Pepi I Meryre (alsoPepy I) was an ancient Egyptianpharaoh, third king of theSixth Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled for over 40 years at the turn of the 24th and 23rd centuries BC, toward the end of theOld Kingdom period. He was the son ofTeti, the founder of the dynasty, and ascended the throne only after the brief intervening reign of the enigmatic pharaohUserkare. His mother wasIput, who may have been a daughter ofUnas, the final ruler of the precedingFifth Dynasty. Pepi I, who had at least six consorts, was succeeded by his sonMerenre Nemtyemsaf I, with whom he may have shared power in a coregency at the very end of his reign.Pepi II Neferkare, who might also have been Pepi I's son, succeeded Merenre.

Several difficulties accumulated during Pepi's reign, beginning with the possible murder of his father and the ensuing reign of Userkare. Later, probably after his twentieth year of reign, Pepi faced a harem conspiracy hatched by one of his consorts who may have tried to have her son designated heir to the throne, and possibly another conspiracy involving hisvizier at the end of his reign. Confronted with the protracted decline of pharaonic power and the emergence of dynasties of local officials, Pepi reacted with a vast architectural program involving the construction oftemples dedicated to localgods and numerous chapels for his own cult throughout Egypt, reinforcing his presence in the provinces. Egypt's prosperity allowed Pepi to become the most prolific builder of the Old Kingdom. At the same time, Pepi favored the rise of small provincial centres and recruited officials of non-noble extraction to curtail the influence of powerful local families. Continuing Teti's policy, Pepi expanded a network of warehouses accessible to royal envoys and from which taxes and labor could easily be collected. Finally, he buttressed his power after the harem conspiracy by forming alliances with Khui, the provincialnomarch ofAbydos, marrying two of his daughters,Ankhesenpepi I andAnkhesenpepi II, and making both Khui's wifeNebet and her sonDjau viziers. The Egyptian state's external policy under Pepi comprised military campaigns againstNubia,Sinai and the southernLevant, landing troops on the Levantine coast using Egyptian transport boats. Trade withByblos,Ebla and the oases of theWestern Desert flourished, while Pepi launched mining and quarrying expeditions to Sinai and further afield. (Full article...)

James II and VII (14 October 1633O.S. – 16 September 1701) wasKing of England andIreland asJames II andKing of Scotland asJames VII from February 1685 until he was deposed in the 1688Glorious Revolution. The lastCatholic monarch ofEngland,Scotland, andIreland, his reign was marked by conflicts over religion,absolutism and thedivine right of kings; his deposition ended a century of political and civil strife by confirming the primacy of theEnglish Parliament over the Crown.

James was the second surviving son ofCharles I of England andHenrietta Maria of France, and was createdDuke of York at birth. At the age of 51, he succeeded to the throne with widespread support on the death of his elder brother,Charles II. The general public was reluctant to undermine the principle of hereditary succession after the trauma of the brief republicanCommonwealth of England 25 years before, and believed that a Catholic monarchy was purely temporary. However, tolerance of James's personal views did not extend to Catholicism in general, and both the English andScottish parliaments refused to pass measures viewed as undermining the primacy of theProtestant religion. His attempts to impose them by absolutist decrees as a matter of his perceived divine right met with opposition. (Full article...)

Geoffrey (c. 1152 – 12 December 1212) was an illegitimate son of KingHenry II of England who becamebishop-elect ofLincoln andarchbishop of York. The identity of his mother is uncertain, but she may have been named Ykenai. Geoffrey held several minor clerical offices before becoming Bishop of Lincoln in 1173, though he was notordained as apriest until 1189. In 1173–1174, he led a campaign in northern England to help put down a rebellion by his legitimate half-brothers; this campaign led to the capture ofWilliam,King of Scots. By 1182, PopeLucius III had ordered that Geoffrey either resign Lincoln or beconsecrated as bishop; he chose to resign and becamechancellor instead. He was the only one of Henry II's sons present at the king's death.

Geoffrey's half-brotherRichard I nominated him archbishop of York after succeeding to the throne of England, probably to force him to become a priest and thus eliminate a potential rival for the throne. After some dispute, Geoffrey was consecrated archbishop in 1191. He soon became embroiled in a conflict withWilliam Longchamp, Richard's regent in England, after being detained at Dover on his return to England following his consecration in France. Geoffrey claimedsanctuary in the town, but he was seized by agents of Longchamp and briefly imprisoned inDover Castle. Subsequently, a council of magnates ordered Longchamp out of office, and Geoffrey was able to proceed to his archdiocese. The archbishop spent much of his archiepiscopate in various disputes with his half-brothers: first Richard and thenJohn, who succeeded to the English throne in 1199. Geoffrey also quarrelled with hissuffragan bishops, hiscathedral chapter, and other clergy in hisdiocese. His last quarrel with John was in 1207, when the archbishop refused to allow the collection of a tax and was driven into exile in France. He died there five years later. (Full article...)

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (French:[ʒilbɛʁdymɔtjemaʁkid(ə)lafajɛt]; 6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States asLafayette (/ˌlɑːfiˈɛt,ˌlæf-/), was a French military officer and politician who volunteered to join theContinental Army, led by GeneralGeorge Washington, in theAmerican Revolutionary War. Lafayette commanded Continental Army troops in the decisivesiege of Yorktown in 1781, the Revolutionary War's final major battle, which secured American independence. After returning toFrance, Lafayette became a key figure in theFrench Revolution of 1789 and theJuly Revolution of 1830 and continues to be celebrated as a hero in both France and the United States.

Lafayette was born into a wealthy land-owning family inChavaniac in theprovince of Auvergne in south-central France. He followed the family's martial tradition and was commissioned an officer at age 13. He became convinced that theAmerican revolutionary cause was noble, and he traveled to the Americas seeking glory in it. He was made a major general at age 19 but was initially not given American troops to command. He fought with the Continental Army at theBattle of Brandywine nearChadds Ford, Pennsylvania, where he was wounded but organized an orderly retreat, and he served with distinction in theBattle of Rhode Island. In the middle of the war, he returned home to France to lobby for an increase in French support for the American Revolution. He returned to America in 1780 and was given senior positions in the Continental Army. In 1781, troops under his command in Virginia blocked aBritish army led byLord Cornwallis until other American and French forces could position themselves for the decisive siege ofYorktown. (Full article...)

Abū ʾl-Qāsim al-Faḍl ibn al-Muqtadir (913/14 – September/October 974), better known by hisregnal name ofal-Muṭīʿ li-ʾllāh (lit. 'Obedient to God'), was theAbbasid caliph inBaghdad from 946 to 974, ruling under the tutelage of theBuyid emirs.

Al-Muti's reign represented the nadir of theAbbasid caliphate's power and authority. In previous decades, the secular authority of the caliphs had shrunk toIraq, and even there had been curtailed by powerful warlords; with the Buyid conquest of Baghdad, it was now abolished entirely. Al-Muti' was raised to the throne by the Buyids and was effectively reduced to arubber-stamp figurehead, albeit with some vestiges of authority over judicial and religious appointments in Iraq. The very fact of his subordination and powerlessness helped restore some stability to the caliphal institution: in stark contrast to his short-lived and violently deposed predecessors, al-Muti' enjoyed a long and relatively unchallenged tenure, and was able to hand over the throne to his sonal-Ta'i'. (Full article...)

John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (29 August 1347 – 16 April 1375), was a fourteenth-centuryEnglish nobleman and soldier. He also held the titles ofBaron Abergavenny and Lord ofWexford. He was born inSutton Valence, the son ofLaurence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke, andAgnes Mortimer, Countess of Pembroke. His father died when John Hastings was around one year old, and he became award ofKing Edward III while remaining in his mother's care. The King arranged for John to marry Edward's daughterMargaret in 1359, which drew John into theroyal family. However, Margaret died two years later. John Hastings inherited his father'searldom, subsidiary titles and estates in 1368. The same year, he made a second marriage, to Anne, daughter ofWalter, Lord Mauny. The following year, Pembroke began the career in royal service that continued for the rest of his life.

TheHundred Years' War had recently resumed inFrance, and in 1369 Pembroke journeyed toAquitaine. There he took part in a sequence of raids, sieges, and counter-measures against the French, with both notable successes and failures. The latter were compounded by his apparent inability to work alongside the famed soldierSir John Chandos, who, although head of the King's forces there, was far below Pembroke in rank. He was, however, far above Pembroke in ability, and his subsequent death led to even more problems for Pembroke in France. A couple of years later, theEarl was summoned toParliament and returned to England. There, perhaps exasperated by the political failures of the King'secclesiastical ministers, or by their self-indulgence in office, he was responsible for forcing them from power. (Full article...)

Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam (July/August 644 or June/July 647 – 9 October 705), was the fifthUmayyad caliph, ruling from April 685 until his death in October 705. A member of the first generation of born Muslims, his early life inMedina was occupied with religious pursuits. He held administrative and military posts under CaliphMu'awiya I (r. 661–680), founder of the Umayyad Caliphate, and his own father, CaliphMarwan I (r. 684–685). By the time of Abd al-Malik's accession, Umayyad authority had collapsed across the Caliphate as a result of theSecond Fitna and had been reconstituted inSyria andEgypt during his father's reign.

Following afailed invasion of Iraq in 686, Abd al-Malik focused on securing Syria before making further attempts to conquer the greater part of the Caliphate from his principal rival, theMecca-based caliphAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. To that end, he concluded an unfavorable truce with the reinvigoratedByzantine Empire in 689, quashed a coup attempt inDamascus by his kinsman,al-Ashdaq, the following year, and reincorporated into the army the rebelliousQaysi tribes of theJazira (Upper Mesopotamia) in 691. He thenconquered Zubayrid Iraq and dispatched his general,al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, to Mecca where he killed Ibn al-Zubayr in late 692, thereby reuniting the Caliphate under Abd al-Malik's rule. Thewar with Byzantium resumed, resulting in Umayyad advances intoAnatolia andArmenia, the destruction ofCarthage and the recapture ofKairouan, the launchpad for the later conquests ofwestern North Africa and theIberian Peninsula, in 698. In the east, al-Hajjaj had become Abd al-Malik's viceroy and firmly established the caliph's authority inIraq andKhurasan, stamping out opposition by theKharijites and theArab tribal nobility by 702. Abd al-Malik's final years were marked by a domestically peaceful and prosperous consolidation of power. (Full article...)

Genghis Khan (bornTemüjin;c. 1162 – August 1227), also known asChinggis Khan, was the founder and firstkhan of theMongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting theMongol tribes, he launcheda series of military campaigns, conquering large parts ofChina andCentral Asia.

Born between 1155 and 1167 and given the name Temüjin, he was the eldest child ofYesugei, a Mongol chieftain of theBorjigin clan, and his wifeHö'elün. When Temüjin was eight, his father died and his family was abandoned by its tribe. Reduced to near-poverty, Temüjin killedhis older half-brother to secure his familial position. His charismatic personality helped to attract his first followers and to form alliances with two prominentsteppe leaders namedJamukha andToghrul; they worked together to retrieve Temüjin's newlywed wifeBörte, who had been kidnapped by raiders. As his reputation grew, his relationship with Jamukha deteriorated into open warfare. Temüjin wasbadly defeated inc. 1187, and may have spent the following years as a subject of theJin dynasty; upon reemerging in 1196, he swiftly began gaining power. Toghrul came to view Temüjin as a threat andlaunched a surprise attack on him in 1203.Temüjin regrouped and overpowered Toghrul; after defeating theNaiman tribe and executing Jamukha, he was left as the sole ruler on the Mongolian steppe. (Full article...)

Beorhtwulf (Old English:[ˈbeorˠxtwuɫf], meaning "bright wolf"; also spelledBerhtwulf; died 852) was King ofMercia, a kingdom ofAnglo-Saxon England, from 839 or 840 to 852. His ancestry is unknown, though he may have been connected toBeornwulf, who ruled Mercia in the 820s. Almost no coins were issued by Beorhtwulf's predecessor,Wiglaf, but a Mercian coinage was restarted by Beorhtwulf early in his reign, initially with strong similarities to the coins ofÆthelwulf of Wessex, and later with independent designs. TheVikings attacked within a year or two of Beorhtwulf's accession: the province ofLindsey was raided in 841, andLondon, a key centre of Mercian commerce, was attacked the following year. Another Viking assault on London in 851 "put Beorhtwulf to flight", according to theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle; the Vikings were subsequently defeated by Æthelwulf. This raid may have had a significant economic impact on Mercia, as London coinage is much reduced after 851.

Berkshire appears to have passed from Mercian toWest Saxon control during Beorhtwulf's reign. The Welsh are recorded to have rebelled against Beorhtwulf's successor,Burgred, shortly after Beorhtwulf's death, suggesting that Beorhtwulf had been their overlord. Charters from Beorthwulf's reign show a strained relationship with the church, as Beorhtwulf seized land and subsequently returned it. (Full article...)

Æthelred (died 911) becameLord of the Mercians in England shortly after the death or disappearance ofMercia's last king,Ceolwulf II, in 879. He is also sometimes called the Ealdorman of Mercia. Æthelred's rule was confined to the western half, as eastern Mercia was then part of theViking-ruledDanelaw. His ancestry is unknown. He was probably the leader of an unsuccessful Mercian invasion of Wales in 881, and soon afterwards he acknowledged the lordship of KingAlfred the Great ofWessex. This alliance was cemented by the marriage of Æthelred to Alfred's daughterÆthelflæd.

In 886, Alfred took possession of London, which had suffered greatly from several Viking occupations. Alfred then handed London over to Æthelred, as it had traditionally been a Mercian town. In 892, the Vikings renewed their attacks, and the following year, Æthelred led an army of Mercians,West Saxons and Welsh to victory over a Viking army at theBattle of Buttington. He spent the next three years fighting them alongside Alfred's son, the future KingEdward the Elder. At some time after 899 Æthelred's health may have declined, and Æthelflæd may have become the effective ruler of Mercia. (Full article...)

Charles I (Italian:Carlo; early 1226/1227 – 7 January 1285), commonly calledCharles of Anjou orCharles d'Anjou, wasKing of Sicily from 1266 to 1285. He was a member of theCapetian dynasty and the founder of theHouse of Anjou-Sicily. Between 1246 and 1285, he wasCount of Provence andForcalquier in theHoly Roman Empire andCount of Anjou andMaine in France. In 1272 he was proclaimedKing of Albania, in 1277 he purchased a claim to theKingdom of Jerusalem, and in 1278 he becamePrince of Achaea after the previous ruler,William of Villehardouin, died without heirs.

The youngest son ofLouis VIII of France andBlanche of Castile, Charles was destined for a church career until the early 1240s. He acquired Provence and Forcalquier through his marriage toBeatrice. His attempts to restore central authority brought him into conflict with his mother-in-law,Beatrice of Savoy, and the nobility. He relinquished control of Forcalquier to his mother-in-law in 1248, although she returned it to him in 1256. Charles received Anjou and Maine from his brother,Louis IX of France, inappanage. He accompanied Louis during theSeventh Crusade toEgypt. Shortly after he returned to Provence in 1250, Charles forced three wealthy autonomous cities—Marseille,Arles andAvignon—to acknowledge hissuzerainty. (Full article...)

Louis Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven (24 May 1854 – 11 September 1921), formerlyPrince Louis Alexander of Battenberg, was a Britishnaval officer andGerman prince related by marriage to theBritish royal family.

Although born inAustria, and brought up in Italy and Germany, Louis enrolled in the BritishRoyal Navy at the age of fourteen.Queen Victoria and her son thePrince of Wales (later KingEdward VII) occasionally intervened in his career: the Queen thought that there was "a belief that theAdmiralty are afraid of promoting Officers who are Princes on account of the radical attacks of low papers and scurrilous ones". However, Louis welcomed assignments that provided opportunities for him to acquire skills and to demonstrate to his superiors that he was serious about his naval career. Posts on royal yachts and tours arranged by Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales impeded his progress, as his promotions were perceived as undeserved royal favours. (Full article...)

Shepseskaf (meaning "HisKa is noble") was apharaoh ofancient Egypt, the sixth and probably last ruler of theFourth Dynasty during theOld Kingdom period. He reigned most probably for four but possibly up to seven years in the late 26th to mid-25th century BC.

Shepseskaf's relation to his predecessorMenkaure is not entirely certain; he might have been his son or possibly his brother. The identity of his mother is highly uncertain as she could have been one of Menkaure's consorts or queenKhentkaus I orNeferhetepes. Similarly, Shepseskaf's relation to his probable successor on the throne,Userkaf, is not known although in the absence of clear indication of strife at the transition between the fourth andfifth dynasties, Userkaf could well have been his son or his brother. If Shepseskaf was succeeded directly by Userkaf rather than byThampthis as claimed by some historical sources, then his death marks the end of the fourth dynasty. The transition to the fifth dynasty seems not to have been a sharp rupture but rather a continuous process of evolution in the king's power and role within the Egyptian state. Around this time, some of the highest positions of power such as that ofvizier which had hitherto been the prerogative of the royal family were opened to nobles of non-royal extraction. (Full article...)

Edward the Martyr (c. 962 – 18 March 978) wasKing of the English from 8 July 975 until he was killed in 978. He was the eldest son ofKing Edgar (r. 959–975). On Edgar's death, the succession to the throne was contested between Edward's supporters and those of his younger half-brother, the future KingÆthelred the Unready. As they were both children, it is unlikely that they played an active role in the dispute, which was probably between rival family alliances. Edward's principal supporters wereDunstan,Archbishop of Canterbury, andÆthelwine, Ealdorman of East Anglia, while Æthelred was backed by his mother QueenÆlfthryth and her friendÆthelwold, Bishop of Winchester. The dispute was quickly settled. Edward was chosen as king and Æthelred received the lands traditionally allocated to the king's eldest son in compensation.

Edgar had been a strong and overbearing king and a supporter of themonastic reform movement. He had forced the lay nobility andsecular clergy to surrender land and sell it at low prices to the monasteries. Æthelwold had been the most active and ruthless in seizing land for his monasteries with Edgar's assistance. The nobles took advantage of Edgar's death to get their lands back, mainly by legal actions but sometimes by force. The leading magnates were split into two factions, the supporters ofÆlfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia, and Æthelwine, who both seized some monastic lands which they believed belonged to them, but also estates claimed by their rivals. The disputes never led to warfare. (Full article...)

Siward (/ˈsuːwərd/ or more recently/ˈsiːwərd/;Old English:Siƿard) orSigurd (Old English:Sigeweard,Old Norse:Sigurðr digri; died 1055) was an importantearl of 11th-centurynorthern England. TheOld Norse nicknameDigri and its Latin translationGrossus ("the stout") are given to him by near-contemporary texts. He emerged as a regional strongman in England during the reign ofCnut ("Canute the Great", 1016–1035). Cnut was a Scandinavian ruler who conquered most of England in the 1010s, and Siward was one of many Scandinavians who came to England in the aftermath, rising to become sub-ruler of most of northern England. From 1033 at the latest, he was in control of southernNorthumbria, present-dayYorkshire, governing as earl on Cnut's behalf.

Siward entrenched his position in northern England by marrying Ælfflæd, the daughter ofEaldred,Earl of Bamburgh. After killing Ealdred's successorEadulf in 1041, Siward gained control of all Northumbria. He supported Cnut's successorsHarthacnut andEdward with vital military aid and counsel, and probably gained control of the middleshires ofNorthampton andHuntingdon by the 1050s. There is some evidence that he spread Northumbrian control intoCumberland. In the early 1050s, Siward turned against the Scottish kingMac Bethad mac Findlaích ("Macbeth"). Despite the death of his sonOsbjorn, Siward defeated Mac Bethad in battle in 1054. More than half a millennium later the adventure in Scotland earned him a place inWilliam Shakespeare'sMacbeth. Siward died in 1055, leaving one son,Waltheof, who would eventually become Earl of Northumbria in 1072.St Olave's church inYork and nearbyHeslington Hill are associated with Siward. (Full article...)