The succession of monarchs has mostly been hereditary, often building dynasties. However, elective and self-proclaimed monarchies have also often occurred throughout history. Aristocrats, though not inherent to monarchies, often serve as the pool of persons from which the monarch is chosen, and to fill the constituting institutions (e.g. diet and court), giving many monarchies oligarchic elements.
Monarchs can carry various titles such as emperor, empress, king, and queen. Monarchies can form federations, personal unions and realms with vassals through personal association with the monarch, which is a common reason for monarchs carrying several titles.
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Eadred in the early fourteenth-century Genealogical Roll of the Kings of England
Eadred (also Edred, c. 923 – 23 November 955) was King of the English from 26 May 946 until his death in 955. He was the younger son of Edward the Elder and his third wife Eadgifu, and a grandson of Alfred the Great. His elder brother, Edmund, was killed trying to protect his seneschal from an attack by a violent thief. Edmund's two sons, Eadwig and Edgar, were then young children, so Eadred became king. He suffered from ill health in the last years of his life and he died at the age of a little over thirty, having never married. He was succeeded successively by his nephews, Eadwig and Edgar.
Eadred's elder half-brother Æthelstan inherited the kingship of England south of the Humber in 924, and conquered the south Northumbrian Viking kingdom of York in 927. Edmund and Eadred both inherited kingship of the whole kingdom, lost it shortly afterwards when York accepted Viking kings, and recovered it by the end of their reigns. In 954, the York magnates expelled their last king, Erik Bloodaxe, and Eadred appointed Osullf, the Anglo-Saxon ruler of the north Northumbrian territory of Bamburgh, as the first ealdorman of the whole of Northumbria. (Full article...)
Nyuserre Ini (also Niuserre IniorNeuserre Ini; in Greek known as Rathurês, Ῥαθούρης) was an Ancient Egyptianpharaoh, the sixth ruler of the Fifth Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. He is credited with a reign of 24 to 35 years depending on the scholar, and likely lived in the second half of the 25th century BCE. Nyuserre was the younger son of Neferirkare Kakai and queen Khentkaus II, and the brother of the short-lived king Neferefre. He may have succeeded his brother directly, as indicated by much later historical sources. Alternatively, Shepseskare may have reigned between the two as advocated by Miroslav Verner, albeit only for a few weeks or months at the most. The relation of Shepseskare with Neferefre and Nyuserre remains highly uncertain. Nyuserre was in turn succeeded by Menkauhor Kaiu, who could have been his nephew and a son of Neferefre.
Nyuserre was the most prolific builder of his dynasty, having built three pyramids for himself and his queens and completed a further three for his father, mother and brother, all in the necropolis of Abusir. He built the largest surviving temple to the sun god Ra constructed during the Old Kingdom, named Shesepibre or "Joy of the heart of Ra". He also completed the Nekhenre, the Sun temple of UserkafinAbu Gorab, and the valley temple of Menkaure in Giza. In doing so, he was the first king since Shepseskaf, last ruler of the Fourth Dynasty, to pay attention to the Giza necropolis, a move which may have been an attempt to legitimise his rule following the troubled times surrounding the unexpected death of his brother Neferefre. (Full article...)
Olga was raised at the Gatchina Palace outside Saint Petersburg. Olga's relationship with her mother, Empress Marie, the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark, was strained and distant from childhood. In contrast, she and her father were close. He died when she was 12, and her brother Nicholas became emperor. In 1901, at 19, she married Duke Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg, who was privately believed by family and friends to be homosexual. Their marriage of 15 years remained unconsummated, and Peter at first refused Olga's request for a divorce. The couple led separate lives and their marriage was eventually annulled by the Emperor in October 1916. The following month Olga married cavalry officer Nikolai Kulikovsky, with whom she had fallen in love several years before. During the First World War, Olga served as an army nurse and was awarded a medal for personal gallantry. At the downfall of the Romanovs in the Russian Revolution of 1917, she fled with her husband and children to Crimea, where they lived under the threat of assassination. Her brother Nicholas and his family were shot and bayoneted to death by revolutionaries. (Full article...)
Constantine (Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος, translit.Kōnstantīnos; born between 855 and c. 865, died 3 September 879) was a junior Byzantine emperor, alongside Basil I as the senior emperor, from January 868 to 3 September 879. His parentage is a matter of debate, but historians generally assume him to be the son of Emperor Basil I (r. 867–886) and his first wife Maria or second wife Eudokia Ingerina; other theories include him being the son of Emperor Michael III (r. 842–867) and Eudokia. Constantine was made co-emperor by Basil in c. January 868. He was engaged to Ermengard of Italy, the daughter of Holy Roman EmperorLouis II, in 870/871, but it is not known if he married her; some sources suggest he did, and others argue that there is no concrete evidence.
Constantine was the intended heir of Basil and as such received much attention from him and accompanied him on military campaigns, including one in Syria, for which he shared a triumph. In comparison, his younger brother, Leo VI (r. 886–912), was made co-emperor merely to secure the imperial lineage and bolster legitimacy. However, Constantine died of fever on 3 September 879, before his father. After his death, Leo became the primary heir, and another brother, Alexander (r. 912–913), was raised to co-emperor. (Full article...)
The son of Tughj ibn Juff, a general of Turkic origin who served both the Abbasids and the autonomous Tulunid rulers of Egypt and Syria, Muhammad ibn Tughj was born in Baghdad but grew up in Syria and acquired his first military and administrative experiences at his father's side. He had a turbulent early career: he was imprisoned along with his father by the Abbasids in 905, was released in 906, participated in the murder of the vizieral-Abbas ibn al-Hasan al-Jarjara'i in 908, and fled Iraq to enter the service of the governor of Egypt, Takin al-Khazari. Eventually he acquired the patronage of several influential Abbasid magnates, chiefly the powerful commander-in-chief Mu'nis al-Muzaffar. These ties led him to being named governor first of Palestine and then of Damascus. In 933, he was briefly named governor of Egypt, but this order was revoked after the death of Mu'nis, and Ibn Tughj had to fight to preserve even his governorship of Damascus. In 935, he was re-appointed to Egypt, where he quickly defeated a Fatimid invasion and stabilized the turbulent country. His reign marks a rare period of domestic peace, stability and good government in the annals of early Islamic Egypt. In 938 Caliph al-Radi granted his request for the title of al-Ikhshid, which had been borne by the rulers of his ancestral Farghana Valley. It is by this title that he was known thereafter. (Full article...)
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Seleucus VI's portrait on the obverse of a tetradrachm minted in Antioch
Seleucus VI Epiphanes Nicator (Ancient Greek: Σέλευκος Ἐπιφανής Νικάτωρ, romanized: Séleukos Epiphanís Nikátor; between 124 and 109 BC – 94 BC) was a HellenisticSeleucid monarch who ruled Syria between 96 and 94 BC. He was the son of Antiochus VIII and his Ptolemaic Egyptian wife Tryphaena. Seleucus VI lived during a period of civil war between his father and his uncle Antiochus IX, which ended in 96 BC when Antiochus VIII was assassinated. Antiochus IX then occupied the capital Antioch while Seleucus VI established his power-base in western Cilicia and himself prepared for war. In 95 BC, Antiochus IX marched against his nephew, but lost the battle and was killed. Seleucus VI became the master of the capital but had to share Syria with his brother Demetrius III, based in Damascus, and his cousin, Antiochus IX's son Antiochus X.
According to the ancient historian Appian, Seleucus VI was a violent ruler. He taxed his dominions extensively to support his wars, and resisted allowing the cities a measure of autonomy, as had been the practice of former kings. His reign did not last long; in 94 BC, he was expelled from Antioch by Antiochus X, who followed him to the Cilician city of Mopsuestia. Seleucus took shelter in the city where his attempts to raise money led to riots that eventually claimed his life in 94 BC. Ancient traditions have different versions of his death, but he was most probably burned alive by the rioters. Following his demise, his brothers Antiochus XI and Philip I destroyed Mopsuestia as an act of revenge and their armies fought those of Antiochus X. (Full article...)
Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also known as Edward of CaernarfonorCaernarvon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir to the throne following the death of his older brother Alphonso. Beginning in 1300, Edward accompanied his father on campaigns in Scotland, and in 1306 he was knightedina grand ceremonyatWestminster Abbey. Edward succeeded to the throne the next year, following his father's death. In 1308, he married Isabella of France, the daughter of the powerful King Philip IV, as part of a long-running effort to resolve the tensions between the English and French crowns.
Edward had a close and controversial relationship with Piers Gaveston, who had joined his household in 1300. The precise nature of Edward and Gaveston's relationship is uncertain; they may have been friends, lovers, or sworn brothers. Gaveston's arrogance and power as Edward's favourite provoked discontent both among the barons and the French royal family, and Edward was forced to exile him. On Gaveston's return, the barons pressured the King into agreeing to wide-ranging reforms called the Ordinances of 1311. The newly empowered barons banished Gaveston, to which Edward responded by revoking the reforms and recalling his favourite. Led by Edward's cousin, the Earl of Lancaster, a group of the barons seized and executed Gaveston in 1312, beginning several years of armed confrontation. English forces were pushed back in Scotland, where Edward was decisively defeated by Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Widespread famine followed, and criticism of the King's reign mounted. (Full article...)
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Gold dinar minted by the Umayyads in 695, which likely depicts Abd al-Malik.
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam (Arabic: عَبْد الْمَلِك ٱبْن مَرْوَان ٱبْن الْحَكَم, romanized: ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam; July/August 644 or June/July 647 – 9 October 705) was the fifth Umayyadcaliph, ruling from April 685 until his death in October 705. A member of the first generation of born Muslims, his early life in Medina was occupied with pious pursuits. He held administrative and military posts under Caliph Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680), founder of the Umayyad Caliphate, and his own father, Caliph Marwan I (r. 684–685). By the time of Abd al-Malik's accession, Umayyad authority had collapsed across the Caliphate as a result of the Second Fitna and had been reconstituted in Syria and Egypt during his father's reign.
Following a failed invasion of Iraq in 686, Abd al-Malik focused on securing Syria before making further attempts to conquer the greater part of the Caliphate from his principal rival, the Mecca-based caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. To that end, he concluded an unfavorable truce with the reinvigorated Byzantine Empire in 689, quashed a coup attempt in Damascus by his kinsman, al-Ashdaq, the following year, and reincorporated into the army the rebellious Qaysi tribes of the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) in 691. He then conquered Zubayrid Iraq and dispatched his general, al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, to Mecca where he killed Ibn al-Zubayr in late 692, thereby reuniting the Caliphate under Abd al-Malik's rule. The war with Byzantium resumed, resulting in Umayyad advances into Anatolia and Armenia, the destruction of Carthage and the recapture of Kairouan, the launchpad for the later conquests of western North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, in 698. In the east, Abd al-Malik's viceroy, al-Hajjaj, firmly established the caliph's authority in Iraq and Khurasan, stamping out opposition by the Kharijites and the Arab tribal nobility by 702. Abd al-Malik's final years were marked by a domestically peaceful and prosperous consolidation of power. (Full article...)
Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (Arabic: سُلَيْمَان ٱبْن عَبْد الْمَلِك ٱبْن مَرْوَان, romanized: Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān, c. 675 – 24 September 717) was the seventh Umayyadcaliph, ruling from 715 until his death. He was the son of Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (r. 685–705) and Wallada bint al-Abbas. He began his career as governor of Palestine, while his father Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705) and brother al-Walid I (r. 705–715) reigned as caliphs. There, the theologian Raja ibn Haywa al-Kindi mentored him, and he forged close ties with Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, a major opponent of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, al-Walid's powerful viceroy of Iraq and the eastern Caliphate. Sulayman resented al-Hajjaj's influence over his brother. As governor, Sulayman founded the city of Ramla and built the White Mosque in it. The new city superseded Lydda as the district capital of Palestine. Lydda was at least partly destroyed and its inhabitants may have been forcibly relocated to Ramla, which developed into an economic hub, became home to many Muslim scholars, and remained the commercial and administrative center of Palestine until the 11th century.
After acceding as caliph, Sulayman dismissed his predecessor's governors and generals. Many had been handpicked by al-Hajjaj and had led the war efforts which brought the Caliphate to its greatest territorial extent. Among them were the conqueror of Transoxiana (Central Asia), Qutayba ibn Muslim, who was killed by his own troops in an abortive revolt in anticipation of his dismissal, and the conqueror of Sind (the western Indian subcontinent), Muhammad ibn al-Qasim, who was executed. In the west, Sulayman deposed Musa ibn Nusayr, the conqueror of the Iberian Peninsula (al-Andalus) and governor of Ifriqiya (central North Africa), and had his son Abd al-Aziz, governor of al-Andalus, assassinated. Although he continued his predecessors' militarist policies, expansion largely stopped under Sulayman, partly due to effective resistance along the Central Asian frontiers and the collapse of Arab military leadership and organization there after Qutayba's death. Sulayman's appointee over the eastern Caliphate, his confidant Yazid, invaded the southern Caspian coast in 716, but withdrew and settled for a tributary arrangement after being defeated by the local Iranian rulers. Sulayman intensified the war with the Byzantine Empire, the primary focus of his war efforts, culminating in the 717–718 siege of Constantinople, which ended in a disastrous Arab defeat. (Full article...)
Coming to the throne at age fifteen, he was initially treated as a minor and given only limited power by his ministers and his grandmother Fatima. In February 1334, his representatives secured a four-year peace treaty with Granada's neighbours Castile and the Marinid Sultanate. Aragon joined in the treaty in May. After gaining more control of the government, in 1338 or 1340 he expelled the Banu Abi al-Ula family, who had masterminded the murder of his brother and had been the leaders of the Volunteers of the Faith—North African soldiers who fought for Granada. After the treaty expired, he allied himself with Abu al-Hasan Ali (r. 1331–1348) of the Marinids against Alfonso XI of Castile (r. 1312–1350). After winning a major naval victory in April 1340, the Marinid–Granadan alliance was decisively defeated on 30 October in the disastrous Battle of Río Salado. In its aftermath, Yusuf was unable to prevent Castile from taking several Granadan castles and towns, including Alcalá de Benzaide, Locubín, Priego and Benamejí. In 1342–1344, Alfonso XI besieged the strategic port of Algeciras. Yusuf led his troops in diversionary raids into Castilian territory, and later engaged the besieging army, but the city fell in March 1344. A ten-year peace treaty with Castile followed. (Full article...)
After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the subsequent Ottoman invasion of the Morea in 1460, Andreas's father fled to Corfu with his family. After Thomas died in 1465, the then twelve-year-old Andreas moved to Rome and, as the eldest nephew of Constantine XI, became the head of the Palaiologos family and the chief claimant to the ancient imperial throne. Andreas's later use of the imperial title, never claimed by his father, was supported by some of the Byzantine refugees who lived in Italy and he hoped to one day restore the empire of his ancestors. Andreas married a Roman woman called Caterina. Though some primary sources allude to the possibility that he had children, there is no concrete evidence that Andreas left any descendants. (Full article...)
Manuel I Komnenos (Greek: Μανουήλ Κομνηνός, romanized: Manouḗl Komnēnós; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), LatinizedasComnenus, also called Porphyrogenitus (Greek: Πορφυρογέννητος; "born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium and the Mediterranean. His reign saw the last flowering of the Komnenian restoration, during which the Byzantine Empire experienced a resurgence of military and economic power and enjoyed a cultural revival.
His reign was marked by multiple wars with the Lombards, a Germanic people who had arrived in the former Roman provinceofPannonia under the leadership of their king, Audoin. Thurisind also had to face the hostility of the Byzantine Empire, which was resentful of the Gepid takeover of Sirmium and anxious to diminish Gepid power in the Pannonian Basin, a plain covering most of modern Hungary and partly including the bordering states. The Byzantines' plans to reduce the Gepids' power took effect when Audoin decisively defeated Thurisind in 551 or 552. The Byzantine Emperor Justinian forced a peace accord on both leaders so that equilibrium in the Pannonian Basin could be sustained. (Full article...)
Neuschwanstein Castle is a Romanesque Revivalpalace commissioned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria in 1868. This castle on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau was intended to be Ludwig's personal retreat, though it was still under construction at the time of his death in 1886. It was soon thereafter opened to tourists, and remains a popular destination. Its architecture has inspired several further buildings, including Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle.
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William Montagu from the Salisbury Roll, c. 1463. He displays the Montagu arms (modern) Argent, three fusils conjoined in fess gules on his breastplate, whilst his maternal arms of de Montfort (Bendy of eight or and azure) are shown on a shield at left.
William Montagu, alias de Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury, 3rd Baron Montagu, King of Man (1301 – 30 January 1344) was an English nobleman and loyal servant of King Edward III.
The son of William Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu, he entered the royal household at an early age and became a close companion of the young Prince Edward. The relationship continued after Edward was crowned king following the deposition of Edward II in 1327. In 1330, Montagu was one of Edward's main accomplices in the coup against Roger Mortimer, who until then had been acting as the king's protector. (Full article...)
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Kateryna Mykolayivna Skarzhynska née von Reiser (Ukrainian: Катерина Миколаївна Скаржинська, 7 February 1852 O.S./19 February 1852 (N.S.) – 1932) was a Ukrainian noblewoman, philanthropist, and collector of folklore. She established the first private museum in Ukraine to house her collection of artifacts and was particularly known for her collection of pysanky, Easter eggs decorated with Ukrainian folk art. Born in Lubny to the von Reiser family, which had a long history of military service to the Russian Tsars, she was educated at home, studying in her parents' library and with select tutors. After her father died in 1859, together with her mother, brother, and maternal grandmother she moved to the Lodygyn/Lodigine family estates in the Tver province of the Russian Empire, near Moscow. There at the age of 14, von Reiser established a school for the former serfs of the estate and a public hospital.
In 1869, von Reiser became acquainted with Nikolai Georgievich Skarzhynsky, a Ukrainian nobleman and soldier. Through his circle of friends, she decided to continue her education and passed her gymnasium studies, entering the Bestuzhev Courses. They married in 1874 and later would have five children together. Five years later, he was transferred from St. Petersburg back to Ukraine. Though she did not finish her studies, Skarzhynska had developed an interest in culture and moving back to her father's estate, Kruglik, inspired her to begin collecting folk art and other artifacts. Consulting with ethnographers, archaeologists and historians, she financed archaeological excavations and amassed a large collection of items. Failing to interest local authorities in establishing a museum to house them, she created the first private museum in Ukraine in 1880. Hiring professional curators, Skarzhynska assisted in developing the collection until 1905. One of the curators, Sergiy Kulzhynskiy [uk], would become her partner, father of her youngest child, and her companion and caretaker in her old age. In 1906, she transferred her materials to the Museum of Natural History of Poltava Provincial Zemstvo. (Full article...)
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Teraupo'o and his family on Raiatea, c. 1895
Teraupo'o (c. 1855 – 23 December 1918) was a Tahitian (Maohi) resistance leader of the islands of Raiatea and Tahaa who fought off French rule from 1887 to 1897 during the decade-long Leeward Islands War.
Born during the decades following the Franco-Tahitian War (1844–1847), Teraupo'o was a lesser chief from the village of Avera, on the east coast of Raiatea. He grew to resent the French after being mistreated by an officer. After King Tamatoa VI of Raiatea submitted to French annexation, Teraupo'o refused to surrender and led the native resistance against the French and installed a resistance government under Tuarii as queen at Avera. He and his followers, dubbed the Teraupiste, included a majority of the natives of Raiatea and Tahaa. They fought off French colonial rule from 1887 until 1897 while attempting to convince the British to support their cause to remain independent. (Full article...)
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Mulhim ibn Yunus Ma'n was the paramount DruzeemirofMount Lebanon and head of the Ma'n dynasty after succeeding his uncle Fakhr al-Din II in 1633. The Ottomans executed Fakhr al-Din, Mulhim's father Yunus, and his brothers and cousins during and after a massive expedition to end their control over large parts of the Levant. After Mulhim defeated his principal Druze rival, Ali Alam al-Din, in 1641, the Ottomans granted him tax farms previously held by his uncle and father Yunus in southern Mount Lebanon, namely for the subdistricts of the Chouf, Gharb, Matn and Jurd. In 1657 he was appointed governor and tax farmer of Safed. He held onto the tax farms of southern Mount Lebanon until his death in 1658, after falling ill attempting to collect taxes in Safed.
Mulhim and his subordinates, including the Maronite Khazen familyofKeserwan, reestablished the core of Fakhr al-Din's former territory. Like his uncle, he maintained good ties with the Maronite Church. He remained on good terms with the authorities throughout most of his career. The tax farms he held were largely inherited by his sons Qurqumaz and Ahmad, the latter retaining them until his death in 1697. Ahmad was the last Ma'nid emir and afterward the dynasty's tax farms and paramountcy over the Druze passed to their Sunni Muslim marital relatives, the Shihab dynasty. (Full article...)
Leonardo III Tocco (after 1436 – before August 1503) was the last ruler of the Despotate of Epirus, ruling from the death of his father Carlo II Tocco in 1448 to the despotate's fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1479. Leonardo was one of the last independent Latin rulers in Greece and the last to hold territories on the Greek mainland. After the fall of his realm, Leonardo fled to Italy and became a landowner and diplomat. He continued to claim his titles in exile until his death.
Leonardo inherited numerous possessions on the western Greek mainland from his father. Most of these mainland territories, including the capital of Arta, were conquered by the Ottomans in 1449, the first year of Leonardo's reign. Leonardo had inherited the throne while still underage and his government was initially headed by a four-person regency council for several years. Upon becoming old enough to rule for himself, Leonardo had all of his former regents murdered. Leonardo engaged in several anti-Ottoman activities, such as working on the side of the Republic of Venice in the First Ottoman–Venetian War (1463–1479). Despite this, his realm was left in peace throughout most of his reign and became one of the most prosperous regions in Greece. (Full article...)
Malcolm's kingdom did not extend over the full territory of modern Scotland: many of the islands and the land north of the River Oykel were Scandinavian, and south of the Firth of Forth there were numerous independent or semi-independent realms, including the kingdom of Strathclyde and Bamburgh, and it is not certain what if any power the Scots exerted there on Malcolm's accession. Over the course of his reign Malcolm III led at least five invasions into English territory. One of Malcolm's primary achievements was to secure the position of the lineage that ruled Scotland until the late thirteenth century, although his role as founder of a dynasty has more to do with the propaganda of his descendants than with history. He appears as a major characterinWilliam Shakespeare's Macbeth, while his second wife, Margaret, was canonised as a saint in the thirteenth century. (Full article...)
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Demetrios PalaiologosorDemetrius Palaeologus (Greek: Δημήτριος Παλαιολόγος, romanized: Dēmētrios Palaiologos; 1407–1470) was Despot of the Morea together with his brother Thomas from 1449 until the fall of the despotate in 1460. Demetrios and Thomas were sons of Byzantine EmperorManuel II Palaiologos, and brothers of the final two emperors John VIII and Constantine XI. Demetrios had a complicated relationship with his brothers, whom he frequently quarrelled with, usually over the matter of Demetrios's wish to establish himself as the most senior of them and claim the imperial throne for himself.
In 1437, Demetrios accompanied his elder brother John VIII to the Council of Florence, the main objective of which was to unify the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches so that Western Europe might be more inclined to lend military aid to the desperate Byzantine Empire. Even though Demetrios was staunchly against a union of the churches, he was brought along as John did not dare to leave him in the east without he himself being present. Demetrios attempted to claim the throne twice, first attempting to take it with Ottoman support in 1442 and then by hoping to be proclaimed emperor after John VIII's death in 1448. Both attempts failed and in 1449, Demetrios was proclaimed as Despot of the Morea by the new emperor, his brother Constantine XI. (Full article...)
Béla the Blind (Hungarian: Vak Béla; Croatian: Bela Slijepi; Slovak: Belo Slepý; c. 1109 – 13 February 1141) was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1131 to 1141. He was blinded along with his rebellious father Álmos on the order of Álmos's brother, King Coloman of Hungary. Béla grew up in monasteries during the reign of Coloman's son Stephen II. The childless king arranged Béla's marriage with Helena of Rascia, who would become her husband's co-ruler throughout his reign.
Béla was crowned king at least two months after the death of Stephen II, implying that his accession to the throne did not happen without opposition. Two violent purges were carried out among the partisans of his predecessors to strengthen Béla's rule. King Coloman's alleged son Boris tried to dethrone Béla but the king and his allies defeated the pretender's troops in 1132. In the second half of Béla's reign, Hungary adopted an active foreign policy. Bosnia and Split seem to have accepted Béla's suzerainty around 1136. (Full article...)
Maria Theresa started her 40-year reign when her father, Emperor Charles VI, died on 20 October 1740. Charles VI paved the way for her accession with the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 and spent his entire reign securing it. He neglected the advice of Prince Eugene of Savoy, who believed that a strong military and a rich treasury were more important than mere signatures. Eventually, Charles VI left behind a weakened and impoverished state, particularly due to the War of the Polish Succession and the Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739). Moreover, upon his death, Saxony, Prussia, Bavaria, and France all repudiated the sanction they had recognised during his lifetime. Frederick II of Prussia (who became Maria Theresa's greatest rival for most of her reign) promptly invaded and took the affluent Habsburg province of Silesia in the eight-year conflict known as the War of the Austrian Succession. In defiance of the grave situation, she managed to secure the vital support of the Hungarians for the war effort. During the course of the war, Maria Theresa successfully defended her rule over most of the Habsburg monarchy, apart from the loss of Silesia and a few minor territories in Italy. Maria Theresa later unsuccessfully tried to recover Silesia during the Seven Years' War. (Full article...)
Potemkin was born into a family of middle-income noble landowners. He first attracted Catherine's favor for helping in her 1762 coup, then distinguished himself as a military commander in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774). He became Catherine's lover, favorite and possibly her consort. After their passion cooled, he remained her lifelong friend and favored statesman. Catherine obtained for him the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and gave him the title of Prince of the Russian Empire among many others: he was both a Grand Admiral and the head of all of Russia's land and irregular forces. Potemkin's achievements include the peaceful annexation of the Crimea (1783) and the successful second Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792), during which the armed forces under his command besieged Ochakov. (Full article...)
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Irtash (born c. 1092) was a Seljuk emir of Damascus in 1104. Irtash was born to Taj ad-Dawla Tutush, the brother of the Seljuk SultanMalik-Shah I who established a principality in Syria after his brother gave the region and the adjacent areas to him. Following the death of Malik-Shah, Tutush claimed the Seljuk crown, but he was killed by the forces of his nephew Berkyaruq near Ray. Subsequently, Irtash's brother Ridwan moved to Aleppo and proclaimed himself the new emir. Irtash's other brother Duqaq's declaration of a new emirate in Damascus separated the Syrian Seljuk state into two and started a rivalry between the two brothers. Duqaq then imprisoned Irtash for nine years in Baalbek.
Toghtekin, atabeg of Damascus, elevated the twelve-year-old Irtash to emir after Duqaq's death in 1104. He ruled there for three months until sneaking out of the city to ally with Baldwin I, King of Jerusalem, against Toghtekin, who Irtash thought was conspiring against him. However, preoccupied with the Fatimid threat from Egypt, Baldwin did not assist Irtash and his ally Aytakin al-Halabi, the emir of Bosra. They left Baldwin's side and moved to Bosra which was surrendered to Toghtekin in 1106. Irtash then moved to al-Rahba, which was the scene of a war between the Seljuk emir Chavli Saqaveh and Muhammad Ibn Sabbak, the fort's ruler who had pledged loyalty to Saqaveh's opponent, Kilij Arslan I, the Seljuq Sultan of Rûm. Chavli captured al-Rahba and Irtash joined his ranks. There is no further information about Irtash, and he is regarded as one of the most unknown figures in Seljuk history. (Full article...)
Marcus (Greek: Μᾶρκος; died August 476) was the son of the Eastern Roman general and usurper Basiliscus and Zenonis. He was acclaimed caesar in 475 and later promoted to augustus, ruling as junior co-emperor to his father. When Zeno reoccupied Constantinople in late August 476, Marcus, with his parents, hid in a church. Zeno swore he would not spill their blood, and instead had them exiled to Limnae in Cappadocia, where they were then starved to death. (Full article...)
Born born between 1155 and 1167 and given the name Temüjin, he was the eldest child of Yesugei, a Mongol chieftain of the Borjigin clan, and his wife Hö'elün. When Temüjin was eight, his father died and his family was abandoned by its tribe. Reduced to near-poverty, Temüjin killed his older half-brother to secure his familial position. His charismatic personality helped to attract his first followers and to form alliances with two prominent steppe leaders named Jamukha and Toghrul; they worked together to retrieve Temüjin's newlywed wife Börte, who had been kidnapped by raiders. As his reputation grew, his relationship with Jamukha deteriorated into open warfare. Temüjin was decisively defeated in c. 1187, and may have spent the following years as a subject of the Jin dynasty; upon reemerging in 1196, he swiftly began gaining power. Toghrul came to view Temüjin as a threat and launched a surprise attack on him in 1203. Temüjin retreated, then regrouped and overpowered Toghrul; after defeating the Naiman tribe and executing Jamukha, he was left as the sole ruler on the Mongolian steppe. (Full article...)
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Blanche Zélia Joséphine Delacroix, better known as Caroline Lacroix (French pronunciation:[kaʁɔlinlakʁwa]; 13 May 1883 – 12 February 1948), was the most prominent and notorious of Leopold II of Belgium's mistresses.
Delacroix, who was of French origin, met the king in Paris as a young girl, when she was only 16 and he was 65. At that time, she earned her living from prostitution. They soon embarked upon a relationship that was to last until his death in 1909. Leopold lavished upon her large sums of money, estates, gifts, and a noble title, baronne de Vaughan (Baroness Vaughan). Because of these presents, Caroline was deeply unpopular both among the Belgian people and internationally, as Leopold became increasingly criticized for his greed-induced actions in the Congo Free State, his own personal colony. As Caroline largely profited from the king's income from the colony, she became known as La reine du Congo ("The Queen of the Congo"). (Full article...)
Mehmed IV (1642–1693) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687. He came to the throne at the age of six, and went on to become the second longest reigning sultan in Ottoman history. During his middle years, he oversaw the revival of the empire's fortunes associated with the Köprülü era. Mehmed was known by contemporaries as a particularly pious ruler, and was referred to as gazi, or "holy warrior" for his role in the empire's many conquests. In 1687, after being overthrown, Mehmed retired to Edirne, where he resided until his death.
All in the world I have is yours; Next to God, you are the one I love best, and if I did not know that your love for me is the same, I could not be so happy as I am: May God give us both the grace to live always in this affection without any guile.
Image 3British India and the princely states within the Indian Empire. The princely states (in yellow) were sovereign territories of Indian princes who were practically suzerain to the Emperor of India, who was concurrently the British monarch, whose territories were called British India (in pink) and occupied a vast portion of the empire. (from Non-sovereign monarchy)
Image 4Francisco Pizarro meets with the Inca emperor Atahualpa, 1532 (from Monarch)
Image 5The administrative divisions of the British Protectorate of Uganda, including five of today's six kingdoms (from Non-sovereign monarchy)
Image 9The constituent states of the German Empire (a federal monarchy). Various states were formally suzerain to the emperor, whose government retained authority over some policy areas throughout the federation, and was concurrently King of Prussia, the empire's largest state. (from Non-sovereign monarchy)
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