1.
Justinian I
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Justinian I, traditionally known as Justinian the Great and also Saint Justinian the Great in the Eastern Orthodox Church, was a Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the empires greatness, because of his restoration activities, Justinian has sometimes been called the last Roman in modern historiography. This ambition was expressed by the recovery of the territories of the defunct western Roman Empire. His general, Belisarius, swiftly conquered the Vandal kingdom in North Africa, the prefect Liberius reclaimed the south of the Iberian peninsula, establishing the province of Spania. These campaigns re-established Roman control over the western Mediterranean, increasing the Empires annual revenue by over a million solidi, during his reign Justinian also subdued the Tzani, a people on the east coast of the Black Sea that had never been under Roman rule before. A still more resonant aspect of his legacy was the rewriting of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis. His reign also marked a blossoming of Byzantine culture, and his building program yielded such masterpieces as the church of Hagia Sophia, a devastating outbreak of bubonic plague in the early 540s marked the end of an age of splendour. Justinian was born in Tauresium around 482, a native speaker of Latin, he came from a peasant family believed to have been of Illyro-Roman or Thraco-Roman origins. The cognomen Iustinianus, which he later, is indicative of adoption by his uncle Justin. During his reign, he founded Justiniana Prima not far from his birthplace and his mother was Vigilantia, the sister of Justin. Justin, who was in the guard before he became emperor, adopted Justinian, brought him to Constantinople. As a result, Justinian was well educated in jurisprudence, theology, Justinian served for some time with the Excubitors but the details of his early career are unknown. Chronicler John Malalas, who lived during the reign of Justinian, tells of his appearance that he was short, fair skinned, curly haired, round faced, another contemporary chronicler, Procopius, compares Justinians appearance to that of tyrannical Emperor Domitian, although this is probably slander. When Emperor Anastasius died in 518, Justin was proclaimed the new emperor, during Justins reign, Justinian was the emperors close confidant. As Justin became senile near the end of his reign, Justinian became the de facto ruler, Justinian was appointed consul in 521 and later commander of the army of the east. Upon Justins death on 1 August 527, Justinian became the sole sovereign, as a ruler, Justinian showed great energy. He was known as the emperor who never sleeps on account of his work habits, nevertheless, he seems to have been amiable and easy to approach. Around 525, he married his mistress, Theodora, in Constantinople and she was by profession a courtesan and some twenty years his junior
2.
Byzantine Empire
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It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
3.
Francisco Pizarro
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Francisco Pizarro González was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that conquered the Inca Empire. He captured and killed Incan emperor Atahualpa and claimed the lands for Spain, Francisco Pizarro was born in Trujillo, Spain in modern-day Extremadura, Spain. He was the son of infantry colonel Gonzalo Pizarro and Francisca González. His date of birth is uncertain, but it is believed to be sometime in the 1470s, little attention was paid to his education and he grew up illiterate. His father was a colonel of infantry who served in Navarre and his mother married late in life and had a son Francisco Martín de Alcántara, who was at the conquest of Peru with his half-brother from its inception. Through his father, Francisco was a cousin, once removed. On 10 November 1509, Pizarro sailed from Spain to the New World with Alonso de Ojeda on an expedition to Gulf of Urabá in Tierra Firme, Pizarro became a participant in Ojedas failed colony, commanding the remnants until he abandoned it with the survivors. He sailed to Cartagena and joined the fleet of Martín Fernández de Enciso in 1513, in 1513, Pizarro accompanied Vasco Núñez de Balboa in his crossing of the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific coast. The following year, Pedrarias Dávila became the appointed governor of Castilla de Oro. During the next five years, Pizarro became an associate of Dávila. When Dávila decided to get rid of Balboa out of distrust, he instructed Pizarro to personally arrest him, Balboa was beheaded in January 1519. For his loyalty to Dávila, Pizarro was rewarded with the positions of mayor, on 10 November 1509, Pizarro sailed from Spain to the New World with Alonso de Ojeda on an expedition to Urabá. He sailed to Cartagena and joined the fleet of Martín Fernández de Enciso and, in 1513, reports of Perus riches and Cortéss success in Mexico tantalized Pizarro. He undertook two expeditions to conquer the Incan Empire in 1524 and in 1526, both failed as a result of native hostilities, bad weather and lack of provisions. Pedro de los Ríos, the Governor of Panama, made an effort to recall Pizarro, in April 1528, he reached northern Peru and found the natives rich with precious metals. This discovery gave Pizarro the motivation to plan an expedition to conquer the area. He returned to Panama to make arrangements, but the Governor refused to grant permission for the project, Pizarro returned to Spain to appeal directly to King Charles I. His plea was successful and he received not only a license for the proposed expedition and he was joined by family and friends and the expedition left Panama in 1530
4.
Conquistador
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Conquistadors /kɒŋˈkɪstəˌdɔːrz/ is a term used to refer to the soldiers and explorers of the Spanish Empire or the Portuguese Empire in a general sense. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, Oceania, Africa and Asia, conquering territory and they colonized much of the world for Spain and Portugal in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Portugal established a route to China in the early 16th century, sending ships via the southern coast of Africa, human infections gained worldwide transmission vectors for the first time, from Africa and Eurasia to the Americas and vice versa. The spread of diseases, including smallpox, flu and typhus. In the 16th century perhaps 240,000 Europeans entered American ports, by the late 16th century silver imports from America provided one-fifth of Spains total budget. The conquistadors were professional warriors, using European tactics, firearms and their units would often specialize in forms of combat that required long periods of training that were too costly for informal groups. Their armies were composed of Iberian and other European soldiers. Native allied troops were largely equipped with armament and armour that varied geographically. Some groups consisted of men without military experience, Catholic clergy which helped with administrative duties. These native forces often included African slaves and Native Americans and they not only fought in the battlefield but served as interpreters, informants, servants, teachers, physicians, and scribes. India Catalina and Malintzin were Native American women slaves who worked for the Spaniards, Castilian law prohibited foreigners and non-Catholics from settling in the New World. However, not all conquistadors were Castilian, many foreigners Hispanicised their names and/or converted to Catholicism to serve the Castilian Crown. For example, Ioánnis Fokás was a Castilian of Greek origin who discovered the strait that bears his name between Vancouver Island and Washington State in 1592, german-born Nikolaus Federmann, Hispanicised as Nicolás de Federmán, was a conquistador in Venezuela and Colombia. The origin of people in mixed expeditions was not always distinguished. Castilian law banned Spanish women from travelling to America unless they were married and accompanied by a husband, women who travelled thus include María de Escobar, María Estrada, Marina Vélez de Ortega, Marina de la Caballería, Francisca de Valenzuela, Catalina de Salazar. Some conquistadors married Native American women or had illegitimate children, European young men enlisted in the army because it was one way out of poverty. Catholic priests instructed the soldiers in mathematics, writing, theology, Latin, Greek, and history, Kings army officers taught military arts. An uneducated young recruit could become a leader, elected by their fellow professional soldiers
5.
Inca Empire
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The Inca Empire, also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire, was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America, and possibly the largest empire in the world in the early 16th century. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru, the Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century. Its last stronghold was conquered by the Spanish in 1572, from 1438 to 1533, the Incas incorporated a large portion of western South America, centered on the Andean Mountains, using conquest and peaceful assimilation, among other methods. The Incas considered their king, the Sapa Inca, to be the son of the sun, the Inca Empire was unique in that it lacked many features associated with civilization in the Old world. In the words of one scholar, The Incas lacked the use of wheeled vehicles, the Incan economy has been described as feudal, slave, socialist. The economy functioned largely without money and without markets, instead, exchange of goods and services was based on reciprocity between individuals and among individuals, groups, and Inca rulers. Taxes consisted of an obligation of a person to the Empire. The Inca rulers reciprocated by granting access to land and goods and providing food, the Inca referred to their empire as Tawantinsuyu, the four suyu. The four suyu were, Chinchaysuyu, Antisuyu, Qullasuyu and Kuntisuyu, the name Tawantinsuyu was, therefore, a descriptive term indicating a union of provinces. The Spanish transliterated the name as Tahuatinsuyo or Tahuatinsuyu, the term Inka means ruler or lord in Quechua and was used to refer to the ruling class or the ruling family. The Incas were a small percentage of the total population of the empire, probably numbering only 15,000 to 40,000. The Spanish adopted the term as a term referring to all subjects of the empire rather than simply the ruling class. As such the name Imperio inca referred to the nation that they encountered, the Inca people were a pastoral tribe in the Cusco area around the 12th century. Incan oral history tells a story of three caves. The center cave at Tampu Tuqu was named Qhapaq Tuqu, the other caves were Maras Tuqu and Sutiq Tuqu. Four brothers and four sisters stepped out of the middle cave and they were, Ayar Manco, Ayar Cachi, Ayar Awqa and Ayar Uchu, and Mama Ocllo, Mama Raua, Mama Huaco and Mama Qura. Out of the side caves came the people who were to be the ancestors of all the Inca clans, Ayar Manco carried a magic staff made of the finest gold. Where this staff landed, the people would live and they traveled for a long time
6.
Cajamarca
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Cajamarca is the capital and largest city of the Cajamarca Region as well as an important cultural and commercial center in the northern Andes. It is located in the highlands of Peru at approximately 2,750 m above sea level in the valley of the Mashcon river. Cajamarca had an population of about 226,031 inhabitants in 2015. Cajamarca has a highland climate, and the area has a very fertile soil. The city is known for its dairy products and mining activity in the surroundings. The history of the city is highlighted by the Battle of Cajamarca, the etymology of Cajamarca may mean town of thorns or cold place depending on the source. All sources agree that the word has quechua origin, the city and its surroundings have been occupied by several cultures for more than 2000 years. Traces of pre-Chavín cultures can be seen in archaeological sites, such as Cumbe Mayo. During the period between 1463 and 1471, Tupac Inca conquered the area and brought Cajamarca into the Tawantinsuyu, at the time, it was ruled by Tupac Incas father Pachacuti. In 1532 Atahualpa defeated his brother Huáscar in a battle for the Inca throne in Quito, on his way to Cusco to claim the throne with his army, he stopped at Cajamarca. Francisco Pizarro and his 168 soldiers met Atahualpa here after weeks of marching from Piura, as the two leaders faced off, the young captain Hernando De Soto, rode on horseback directly up to Atahualpa to intimidate him. Having taken Atahualpa captive, they held him in Cajamarcas main temple, Atahualpa offered his captors a ransom for his freedom, a room filled with gold and silver, within two months. Although having complied with the offering, Atahualpa was brought to trial, Pizarro, De Soto, and others shared in the ransom. In 1986 the Organization of American States designated Cajamarca as a site of Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Americas, the style of ecclesiastical architecture in the city differs from other Peruvian cities due to the geographic and climatic conditions. Cajamarca is further north with a climate, the colonial builders used available stone rather than the clay of used in the coastal desert cities. Cajamarca has six Christian churches of Spanish colonial style, San Jose, La Recoleta, La Immaculada Concepcion, San Antonio, although all were built in the seventeenth century, the latter three are the most outstanding due to their sculpted facades and ornamentation. The facades of three churches were left unfinished, most likely due to lack of funds. The façade of the Cathedral is the most elegantly decorated, to the extent that it was completed, El Belen has a completed façade of the main building, but the tower is half finished
7.
Cusco
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Cuzco, often spelled Cusco, is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region as well as the Cusco Province, in 2013, the city had a population of 435,114. Located on the end of the Knot of Cuzco, its elevation is around 3,400 m. The site was the capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th until the 16th-century Spanish conquest. In 1983 Cusco was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and it has become a major tourist destination, hosting nearly 2 million visitors a year. The Constitution of Peru designates it as the Historical Capital of Peru, the indigenous name of this city is Qusqu. Although the name was used in Quechua, its origin is found in the Aymara language, the word is derived from the phrase qusqu wanka, related to the citys foundation myth of the Ayar Siblings. According to this legend, Ayar Awqa acquired wings and flew to the site of the future city, there he was transformed into a rock to mark the possession of the land by his ayllu. Then Ayar Oche stood up, displayed a pair of large wings, then they went up on top of the hill. Now at the site where he was to remain as an idol and he returned and told Ayar Manco that from then on he was to be named Manco Capac. Ayar Oche came from where the Sun was and the Sun had ordered that Ayar Manco take that name, after this had been stated by the idol, Ayar Oche turned into a stone, just as he was, with his wings. Later Manco Capac went down with Ayar Auca to their settlement. he liked the place now occupied in this city Cuzco, Manco Capac and his companion, with the help of the four women, made a house. Having done this, Manco Capac and his companion, with the four women and it is said that they took the maize from the cave, which this lord Manco Capac named Pacaritambo, which means those of origin because. they came out of that cave. The Spanish conquistadors adopted the name, transliterating it into Spanish phonetics as Cuzco or, less often. Cuzco was the spelling on official documents and chronicles in colonial times. Cuzco, pronounced as in 16th-century Spanish, seems to have been an approximation to the Cusco Quechua pronunciation of the name at the time. As both Spanish and Quechuan pronunciation have evolved since then, the Spanish pronunciation of z is no longer close to the Quechuan pronunciation of the consonant represented by z in Cuzco. In 1976, the city signed an ordinance banning the traditional spelling and ordering the use of a new one, Cusco
8.
Hernando de Soto
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A vast undertaking, de Sotos North American expedition ranged throughout the southeastern United States searching for gold, and a passage to China. De Soto died in 1542 on the banks of the Mississippi River in what is now Guachoya, Arkansas or Ferriday and he was born in Jerez de los Caballeros, in the current province of Badajoz. However, three towns—Badajoz, Barcarrota and Jerez de los Caballeros—claim to be his birthplace and he spent time as a child at each place, and he stipulated in his will that his body be interred at Jerez de los Caballeros, where other members of his family were interred. The age of the Conquerors came on the heels of the Spanish reconquest of the Iberian peninsula from Islamic forces, Spain and Portugal were filled with young men seeking a chance for military fame after the Moors were defeated. With discovery of new lands to the west, they were attracted to whispers of glory, De Soto sailed to the New World with the first Governor of Panama, Pedrarias Dávila. In 1520 he participated in Gaspar de Espinosas expedition to Veragua, there he acquired an encomienda and a public office in Leon, Nicaragua. Brave leadership, unwavering loyalty, and ruthless schemes for the extortion of native villages for their chiefs became de Sotos hallmarks during the Conquest of Central America. He gained fame as an excellent horseman, fighter, and tactician, in 1530, de Soto became a regidor of León, Nicaragua. He led an expedition up the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula searching for a passage between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean to enable trade with the Orient, the richest market in the world. Failing that, and without means to further, de Soto, upon Pedro Arias Dávilas death. Bringing his own men on ships which he hired, de Soto joined Francisco Pizarro at his first base of Tumbes shortly before departure for the interior of present-day Peru, Pizarro quickly made de Soto one of his captains. When Pizarro and his men first encountered the army of the Inca Atahualpa at Cajamarca, when Pizarros men attacked Atahualpa and his guard the next day, de Soto led one of the three groups of mounted soldiers. De Soto was sent to the camp of the Incan army, during 1533, the Spanish held Atahualpa captive in Cajamarca for months while his subjects paid for his ransom by filling a room with gold and silver objects. During this captivity, de Soto became friendly with Atahualpa and taught him to play chess, by the time the ransom had been completed, the Spanish became alarmed by rumors of an Incan army advancing on Cajamarca. Pizarro sent de Soto with 200 soldiers to scout for the rumored army, while de Soto was gone, the Spanish in Cajamarca decided to kill Atahualpa to prevent his rescue. De Soto returned to report that he found no signs of an army in the area, after executing Atahualpa, Pizarro and his men headed to Cuzco, the capital of the Incan Empire. As the Spanish force approached Cuzco, Pizarro sent his brother Hernando, the advance guard fought a pitched battle with Incan troops in front of the city, but the battle had ended before Pizarro arrived with the rest of the Spanish party. The Incan army withdrew during the night, the Spanish plundered Cuzco, where they found much gold and silver
9.
Atahualpa
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Atahualpa, also Atahuallpa, Atabalipa or Atawallpa was the ruler of Quito for 5 years before conquering the Inca Empire from his brother Huascar, the 13th Inca Emperor. After defeating his brother, Atahualpa became very briefly the last Sapa Inca of the Inca Empire before the Spanish conquest, Atahualpa inherited the Kingdom of Quito from his father the Sapa Inca Huayna Capac in 1525. Before Huayna died, he made a testament to the people in his empire that he intended to divide his empire into two parts. Atahualpa would become king in the Northern section of the Inca Empire, Huayna died from an infectious disease. Atahualpa became Inca emperor after he defeated and imprisoned Huáscar and massacred any pretenders to the throne at the close of the civil war. Later, while imprisoned by the Spaniards, Atahualpa gave orders to kill Huáscar in Jauja, during the Spanish conquest, the Spaniard Francisco Pizarro captured Atahualpa and used him to control the Inca Empire. Eventually, the Spanish executed Atahualpa, effectively ending the empire, throughout the Inca Empires history, the main policy of each Sapa Inca was to expand the territory of the empire. When Pachacuti, the 9th Sapa Inca ruled, the Inca Empire had expanded to northern Peru, at this point, Pachacuti sent his son Tupac Inca Yupanqui to invade and conquer the territory of present-day Ecuador. News of the expansion of the Incas reached the different tribes, as a defense against the Incas the Andean chiefdoms formed alliances with each other. Historians of that region refer to these alliances as the Quito Confederation with the Kingdom of Quito being the leader of this confederation. Around 1460, Tupac Inca Yupanqui, with an army of 200,000 warriors that were sent by his father, easily gained control of the Palta nation in southern Ecuador and northern Peru in a matter of months. However, the Inca army met resistance from the Cañaris. The leader of the Caras-Quitus was known as the King of Quito and this would be the equivalent of calling all the Kings of ancient Rome by the title of Caesar. The turning point came in the battle of Laguna de Yahuarcocha where there was such a massacre of the Quito army by the Inca Huayna Capac that the lake turned to blood in 1495. When the Cacha Duchicela Shyris XV, the King of Quito, however, the Inca Huayna Capac who grew tired of going to war decided to peacefully settle things. Breaking with Inca tradition Huayna Capac proposed to marry the Queen of Quito in order to incorporate the rest of northern Ecuador into the Inca Empire. Paccha Duchicela Shyris XVI accepted this proposal on condition that their son would be crowned King of Quito upon the death of Huayna Capac, out of this marriage alliance the Atahualpa the future King of Quito was born. Thus the rest of Ecuador was temporarily incorporated into the Inca Empire, there are a few historians that attempt to discredit the existence of the Kingdom of Quito, but to no avail, since there are more chroniclers that mention that the Kingdom of Quito existed
10.
Justin II
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Justin II was Eastern Roman Emperor from 565 to 574. He was the husband of Sophia, nephew of Justinian I and the Empress Theodora and his reign is marked by war with Sasanian Iran and the loss of the greater part of Italy. He presented the Cross of Justin II to Saint Peters, Rome and he was a son of Vigilantia and Dulcidio, respectively the sister and brother-in-law of Justinian. His siblings included Marcellus and Praejecta, Justinian I died on the night of 14 to 15 November 565. The clarification was needed because there was another nephew and candidate for the throne, Justin, modern historians suspect Callinicus may have fabricated the last words of Justinian to secure the succession for his political ally. As Robert Browning observed, Did Justinian really bring himself in the end to make a choice, in any case, Callinicus started alerting those most interested in the succession, originally various members of the Byzantine Senate. Then they jointly informed Justin and Vigilantia, offering the throne, Justin accepted after the traditional token show of reluctance, and with his wife Sophia, he was escorted to the Great Palace of Constantinople. The Excubitors blocked the palace entrances during the night, and early in the morning, John Scholasticus, Patriarch of Constantinople, only then was the death of Justinian and the succession of Justin publicly announced in the Hippodrome of Constantinople. Both the Patriarch and Tiberius, commander of the Excubitors, had recently appointed, with Justin having played a part in their respective appointments. Their willingness to elevate their patron and ally to the throne was hardly surprising, in the first few days of his reign Justin paid his uncles debts, administered justice in person, and proclaimed universal religious toleration. Contrary to his uncle, Justin relied completely on the support of the aristocratic party, proud of character, and faced with an empty treasury, he discontinued Justinians practice of buying off potential enemies. Immediately after his accession, Justin halted the payment of subsidies to the Avars and they quickly overran the Po valley, and within a few years they had made themselves masters of nearly the entire country. The Avars themselves crossed the Danube in 573 or 574, when the Empires attention was distracted by troubles on the Persian frontier and they were only placated by the payment of a subsidy of 60,000 silver pieces by Justins successor Tiberius. The North and East frontiers were the focus of Justins attention. In 572 his refusal to pay tribute to the Persians in combination with overtures to the Turks led to a war with the Sassanid Empire, after two disastrous campaigns, in which the Persians overran Syria and captured the strategically important fortress of Dara, Justin reportedly lost his mind. Istämi refused the first request, but when he sanctioned the second one and had the Sogdian embassy sent to the Sassanid king, Justin agreed and sent an embassy to the Turkic Khaganate, ensuring the direct silk trade desired by the Sogdians. Previte-Orton continues, In foreign affairs he took the attitude of the invincible, unbending Roman, the temporary fits of insanity into which Justin fell warned him to name a colleague. Passing over his own relatives, he raised, on the advice of Sophia, the general Tiberius to be Caesar in December 574, adopting him as his son, in 574, Sophia paid 45,000 solidi to Chosroes in return for a years truce
11.
Leopold I, Duke of Austria
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Leopold I from the House of Habsburg was Duke of Austria and Styria – as co-ruler with his elder brother Frederick the Fair – from 1308 until his death. Born at Vienna, he was the son of King Albert I of Germany and Elisabeth of Gorizia-Tyrol. The energetic man converged with the royal House of Luxembourg and accompanied King Henry VII on his Italian campaign, in 1311 he helped to suppress a Guelph revolt at Milan under Guido della Torre and to lay siege to the city of Brescia. Upon Emperor Henrys death, he supported his brother Frederick in the 1314 election as King of the Romans. Despite all efforts, the Habsburgs only gained the votes of four Prince-electors, while Louis IV of Wittelsbach, in the following armed conflict between the rivals, the forces of Leopold were supportive of his brothers claims. In his ancestral homeland however, he incurred a decisive defeat by the Swiss Confederacy at the 1315 Battle of Morgarten, when Frederick and their younger brother Henry had been captured at the Battle of Mühldorf in 1322, Leopold struggled for their release. He entered into negotiations with King Louis IV and even surrendered the Imperial Regalia he had kept at Kyburg castle, the parleys failed and Leopold continued to attack the Bavarian forces of Louis, who unsuccessfully laid siege to the Swabian town of Burgau in 1324. After the king had failed to reach the approval of his election by Pope John XXII and was even banned, the captive however had to promise to swear his brother to acknowledge Louis as his suzerain, which Leopold refused. Frederick as a man of honour voluntarily returned to the Bavarian court, Leopold died in Straßburg shortly afterwards, aged 35. His remains were buried at Königsfelden Monastery in the Swiss town of Windisch in the Aargau, in 1315 Leopold married Catherine, daughter of Count Amadeus V of Savoy. They had two daughters, Catherine, who married Lord Enguerrand VI of Coucy Agnes, married Duke Bolko II the Small of Świdnica, main character in the book series The Forest Knights. Main antagonist in the Japanese manga series, Wolfsmund
12.
Battle of Morgarten
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The Swiss, led by Werner Stauffacher, defeated the Austrians, who were under the command of Duke Leopold I. The Swiss victory consolidated the Everlasting League of the Three Forest Cantons, toward the end of the 13th century, the House of Habsburg coveted the area around the Gotthard Pass as it offered the shortest passage to Italy. In 1314 tensions between the Habsburgs and Confederates heightened when Duke Louis IV of Bavaria and Frederick the Handsome, the Confederates supported Louis IV because they feared the Habsburgs would annex their lands, which they had tried to do in the late 13th century. War eventually broke out after the Confederates of Schwyz raided the Habsburg-protected Einsiedeln Abbey, fredericks brother, Leopold of Austria, led a large army, including a small number of knights, to crush the rebellious Confederates. He planned an attack from the south via Ägerisee and the Morgarten Pass. Johannes von Winterthurs chronicle of the battle puts the Austrian forces at 20,000, the Confederates of Schwyz were supported by the Confederates of Uri, who feared for their autonomy. They were not supported by the Confederates of Unterwalden, who expected the army to approach from the west near the village of Arth, the size of the Confederate army is also disputed, with estimates ranging from 1,500 to around 3,000 or 4,000. Nevertheless, regardless of their size, the Confederate militia lacked the training of the Habsburg knights, in response, the Confederates prepared a road-block and an ambush at a point between Lake Ägerisee and Morgarten Pass, where a small path led between a steep slope and a swamp. About 1,500 Habsburg soldiers were killed in the attack, according to Karl von Elgger, the Confederates, unfamiliar with the customs of battles between knights, brutally butchered retreating troops and everyone unable to flee. He records that some infantry preferred to themselves in the lake rather than face the brutality of the Swiss. In an article in the Encyclopædia Britannica called Military technology § The infantry revolution, 1200–1500, John Guilmartin states that, important and enduring discovery was made by the Swiss learned that an unarmoured man with a seven-foot halberd could dispatch an armoured man-at-arms. Displaying striking adaptability, they replaced some of their halberds with the pike, with the creation of the pike square tactical formation, the Swiss provided the model for the modern infantry regiment. Within a month of the battle, in December 1315, the Confederates renewed the oath of alliance made in 1291, in March 1316, Emperor Louis IV confirmed the rights and privileges of the Forest Cantons. However, Leopold prepared another attack against the Confederacy, in response, Schwyz attacked some of the Habsburg lands and Unterwalden marched into the Bernese Oberland. Neither side was able to prevail against the other, and in 1318, by 1323, the Forest Cantons had made alliances with Bern, and Schwyz signed an alliance with Glarus for protection from the Habsburgs. Within forty years, cities including Lucerne, Zug and Zürich had also joined the Confederacy, the Confederate victory gave them virtual autonomy, and for a time, a peace with the Habsburgs that lasted until the Battle of Sempach in 1386. Battles of the Old Swiss Confederacy DeVries, Kelly, infantry Warfare in the Early Fourteenth Century, Discipline, Tactics, and Technology. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. pp. 188–89, the rise of the Swiss republic, a history
