1.
October
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October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and the sixth month to have the length of 31 days. The eighth month in the old Roman calendar, October retained its name after January and February were inserted into the calendar that had originally created by the Romans. In Ancient Rome, one of three Mundus patet would take place on October 5, Meditrinalia October 11, Augustalia on October 12, October Horse on October 15 and these dates do not correspond to the modern Gregorian calendar. Among the Anglo-Saxons, it was known as Winterfylleth, because at full moon winter was supposed to begin. This list does not necessarily imply either official status or general observance, October 19, Amavasya In Catholic tradition, October is the Month of the Holy Rosary. Neil Gaiman wrote a story personifying the month, titled October in the Chair, ray Bradbury published a collection of short stories titled The October Country in 1955. Octobers birthstones are the tourmaline and opal and its birth flower is the calendula. The zodiac signs for this month are Libra and Scorpio
2.
November
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November is the eleventh and penultimate month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and the fourth and last month to have the length of 30 days. November was the month of the ancient Roman calendar. November retained its name when January and February were added to the Roman calendar, November is a month of late-spring in the Southern Hemisphere and late-autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Therefore, November in the Southern Hemisphere is the equivalent of May in the Northern Hemisphere. In Ancient Rome, Ludi Plebeii was held from November 4–17, Epulum Jovis was held on November 13 and these dates do not correspond to the modern Gregorian calendar. November was referred to as Blōtmōnaþ by the Anglo-Saxons, brumaire and Frimaire were the months on which November fell in the French Republican Calendar. The Orionids, which occur in late October, sometimes last into November, the Western zodiac signs for the month of November are Scorpio and Sagittarius. Novembers birthstones are the topaz which symbolizes friendship and the citrine and its birth flower is the chrysanthemum. This list does not necessarily imply either official status or general observance, November 18, Amavasya In Catholic tradition, November is the Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory
3.
December
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December is the twelfth and final month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars. It is the seventh and last month to have the length of 31 days, December got its name from the Latin word decem because it was originally the tenth month of the year in the Roman calendar, which began in March. The winter days following December were not included as part of any month, later, the months of January and February were created out of the monthless period and added to the beginning of the calendar, but December retained its name. In Ancient Rome, one of the four Agonalia, this day in honor of Sol Indiges was held on December 11 and these dates do not correspond to the modern Gregorian calendar. The Anglo-Saxons referred to December/January as Ġēolamonaþ, the French Republican Calendar contained December within the months of Frimaire and Nivôse. December contains the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the day with the fewest daylight hours, and the summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, December in the Northern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent to June in the Southern Hemisphere and vice versa. In the Northern hemisphere, the beginning of the winter is traditionally 21 December or the date of the solstice. The zodiac signs for the month of December are Sagittarius and Capricorn, decembers birth flower is the narcissus. Decembers birthstones are the turquoise, zircon, and tanzanite and this list does not necessarily imply either official status or general observance. December 18, Amavasya In Catholic tradition, December is the Month of the Advent of Christ
4.
November 9
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November 9 is the 313th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 52 days remaining until the end of the year and this date is slightly more likely to fall on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday than on Saturday or Sunday, and slightly less likely to occur on a Tuesday or Thursday. 694 – At the Seventeenth Council of Toledo, Egica, a king of the Visigoths of Hispania, accuses Jews of aiding Muslims,1313 – Louis the Bavarian defeats his cousin Frederick I of Austria at the Battle of Gammelsdorf. 1330 – At the Battle of Posada, Basarab I of Wallachia defeats the Hungarian army of Charles I Robert,1456 – Ulrich II, Count of Celje, last ruler of the County of Cilli, is assassinated in Belgrade. 1520 – More than 50 people are sentenced and executed in the Stockholm Bloodbath 1620 – Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower sight land at Cape Cod,1688 – Glorious Revolution, William of Orange captures Exeter. 1697 – Pope Innocent XII founds the city of Cervia,1720 – The synagogue of Judah HeHasid is burned down by Arab creditors, leading to the expulsion of the Ashkenazim from Jerusalem. 1729 – Spain, France and Great Britain sign the Treaty of Seville,1791 – Foundation of the Dublin Society of United Irishmen. 1799 – Napoleon Bonaparte leads the Coup of 18 Brumaire ending the Directory government,1851 – Kentucky marshals abduct abolitionist minister Calvin Fairbank from Jeffersonville, Indiana, and take him to Kentucky to stand trial for helping a slave escape. 1857 – The Atlantic is founded in Boston, Massachusetts,1861 – The first documented football match in Canada is played at University College, Toronto. 1862 – American Civil War, Union General Ambrose Burnside assumes command of the Army of the Potomac,1867 – Tokugawa shogunate hands power back to the Emperor of Japan, starting the Meiji Restoration. 1872 – The Great Boston Fire of 1872,1883 – The Royal Winnipeg Rifles of the Canadian Armed Forces is founded. 1887 – The United States receives rights to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii,1906 – Theodore Roosevelt is the first sitting President of the United States to make an official trip outside the country. He did so to progress on the Panama Canal. 1907 – The Cullinan Diamond is presented to King Edward VII on his birthday,1913 – The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, the most destructive natural disaster ever to hit the lakes, destroys 19 ships and kills more than 250 people. 1914 – SMS Emden is sunk by HMAS Sydney in the Battle of Cocos,1918 – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates after the German Revolution, and Germany is proclaimed a Republic. 1921 – The Italian National Fascist Party comes into existence,1923 – In Munich, Germany, police and government troops crush the Beer Hall Putsch in Bavaria. The failed coup is the work of the Nazis,1935 – The Congress of Industrial Organizations is founded in Atlantic City, New Jersey, by eight trade unions belonging to the American Federation of Labor. 1937 – The Chinese Army withdraws from the Battle of Shanghai,1940 – Warsaw is awarded the Virtuti Militari
5.
Leap year
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A leap year is a calendar year containing one additional day added to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year. By inserting an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected, a year that is not a leap year is called a common year. For example, in the Gregorian calendar, each year has 366 days instead of the usual 365. In the Bahai Calendar, a day is added when needed to ensure that the following year begins on the vernal equinox. For example, Christmas Day fell on a Tuesday in 2001, Wednesday in 2002, the length of a day is also occasionally changed by the insertion of leap seconds into Coordinated Universal Time, owing to the variability of Earths rotational period. Unlike leap days, leap seconds are not introduced on a regular schedule, in the Gregorian calendar, the standard calendar in most of the world, most years that are multiples of 4 are leap years. In each leap year, the month of February has 29 days instead of 28, adding an extra day to the calendar every four years compensates for the fact that a period of 365 days is shorter than a tropical year by almost 6 hours. Some exceptions to this rule are required since the duration of a tropical year is slightly less than 365.25 days. For example, the years 1700,1800, and 1900 were not leap years, over a period of four centuries, the accumulated error of adding a leap day every four years amounts to about three extra days. The Gregorian calendar therefore removes three leap days every 400 years, which is the length of its leap cycle and this is done by removing February 29 in the three century years that cannot be exactly divided by 400. The years 1600,2000 and 2400 are leap years, while 1700,1800,1900,2100,2200 and 2300 are common years, by this rule, the average number of days per year is 365 + 1⁄4 − 1⁄100 + 1⁄400 =365.2425. The rule can be applied to years before the Gregorian reform, the Gregorian calendar was designed to keep the vernal equinox on or close to March 21, so that the date of Easter remains close to the vernal equinox. The Accuracy section of the Gregorian calendar article discusses how well the Gregorian calendar achieves this design goal, the following pseudocode determines whether a year is a leap year or a common year in the Gregorian calendar. The year variable being tested is the representing the number of the year in the Gregorian calendar. Care should be taken in translating mathematical integer divisibility into specific programming languages, if then else if then else if then else February 29 is a date that usually occurs every four years, and is called leap day. This day is added to the calendar in leap years as a corrective measure, the Gregorian calendar is a modification of the Julian calendar first used by the Romans. The Roman calendar originated as a calendar and named many of its days after the syzygies of the moon, the new moon. The Nonae or nones was not the first quarter moon but was exactly one nundina or Roman market week of nine days before the ides and this is what we would call a period of eight days
6.
Gregorian calendar
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The Gregorian calendar is internationally the most widely used civil calendar. It is named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582, the calendar was a refinement to the Julian calendar involving a 0. 002% correction in the length of the year. The motivation for the reform was to stop the drift of the calendar with respect to the equinoxes and solstices—particularly the northern vernal equinox, transition to the Gregorian calendar would restore the holiday to the time of the year in which it was celebrated when introduced by the early Church. The reform was adopted initially by the Catholic countries of Europe, the last European country to adopt the reform was Greece, in 1923. Many countries that have used the Islamic and other religious calendars have come to adopt this calendar for civil purposes. The reform was a modification of a made by Aloysius Lilius. His proposal included reducing the number of years in four centuries from 100 to 97. Lilius also produced an original and practical scheme for adjusting the epacts of the moon when calculating the date of Easter. For example, the years 1700,1800, and 1900 are not leap years, but the years 1600 and 2000 are. The canonical Easter tables were devised at the end of the third century, when the vernal equinox fell either on 20 March or 21 March depending on the years position in the leap year cycle. As the rule was that the full moon preceding Easter was not to precede the equinox, the date was fixed at 21 March for computational purposes, the Gregorian calendar reproduced these conditions by removing ten days. To unambiguously specify a date, dual dating or Old Style, dual dating gives two consecutive years for a given date, because of differences in the starting date of the year, and/or to give both the Julian and the Gregorian dates. The Gregorian calendar continued to use the calendar era, which counts years from the traditional date of the nativity. This year-numbering system, also known as Dionysian era or Common Era, is the predominant international standard today, the Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar. A regular Gregorian year consists of 365 days, but as in the Julian calendar, in a leap year, in the Julian calendar a leap year occurs every 4 years, but the Gregorian calendar omits 3 leap days every 400 years. In the Julian calendar, this day was inserted by doubling 24 February. In the modern period, it has become customary to number the days from the beginning of the month, some churches, notably the Roman Catholic Church, delay February festivals after the 23rd by one day in leap years. Gregorian years are identified by consecutive year numbers, the cycles repeat completely every 146,097 days, which equals 400 years
7.
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
8.
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
9.
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
10.
Battle of the Winwaed
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The Battle of the Winwaed was fought on 15 November 655 between King Penda of Mercia and Oswiu of Bernicia, ending in the Mercians defeat and Pendas death. The battle marked the demise of Anglo-Saxon paganism. Although the battle is said to be the most important between the northern and southern divisions of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain, few details are available. The two armies met on the banks of a river named the Winwaed, but this river has never been identified, possibly it was a tributary of the Humber. There is reason to believe it may have been the now known as Cock Beck in the ancient kingdom of Elmet. Another possibility is the River Went, a tributary of the River Don and it could also be in Oswestry or Winwick. The roots of the lay in Pendas success in dominating England through a number of military victories. Penda, after gathering allies from East Anglia and Wales, marched with a led by thirty warlords. Oswiu, who was Oswalds brother but had succeeded him only in Bernicia, iedeu appears as a historic name for Jedburgh, also located in the north of the kingdom. Apparently Oswiu was desperate enough to offer a deal of treasure to Penda in exchange for peace. The Historia Brittonum contradicts Bede regarding the treasure, saying that Penda distributed it among his British allies, which would presumably mean that he accepted it. The recorded events may be interpreted to mean that Penda and his army began marching home. Breeze argues that Penda and his army would have been in a strategic location along the Went during their withdrawal. It is almost certain that the small Northumbrian forces were outnumbered by the Mercians. According to Bede, before the battle Oswiu prayed to God and promised to make his daughter a nun, Pendas army was apparently weakened by desertions. Penda was soundly defeated, and both he and his ally, the East Anglian King Aethelhere, were killed, with thirty allied leaders of warbands. The battle was fought by the river in the midst of heavy rains, Bede mentions that Pendas head was cut off. The battle had an effect on the relative positions of Northumbria and Mercia
11.
Penda of Mercia
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Penda was a 7th-century King of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. He repeatedly defeated the East Angles and drove Cenwalh the king of Wessex into exile for three years and he continued to wage war against the Bernicians of Northumbria. The etymology of the name Penda is unknown, Penda of Mercia is the only monarch with this name, but a number of Mercian commoners with the same name are on record. Suggestions for etymologies of the name are divided between a Celtic and a Germanic origin. The names of members of a Northumbrian brotherhood are recorded in the ninth century Liber vitae Dunelmensis, the name Penda occurs in this list and is categorised as a British name. John T. Koch noted that, Penda and a number of royal names from early Anglian Mercia have more obvious Brythonic than German explanations. These royal names include those of Pendas father Pybba, and of his son Peada and it has been suggested that the firm alliance between Penda and various British princes might be the result of a racial cause. Continental Germanic comparanda for the name include a feminine Penta and a toponym Penti-lingen, Penda was a son of Pybba of Mercia and said to be an Icling, with a lineage purportedly extending back to Wōden. The Historia Brittonum says that Pybba had 12 sons, including Penda, besides Eowa, the pedigrees also give Penda a brother named Coenwalh from whom two later kings were said to descend, although this may instead represent his brother-in-law Cenwalh of Wessex. The time at which Penda became king is uncertain, as are the circumstances, another Mercian king, Cearl, is mentioned by Bede as ruling at the same time as the Northumbrian king Æthelfrith, in the early part of the 7th century. It is also possible that Cearl and Penda were dynastic rivals, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Penda became king in 626, ruled for 30 years, and was 50 years old at the time of his accession. Furthermore, that Penda was truly 50 years old at the beginning of his reign is generally doubted by historians, the idea that Penda, at about 80 years of age, would have left behind children who were still young has been widely considered implausible. The possibility has been suggested that the Chronicle actually meant to say that Penda was 50 years old at the time of his death, the noted 20th-century historian Frank Stenton was of the opinion that the language used by Bede leaves no doubt that. Penda, though descended from the family of the Mercians. Given the apparent problems with the dates given by the Chronicle, on the other hand, he might have been one of multiple rulers among the Mercians at the time, ruling only a part of their territory. The Chronicle says that after the battle, Penda and the West Saxons came to an agreement and it has been speculated that this agreement marked a victory for Penda, ceding to him Cirencester and the areas along the lower River Severn. These lands to the southwest of Mercia had apparently taken by the West Saxons from the Britons in 577. In the late 620s or early 630s, Cadwallon ap Cadfan, the British king of Gwynedd, became involved in a war with Edwin of Northumbria, the most powerful king in Britain at the time
12.
Oswiu
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Oswiu, also known as Oswy or Oswig, was King of Bernicia from 642 until his death. One of the sons of Æthelfrith of Bernicia, he became king following the death of his brother Oswald in 642, unlike Oswald, Oswiu struggled to exert authority over Deira, the other Anglo-Saxon kingdom comprising medieval Northumbria, for much of his reign. Oswiu and his brothers were raised in exile in the Scottish kingdom of Dál Riata after their fathers death at the hands of Edwin of Deira, Oswiu rose to the kingship when his brother Oswald was killed in battle against Penda of Mercia. The early part of his reign was defined by struggles to control over Deira and his contentious relationship with Penda. In 655, Oswius forces killed Penda in a victory at the Battle of the Winwæd. He secured control of Deira, with his son Alhfrith serving as a sub-king, Oswiu was a devoted Christian, promoting the faith among his subjects and establishing a number of monasteries, including Gilling Abbey and Whitby Abbey. Oswiu died in 670 and was succeeded by his son, Ecgfrith, Oswiu was born circa 612, as he was 58 at his death in 670, according to Bede. He was the child of Æthelfrith, then King of Bernicia, his siblings included older brothers Eanfrith and Oswald. Oswius mother may have been Æthelfriths only recorded wife, Acha, if so, his heritage did nothing to endear him to the Deiran nobility, while they accepted Oswald as king apparently on account of his mother, they resisted Oswiu throughout his reign. At the time of Oswius birth, Æthelfrith was at the height of his power, in 604 he had taken control of Deira, evidently by conquest, he killed the previous king, married Acha, a member of the kingly line, and exhiled Achas brother Edwin. His authority ran from the lands of the Picts and the Dál Riata in modern Scotland to Wales, on Æthelfriths death, his sons and their supporters fled Northumbria, finding sanctuary among the Gaels and Picts of northern Britain and Ireland. Here they would remain until Edwins death at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633, in exile, the sons of Æthelfrith were converted to Christianity, or raised as Christians. In Oswius case, he became an exile at the age of four, Bede writes that Oswiu was fluent in the Old Irish language and Irish in his faith. The Irish annals name one Oisiric mac Albruit, rigdomna Saxan—ætheling Osric—among the dead, alongside Connad Cerr, King of Dál Riata, and others of the Cenél nGabráin, at the Battle of Fid Eóin. Whether Oswius marriage with the Uí Néill princess Fín of the Cenél nEógain, equally uncertain is the date of Oswius return to Northumbria. He may have returned with Eanfrith on Edwins death in 633, Oswald died in battle against Penda of Mercia at the Battle of Maserfield, dated by Bede to 5 August 642. Oswalds son Œthelwald may have been his successor, but Œthelwald cannot have been an adult in 642. So, the kingship came to Oswiu, unlike Eanfrith and Osric, Oswiu held to the Christian faith in spite of his brothers defeat by the pagan Penda
13.
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
14.
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
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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
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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
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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
