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Mary I of England
Mary I of England reigned as queen from 1553 to 1558. The eldest daughter of Henry VIII of England (r. 1509-1547) with Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536), she restored Catholicism in England while her persecution of Protestants led to her nickname...
Definition
Norman Conquest of England
The Norman Conquest of England (1066-71) was led by William the Conqueror who defeated King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The Anglo-Saxon elite lost power as William redistributed land to his fellow Normans. Crowned William...
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Anglo-Saxon Warfare
Anglo-Saxon warfare was characterised by frequent and violent conflicts between petty kings, which ultimately led to the rise of larger kingdoms such as the Kingdom of Mercia, the Kingdom of Northumbria, and the Kingdom of Wessex. In early...
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Muromachi Period
The Muromachi Period (Muromachi Jidai, 1333-1573 CE) refers to the period of Japanese medieval history when the Ashikaga shogun capital was located in the Muromachi area of Heiankyo (Kyoto). Replacing the Kamakura Shogunate (1192-1333 CE...
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Harold Godwinson
Harold Godwinson (also spelt Godwineson) reigned briefly as King Harold II of England from January to October 1066 CE, the momentous year which witnessed the Norman conquest and end of 500 years of Anglo-Saxon rule. Harold had been, as the...
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War in the Vendée
The War in the Vendée was a counter-revolutionary uprising that took place in the Vendée department of France from 1793 to 1796, during the French Revolution (1789-99). In response to the French Republic's attempts to impose conscription...
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Camille Desmoulins
Camille Desmoulins (1760-1794) was one of the most prominent journalists during the French Revolution (1789-1799). A fervent republican, he played an important role in the Storming of the Bastille, when he called the people to arms. Although...
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Robert Guiscard
Robert Guiscard (1015-1085) was a Norman knight best known for conquering much of Southern Italy and Sicily during the 11th century. His many exploits include the expulsion of the Byzantines from Italy, support of a reformist papacy, and...
Definition
Declaration of Pillnitz
The Declaration of Pillnitz was a joint statement issued on 27 August 1791 by Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1790-1792) and King Frederick William II of Prussia (r. 1786-1797). The declaration appealed to all European powers to unite...
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Valeria Messalina
She was about 15 and beautiful, while he was over 50 and the future emperor of the Roman Empire. In 38 CE (dates vary) Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus —known to history as Claudius— married his second cousin, Valeria Messalina. This was...