Fernand de Magellan (Fernão de Magalhães in Portuguese), born in Sines near Setúbal (Portugal), spring 1480 - died on the island of Mactan (Philippines), April 27, 1521, was a Portuguese navigator and explorer. In the 15th century, the fact that the Earth was round was not certainly not common knowl
Appeared in Italy in the Middle Ages, the condottieres or condottieri, condottiero in the singular, in Italian (“mercenaries”, from the Italian condotta, contract of hire), are leaders of mercenary armies. Demobilized regular soldiers or nobles in search of glory, they put their art of war at the s
Charles of Habsburg or Charles V, born February 25, 1500 in Ghent in Belgium and died September 25, 1558 at the monastery of Yuste in Spain, was Emperor of the Holy Germanic Empire (1519-1555) under the name of Charles V of Germany, King of Spain and Spanish America as Charles I of Spain (or Carlos
César Borgia (in Valencian and in Catalan, César de Borja), known as the Valentinois (Il Valentino), was an Italian lord of the Renaissance, born September 13, 1475 in Rome and died March 12, 1507 in Viana, Navarre , Spain. He succeeds his brother Giovanni Borgia (Juan Borgia) as Duke of Gandia. He
The Siege of Vienna of 1529 (to be distinguished from the Battle of Vienna in 1683) represented the westernmost advance of the Ottoman Empire, and of all the clashes between the armies of Christendom and those of the Islam. He can be credited with being the one who finally blocked the Turkish forces
On the afternoon of Thursday, September 13, the French sentries, entering Lombardy after crossing the Col de lArgentière, saw a cloud of dust rising in the distance:the Swiss troops were on the march, they were attacking! The battle of Marignan is about to begin:everything has been done, however, to
The Battle of Pavia (February 24, 1525) was a decisive event in the Sixth Italian War (1521-1526). It marks the defeat of the kings of France in their attempt to dominate northern Italy. Following the failure of the imperial troops of Charles V in Provence in 1523, the King of France, François I, w
On August 29, 1526, the battle of Mohács saw the forces of the Ottoman Empire, led by Suleiman the Magnificent, and those of the Kingdom of Hungary, commanded by King Ludwig II. The victory of the Ottomans will subsequently lead to the partition of Hungary between the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburg r
The Mediterranean basin in the 16th century Two great powers shared domination of the Mediterranean basin in the sixteenth century. On one side, Spain and its island and Italian possessions - Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Sicily, Kingdom of Naples, Duchy of Milan. On the other, the Ottoman Empire. Si
A ceremony in honor of Satan The Sabbath, or Devil worship, in which worshipers give Satan their sole commander, is considered the pinnacle of Heresy by the Roman Catholic Church. Indeed, the worship that should be given to God is diverted to the benefit of the devil. Its followers deal with death
The Republic of Venice is a State gradually formed in the Middle Ages around the city of Venice, and which developed through the annexation of various territories and trading posts along the coasts of the Adriatic Sea, in the eastern Mediterranean and in northern Italy to become one of the main Euro
The witch hunt had important consequences in Switzerland:one by one, the Swiss cantons cleared their last witches executed almost three hundred years ago.The modern era follows disasters such as as the plague, and seeks those responsible for its misfortunes. The repression against witchcraft began i
Name under which remained famous the interview between François 1er and Henri VIII of England from June 7 to 24, 1520 between Guines and Ardres. It evokes the dazzling luxury with which the two sovereigns surrounded themselves. The English camp, located near Guines, rivals in sumptuousness that of F
John Calvin Jean Calvin was born in Noyon in 1509, into a Catholic family. He has the opportunity to study and in his youth he frequents Lutheran circles which will later push him to spread Protestantism. In 1536, when the wars of religion were already reigning in France, notably following the Affa
The siege began in April 1453:at sea, a Muslim squadron of more than 300 ships blocked the strait; on land, a mass of nearly 100,000 men, equipped with considerable artillery. Many irregulars undoubtedly came:a whole tradition attributes to Muhammad himself the designation of Constantinople as the m
To save his capital, Dragases can only count on European aid. But, for decades, the Greek sovereigns have tried in vain to reach an agreement with the Western powers. This requires an agreement with Rome, that is to say, a return to religious union and therefore, in fact, recognition of the spiritua
The Tatars of Timur Lang (Tamerlane) stopped this flow for a moment and unwittingly gave Byzantium a moment of respite by crushing the troops of Sultan Bayezid (Bajazet) in Ankara, in 1403. Then the skin of shagreen shrinks to new:under Murad II (1421-1451), the Turks conquered most of the Peloponne
Three years after the middle of the 15th century, Constantinople, the former Byzantium, the current Istanbul, collapsed under the blows of the Ottoman army. The city is the political capital of the Byzantine Empire, heir to the old Eastern Roman Empire; it is also the seat of the Eastern Patriarchat
The Byzantine Empire, religiously separated from Rome since 1054, and disappeared for the first time after the sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders (1204), is in full decline:the Palaiologos dynasty, in power since 1258 and whose last representative is Constantine Dragases (1449-1453), no longer
The Janissaries (in Turkish “Yeni Çeri”, literally “new militia”) were, at the height of the Ottoman Empire, the elite of the infantry. The creation of this Janissary army corps responds to the ambiguities concerning the application of Sharia and the realities of the Ottoman conquest initiated unde
The Germanic kingdoms were established after the breakup of the Roman Empire and resulted in a series of transformations that characterized the Middle Ages. The break-up of the Roman Empire was the process that resulted in the end of the Western Roman Empire. The territories until then controlled b
Mark III * Ammunition:9mm Parabellum (existing versions in 7.65 Parabellum and .40 S&W) * Length:20cm * Barrel length:11.8cm * Unladen weight:0.810kg * Loaded weight:0.986kg * Magazine capacity:13 or 20 (9mm Parabellum), 10 (.40 S&W) The Browning Hi-Power (also called Browning GP 35 and Brown
A polar bear, by Nicolas Maréchal • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Favila, second king of Asturias, died in 739 under the claws of a brown bear (Ursus arctos ) in the heights of Cangas de Onís, according to the Chronicle of Albelda and that of Alfonso III. A popular Spanish saying, inspired by this episode,
It is considered that one of the most decisive battles of Antiquity was that of Chaeronea, which pitted the coalition formed by Macedonia, Thessaly, Argos and Arcadia against the Hellenic alliance led by Athens and Thebes. The importance of this conflict lies in the fact that the victory went to the