KCKultimateKoH

Early High and Late Middle Ages 1050, 1200 & 1350 [defs 800-1200]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages

Early Middle Ages (c. 400-1000) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Middle_Ages
High Middle Ages (c. 1001–1300) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Middle_Ages
Late Middle Ages (c. 1300–1500) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Middle_Ages

Barbarian Invasions Roman Empires 372-455, East & West Roman Empires plus Persia 477, and 540, Umayyad-Abassid Empire 750.


The Height Charlemages Empire 814, Treaty of Verdun 843, Holy Roman Empire 1000 AD, Europe 1328


Vikng Invasions c. 700-1100, Magyar-Hungario Expansion c. 950, Medeval Merchant Routes c. 1350

Create Timeline -800 through 1350+ AD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Middle_Ages

w. 0711 Tariq ibn-Ziyad crosses the Straits of Gibraltar. Al-Andalus holds most of the Iberian peninsula made up of Arab and Berber Muslims.
w. 0711 The end of Visigoth rule, starting almost eight centuries of Muslim presence.
w. 0712 Liutprand, King of the Lombards begins his reign (until 744).
c. 0712 Metropolitan epicopal see is established by the Assyrian Church in Chinese capital of Chang'an.
w. 0712 Emperor Xuanzong reign of 44 years until 756 is considered a period of one of China's high points.
w. 0713 Death of Dajian Huineng, sixth and last Patriarch of Chán Buddhism.
w. 0717 Siege of Constantinople. The Bulgarians come to the aide of the Byzantines and defeat the army of invading Arabs 718.
w. 0718 Bulgar aid completely neutralizes Muslim advance towards Europe. The Bulgarian army defeated between 20,000 and 32,000 Arabs.
w. 0718 Second Muslim attack on Constantinople, ending in failure. The combined Byzantine–Bulgarian forces stop the Arab threat in Eastern Europe.
w. 0726 Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian destroys the icon of Christ above the Chalke Gate in the capital city of Constantinople.
w. 0726 Byzantine Iconoclast movement begins, opposed by Pope Gregory II, a marked difference between the Roman and Byzantine churches.
w. 0732 Battle of Tours. the leader of the Franks Charles Martel defeats a large army of Moors under Cordoban, Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi.
w. 0732 The Battle of Tours halts the advance of Islam into West Europe, establishes a balance of power between West Europe, Islam & Byzantine.
w. 0735 Death of Bede. Bede later became regarded as "the father of history".
w. 0742 The Tang Dynasty creates a municipal census of the capital city Chang'an and the metropolitan areas of Jingzhou Fu
w. 0742 the New Book of Tang records that in this year there were 362,921 registered families with 1,960,188 persons.
w. 0748 The Chinese Buddhist monk Jian Zhen writes in his Yue Jue Shu of the international sea traffic coming to Guangzhou.
w. 0748 Canton some 80 miles from Hong Kong and Macao inland receives is a hub of trade from Borneo, Persia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and others.
w. 0750 The last Umayyad Caliph Marwan II reign after 6 years is overthrown and executed by the first Abbasid Caliph, Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah.
w. 0750 The Abbasid Caliphate is moved to Baghdad, within the Persian Empire; this would prove to be a momentous event for Baghdad.
w. 0750 Baghdad develops into a centre of trade and culture. The beginning of Abbasid Caliphate.
w. 0750 The Ghana Empire begins.
c. 0750 Great Wild Goose Pagoda at Ci'en Temple, Xi'an, Shanxi, is rebuilt.
c. 0750 Camel Carrying a Group of Musicians, tomb near Xi'an, Shanxi, Tang dynasty. It is now kept at Museum of Chinese History, Beijing.
w. 0751 Pepin founds the Carolingian dynasty.
w. 0751 Arabs defeat Chinese Tang Dynasty troops, Battle of Talas, high in the Pamirs near Samarkand conquering Central Asia completely.
w. 0754 Pepin promises the Pope central Italy. This is arguably the beginning of the temporal power of the Papacy.
w. 0755 The An Shi Rebellion lasts 8 years until 763 devastating China during the mid Tang Dynasty.
w. 0758 Arab and Persian pirates burn and loot the Chinese city of Guangzhou, while the Tang Dynasty authorities shut the port down.
w. 0758 China's Canton embargo's foriegn trade for the next five decades.
w. 0768 Pepin dies; Charles becomes king at Noyan and his brother Carloman becomes king at Soissons. Beginning of Charlemagne's reign.
w. 0772 Charlemagne invades what is now northwestern Germany, battling Saxons for more than 32 years and finally crushing their rebellion.
w. 0778 Battle of Roncevaux Pass.
w. 0781 Nestorian Monument is erected in China.
w. 0782 Buddhist monk Prajna reaches Chang'an and enlists the help of Christian bishop Ching Ching (Adam) in translating sutras into Chinese.
w. 0785 The Tang Dynasty begins landing regular maritime missions on the coast of East Africa, cutting out middlemen Arab sea merchants.
c. 0785 Chinese geographer Jia Dan describes large lighthouse pillars built in the Persian Gulf, which is confirmed a century later.
w. 0786 Accession of Harun al-Rashid in Baghdad.
w. 0787 The Empress Irene of Athens convenes the Seventh Ecumenical Council, ending the first phase of Byzantine Iconoclasm.
w. 0792 Battle of Marcelae. The Bulgarian victory over the Byzantines marks the end of the half-century political instability in Bulgaria.
w. 0793 The first written account of a Viking raid carried out on the abbey of Lindisfarne in northern England.
w. 0793 The Frisian–Frankish wars come to an end with the last uprising of the Frisians.
w. 0793 Sack of Lindisfarne. Viking attacks on Britain begin.
w. 0794 Emperor Kammu moves the capital to Heian-kyo (present day Kyoto), initiating the Heian period of Japan.
w. 0795 Death of Offa. Marks the end of Mercian dominance in England.
w. 0800 Beginning of the ancient West African state of Takrur or Tekrour, which flourished roughly parallel to the Ghana Empire.
w. 0800 On Christmas Day, Charlemagne is crowned the first Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III.
w. 0800 Charlemagne is crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Leo III.
w. 0804 Saxony is incorporated into the Frankish Empire and the Christian world.
w. 0814 Death of Charlemagne.
w. 0825 Battle of Ellandun. Egbert defeats Mercians. Wessex becomes the leading kingdom of England.
w. 0827 Muslims invade Sicily.
w. 0840 Muslims capture Bari and much of southern Italy.
w. 0843 Division of Charlemagne's Empire between his grandsons with the Treaty of Verdun.
w. 0843 The end of Charlemagne's Empire sets the stage for the founding of the Holy Roman Empire and France as separate states.
w. 0840 Kenneth McAlpin becomes king of the Picts and Scots, creating the Kingdom of Alba.
w. 0862 Viking state in Russia founded under Rurik, first at Novgorod, then Kiev.
w. 0864 Christianization of Bulgaria.
w. 0866 Fujiwara period in Japan.
w. 0866 Viking "Great Army" in England. Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia were overwhelmed.
w. 0868 Earliest known printed book in China with a date.
w. 0871 Alfred the Great assumes the throne, the first king of a united England.
w. 0871 Alfred the Greatdefended England from Viking invaders, formed new laws and fostered a rebirth of religious and scholarly activities.
w. 0872 Harold Fairhair becomes King of Norway.
w. 0874 Iceland is settled by Norsemen.
w. 0885 Arrival of the disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Bulgaria. Creation of the Cyrillic alphabet;
w. 0885 Bulgaria would in the following decades became the cultural and spiritual centre of the Eastern Orthodox Slavic World.
w. 0885 Vikings attack and invade Paris for several years.
w. 0893 Simeon I becomes ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire in the Balkans.
w. 0896 Arpad and the Magyars are present in Pannonia.
w. 0897 Death of Alfred the Great.
w. 0910 Edward the Elder, son of Alfred, defeats the Northumbrian vikings at the Battle of Tettenhall; raids south of the River Humber end.
w. 0910 Cluny Abbey is founded by William I, Count of Auvergne. Cluny goes on to become the acknowledged leader of Western Monasticism.
w. 0911 The Viking Rollo settles in what is now Normandy by the terms of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, founding the Duchy of Normandy.
w. 0917 Battle of Anchialus. Simeon I the Great defeats the Byzantines. Recognition of the Imperial Title of the Bulgarian rulers.
w. 0919 Henry the Fowler, Duke of Saxony elected German King. First king of the Ottonian Dynasty.
w. 0919 Henry I considered the founder and first king of the medieval German state.
w. 0925 The first King of Croatia (rex Croatorum), Tomislav (910–928) of the Trpimirovic dynasty was crowned.
w. 0925 Tomislav of Croatia united Croats of Dalmatia and Pannonia into a single Kingdom creating a sizeable state.
w. 0927 According to Theophanes Continuatus, (The 2nd author of Theophanes's Chronicle) Tomislav defeats a Bulgarian army of Tsar Simeon I .
w. 0927 Croatia under Duke Alogobotur, in battle of the Bosnian Highlands, Bulgarian expansion into the west was stopped.
w. 0927 Death of Simeon I the Great. Recognition of the Bulgarian Patriarchate, the first independent National Church in Europe.
w. 0929 Abd-ar-Rahman III of the Ummayad dynasty in al-Andalus (Iberian peninsula) takes the title of Caliph or ruler of the Islamic world.
w. 0929 Beginning of the Caliphate of Córdoba (929-1031).
w. 0955 Battle of Lechfeld. Otto the Great, son of Henry the Fowler, defeats the Magyars.
w. 0955 The defeats the Magyars is the defining event that prevents the Hungarians from entering Central Europe.
c. 0960 Mieszko I becomes duke of Polans. First historical ruler of Poland and de facto founder of the Polish State.
w. 0962 Otto the Great crowned the Holy Roman Emperor.
w. 0964 Otto deposes Pope John XII who is replaced with Pope Leo VIII. Romans promise not to elect another Pope without Imperial approval.
w. 0965 For 2 years Mieszko I of Poland and his court embrace Christianity, which becomes national religion.
w. 0969 John I Tzimiskes murders Nikephoros II and is crowned Byzantine co-emperor in his place.
w. 0976 Death of John I Tzimiskes; Basil II (his co-emperor) takes sole power. Under Basil II zenith of the power of Eastern Empire after Justinian.
w. 0978 Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir becomes de facto ruler of Muslim Al-Andalus. Peak of power of Moorish Iberia under "Almanzor".
w. 0981 Basil II (called "Bulgar Slayer") begins final conquest of Bulgaria by Eastern Empire. Conquest finished by 1018.
w. 0985 Eric the Red, exiled from Iceland, begins Scandinavian colonization of Greenland.
w. 0987 Succession of Hugh Capet to the French Throne. Beginning of Capetian Dynasty.
w. 1018 The Byzantines under Basil II conquer Bulgaria after a bitter 50-years struggle.
w. 1049 Pope Leo IX ascends to the papal throne.
w. 1050 The astrolabe, an ancient tool of navigation, is first used in Europe.
w. 1054 The East-West Schism which divided the church into Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
w. 1066 William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, invades England and becomes King after the Battle of Hastings.
w. 1066 End of Anglosaxon rule in England and start of Norman lineage
w. 1067 Pope Gregory VII elevated to the papal throne. This begins a period of church reform.
w. 1071 The Seljuks under Alp Arslan defeat the Byzantine army at Manzikert.
w. 1071 The Normans capture Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy. Beginning of the end of Byzantine rule in Asia Minor.
w. 1075 Dictatus Papae in which Pope Gregory VII defines the powers of the pope.
w. 1077 Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV walks to Canossa where he stands barefoot in the snow to beg forgiveness of the Pope for his offences.
w. 1077 Henry IV admits defeat in the Investiture Controversy. This helps establish Papal rule over European heads of state for another 450 years.
w. 1077 The Construction of the Tower of London begins. The tower of London was the ultimate keep of the British Empire.
w. 1086 The Domesday Book by William the Conqueror, a great land and property survey is the first since Roman times.
w. 1098 The Cistercian Order is founded.
w. 1099 First Crusade. Jerusalem is re-taken from the Muslims on the urging of Pope Urban II.
w. 1102 Kingdom of Croatia and Kingdom of Hungary formed a personal union of two kingdoms united under the Hungarian king.
w. 1102 The Union Croatia & Hungary (Pacta conventa) by which institutions of separate statehood were maintained through the Sabor.
w. 1102 The creation of an assembly of Croatian nobles and the ban (viceroy). In addition, the Croatian nobles retained their lands and titles.
w. 1102 Medieval Hungary and Croatia were (in terms of public international law) allied by means of personal union until 1526.
w. 1102 The Hungarian-Croatian state existed until the beginning of the 20th century and the Treaty of Trianon.
w. 1106 Sept. 28th, Henry I defeats older brother Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy, at the Battle of Tinchebrai, imprisoning him in Devizes.
w. 1106 Henry I imprisons Edgar Atheling and William Clito, [beginning conflicts] between England and the rising Capetian power in France.
w. 1107 Through the Compromise of 1107, suggested by Adela, the sister of King Henry, the Investiture Struggle in England is ended.
w. 1107 The Compromise of 1107 removed one of the points of friction between the English monarchy and the Catholic Church.
w. 1109 In the Battle of Naklo, Boleslaus III Wrymouth defeats the Pomeranians. Polish access to the sea is re-established.
w. 1109 Aug. 24th, the Battle of Hundsfeld, Boleslaus III Wrymouth defeats Emperor Henry V. German expansion to the east is stopped.
w. 1116 The Byzantine army defeats the Turks at Philomelion. The Turks abandon the entire coastal area of Anatolia and all of western Anatolia.
w. 1117 The University of Oxford is founded.
w. 1118 The Knights Templar are founded to protect Jerusalem and European pilgrims on their journey to the city.
w. 1121 Dec. 25th, St. Norbert and 29 companions make their solemn vows marking the beginning of the Premonstratensian Order.
w. 1121 The Premonstratensian Order played a significant role in evangelizing the Slavs, the Wends, to the east of the Holy Roman Empire.
w. 1122 Sept. 23rd, The Concordat of Worms between Emperor Henry V and Pope Calixtus II, ended the investiture struggle, bitter rivalry remained.
w. 1123 March, The First Lateran Council confirmed the Concordat of Worms.
w. 1125 Lothair of Supplinburg, duke of Saxony, is elected Holy Roman Emperor instead of the nearest heir, Frederick of Swabia.
w. 1125 The election of Lothair of Supplinburg, duke of Saxony marks the beginning of the great struggle between the Guelfs and the Ghibellines.
w. 1130 Dec. 25th, Roger II is crowned King of Sicily, a royal title given him by the Antipope Anacletus II.
w. 1130 This coronation of Roger II marks the beginning of the Kingdom of Sicily and its Mediterranean empire under the Norman kings,
w. 1130 Norman kings, [posessions, land & military might are] able to take on the Holy Roman Empire, the Papacy, and the Byzantine Empire.
w. 1139 April, The 2nd Lateran Council declars clerical marriages invalid, regulates clerical dress, & punishes attacks on clerics by excommunication.
w. 1147 For 2 years The Second Crusade [raged] in retaliation for the fall of Edessa, one of the first Crusader States founded in the First Crusade.
w. 1147 The Second Crusade was an overall failure. This was the first Crusade to have been led by European kings.
w. 1150 Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, married Queen Petronilla of Aragon. They had been betrothed in 1137.
w. 1150 Ramon Berenguer IV marriage gave the Kingdom of Aragon access to the Mediterranean Sea, creating a powerful kingdom.
w. 1150 Aragon expanded its control to many of the Mediterranean lands.
w. 1152 The Synod of Kells-Mellifont established the present diocesan system of Ireland and recognized the primacy of Armagh.
w. 1152 The Synod of Kells-Mellifont marks the inclusion of the Irish Church into western European Catholicism.
w. 1158 The Hanseatic League is founded, marking a new period of trade and economic development for northern and western Europe.
w. 1163 The first cornerstone is laid for the construction of Notre Dame de Paris.
w. 1171 King Henry II of England lands in Ireland to assert his supremacy and the Synod of Cashel acknowledges his sovereignty.
w. 1171 Henry begins the English claim to and occupation of Ireland which would last some seven and a half centuries.
w. 1174 July 12th, King William I of Scotland, captured in the Battle of Alnwick by the English, accepts the feudal lordship of the English crown.
w. 1174 King William I of Scotland does ceremonial allegiance at York, beginning the gradual acquisition of Scotland by the English.
w. 1175 Honen Shonin (Genku) founds the Jodo shu (Pure Land) sect of Buddhism. Beginning the Buddhist sectarian movement in Japan.
w. 1176 May 29th, the Battle of Legnano, the cavalry of Frederick Barbarossa is defeated by the infantry of the Lombard League.
w. 1176 the Battle of Legnano, the first major defeat of cavalry by infantry, signaling the new role of the bourgeosie.
w. 1179 March, The 3rd Lateran Council limits papal electees to the cardinals, condemns simony, forbids the promotion before age 30.
w. 1183 The final Peace of Constance between Frederick Barbarossa, the pope, and the Lombard towns is signed.
w. 1183 The Peace of Constance destroyed the unity of the [Holy Roman] Empire; Germany and Italy underwent separate developments.
w. 1183 The Taira clan are driven out of Kyoto by Minamoto Yoshinaka. A 2 year conflict which follows ends at the Battle of Dan no Ura (1185).
w. 1184 November, Pope Lucius III issues the papal bull Ad Abolendam. This bull set up the organization of the medieval inquisitions.
w. 1185 Windmills are first recorded.
w. 1185 The reestablishment of the Bulgarian Empire.
w. 1185 At the Battle of Dan no Ura, Minamoto Yohorsehockeysune annihilates the Taira clan.
w. 1185 The elimination of the Taira leaves the Minamoto the virtual rulers of Japan and marks the beginning of the first period of feudal rule.
w. 1185 the Japanese rulership known as the Kamakura Period.
w. 1186 Jan, 27th, The future emperor Henry VI marries Constance of Sicily, heiress to the Sicilian throne.
w. 1186 The marriage of Henry VI shifts the focus of the Guelphs/Ghibelline struggle to Sicily marking the ruin of the House of Hohenstaufen.
w. 1187 Saladin recaptures Jerusalem.
w. 1188 Richard I of England, imposes heavy taxation to finance European ventures creates antipathy between barons, people and the crown.
w. 1188 Richard the I's absence enables the English to advance in their political development.
w. 1189 The Third Crusade follows upon Saladin's uniting the Muslim world and recapturing Jerusalem.
w. 1192 Despite managing to win several major battles, the Crusaders did not recapture Jerusalem.
w. 1192 Minamoto Yoritomo is appointed Sei-i Taishogun, shogun for short. First of a long line of military dictators to bear this title until 1913.
w. 1193 Turkic Muslim invaders sack and burn the university at Nalanda. This is the beginning of the decline of Buddhism in India.
w. 1193 The first known merchant guild.
w. 1202 The Fourth Crusade sacked Croatian town of Zadar (Italian Zara), a rival of Venice.
w. 1202 Venice is unable to raise enough funds to pay to their Venetian contractors.
w. 1202 Crusaders agreed to sack Zara despite letters from Pope Innocent III forbidding such an action and threatening excommunication.
w. 1202 Siege of Zara was the first major Crusade's action and the first attack against a Catholic city by Catholic crusaders.
w. 1204 Sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade.
w. 1205 Battle of Adrianople. The Bulgarians under Emperor Kaloyan defeat Baldwin I. Beginning of the decline of the Latin Empire.
w. 1206 Genghis Khan was elected as Khagan of the Mongols and the Mongol Empire was established.
w. 1206 The Mongols would conquer much of Eurasia, changing former political borders.
w. 1208 Pope Innocent III calls for the Albigensian Crusade which seeks to destroy a rival form of Christianity practiced by the Cathars.
w. 1209 The University of Cambridge is founded.
w. 1212 Children's Crusade.
w. 1212 Spanish Christians succeed in defeating the Moors in the long Reconquista campaigns.
w. 1215 The Magna Carta is sealed by John of England, marking one of the 1st times a medieval ruler is forced to accept limits on his power.
w. 1215 4th Lateran Council. Dealt with transubstantiation, papal primacy and conduct of clergy.
w. 1215 4th Lateran Council. Jews and Muslims [are ordered to] wear identification marks to distinguish them from Christians.
w. 1216 Papal recognition of the Dominican Order.
w. 1223 Founding of the Franciscan Order.
w. 1248 only the small southern kingdom of Granada remained under Muslim control [in the Iberian Penisula of Spain].
w. 1257 Founding of the University of Paris.
w. 1257 Provisions of Oxford forced upon Henry III of England, establishes a new form of government-limited regal authority.
w. 1273 Rudolph I of Germany is elected Holy Roman Emperor. Habsburg domination of the crown that lasted until is dissolution in 1806.
w. 1274 Thomas Aquinas' work, Summa Theologica is published.
w. 1295 Marco Polo publishes his tales of China. A key step to the bridging of East and West
w. 1296 Edward I of England invades Scotland, starting the First War of Scottish Independence.
w. 1297 William Wallace emerges as the leader of the Scottish resistance to England.
w. 1307 Friday, October 13th. The Knights Templar are rounded up and murdered by Philip the Fair of France, backed by the Pope.
w. 1307 Beginning of the Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy during which the Popes moved to Avignon.
w. 1310 Dante publishes his Divine Comedy.
w. 1314 Robert the Bruce restores Scotland's de facto independence at the Battle of Bannockburn.
w. 1328 First Scottish War of Independence ends in victory with the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton and de jure independence.
w. 1337 The Hundred Years' War begins. England and France struggle for dominance of Western Europe.
w. 1347 The Black Death ravages Europe for the first of many times.
w. 1347 The Black Death kills an estimated 20% - 40% of the population of Europe within the first year.
w. 1347 The University of Prague is founded.
w. 1361 The fall of the Yuan Dynasty. Its successor state-Northern Yuan was founded in Mongolia.
w. 1361 The break up of the Mongol Empire, which marked the end of Pax Mongolica.

[Note: Work in Progress]

KoH Battles ->

Magyar Incursions, The Battle of Lechfeld, 955.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lechfeld

The Norman Conquest, The Battle of Hastings, 1066.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hastings

The Horns of Hattin, The Battle of Hattin, 1187.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hattin

The Battle of the Ice, Lake Peipus, 1242.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Ice

The Wars of Scottish Independence, Bannockburn, 1314.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bannockburn

Ottoman–Hungarian Wars, The Battle of Nicopolis, 1396.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nicopolis

Famous Battle Links ->

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Iron_bridge
The Battle of Iron Bridge fought near a nine-arch stone bridge spanning the River Orontes between the Muslim Rashidun army and the Byzantine army in 637 AD. Twelve miles from the city, near modern day Mahruba, a bridge of iron spanned the River Orontes. It was here that the battle was fought between the Rashidun army and the Byzantine garrison defending Antioch. A major battle was fought, the details of which are not recorded. The remnants of the Byzantine army fled to Antioch. The Rashidun army later moved up and laid siege to Antioch. The city surrendered on October 30, 637 According to the pact, the defeated Byzantine soldiers were allowed to depart in peace. Following the surrender of Antioch, Rashidun army columns moved south along the Mediterranean coast capturing most of north-western Syria. Other columns were sent to subdue the remaining resistance in northern Syria. The campaign was ended in early January of 638. After the defeat of pro-Byzantine Christian Arabs from Al Jazira, who laid the siege of Emessa in March 638. These columns went northwards as far as the Ararat plain and west towards the Taurus Mountains. The Taurus Mountains in Turkey thus marked the westernmost frontier of the Rashidun Caliphate in Anatolia.

The Second Arab Siege of Constantinople, 718.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Constantinople_(717–718)

Franco-Arab War, The Battle of Tours, 732.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tours

The Song of Roland, The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, 778.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Roncevaux_Pass

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stamford_Bridge
The Battle of Stamford Bridge took place at the village of Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire in England on 25 September 1066, between an English army under King Harold Godwinson and an invading Norwegian force led by King Harald Hardrada of Norway and the English king's brother Tostig Godwinson. At this time King Harold was in southern England, anticipating an invasion from France by William, Duke of Normandy, another contender for the English throne. Learning of the Norwegian invasion he headed north at great speed with his huscarls and as many thegns as he could gather, travelling day and night. He made the journey from London to Yorkshire, a distance of about 185 miles, in only four days, enabling him to take the Norwegians completely by surprise. Having learned that Northumbrians had been ordered to send the additional hostages and supplies to the Norwegians at Stamford Bridge, Harold hurried on through York to attack them at this rendezvous on 25 September. Until the English army came into view the invaders remained unaware of the presence of a hostile army anywhere in the vicinity.

After a stubborn battle, both Hardrada and Tostig along with the majority of the Norwegians were killed. Although Harold repelled the Norwegian invaders, his victory was short-lived: he was defeated and killed at Hastings less than three weeks later. The battle has traditionally been presented as symbolising the end of the Viking Age, although in fact major Scandinavian campaigns in the British Isles occurred for several more decades. In his saga Heimskringla about Harald III of Norway, which was written around 1225, Snorri Sturluson described the disposition of the Norwegian troops. Snorri also claimed that the Norwegians had left their mail coats at the ships and thus had to fight with only shield, spear and helmets. The sagas, however, are historical fiction which Snorri admits in his Prologue, "although we do not know the truth of these, we know, however, of occasions when wise old men have reckoned such things as true."

The 1st Crusade to the Fall of Acre, 1095-1291
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades

List Empires, A to Z [Abbasid to Zirid]
[Note: Work in Progress]

........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbasid_Caliphate [c. 750–1258/1513]

The Abbasid caliphate or, more simply, the Abbasids (Arabic: al-‘abbāsīyūn), was the third of the Islamic caliphates. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphs from all but the Al Andalus region.The Abbasid caliphs descended from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566 – 662), one of the youngest uncles of Muhammad, because of which they considered themselves the true successor of Muhammad as opposed to the Umayyads. The Umayyads were descended from Umayya, and were a clan separate from Muhammad's in the Quraish tribe. They won the backing of Shiites (i.e. the Hashimiyya sub-sect of the Kaysanites Shia) against the Umayyads by temporarily converting to Shia Islam[citation needed] and joining their fight against Umayyad rule.

The Abbasids also distinguished themselves from the Umayyads by attacking their moral character and administration in general. According to Ira Lapidus, "The Abbasid revolt was supported largely by Arabs, mainly the aggrieved settlers of Marw with the addition of the Yemeni faction and their Mawali". The Abbasids also appealed to non-Arab Muslims, known as mawali, who remained outside the kinship-based society of the Arabs and were perceived as a lower class within the Umayyad empire. The first change the Abbasids made was to move the empire's capital from Damascus, in Syria, to Baghdad in Iraq. This was to both appease as well to be closer to the Persian mawali support base that existed in this region more influenced by Persian history and culture, and part of the Persian mawali demand for less Arab dominance in the empire. Baghdad was established on the Tigris River in 762. Abu al-'Abbas' successor, Al-Mansur, moved their capital from Damascus to the new city of Baghdad and welcomed non-Arab Muslims to their court. While this helped integrate Arab and Persian cultures, it alienated many of their Arab supporters, particularly the Khorasanian Arabs who had supported them in their battles against the Umayyads.

The Islamic Golden Age was inaugurated by the middle of the 8th century by the ascension of the Abbasid Caliphate and the transfer of the capital from Damascus to Baghdad. The Abbassids were influenced by the Qur'anic injunctions and hadith such as "the ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr" stressing the value of knowledge.

The reigns of Harun al-Rashid (786 – 809) and his successors fostered an age of great intellectual achievement. In large part, this was the result of the schismatic forces that had undermined the Umayyad regime, which relied on the assertion of the superiority of Arab culture as part of its claim to legitimacy, and the Abbasids' welcoming of support from non-Arab Muslims. It is well established that the Abbasid caliphs modeled their administration on that of the Sassanids.[8] Harun al-Rashid's son, Al-Ma'mun (whose mother was Persian), is even quoted as saying:

"The Persians ruled for a thousand years and did not need us Arabs even for a day. We have been ruling them for one or two centuries and cannot do without them for an hour."

A number of medieval thinkers and scientists living under Islamic rule played a role in transmitting Islamic science to the Christian West. They contributed to making Aristotle known in Christian Europe. In addition, the period saw the recovery of much of the Alexandrian mathematical, geometric and astronomical knowledge, such as that of Euclid and Claudius Ptolemy. These recovered mathematical methods were later enhanced and developed by other Islamic scholars, notably by Persian scientists Al-Biruni and Abu Nasr Mansur.

Astronomy in medieval Islam was advanced by Al-Battani, who improved the precision of the measurement of the precession of the Earth's axis. The corrections made to the geocentric model by al-Battani, Averroes, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Mo'ayyeduddin Urdi and Ibn al-Shatir were later incorporated into the Copernican heliocentric model. The astrolabe, though originally developed by the Greeks, was developed further by Islamic astronomers and engineers, and subsequently brought to medieval Europe. Muslim chemists and alchemists influenced medieval European alchemists and chemists, particularly the writings attributed to Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber). A number of chemical processes such as distillation techniques were developed in the Muslim world and then spread to Europe.

Arabic poetry reached its greatest heights in the Abbasid era, especially before the loss of central authority and the rise of the Persianate dynasties. The most well known fiction from the Islamic world was The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights). The original concept is derived from pre-Islamic Iranian (Persian) prototype with reliance on Indian elements. It also includes stories from the rest of the Middle-Eastern and North African nations. The epic took form in the 10th century and reached its final form by the 14th century

One of the common definitions for "Islamic philosophy" is "the style of philosophy produced within the framework of Islamic culture." Islamic philosophy, in this definition is neither necessarily concerned with religious issues, nor is exclusively produced by Muslims. Their works on Aristotle was a key step in the transmission of learning from ancient Greeks to the Islamic world and the West. They often corrected the philosopher, encouraging a lively debate in the spirit of ijtihad. They also wrote influential original philosophical works, and their thinking was incorporated into Christian philosophy during the Middle Ages, notably by Thomas Aquinas.[citation needed]

The Muslim world adopted papermaking from China. The knowledge of gunpowder was also transmitted from China via Islamic countries, where the formulas for pure potassium nitrate and an explosive gunpowder effect were first developed.Advances were made in irrigation and farming, using new technology such as the windmill. Muslim engineers in the Islamic world made a number of innovative industrial uses of hydropower, and early industrial uses of tidal power, wind power, and petroleum (notably by distillation into kerosene). The industrial uses of watermills in the Islamic world date back to the 7th century, while horizontal-wheeled and vertical-wheeled water mills were both in widespread use since at least the 9th century. By the time of the Crusades, every province throughout the Islamic world had mills in operation, from al-Andalus and North Africa to the Middle East and Central Asia. These mills performed a variety of agricultural and industrial tasks. Muslim engineers also developed machines (such as pumps) incorporating crankshafts, employed gears in mills and water-raising machines, and used dams to provide additional power to watermills and water-raising machines. Such advances made it possible for many industrial tasks that were previously driven by manual labour in ancient times to be mechanized and driven by machinery instead in the medieval Islamic world. It has been argued that the the industrial use of waterpower had spread from Islamic to Christian Spain, where fulling mills, paper mills, and forge mills were recorded for the first time in Catalonia.

Arab merchants dominated trade in the Indian Ocean until the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century. Hormuz was an important center for this trade. There was also a dense network of trade routes in the Mediterranean, along which Muslim countries traded with each other and with European powers such as Venice, Genoa and Catalonia. The Silk Road crossing Central Asia passed through Muslim states between China and Europe.

© 1993-2003 Encarta Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Abbasids, dynasty of caliphs who ruled the caliphate of Islam from 750 until 1258. All of these caliphs were descended from Abbas, a member of the tribe of Quraysh of Mecca who was an uncle of the prophet Muhammad. The Abbasids seized the caliphate following the overthrow of the Umayyad dynasty of caliphs, and held it until the Mongols sacked Baghdād and killed the last caliph of the line. For most of this time their court was in Baghdād, a town founded at the command of the second Abbasid caliph, al-Mansur (754-775) in 762.

For the first century or so of their caliphate, the Abbasids acted as the leaders of Islam both religiously and politically, despite the fact that during this period their authority was rejected by some. The peak of their power probably occurred in the reign of Harun ar-Rashid, who relied heavily on the Barmakid family of administrators. Following Harun’s death there was a period of civil war between his two sons, al-Amin and al-Mamun. Al-Mamun finally triumphed but the prestige of the family was damaged.

By the end of the 9th century the Abbasids were unable to exercise real religious or political authority. Their religious authority had been taken over by the religious scholars of Sunni Islam following the failure of the caliphs’ attempt to impose their will over them in the trial of strength known as the Mihna (833-847). As a result of this episode the caliphs were restricted to a largely symbolic role as merely nominal leaders of Sunni Islam. Followers of Shia Islam rejected the Abbasids completely.

Politically the caliphs had become puppets in the hands of their Turkish soldiers, who were able to remove and install caliphs as they wished. In 908 one caliph held office for one day only. The process culminated with the institution in 935 of the title Amir al-Umara (Commander of the Commanders), which was taken by the real political power, the chief of the Turkish soldiers.

At the same time, territories that the Abbasids controlled fell apart as independent states arose in regions previously under Abbasid rule. Some of the rulers of these states recognized the suzerainty of the Abbasids, but this was merely a token. In 945 the Shia Buwayhid family conquered Baghdād itself, and for the next century the Abbasid caliphate survived mainly because the Buwayhids found it useful in various ways.

Although the 9th and 10th centuries saw a decline in the power of the caliphs, the period was one of great religious and cultural importance. The trial of strength between the caliphs and the Sunni religious scholars sealed the rise of the Sunni form of Islam. It prepared the way for the appearance of the great books of Sunni law and the collections of hadiths (reports about Muhammad). Only slightly later, the Shia form of Islam achieved its definitive form when the line of the 12 Imams came to an end in 873, an event followed by the appearance of books of Shia law and distinctive collections of hadiths.

Philosophy, medicine, mathematics, and other sciences flourished as the Islamic world appropriated and developed the knowledge and wisdom of earlier and surrounding cultures. Particularly important was the science and philosophy of the Hellenistic Near East, and the 9th and 10th centuries saw the translation into Arabic of several works by (or attributed to) figures like Aristotle, Plato, Euclid, Galen, and others. The work of translation was encouraged by the Abbasid al-Mamun who founded the so-called House of Wisdom (Dar al-Hikma) in Baghdād as a center for it. Arabic-speaking Christians were especially active in the production of translations. The system of so-called Arabic numerals originated in India, but was adopted at this time by Islamic civilization, then later transmitted to the West.

The political fragmentation of the caliphate led to the emergence of many local courts and centers of power, which also encouraged the development of science and philosophy as well as poetry and prose, art, and architecture. Some of the local courts that emerged in the eastern regions of the caliphate are especially associated with the rise of an Islamic Persian literature and Iranian national sentiment.

In 1055 the Seljuk Turks, who were Sunnis, captured Baghdād, but this made no significant difference to the position of the caliphs. Although once again honored as symbols of the unity of Sunni Islam, their freedom of action was severely limited. Only in times of Seljuk weakness were individual caliphs occasionally able to exercise some power and influence. By the time the Mongol Empire ended the line of caliphs in 1258, Sunni Islam no longer needed even the symbolic role of the caliphate. It is true that the Mamluk sultans of Egypt established a puppet caliphate in Cairo, installing various members of the Abbasid family who had escaped the fall of Baghdād. Since the end of the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdād, however, no claimant to the office has achieved anything like general recognition among the Muslims.

After their first century or so the Abbasids cannot be said to have had much control over events. They nevertheless provided a focus of loyalty for Sunni Islam during an often turbulent period, and their caliphate may be seen in retrospect as the golden age of Islamic civilization.

http://holylandarchive.com/section_images/344_AntiochMap050322.jpg
http://medievalcoins.ancients.info/mapj.JPG
http://medievalcoins.ancients.info/crusaders/Map_Antioch.JPG

Antioch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antioch

The settlement of Meroe pre-dated Antioch. A shrine of Anat, called by the Greeks the "Persian Artemis," was located here. This site was included in the eastern suburbs of Antioch. There was a village on the spur of Mount Silpius named Iopolis. This name was always adduced as evidence by Antiochenes (e.g. Libanius) anxious to affiliate themselves to the Attic Ionians--an eagerness which is illustrated by the Athenian types used on the city's coins. Io may have been a small early colony of trading Greeks (Javan). John Malalas mentions also an archaic village, Bottia, in the plain by the river. Antioch on the Orontes, also the Great Antioch (or Syrian Antioch) was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey. Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the Near East and was a cradle of Gentile Christianity. It was one of the four cities of the Syrian tetrapolis. Once a great metropolis of a half million people, it declined to insignificance during the Middle Ages because of repeated earthquakes, the slaughter of its inhabitants by a Mameluk army in 1268, and a change in trade routes, following the Mongol conquests, which then no longer passed through Antioch from the far east.

After Alexander's death in 323 BC, his generals divided up the territory he had conquered. Seleucus I Nicator won the territory of Syria, and he proceeded to found four "sister cities" in northwestern Syria, one of which was Antioch. Seleucus founded Antioch on a site chosen through ritual means. An eagle, the bird of Zeus, had been given a piece of sacrificial meat and the city was founded on the site to which the eagle carried the offering. He did this in the twelfth year of his reign. The new city was populated by a mix of local settlers that Athenians brought from the nearby city of Antigonia, Macedonians, and Jews (who were given full status from the beginning). The total free population of Antioch at its foundation has been estimated at between 17,000 and 25,000, not including slaves and native settlers. During the late Hellenistic period and Early Roman period, Antioch population reached its peak of over 500,000 inhabitants (estimates vary from 400,000 to 600,000) and was the third largest city in the world after Rome and Alexandria. By the 4th century, Antioch's declining population was about 200,000.

[During] the Umayyad dynasty period [Islam] was unable to penetrate [into] the Anatolian plateau. Antioch found itself on the frontline of the conflicts between two hostile empires during the next 350 years, so that the city went into a precipitous decline. In 637, during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, Antioch was conquered by the Arabs in the caliphate of al-Rashidun during the Battle of Iron Bridge. The city became known in Arabic as Antakya. In 969, the city was recovered for the Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas by Michael Bourtzes and Peter the Eunuch. It soon became the seat of a doux, who commanded the forces of the local themes and was the most important officer on the Empire's eastern border, held by such men as Nikephoros Ouranos. In 1078, Armenians seized power until the Seljuk Turks captured Antioch in 1084, but held it only fourteen years before the Crusaders arrived.

The Crusaders' Siege of Antioch conquered the city in 1098. At this time, the bulk of far eastern trade travelled through Egypt, but in the second half of the 12th century Nur ed-Din and later Saladin brought order to Moslem Syria, opening up long distance trade routes, including to Antioch and on to its new port, St Symeon, which had replaced Seleucia Pieria. However, the Mongol conquests of the 13th century altered the main trade routes from the far east, as they encouraged merchants to take the overland route through Mongol territory to the Black Sea, reducing the prosperity of Antioch. Although it contained a large Christian population, it was ultimately betrayed by Islamic allies of Bohemund, prince of Taranto who, following the defeat of the Turkish garrison, became its overlord. It remained the capital of the Latin Principality of Antioch for nearly two centuries. It fell at last to the Egyptian Mamluk Sultan Baibars, in 1268, after another siege. Baibars proceeded to massacre the Christian population and destroy its fortifications.



The ramparts of Antioch climbing Mons Silpius during the Crusades
Capture of Antioch by Bohemund of Taranto in June 1098.
Ancient Roman road located in Syria which connected Antioch and Chalcis

Good read, thanks I haven't felt like playing this game again yet but when I do I fully intend to try out this mod.

Its worth the price on Ebay, probably only 10-20 Bucks or so, at best. More development of the game than a few years ago, also adds to its playability. I might use Demo for platform for mods ?? very possible, but just buy it, it is worth the low price.

I have a copy and its installed, just haven't felt like playing it for some time, although I probably pick it up again soon because I don't feel like reinstalling Medieval II.

Algerian Crest - Piri Reis Map Portion of Algerian Coast - Algeria Proper - Zirid dynasty 973–1152

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algiers
Called El-Bahdja or "Algiers the White" for the glistening white of its buildings as seen rising up from the sea. The city name is derived from the Arabic word al-jaza’ir (the French Alger and Catalan Alguère), which translates as the islands, referring to the four islands which lay off the city's coast until becoming part of the mainland in 1525.

The present-day city was founded in 944 by Bologhine ibn Ziri, the founder of the Berber Zirid–Sanhaja dynasty, which was overthrown by Roger II of Sicily in 1148, although the Zirids had already lost control of Algiers before the final fall of the dynasty. The city was occupied by the Almohades in 1159, and in the 13th century came under the dominion of the Abd-el-Wadid sultans of Tlemcen. Nominally part of the sultanate of Tlemcen, Algiers had a large measure of independence under amirs of its own due to Oran being the chief seaport and center of power of the Abd-el-Wahid.

As early as 1302 the islet of Peñón in front of Algiers harbour had been occupied by Spaniards. Thereafter, a considerable amount of trade began to flow between Algiers and Spain. However, Algiers continued to be of comparatively little importance until after the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, many of whom sought asylum in the city. In 1510, following their occupation of Oran and other towns on the coast of Africa, the Spaniards fortified the islet of Peñon and imposed a levy intended to suppress corsair activity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zirid_dynasty
The Zirids were Sanhaja Berbers of the area of modern Algeria. In the 10th century this tribe served as vassals of the Fatimids, defeating the Kharijite rebellion of Abu Yazid (943-947), under Ziri ibn Manad (935-971). Ziri was installed as the governor of central Maghreb and founded the gubernatorial residence of Ashir south-east of Algiers, with Fatimid support.

When the Fatimids moved their base to Egypt in 972, Ziri's son Buluggin ibn Ziri (971-984) was appointed viceroy of Ifriqiya. The removal of the fleet to Egypt made the retention of Kalbid Sicily impossible, while Algeria broke away under the governorship of Hammad ibn Buluggin, Buluggin's son.

The relationship with the Fatimid overlords was variable - in 1016 thousands of Shiites lost their lives in rebellions in Ifriqiya, and the Fatimids encouraged the defection of Tripolitania from the Zirids, but nevertheless the relationship remained close. In 1049 the Zirids broke away completely by adopting Sunni Islam and recognizing the Abbasids of Baghdad as rightful Caliphs, a move which was popular with the urban Arabs of the kingdom.

Zirid management of the area was overall neglectful as the agricultural economy declined, prompting an increase in banditry among the rural population.The Fatimids sent the Bedouin tribes of Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym to Ifriqiya. The Berber troops defected and the Zirids were defeated, and the land laid waste by the Bedouin. The resulting anarchy devastated the previously flourishing agriculture, and the coastal towns assumed a new importance as conduits for maritime trade and bases for piracy against Christian shipping.

After the loss of Kairouan (1057) the rule of the Zirids was limited to a coastal strip with Mahdia as the capital, while several Bedouin Emirates formed inland. Between 1146 and 1148 the Normans of Sicily conquered all the coastal towns, and in 1152 the last Zirids in Algeria were superseded by the Almohads.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maghreb
The Arabs reached the Maghreb in early Umayyad times. Arab expansion and the spread of Islam pushed the development of trans-Saharan trade. While restricted due to the cost and dangers, the trade was highly profitable. Peoples traded in such goods as salt, gold, ivory, and slaves taken from the Sahel regions as well as southern Europeans enslaved by Muslim pirates. Arab control over the Maghreb was quite weak. Various Islamic "heresies", such as the Ibadis and the Shia, adopted by some Berbers, quickly threw off Caliphal control in favour of their interpretation of Islam.

The Arabic language became widespread only later, as a result of the invasion of the Banu Hilal, unleashed by the Fatimids in punishment for their Zirid clients' defection in the 12th century. Throughout this period, the Maghreb most often was divided into three states roughly corresponding to modern Morocco, western Algeria, and eastern Algeria and Tunisia. The region was occasionally briefly unified, as under the Almohads, and briefly under the Hafsids.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algiers
In 1516, the amir of Algiers, Selim b. Teumi, invited the corsair brothers Oruc and Hayreddin Barbarossa to expel the Spaniards. Oruc came to Algiers, ordered the assassination of Selim, and seized the town and ousted the Spanish in the Capture of Algiers (1516). Hayreddin, succeeding Oruc after the latter was killed in battle against the Spaniards in the Fall of Tlemcen (1517), was the founder of the pashaluk, which subsequently became the beylik, of Algeria. Barbarossa lost Algiers in 1524 but regained it with Capture of Algiers (1529), and then formally invited the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to accept sovereignty over the territory and to annex Algiers to the Ottoman Empire.

Algiers from this time became the chief seat of the Barbary pirates. In October 1541 in the Algiers expedition, the King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V sought to capture the city, but a storm destroyed a great number of his ships, and his army of some 30,000, chiefly made up of Spaniards, was defeated by the Algerians under their Pasha, Hassan.

The city under Ottoman control was enclosed by a wall on all sides, including along the seafront. In this wall, five gates allowed access to the city, with five roads from each gate dividing the city and meeting in front of the Ketchaoua Mosque. In 1556, a citadel was constructed at the highest point in the wall. A major road running north to south divided the city in two: The upper city (al-Gabal, or 'the mountain') which consisted of about fifty small quarters of Andalusian, Jewish, Moorish and Kabyle communities, and the lower city (al-Wata, or 'the plains') which was the administrative, military and commercial centre of the city, mostly inhabited by Turkish dignitaries and other upper-class families.

Formally part of the Ottoman Empire but essentially free from Ottoman control, starting in the 17th century Algiers turned to piracy and ransoming. Due to its location on the periphery of both the Ottoman and European economic spheres, and depending for its existence on a Mediterranean that was increasingly controlled by European shipping, backed by European navies, piracy became the primary economic activity. Repeated attempts were made by various nations to subdue the pirates that disturbed shipping in the western Mediterranean and engaged in slave raids as far north as Iceland. The United States fought two wars (the First and Second Barbary Wars) over Algier attacks on shipping. In 1817, the city was bombarded by a British squadron under Lord Exmouth, assisted by Dutch men-of-war, destroying the corsair fleet harboured in Algiers.

Looks amazing. I've heard of this game but I've never played it.
When Gamersgate has a sale, I think I'll pick it up.

Great, Awesome Thormodr. I'm Sure BSS will be glad to here that. The game is more developed now. and maybe in a few years I may try and port the game data to VSC#, Mono and /or XNA Game Studio, possibly.



Reconquista - Almohad territory c. 1200 AD - Almohad minaret in Safi - Almohad Flag

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almohad_Caliphate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Andalus

Almohad [Al-Mahdi] 1121–1269
Religion Sunni Islam
Government Monarchy
Capital Marrakesh, Seville and Rabat

The Almohad Dynasty, (Arabic: al-Muwahhidun) "the monotheists or Unitarians" was a Moroccan Berber-Muslim dynasty founded around 1120 AD, that established a Berber state in the Atlas Mountains of north-western Africa. In 1118, Ibn Tumart began campaigning against the immorality of the Almoravids in enforcing religious values. The Almohads, in his view, sought to restore Islamic Orthodoxy and were therefore highly critical of the Almoravids.

Tumart also declared himself the Mahdi, [Almohads - Al Mahdi] a divinely guided leader, in 1121. Tumart, who had been driven from several other towns for exhibitions of reforming zeal, now took refuge among his own people, the Masmuda, in the Atlas Mountains. It is highly probable that his influence would not have outlived him, if he had not found a lieutenant in Abd al-Mu'min al-Kumi, another Berber, from Algeria, who was undoubtedly a soldier and statesman of a high order. Ibn Tumart died in 1128 at the monastery or ribat which he had founded in the Atlas at Tinmel, after suffering a severe defeat by the Almoravids. Between 1130 and his death in 1163, `Abd-el-Mu'min not only rooted out the Murabits, but extended his power over all northern Africa as far as Egypt, becoming amir of Marrakesh in 1149. The Almohads led by Abd al-Mu'min al-Kumi, Emir of Marrakesh (1149), between 1130 and his death in 1163 defeated the ruling Almoravids, extendingtheir power over all northern Africa as far as Libya and Al-Andalus, Moorish Iberia (southern Spain), and in 1170 the Almohads transferred their capital to Seville.

The Almohad princes had a longer and more distinguished career than the Murabits (Almoravids). Abu Yaqub Yusuf I (1163–1184), and Ya'qub I al-Mansur (1184-1199), the successors of Abd al-Mumin, were both able men. Initially their government drove many Jewish and Christian subjects to take refuge in the growing Christian states of Portugal, Castile and Aragon. The Almohads, who had taken control of the Almoravids' Maghribi and Andalusian territories by 1147, far surpassed the Almoravids in fundamentalist outlook, and they treated the dhimmis (non-Muslims) harshly. Faced with the choice of either death or conversion, most Jews and Christians emigrated. Many Jews were also forced to convert or to wear identifying clothing so that their religion would be known. A few, like the family of Maimonides, eventually fled east to more tolerant Muslim lands, while most of them went northward to settle in the growing Christian kingdoms

Ultimately they became less fanatical than the Almoravids. At the end of the 12th century, following the Almohads conquest of Al-Andalus, Averroes's political career ended. Averroes's strictly rationalist views which collided with the more orthodox views of Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur who therefore eventually banished Averroes, though he had previously appointed him as his personal physician. Averroes was not reinstated until shortly before his death in the year 1198 AD. He devoted the rest of his life (more than 30 years) to his philosophical writings.

Ya'qub's title of "al-Mansur," "The Victorious," was earned by the defeat he inflicted on Alfonso VIII of Castile in the Battle of Alarcos (1195). From the time of Yusuf II, however, the Almohads governed their co-religionists in Iberia and Central North Africa through lieutenants, their dominions outside Morocco being treated as provinces. When their amirs crossed the Straits it was to lead a jihad against the Christians and to return to their capital, Marrakesh.

The growing Christian states in Iberia were becoming too well organized to be overrun by the Muslims, and the Almohads made no permanent advance against them. Almohad dominance of Iberia continued until 1212, when Muhammad III, "al-Nasir" (1199–1214) was defeated at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in the Sierra Morena by an alliance of the Christian princes of Castile, Aragón, Navarre, and Portugal. Nearly all Moorish dominion in Iberia was lost, the great Moorish cities of Córdoba and Seville fell to the Christians in 1236 and 1248 respectively.

The Almohads continued to rule in Africa until the piecemeal loss of territory through the revolt of tribes and districts enabled the rise of their their most effective enemies, the Marinids in 1215. The last of the Almohad line, Idris II, "El Wathiq"' was reduced to Marrakesh. In 1269 a slave murdered Idris II; the Marinids seized Marrakesh, ending the Almohad domination of the Western Maghreb.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Averroes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maimonides
Averroes The School of Athens Raphael - Maimonides' house in Fez - Debate between Averroes and Porphyry - Maimonides Portrait 16th BC

Anatolia - Modern Ankara. Turkey. [Ancient Phrygia or Galatia]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankara
In the late 4th century AD, Ancyra became something of an imperial holiday resort. After Constantinople became the East Roman capital, emperors in the 4th and 5th centuries would retire from the humid summer weather on the Bosporus to the drier mountain atmosphere of Ancyra. The city's military as well as logistical significance lasted well into the long Byzantine rule. Although Ancyra temporarily fell into the hands of several Arab Muslim armies numerous times after the 7th century, it remained an important crossroads polis within the Byzantine Empire until the late 11th century. It was also the capital of the powerful Opsician Theme, and after ca. 750 of the Bucellarian Theme.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opsikion
The Opsician Theme was a Byzantine theme in NW Asia Minor. Created from the imperial retinue army, the Opsikion was the largest and most prestigious of the early civil military garrison's. Involved in several revolts in the 8th century, it was split in three after c. 750, and lost its former preeminence. It survived as a middle tier theme until after the 4th Crusade. The term Opsikion derives from the Latin Obsequium "retinue", which by the early 7th century came to refer to the unit responsible for escorting the emperor on campaigns. In the 640s, following the disastrous defeats suffered during the first wave of the Muslim conquests, the remains of the field armies were withdrawn to Asia Minor and settled into large districts, called themes (themata). Thus the Opsician theme was the area where the imperial Opsikion was settled, which encompassed all of NW Asia Minor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucellarian_Theme
The Bucellarian theme was established sometime after 743 and before 767 by the Emperor Constantine V (741–775), following the suppression of the revolt of Artabasdos, the Count of the Opsikion. The new civilmilitary province, along with that of the Optimatoi was split off from the Opsikion. The name of the theme derives from the late Roman Bucellarii elite cavalry troops of Gothic or Roman origin, often found as privately hired bodyguard troops. By the early 7th century they formed an elite division in the Opsikion field force, coming under a domestikos before their elevation to a full theme. The strategos of the Bucellarians is attested for the first time in 767. The Bucellarians headquarters were at Ancyra, the former capital of Opsikion commanding some 8,000 troops, belonging to the second tier of strategoi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatolia
After the division of the Roman Empire, Anatolia became part of the East Roman, or Byzantine Empire. Byzantine control was challenged by Arab raids starting in the 7th century (see Byzantine–Arab Wars), but in the 9th and 10th century a resurgent Byzantine Empire regained its lost territories and even expanded beyond its traditional borders, into Armenia and Syria. Following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Seljuk Turks swept across Anatolia and conquered it in its entirety by 1080.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Manzikert
The Battle of Manzikert was fought between the Byzantine Empire and Seljuq Turks led by Alp Arslan on August 26, 1071 near near Lake Van in the far eastern provinces of Turkey bordering Iran and Iraq. The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army and the capture of the Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes played an important role in undermining Byzantine authority in Anatolia and Armenia, which allowed the Turks to gradually populate Anatolia. The brunt of the battle was borne by the professional soldiers, as large numbers of mercenaries fled early. The fallout from Manzikert was nearly disastrous for the empire, with numerous subsequent civil conflicts and an economic crisis severely weakening the empire's ability to adequately defend its borders. This led to the mass movement of Turks into central Anatolia and by 1080, an area of 30,000 square miles had been lost. It took a decade of internal strife before Alexios I Komnenos (1081 to 1118) brought stability back to the empire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Köse_Dağ
The Battle of Köse Dağ, ending in a decisive Mongol victory. It was fought between the Seljuk Turks and the Mongols in 1243. It was located between Trebizond and Rum in NE Anatolia. Under the leadership of the commander Bayju, the Mongols faced a numerically superior force. Brushing aside an apprehensive notice from his Georgian officer's regarding the size of the Seljuk army, Bayju states that they were counted as nothing to the numbers of their enemies: "the more they are the more glorious it is to win and the more plunder we shall secure". The defeat resulted in a period of turmoil in Anatolia and led directly to the decline and disintegration of the Seljuk state. The Empire of Trebizond became a vassal state of the Mongol empire. Real power over Anatolia was exercised by the Mongols. After a long period of fragmentation, Anatolia was unified by the Ottoman dynasty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatolia
In the following century, the Byzantines managed to reassert their control in Western and Northern Anatolia. Control of Anatolia was then split between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm, with the Byzantine holdings gradually being reduced. In 1255, the Mongols swept through central and eastern Anatolia, and would remain until 1335. An Ilkhanate garrison was stationed near modern Ankara. By the end of the 14th century, most of Anatolia was controlled by various Anatolian beyliks. The Turkmen Beyliks were under the control of the Mongols, at least nominally, through declining Seljuk Sultans. The Beyliks did not mint coins in the names of their own leaders while they remained under the suzerainty of the Ilkhanids. in 1320's, for it bears the legend "Minted by Osman son of Ertugul". Since the minting of coins was a prerogative accorded in Islamic practice to be a sovereign, it can be considered that Osmanli became
independent of the Mongol Khans. Among the Turkmen leaders the Ottomans emerged as great power under Osman and his son Orhan I. Smyrna was conquered in 1330, and the last Byzantine possession, Philadélphia (modern Alaşehir), fell in 1390. The Anatolian beyliks were in turn absorbed into the rising Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. The Ottomans completed the conquest of the peninsula with the taking of Halicarnassus (Bodrum), in 1517, from the Knights of Saint John.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ankara
The Battle of Ankara or Battle of Angora, fought on July 20, 1402, took place near Ankara between the forces of the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I and the Turko-Mongol forces of Timur, ruler of the Timurid Empire. Timur, also known as Tamerlane was the most powerful Central Asian ruler since Genghis Khan, and by long and relentless fighting, sought to rebuild the Mongol Empire of his ancestors. Timur had conquered Georgia and Azerbaijan in 1390, expanding his empire to the borders of the Ottoman Empire. The two powers soon came into direct conflict. Bayezid demanded tribute from one of the Anatolian Beyliks who had pledged loyalty to Timur and threatened to invade. Timur interpreted this action as an insult to himself and in 1400 sacked the Ottoman city of Sebaste. Beyazid was stung into furious action and when Timur invaded Anatolia from the east, Bayezid summoned his forces and confronted Timur's forces near Ankara. The conflict, overall, was the culmination of years of insulting letters exchanged between Timur and Bayezid.

The exact size of the conflicting armies is not known. When Timur invaded Asia Minor, his army of horsemen with no infantry allowed him to move fast through the Turkish Empire, destroying the Empire's defense piece by piece. The battle began with a large-scale attack from the Ottomans, countered by swarms of arrows from the Timurid horse archers. Several thousands were killed and many surrendered to Timur. During the battle the main water supply of both armies was diverted to an off-stream reservoir by Timur, which left the Ottoman army with no water. The final battle took place at Catal hill, which dominated the Çubuk valley. The Ottoman army, both thirsty and tired, was defeated, though Bayezid managed to escape to the nearby mountains with a few hundred horsemen. Timur, though had the mountains surrounded and, heavily outnumbering Bayezid, soon capturing him. Despite being heavily outnumbered, the Ottoman army was further weakened by the desertion of the Tatars and Sipahis from the Anatolian beyliks, who left Bayezid and joined Timur's forces.

The battle was a major victory for Timur, and it led to a period of crisis for the Ottoman Empire (the Ottoman Interregnum). This event split the Ottomans into factions since Bayezid's sons were still alive and free after he himself was captured. Most of the Ottoman Turks fled into Europe. The result was a civil war among Bayezid's four sons. This temporary weakening of the Ottomans resulted in the delay of the end of the Byzantine Empire and the eventual Ottoman conquest of the Balkans.However, the Timurid Empire went into terminal decline following Tamerlane's death just three years after the Battle of Ankara, while the Ottoman Empire made a full recovery, and continued to increase in power for several more centuries.

The Battle of Manzikert, Post Manzikert Holdings, Mongols-Seljuks-Fleur des histoires d'orient

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seahenge
http://www.culture24.org.uk/history...egaliths+and+prehistoric+archaeology/art59343

East Anglia 575-917 AD
Religion Pagan, Celtic and Roman Catholic Christians
Government Monarchy
Capital Beadoriceworth (Bury St Edmunds)

© 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
The Angles were a Germanic tribe that occupied the region, still called, Angeln in what is now the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Together with the Saxons and Jutes, they invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. Together with their kindred ethnic groups, they formed the people who came to be known as the English.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_of_East_Anglia
The Kingdom of the East Angles, one of the seven traditional members of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was founded in the 6th century and ceased being an independent kingdom by 918, having been subjugated by Alfred the Great of Wessex.

http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsBritain/EnglandEastAnglia.htm
The Angles in the region of Norfolk and Suffolk probably gained ascendancy between 475-495 from a possible British territory of Caer Went (formerly the Iceni tribe made famous by Boadecia). Around 575 AD The kingdom of the East Angles was founded as a result of the uniting North and South Folk, from which Norfolk and Suffolk are named.

In the early stages of settlement, the Angles were not totally dominant in the area; there was also a sizable Saxon presence, although evidence supports the fact that many Saxons were settled in this area as foederati before the collapse of Roman rule. The Saxons and the newly-arriving Angles appear to have intermingled and merged even before the British walled town of Venta Icenorum (Caistor-by-Norwich) had been abandoned.

The Angles were skilled in the use of shallow vessels and used the East Anglian rivers as routes into Britain. They easily navigated the Nene, Ouse and Cam valleys and were the first to be colonised. By 500 AD colonisation had reached as far east as Cambridgeshire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Anglia
Much of East Anglia (including parts of Lincolnshire, also, consisted of marshland and bogs until the 17th century, despite the construction of early sea barriers by the Roman Empire. Much of the area is characterised by its flatness, partly consisting of fenland and reclaimed marshland, though much of Suffolk and Norfolk is gently rolling hills.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_East_Anglia
During the early 7th century, East Anglia was one of the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, but its power soon waned and over the following centuries it became increasingly dominated by the kingdom of Mercia. In 870 it was conquered by the Danes, who settled there permanently in 879. In 917 the kingdom submitted to Edward the Elder of Wessex and was incorporated into the kingdom of England, becoming an earldom.

East Anglia was settled by the Anglo-Saxons as early as c. 450, earlier than many other regions that were settled. It emerged from the settlement and political consolidation of Angles in the approximate area occupied by the former territory of the Iceni and the Roman civitas, with its centre at Venta Icenorum (Bury St. Edmund). The first kings of East Anglia were pagans. They belonged to the dynasty known as the Wuffings, named after Wuffa, whose name could have been an invention to explain the Wuffing name, which means 'descendants of the wolf'. All the East Anglian kings up to Ælfwald (-749 AD) were Wuffings. The most powerful of its kings was Rædwald, 'the son of Tytil, whose father was Wuffa', according to Bede in 731. For a brief period in the early 7th century, whilst Rædwald ruled, East Anglia was among the most powerful kingdoms in England, probably exercising a widespread hegemony across the eastern part of the country. In 616, Rædwald was strong enough to defeat and kill Æthelfrith of Northumbria at the Battle of the River Idle and install Edwin as king of Northumbria. Bede described him as exercising imperium over the southern English kingdoms. He was more than likely the individual honoured by the sumptuous ship burial at Sutton Hoo. The eminence achieved by East Anglia under Rædwald did not last long, as his successors soon fell victim to the rising power of Mercia.

In 865, East Anglia was invaded by the 'Great Heathen Army' of the Danes, which occupied winter quarters and secured horses before departing for Northumbria. The Danes returned to East Anglia in 869, wintering at Thetford before being attacked by the forces of Edmund of East Anglia, who was defeated and killed. Edmund was regarded as a martyr for the Christian faith and became a popular saint. Having seized control of the kingdom, the Danes installed puppet-kings to govern on their behalf while they resumed their campaigns against Mercia and Wessex. Reinforcement's by a fresh army of Danes in 871 and the settlement of portions of there combined army in Northumbria and Mercia remained active until their defeat. In 878 the last portion of the army to remain active was defeated by King Alfred the Great of Wessex and they withdrew from his kingdom after making a peace treaty, in 879. the Danes returned to East Anglia under the leadership of King Guthrum who took over direct charge of the kingdom from their appointees, sharing out land among themselves and settling. In addition to the traditional territory of East Anglia, their kingdom probably included Essex, and a portion of Wessex which had come under Danish control.

© 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Alfred, became king of Wessex in one of England's darkest hours. The Danes, part of the Viking forces that had begun to raid the English coasts in the late 8th century, had given up their primary goal of plunder and were now set on conquering England. Wessex and Alfred were all that stood in their way. Alfred at first had to buy a respite, but after his victory at Edington in 878 he forced the Danish king Guthrum to accept baptism and a division of England into two parts, Wessex and what historians later called the Danelaw (Essex, East Anglia, and Northumbria). By creating an navy, reorganizing the Anglo-Saxon militia, allowing warriors to alternate between farming and fighting, and by building strategic forts, Alfred captured London and began to roll back the Danish tide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Æthelred_I_of_East_Anglia
Æthelred I was a semi-historical eighth-century king of East Anglia, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. It is thought that he ruled for some time between 760 and 790 and held East Anglia during the overlordship of Offa of Mercia. He succeeded three East Anglian kings who ruled together after c.649 - Hun, Beorna and Alberht.

There is no coinage known for Æthelred and the only historical sources that name him date from after the Norman conquest of England, including the Lives of St Æthelberht and the regnal lists of William of Malmesbury. In the legendary narratives of Saint Æthelberht, Æthelred and his queen (who was possibly named Leofruna) both dwelt at Beodricesworth, or modern day Bury St. Edmunds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_the_Martyr
In the year 869, the Danes who had wintered at York, marched through Mercia into East Anglia and took up their quarters at Thetford. Edmund engaged them fiercely in battle, but the Danes under their leaders Ubbe Ragnarsson and Ivar the Boneless had the victory, killing King Edmund.

Contemporary evidence for King Edmund's existence is largely confined to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Edmund is venerated as a saint and a martyr in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. It is said that his body was ultimately interred at Beadoriceworth (modern Bury St Edmunds), where pilgrims were encouraged to visit his shrine. By the 12th century, the church had been enlarged. His popularity with the Anglo-Norman nobility helped justify their claims of continuity with pre-Norman traditions: a banner of his arms was carried at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Edmund's popularity among the English nobility was lasting. It is known that his banner was borne in the Irish expedition of the Anglo-Normans and also when Caerlaverock Castle was taken in 1300.

© 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Boudicca (-60 AD), queen of the Iceni, a British tribe inhabiting the territory constituting the present-day counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. On the death of her husband, King Prasutagus, the Romans seized her territory. The queen was tortured and beaten, her daughters were raped, and the noblest Iceni were enslaved. Boudicca gathered a large army, destroyed the Roman colony of Camulodunum (now Colchester), sacked Londinium and Veralamium (now London and Saint Albans), and, according to the Roman historian Tacitus, killed some 70,000 Romans. The Roman governor of Britain, who had been absent in Mona (now Anglesey), advanced against the queen and destroyed her force. In despair, Boudicca killed herself by taking poison. She has been the subject of various literary works including the tragedy Bonduca by John Fletcher, the ode Boadicea by William Cowper, and the poem Boadicea by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton_Hoo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudica
http://fanzone50.com/Tales/Boadicea1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_Troy_Once_Stood

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=189289&view=findpost&p=3771895

Other Kingdom Quests in Italics, no particular order

Malemuk, The Bahri dynasty (1250-1382), Mamluk Sultanate (The Burji dynasty 1382-1517), Mongol-Kipchak Empire 1389

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahri_dynasty
The Bahri dynasty or Bahriyya Mamluks (al-Mamalik al-Bahariyya) was a Mamluk dynasty of mostly Kipchak Turkic origin that ruled Egypt from 1250 to 1382 when they were succeeded by the Burji dynasty, another group of Mamluks. Their name means 'of the sea', referring to the location of their original residence in the Nile (Bahr al-Nil), Cairo. The Mamluks formed one of the most powerful and wealthiest empires of the time, lasting from 1250 to 1517. In 1250, when the Ayyubid sultan as-Salih Ayyub died, the Mamluks he had owned as slaves murdered his son and heir Turanshah, and Shajar al-Durr the widow of as-Salih became the Sultana of Egypt. She married the Atabeg (commander in chief) Emir Aybak and abdicated, Aybak becoming Sultan. He ruled from 1250 to 1257. The Mamluks consolidated their power in ten years and eventually established the Bahri dynasty. They were helped by the Mongols' sack of Baghdad in 1258, which effectively destroyed the Abbasid caliphate. Cairo became more prominent as a result and remained a Mamluk capital thereafter.The Mamluks were powerful cavalry warriors mixing the practices of the Turkic steppe peoples from which they were drawn and the organizational and technological sophistication of the Egyptians and Arabs. In 1260 the Mamluks defeated a Mongol army at the Battle of Ain Jalut in modern-day Israel and eventually forced the invaders to retreat to the area of modern-day Iraq.

On a general level, the military during the Bahri dynasty can be divided into several aspects
1.Mamluks : the core of both the political and military, these slave soldiers were further divided into Khassaki (comparable to imperial guards), Royal Mamluks ( Mamluks directly under the command of the Sultan) and regular Mamluks (usually assigned to local Amirs).
2.Al-Halqa : the primarily free born professional forces, they are also directly under the sultan's command.
3.Wafidiyya : These are Turks and Mongols that migrated to the dynasty's border after the Mongol invasion, typically given land grants in exchange for military service, they are well regarded forces.
4.Other levies : Primarily Bedouin tribes, but also on different occasions also different groups of Turkomans and other settled Arabs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burji_dynasty
The Burji dynasty ruled Egypt from 1382 until 1517. It proved especially turbulent, with short-lived sultans. Political power-plays often became important in designating a new sultan Barkuk became an enemy of Timur [Tamerlane] after slaying one of Timur's envoys. Timur threatened to invade Syria, but Barkuk died in 1399; Bayezid I then invaded Syria, but came into conflict with Timur, who took Aleppo and other towns in 1400. Syria was regained by sultan Faraj when Timur died in 1405, but Faraj continually faced rebellions from the emirs there and he was forced to abdicate in 1412.In 1517 the Ottoman Turks and their sultan Selim I defeated the Mamluks with the capture of Cairo on January 20. The centre of power transferred from Cairo to Istanbul. However, the Ottoman Empire retained the Mamluks as an Egyptian ruling class and the Mamluks and the Burji family succeeded in regaining much of their influence, but remained technical vassals of the Ottomans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamluk_Sultanate_(Cairo)
The Mamluk Sultanate was a regime composed of mamluks who ruled Egypt from the mid-13th century to the early 16th century. By the time of the fall of the Ayyubids, most Mamluks were Arabs and Kipchak Turks. Mamluk regiments constituted the backbone of the late Ayyubid military. Each sultan and high-ranking amir had his private corps, and the sultan as-Salih Ayyub (r. 1240-1249) had especially relied on this means to maintaining power. His mamluks, numbering between 800 and 1,000 horsemen, were called the Bahris, after the Arabic word bahr, meaning sea or large river, because their barracks were located on the island of Rawda in the Nile. They were mostly drawn from among the Kipchak Turks who controlled the steppes north of the Black Sea.

Aragon at its greatest extent, The Provence of Aragon, the Kingdom of Aragon c. 1250, Aragon Flag

Aragon 1035–1707 AD
Religion Roman Catholic
Government Monarchy
Capital Zaragosa

© 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
After the Romans defeated the Carthaginians during the Punic Wars, Aragón became part of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis. The Visigoths conquered the region late in the 5th century, the Moors in the 8th century. Subsequently the region was incorporated with the kingdom of Navarre. In 1035 Ramiro I, a son of the Navarrese ruler Sancho III, established Aragón as an independent kingdom. Navarre was annexed in 1076, and during the next 100 years additional territory was added by successful wars against the Moors. In 1137 Aragón was united with Catalonia and Barcelona. Aragón grew into a leading Mediterranean naval power around the port of Barcelona. The kings of Aragón gained possession of the Balearic Islands, Sicily, Sardinia, and Naples during the next two centuries. In 1238 the important city of Valencia was captured by Aragón from the Moors. The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragón (later Ferdinand V of Castile) to Isabella I of Castile united those two regions. Formal merger of the two kingdoms took place on the accession of Charles I in 1516, but Aragón retained its own administration and representative institutions until the end of the 17th century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Aragon
This kingdom was originally a Frankish feudal county around the city of Jaca, which in the first half of the 8th century became a vassal state of the kingdom of Pamplona (later Navarre), its own dynasty of counts ending without male heir in 922.

On the death of Sancho III of Navarre in 1035, the Kingdom of Navarre was divided in to three parts: (1) Navarre and the Basque country, (2) Castile and (3) Sobrarbe, Ribagorza and Aragon. As the most important Christian monarch in Iberia and the King of All Spain, each of his three lands were converted into a Kingdom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aragon
Before Aragon came into being as a self-proclaimed kingdom in 1035 A.D., the northern counties of Jaca, Sobrarbe and Ribagorza were all independent marches and Frankish feudal fiefs. In a bid to stem Frankish and Moorish invasions, a northern alliance of the counties of Aragon, Sobrarbe, Ribagorza, and the duchy of Castile united under the Kingdom of Pamplona (later Navarre). After King Sancho's death, the kingdom was divided between his sons. Ramiro I was initially named king of Aragon in 1035; later, after his brother Gonzalo's death, he was also named king of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza in 1044. The new kingdom grew quickly, conquering territories from the moorish kingdoms to the south. Huesca was taken in 1096 and Zaragoza in 1118.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_of_Aragon
Formally, the political center of the Crown of Aragon was Zaragoza where kings were crowned in the La Seo Cathedral. Leading economic centres of the Crown of Aragon were the cities of Barcelona and Valencia. Finally, Palma (Majorca) was an additional important city and seaport.

The Crown of Aragon eventually included the Kingdom of Aragon, the County of Barcelona, the Kingdom of Valencia, the Kingdom of Majorca, Sicily, Malta, the Kingdom of Naples and Sardinia. For brief periods the Crown of Aragon also controlled Montpellier, Provence, Corsica, the Duchy of Neopatria in Latin Greece and the Duchy of Athens.

The countries that are today known as Spain and Portugal spent the Middle Ages after 722 in an intermittent struggle called the Reconquista. This struggle pitted the northern Christian kingdoms against the Islamic taifa petty kingdoms of the South and against each other.

In the Late Middle Ages, the expansion of the Aragonese Crown southwards met with the Castilian advance eastward in the region of Murcia. Afterward, the Aragonese Crown focused on the Mediterranean, acting as far as Greece and Barbary, whereas Portugal, which completed its Reconquista in 1272, focused on the Atlantic Ocean. Mercenaries from the territories in the Crown, known as almogàvers participated in the creation of this Mediterranean "empire", and later found employment in countries all across southern Europe.

The Crown of Aragon has been considered by some as an empire which ruled in the Mediterranean for hundreds of years, with the power to set rules over the entire sea (for instance, the Llibre del Consolat del Mar or Book of the Consulate of the Sea, written in Catalan, is one of the oldest compilation of maritime laws in the world). It was indeed, at its height, one of the major powers in Europe.

The Crown of Aragon is often described as being more like a confederacy than a centralized kingdom, let alone an empire. Nor did official documents ever refer to it as an empire (Imperium or any cognate word); instead, it was considered a dynastic union of autonomous kingdoms.


Castle of San Pedro in Jaca, Allegorical Woodcut c. 1820, 16th century painting of the Dynastic Union, Ordesa valley in the Aragonese Pyrenees

Other Kingdom Quests in Italics, no particular order

Almoravid dynasty, Coin Almoravids Sevilla 1116, Almoravid Empire 1120, the Great Mosque of Algiers.

Almoravids 1040–1147
Religion Islamic, with Christian & Jewish minorities
Government Monarchy
Capital Aghmat, Marrakech

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almoravid
The Almoravids were a Berber-Muslim dynasty of North Africa, it is affiliated to the Berber tribes of Sanhaja and Lamtuna. From the 11th century to the 12th century, their empire was extended over present-day Morocco, Mauritania, southern Spain and Portugal, western present-day Algeria and a part of what is now Mali. At its greatest extent, the empire stretched 3,000 kilometres north to south. Almoravids built the city of Marrakesh and made it their capital city which became then one of the most influential centers of power in Africa and the Mediterranean region.

When the Almoravids began their political rise, the Kingdom of Fez (Morocco's first name) of the Idrisid dynasty was split into a series of small emirates located mainly north of the country, and headed by relatives of the royal family. According to French historian Bernard Lugan and others, the lure of wealth from trade in the South (Sahara) and marketed to the North (the West) attracted various tribes to crossroads city such as Marrakech, which become the capital of various dynasties, especially those from the South. Almoravid unity also protected other tribes from the domination of the Zenata tribes.

About the year 1040 one of their chiefs, Yahya ibn Ibrahim, made the pilgrimage to Makkah. On his way home, he attended the teachers of the mosque at the university of Al-Qayrawan, today's Kairouan in Tunisia; the first Arab-Muslim city in North Africa, who soon learnt from him that his people knew little of the religion they were supposed to profess, and that though his will was good, his own ignorance was great. Yahya was provided with a missionary, Abdallah ibn Yasin, a zealous partisan of the Malikis, one of the four Madhhab, Sunni schools of Islam. In the Saharan regions his influence spread. His creed was mainly characterized by a rigid formalism and a strict adherence to the dictates of the Qur'an, and the Orthodox tradition.

Abdallah ibn Yasin imposed a penitential scourging on all converts as a purification, and enforced a regular system of discipline for every breach of the law, including the chiefs themselves. Under such directions, the Almoravids were brought into excellent order. Their first military leader, Yahya ibn Ibrahim, gave them a good military organization. Their main force was infantry, armed with javelins in the front ranks and pikes behind, which formed into a phalanx; it was supported by camelmen and horsemen on the flanks.

There has been a belief by some that the Almoravids conquered the Ghana Empire sometime around 1075 AD. According to Arab tradition, the ensuing war pushed Ghana over the edge, ending the kingdom's position as a commercial and military power by 1100, as it collapsed into tribal groups and chieftaincies, some of which later assimilated into the Almoravids while others founded the Mali Empire. However, the Almoravid religious influence was gradual and not heavily involved in military strife, as Almoravids increased in power by marrying among the nation's nobility.

In 1086 Yusuf ibn Tashfin was invited by the taifa Muslim princes of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) to defend them against Alfonso VI, King of León and Castile. In that year, Yusuf ibn Tashfin crossed the straits to Algeciras, inflicted a severe defeat on the Christians at the Battle of az-Zallaqah (Battle of Sagrajas). When he returned to Iberia in 1090, it was avowedly for the purpose of deposing the Muslim princes, and annexing their states. He had in his favour the mass of the inhabitants, who had been worn out by the oppressive taxation imposed by their spend-thrift rulers. By 1094, he had removed them all, except for the one at Zaragoza; and though he regained little from the Christians except Valencia, he re-united the Muslim power, and gave a check to the reconquest of the country by the Christians.

The Almoravid power was at its height at Yusuf's death, and the Moorish empire then included all North-West Africa as far as Algiers, and all of Iberia south of the Tagus, with the east coast as far as the mouth of the Ebro, and included the Balearic Islands. Iberia was again invaded by Christian forces in 1119 and 1121, the tide had turned on tht Almoravids, the French assisted the Aragonese to recover Zaragoza, and Ali ibn Yusuf was defeated by Alfonso VII of León, and in the Battle of Ourique (1139). The empire fell to pieces under the combined action of his Christian foes in Iberia and the agitation of Almohads (the Muwahhids) in Morocco. After Ali ibn Yusuf's death in 1143, his son Tashfin ibn Ali lost ground rapidly before the Almohads, and in 1146 he was killed attempting to escape after a defeat near Oran. His two successors were Ibrahim ibn Tashfin and Is'haq ibn Ali, who's reigns were short. The conquest of the city of Marrakech by the Almohads in 1147 marked the fall of the dynasty, though fragments of the Almoravids (the Banu Ghaniya), continued to struggle in the Balearic Islands, and finally in Tunisia.

[Surnames name used for the descendants of the Moors - Morabito, Murabito and Mirabito of Sicily, the Aeolian Islands and southern
Calabria in Italy. Also, Mourabit, Morabit, Murabit or Morabet in modern-day Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Mauritania]

I don't really understand.. why are you posting all this information?

Other Kingdom Quests in Italics, no particular order

The Magreb, NW Africa 1707, The Algerian Coast, The 1st Mosque built in the Mahgreb Kairouan Tunisia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maghreb

The Arabs reached the Maghreb in early Umayyad times. Arab expansion and the spread of Islam pushed the development of trans-Saharan trade. While restricted due to the cost and dangers, the trade was highly profitable. Peoples traded in such goods as salt, gold, ivory, and slaves taken from the Sahel regions as well as southern Europeans enslaved by Muslim pirates. Arab control over the Maghreb was quite weak. Various Islamic "heresies", such as the Ibadis and the Shia, adopted by some Berbers, quickly threw off Caliphal control in favour of their interpretation of Islam.

The Arabic language became widespread only later, as a result of the invasion of the Banu Hilal, unleashed by the Fatimids in punishment for their Zirid clients' defection in the 12th century. Throughout this period, the Maghreb most often was divided into three states roughly corresponding to modern Morocco, western Algeria, and eastern Algeria and Tunisia. The region was occasionally briefly unified, as under the Almohads, and briefly under the Hafsids.

Various other influences are also prominent throughout the Maghreb. In northern coastal towns, in particular, several waves of European immigrants have influenced the population in the Medieval era. Most notable were the moriscos and muladies, that are, indigenous Spaniards who had earlier converted to the Muslim faith and were fleeing, together with ethnic Arab and Berber Muslims, from the Spanish Catholic Reconquista. Other European contributions included French, Italians, and others captured by the corsairs.

Historically the Maghreb was home to significant Jewish communities called Maghrebim who predated the 7th century introduction and conversion of the region to Islam.Later Spanish Sephardic Jews fleeing the Spanish Catholic Inquisition, established a presence in North Africa, chiefly in the urban trading centers. They have contributed to the wider population through conversion and assimilation. Among West Asians are Turks who came over with the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. A large Turkish descended population exists, particularly in Tunisia and Algeria. Sub-Saharan Africans joined the population mix during centuries of trans-Saharan trade. Traders and slaves went to the Maghreb from the Sahel region. On the Saharan southern edge of the Maghreb are small communities of black populations, sometimes called Haratine.

During the 7th century, the region's peoples began their nearly total conversion to Islam. There is a small but thriving Jewish community, as well as a small Christian community. Most Muslims follow the Sunni Maliki school. Small Ibadi communities remain in some areas. A strong tradition of venerating marabouts and saints' tombs is found throughout regions inhabited by Berbers. Any map of the region demonstrates the tradition by the proliferation of "Sidi"s, showing places named after the marabouts. Like some other religious traditions, this has substantially decreased over the 20th century. A network of zaouias traditionally helped proliferate basic literacy and knowledge of Islam in rural regions.

In the 10th century, as the social and political environment in Baghdad became increasingly hostile to Jews, many Jewish traders emigrated to the Maghreb, especially Tunisia. Over the following two or three centuries, such Jewish traders became known as the Maghribis, a distinctive social group who traveled throughout the Mediterranean World. They passed this identification on from father to son. Their tight-knit pan-Maghreb community had the ability to use social sanctions as a credible alternative to legal recourse, which was anyway weak at the time. This unique institutional alternative permitted the Maghribis to very successfully participate in Mediterranean trade.

Well, I need them for my KoH Kingdom Quests, some of this info I'll be adding to it. This is a CIV Site isn't it? If you googled some of the keywords (like Troy), you would also see more than a few references to my posts, if you digged deep enough. Civilization Gamers and Devlopers can also add this info to there games and mods. This Information is also Educational.

http://www.educationarcade.org/node/66
Seemingly overnight, educational gaming has gone from something to be snickered at to a buzzword in education and industry. Maybe it’s the widespread use of gaming for military training, maybe it’s increasing graphical realism, or maybe it’s that so many young teachers grew up playing games. Today, the Sloan Foundation’s Virtual University, the ICT’s military simulations, or the MIT-Microsoft Games-to-Teach Project are beginning to explore computer games designed specifically for classroom use.

http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=13610
MIT researchers are creating academically driven computer games that rival commercial products and make learning fun.

http://web.mit.edu/is/isnews/v18/n03/180301.html
Games-to-Teach Project in MIT's Comparative Media Studies (CMS) program. Games-to-Teach began two years ago as an iCampus project between MIT and Microsoft Corporation, with a goal of developing sophisticated video games in math, science, engineering, and the humanities.

http://planetcivilization.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Articles.Detail&id=22
Many teachers and academics have realized that certain computer games such as Civilization have educational value. Civilization enables students who may not like text books to get a better grasp of history. As a result of recent educational attention for Civilization, Firaxis has opened a section on their website catered towards teachers. "Sid Meier's Civilization III, in particular, is now widely being used to teach students about history, geography, politics.

http://www.firaxis.com/community/teacher.php
Over the past several years, leading educators have begun a global discussion about the efficacy of using off-the-shelf consumer games to educate students. Teachers have found that some games in particular have a remarkable ability to keep students engaged and teach them at the same time. The basic requirements for a "stealth" teaching game is that it be fun, that in order to succeed in the game the student needs to learn about "real world" topics.

“Will computers change the way we learn? We answer “yes”. Video games create new social and cultural worlds, worlds that help people learn by integrating thinking, social interaction, and technology … virtual worlds are powerful contexts for learning. “ — Schaffer, Squire, Halverson, Gee (2004)

2,882 Views 5/30/11

English isn't your first language I am guessing?