India & the Greek Hellenisation

India's long history of warfare has a important series of colonisations recently with the Portuguese (1505–1961) and Britain (1612–1947). European occupation started with the Macedonian army of Alexander the Great however in 327–326 BC, with which he assimilated a part temporarily within the satrapies of his Maced-Persian Empire (begun under Cyrus the Great, 530 BCE). Seeking to reach the "ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea” Alexanders army was trumped by the Nanda empire and returned west only for Alex to die suspiciously in Babylon in 323 BC on return. Initially having proposed a march further east to conquer the old empire of Magadha and Gangaridai, which would have brought him to the doorstep of Burma and Thailand; however though across the Ganga the Kings of the Ganderites and Praesii were awaiting his army with eighty thousand horsemen, two hundred thousand footmen, eight thousand chariots, and six thousand war elephants. General Coenus masterminded the retreat, with further victories on return, but affixing Alexanders duty mostly in placating the Persian leaders with the Macedonian veterans.

As far as historical records tell this, its unknown, though of oral traditions, however dramatised, Indias mighty history of warfare stems with closely assimilated trading and inter-cultural traditions from Burma and SE Asia all the way west to Persia. The Indian history is the most long and complex of any in the world starting before 3102 BCE with Arjuna and the Pandavas. Most likely mythic Arjuna was a confluence of the first military general, and a mixing of personas from a historical Arjuna. Probably he was the most gallant suitor of a young lady ever remembered, and capture of her priest-King father. Arjuna is the shining one or famous like silver, born into the royal family of Hastinapura. He was acknowledged as a son of Pandu by his first wife Kunti, Arjuna was the third son, after Yudhishthira and Bhima. Younger to him were the twin sons. Receiving tutelage from Drona, in homage Arjuna and his brothers, attacked Panchal and captured King Drupada, who was so impressed by Arjuna he bid he marry his daughter, Draupadi (beginning the epic of the Mahabharata). Likely in fact just a trick knowing Arjunas' real fondness; after courtship of Draupadi he went off for a twelve year pilgrimage. Having met his cousin Krishna then, Arjuna and Subhadra would elope, Subhadra giving birth to a son: Abhimanyu. Perhaps by another account (and into the epic of Bhagavad Gita), Arjuna was actually sent into exile (perhaps both happened consequentially). Later Arjuna, considered powerful enough to be an emperor; subjugated the kingdoms of Indraprastha in the Kurukshetra war.

Called "the jewel in the British crown” Britain claimed a significant fortune from the Spice and Gem rich subcontinent out of Bombay, and alongside the Portuguese based in Goa. Riches in spice trade between India and Europe was the main inspiration for the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492 in fact. Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama became the first European to re-establish direct trade links with India since Roman times by being the first to arrive by circumnavigating Africa (1497–1499). Having arrived in Calicut, which by then was one of the major trading ports of the eastern world, he obtained permission to trade in the city from Saamoothiri Rajah. Roman and Greek traders frequented the ancient Tamil country (present day Southern India and Sri Lanka) securing trade with the seafaring Tamil states of the Pandyan, Chola and Chera dynasties, and establishing trading settlements which secured trade with South Asia by the Greco-Roman world, lost since the time of the Ptolemaic dynasty.

Ptolemy, one of the six somatophylakes (bodyguards) who served as Alexander the Great's generals and deputies, was appointed satrap of Egypt after Alexander's death in 323 BC. In 305 BC, he declared himself King Ptolemy I, later known as "Soter" (saviour). The Egyptians soon accepted the Ptolemies as the successors to the pharaohs of independent Egypt. Ptolemy's family ruled Egypt until the Roman conquest of 30 BC. All the male rulers of the dynasty took the name Ptolemy. Ptolemaic queens, some of whom were the sisters of their husbands, were usually called Cleopatra, Arsinoe or Berenice. Cleopatra VII co ruled with her son by Julius Ceasar; Ptolemy Caesar who only had rulership for 11 days before he was executed by Octavian, brought an end to Ptolemaic rule of Egypt.

The lands Alexander had subjugated became the Seleucid empire thereafter and though there are four ancient sources that describe the Partition of Babylon, the only complete account is Diodorus Siculus's Bibliotheca historica; the first to be written, c. 40 BC. The Greeks, Armenians, Persians, Medes, Assyrians, Jews and Indians were privileged with Hellenization which was a term for the historical spread of ancient Greek culture and, to a lesser extent, language, over foreign peoples conquered by Greece or brought into its sphere of influence. Attributed to the reign of Emperor Heraclius (r. 610–641) in the 7th century (Hellenization can also refer to the medieval Byzantine Empire and Constantine's founding of Constantinople - Eastern Roman Empire that was Hellenized), the practice didn’t become commonplace until the fusion of Platonic and Aristotelian theology with Christianity.

Artwork by Midjourney

The Kingdom of Israel and the Hebrew name of God

When the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Lloyd George, wished to knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war in 1918 a conquest of Palastine commenced, albeit a crusade. By the end of 1917 all the objectives of the campaign to capture Jerusalem had been achieved but not until May 14, 1948, did David Ben-Gurion proclaim the establishment of the State of Israel, once again. The united Kingdom of Israel is said to have existed from about 1030 to about 930 BCE. It was a union of all the twelve Israelite tribes living in the area that presently approximates modern Israel and the Palestinian territories. Last beginning with the House of Saul, the first king of a united Kingdom of Israel and Judah would have lived circa 1082 BC–1010 BC. Proposed in the bible to be anointed by the prophet Samuel. Saul fell on his sword to avoid capture in the battle against the Philistines at Mount Gilboa, during which three of his sons were also killed. The succession to his throne was contested by Ish-bosheth, his only surviving son, and his son-in-law David, who eventually prevailed.
Following the second King of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah c. 1040–970 BC, (reign over Judah c. 1010–1002 BC), King David had reign in the years 1002–970 BC. The Judean royal dynasty called the House of David, commenced in succession with King Solomon son of David. The ten northern tribes of the Kingdom of Israel rejected this Davidic line soon enough however, refusing to accept Rehoboam son of Solomon, and instead chose as King; Jeroboam. Dividing Israel, by forming the northern Kingdom of Israel, these Kingdoms were eventually conquered by Assyria.
A 2nd-century work by Seder Olam Rabbah, places construction of the First Temple Solomon's Temple in 832 BCE and destruction in 422 BCE. The holy temple was plundered by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar when the Babylonians attacked Jerusalem during the brief reign of Jehoiachin c. 598 (2 Kings 24:13) In turn the Dome of the rock was constructed, remaining till modern day.
The Kodesh Hakodashim, or Holy of Holies, (1 Kings 6:19; 8:6), also called in the Bible the "Inner House" (6:27), (Heb. 9:3) was 20 cubits in length, breadth, and height. The usual explanation for the discrepancy between its height and the 30-cubit height of the temple is that its floor was elevated, like the cella of other ancient temples. It was floored and wainscotted with cedar of Lebanon (1 Kings 6:16), and its walls and floor were overlaid with gold (6:20, 21, 30). It contained two cherubim of olive-wood, each 10 cubits high (1 Kings 6:16, 20, 21, 23–28) and each having outspread wings of 10 cubits span, so that, since they stood side by side, the wings touched the wall on either side and met in the centre of the room. There was a two-leaved door between it and the Holy Place overlaid with gold (2 Chr. 4:22); also a veil of tekhelet (blue), purple, and crimson and fine linen (2 Chr. 3:14; compare Exodus 26:33). It had no windows (1 Kings 8:12) and was considered the dwelling-place of the "name" of God.

Israelites and their ancestors (Caanites) language was not referred to by the name Hebrew in the Tanakh (or Miqra, the canon of the Hebrew Bible). The earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE, said to have been fixed in tradition by the Hasmonean dynasty. As Rabbinic Judaism suffered after the destruction of the First Temple in 587 BCE, Hebrew was only revived nationally in the new Israel by Ben Yehuda. In Paris he met a Jew from Jerusalem, who spoke Hebrew with him. It was this use of Hebrew in a spoken form that convinced him that the revival of Hebrew as the language of a nation was feasible. In 1881 Ben-Yehuda (1858 – 16 Dec 1922) immigrated to Palestine (then ruled by the Ottoman Empire), and settled in Jerusalem. He found a job teaching at the Alliance Israelite Universelle school. Motivated by the surrounding ideals of renovation and rejection of the diaspora lifestyle, Ben Yehuda set out to develop a new language that could replace Yiddish and other regional dialects as a means of everyday communication between Jews in a new country of Israel (with the recall of 3 million Jews from over 90 countries, most returning from Russia). Opposition was staunch firstly from Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox community, who treasured liturgical use alone. With fierce objection to use of lingua franco Hebrew (bridge language, trade language, or vehicular language), known also as the 'holy tongue', the conversion for everyday conversation was accomplished in turn.

981 different texts discovered between 1946 and 1956, proposed to be originated at the library of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem; include the second oldest known surviving manuscripts of works later included in the Hebrew Bible informance, along with deuterocanonical and extra-biblical manuscripts which preserve evidence of the diversity of religious thought in late Second Temple Judaism. There are only two silver scrolls which contain biblical text and are older than the Dead Sea Scrolls; they have been excavated in Jerusalem at Ketef Hinnom and are dating from around 600 BCE.
Accordingly the descendants of King David, the ancient peoples of C.700 B.C. left record etched on silver; of their common prayer. It relays a idealisation of tribute and request to God, regarding the will to be happy, appear beautifully and to keep accounting in order for financial success. The canonical language contains infamously a word for (the name of) God which cannot be pronounced today, but is spelt in english as YHWH. That a four letter word means God and how so is not understood but the likelihood of translation in todays language from Hebrew is a best fit scenario.
Hebrew was known to contain a unique dichotomy where in its structure | signifies motion from heaven to earth or vis-a-versa, and __ is the earthly, and ¯¯¯ is the heavenly increment (being horizontal upper & lower bars). The name of God contains three shafts between heaven and earth, one in each of the final 3 of 4 letters. The first doesn’t relay the direct initiation of Heaven & Earth (representable with a ‘ | ‘ - or shaft) rather a rite as the first letter with a fixed Heaven opposite the fixed Earth and a primary Heavens cord to a final Earth accord (backward in English still in this form it’s very significant and opposite if read backwards).
The horizontal bars following the ‘rite’ letter (which is regularly ‘sleep’ in modern short repeated, or meaning to dream or make understanding of a dream being the last letter) conveys following to the second letter, the duty of farming by a tree with a symbolic temporal accord by the elevated and separate spur (curve). Containing emphatic determination of the working day with superiority within the natural world, a followed coupling or ‘pair’ lettering, mostly ensues in signifying animal companions, human companionship, and betrothal, succeeding with children in family.
The reasons are so; these two letters are a second half of the full word, its firstly diminutive to the first, relaying after the worldly superiority, and composite capacity; the necessity to work for good life. Yet not only, also for life itself in strength and defence, so typicality of bonding is contained, that appropriated by animal domestication, and restricted therein. The benefits of such law are hence ‘in supply’ and granting the luxury of a good life, hence the Heaven and Earth twin accordance. Following in reason by the dual elevation and supple-like form in the succeeded appropriation of a new generation ‘closer to God’ in good wealth & beauty “May his face shine upon you, with graciousness and countenance”.

Implicitly the human nature is of benefit with communal appreciation though this is implicit, its relation is direct in finalisation by the dot ‘.‘ (also critical in grammar commonly today). By the stars through the night, after the day, life magnifies their dutiful will to God too repeated in goodness, and by integrity they keep unwanted ‘halves’ at bay. The raising of the matters of accordance contain complex insinuations and the structure of this half upper last half, with woven cross motion from and to the Kingdom of God, contains the benediction of suffering, by and by to the rulership of the alternative kingdoms of God. For those not in command ‘of the one (true God)’ they are ordered to pass over, whether with this life in its path or as friend.
'The star of tonight becomes tomorrows sun', and the cycle repeats, where the third letter has no connection between the earth-heaven with the Heaven, whilst the fourth does, and in reverse. This interpretative analysis is typical of the meaning for the name of God (hermeneutics) as synonymous with the lifestyle of God's chosen people.

Catholicism: Anglo-Spanish & the New World

When the Holy Roman Empire was a fragmented collection of largely independent states, titular Holy Roman Emperors from the House of Habsburg directly ruled large portions of Imperial territory, one dynasty ending with Elizabeth I of England. The House of Habsburg, also ruled Spain, including the Spanish Netherlands, southern Italy, the Philippines, and most of the Americas.

In the Cologne War 1583–88 amid a Protestant Reformation in Germany and its subsequent Counter-Reformation, (and concurrently with the Dutch Revolt and the French Wars of Religion), when Catholics sought peace, Spanish troops acted by expelling a Prince Archbishop and replacing him with a Roman Catholic. After this success, the principle of cuius regio, eius religio began to be exerted strictly forcing Protestant-Lutheran residents to choose between conversion or exile (Martin Luther's initial agenda called for the reform of the Church's doctrines and practices, but invoked his excommunication from the Church).
Much to the consternation of their Spanish ruling cousins, the Habsburg emperors who followed Charles V (especially Ferdinand I and Maximilian II, but also Rudolf II, and his successor Matthias) were content to allow the princes of the empire to choose their own religious policies. These rulers avoided religious wars within the empire by allowing the different Christian faiths to spread without coercion. This however angered those who sought religious uniformity such as the Protestant Union or the Catholic League, who together were merely sympathetic of the increasingly intolerant behavior towards others personal religious/political beliefs.

The ports of modern day Belgium, were notorious Privateer bases, plaguing the English fleets, and a Anglo-Spanish War had commenced in 1585 with England joining the Eighty Years' War on the side of the Dutch Protestant United Provinces, who had declared their independence from Spain. Sparing the long sown religious disturbances to Protestantism by Catholic Spain, Sir Frances Drake sailed for the West Indies to sack Santo Domingo, and additionally capture Cartagena de Indias, and St. Augustine in Florida.
As relations with Elizabeth I of England had begun to deteriorate prior, particularly after a restoration of Royal supremacy over the Church of England through the Act of Supremacy in 1559 (the Act was considered by Catholics as an usurpation of Papal authority and some English Protestants championed the Dutch Protestant ‘rebels’ directly against Spain); Sir John Hawkins, (who gained accreditation from Elizabeth I while the Spanish government complained that Hawkins' trade with their colonies in the West Indies constituted smuggling) fought the Spanish in September 1568, at the Battle of San Juan de Ulúa near Veracruz Mexico. Occurring when a slaving expedition led by Sir Francis Drake and Sir Hawkins met a surprise attacked by the Spanish, and several ships were captured or sunk. The battle soured Anglo-Spanish relations badly and in the following year the English detained several treasure ships sent by the Spanish to supply their army in the Netherlands. Drakes (and Hawkins) intensified ‘privateering’ continued as a way to break the Spanish monopoly on Atlantic trade.
The English hit back in Galicia (north of Portugal) and sacked Vigo and Baiona, when Philip II planned a full invasion in retaliation. In the same year, the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots had outraged Catholics in Europe, and her claim on the English throne passed over (by her own deed of will) to Philip. Philip II obtained Papal authority to overthrow Elizabeth hence, who was excommunicated by Pope Pius V, and he was granted power to place whomever he chose on the throne of England. Mary who was raised in France and bore James I, had been found guilty of plotting to kill Elizabeth.
Philip assembled a fleet of about 130 ships, containing 8,000 soldiers and 18,000 sailors. To finance this endeavor, Pope Sixtus V had permitted Philip to collect crusade taxes for their holy cause, and promised a further subsidy too should they actually reach England. On 28 May 1588, the Armada set sail for the Netherlands, where it was to pick up additional troops for the invasion of England. However, the English navy inflicted a defeat on the Armada in the Battle of Gravelines before this could be accomplished, and forced the Armada to sail far northward where it was ruined by weather.

Meanwhile across the Atlantic both Drake and Hawkins would die of disease during the disastrous 1595–96 expedition against Puerto Rico, Panama, and other targets in the Spanish Main. Continuing conflicts occurred in 1595, when a Spanish force, under Don Carlos de Amesquita raided Penzance and several surrounding villages. Then in 1596 an Anglo-Dutch expedition under Elizabeth's earl of Essex, sacked Cadiz, causing significant loss to the Spanish fleet, leaving the city in ruins. Despite English failure to capture a treasure fleet, the sack of Cadiz was celebrated as a national triumph comparable to an absolute victory.
James I would declare war on Spain likewise and with the support of the House of Commons, attempt to cripple Spanish investiture by obtaining the sizeable seizures from the Inca, and Aztecan civilisation's (attributions of the Papacies missions with indigenous were scantly welcomed such as Father Ximénezs contributions of the Chilam Balam and Popul Vuh)
With the signing of the Triple Alliance in 1596 between France, England and the Dutch, Elizabeth sent a further 2,000 troops into France after the Spanish invaded Calais in support. For another two years the battles continued until Henry IV's conversion to Catholicism had won him widespread French support and the French civil war turned against the hardliners of the Catholic League. With France and Spain's signing of the Peace of Vervins, the War of Religions particular factional disputes between the aristocratic houses, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise (Lorraine) ceased.

The War of the Spanish Succession would see the end of the Habsburg Kings of Spain 1516–1700. The conflict was triggered by the death in 1700 of the Spanish King (childless) Charles II, resulting in the Spanish empires partitioning between major and minor powers. The Austrians received most of Spain's former European realms, but peninsular Spain and Spanish America were retained for the Duke of Anjou when, after renouncing his claim to the French succession, he reigned as King Philip V. Charles II had had neither a pleasant life nor a successful reign. He was physically disabled, mentally retarded and disfigured, impotent, and he died senile and wracked by epileptic seizures, a fitting end only to a line with 16 generations of inbreeding. The Spanish Habsburg dynasty had started with the marriage between Philip I, also known as Philip the Fair, and Joanna I, also known as Joanna the Mad.

Protestant Britain; the Parliaments majòr

After the British Civil war and attempted republican reformation by a Parliamentarian dictator, when the Monarchy was established and Charles II was invited back to England; after nine years in France a cultured and learned King took power. Charles II, was a patron of the arts and sciences, who founded the Royal Observatory and supported the Royal Society. In Paris Charles had been reliant upon a pension granted by the government of France and surrounded by a group of quarrelsome advisers of his. The Royalist court-in-exile split into three main factions: the "Louvre" party, which revolved around Henrietta Maria and her close confidante Lord Jermyn; the "Old Royalist" faction, led by conservatives like Sir Edward Hyde, Sir Edward Nicholas and Lord Hopton; and the "Swordsmen" who looked to Prince Rupert for leadership.
The Louvre group was willing to seek alliances with foreign powers or to make concessions to the Presbyterians and other parliamentary factions in order to restore the monarchy at the earliest opportunity during the Civil War; whereas Hyde and his followers argued that it was better to rely exclusively upon old Royalists whose loyalty was assured and to wait for opinion in England to swing over to the King rather than to make conflict abound compromise for immediate gain. Prince Ruperts Swordsmen had no coherent policies though and were largely motivated by vendetta. By 1654, Cromwell was negotiating with Cardinal Mazarin of France for an alliance against Spain. Thus for French-British allegiance Charles and his entourage were obliged to leave Paris and they rebased in Bruges (the Spanish Netherlands) while the Anglo-Spanish War broke out between Spain and the English Protectorate in alliance with France. Charles' representatives negotiated with Spain thus for help in regaining the throne of England and the exiled Royalists raised an army of 3,000 English, Scottish and Irish soldiers commanded by Charles' brother James, Duke of York (later James II), to help the Spanish defend Flanders against Marshal Turenne's Anglo-French army.
During Charles' exile, there were three serious attempts to incite Royalist uprisings in Britain: Glencairn's Uprising in Scotland during 1653-4, Penruddock's Uprising in the West Country of 1655 and Booth's Uprising in Cheshire of 1659. All three were easily suppressed through superior military strength of the Parliamentarians and, in the case of the English uprisings, an efficient intelligence network that infiltrated Royalist conspiracies and allowed the Protectorate government to stay one step ahead of its enemies.

Charles would later reign England for twenty-five years. Despite his considerable political skills, the power of Parliament steadily increased during this time. Thus towards the end of his reign, an embryonic political party system commenced. The Whig and Tory parties emerged when Charles' Roman Catholic sympathies brought him into conflict with Parliament again and since Charles' marriage to the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza produced no legitimate heir, succession was of issue. The Whigs in Parliament deliberately tried to exclude Charles' brother, James, Duke of York, from the succession specifically because he was an avowed Roman Catholic. In response to this (Exclusion Crisis), Charles dissolved Parliament in 1681 and took reigns as an absolute monarch for four years. He died suspiciously in 1685 professing that he was a Catholic on his deathbed and received his last rites. James II became King thence and during his very brief three-year reign, the monarchy fought from the very beginning. Ultimately gauging the last political battle ever between Catholicism and Protestantism (and between the Divine Right of Kings and the political rights of the Parliament of England). King James II was left alienated from both parties in the start, while as of Charles II’s illegitimate heirs, the eldest, the Duke of Monmouth, led a rebellion against James II to take power from the outset. He was defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor on 6 July 1685, and captured and executed for the effort; a sturdy victory for the new monarch.
James hoped at first that in forming a 'King's party' as a counterweight to the Anglican Tories, he’d rally support for policy in religious toleration. He issued the Declaration of Indulgence thus; whence the majority of the Irish backed him and for his promise to the Irish Parliament of a greater future autonomy. By allying himself with the Catholics, Dissenters, and Nonconformists together, James tried to build a coalition that would advance Catholic emancipation and formally abandon the Tories in the process. A gallant attempt which only spelled doom for sovereign rulership (absolute monarchs) in England.

The next revolution commenced thus peaking in 1688, with the birth of the King's son, James Francis Edward Stuart, on 10 June (Julian calendar). Changing the existing line of succession in displacing the heir presumptive, his daughter Mary, a Protestant and the wife of William of Orange. The establishment of a Roman Catholic dynasty in the Kingdom was set. The nobles and gentry had lined up practically to desert the King in pledge for revolution inviting William of Orange to England to challenge James. William thus crossed the North Sea and English Channel with a large invasion fleet in November 1688, landing at Torbay. After only two minor clashes between the two opposing armies in England, and anti-Catholic riots in several towns, James' regime collapsed, largely because of his lack of resolve. However, this was followed by the protracted Williamite War in Ireland and Dundee's rising in Scotland. Also in New England the revolution led to the collapse of the Dominion and a overthrow of the Province of Maryland.
A Protestant, now King, William III would embark on several wars against the powerful Catholic King of France, Louis XIV, in coalition with Protestant powers in Europe, and fermenting his place. Many Protestants heralded him as a champion of their faith but his loyalty to Parliamentarians was stout. His Declaration of Rights, established restrictions on his own and future Royal prerogative, duly by popular creed since Charles' uncouth dissolutions had set precedent for another Republican revolution and decidedly the dual party oligarchy, according the undivided standards of the British gentry. Williams Declaration of Rights provided for, amongst other things; that the Sovereign could not suspend laws passed by Parliament, levy taxes without parliamentary consent, infringe the right to petition, raise a standing army during peacetime without parliamentary consent, deny the right to bear arms to Protestant subjects, unduly interfere with parliamentary elections, punish members of either House of Parliament for anything said during debates, or require excessive bail or inflict cruel and unusual punishments.

Francia: the Royal Merovingians & Carolingians

Metz was a central holding to British and European Royal families, and has a recorded history dating back over 3,000 years; preceding rulership of the modern Royal family of England. Before the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, Metz was the oppidum of the Celtic Mediomatrici tribe. Whence integrated into the Roman Empire, Metz became a principal town of Gaul until the barbarian depredations and its transfer to the Franks about the end of the 5th century. Between the 6th and 8th centuries, the city was the residence of the Merovingian kings of Austrasia. After the Treaty of Verdun in 843, Metz became the capital of the kingdom of Lotharingia and was ultimately integrated into the Holy Roman Empire, being granted semi-independent status. During the 12th century, Metz rose to the status of Republic and the Republic of Metz ruled until the 15th century. With the signature of the Treaty of Chambord in 1552, Metz was passed to the hands of the Kings of France.

In medieval times and according to Roman historians, the Salian Franks once dwelled by the Merwede (or "Merwe" in Middle Dutch) which was the name of a continuous stretch of river. The Merwede is part of the main shipping route between Rotterdam and Germany and technically the wider region of the river capable of handling significant traffic. Allegedly this was the origin of the legendary founder of the Merovingians; Merovech. Sourced to the Sicambrian ‘Fisher Kings’ the Salian Franks, meaning ‘salty’ were the Franks distinguished by their habitat, and tradition in fishing, dating back to Trojans, along with the worship of Poseidon. Records conflict on the origins but are consolidated with rulership of King Antenor. Some indications were that he initiated a dominion under a warrior code, after extensive missions within the Asian heartland. Others maintain he as the wisest Troyan elder took responsibility for rebuilding the city after Agamemnon's lengthy siege and the trick of the Trojan horse (some further dispute he actually ushered in the Greek coalition through the gate of Troy). Some state in 1183 BC that he and the surviving Trojans with Paphlagonian allies, the Eneti or Veneti, who also lost king Pylaemenes; settled the Euganean plain in Italy. Merovingian accounts detail however that this 'tribe' also migrated further west, in migration particularly discerned by commander Marcomrius' death. The Trojans, as said hence settled at the delta of Pannonia, where these; “The Sicambrian Franks, from whose female line the Merovingians emerged [sic]". The refugees or settlers "were associated with Grecian Arcadia before migrating to the Rhineland... they called themselves the Newmage - People of the New Covenant’...". The 'fish' so symbolically define this Merovingian dynasty, aligned with the Arcadian legacy who identify with the sea beast — the Bistea Neptunis —, King Pallas, and the Gods of old Arcadia. (See: Laurence Gardner, Bloodline of the Holy Grail, pp. 166, 175)

The Pagan Barbarians, as they were commonly termed, ruled the northern surrounds of the Roman empire, distinct to the Vikings. Only later were these officially (safely) taken to Kingship titles within the protection of the Romans (Catholics), all post-standard establishments in trading dynasties empowered in transition from the Bronze to the Iron Age. The nomadic tribes of Germanic peoples that were referred to collectively as the Goths, had since flourished during the late Roman Empire in Late Antiquity, or the Migration Period. The Visigoths emerged from earlier Gothic groups (possibly the Thervingi), and were infamously anti-semites, and were typically persecuted by the Romans. The Visigoths would invade the Roman Empire beginning with a rebellion in 376, then defeating the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople in 378 before Alaric I sacked Rome in 410.

It’s alleged that around 457 and after the death of his father Childeric I (son of Merovech), Clovis I was by popular creed (leader) in control of the lands he had received as a foederatus of the Romans. (officially the Frankish kingdom was attributable to Rome but only termed so, just as any outlying nations to which ancient Rome provided benefits in exchange for military assistance. The term was also used, especially under the Roman Empire for groups of "barbarian" mercenaries of various sizes, who were typically allowed to settle within the Empire).

Of the numerous small Frankish Kingdoms during the 5th century, the Salian Franks were one of two primary Frankish tribes. Their power base was in the Tournai region, between France and Belgium. In 463 as per the unofficial treaty of the foederatus, Childeric had fought along with the Roman Aegidius, the magister militum of northern Gaul, successfully against the Visigoths in Orléans, and killing commander Federico, the brother of Theodoric II. The Visigoths weren’t easily routed however, returning the Roman provocation at the Battle of Déols where a Romano-British invasion-army under Riothamus was defeated by the Visigoths from 470-71.

Clovis like Childeric was thought to have similarly become commander of the Roman military in the Province of Belgica Secunda under General Aegidius. By the time Clovis had matured however, circumstances with the Rump-Roman assemblage had changed and Clovis pre-empted the imminent collapse of the Western Roman Empire between 476 and 480 by betraying the son of Aegidus, General Syagrius, in the Battle of Soissons 486. Consequently attaining land and almost doubling the regional power of the Franks. Frankish territory was bordered on the Loire adjacent to the realm of the Visigoths, until succeeding to rout the Visigoths at the Battle of Vouillé in 507, forcing retreat beyond the Pyrenées. As Clovis gained the significant holding of Aquitane, the modern state boundary of France became defined. In due course Clovis had marched against Chararic, captured and executed him and his sons. He had killed Ragnachar, the Frankish king of Cambrai, along with his brothers. He secured an alliance with the Ostrogoths through the marriage of his sister Audofleda to their King, Theodoric the Great. Also with the help of the other Frankish sub-kings, he defeated the Alamanni in the Battle of Tolbiac.

Whence making Paris his capital, Holy King Clovis established an abbey dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul on the south bank of the Seine, and; converting to Catholicism. Clovis called a synod of Gallic bishops to meet in Orléans to reform the Church in 511 and created a strong link between the Crown and the Catholic episcopate. This was the First Council of Orléans when Thirty-three bishops assisted and passed 31 decrees on the duties and obligations of individuals, the right of sanctuary, and ecclesiastical discipline. These decrees, equally applicable to Franks and Romans, first established equality between conquerors and conquered.

Of his four sons, Childebert son of Saint Clotilda, was to take the holding of Paris and Brittany. The battles with the Visigoths continued of course as the four sons of Clovis all fought the Burgundian kings Sigismund and Godomar. Clothier (Chlothar) succeeded similarly as his father Clovis had done in uniting the Frankish kingdoms and likewise passed a four fold division of it onto his four sons. They however collapsed into a civil war, with Siegbert succeeding in passing on the Kingship to Childebert II (570–95) before his assassination; who was smuggled to Metz at five years of age. Childebert II survived many attempts at his life and eventually annexed the Kingdom of Burgundy.

Arnulf of Metz or Arnold in English, was a Frankish bishop of Metz (582–640) and advisor to the Merovingian court of Austrasia who had recognised Childebert's sovereign claim even at five years of age, and eventually serviced his son Theudebert II in council at Metz. Arnulf distinguished himself both as a military commander and in the civil administration, and at one time he had under his care six distinct provinces. Arnulf married Doda in 596, originating the Arnulfing line as sourced back to Zerah, King David, and Joseph of Arimathea, and a partisan of the Carolingians, they would take power over the Merovingians in time in trend with Clovis, companion to the Popes Roman Catholics, and an alternative Merovingian line sourced to Chlodio.

Theudebert II, and his younger brother Theuderic II were Childebert II sons who fought against each other for the Kingdoms and against their cousin Clothar II, who defeated both and achieved another total unification of the Franks. In 614, Chlothar II promulgated the Edict of Paris, and In 623, he gave the Kingdom of Austrasia to his young son Dagobert I largely in repayment for the support given by the Bishop Arnulf of Metz and Pepin I to Childebert, Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia, the two leading Austrasian nobles, who were effectively granted semi-autonomy.

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 of Landen (also called the Elder) was lord of a great part of Brabant. He became the governor of Austrasia too when Theodebert II was defeated by Theodoric II. When Pippin of Landen became Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia, serving King Dagobert I after Clothier II; through the marriage of his daughter Begga to Ansegisel in 613, he secured the clans of the Pippinid's and the Arnulfing's central to Carolingian power.

In 632, the nobles of Austrasia revolted and King Dagobert appeased the rebellious nobles by installing a new ruler, his three-year-old son, Sigebert III who would control Austrasia somewhat independently. The complacency of the titles of Kings continued somewhat, with boy-kings, nobility feuds, and domicile religious control, until the Merovingian line had acceded its Frankish titled ownership to the Carolingian's. Not until Charles Martel were the Frankish statesman and military leaders who, titled Dukes and Princes of the Franks or Mayor of the Palace; actual de facto Rulers of Francia. Military campaigns were re-establishing the Franks as the undisputed masters of all Gaul and controlled by the Mayors instead of the Kings. Martel had continued to install several of the Merovingians, a practice ending with Childeric III (c. 717 – c. 754) when Martels son Pepin officially took over in 751.

Pepin the Short (714–768) having resolved to take the Royal title for himself after Carloman retired to a monastery in 747, sent letters to Pope Zachary asking whether the title of King belonged to the one who had exercised power or the one with the Royal lineage. The Pope responded that the real power should have the royal title as well. In early March 751 Childeric was dethroned by Pope Zachary and tonsured. His long hair was the symbol of his dynasty and thus the Royal rights or magical powers was cut, so divesting him of all Royal prerogatives. Once desposed, he and his son Theuderic were taken to the monastery of Saint-Bertin or he in Saint-Omer and Theuderic in Saint-Wandrille. King Pepin (the Short) reformed the legislation of the Franks and continued a ecclesiastical reformation, creating the legal basis for the Papal States of the Middle Ages.

King Charles' Commonwealth; the Duke of Buckingham & the English Civil Wars

In 1627 British Parliament opened impeachment proceedings against George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, to which the King, Charles I, responded in turn by dissolving his Parliament. As Charles and George had travelled together and incognito to Spain in February 1623, to try to reach agreement on the long-pending Spanish match; they were long since friends, and Charles had just placed him in command of the English forces for a French relief task force mission at the siege of La Rochelle. In fact Charles and the Duke of Buckingham had assumed together de facto control of the Kingdom by 1624 when King James I was growing ill. In May 1626 more so, Charles had nominated his friend and ally the Duke of Buckingham as Chancellor of Cambridge University, appeasing his disastrous military advances made against Spain (where classically actions in plotting to seize the main Spanish port at Cádiz and burn the fleet in its harbor, panned out with the militia calling off the attack themselves, camping down in the harbor's warehouse district, and getting drunk instead).
When two members of parliament Dudley Digges and Sir John Eliot, who had spoken against the Duke of Buckingham were arrested for the condemnation, the Commons became outraged, and on 12 June 1626, the Commons launched a direct protestation, stating; "We protest before your Majesty and the whole world that until this great person be removed from intermeddling with the great affairs of state, we are out of hope of any good success; and do fear that any money we shall or can give will, through his misemployment, be turned rather to the hurt and prejudice of this your kingdom than otherwise, as by lamentable experience we have found those large supplies formerly and lately given." Without parliament Charles had left himself unable to raise any money. Charles thus assembled a puppet parliament in 1628 drawing up the Petition of Right, and on referral from the Magna Carta. In his "personal rule of Charles I", or the "Eleven Years' Tyranny” ruling the English nation from his coffers; Charles made peace with France and Spain, effectively ending England's involvement in the Thirty Years' War (to salvage finances). He introduced a monetary tax additionally, exploiting a naval war-scare in 1635 to gain funding (in which many prominent British businessmen were fined for refusing to pay).
These measures were followed with proper religious reformation which would though tip the balance unfavorably. Charles believed in High Anglicanism, a sacramental version of the Church of England, theologically based upon Arminianism, a creed shared with his main political advisor, Archbishop William Laud. In 1633, firstly Charles appointed Laud as Archbishop of Canterbury, of which the Puritans claimed was a attempt towards Catholicism (and a return). While vying for a uniform Church throughout Britain and Scotland in fact, this was non-gratis and a riot broke out in Edinburgh following, after he introduced a High Anglican version of the English Book of Common Prayer in mid-1637. The mainstream response to the objections formed into Royal policy in the National Covenant which rejected all innovations not first having been tested by free parliaments and general assemblies of the church.
The militant responses increased until King Charles I was defeated losing Newcastle to the Scots, after which he absconded the English religious pressure on Scotland and paid the Scots' war-expenses for good return. Short lived however, Charles' hand had been forced and to break the Scottish rebelliousness, and the treaty he attacked them forthrightly in Berwick. In turn the Scots invaded England, occupying Northumberland and Durham.
Meanwhile, Charles' chief advisor Thomas Wentworth, 1st Viscount Wentworth, had risen to the role of Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1632 and brought in much-needed revenue for Charles by persuading the Irish Catholic gentry to pay new taxes in return for promised religious concessions (who he made the Earl of Strafford duly). However when Charles tried again to reform parliament, granting a new autonomy in the process, the nobles agenda provided contrary to Charles' military circumstance. They firstly condemned Wentworth, the accomplished financer to Charles, to death, who was executed; a order which Charles himself signed out of fear for his wellbeing. As the parliamentarians continued to suspect Charles of wanting to impose episcopalianism and unfettered Royal rule by military force the situation turned grim. The Irish Catholics, fearing a resurgence from the Protestants, rebelled and rumor's that the King supported the Irish, and was sympathetic to Catholic rule (Spanish), led to a irreparable rift. Charles was unofficially denounced by the Parliamentarians but labelled in kind as their servant.
Charles departed London in January 1642 and by 22 August had raised the Royal standard at Nottingham and followed into the first pitched battle, fought at Edgehill on 23 October 1642. He was imprisoned, subsequently at Hurst Castle at the end of 1648, and thereafter to Windsor Castle; where in January 1649, the Rump House of Commons indicted him. The Parliamentarian and Royalist 'Civil War' would continue after Charles was executed, in the initiated era of the 'old' English Commonwealth. He was succeeded by Charles II who returned from exile (after defeat by Oliver Cromwell at Worcester, and failure of his Republican model) on 23 May 1660, and was crowned in the ceremonial restoration of the monarchy on 23 April 1661; amending the gap left by Cromwell (Lord Protector and effective military dictator for near twenty years) and the 190,000 British killed in his war.

Third Crusade: King Guy, Conrad of Montferrat, & the Regency

The Crusader state established in the Southern Levant in 1099 after the first crusade, lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks. As Jerusalem was surrounded by hostile enemies at the time, in 1170 Saladin the Arab leader invaded Jerusalem. Saladin, who was set up as Vizier of Egypt, was declared Sultan in 1171 upon the death of the last Fatimid caliph. Saladin's rise to Sultan was an unexpected reprieve for Jerusalem, as Nur ad-Din was now preoccupied with reining in his powerful vassal. Nevertheless, in 1171 King Amalric (also Amaury 1136 – 11 July 1174) visited Constantinople along with issuing envoys to the Kings of Europe for a second time. No help was received until the Third Crusade (1189–1192), also known as the Kings' Crusade, which was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin (Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb).

Beginning the siege of Acre in anticipation of the arrival of a vanguard of the Third Crusade in 1191 (with a primary goal of reclaiming Jerusalem), Guy of Lusignan (c. 1150 – 18 July 1194) a Poitevin knight, son of Hugh VIII of the Lusignan dynasty, departed Acre with a small fleet and landed at Limassol to seek support from Richard I of England, whose vassal he had been in Poitou. He swore fealty to King Richard, and had attended his wedding to Berengaria of Navarre. He participated in the campaign against Isaac Comnenus of Cyprus thus. In return for this aid, when Richard and his army arrived at Acre, Richard supported Guy entirely while Conrad naturally had the support of his kinsmen Philip II of France and Leopold V of Austria.
When Saladin invaded the kingdom and captured almost everything except the stronghold of Tyre, held by Conrad of Montferrat, Baldwin V's uncle; Guy, after his release from captivity, set had about besieging Acre; however, Sibylla, his wife and their two daughters died of disease in the camp in summer 1190. Despite this Guy continued to call himself King and demanded to be recognised thus, although Isabella, Amalrics daughter, was de jure Queen. Her supporters, notably her mother Maria and Balian of Ibelin, realised that Isabella needed a suitable king – who at the time was not her current husband. This situation was not without precedent: Isabella's father had been forced to divorce his first wife in order to succeed to the throne, and Sibylla had been pressed – but had refused – to have Guy annulled. Humphrey of Toron, whom Isabella liked very much, having practically grown up with him, had no great desire to be king. He had let down her cause in 1186, and was still a staunch supporter of Guy. He was more of a diplomat than a warrior, and even the Itinerarium Peregrinorum, which was highly sympathetic to him, suggests he was slightly effeminate. In autumn 1190, Maria and Balian abducted Isabella from Humphrey, and forced her to consent to an annulment because she had been under-age at the time of her marriage, and had been coerced by her half-brother, Baldwin IV. They intended to marry her to the ambitious Conrad, who was Baldwin V's nearest male kinsman, and had already proved himself capable politically and militarily.
After much political pressure, and a challenge to a trial by combat by Guy III of Senlis (which he refused), Humphrey consented to an ecclesiastical annulment by Ubaldo Lanfranchi, Archbishop of Pisa, who was Papal legate, and Philip of Dreux, bishop of Beauvais, who was a second-cousin of Conrad. Philip married Conrad and Isabella on 24 November, despite objections that the marriage was canonically incestuous (Isabella's half-sister Sibylla having been married to Conrad's older brother). Some modern popular writers have suggested this was a grim fate for the young Queen, to be married off to a "grizzled old warrior" who had twice been married before. However, Conrad, then about 45, was an intelligent, well-educated, handsome man of great personal courage and vitality. She compensated Humphrey by restoring to him his title to Toron, Chastel Neuf and related estates, which had been taken into the Royal domain on their marriage, before returning to Tyre with her new husband.
By virtue of his marriage to Isabella, Conrad became de jure uxoris King of Jerusalem. However, for seventeen months Guy of Lusignan, despite the death of Sibylla, continued his claim. Eventually, after Philip's departure, Conrad's kingship was confirmed by election in April 1192, which Guy accepted.
The news was brought to the couple in Tyre by Count Henry II of Champagne, the nephew of both the Kings of England and of France, who then returned to Acre. Only a few days later, on 28 April, Isabella and her ladies were late for dinner through lingering at the hammam. Conrad called on the Bishop of Beauvais, hoping to dine with him, but finding the bishop had already dined, set off back to the palace. On the way, he was set upon in the street and stabbed by Hashshashin. He died of his wounds that same day. Isabella was already known to be carrying their first child – Maria of Montferrat, who later succeeded her mother as Queen Regnant (see the Old French Continuation of William of Tyre, the Brevis Regni Hierosolymitani Historia in the Annals of Genoa, and the Muslim chronicler Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani). When Conrad had denied sanctuary to Sibylla and Guy, (Guy was imprisoned in Damascus prior), Guy and Conrads conflict continued throughout the siege of Acre, although it was not his character to assassinate a alternative claimant to the throne, in fact Guy had gallantly saved Conrad's life when he was surrounded by the enemy during the Acre seige. Richard, Philip, and Leopold had however quarrelled over the spoils of the victory from the claiming of Acre. When Leopold's Ducal flag were raised in the city by Leopold's cousin Conrad of Montferrat, Richard removed Leopold's colours. In the struggle for the Kingship of Jerusalem, he had proclaimed Guy would continue to rule but that Conrad would receive the crown upon his death. Frustrated with Richard (and in Philip's case, in poor health), Philip and Leopold had taken their armies and left the Holy Land. Philip also left 10,000 French crusaders and 5,000 silver marks to pay them.
The Crusader campaign continued based largely at Ascalon, when both Saladin and Richard made a political treaty, whereby in exchange for access to Ascalon, along with a three-year truce Christian access to Jerusalem was permitted. After the agreement was signed on September 2, 1192, Richard departed Israel on plan with Robert de Sablé the Templar grand master(a order founded by Hugh de Payens in 1119), for a safe return, though foiled by bad weather, on land break in December 1192/93 Leopold captured Richard, imprisioning him in Weitra Castle. Accused of his cousin Conrads murder, a ransom 2–3 times the annual income for the English Crown under Richard (65,000 pounds of silver) was paid by England. Eleanor of Aquitaine worked to raise the ransom meanwhile Duke Leopold and Henry VI were excommunicated by Pope Celestine III for their crime. Even though John, Richard's brother, and King Philip of France offered 80,000 marks for his continued detainment, after being held by Henry VI of Hohenstaufen at Trifels Castle for three weeks in March 1193, and over three months altogether Richard and Henry ceremoniously reconciled at the Hoftag in Speyer during Holy Week 1194. Henry VI had been aggrieved by the support the Plantagenets (Angevin Empire) had given to the family of Henry the Lion, and by Richard's recognition of Tancred in Sicily. Also Henry needed money to raise an army and assert his rights over southern Italy which he promptly conquered.

Isabella while pregnant had remained Queen and married Richard's nephew Henry II of Champagne; when he died in 1197, Isabella married Amalric II (known as Aimery he was Guy's brother and also the son of Hugh VIII of Lusignan who had himself campaigned in the Holy Land since the 1160s - In 1198, at the end of the Crusade of 1197, Aimery was able to procure a five years' truce with the Muslims, owing to the struggle between Saladin's brothers and his sons for the inheritance of his territories. The truce was disturbed by raids on both sides, but in 1204 it was renewed for six years) Guy was compensated for the dispossession of his crown by being given lordship of Cyprus in 1192, which Richard had annexed from the Byzantine Empire en route to the Levant. Isabella Queen regnant of Jerusalem from 1190/1192 until her death, by her four marriages, Isabella was successively Lady of Toron, Marchioness of Montferrat, Countess of Champagne and Queen of Cyprus.
She was the daughter of Amalric I of Jerusalem and his second wife Maria Comnena, Amalric of Jerusalem (also Amaury) (1136 – 11 July 1174) who was King of Jerusalem 1163–1174, and Count of Jaffa and Ascalon. Amalric was the second son of Melisende of Jerusalem and Fulk of Jerusalem, and succeeded his older brother Baldwin III King of Jerusalem at the time of Saladins invasion. When Baldwin IV finally succumbed to his leprosy in 1185 dying in Jerusalem in spring 1185. Baldwin V became King then, but he was a sickly child and died within a year. Guy went with Sibylla to Jerusalem for his stepson's funeral in 1186, along with an armed escort, with which he garrisoned the city. Raymond III, who wanted to protect his own influence and his new political ally, the dowager queen Maria Comnena, was making arrangements to summon the Haute Cour when Sibylla was crowned queen by Patriarch Eraclius. Raynald of Châtillon gained popular support for Sibylla by affirming that she was "li plus apareissanz et plus dreis heis dou rouame" ("the most evident and rightful heir of the kingdom"). With the clear support of the church Sibylla was undisputed sovereign.
However, before she was crowned she agreed with oppositional court members that she would annul her marriage with Guy to please them, as long as she would be given free choice in her next husband. The leaders of the Haute Cour agreed, and Sibylla was crowned thereafter as Queen regent. Taking her choice as husband, to the astonishment of the rival court faction, she remarried Guy, who became King in August 1186. The Queen removed the crown from her head and handed it to Guy, permitting him to crown himself, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, in September 1186. As Hamilton writes, "there could be no doubt after the ceremony that Guy only held the crown matrimonial". Sibylla's half-sister Isabella and her husband Humphrey IV of Toron were Raymond III and the Ibelins' choice for the throne. As Sibylla's parents marriage had been annulled and both she and Baldwin had been legitimised by the church, Isabella was seen by many as the legal heiress. However, Humphrey would not assert his wife's claim, and he disassociated himself from them, swearing fealty instead to Sibylla. Humphrey would become one of King Guy's (1186 to 1192) closest allies in his Kingdom.

A recommended alternative source for information on the Crusades: http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com.au