Blog Master Madani

TERMS AND CONDITIONS of Smorty.com

2009-10-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS MUST BE READ BEFORE REGISTERING WITH SMORTY AND THE USE OF SMORTY SERVICES. USING SMORTY’S SERVICES INDICATES THAT YOU ACCEPT THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, PLEASE DO NOT REGISTER WITH SMORTY.

This agreement ("Agreement") is between you (“blogger”) and Smorty. These are the Terms and Conditions of Smorty’s Service (the "Service"). Smorty offers campaign opportunities to write your opinion in your blog about advertiser provided topics with a link code ("Hyperlink") that may be placed by bloggers in one or more blogs with original content on the topic ("Posts") in exchange for a payment of money (get paid for blogging about provided campaigns). Smorty also provides banner and widget advertising by both pay-per-click and pay-per-view methods. "Blogger" or "you" means any person or entity identified in an enrollment form submitted by the same or affiliated persons, and/or any agency or network acting on its (or their) behalf, which shall also be bound by the terms of this Agreement.

1. Memberships. Using the Service is subject to Smorty’s approval of your membership application and your continued compliance with the Rules or such other URL as Smorty may provide from time to time. Smorty reserves the right to refuse membership to any applicant or member at any time in its sole discretion. By enrolling in the Service, you represent that you are at least 16 years of age and agree that you will participate in the Service through responsible blogging on one or more sites using the Service provided topics and Hyperlink. The same individual can not hold multiple memberships, they will be subject to immediate termination unless expressly authorized in writing by Smorty (including by electronic mail).

2. Implementation of Posts. You agree to comply with the specifications provided by Smorty from time to time to enable proper delivery, display, tracking, and reporting of Posts in connection with your Posts, including without limitation by not modifying the Hyperlink code provided to you in the advertising campaign by Smorty in any way, unless expressly authorized in writing by Smorty (including by electronic mail). All posts must be original content with a minimum of 150 words on the same page and contain the exact number of links provided in the chosen campaign. You agree to Post on reputable, fully indexed, non-banned sites with non-defamatory or improper communications while participating in the Service and posting Service related content. Once a campaign has been taken by the blogger, the blogger will have up to 24hrs to confirm the post before ownership is given to another blogger (task expired). If a post is sent back to the blogger to fix, the blogger has another 24 hours to fix the post and submit it again to their admin panel. All features of the Service are provided "as is" and your use of them shall be undertaken solely at your own risk.

3. Posts Payment. Payments in the form of money will be received for each individual, original, approved opinion post on your blog for the amount displayed when a campaign has been delivered to you via email by Smorty. Each post must contain proper use of the Hyperlink code, in each case as determined by Smorty. Unless otherwise agreed to by the parties in writing (including by electronic mail), payments to you shall be sent by Smorty within approximately seven (7) days after your post has been approved by the advertiser and Smorty. Payments will be paid via the PayPal service to your PayPal account only. You must have a valid and current PayPal account to receive payment. In the event the Agreement is terminated, Smorty shall pay your rightfully earned balance to you within approximately thirty (30) days after the end of the calendar month in which the Agreement is terminated by you (following Smorty's receipt of your written request, including by email, to terminate the Agreement) or by Smorty. In no event, however, shall Smorty make payments for any earned balance less than the minimum amount allowable by the PayPal service. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Smorty shall not be liable for any payment based on: (a) any amounts which result from invalid, improper or illegal Posts, as reasonably determined by Smorty. Smorty reserves the right to withhold payment or charge back your account due to any of the foregoing or any breach of this Agreement by you, pending Smorty's reasonable investigation, or in the event that an advertiser whose Hyperlink code is used in connection with your Posts defaults on payment for such Posts to Smorty. You agree to pay all applicable taxes or charges imposed by any government entity in connection with your membership in the Service. Smorty may change its pricing and/or payment structure at any time. If you dispute any payment made under the Service, you must notify Smorty in writing within thirty (30) days of any such payment; failure to so notify Smorty shall result in the waiver by you of any claim relating to any such disputed payment. Payment shall be calculated solely based on records maintained by Smorty. No other measurements or statistics of any kind shall be accepted by Smorty or have any effect under this Agreement. The payments made under this Agreement are for use by you only and may not be transferred or in any manner passed on to any third party unless expressly authorized in writing by Smorty (including by electronic mail).

4. Pay-Per-Click and Pay-Per-View payments. Payments in the form of money will be received for each individual IP address view or non fraudulent click from your visitors to available banner or widget advertising through Smorty services. Each visitor must be natural and non fraudulent. Payments to you shall be sent by Smorty within approximately thirty (30) days from your visitor being registered as a valid earning through the Smorty services. Payments will be paid via the PayPal service to your PayPal account only. You must have a valid and current PayPal account to receive payment. In the event the Agreement is terminated, Smorty shall pay your rightfully earned balance to you within approximately thirty (30) days after the end of the calendar month in which the Agreement is terminated by you (following Smorty's receipt of your written request, including by email, to terminate the Agreement) or by Smorty. In no event, however, shall Smorty make payments for any earned balance less than the minimum amount allowable by the PayPal service. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Smorty shall not be liable for any payment based on: any amounts which result from invalid, improper or illegal clicks, as reasonably determined by Smorty. including but not limited to email marketing using tracking code, listing on an unapproved website or buying traffic. Smorty reserves the right to withhold payment or charge back your account due to any of the foregoing or any breach of this Agreement by you, pending Smorty's reasonable investigation. You agree to pay all applicable taxes or charges imposed by any government entity in connection with your membership in the Service. Smorty may change its pricing and/or payment structure at any time. If you dispute any payment made under the Service, you must notify Smorty in writing within thirty (30) days of any such payment; failure to so notify Smorty shall result in the waiver by you of any claim relating to any such disputed payment. Payment shall be calculated solely based on records maintained by Smorty. No other measurements or statistics of any kind shall be accepted by Smorty or have any effect under this Agreement. The payments made under this Agreement are for use by you only and may not be transferred or in any manner passed on to any third party unless expressly authorized in writing by Smorty (including by electronic mail).

5. Blogger Responsibilities. You are personally responsible for blog posts and operations, including all content and materials, maintenance and operation thereof, the proper implementation of Smorty's specifications, and adherence to the terms of this Agreement, including compliance with the Service Policies. Smorty reserves the right to investigate, at its own discretion, any activity that may violate this Agreement. Smorty is not responsible for anything related to your Posts or blog, including without limitation the receipt of queries or responses from end users of your blog(s) or the transmission of data between your blog(s) and Smorty. In addition, Smorty shall not be obligated to provide notice to you in the event that any Link is not being linked properly to your blog(s) or any blog to which you Post.

6. Communications. You agree to communicate directly with Smorty, and not to any advertiser, with regard to any aspect of the Service which you desire to discuss. You can contact Smorty by the Contact Us link on www.smorty.com.

7. Banned Uses. You must not directly or indirectly encourage: (i) the use defamatory language, pornographic pictures or references, curse words, hate words or other language or posts which would be deemed illegal, immoral or outside of general community standards, (ii) use any automated, deceptive, fraudulent or other invalid means, including but not limited to through repeated language, the use of robots or other automated posting tools and/or computer generated blogging to Post; (iii) use identical or nearly identical Posts on the same or different blogs; (iv) act in any way that violates any Service Policies posted on the Smorty Website, as may be revised from time to time, or any other agreement between you and Smorty, or engage in any action or practice that reflects poorly on Smorty or otherwise disparages or devalues Smorty’s reputation or goodwill. You acknowledge that any attempted participation or violation of any of the foregoing is a material breach of this Agreement and that we may pursue any and all applicable legal and equitable remedies against you, including an immediate suspension of your account or termination of this Agreement, and the pursuit of all available civil or criminal remedies. Smorty shall have no obligation to provide payment to you for those or any of your Posts.

8. Cancellation / Termination. This agreement will commence on the date you or a representative on your permission 'checks' the "I ACCEPT" box to agree to the terms and conditions and shall continue thereafter until your account is terminated by you or by Smorty.
a) Termination by Smorty. Smorty shall have the right, upon notice to blogger, to terminate all or part of this Agreement at any time with or without cause. Reasons include but are not limited to (a) Blogger materially breaches any term or condition this Agreement; or (b) Blogger (i) terminates or suspends its business activities; (ii) becomes insolvent, makes an assignment for the benefit of creditors, or becomes subject to direct control of a trustee, receiver or similar authority; or (iii) becomes subject to any bankruptcy or insolvency proceeding under federal or state statutes.
Upon termination of membership of any Site in the Service or termination of this Agreement for any reason, all Sections of this agreement shall survive termination.

b) Termination by blogger. You may cancel at any time by sending written notice of your desire to cancel your membership to Smorty (including email). All terminations by the blogger must be replied to by Smorty administration. Once the blogger has rightfully earned their payments according to these terms with Smorty, all payments will be paid within approximately thirty (30) days after the end of the calendar month in which the Agreement is terminated. This Agreement will be deemed terminated within fifteen (15) business days of Smorty's receipt of your notice and only if replied to.

9. Confidentiality. You agree not to disclose Smorty Confidential Information without Smorty's prior written consent. "Smorty Confidential Information" includes without limitation: (a) all Smorty software, technology, programming, specifications, materials, guidelines and documentation relating to the Service; (b) statistics relating to usage or results of the Service provided to you by Smorty; and (c) any other information designated in writing by Smorty as "Confidential" or an equivalent designation. However, you may accurately disclose the amount of Smorty’s gross payments to you pursuant to the Service. Smorty Confidential Information does not include information that has become publicly known through no breach by you or Smorty, or information that has been (i) independently developed without access to Smorty Confidential Information, as evidenced in writing; (ii) rightfully received by you from a third party; or (iii) required to be disclosed by law or by a governmental authority.

10. No Guarantee. Smorty makes no guarantee regarding the opportunities, the amount of any payment to be made to you under this Agreement, or that any product provided will be in usable condition.

11. No Warranty. SMORTY MAKES NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WITH RESPECT TO ADVERTISING, CODE, POSTS, BLOGS, OR OTHER SERVICES, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS THE WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF NONINFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, AND FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

12. Limitations of Liability. EXCEPT FOR ANY INDEMNIFICATION AND CONFIDENTIALITY OBLIGATIONS HEREUNDER OR YOUR BREACH OF ANY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND/OR PROPRIETARY INTERESTS RELATING TO THE SERVICE, (i) IN NO EVENT SHALL EITHER PARTY BE LIABLE UNDER THIS AGREEMENT FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, EVEN IF SUCH PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES AND NOTWITHSTANDING ANY FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY LIMITED REMEDY AND (ii) SMORTY'S AGGREGATE LIABILITY TO PUBLISHER UNDER THIS AGREEMENT FOR ANY CLAIM IS LIMITED TO THE NET AMOUNT PAID BY SMORTY TO PUBLISHER DURING THE THREE MONTH PERIOD IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE DATE OF THE CLAIM. Each party acknowledges that the other party has entered into this Agreement relying on the limitations of liability stated herein and that those limitations are an essential basis of the bargain between the parties. Without limiting the foregoing and except for payment obligations, neither party shall have any liability for any failure or delay resulting from any condition beyond the reasonable control of such party, including but not limited to governmental action or acts of terrorism, earthquake or other acts of God, labor conditions, and power failures.

13. Publicity. You agree that Smorty may use your name and blog site name in presentations, marketing materials, customer lists, financial reports and Website listings of customers.

14. Warranties and Representations. You warrant and represent that (a) all of the information provided by you to Smorty to enroll in the Service is correct and current; (b) you are the owner of each of your blogs or that you are legally authorized to Post to the blogs you will Post to for the purposes of this Agreement and the Service; (c) you have all necessary right, power, and authority to enter into this Agreement and to perform the acts required of you hereunder; and (d) you have complied, and will continue to comply with all applicable laws, statutes, ordinances, and regulations (including without limitation the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 and any relevant data protection or privacy laws) in your performance of any acts hereunder. You further represent and warrant that each blog and any material displayed therein: (i) comply with all applicable laws, statutes, ordinances, and regulations; (ii) do not breach and have not breached any duty toward or rights of any person or entity including, without limitation, rights of intellectual property, publicity or privacy, or rights or duties under consumer protection, product liability, tort, or contract theories; and (iii) are not pornographic, hate-related or otherwise violent in content.

15. Your Obligation to Indemnify. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold Smorty, its agents, affiliates, subsidiaries, directors, officers, employees, and applicable third parties (e.g., relevant advertisers, syndication partners, licensors, licensees, consultants and contractors) (collectively "Indemnified Person(s)") harmless from and against any and all third party claims, liability, loss, and expense (including damage awards, settlement amounts, and reasonable legal fees), brought against any Indemnified Person(s), arising out of, related to or which may arise from your use of the Service, your Post(s), and/or your breach of any term or condition of this Agreement.

16. Smorty Rights. You acknowledge that Smorty owns all right, title and interest in and to the Service (including Smorty's tracking technology and Brand Features, and excluding items licensed by Smorty from third parties), including without limitation all Intellectual Property Rights (as defined below), and that you will not acquire any right, title, or interest in or to the Service except as expressly set forth in this Agreement. You will not modify, adapt, translate, prepare derivative works from, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble or otherwise attempt to derive source code from any Smorty services, software, or documentation, or create or attempt to create a substitute or similar service or product through use of or access to the Service or proprietary information related thereto. You will not remove, obscure, or alter Smorty's copyright notice, Brand Features, or other proprietary rights notices affixed to or contained within any Smorty services, software, or documentation (including without limitation the display of Smorty’s Brand Features with Posts and Code, as applicable). "Intellectual Property Rights" means any and all rights existing from time to time under patent law, copyright law, semiconductor chip protection law, moral rights law, trade secret law, trademark law, unfair competition law, publicity rights law, privacy rights law, and any and all other proprietary rights, as well as, any and all applications, renewals, extensions, restorations and re-instatements thereof, now or hereafter in force and effect worldwide.

17. Software License. Smorty hereby grants Merchant a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the Software in object code form only on a server controlled by Smorty.

18. Miscellaneous. Any modifications to this Agreement must be made in a writing executed by both parties, by your online acceptance of updated terms, or after your continued membership in the Service after such terms have been updated by Smorty. The failure to require performance of any provision shall not affect a party's right to require performance at any time thereafter, nor shall a waiver of any breach or default of this Agreement constitute a waiver of any subsequent breach or default or a waiver of the provision itself. If any provision herein is held unenforceable, then such provision will be modified to reflect the parties' intention, and the remaining provisions of this Agreement will remain in full force and effect. You may not resell, assign, or transfer any of your rights hereunder. Any such attempt may result in termination of this Agreement, without liability to Smorty. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Smorty may assign this Agreement to any affiliate at any time without notice. The relationship between Smorty and you is not one of a legal partnership relationship, but is one of independent contractors.

19. Changes to this Agreement
Ashop Commerce will occasionally update this agreement. When we do, we will also revise the "last updated" date at the top of the Agreement statement.
This agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties as to its subject matter to the exclusion of any prior agreement whether written or oral express or in any way implied.
If any provision of this agreement is held to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason it shall be severable and shall not affect the remaining provisions of this agreement.
References to any party to this agreement shall be deemed to be references to or include as appropriate there respective successors and permitted assigns.

Copyright Notice Copyright © 2004 - 2007 Smorty. All rights reserved.

Download GOM Player 2.1.18.4762

2009-08-09T19:52:00.000-07:00

As various media players jockey for position to become your default setting for music and video streams, GOM Media Player's support for a wide range of file formats has helped it stand out as a firm favorite.

Supported formats include DAT, MPEG, DivX, XviD, WMV, ASF, AVI, and MOV, as are common codecs like FLV1, AC3, OGG, MP4, and H263. A pop-out playlist can save and organize your various media files, though the limited sort modes--two--hardly makes it a champ.

More impressive are the customizable settings on the control panel. Here you can adjust a video's image brightness, hue, and saturation. There's no preview window, and changes occur as the video runs, so unless you care for a rousing session of trial and error, be sure to tweak the settings after clicking "play." There's also a built-in screen-capture feature that includes zooming and panning, customizable themes, hot keys, and a host of preset and adjustable audio controls.

GOM is weakest when you're looking for help documentation and trying to tweak Save settings, but overall it's a very strong player worth at least a supporting role in your video-watching habits, if not the lead.

GOM Player is a free multimedia player with popular video and audio codecs built-in. GOM Player supports file formats such as AVI, DAT, MPEG, DivX, XviD, WMV, ASF. Users don't have to install codecs separately. GOM Player is capable of playing incomplete or damaged AVI files by skipping the damaged frames. It can also play locked or partially downloaded files. Its other features include drag-and-drop support, HTTP streaming, editable skins, subtitling, overlay mixer, key remapping, enhanced filter rendering, real-time index rebuilding for AVI files and unicode support among others.

Version 2.1.18.4762 fixes Abnormal video-output in some non-intel-type cpu system and using built-in source filter, subtitle's sync problem at specific circumstance and about Gretech MKV Source Filter and OGG Source Filter.

History of The Vikings

2009-07-30T05:22:00.000-07:00

The Vikings (500 to 1100)

The Vikings (meaning "northmen") were the last of the barbarian tribes called Germans by the Romans to terrorize Europe. Spreading out from their homelands in Scandinavia, they struck suddenly across the seas from their dragon boats (called such because of the dragon heads carved on the bow and stern). They began by raiding, pillaging, and withdrawing before any serious armed resistance could be mounted, but they gradually grew more bold. Eventually they occupied and settled significant parts of Europe.

Being pagan, they did not hesitate to kill churchmen and loot church holdings, and they were feared for their ruthlessness and ferocity. At the same time, they were remarkable craftsmen, sailors, explorers, and traders.

The Viking homelands were Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. They and their descendants controlled, at least temporarily, most of the Baltic Coast, much of inland Russia, Normandy in France, England, Sicily, southern Italy, and parts of Palestine. They discovered Iceland in 825 (Irish monks were there already) and settled there in 875. They colonized Greenland in 985. Some people think that the Vikings reached Newfoundland and explored part of North America 500 years before the voyage of Columbus.

Vikings began raiding and then settling along the eastern Baltic Sea in the sixth and seventh centuries. At the end of the eighth century, they were making long raids down the rivers of modern Russia and setting up forts along the way for defense. In the ninth century, they were ruling Kiev and in 907 a force of 2000 ships and 80,000 men attacked Constantinople. They were bought off by the emperor of Byzantium with very favorable terms of trade.

Vikings struck first in the West in the late eighth century. Danes attacked and looted the famous island monastery at Lindisfarne on the northeast coast of England, beginning a trend. The size and frequency of raids against England, France, and Germany increased to the point of becoming invasions. Settlements were established as bases for further raids. Viking settlements in northwestern France came to be known as Normandy ("from the northmen"), and the residents were called Normans.

In 865 a large Danish army invaded England, and they went on to hold much of England for the next two centuries. One of the last kings of all England before 1066 was Canute, who ruled Denmark and Norway simultaneously. In 871 another large fleet sailed up the Seine River to attack Paris. They besieged the city for two years before being bought off with a large cash payment and permission to loot part of western France unimpeded.

In 911 the French king made the Viking chief of Normandy a duke in return for converting to Christianity and ceasing to raid. From the Duchy of Normandy came a remarkable series of warriors, including William I, who conquered England in 1066, Robert Guiscard and his family, who took Sicily from the Arabs between 1060 and 1091, and Baldwin I, king of the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem.

Viking raids stopped at the end of the tenth century. Denmark, Sweden, and Norway had become kingdoms, and much of their king's energy was devoted to running their lands. The spread of Christianity weakened the old pagan warrior values, which died out. The Norse were also absorbed by the cultures into which they had intruded. The occupiers and conquerors of England became English, the Normans became French, and the Rus became Russians.

History of The Turks

2009-07-29T04:08:00.000-07:00

The Turks (1030 On)

The name Turk refers to two different Muslim groups of the Middle East-first the Seljuks and then the Ottomans. The Seljuks, nomads from the steppes near the Caspian Sea, converted to Islam around the tenth century. Approximately 70,000 Seljuks started as mercenaries to fill the ranks of the Islamic army of the caliph of Baghdad. These mercenaries converted to the Sunni branch of Islam. In 1055 they became the real power behind the caliph in Baghdad and began extending their rule. Their leaders took the title sultan, meaning "holders of power." By 1100 they controlled most of Anatolia (taken from the Byzantines), Palestine, the lands surrounding the Persian Gulf, the holy cities of Arabia, and as far east as Samarkand.

In 1071 the Seljuks achieved a stunning victory over a Byzantine army at Malazgirt in modern Turkey, which led to Turkish occupation of most of Anatolia. At nearly the same time, they successfully captured Jerusalem from its Egyptian Muslim rulers. These two events shocked the Byzantines, the papacy, and the Christian Europeans. The result was the Crusades, which carried on for the next 200 years.

The Seljuk Turks were worn down by the recurring wars with the Crusaders, even though they were successful ultimately in regaining control of Palestine. They were threatened simultaneously by the activities of the Assassins, a heretical sect of Islam. Internally, Islam entered a period of introspection because of the popularity of Sufi mysticism. During this period of exhaustion and weakness, they were attacked suddenly by the Mongols and collapsed. Baghdad fell to the invaders in 1258 and the Seljuk Empire disappeared.

Islamic peoples from Anatolia (modern Turkey in Asia Minor) were unified in the early fourteenth century under Sultan Osman I and took the name Osmanli, or Ottomans, in his honor. The Ottomans swore a jihad against the crumbling Byzantine Empire and took their campaign around Constantinople into the Balkans. In 1389 the Serbs were defeated. In 1396 a "crusader" army from Hungary was defeated. Ottoman successes were temporarily halted by the Mongols under Tamerlane, but he moved on with his army and the Ottomans recovered.

Sultan Mehmed II ("the Conqueror") at last captured Constantinople on May 29, 1453. The great walls of Constantinople were battered by 70 guns for eight weeks and then 15,000 Janissaries led the successful assault.

The Ottomans pushed on into Europe following the capture of Constantinople and threatened a sort of reverse Crusade. They were stopped by a Hungarian army at Belgrade in 1456, however. Attacks on Vienna were repulsed in 1529 and again in 1683. At its peak in the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Empire reached up into Europe to Budapest and Odessa and included all of Greece and the Balkans, the lands surrounding the Black Sea, Asia Minor, the Levant, Arabia, Egypt, and most of North Africa. The Ottoman Empire remained a significant world power until World War I in the twentieth century.

History of The Teutons

2009-07-28T07:55:00.000-07:00

The Teutons (919 to 1250)

The origin of Germany traces back to the crowning of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor in 800. Upon his death the empire was split into three parts that gradually coalesced into two: the western Frankish kingdom that became France and the eastern kingdom that became Germany. The title of Holy Roman Emperor remained in Charlemagne's family until the tenth century when they died out. In 919 Henry, Duke of Saxony, was elected king of Germany by his fellow dukes. His son Otto became emperor in 962.

The Holy Roman Empire that Otto I controlled extended over the German plain north to the Baltic, eastward into parts of modern Poland, and southward through modern Switzerland, modern Austria, and northern Italy. From the outset, the emperors had a difficult problem keeping control of two disparate regions-Germany and Italy-that were separated by the Alps.

The Holy Roman Empire was successful at first because it benefited the principal members, Germany and Italy. The Germans were not far removed from the barbarian condition. They had been conquered by Charlemagne only a century earlier. They benefited greatly from Italian culture, technology, and trade. The Italians welcomed the relative peace and stability the empire ensured. Italy had been invaded time and again for the previous 500 years. The protection of the empire defended the papacy and allowed the city-states of Italy to begin their growth.

The imperial armies were manned partially by tenants of church lands who owed service to the emperor. A second important contingent were the ministriales, a corps of serfs who received the best training and equipment as knights but who were not free men. These armies were used to put down revolts or interference by local nobles and peasants or to defend against raids by Vikings from the north and Magyars from the east.

Because Germany remained a collection of independent principalities in competition, German warriors became very skilled. The most renowned German soldiers were the Teutonic Knights, a religious order of warriors inspired by the Crusades. The Teutonic Knights spread Christianity into the Baltic region by conquest but were eventually halted by Alexander Nevsky at the battle on frozen Lake Peipus.

A confrontation between the emperors and the church over investiture of bishops weakened the emperors in both Germany and Italy. During periods of temporary excommunication of the emperor and outright war against Rome, imperial authority lapsed. The local German princes solidified their holdings or fought off the Vikings with no interference or help from the emperor. In Italy, the rising city-states combined to form the Lombard League and refused to recognize the emperor.

Political power in both Germany and Italy shifted from the emperor to the local princes and cities. The ministriales rebelled, taking control of the cities and castles they garrisoned and declaring themselves free. During desperate attempts to regain Italy, more concessions were given to the local princes in Germany. By the middle of the thirteenth century, the Holy Roman Empire existed in name only. The throne remained empty for 20 years. The German princes cared only about their own holdings. The Italian city-states did not want a German ruler and were strong enough to defend themselves.

Future emperors in the Middle Ages were elected by the German princes but they ruled in name only, controlling little more than their own family estates. Germany remained a minor power in Europe for centuries to come.

Terms of Services of Mypagerank.net

2009-07-26T05:21:00.000-07:00

1. Disclaimer of Warranty.

THE PROVIDER SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS, AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. THE PROVIDER GIVES NO WARRANTY, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, FOR THE SERVICES PROVIDED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY AND WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THIS NO WARRANTY EXPRESSLY INCLUDES ANY REIMBURSEMENT FOR LOSSES OF INCOME DUE TO DISRUPTION OF SERVICE BY THE PROVIDER OR ITS PROVIDERS BEYOND THE FEES PAID BY CLIENT TO PROVIDER FOR SERVICES. WE MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO BACKUP OUR DATA, BUT WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA.

2. Disclaimer of Service Content.

MyPagerank.net does not verify, endorse, or otherwise vouch for the contents of any Web Site using a MyPagerank.net Web Service. Web Service owners are responsible for everything contained on their own Web Site and in their Web Services. Web Service owners can be held legally accountable for the contents of any web service; including for example; material protected by copyright, trademark, patent, or trade secret law.

3. Service Limitations.

You are not allowed to associate any MyPagerank.net Services or Web Tools with any adult material of any sort. This includes, but is not limited to, such things as nudity, any site, page, image or service requiring any adult verification service, anything that says you must be 18 or older to view or join or access, and any text, image or likeness suggesting sexual and/or inappropriate and/or illegal acts of any sort.

We do not allow any MyPagerank.net Member Account to store, use, contain or display pornography, adult novelties, adult toys, XXX material, Gorean, bondage, BDSM, anything illegal, bigotry, racism, hatred, profanity, mail fraud, pyramid schemes, or any material which may be insulting to another person(s) or company, or depicts the exploitation of minors (children under 18 years of age). No spamming allowed, no harassing, threatening or illegal activities.

Material in MyPagerank.net Member Accounts must be appropriately and legally viewed and used by all ages. MyPagerank.net Member Accounts found to be in violation of any portion of this section can and will be terminated immediately.

4. Account Termination.

MyPagerank.net can remove any Web Service from the database, without prior notice, if we find the contents unsuitable for the public.

Modification of this Agreement

MyPagerank.net reserves the right to amend or change these Rules and Regulations at any time and without prior notice.

If you notice a MyPagerank.net Member breaking any of the rules, please notify us via the Support Center.

Please follow the rules... and enjoy MyPagerank.net's Web Services!

Terms Of Service of Shoutmix.com

2009-07-25T19:08:00.000-07:00

Terms Of Service

The use of the ShoutMix service is subject to the following Terms of Service (TOS), which may be updated at any time without prior notice.
Description of Service

Shoutbox is a web based messaging system. ShoutMix provides basic (free) and premium (paid) shoutbox service to internet users. Shoutbox service is provided "as-is" and that ShoutMix assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, deletion or failure to store any messages.

ShoutMix is not responsible for the content posted by its users. Any messages posted by its users does not mean that ShoutMix endorses the view or opinion of the messages. Under no circumstances will ShoutMix be liable in any way for any content or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any content.

ShoutMix strives to provide a reliable service to its members. However, in the unlikely event that the service is shut down due to unforeseen circumstances including but not limited to natural disasters, hardware failures, network failures or sabotage, ShoutMix will not be held responsible for any loss, damages, accident, death or loss of income.
Privacy

ShoutMix respects your privacy and we do not sell or trade any information collected from you. While we try our best to ensure that our servers are not hacked into, you will not hold ShoutMix responsible for the leak of any information as a result of hacking or any other malicious acts. To protect yourself and your interests, we strongly advise you not to post or store any sensitive/private data on ShoutMix. Should you choose to ignore this advice, you shall not hold us liable for any damage of any sort.
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History of The Saracens

2009-07-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

The Saracens (613 On)

The name Saracen applied originally to nomadic desert peoples from the area stretching from modern Syria to Saudi Arabia. In broader usage the name applied to all Arabs of the Middle Ages. These desert nomads erupted suddenly in the seventh century and established a far-reaching empire within a century and a half. Their conquest was fueled by faith and high morale. Following the teachings of the prophet Mohammed, their intent was to change the religious and political landscape of the entire planet.

By 613 the prophet Mohammed was preaching a new religion he called Islam. Largely ignored in his home city of Mecca, he withdrew to Medina, built up a strong following there, and returned to attack and capture Mecca. Following his death in 632, his teachings were collected to form the Koran, the Islamic holy book. In 634 his followers began their jihad, or holy war. Within five years they had overrun Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Their tolerance of Jews and Christians eased their conquest because these people had been suffering some persecution under the Byzantines.

In the next 60 years, both North Africa to the west and Persia to the east fell to Islam. In the early eighth century, Saracens from Tangiers invaded the Iberian Peninsula and conquered the Visigoth kingdom established there after the fall of Rome. In Asia they took Asia Minor from the Byzantines and attempted to capture Constantinople with a combined attack from land and sea. The great walls of the city frustrated the land attack and the Saracen fleet was defeated at sea. In the west, Charles Martel of the Franks stopped a Saracen invasion of modern France in 732 at Poitiers.

Frustrated in the west, the forces of Islam turned east. By 750 they had conquered to the Indus River and north over India into Central Asia to the borders of China.

In 656 the Muslim world fell into civil war between two factions, the Sunnites and the Shiites. They differed on several points, including who should be caliph and interpretation of the Koran. The result of the 60-year war was that the Islamic state broke into pieces, some governed by Sunnites (the Iberian Peninsula) and others by Shiites (Egypt and modern Iraq). The new Islamic states acted independently, thereafter.

Muslim Spain developed into one of the great states of Europe during the early Middle Ages. Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together in relative harmony, and a rich culture rose out of these multiple influences. There was a flowering of the arts, architecture, and learning. By 1000, however, Muslim Spain had divided into warring factions. This civil war facilitated the slow reconquest of the peninsula (the Reconquista) by the emerging states of Castile and Aragon, completed finally in 1492.

Asia Minor and the Middle East were conquered by Muslim Turks in the early eleventh century. In response to a call for aid from the Byzantines, a series of Crusades was launched from Europe to regain Palestine from the Turks. The independent Muslim states in the area lost Palestine and the Eastern Mediterranean coast to the First Crusade. In the last part of the twelfth century, the great Saracen leader Saladin succeeded in uniting Egypt, Syria, and smaller states, and he retook Jerusalem.

The Muslim states remained independent long after the Middle Ages and eventually developed into the modern Arab nations of the Middle East and North Africa. They went into economic decline, however, when the European nations opened trade routes of their own to Asia in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

History of The Persians

2009-07-24T09:13:00.000-07:00

The Persians (220 to 651)

The Persian Empire had existed for many centuries when the Middle Ages began. It had been reassembled following the conquest by Alexander in the fourth century BC and the subsequent breakup of his empire in later centuries. The Persians had been fighting the Romans since the third century AD.

The Persian Empire stretched from Mesopotamia to India and from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf, encompassing the modern nations of Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan. They fought the Romans, and later the Byzantines, for control of modern Syria, Turkey, Palestine, Israel, Egypt, and Arabia. The capital of the Persian Empire was Ctesiphon, called Baghdad today.

During the third and fourth centuries, the Romans made several attempts to subdue the Persians. In 364 a peace treaty was signed between the two that allowed the Persians to consolidate their power to the east and north. Beginning with the sixth century, the Persians began attacking the Byzantine Empire in Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and modern Turkey. The war between the two powers went back and forth. In 626 the Persians besieged Byzantium itself without success, and the Byzantines were able to invade Persia the following year. Peace was made between the two exhausted empires in 628.

The Persians were unprepared for the fury of the Islamic Arabs in the seventh century. The Sassanid dynasty of Persia ended in battle in 636. The Persians did not have a capital with defenses comparable to those of Constantinople. Muslim conquest of Persia was complete by 651.

History of The Mongols

2009-07-23T08:16:00.000-07:00

The Mongols (1206 to 1405)

The Mongols were nomads from the steppes of Central Asia. They were fierce warriors who fought each other over pasturelands and raided developed civilizations to the east and south. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, the Mongol clans united and began a campaign of foreign conquest. Following in the hoofprints of the Huns, their predecessors by a thousand years, they carved out one of the largest empires the world has yet seen.

The Mongols inhabited the plains south of Lake Baikal in modern Mongolia. At its maximum, their empire stretched from Korea, across Asia, and into European Russia to the Baltic Sea coast. They held most of Asia Minor, modern Iraq, modern Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tibet, parts of India, parts of Burma, all of China, and parts of Vietnam.

The Mongol clans were united by Temuchin, called Genghis Khan ("mighty ruler"), in the early thirteenth century. His ambition was to rule all lands between the oceans (Pacific and Atlantic) and he nearly did so. Beginning with only an estimated 25,000 warriors, he added strength by subjugating other nomads and attacked northern China in 1211. He took Beijing in 1215 after a campaign that may have cost 30 million Chinese lives. The Mongols then turned west, capturing the great trading city Bukhara on the Silk Road in 1220. The city was burned to the ground and the inhabitants murdered.

Following Genghis Khan's death in 1227, his son Ogedei completed the conquest of northern China and advanced into Europe. He destroyed Kiev in 1240 and advanced into Hungary. When Ogedei died on campaign in 1241, the entire army fell back to settle the question of succession. Europe was spared as Mongol rulers concentrated their efforts against the Middle East and southern China. Hulagu, a grandson of Genghis, exterminated the Muslim "Assassins" and then took the Muslim capital of Baghdad in 1258. Most of the city's 100,000 inhabitants were murdered. In 1260 a Muslim army of Egyptian Mamelukes (warrior slaves of high status) defeated the Mongols in present-day Israel, ending the Mongol threat to Islam and its holy cities.

Kublai Khan, another grandson of Genghis, completed the conquest of China in 1279, establishing the Yuan dynasty. Attempted invasions of Japan were thrown back with heavy loss in 1274 and 1281. In 1294 Kublai Khan died in China, and Mongol power began to decline in Asia and elsewhere. In 1368 the Yuan dynasty in China was overthrown in favor of the Ming.

In the 1370's a Turkish-Mongol warrior claiming descent from Genghis Khan fought his way to leadership of the Mongol states of Central Asia and set out to restore the Mongol Empire. His name was Timur Leng (Timur, "the Lame," or Tamerlane to Europeans and the Prince of Destruction to Asians). With another army of 100,000 or so horsemen, he swept into Russia and Persia, fighting mainly other Muslims. In 1398 he sacked Delhi, murdering 100,000 inhabitants. He rushed west defeating an Egyptian Mameluke army in Syria. In 1402 he defeated a large Ottoman Turk army near modern Ankara. On the verge of destroying the Ottoman Empire, he turned again suddenly. He died in 1405 while marching for China. He preferred capturing wealth and engaged in wholesale slaughter, without pausing to install stable governments in his wake. Because of this, the huge realm inherited by his sons fell apart quickly after his death.

History of The Franks

2009-07-22T07:22:00.000-07:00

The Franks (509 On)

The Franks were one of the Germanic barbarian tribes known to the Romans. In the early part of the fifth century, they began expanding south from their homeland along the Rhine River into Roman-controlled Gaul (modern France). Unlike other Germanic tribes, however, they did not move out of their homelands but, rather, added to them. Clovis, a Frankish chieftan, defeated the last Roman armies in Gaul and united the Franks by 509, becoming the ruler of much of western Europe. During the next 1000 years, this Frankish kingdom gradually became the modern nation of France.

The kingdom of Clovis was divided after his death among his four sons, according to custom. This led to several centuries of civil warfare and struggle between successive claimants to the throne. By the end of the seventh century, the Merovingian kings (descendants of Clovis) were rulers in name only. In the early eighth century, Charles Martel became mayor of the palace, the ruler behind the throne. He converted the Franks into a cavalry force and fought so well that his enemies gave him the name of Charles the Hammer. In 732 the Frankish cavalry defeated Muslim invaders moving north from Spain at the Battle of Poitiers, stopping forever the advance of Islam from the southwest.

Charles Martel's son, Pepin, was made king of the Franks by the pope in return for helping to defend Italy from the Lombards. Pepin founded the dynasty of the Carolingians, and the greatest of these rulers was Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, who ruled from 768 to 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire and was responsible for a rebirth of culture and learning in the West. Charlemagne's empire was divided among his grandsons and thereafter coalesced into two major parts. The western part became the kingdom of France. Later kings gradually lost political control of France, however. Central authority broke down under the pressure of civil wars, border clashes, and Viking raids. Money and soldiers could be raised only by making concessions to landholders. Fiefs became hereditary and fief holders became feudal lords over their own vassals. By the tenth century, France had been broken into feudal domains that acted as independent states.

In 987 the French nobility elected Hugh Capet their king, mainly because his fief centered on Paris was weak and he was thought to pose no threat. He founded the Capetian line of kings, who worked slowly for two centuries regaining the power by making royal roads safe, adding land to their domain, encouraging trade, and granting royal charters for new towns and fiefs in vacant lands. By allying themselves with the church, the Capetians took a strong moral position and benefited from the church's cultural, political, and social influence. Royal administrators were made loyal to the king and more efficient by eliminating the inheritance of government offices.

Beginning with Philip II in 1180, three superior rulers established France as one of the most important nations in Europe. They improved the working of the government, encouraged a booming trade, collected fees efficiently, and strengthened their position atop the feudal hierarchy. Although a national assembly called the Estates General was established, it held no real power and was successfully ignored.

From 1337 to 1453 France and England fought the long conflict called the Hundred Years War to decide ownership of lands in France that had been inherited by English kings. The eventual French victory confirmed the king as the most powerful political force in France.

History of The Chinese

2009-07-21T06:12:00.000-07:00

The Chinese (581 to 1644)

China was reunited in 581 AD after a long period of internal war by the founders of the Sui dynasty. For most of the 1000 years that followed, China was one of the largest and most advanced civilization in the world. Because of its geographic isolation from the West, it was able to develop and maintain a unique culture that spread its influence over much of Asia.

An emperor generally held supreme power as the son of heaven. Natural disasters or other calamities were taken as proof that the mandate of heaven had been withdrawn, however, and could justify revolt. Mandarins were conservative civil servants who operated most of the government at the local, province, and imperial level. Mandarins earned their positions by passing detailed civil service examinations based mainly on the works of Confucius.

The T'ang dynasty ruled China from 618 to 907. China under the T'ang was large, wealthy, and powerful. There was extensive foreign trade and interest in the arts among the upper class. Printing and gunpowder were invented. The last 100 years of T'ang rule witnessed tumultuous peasant revolts, however, and wars between local military rulers that the imperial court could not end. The years from 907 to 960 were known as the Five Dynasties period. Northern China was held by barbarians, and southern China split into 10 rival states. From one of these, an army general named Zhao Kuang-ying seized power and unified the southern states, founding the Song dynasty. His descendants reunited China within 20 years.

The Song dynasty ruled at least part of China until 1279. This was another period of cultural brilliance, and it was considered the great age of Chinese landscape painting. There was a dramatic improvement in economic activity, including a large overseas trade. Population and cities grew, food production grew faster than population, a money economy developed, and industrial output increased. No city in Europe could approach the populations of Chang An, Beijing, and Guang Zhou, all with more than 2 million inhabitants.

The wealth of China attracted enemies, however, and the Mongols began attacks in 1206. By 1279 they had completed the conquest of Song China and moved the capital to Beijing. The dramatic economic improvement of the Song dynasty ended with the Mongol conquests and the estimated 30 million deaths that they caused. The Mongol Yuan dynasty reunited China and reestablished it as a great military and world power. Chinese influence was spread into Asia. Hanoi was captured three times and tribute was extracted from Burma. Trade with India, Arabia, and the Persian Gulf was developed. Marco Polo visited China during this period.

Natural disasters and higher taxes in the fourteenth century caused rural rebellions. A Buddhist monk rose to be one of the leaders of the Red Turbans, a secret society opposed to the emperor in Beijing. The rebels seized Nanjing in 1356 and drove the Mongols from Beijing 12 years later, establishing the Ming dynasty. The Ming presided over another cultural flowering and established a political unity that outlasted the Ming and continued into the twentieth century. The Ming clamped down a strict conservatism and isolation, however, discouraging change and innovation, banning foreign travel, and closing the Silk Road.

Some of the most noteworthy aspects of medieval China are the technologies that were invented there, usually many centuries before a similar technology was invented in, or transmitted to, the West. Important Chinese inventions included the compass, the wheelbarrow, the abacus, the horse harness, the stirrup, the clock, iron-casting, steel, paper, moveable type (printing), paper money, gunpowder, and the stern-post rudder.

History of The Japanese

2009-07-20T20:19:00.000-07:00

The Japanese (500 to 1340)

Located 100 miles off the mainland of Asia, at its closest point, Japan was a land of mystery at the edge of civilization. Isolated at first by geography and later by choice, the Japanese developed a distinctive culture that drew very little from the outside world. At the beginning of what were the Middle Ages in Europe, the advanced culture of Japan was centered at the north end of the Inland Sea on the main island of Honshu. Across the Hakone Mountains to the east lay the Kanto, an alluvial plain that was the single largest rice-growing area on the islands. To the north and east of the Kanto was the frontier, beyond which lived aboriginal Japanese who had occupied the islands since Neolithic times.

Some believe that by the fifth century AD the Yamato court had become largely ceremonial. Independent clans, known as uji, held the real power behind the throne. Clan leaders formed a sort of aristocracy and vied with each other for effective control of land and the throne.

In 536 the Soga clan became predominant and produced the first great historical statesman, Prince Shotoku, who instituted reforms that laid the foundation of Japanese culture for generations to come. In 645, power shifted from the Soga clan to the Fujiwara clan. The Fujiwara presided over most of the Heian period (794 to 1185). The new leadership imposed the Taika Reform of 645, which attempted to redistribute the rice-growing land, establish a tax on agricultural production, and divide the country into provinces. Too much of the country remained outside imperial influence and control, however. Real power shifted to great families that rose to prominence in the rice-growing lands. Conflict among these families led to civil war and the rise of the warrior class.

Similar to the experience of medieval western Europe, the breakdown of central authority in Japan, the rise of powerful local nobles, and conflict with barbarians at the frontier combined to create a culture dominated by a warrior elite. These warriors became known as Samurai, ("those who serve"), who were roughly equivalent to the European knight. A military government replaced the nobility as the power behind the throne at the end of the twelfth century. The head of the military government was the Shogun.

Samurai lived by a code of the warrior, something like the European code of chivalry. The foundation of the warrior code was loyalty to the lord. The warrior expected leadership and protection. In return he obeyed his lord's commands without question and stood ready to die on his lord's behalf. A Samurai placed great emphasis on his ancestry and strove to carry on family traditions. He behaved so as to earn praise. He was to be firm and show no cowardice. Warriors went into battle expecting and looking to die. It was felt that a warrior hoping to live would fight poorly.

The Kamakura period (1185 to 1333) was named after a region of Japan dominated by a new ruling clan that took power after civil war. The Mongols attempted to invade Japan twice, in 1274 and 1281, but were repulsed both times. A fortuitous storm caused great loss to the second Mongol invasion fleet.

History of The Byzantines

2009-07-20T19:10:00.000-07:00

The Byzantines (476 to 1453)

The Byzantines took their name from Byzantium, an ancient city on the Bosphorus, the strategic waterway linking the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea. The Roman Emperor Constantine had renamed this city Constantinople in the fourth century and made it a sister capital of his empire. This eastern partition of the Roman Empire outlived its western counterpart by a thousand years, defending Europe against invasions from the east by Persians, Arabs, and Turks. The Byzantines persevered because Constantinople was well defended by walls and the city could be supplied by sea. At their zenith in the sixth century, the Byzantines covered much of the territories of the original Roman Empire, lacking only the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal), Gaul (modern France), and Britain. The Byzantines also held Syria, Egypt, and Palestine, but by the middle of the seventh century they had lost them to the Arabs. From then on their empire consisted mainly of the Balkans and modern Turkey.

The first great Byzantine emperor was Justinian I (482 to 565). His ambition was to restore the old Roman Empire and he nearly succeeded. His instrument was the greatest general of the age, Belisarius, who crisscrossed the empire defeating Persians to the East, Vandals in North Africa, Ostrogoths in Italy, and Bulgars and Slavs in the Balkans. In addition to military campaigns, Justinian laid the foundation for the future by establishing a strong legal and administrative system and by defending the Christian Church.

The Byzantine economy was the richest in Europe for many centuries because Constantinople was ideally sited on trade routes between Asia, Europe, the Black Sea, and the Aegean Sea. It was an important destination point for the Silk Road from China. The nomisma, the principal Byzantine gold coin, was the standard for money throughout the Mediterranean for 800 years. Constantinople's strategic position eventually attracted the envy and animosity of the Italian city-states.

A key strength of the Byzantine Empire was its generally superior army that drew on the best elements of the Roman, Greek, Gothic, and Middle Eastern experience in war. The core of the army was a shock force of heavy cavalry supported by both light infantry (archers) and heavy infantry (armored swordsmen). The army was organized into units and drilled in tactics and maneuvers. Officers received an education in military history and theory. Although outnumbered usually by masses of untrained warriors, it prevailed thanks to intelligent tactics and good discipline. The army was backed by a network of spies and secret agents that provided information about enemy plans and could be used to bribe or otherwise deflect aggressors.

The Byzantine navy kept the sea-lanes open for trade and kept supply lines free so the city could not be starved into submission when besieged. In the eighth century, a land and sea attack by Arabs was defeated largely by a secret weapon, Greek fire. This chemical weapon, its composition now unknown, was a sort of liquid napalm that could be sprayed from a hose. The Arab navy was devastated at sea by Greek fire.

In the seventh and eighth centuries, the Arabs overran Egypt, the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain, removing these areas permanently from Byzantine control. A Turkish victory at Manzikert in 1071 led to the devastation of Asia Minor, the empire's most important source of grain, cattle, horses, and soldiers. In 1204 Crusaders led by the Doge of Venice used treachery to sack and occupy Constantinople.

In the fourteenth century, the Turks invaded Europe, capturing Adrianople and bypassing Constantinople. They settled the Balkans in large numbers and defeated a large crusader army at Nicopolis in 1396. In May 1453, Turkish sultan Mehmet II captured a weakly defended Constantinople with the aid of heavy cannon. The fall of the city brought the Byzantine Empire to an end.

History of The Goths

2009-07-20T05:16:00.000-07:00

The Goths (200 to 714)

The Goths were a Germanic tribe on the Danube River frontier known to the Romans from the first century AD. Pressured and then displaced when the Huns moved west out of Central Asia, the Goths moved west into Europe and over the Danube River to escape the oncoming hordes. After taking part in the fall of Rome, they vied with other barbarians for the leavings of the Western Roman Empire during the Early Middle Ages.

The Goths originated on the island of Gotland in the Baltic, to the best of our knowledge, and split into two groups as they migrated south across Central Europe. The Visigoths, or West Goths, settled in modern Romania during the second century. The Ostrogoths, or East Goths, settled farther to the east on the northwest coast of the Black Sea. In 376 AD the Visigoths were driven from modern Romania by the Huns and moved south across the Danube. Their strength was estimated at 60,000 men, women, and children. They defeated a Roman army from Constantinople, settled briefly south of the Danube, and then pushed into Italy. In 409 they sacked Rome under their king Alaric and then moved north into Gaul. The Romans gave them southwestern Gaul. From there they eventually extended their rule into all of modern Spain and Portugal.

The Ostrogoths broke away from Hunnish rule and followed their cousins into Italy late in the fifth century. They were encouraged to invade by the Eastern emperor, who wanted deposed the barbarian then ruling as viceroy. Under Theodric, king of modern Switzerland and the Balkans already, the Goths entered Italy in 488, completing its conquest in 493.

Theodric's kingdom did not last long following his death in 526. Using a struggle for succession as an excuse, the Byzantines sent an army to Italy in 536 led by their great general Belisarius. The Byzantines hoped to regain Italy and restore the old Roman Empire in the West. The war dragged on, devastating the countryside in conjunction with plague and famine. In 552 the Ostrogoths were finally defeated in Italy. They ceased to exist as a separate group by the late sixth century when northern Italy was invaded by a new group of barbarians called the Lombards.

The Visigoth kingdom lasted somewhat longer. In the late fifth century Clovis of the Franks pushed the Visigoths out of France and over the Pyrenees Mountains. Following the death of Clovis his kingdom fragmented and the Visigoths were temporarily left alone. In 711 a new threat appeared from the south. Islamic armies crossed over from North Africa and destroyed the last Gothic kingdom in four years.

The Goths are remembered for being the first to sack Rome and thereby beginning the final collapse of the ancient world order in Europe. Their admiration for Rome and attempts to preserve it, however, allowed much of the Roman culture to survive. For example, the modern languages of Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, and Romania are derived from Latin influenced by later settlers. They are not variations of German, as was the case in England.

History of The Celts

2009-07-20T05:11:00.001-07:00

The Celts (500 to 1500)

The Celts (pronounced "kelts") were the ancient inhabitants of Northern Europe and the builders of Stonehenge 5000 years ago. Julius Caesar had battled them during his conquest of Gaul. The Romans eventually took most of Britain and the Iberian Peninsula from them as well. At the end of the ancient Roman Empire, the Celts occupied only parts of northwestern France, Ireland, Wales, and parts of Scotland. During the course of the Middle Ages, they strengthened their hold on Scotland and made several attempts to take more of England.

The Irish remained in small bands during the early Middle Ages. By 800 the four provinces of Leinster, Munster, Connaught, and Ulster had risen to power under "high kings." Viking raids began in 795 and then Viking settlements were established in the middle ninth century. The most important of these was at Dublin. Brian Boru became the first high king of all Ireland around 1000. In 1014 the Irish defeated the Danes of Dublin at Clontarf, although Brian Boru was killed.

An Irish tribe called the Scotti invaded what is now southern Scotland during the early Middle Ages, settling permanently and giving the land its name. They pushed back and absorbed the native Picts who had harassed the Romans to the south. The Scottish kingdom took its present shape during the eleventh century but attracted English interference. The Scots responded with the "auld (old) alliance" with France, which became the foundation of their diplomacy for centuries to come. Edward I of England (Longshanks, or "hammer of the Scots") annexed Scotland in 1296.

William Wallace (Braveheart) led a revolt of Scotland, winning virtual independence at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. Defeated the next year at Falkirk, Wallace waged a guerrilla war until he was betrayed, captured, and executed in 1305. Robert the Bruce declared himself king of Scotland after murdering his main rival. He drove out the English, winning the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Edward III of England recognized Scotland's independence in 1328, but war between the Scots and English carried on for several centuries. The crowns of the two countries were united in 1603, long after the Middle Ages were over.

No prince in Wales proved strong enough to unite the country. In the late thirteenth century, Edward I took over the government of Gwynedd, one of the strongest Welsh principalities in Wales. He proceeded to build five great castles in Wales, effectively placing the country under English rule.

History of The Britons

2009-07-20T05:05:00.000-07:00

The Britons (500 On)

Following the withdrawal of the Roman legions to Gaul (modern France) around 400, the British Isles fell into a very dark period of several centuries from which almost no written records survive. The Romano-British culture that had existed under 400 years of Roman rule disappeared under relentless invasion and migration by barbarians. Celts came over from Ireland (a tribe called the Scotti gave their name to the northern part of the main island, Scotland). Saxons and Angles came from Germany, Frisians from modern Holland, and Jutes from modern Denmark. By 600, the Angles and Saxons controlled most of modern England. By 800, only modern Wales, Scotland, and West Cornwall remained in largely Celtic hands.

The new inhabitants were called Anglo-Saxons (from the Angles and Saxons). The Angles gave their name to the new culture (England from Angle-land), and the Germanic language they brought with them, English, replaced the native Celtic and previously imported Latin. Despite further invasions and even a complete military conquest at a later date, the southern and eastern parts of the largest British Isle have been called England (and its people and language English) ever since.

In 865 the relative peace of England was shattered by a new invasion. Danish Vikings who had been raiding France and Germany formed a great army and turned their attention on the English. Within 10 years, most of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had fallen or surrendered. Only the West Saxons (modern Wessex) held out under Alfred, the only English ruler to be called "the Great."

England was divided among the Vikings, the West Saxons, and a few other English kingdoms for nearly 200 years. The Viking half was called the Danelaw ("under Danish law"). The Vikings collected a large payment, called the Danegeld ("the Dane's gold"), to be peaceful. The Danes became Christians and gradually became more settled. In time the English turned on the Danes, and in 954 the last Viking king of York was killed. England was united for the first time under an English king from Wessex.

In 1066 the Witan ("king's council") offered the crown to Harold, son of the Earl of Wessex. Two others claimed the throne: Harald Hardrada (meaning "the hard ruler"), King of Norway, and Duke William of Normandy. The Norwegian landed first, near York, but was defeated by Harold at the battle of Stamford Bridge. Immediately after the victory, Harold force-marched his army south to meet William at Hastings. The battle seesawed back and forth all day, but near dusk Harold was mortally wounded by an arrow in the eye. Over the next two years, William, now "the Conqueror," solidified his conquest of England.

During the remainder of the Middle Ages, the successors of William largely exhausted themselves and their country in a series of confrontations and wars attempting to expand or defend land holdings in France. The Hundred Years War between England and France was an on-and-off conflict that stretched from 1337 to 1453. It was triggered by an English king's claim to the throne of France, thanks to family intermarriages. The war was also fought over control of the lucrative wool trade and French support for Scotland's independence. The early part of the war featured a string of improbable, yet complete, English victories, thanks usually to English longbowmen mowing down hordes of ornately armored French knights from long range.

The English could not bring the war to closure, however, and the French rallied. Inspired by Joan of Arc, a peasant girl who professed divine guidance, the French fought back, ending the war with the capture of Bordeaux in 1453. The English were left holding only Calais on the mainland (and not for long).