Showing posts with label European history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label European history. Show all posts
Thursday, 11 February 2021

Sweyn Forkbeard

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  Sweyn Forkbeard was the father of King Cnut (also known as Canute), the Dane who ruled England from 1016 to 1035. Sweyn was himself the vi...
Monday, 21 September 2020

Ernst Wollweber: saboteur for Communism

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  Ernst Wollweber was born in 1898, the son of a miner in Hamburg, Germany. He joined the German Navy in 1917 and was inspired by what was ...
Wednesday, 1 April 2020

Good King Wenceslas

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A favourite Christmas hymn, that is certain to get many renditions this year as every year, begins with the lines: Go...
Saturday, 22 February 2020

Frederick II tries to capture a soul

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Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, was a strange chap who was given to doing strange things. Born in 1194, he became Holy Roman Emperor ...
Tuesday, 28 January 2020

Brunhilda of Austrasia

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Where, you might ask, is Austrasia? The answer is that it no longer exists, but back in the 6 th to 8 th centuries it formed part of...
Monday, 23 July 2018

Zita, the last Empress of Austria

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Zita Maria Grazia Adelgonda Michela Raffaella Gabriella Giuseppina Antonia Luisa Agnese was born on 9 th May 1892 at Viareggio in n...
Tuesday, 8 May 2018

The death of William the Silent, 1584

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William of Orange (usually known as “William the Silent”) has the dubious honour of being the first head of state to be assassin...
Thursday, 29 March 2018

Vlad the Impaler

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The legend of Dracula was inspired by the life and antics of Vlad III, a 15 th century prince of Wallachia, but fiction was far exc...
Saturday, 24 March 2018

The fall of Prince Metternich, 1848

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On 13 th March 1848 Prince Klemens von Metternich was forced to relinquish his post as Chancellor of the Austrian Empire and flee to e...
Sunday, 24 January 2016

The death of Charlemagne, 814

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28 th January 814 was the day on which a great European emperor died. He is generally known to history as Charlemagne, which points ...
Tuesday, 19 January 2016

Frederick the Great

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24 th January 1712 was the birth-date of King Frederick II of Prussia, known to history as Frederick the Great. He is known prim...
Monday, 18 January 2016

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

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24 th February was an important date in the life of Charles V, the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor from 1519 to 1546 and ruler over vast...
Sunday, 10 January 2016

Andreas Hofer, a rebel against Napoleon Bonaparte

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On 20 th February 1810 Andreas Hofer was executed by firing squad, on the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte. Andreas Hofer was an inn...
Sunday, 3 January 2016

Tomas de Torquemada, the Inquisitor

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16th September 1498 was the day on which died one of the most evil men to have ever lived. However, like many such people he was utte...
Thursday, 31 December 2015

Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden

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On 12 th November 1611 a 16-year-old was crowned King of Sweden. This was Gustavus Adolphus, who did a huge amount to reform his cou...

Maximilian I, founder of the Habsburg Empire

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Emperor Maximilian I died on 12 th January 1519. He has a good claim to be awarded the title of founding father of the Austro-Hungarian...