World History – Page 42 – General History

Charles ‘the Bold’, Philip ‘the Good’ & Philip ‘the Bold’ (of Burgundy)

Burgundy was an important former duchy in south-central France, originally settled by a German tribe called the Burgundii, there in the 5^th century. It was first under Merovingian control, and later was absorbed into the Carolingian Empire (q.v.). While powerful Holy Roman Emperors exercised imperial control it was ruled by a series of impressive dukes.

Oddly enough, the Court of Burgundy was by far the most splendid in Europe, but few people have heard of it, France having easily and erroneously assumed that mantle. Dukes of Burgundy were more powerful than kings of France, especially when they were astute enough to form partnerships with England (as they did during the Hundred Years War). It was then that these dukes presented a real threat to the kings of France. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-18T17:45:01+00:00 June 18th, 2012|Dutch History, English History, French History, World History|0 Comments

The sad story of ‘Sissi’

Sad end of ‘Sissi’ / waymarking.com

The Emperor Franz-Josef of Austria and Hungary was one of the last really powerful heads of state in Europe who was not only a monarch but a statesman. He married a beautiful young German girl from Munich on April 24^th, 1854, when she was just seventeen. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-18T09:49:23+00:00 June 18th, 2012|Austrian history, Italian History, World History|1 Comment

The House of Habsburg

The Habsburg family tree drawn by Ed Stephen / paradocplace.com

I know that many people who should know better write the above name as Hapsburg. I am not among them, perhaps because I am a retired journalist, not a working one, and it is mostly journalists in Sunday Supplements who make this cardinal error. If you wish to avoid using either ‘b’ or ‘p’ you could call them The House of Austria . . . but that does not prevent them from being the most prominent, some would say enduring royal dynasty in history.

Habsburgs were royally installed on thrones from the 15^th to the 20^th centuries. The name itself comes from Habichtsburg (Hawk’s Castle) which actually is in Switzerland, not Austria, and has been since 1020. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-15T10:26:11+00:00 June 15th, 2012|Austrian history, German History, History of the Low Countries, Italian History, Spanish History, World History|0 Comments

A Brief History of the Tudor Dynasty

Henry the usurping Seventh, founded of The Tudors / historylearningsite.co.uk

Henry the usurping Seventh, founder of The Tudors / historylearningsite.co.uk

The royal line of the Tudors lasted from 1485 to 1603. one hundred and eighteen eventful years. They will be remembered for ‘the Tudor Rose’, ‘The six wives’, ‘St. Thomas More’, ‘the Queen’s pirates’, ‘the Invincible Armada’ and ‘Mock-Tudor houses’.

The great adventure started with an obscure family of Welsh gentry. Henry V, having won the Battle of Agincourt (1415 q.v.) and the heart of a French princess called Katherine of Valois, married her and had a weakly son, later to become, albeit briefly, Henry VI. The Wars of the Roses, chiefly fought between the great landowning barons to see who could drive the youngster off the throne and replace him with one of their own, were calamitous and noisy enough to conceal a vary dubious marriage connection between Owen Tudor and the widow of Henry V, who died no more than fifteen months after marrying his French princess. Perhaps no one noticed that a royal princess, Henry V’s queen, had as a widow formed an attachment with her wardrobe master. Nor did people notice that Owen Tudor was illegitimate. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-14T09:54:26+00:00 June 14th, 2012|English History, World History|0 Comments

The Thirteen Colonies (or should it be fourteen?)

If you are a crow, living in the United States of America, and on a whim you decided to fly directly north to the northernmost part, from the southernmost part of the most southerly of the original Thirteen Colonies on the eastern seaboard, you would cover 750 kilometres or 500 miles. Though I am not a crow, I have done the journey in a Chevolet Impala (not mine) at a time when the President of the USA found it convenient, safer and cheaper for Americans to drive no faster than 55 m.p.h., even on the finest roads in the world. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-13T10:45:14+00:00 June 13th, 2012|English History, English Language, Today, US History, World History|2 Comments

The English Monarchs

Modern historians do not ascribe as much importance to the kings and queens of Britain as they used, say in the time of G.M. Trevelyan. Nevertheless, these tiresome but oil-annointed ladies and gentlemen (some were neither) do pop up frequently in examinations. Thus it is is better to know at least when they reigned. Their nicknames or achievements, failures etc. are noted.

Thanks to Mr Ben Schott, a scholar, I can confirm that in the Danish Line there were six kings, all men; in the Norman Line twelve, all men; in the Lancastrian Plantagenet line there were three, while in the Yorkist Lancastrian Line there were three too. The House of Tudor (Oooer!) there were six, but the last three were women. The first Queen of England, though only for 9 days, was poor little Jane Grey. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-11T11:24:20+00:00 June 11th, 2012|English History, Today, World History|0 Comments

History of the Commonwealth of Nations

Mistakes made by leaders of powerful countries have been legion throughout history. Enormous losses in the human and animal races have been the result. It is arguable that had George V of England and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany not disliked each other, and had had more control over the ambitions of their respective political leaders, there would not have been a First World War. Again, if Blair, Aznar and Barroso had exhibited more guts on that island in the Azores, they might have persuaded George Bush Jun. to stop telling himself and them what he (and they) knew to be a lie – that Saddam was storing massively dangerous secret weapons in Iraq – and better methods than medieval ones could have been used to depose a dictator. And 100,000 Iraquies would not have died, nor nearly 4000 young servicemen and women from the USA. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-09T10:31:18+00:00 June 9th, 2012|African History, Asian History, English History, German History, History of New Zealand, History of the Low Countries, Russian history, Today, US History, World History|0 Comments

Roman law, Roman religion & Romance Languages

The Romans believed in law, and tried to live by it, frequently failing when political necessities seemed more important, or integral to the purpose. Roman Law developed (in Rome) for around one hundred years before the birth of Christ, and continued after his death to circa. 220 AD.

Nevertheless, more centuries were needed before the Emperor Justinian (justly named: 482-565) codified it in his Corpus Juris Civilis which we translate as ‘Body of Civil Law’. Then, a long time after lawless Germanic bands had destroyed Rome itself and the remnants of its Empire (q.v.) Roman law emerged again in the 11^th century as a popular subject for study in Italian universities. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-06T09:33:23+00:00 June 6th, 2012|French History, Greek History, History of Rome, Italian History, Today, World History|0 Comments

A teacher’s definition of Socialism

Everyone who bothered about such things was delighted that a new young teacher, female, distinguished at the university, liberal in outlook, and an active member of the local Socialist Party would start the new term at the State school as a member of the teaching staff.

She was perfectly able (and qualified) to teach a number of subjects. The Head Teacher gave her a notoriously difficult class, 5b, to launch her into the mine-strewn fields of elementary school teaching. The subject was History. After subduing the customary row that greeted a new teacher, by the simple method of talking in a gradually decreasing tone to the pupils until they stopped gassing altogether – so that they could hear her voice – she asked for questions. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-04T06:41:08+00:00 June 4th, 2012|English Language, Humour, Philosophy, Today, World History|2 Comments

The origin of legends

‘Legend has it . . .’ and most of Man’s legends are thousands of years old. The Dragon, for instance, has been around for centuries, in art and tales told by men. Dragons do not exist, that we know for certain, and yet the fable of St. George and his Dragon gave us a patron saint of England who was not actually English, and the dragons appearing in heraldry for more than a thousand years. Did the idea of dragons, as huge lizards with wings and breathing fire come from Neanderthal (and imaginative) man finding fossils of the pterodactyl – which certainly existed – but hundred of millions of years ago. Perhaps the legendary Monster of Loch Ness is a subaqueous dragon. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-03T16:47:15+00:00 June 3rd, 2012|English History, English Language, History of the Cinema, Humour, Philosophy, Today, World History|0 Comments