Month: August 2022

News Stories

Birger Jarl, Treaty of Lödöse, and the Swedish Crusade in Finland, 1249

The twelfth-century Gesta Danorum (Deeds of the Danes) by Zealand scribe Saxo Grammaticus chronicles ancient hostilities between Vikings and Finnish tribes living between the Arctic and Baltic seas. However, the earliest relatively verifiable account of the Second Swedish Crusade against the Tavastians – a people who lived beyond the southwest Finns proper (Egentliga Finnar) region of Turku – appears in the anonymous fourteenth-century Erik Chronicle (Erikskrönikan).

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News Stories

Silent Anticipation and Idolized Soldiers: Life in Vienna in August 1914

People were filled with motivation, bravery, and strength. Like the upcoming war was one of the numerous battles the Habsburg Empire led before. A visitor or someone passing through the city like Kreisler could also encounter romantic scenes like the one with the reservists and his sweetheart.

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News Stories

A “Simple Boy” That Wasn’t Naive: Julius Caesar’s Adventure with Pirates

Although Rome protected the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic seas, it was a mainland power and it was a challenge to go against the rising power of pirates, even for powerful Roman leaders just like Julius Caesar.

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Dublin’s King Sigtrygg Silkbeard and the Battle with Brian Boru at Clontarf, 1014

The legendary Battle of Clontarf at Dublin (Ath Cliath) in 1014 – instigated in part by the king of that realm, Sigtrygg Silkbeard Olafsson (c. 970-1042) – is known for fracturing Viking rule in Ireland but a litany of noblemen and kings on both sides were slain there – including Ireland’s elder high king Brian Boru.

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