Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Yazidis, Kurdistan & the Ba'ath; the Iraqi wars

Yazidism, a religion also called Sharfadin by Yazidis a Kurdish minority, is local to northern Syria, Turkey and Iraq, reaching Armenia and Georgia. A monotheistic religion which has elements of Ancient Mesopotamian religions, and similarities with Abrahamic religions such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam. As a strictly autonomous creed, the Yazidis are bound in marriage with other Yazidi, and through the limitation of transition in Yazidis identity across subsequent foreign-generations. Yezidis honor sacred trees. Women must not cut their hair. Marriage is forbidden in April. Reverence of angels and particularly a peacock-angel relates to Assyrian belief and bird-worship. Yazidis believe in reincarnation, sacrifice bulls, practice baptism, pray towards the sun, and relish mystical Islam. Similarly to the Judaic religion, they harbor specialized rituals and beliefs, curtailing outside influence (except of inter-generational advance of Jewish females alone), which also can incite contempt in the form of exclusion or worse yet alienation. Both religions have been heavily endangered hence under extreme persecution. Along with branches of Christianity and Islam all of these denominations were targeted by ISIS for which world powers have intervened on the middle-east and until the return of Yazidis to their homelands of Mosul in 2019.

In 1414 Kurds initially attacked the Yazidis in the mountains of Hakkari destroying the holy temple Lalish and desecrating the tomb of Sheikh Adi. In 1585, another attack followed in the Sinjar Mountains under orders of Ali Saidi Beg from Bohtan totaling 600 casualties. In 1832, Kurdish troops under emir Mohammed Pasha Rawanduz (Mire Kor, the blind prince) massacred Yazidis in Khatarah. Subsequently, the Yazidis in Shekhan were largely eradicated. On the next attempt his troops occupied over 300 Yazidis villages and then following, kidnapped over 10,000 Yazidis mostly all of whom were forced into conversion to the Islamic creed. In 1832, emir Bedir Khan Beg (Bedirxan Beg, the prince of Bohtan) with his troops committed a massacre of the Yazidis in Shekhan. Kurds there killed almost the whole Yazidis population but some escaped to Sinjar. In the next year, 1833, the Aqrah region was struck by the Kurdish emir Mohammed Pasha Rawanduz and his soldiers. 500 Yazidis causalities followed in the upper Zab before another attack on Yazidis succeeded in Sinjar. In 1915-1923, Yazidis and Armenians faced genocide by Kurds with the tally of 300,000 Yazidis lives.  

British forces in defeat of the Ottomans occupied Iraq and imposed direct colonial rule for several years (with the exception of Kirkuk). In recognition of Greater Kurdistan, Southern Kurdistan and Iraq were distinct and regarded for  unmolested autonomous development. Contrary to colonial rule in November 1918, Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji of the Qadiriyah Sufi family and the Barzanji clan, city of Sulaymaniyah, assumed power in rebellion and with military force from October 1918 until June 1919, creating his national flag, stamps and replacing the official-state Turkish language with Kurdish, the official language of Kurdistan. Charged and sentenced for the insurgence, the British not only granted him clemency, but whence invited back from exile, was assisted to assume control of Kurdistan as it's King. The international treaties set originally at the League of Nations by Woodrow Wilson for self-determination, then Sharif Pasha at Paris (Versailles) Peace Conference 1919, would of course fail to be implemented. Without official recognition by firstly the British Crown, at the Treaty of Lausanne, between Turkey and the victorious Allies in 1923, in superseding the Treaty of Sèvres, no specific reference to the Kurds was asserted; instead a promise for abiding tolerances for minorities in general. The shift resulted in a new mandate for colonial power over an incorporated Kurdistan into the political, economic and cultural realm of Iraq. Against resistance British forces eliminated the Kurdish national movement with a series of bombings, destroying Sheikh Mahmud's government and annexing Kurdistan to Iraq.

As most Kurdish people of Iraq lived in the mountainous terrain of the Mosul Vilayet, central rule from Baghdad wasn't realistic, yet it was upon the discovery of oil in northern Iraq, that the British were unwilling to relinquish the area, nor grant autonomy and economic exclusivity to an ethnic state. The Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) hence took on, known prior to 1929 as the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC). Between 1925 and 1961 the company had a virtual monopoly on all oil exploration and production in Iraq. Today, it is jointly owned by some of the world's largest oil companies and headquartered in London, England. TPC had obtained concession to explore for oil in 1925 from the new Iraqi government, in return for a promise that the Iraqi government would receive a royalty for every ton of oil extracted, but this was linked to the oil companies' profits and not payable for the first 20 years. On 31 July 1928 the shareholders signed a formal partnership agreement to include the Near East Development Corporation (NEDC), an American consortium of five large US oil companies. By 1934, the NEDC comprised only two shareholders, Standard Oil of New Jersey and Socony, which had merged with the Vacuum Oil Company to form Socony-Vacuum in 1931.

During the Hashemite Monarchy (1932–58), there were no serious issues between the IPC and the Iraqi government as the Hashemites were extremely pro-west. In fact, they had been installed by the British and so retained loyalty. They were dependent on the British militarily and had essentially pledged allegiance to them through the Baghdad Pact. The Hashemites' main disputes centered on increasing the amount of crude oil extracted, getting more Iraqis involved in the process of producing the oil and getting more royalties. In 1952, terms that were more generous to the Iraqi government were negotiated. These terms were largely based on the far more lucrative terms of the Saudi-Aramco "50/50" agreement of December 1950. One could argue that a determinant in these negotiations was the friendly atmosphere in which they were conducted. This soon soured however, and Abd al-Karim Qasim, a nationalist Iraqi Army general seized power in a 1958 coup d'état two years after Kurdistan's original King died. The Iraqi Hashemite monarchy established by King Faisal I in 1921, led by King Faisal II, Prince 'Abd al-Ilah, and Prime Minister Nuri al-Said was trumped, with both killed during the uprising. The General ruled the country as Prime Minister until his downfall and death in 1963, but not before his Iraqi government enacted Law No. 80, which expropriated 99.5 per cent of the IPC group’s concession areas without compensation and put an immediate stop on oil exploration. Before the coup, Abd al-Karim Qasim had incited support over just this, that the IPC's interests lay with western nations counter to Iraqi sovereignty. A subsequent military coup called the Ramadan Revolution was executed by the Ba'ath Party and the National Council of the Revolutionary Command which overthrew and executed Abd al-Karim Qasim's communist government in 1963 after two days of heavy combat between the 8th and 10th of February 1963. By June 1 1972, nationalized IPC operations had been fully assumed for control by the Iraq National Oil Company.


Kurdistan remains a parliamentary democracy with its own regional Parliament  consisting of 111 seats at the capital, Erbil. The new Constitution of Iraq defines the Kurdistan Region as a federal entity of Iraq, and establishes Kurdish and Arabic as Iraq's joint official languages. Kurdistan's struggle for sovereignty so maintained by the Peshmerga and abridged by the March 1970 autonomy agreement between the Kurdish opposition and the Iraqi government was set up after the Aylul revolts; two successive Kurdish-Iraqi civil wars, and prior to Saddam Hussein's Presidency of the Ba'ath Party. His maintenance of rule with the Iron Fist saw by 1991 and the end of the Gulf war, Saddam, acting to suppress internal revolt with Iranian aligned Marsh Arabs. Relations severely deteriorated with an assassination attempt on POTUS in Kuwait, and expulsion of UN Inspectors. A major four-day bombing campaign on Iraqi targets called Operation Desert Fox took effect from 16 December 1998, to 19 December 1998, by the United States and the United Kingdom. The contemporaneous justification for the strikes was Iraq's failure to comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions and its interference with United Nations Special Commission inspectors. In 2003 thus, the USA led a coalition force to dispose the Ba'ath Party, imprisoning Saddam on charges of war crimes against the Iraqi Shi’a for which he was executed in 2005.

Thursday, July 4, 2019

Kurdish, Assyrian & the Turco-Mongolian Timurid




Erbil is the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan and appeared originally in literary sources from 2300 BC in the archives of the Eblaite Kingdom which is considered the regions original royal dynastic hegemon; utilizing expansion and trade throughout the Levant and with neighboring sovereign powers. According to Giovanni Pettinato, Erbil, as mentioned in two tablets was named Irbilum. At the end of the 3rd millennium BC records of the Ur III period detailed the city too as so named Urbilum. King Shulgi destroyed Urbilum in his 43rd regnal year, after which his successor Amar-Sin, incorporated the site under the Ur III state. In the 18th century BC, Erbil appears in a list of cities that was conquered by Shamshi-Adad of Upper Mesopotamia and Dadusha of Eshnunna during their campaign against the land of Qabra. During the 2nd millennium BC, Erbil was incorporated into Assyria. Its populace gradually converted from the Mesopotamian religion between the 1st and 4th centuries to the Chaldean Catholic Church Christianity (and to a lesser degree to the Syriac Orthodox Church), with Pkidha traditionally becoming its first bishop around 104 AD, although the ancient Mesopotamian religion remained in the region until the 10th c. AD. The metropolitanate of Ḥadyab in Arbela (Syriac: ܐܪܒܝܠ Arbel) became a centre of eastern Syriac Christianity until late in the Middle Ages. When Christian persecutions begun in earnest, Erbil's Christian governor was said to have been martyred in 358. A Nestorian school was there founded by the School of Nisibis whilst Erbil was predicated by Zoroastrians, and as Erbil served as a seat of the Assyrian Church of the East many church fathers came from the city also well-known authors in Syriac.



During the Neo-Assyrian period, the name of the city was written as Arbi-Ilu, meaning 'Four Gods' and it so remains comparable with the cities of Babylon and Assur. Inscriptions from Assurbanipal record oracular dreams inspired by goddess Ishtar of Erbil. Assurbanipal the King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 668 BC to c. 627 BC likely held court in Erbil, receiving there envoys from Rusa II of Urartu after the defeat of the Elamite ruler Teumman. After the fall of the Assyrian Empire, Erbil was controlled by the Medes when Cyaxares is said to have settled a number of people from the Ancient Iranian tribe of Sagartians in the city (Arrapha in modern Kirkuk), and as a reward for their help in the capture of Nineveh. The city was later incorporated into the Achaemenid Empire, after which becoming part of the empire of Alexander the Great following the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. The partition of Alexander the Great’s empire by his generals relegated the city then called Arabella or Arbela under the Seleucid Kingdom. After the 1st c. BCE, the Roman and Parthian Empire fought over control of Erbil, or Arbira as it was also known.  






Following the Muslim conquest of Persia, the Sasanid province of Assuristan was dissolved, and from the mid 7th century AD the region saw a gradual influx of Muslim peoples, predominantly Arabs, Kurds and Turkic peoples. The most notable Kurdish tribe in the region were the Hadhbani, of which several individuals also acted as governors for the city from the late 10th century until the 12th century when it was conquered by the Zengids and its governorship given to the Turkic Begtegenids, who retained the city during the Ayyubid era. Yaqut al-Hamawi further describes Erbil as being mostly a Kurdish population in the 13th century. The modern Kurdish name of the city is Hewlêr.
The siege of Erbil by the Ilkhanid Mongols would occur in 1258–59 after the Mongols failed to capture the citadel with the timely arrival of a Caliphate army. It would be however after the fall of Baghdad to Hülegü, a grandson of Genghis Khan, as the last Begtegenid ruler surrendered, that they returned to conqueror the Kurdish garrison of Arbil after a six month siege. Hülegü appointed an Assyrian Christian governor to the town, and a Syriac Orthodox Church was founded. Oïrat amir Nauruz would sustain persecutions of the cities Christians, Jews and Buddhists throughout the south western Mongol empire and in earnest by 1295 and lasting 2 years, deeply effecting the indigenous Assyrian Christians. In Spring 1310 a civil war struck the city as Assyrians took the citadel fleeing persecution. When the siege by Ilkhanate troops and Kurdish tribesmen succeeded under governor Malek, the Assyrian defenders and much of the lower town populous were also slaughtered.



Holding on some generations yet, the Assyrians of Erbil were maintained until total destruction of the city by Timur in 1397. Timur, Taimur or best known as Amir Timur or Tamerlane a Turco-Mongol Persianate, was born into the Barlas confederation in Transoxiana on 9 April 1336, Timur gained control of the western Chagatai Khanate by 1370. From that base, he led military campaigns across Western, South and Central Asia, the Caucasus and southern Russia, and emerged as the most powerful ruler in the Muslim world after defeating the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire, and the declining Delhi Sultanate. Thus founding the Timurid Empire, a Sunni Muslim dynasty in the region and inevitably the Mughal Empire (1526–1857) on the Indian subcontinent, as through his great great grandson Babur. His Turco-Mongolians were formed of the army of Genghis Khan, a people who settled today’s Kazakhstan, and who became Turkicized whilst also adopting Iranian fine arts. Timur was considered a great patron of arts and architecture, inspired by Ibn Khaldun and Hafiz-i Abru; notably sparing all the artisans’ lives during the sacking of Aleppo and Damascas, and for export. Solely responsible for the effective destruction of the Nestorian Christian Church of the East, enslavement of some 60,000 Armenian and Georgian Christians, along with the murder of around 17 million people at 5% of the world’s population of the time; Timur whence ravaging Anatolia captured Smyrna, beheading it’s Hospitalers the humanitarian arm of the Knights Templar.



Erbil (and all of Iraq) passed into the hands of the Ottoman Turks in the 16th century, becoming part of the Musul Vilayet in the Ottoman Empire for 400 years until World War I. The Ottomans and their Kurdish and Turcoman allies were defeated by the British Empire, with the aid of the Chaldeans and Armenians.


Sunday, January 6, 2019

Boer Wars & the Zulu; the French-European 'New World' Revolutions

The Revolution in France which overthrew the monarchy, established a republic, and eventually culminated in a dictatorship under Napoleon; was sparked by successive generations of philosophers, bearing witness to the colonial realities of their ‘new world’. Based most innocently in scientific academies, Masonic lodges, literary salons, coffee houses and through the advances in printed books and pamphlets, the scientific revolution was readying for a realist world order, despising the inferior indoctrination's of tradition, and propelling contemporary vanguardism. Idealizing the social contract and enforcing a separation of Church and State, Lockean sentiments were for ‘Life, Liberty and Property’ and surrounding Rousseau, and Hobbesian thought, belief for the natural rights of man were to security in property as so valid in deriving from direct labor. The value of material certainty hence wasn’t in attributions of the divine right which the British had similarly displaced in favor of liberal democracy, rather and as which by what King Louis XVI fell in-line and was ultimately martyred for; in liberation. In reforming his French government in accordance with Enlightenment ideas Louis came under fire from his upper class. In efforts to abolish serfdom, remove the taille, and increase tolerance toward non-Catholics. French nobility rejected Louis’ implementations for deregulation of the grain market further, and advocation for economic liberalism. Nature though dealt an unfortunate blow too as bread prices soared among bad harvests, and food scarcity would prompt revolt.

From 1776, Louis XVI who had interceded British sovereignty in a North American Colonial revolt, was directly underpinning his French colony in Canada, however sowed the republican revolutionary seed of which would be his demise. Seeking their independence from Great Britain, which was realized in the 1783 Treaty of Paris, the USA’s influence in France was to swell over its ensuing debt and financial crisis, all contributing to the unpopularity of the Ancien Régime. This led to the convening of the Estates-General of 1789 when discontent among the members of France's middle and lower classes resulted in strengthened opposition to the French aristocracy and to the absolute monarchy, of which Louis and his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette, were final representatives. Increasing tensions and violence marked by events such as the storming of the Bastille during which riots in Paris forced Louis to definitively recognize the legislative authority of the National Assembly; led to a famous demise of the Royal line, precluding Louis’ execution (similarly as Charles faced the guillotine in England). It was Marie Antoinette’s audacious statement on the rebel cause which endured, as said of those invading dissenters; “Let them have their cake, and eat it”.

In the aftermath of the French Revolution, the War of the First Coalition broke out in 1792 and France was invaded by Prussia and the Holy Roman Empire. After two years of fighting, the Austrian Netherlands and Liège were captured by the French in 1794 and annexed into France. The Dutch Republic collapsed in 1795 and became a French client state. The Belgian Revolution broke out on 25 August 1830, inspired by the recent July Revolution in France. A military intervention in September failed to defeat the rebels in Brussels, radicalizing the movement. Belgium was declared an independent state on 4 October 1830. A constitutional monarchy was established under King Leopold I. William I, Prince of Orange and the first King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg, refused to accept the secession of Belgium, and launched the Ten Days' Campaign in August 1831, a major military offensive into Belgium. Though initially successful, the French intervened to lend incontrovertible support to the Belgians. As tensions abated a settlement was agreed at the Treaty of London in 1839, whence the Dutch recognized Belgian independence, in exchange for territorial concessions. The frontier between the two countries was finally fixed by the Treaty of Maastricht in 1843 when additionally Luxembourg was granted autonomous status in personal union with the Dutch. The impact of the regional dispute was to reverberate across the globe however, and lead to prolonged infighting among vassal states, and deeply concern the viable colonial mandates of the traditional imperial regimes, expressed as the necessity of suzerainty. 

From 1652 to 1795 the Dutch East India Company had controlled the rich lands of South Africa, but and due to the said political accords, the United Kingdom incorporated the country into the British Empire in 1806. At the time the term Afrikaner was generally used in modern-day South Africa for the Afrikaans-speaking white population of South Africa, and descendants of boer settlers. From time to time, servants in the direct employment of the Dutch East India Company were endowed with freedoms known as the right of freeburghers, however the company indeed retained the power to reacquire these free-folk for direct service if deemed necessary. This inevitably created wide scale fear and tension since likewise any freeman’s children would also be committed to duties. The freeburghers who would go on to wage a guerrilla war and set the stage for prolonged oppression had their origins as so no different from the colonial united states of the new world. The advancing boundaries of their ‘white territories’ were originally limited to beyond Sneeuberge, the northern boundary of the colony, and as new lands were sought in classed ‘treks’ by forcing distance between the freemen and the company, the company initiated an authoritarian standard for these emigrants, and established then in magistracy at Swellendam in 1745, and another at Graaff Reinet in 1786. The Gamtoos River had been declared, c. 1740, the eastern frontier of the colony; whence that was breached the Great Fish River was earmarked, and bringing the colony into danger with the local warlike Bantu tribes. In 1795 the heavily taxed burghers of the frontier districts, who were afforded no protection against the Bantus, expelled the officials of the Dutch East India Company, and set up independent governments at Swellendam and Graaff Reinet.

The Boer Wars weren’t soon to commence but in 1795 Holland who having fallen under the revolutionary government of France, saw the British force under General Sir James Henry Craig embark for Cape Town to secure the colony for the Prince of Orange, a refugee in England  at the time in so escaping prosecution by the French. The governor of Cape Town at first refused to obey the instructions from the prince; but, when the British proceeded to take forcible possession, he capitulated. His action was hastened by the fact that the Khoikhoi, traditionally nomadic pastoralist non-Bantu indigenous population of southwestern Africa, in deserting their former masters, embraced the British. The burghers of Graaff Reinet did not surrender until a force had been sent against them; in 1799 and again in 1801 they rose in revolt. In February 1803, as a result of the peace of Amiens (February 1803), the colony was handed over to the Batavian Republic (ended on 5 June 1806, with the accession of Louis I to the throne of Holland), which introduced many needed reforms, as had the British during their eight years' rule. One of the first acts of General Craig had been to abolish torture in the administration of justice. Still the country remained essentially Dutch, and few British settlers were attracted to it. Its cost to the British exchequer during this period was £16,000,000. The Batavian Republic entertained very liberal views as to the administration of the country, but they had little opportunity for giving them effect. 

When the War of the Third Coalition broke out in 1803, a British force was once more sent to the Cape. After an engagement (January 1806) on the shores of Table Bay, the Dutch garrison of Castle of Good Hope surrendered to the British under Sir David Baird, and in the 1814 Anglo-Dutch treaty the colony was ceded outright by Holland to the British crown. At that time the colony extended to the line of mountains guarding the vast central plateau, then called Bushmansland, and had an area of about 120,000 sq. m. and a population of some 60,000, of whom 27,000 were whites, 17,000 free Khoikhoi and the rest slaves, mostly imported blacks and Malays. The Boer population of course were little embracing of the British whose presence was considered a cultural and economic threat, they set about founding independent status in the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. As most similarly the colonial British derived from British East India Company who competed for control over the counties vast Gold, and Diamond resources. One rebellion which soon occurred was known as Slachters Nek, in 1815, and was called ‘the most insane attempt ever made by a set of men to wage war against their sovereign’. 

By the 1850s the British Empire had colonies in southern Africa bordering on various Boer settlements, native African kingdoms such as the Zulus, the Basotho and numerous indigenous tribal areas and states. Natal in south-eastern Africa was proclaimed a British colony on 4 May 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia. Fierce conflict with the Zulu population had led to the evacuation of Durban, and matters were brought to a head when three sons and a brother of the Zulu chief Sirayo organized a raid into Natal and carried off two women who were under British protection. Shaka Zulu, of course had wraught his nation as the first Zulu king through war and conquest, building the small Zulu tribe into the Zulu Kingdom by 1825 which encompassed an area of around 11,500 square miles (30,000 km2). In 1828 he was assassinated at Dukuza by one of his inDuna’s and two of his half-brothers, one of whom, Dingane kaSenzangakhona, succeeded him as king. By the 1830s migrating Boers came into conflict with the Zulu Kingdom, then ruled by Dingane. Dingane suffered a crushing defeat on 16 December 1838, when he attacked a group of 470 Voortrekker settlers led by Pretorius at the Battle of Blood River. Dingane's half-brother, Mpande kaSenzangakhona, then defected with some 17,000 followers and allied with the Boers against Dingane. Dingane was assassinated and Mpande became king of the Zulu empire.

In 1877, Sir Bartle Frere was made High Commissioner for Southern Africa by Lord Carnarvon. Carnarvon appointed Frere to the position on the understanding that he would work to enforce a confederation plan which was tried and tested in Canada. In return Frere was to become the first British governor of a federated southern African dominion. Frere was sent to South Africa as High Commissioner to bring this plan about but first faced the challenge of the independent states of the South African Republic, informally known as the Transvaal Republic, and the Kingdom of Zululand. Bartle Frere wasted no time in putting the scheme forward by manufacturing a casus belli against the Zulu, exaggerating the significance of a number of recent incidents. The British would then annex the Transvaal, which represented their biggest incursions into southern Africa to date. This was familiar grounds already however as in 1868 the British annexed Basutoland (modern Lesotho in the Drakensberg Mountains, surrounded by the Orange Free State and Natal), following an appeal from Moshesh, the leader of a mixed group of African refugees from the Zulu wars who had sought British protection against both the Boers and the Zulus. The Zulu wars really fired up during the 1870s over skirmishes within the Transvaal between the Boers and indigenous local tribes. In particular intensifying struggles between the Boers and the Pedi led by Sekhukune I over labor and land resulted in the war of 1876, in which the attacking Boers were defeated, in part because of the firepower bought with the proceeds of early Pedi labor migration to the Kimberley diamond fields

There were also serious tensions between the Transvaal Republic and the Zulus led by King Cetshwayo. The Zulus occupied a kingdom located to the southeast, bordered on the one side by the Transvaal Republic and on the other by British Natal. Upon taking the throne, King Cetshwayo had expanded his army and reintroduced many of the paramilitary practices of the famous Shaka, king of the Zulus. He had also started equipping his impis with firearms, although this was a gradual process and the majority had only shields, knobkerries (clubs), throwing spears and the famous stabbing spear, the Iklwa. Over 40,000 Zulu warriors were a formidable force on their own home ground, their lack of modern weaponry notwithstanding. King Cetshwayo then banished European missionaries from his land, and there were suggestions that he might also have become involved in inciting other native African peoples to rebel against the Boers in the Transvaal. The Transvaal Boers became more and more concerned, but King Cetshwayo's policy was to maintain good relations with the British in Natal in an effort to counter the Boer threat. 

The Transvaal Boers, who led by Paul Kruger (the future Transvaal President), thereafter elected to deal first with the perceived Zulu threat to the status quo, and local issues, before directly opposing the British annexation. Kruger made two visits to London for direct talks with the British government. In September 1878, on his return from his second visit, Kruger met the British representatives, Sir Bartle Frere and Lieutenant General Frederic Thesiger (shortly to inherit the title of Lord Chelmsford), in Pietermaritzburg. It had seemed an alliance against the natives might be sufficient to quell any lasting British-Dutch cultural division. Fortuitously on 22 January 1879 Anglo-Zulu conflict indeed escalated with the Zulu's strike upon the British, who lost more than 1,600 soldiers at the Battle of Isandlwana. Shortly after the main battle, a British outpost at Rorke's Drift on the Zululand-Natal border, withstood a second Zulu attack with great losses to the Zulus this time as with the British fighting defensively in and around the stone buildings of a small trading store which had been hastily fortified. After reinforcements arrived the British won a series of skirmishes and in time eventually conquered the Zulu capital at Ulundi on 4 July 1879. This war to all intents and purposes signaled the end of the independent Zulu nation. The British consolidated their power over Natal, the Zulu kingdom and the Transvaal in 1879 ending the Anglo-Zulu War.

In the 1880s, Bechuanaland (present-day Botswana, located north of the Orange River), became the object of dispute between the Germans to the west, the Boers to the east, and the British in the Cape Colony to the south. Although Bechuanaland had at the time almost no economic value, the "Missionaries Road" passed through it toward territory farther north. After the Germans annexed Damaraland and Namaqualand (modern Namibia) in 1884, the British didn’t annex Bechuanaland until 1885. The Transvaal Boer would following the Anglo-Zulu war attempt to berid themselves likewise of the British dominion. Boers consequently following a police-dispute, ambushed and destroyed a British Army convoy. From 22 December 1880 to 6 January 1881, British army garrisons all over the Transvaal became besieged. At the battle of Laing's Nek on 28 January 1881, the Natal Field Force under Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley attempted with cavalry and infantry attacks to break through the Boer positions on the Drakensberg mountain range to relieve their garrisons. The British were repelled with heavy losses by the Boers under the command of Piet Joubert. Of the 480 British troops who made the charges, 150 never returned. Furthermore, sharpshooting Boers had killed or wounded many senior officers. The Boer tactics proved overwhelming and in several battles which decimated the British forces outside of their forts. 

Hostilities continued until 6 March 1881, when a truce was declared, the British agreed to complete Boer self-government in the Transvaal under British suzerainty. The Boers accepted the Queen's nominal rule and British control over external relations, African affairs and native districts. The Pretoria Convention was signed on 3 August 1881 and ratified on 25 October by the Transvaal Volksraad (parliament). This led to the withdrawal of the last British troops. The Pretoria Convention was superseded in 1884 by the London Convention which provided for similar complete self-government, although still with British control of foreign relations. The transitional peace was of course doomed when in 1886 a second major mineral find was made at an outcrop on a large ridge some thirty miles south of the Boer capital at Pretoria, it reignited British imperial interests. The ridge, known locally as the "Witwatersrand" (literally "white water ridge"—a watershed), contained the world's largest deposit of gold-bearing ore. Although it was not as rich as the gold finds in Canada and Australia, its consistency made it especially well suited to industrial mining methods. By 1899, tensions erupted into the Second Boer War.

On October 9, the Boer issued an ultimatum to the British government, declaring that a state of war would exist between Britain and the two Boer republics if the British did not remove their troops from along the border. The ultimatum expired without resolution, and the war began on October 11, 1899. This time with sizable investment and the application of a notorious policy, the British government would prevail. Lord Kitchener applied ‘scorched-earth’ during the latter part of the Second Boer War (1899–1902), to ensure military victory over the Boer’s guerrilla warfare tactic, but only also after the capture of both Boer capital cities. As a result, the British ordered destruction of the farms and the homes of civilians, along with salting of the farming lands to prevent crop yields. In cutting off the food supply for the Boer fighters, their wives and children were also left without means to survive. As the Guerrillas were slowly captured for exporting, the women and children were forcibly housed in concentration camps, of which the size and scale grew quickly out of control. The humanitarian measure, determined to care for displaced persons until the war was ended, eventuated in catastrophe with an astonishing 27,927 innocent Boer deaths of which more than 22,000 were under the age of 16. The failure of the Boer to accede in a treaty and their tactical demise was nothing but a hoodwink surrounding colonial domestication. Until the bitter end actually, such a frightening result saw the Australian-British Lieutenant ‘Breaker’ Morant infamously executed, after professing to follow senior orders, and in a rushed trial claimed oft as orchestrated martyrdom. The future of South Africa remains contested of course and over the transition of Europeans seeking liberties in life, and amid forced suffering. This would only escalate as the State’s vigor for revolutionary vanguardism, which turned toward attainment of the ultimate form of equality; a racial equality.

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