Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations

The Rise and Fall of States and Nations

NORMAN DAVIES

COPYRIGHT

I’r anghofiedig

For those whom historians tend to forget

Contents

List of Illustrations

List of Figures

List of Maps

Introduction

1. Tolosa: Soujourn of the Visigoths (AD 418–507)

2. Alt Clud: Kingdom of the Rock (Fifth to Twelfth Centuries)

3. Burgundia: Five, Six or Seven Kingdoms (
c
. 411–1795)

4. Aragon: A Mediterranean Empire (1137–1714)

5. Litva: A Grand Duchy with Kings (1253–1795)

6. Byzantion: The Star-lit Golden Bough (330–1453)

7. Borussia: Watery Land of the Prusai (1230–1945)

8. Sabaudia: The House that Humbert Built (1033–1946)

9. Galicia: Kingdom of the Naked and Starving (1773–1918)

10. Etruria: French Snake in the Tuscan Grass (1801–1814)

11. Rosenau: The Loved and Unwanted Legacy (1826–1918)

12. Tsernagora: Kingdom of the Black Mountain (1910–1918)

13. Rusyn: The Republic of One Day (15 March 1939)

14. Éire: The Unconscionable Tempo of the Crown’s Retreat since 1916

15. CCCP: The Ultimate Vanishing Act (1924–1991)

How States Die

Notes

Acknowledgements

Illustrations

List of Illustrations

CHAPTER FRONTISPIECES

Road sign near Vouillé (Norman Davies)

Dumbarton Rock (Purestock/Getty Images)

Hammershus Castle, Bornholm (Christoph Müller)

Palace at Perpignan (Norman Davies)

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (AP Photo/Belta, Nikolai Petrov)

Bosphorus Bridge (Spectrum Colour Library/HIP/TopFoto)

Kaliningrad (STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

Republic Day Parade, Rome (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Halych (Roman Zacharij)

Duomo in Florence (Roger Antrobus/Getty Images)

Schloss Rosenau in Coburg. Chalk lithograph,
c
. 1860, by Hans A.Williard (1832–1867) (akg-images)

The road to Cetinje, Montenegro, 1901 (copyright © ullsteinbild/TopFoto) 576

The Prisoner of Zenda
, 1952 (akg-images/album) 622

Irish Free State postage stamp (Royal Philatelic Society, London) 636

Demonstration in Tallinn, Estonia, 1989 (AP Photo/Pekka Elomaa) 688

PLATES

1
. The Burial of Alaric. Woodcut,
c
. 1855, after a drawing by Eduard Bendemann (1811–1899) (akg-images)

2
. Clovis defeats Alaric III. Chalk lithograph by Nikolai D. Dmitrijeff Orenburgsky (1838–1898) after a painting by Friedrich Tüshaus (1832–1885), 1875 (akg-images)

3
. The Book of Aneirin (National Library of Wales, Cardiff)

4
. The Arms of the City of Glasgow (Public Domain)

5
. Statue of William Wallace in Aberdeen, Scotland (Public Domain)

6
. The Rhinegold. Oil painting, 1859, by Peter von Cornelius (ullstein bild/AKG Pressebild)

7
. Dagobert Solidus (Public Domain)

8
. King Gontran of Bourgogne designates his nephew Childebert II as his successor, miniature from the ‘Chronicles of France’, printed by A. Verard, Paris, 1493 (hand-coloured print), French School, fifteenth century (Biblioteca Nazionale, Turin, Italy/Index/The Bridgeman Art Library)

9
. Frederick I Barbarossa and his sons King Henry VI and Duke Frederick VI. Medieval illumination from the Chronic of the Guelphs, 1179–1191 (Hochschul- und Landesbibliothek Fulda, Germany)

10
. The Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good, and his son Charles. From the Chronicles of Hainault. Rogier van der Weyden miniature, 1477 (Royal Library, Brussels)

11
. Charles the Bold (1433–77), duke of Burgundy (1467–77), from the Rules and Ordinances of the Order of the Golden Fleece (vellum) (British Library, London, UK/copyright © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved/The Bridgeman Art Library)

12
. Mary of Burgundy (1457–1482), oil on wood, attributed to Michael Pacher, 1490 (original in a private collection)

13
. Aljaferia Palace, Zaragoza (akg/Bildarchiv Monheim)

14
. Naples waterfront (detail). Painting, 1465, by Francesco Pagano. Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy. (akg-images/Erich Lessing)

15
. Petronila of Aragon and Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona, oil on canvas 1634 (Prado Museum)

16
. Ferdinand the Catholic, king of Aragon, of Sicily, and of Castile-Leon, 1452–1516. Painting, contemporary copy after late-fifteenth-century painting by Michael Sittow (1469–1525). (akg-images/Erich Lessing)

17
. Isabella I, Queen of Castile, and Leon, 1451–1504. Painting,
c
. 1500, after Juan de Flandes, oil on wood (akg-images/Erich Lessing)

18
.
The Battle of El Puig
from the St George Altarpiece (copyright © Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

19
. ‘The Ladder of John Klimakos’, icon, twelfth century, paint and gold leaf on panel (Monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt/Ancient Art and Architecture Collection Ltd/The Bridgeman Art Library)

20
. Siege of Constantinople, 1453 (original in the Bibliotheque National, Paris)

21
. Trakai Castle, Lithuania (akg-images/Volker Kreidler)

22
. Mir Castle, Belarus (Alex Zalenko)

23
. Barbara Radziwill (1520–51)
c
. 1553–56 (oil on copper), studio of Lucas Cranach the Younger (1515–86) (copyright © Czartoryski Museum, Cracow, Poland/The Bridgeman Art Library)

24
. Lithuanian Statutes (National Library, Warsaw)

25
. ‘The Polish Plumb Cake’,
c
. 1772 (engraving), John Lodge, (fl. 1782–d. 1796) (private collection/The Bridgeman Art Library)