Search
Search Results
Definition
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great (r. 871-899 CE) was the king of Wessex in Britain but came to be known as King of the Anglo-Saxons after his military victories over Viking adversaries and later successful negotiations with them. He is the best-known Anglo-Saxon...
Definition
The Saxons
The Saxons were a Germanic people of the region north of the Elbe River stretching from Holstein (in modern-day Germany) to the North Sea. The Saxons who migrated to Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries CE along with the Angles, Frisians...
Definition
Saxon Wars
The Saxon Wars (772-804) were a series of conflicts between the Franks under Charlemagne, who sought to conquer Saxony and convert the populace to Christianity, and the Saxons who resisted. The conflict lasted over 30 years through 18 campaigns...
Definition
Cerdic
Cerdic of Wessex (r. 519-534) was King of the West Saxons and the founder of Wessex. His influence was so profound that later genealogies of the English monarchy would claim that all the sovereigns of Britain, save for Canute, Hardecanute...
Definition
Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians
Aethelflaed (r. 911-918 CE) was the daughter of King Alfred the Great of Wessex (r. 871-899 CE) and became queen of Mercia following the death of her husband Aethelred II, Lord of the Mercians (r. 883-911 CE). She is best known as the “Lady...
Definition
Kingdom of Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex (c. 519-927 CE or c. 519-1066 CE) was a political entity founded by the West Saxon Chieftain Cerdic (r. 519-540 CE) in 519 CE in the Upper Thames Valley of modern-day Britain which would later evolve into the modern...
Definition
Anglo-Maratha Wars
The three Anglo-Maratha Wars (1775-1819) were fought between the Maratha Confederacy of India (aka the Mahrattas, 1674-1818) and the British East India Company (EIC). The Maratha Hindu princes were rarely unified, and so the EIC steadily...
Definition
Alfred Sisley
Alfred Sisley (1839-1899) was a Franco-British impressionist painter. Known for his landscapes, which often present nature in a subdued light, he participated in the impressionist exhibitions in Paris in the 1870s but struggled to make a...
Definition
Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings in south-east England on 14 October 1066 saw the defeat of the Anglo-Saxon king Harold II (r. Jan-Oct 1066) by the invading Norman army led by William, Duke of Normandy (reigned from 1035). After a day of heavy fighting...
Article
Eyes on the East: Chronicles of the Indian Ocean Spice Trade
As the 15th century ended, Europeans were still mostly in the dark about the Eastern world. Early travelers like Marco Polo had given the West tidbits of information, but these accounts were too highly colored and fragmentary to provide a...