Hagano had him deposed in 922 as the Franks revolted raising a Norman army in return during 923 he was defeated on 15 June near Soissons by Robert of Neustria, who however died in the battle. Charles was captured and imprisoned in a castle at Péronne under the guard of Herbert II of Vermandois where he died. Robert's son-in-law Rudolph of Burgundy was elected to succeed him. In 925 the Lotharingians were subsumed into the Kingdom of Germany.


Louis of Lower Lorraine


Last legitimate Carolingian, (c. 980 – after 1012) second son of Charles of Lorraine's three sons and the eldest by his second marriage to Adelaide, the daughter of a vassal of Hugh Capet. Unlike his elder brother Otto, Duke of Lower Lorraine (970–1012) , who inherited their father's duchy of Lower Lorraine; Louis went with his father to France, where Charles fought for the French throne. They both were imprisoned, through the perfidy of Adalberon, Bishop of Laon, by Hugh at Orléans in 991, when Louis was still a child. His father died in prison in or by 993, but Louis was released. It was asserted by Ferdinand Lot that Louis's life after 995 or 1000 was completely unknown, but more recent research has shed some light upon it. It was William IV of Aquitaine who sheltered Louis afterwards, from 1005 until 1012. He opened the Palace of Poitiers to him and treated him as royalty, regarding him as the true heir to the French throne. Louis even subscribed a charter of William's as Lodoici filii Karoli regis. Young Louis drifted, eventually to be utilised by Robert II, Archbishop of Rouen, who was plotting against the Capetians. Louis was imprisoned again, permanently, this time at Sens, where he died.

Paternal Descendants Listing. Generations unto Elizabeth I of England


1. CLODIUS the Long-Haired King of the Salian Franks at Tournai (428 – 448 AD) – Also called Chlodion(Born c395 AD – Died 448 AD at Vicus Helena) He was killed by the Roman commander Flavius Aetius. Clodius was married (c415 AD) to ILDEGONDE of Cologne, the daughter of Marcomir II, King of the Franks at Cologne and his wife Ildegonde of Lombardy, the daughter of Agelmund, King of Lombardy (c380 – 410 AD). Clodius and Queen Ildegonde were the parents of,

2. CHILDEBERT of Cologne King of the Riprarian Franks at Cologne (448 – 483 AD) (Born c425 – Died 483 AD) Childebert was married (c450 AD) to AMALABERGA N (Born c435 – Died before 483 AD), the daughter of Chlodwig, a Frankish chieftain from Cologne. Childebert and Queen Amalaberga were the parents of,

3. SIGEBERT the Lame King of Cologne (483 AD – 509) (Born c452 AD – Murdered in 509 whilst hunting in the forest of Buchau) King Sigebert was murdered by his son Cloderic at the instigation of his kinsman, Clovis I, King of the Salian Franks. Sigebert was married (c470 AD) to THEUDELINDE of Burgundy (Born c455 AD – Died before 509), the daughter of Godesgesil, King of Burgundy (474 AD – 504) and his wife Theudelinde of the Salian Franks, the daughter of Clodius ‘the Long-Haired, King of the Salian Franks at Tournai (428 – 448 AD) Sigebert the Lame and Queen Theudelinde were the parents of,

4. CLODERIC the Parracide Merovingian King of Cologne (509) (Born c473 AD – Murdered 509 at Cologne) He was killed by agents of King Clovis I who had encouraged Cloderic to murder his father Sigebert, for which crime Clovis had him killed. Cloderic was married (c490 – c495 AD) to N of Bavaria, the daughter of Theodo I, Duke of Bavaria and his wife Reginpurga N, and sister to Agilulf. Cloderic and his unnamed queen were the parents of,

5. MUNDERIC of Cologne Merovingian prince of Cologne and Lord of Vitry-en-Perthois (Born c495 – Killed 532) He was executed after leading an unsuccessful rebellion against Theuderic I of Austrasia. Munderic was married (c525) to ARTEMIA of Geneva (Born c510 – Died after 532), the daughter of Bishop Florentinus of Geneva and his wife Artemia. She was the sister of Sacerdos, Archbishop of Lyons, and was of the family of St Gregory, Bishop of Tours. Munderic and Artemia were the parents of,

6. BODEGISEL I Duke in Provence (Born c518 – Died 581) He was the brother of St Gondulf (died 607), Bishop of Tongres. Bodesgesil I was married (before 550) to PALATINA of Troyes (Bron c530 – Died after 562), who was praised by the poet Venantius Fortunatus, the daughter of Gallomagnus, Bishop of Troyes (573 and 581 – 583) Bodesgesil and Palatina were the parents of,

7. BODEGISEL II Duke (dux) of Austrasia and Governor of Aquitaine (Born c550 – Murdered 588 at Carthage in Africa, whilst returning from an embassy to Constantinople) Bodesgesil was married (c580) to ODA of Alemannia (Born c565 – Died 634) later foundress of the abbey of Hamage, near Huy, on the Meuse river), daughter of Leutfrid, Duke of Alemannia and Swabia (553 – 587). As a widow Duchess Oda founded the Abbey of Hamage near Huy on the Meuse River, where she became a nun. Bodesgesil II and Duchess Oda were the parents of,

8. DODA of Austrasia – Also called Oda (Born c587 – Died after 629 at the Abbey of Treves, Austrasia) Buried within the cloister there Doda became the wife (c600 – c605) of ARNULF, Margrave of Scheldt and later Bishop of Metz (611) (Born after Aug 13, 582 – Died Aug 16, 641, at Remiremont in Lorraine), the son of Arnoald I, Margrave of Scheldt and his second wife Blithilde of Austrasia, the daughter of Theudebald, King of Austrasia (547 – 555) Doda and Arnulf separated in order to embrace the religious life, and she became a nun at the Abbey of Treves, taking the religious name of Clotilda. Doda and Arnulf were the parents of,

9. ANISEGAL of Scheldt Merovingian Mayor of Austrasia (632) (Born 612 – Died 662) He was accidentally killed whilst hunting Anisegal was married (c640) to BEGA of Landen (Born 615 – Died Dec 17, 693 at Andenne in Austrasia), the daughter of Pepin I of Landen, Duke (Mayor) of Austrasia, by his wife Iduberga of Aquitaine, the daughter of Grimoald of Austrasia, Duke of Aquitaine and Itta of Gascony. Anisegal and Bega of Landen were the parents of,

10. PEPIN II of Heristal Duke of Austrasia (Born 645 – Died Dec 16, 714) He was married (c675) to Plectrude of Austrasia (Born c659 – Died after 718 in Cologne, and was buried there), the daughter of Count Hugobert of Austrasia and his wife Irmina of Liege, the granddaughter of Dagobert I, King of Neustria and Austrasia (629 – 639). Pepin II had a concubine ALPHAIDA (Alpais) (Born c670 – Died Sept, c720 as a nun at Judoque in Brabant), the daughter of Childebrand who served as a councilor to the Merovingian kings and his wife Emma (Imma). Pepin II and Alphaida were the parents of,

11. CHARLES MARTEL Duke of Austrasia (737 – 741) (Born 690 – Died Oct 22, 741, at Querzy-sur-Oise) Charles was married firstly (c705,) to ROTRUDE of Haspengau (Hesbaye) (Born c690 – Died 724), the daughter of Lantbert II, Count of Haspengau and his wife Chrodelinde of Neustria, the daughter of Theuderic III, King of Neustria (675 – 690) Charles was marrieds secondly (725) to Suanachilde of Bavaria (Born 707 – Died after 755, as a nun at the Abbey of St Marie at Chelles, near Paris), the daughter of Tassilo II, Duke of Bavaria (715 – c720) and his wife Imma of Alemannia. Charles and Duchess Rotrude were the parents of,

12. PEPIN III King of the Franks (751 – 768) (Born 715 – Died Sept 24, 768 at Jupille) Buried within the Abbey of St Denis at Rheims, near Paris Pepin III was married (c740) to BERTRADA of Laon (Born c725 – Died July 12, 783 at the Palace of Choisy at Annecy), the daughter of Carobert, Count of Laon and his wife Bertrada of Neustria, the daughter of Theuderic III, King of Neustria. Pepin III and Queen Bertrada were the parents of,

13. CHARLEMAGNE King (768 – 814) and first Emperor of the Franks (800 – 814) (Born April 2, 746, at Ingelheim, near Mainz – Died Jan 28, 814, at Aachen) Buried at Aachen Charlemagne was married thirdly (771) to HILDEGARDE of Vinzgau (Born 757 – Died April 30, 783 at the Abbey of Kaufingen, Thionville), the daughter of Gerold I, Count of Vinzgau and Kraichagu, and Prefect of Bavaria by his wife Emma of Alemannia, the daughter of Nebi (Hnabi), Duke of Alemannia. Charlemagne and Queen Hildegarde were the parents of,

14. LOUIS I the Pious King of Aquitaine and Emperor of the Franks (814 – 840) (Born Aug, 778, at the villa of Chasseneuil, near Agenois – Died June 20, 840, at the Palace of Ingelheim, near Mainz) Louis was married firstly (794 at Orleans) to Ermengarde of Hesbaye (Born c780 – Died Oct 3, 818, at Angers in Anjou), the daughter of Ingelramnus, Count and Duke of Hesbayne (Haspengau) and his wife Rotrude, probably the daughter of Thurincbert, Count of Breisgau. Emperor Louis married secondly (Feb, 819) to JUDITH of Altdorf (Born 805 – Died 843 at Tours) the daughter of Welf II, Count of Altdorf and Swabia and his wife Heilwig of Engern, the daughter of Bruno II, Count of Engern. Louis I and Empress Judith were the parents of,

15. GISELA of Neustria Imperial Princess (Born 820 – Died after July 1, 874) Buried in the Abbey of St Calixtus at Cysoing Gisela was married (836) to EBERHARD, Duke of Friuli (Born c805 – Died 866, and buried within the Abbey of St Calixtus), the son of Unruoch of Ternois, Duke of Friuli and his wife Ingeltrude of Paris, the daughter of Leuthard of Paris, Count of Fezensac. Gisela and Duke Eberhard were the parents of,

16. INGELTRUDE of Friuli (Born c839 – Died after July 1, 874) Buried within the Abbey of St Calixtus at Cysoing Ingeltrude was married (c853) to HENRY of Grabfeldgau (Born c830 – Died Aug 28, 886 outside Paris, being killed in battle, and was buried within the Abbey of St Medard at Soissons), Duke of Franconia and Austrasia, Margrave of Nordmark and Count in the Saalgau, the son of Poppo I, Count of Grabfeldgau and Saalgau. Duchess Ingeltrude and Duke Henry were the parents of,

17. HEDWIG of Grabfeldgau (Born c854 – Died Dec 24, 903) Buried within the Abbey of Gandersheim, near Goslar Hedwig was married (869) to OTTO I the Illustrious (Born 836 – Died Nov 30, 912, and buried within the Abbey of Gandersheim), Duke of Saxony (880 – 912), the son of Luidolf, Duke of Saxony and his wife Oda of Franconia, the daughter of Billung I of Franconia, Count of Thuringia and his wife Aeda of Neustria, the granddaughter of the Emperor Charlemagne. Duchess Hedwig and Otto were the parents of,

18. HENRY I the Fowler Henry I, Duke of Saxony (912 – 936) and Holy Roman Emperor (919 – 936) (Born 876, at Memleben – Died July 12, 936, at Memleben) Buried within the Basilica of St Servatius within the Abbey of Quedlinburg Henry was married firstly (905) to Hathburga of Merseburg (Born c877 – Died after 909), the widow of NN (an unidentified nobleman), and the daughter of Count Erwin of Merseburg. Hathburga had apparently taken vows as a nun at the Abbey of Altenburg when Prince Henry married her. Bishop Sigismund of Halberstadt denounced the marriage as unlawful, and the church forced the couple to separate (909). Their only child Thankmar was considered illegitimate and thus rendered ineligible to wear the Imperial crown. Henry then remarried secondly (911, at the Abbey of Nordhausen, Saxony) to MATHILDA of Westphalia (Born 897 – Died March 14, 968, at the Abbey of Quedlinburg, near Halberstadt in Germany, and was interred within the Basilica of St Servatius at Quedlinburg), the daughter of Theodoric, Count of Westphalia and Ringelheim and his wife Reginlinda of Friesland, the daughter of Godfrey of Friesland, King of Haithabu. Emperor Henry and Empress Mathilda were the parents of,

19. GERBERGA of Saxony (Born 913 at Abbey of Nordhausen, Saxony – Died May 5, 984, at Rheims, Marne) Buried within the Chapel of St Remi in the Abbey of St Denis at Rheims Gerberga was married firstly (929) to GISELBERT (Born 890 – Died Oct 2, 939, at Echternach), Duke of Lorraine (928 – 939) and Lay Abbot of Echternach in Luxemburg (915 – 939), the son of Rainer I of Hainault, Duke of Lorraine (900 – 916) and his second wife Alberada of Mons, the daughter of Count Adalbert (Albert) of Mons. Duchess Gerberga was married secondly (939) to Louis IV (Born Sept 10, 921 at Laon, Aisne – Died Sept 10, 954 at Rheims, Marne, and buried within the Chapel of St Remi in the Abbey of St Denis at Rheims), King of France (936 – 954), the son of Charles III the Simple, King of France (893 – 922) and his second wife Otgifa of England, the daughter of Edward the Elder, King of England (899 – 924). Gerberga and Giselbert of Lorraine were the parents of,

20. ALBERADA of Lorraine (Born c930 – Died March 15, 973) Alberada was married (before 947) to RAINALD of Roucy (Born c920 – Died May 10, 967, and was buried within the Abbey of St Remi at Rheims), the son of Ragnvald, a Norse invader who settled in Burgundy. Alberada and Count Rainald were the parents of,

21. ERMENTRUDE of Roucy (Born c954 – Died March 8, 1005) Eremntrude was married firstly (c970) to Alberic II (Born c935 – Died 980), Count of Macon (965 – 980), the son of Lietaud II, Count of Macon (945 – 965) and his first wife Ermengarde of Chalons. Ermentrude then became the first wife (982) of OTTO I WILLIAM of Burgundy (Born c961 – Died Oct 21, 1026, and was buried within the Abbey of St Benigne at Dijon), King of Lombardy and Count of Macon (Born c961 – Died 1026), the son of Adalbert of Ivrea, King of Lombardy and his wife Gerberga of Chalons (later the wife of Duke Eudes of Burgundy). Queen Ermentrude and Otto William were the parents of,

22. RAINALD I of Burgundy Count of Burgundy and Macon (1026 – 1057) (Born c990 – Died Sept 4, 1057) Rainald was married firstly (1016) to ADELIZA of Normandy (Born 1000 at Rouen – Died after July 1, 1037), the eldest daughter of Richard II, Duke of Normandy (996 – 1026) and his first wife Judith of Rennes, the daughter of Conan I the Red, Duke of Brittany. Rainald I and Countess Adeliza were the parents of,

23. WILLIAM II the Great of Burgundy Count of Burgundy and Macon (1057 – 1087) (Born c1024 – Died Nov 12, 1087) – Nicknamed Tete-Hardi William was married (c1150) to STEPHANIE of Metz (Born c1035 – Died 1109), the heiress of the county of Longwy, daughter of Adalbert III of Metz, Duke of Upper Alsace and Count of Longwy, and his wife Clemencia of Foix, the daughter of Bernard Roger of Bigorre, Count of Foix. William II and Countess Stephanie were the parents of,

24. ERMENTRUDE of Burgundy (Born c1055 – Died after March 8, 1105) Ermentrude became the wife (before 1070) of THIERRY II (Born c1045 – Died Jan 2, 1105), Count of Bar and Montbeliard (c1076 – 1105), the son of Louis II, Count of Bar and Montbeliard, and his wife Sophia of Bar, heiress of the county of Bar, the daughter of Frederick II, Duke of Upper Lorraine and Count of Bar and his wife Matilda of Swabia, the daughter of Hermann II, Duke of Swabia (997 – 1003). Countess Ermentrude and Thierry II were the parents of,

25. RAINALD I of Bar Count of Bar-le-Duc and Mousson (1026 – 1050) (Born c1090 – Died June 24, 1150) He founded the Abbey of Rieval and the Priory of Moncon Rainald was married firstly (c1108) to GISELA of Lorraine (Born c1090 – Died c1126), the daughter of Gerhard I of Lorraine, Count of Vaudement by his wife Hedwig of Egisheim, the daughter of Gerard III, Count of Egisheim. Rainald was married secondly (c1127) to NN, the widow of Rainald, Count of Toul, whose identity remains unknown. Rainald I and Countess Gisela were the parents of,

26. RAINALD II of Bar Count of Bar (1150 – 1170) (Born c1115 – Died July 25, 1170) Rainald was married (1155) to Agnes of Champagne (Born c1138 – Died Aug 7, 1207), the daughter of Theobald II, Count of Champagne (V of Blois-Chatres) and his wife Matilda of Carinthia, the daughter of Engelbert II, Duke of Carinthia and his wife Uta of Passau, the daughter of Ulrich, Count of Passau. Rainald II and Countess Agnes were the parents of,

27. THEOBALD I of Bar Count of Bar (1170 – 1214) and of Briey and Luxemburg (Born 1158 – Died Feb 2, 1214) Buried within the Abbey of St Michael Theobald was married firstly (c1174) to Adelaide of Looz (Laurette) (Born c1150 – Died c1184), the widow of Gilles, Count of Clermont, and the daughter of Louis I, Count of Looz, and his wife Agnes of Metz, the daughter of Volmar V, Count of Metz. Theobald married secondly (c1185) to ISABELLE of Bar (Ermesent) (Born c1158 – Died c1192), the widow of Anseau II, Seigneur of Trainel, and the daughter of Guy, Count of Bar-sur-Saone and his wife Peronelle de Chacenay, the daughter of Ansery de Chacenay, Baron de Chacenay of Champagne. Theobald was married thirdly (1193) to Ermesinde of Luxembourg (Born July, 1186 – Died May 9, 1246) sovereign Countess of Luxemburg and Namur, the daughter of Henry IV the Blind, Count of Luxembourg-Namur and his second wife Agnes of Gueldres, the daughter of Henry II, Count of Gueldres and Zutphen and his wife Agnes von Arnstein. Countess Ermesinde remarried to Waleran IV, Count of Limburg. Theobald and his second wife Countess Isabelle were the parents of,

28. HENRY II of Bar Count of Bar (1214 – 1239) and Count of Luxemburg and Namur (Born c1188 – Died Nov 13, 1239 at Gaza, Palestine, being killed in battle) Henry was married (1219) to PHILIPPA of Dreux (Born 1192 – Died March 17, 1242), heiress of the seigneurie of Toucy, the daughter of Robert II, Count of Dreux and his second wife Yolande of Coucy, the daughter of Raoul I of Marle, Seigneur of Coucy and his first wife Agnes of Hainault, the daughter of Baldwin IV, Count of Hainault. Henry II and Countess Philippa were the parents of,

29. THEOBALD II of Bar Count of Bar (1239 – 1297) (Born c1221 – Died 1297) Theobald was married firstly (c1245) to Jeanne of Dampierre (Born c1227 – Died c1275), the widow of Hugh III, Count of Rethel, and daughter of Margaret, Countess of Hainault and Flanders, by her second husband, William II, Count of Dampierre. Theobald was married secondly (c1278) to JEANNE of Toucy (Born c1261 – Died c1317), the daughter of Jean I, Vicount of Toucy and his wife Emma de Laval, the daughter of Guy VI, Seigneur de Laval. Theobald II and Jeanne of Toucy were the parents of,

30. ISABELLA of Bar (Born c1280 – Died c1320) Isabella was married (before 1300) to GUY of Flanders (Born c1275 – Died 1338), Lord of Termonde, the son of William of Flanders, Lord of Termonde and his wife Alice of Clermont, the daughter of Raoul, Count of Clermont. Guy was the grandson of Count Guy of Flanders (1229 – 1305). Isabella and Guy were the parents of,

31. ALIX of Flanders (Born c1310 – Died 1346) Alix was married (c1326) to JEAN I (Born c1305 – Died 1364), Count of Luxembourg-Ligny-Roussy, the son of Waleran II, Count of Luxembourg-Ligny and his wife Guiotte de Hautbourdin, the daughter of Jean VI de Hautbourdin, Seigneur de Lille and his wife Beatrice of Clermont, the daughter of Simon II, Count of Clermont. Alix and Jean I were the parents of,

32. GUY VI of Luxembourg-Ligny Count of Luxemburg-Ligny (1364 – 1371) and Chatelain of Lille in Flanders (Born c1329 – Killed 1371, at the battle of Baesewilder) Guy was married (c1354) to MATILDA of Chatillon (Born c1330 – Died 1378), sovereign Countess of St Pol, the only child and heiress of John I of Luxembourg, Count of St Pol and his wife Jeanne de Fiennes, the daughter of Jean, Seigneur de Fiennes, and sister of Robert ‘Moreau’ de Fiennes, Constable of France (died c1385) Guy VI and Countess Matilda were the parents of,

33. JEAN II of Luxembourg Count of St Pol (1378 – 1397) and Seigneur de Beaurevoir (Born c1356 – Died 1397) He was married (c1379) to MARGEURITE d’Enghien (Born c1362 – Died 1393), the daughter of Louis d’Enghien, Count of Brienne, and his wife Isabella, Countess of Brienne and Leece, the daughter of Walter V, Duke of Athens and Count of Brienne. Jean II and Countess Margeurite were the parents of,

34. PIERRE I of Luxembourg Count of St Pol (1415 – 1433) (Born c1380 – Died 1433) He was married (c1405) to MAGARET del Balzo (Born c1390 – Died 1469), the daughter of Francesco del Balzo (des Baux), Duke of Andria and his second wife Sueva di Orsini (Justina), the daughter of Nicholas di Orsini, Count di Nola and Senator of Rome. Pierre and Countess Margaret were the parents of,

35. JACQUETTA of Luxembourg (Born 1416 – Died May 30, 1472) Jacquetta was married firstly (April 20, 1433, at Therouanne) as his second wife, to John Plantagenet, Prince of England, Duke of Bedford (Born June 30, 1389 – Died Sept 14, 1435 at Rouen, France), the son of Henry IV, King of England (1399 – 1413) and his first wife Lady Mary de Bohun, the younger daughter and co-heiress of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford and Essex. Duchess Jacquetta was married secondly (secretly) (before March 23, 1436) to Sir RICHARD WOODVILLE (born c1405, executed by the Lancastrians at Kenilworth, Aug 12, 1469, after the battle of Edgecot), the first Earl of Rivers, the son of Richard Woodville of the Mote in Maidstone, Kent, and his wife Mary Bedleygate. Duchess Jacquetta and Richard Woodville were the parents of,

36. LADY ELIZABETH WOODVILLE (Born 1437 at Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire – Died June 7, 1492, at Bermondsey Abbey, London) Buried within St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in Berkshire Elizabeth was married firstly (c1452) to Sir John Grey of Groby (Born 1432 – Killed by the Yorkists 1461), the son of Sir Edward Grey of Groby, 7th Baron Ferrers, and his wife Elizabeth, Baroness Ferrers, the daughter and heiress of William, 6th Baroness Ferrers. Elizabeth was married secondly (secretly) (May 1, 1464, at the manor of Grafton Regis) to EDWARD IV 9Born April 28, 1442, at Rouen in Normandy – Died April 9, 1483, at Westminster Palace in London, and was buried in St George’s Chapel at Windsor) King of England (1461 – 1483), the son of Richard, Duke of York and his wife Lady Cecilia Neville, the daughter of Sir Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland. Queen Elizabeth and Edward IV were the parents of,

37. ELIZABETH of York Princess of England (Born Feb 11, 1465, at Westminster Palace, London – Died in childbirth (Feb 11, 1503, at the Tower of London) Buried within Westminster Abbey, London Elizabeth was married (Jan 18, 1486, at Westminster Abbey, London) to HENRY VII (Born Jan 28, 1457, at Pembroke Castle in Wales – Died April 21, 1509, at Richmond Palace, Surrey, and was buried within Westminster Abbey), King of England (1485 – 1509), the only son of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, by his wife Lady Margaret Beaufort, the only child and heiress of John Beaufort, first Duke of Somerset and his wife Margaret de Beauchamp (later wife of Lionel, 6th Baron Wells), the widow of Sir Oliver St John, of Bletsoe in Bedfordshire, and daughter of John de Beauchamp, 3rd Baron Beauchamp of Bletsoe. Queen Elizabeth and Henry VII were the parents of,

38. HENRY VIII of England King of England (1509 – 1547) (Born June 28, 1491, at Greenwich Palace, Kent – Died Jan 28, 1547, at Whitehall Palace, London) Buried within St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in Berkshire) Henry VIII was married many times and bore a single son with Queen Jane Seymur, who died from child birth complications. Henry VIII and Jane Seymour were the parents of;

39. Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) born at Hampton Court Palace in Midlesex, King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. The last King of the Tudor dynasty Edward died at the age of 15 at Greenwich Palace on 6 July, from a suspected tumor of the lung.

40. MARY I of England Queen regnant of England July 1553– Nov 1558 (Born 18 February 1516 at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, Died 17 November 1558). Daughter of Henry VIII and Queen Catherine of Aragon. Married to Philip of Spain, who was Prince Consort, son of Charles V and Infanta Isabella of Portugal. Mary had no heirs and over religious difference seized the Throne from Lady Jane Grey, who was pronounced successor by Edward upon his death, only holding title for 9 days. Mary was Buried 14 December 1558 Westminster Abbey, London.

41. ELIZABETH I of England Elizabeth Tudor, Queen regnant of England (1558 – 1603) (Born Sept 7, 1533, at Greenwich Palace, Kent – Died March 24, 1603, at Richmond Palace, Surrey. Daughter of Henry VIII and Queen Anne Boleyn. Buried within Westminster Abbey, London Remained unmarried until death which brought the Tudor Dynasty to an end(1485 – 1603).

Sermon of Christ at the Lake Genezareth

Sermon of Christ at the Lake Genezareth

Edgar Barclay's Stonehenge, 1891

Edgar Barclay's Stonehenge, 1891

C.Verrusson's Haghia Sophia

C.Verrusson's Haghia Sophia

Utimuni the Zulu nephew of Chaka

Utimuni the Zulu nephew of Chaka

Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives by Edward Lear

Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives by Edward Lear

Laconian bronze banqueter 530-500 BCE. Dodona British Museum

Laconian bronze banqueter 530-500 BCE. Dodona British Museum

The Battle of Oroi-Jalatu

The Battle of Oroi-Jalatu