Norman Davies - Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations

Vanished Kingdoms

NORMAN DAVIES

Vanished Kingdoms

The Rise and Fall of States and Nations

VIKING

VIKING

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First American edition

Published in 2012 by Viking Penguin,

a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Copyright Norman Davies, 2011

All rights reserved

Illustration credits appear on pages viiixiii.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA

Davies, Norman.

Vanished kingdoms : the rise and fall of states and nations / Norman Davies.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

EISBN: 9781101545348

1. EuropeHistory. 2. EuropeHistorical geography. 3. EuropeHistory, Military. 4. EuropePolitics and government. 5. Nation-stateHistory. 6. NationalismEuropeHistory. 7. Social changeEuropeHistory. 8. DisastersEuropeHistory. 9. Collective memoryEurope. I. Title.

D104.D28 2011

940dc23

2011035948

Printed in the United States of America

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

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Ir anghofiedig

For those whom historians tend to forget

. The Burial of Alaric. Woodcut, c. 1855, after a drawing by Eduard Bendemann (18111899) (akg-images)

. Clovis defeats Alaric III. Chalk lithograph by Nikolai D. Dmitrijeff Orenburgsky (18381898) after a painting by Friedrich Tshaus (18321885), 1875 (akg-images)

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

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

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

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

. Dagobert Solidus (Public Domain)

. 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)

. Frederick I Barbarossa and his sons King Henry VI and Duke Frederick VI. Medieval illumination from the Chronic of the Guelphs, 11791191 (Hochschul- und Landesbibliothek Fulda, Germany)

. 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)

. Charles the Bold (143377), duke of Burgundy (146777), 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)

. Mary of Burgundy (14571482), oil on wood, attributed to Michael Pacher, 1490 (original in a private collection)

. Aljaferia Palace, Zaragoza (akg/Bildarchiv Monheim)

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

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

. Ferdinand the Catholic, king of Aragon, of Sicily, and of Castile-Leon, 14521516. Painting, contemporary copy after late-fifteenth-century painting by Michael Sittow (14691525). (akg-images/Erich Lessing)

. Isabella I, Queen of Castile, and Leon, 14511504. Painting, c. 1500, after Juan de Flandes, oil on wood (akg-images/Erich Lessing)

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

. 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)

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

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

. Mir Castle, Belarus (Alex Zalenko)

. Barbara Radziwill (152051) c. 155356 (oil on copper), studio of Lucas Cranach the Younger (151586) (copyright Czartoryski Museum, Cracow, Poland/The Bridgeman Art Library)

. Lithuanian Statutes (National Library, Warsaw)

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

. Portrait of Stanislas II Augustus, king of Poland (pastel on paper mounted on canvas), after Marcello Bacciarelli (17311818) (copyright Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, UK/The Bridgeman Art Library)

. Summer afternoon in a Stetl in Galicia. c. 1900 (ullstein bild/Imagno)

. A Hutsul man with horse, Poland (copyright RIA Novosti/TopFoto)

. Grale men, Poland (Tatrzaskiego Parku Narodowego, Poland, with thanks to Mr Zbigniew adygin)

. Lww scene, c. 1900 (Public Domain)

. Emperor Joseph II wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece. Oil on canvas, Georg Weickert, eighteenth century (ullstein bild/Imagno)

. Franz Joseph (18301916), Austrian emperor (Mary Evans Picture Library)

. Curonian Spit, East Prussia, wandering dune and lagoon, 1934 (copyright ullstein bild/TopFoto)

. Marienburg, West Prussia. Castle of the Teutonic Order, from the northwest, c. 1930 (akg-images/Paul W. John)

. Detail from The Battle of Grunwald by Jan Matejko, oil on canvas, 1878 (National Museum in Warsaw)

. Tannenberg Memorial in 1934, on the occasion of the transfer of Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburgs remains to the crypt. (ullstein bild/Imagno)

. The Prussian Homage by Jan Matejko, oil on canvas, 1882 (Wawel Museum, Krakw)

. Albrecht I von Hohenzollern, duke of Prussia, painting, 1522 (akg-images)

. Frederick I, King of Prussia (170113), colour print, 1890, after a watercolour by Woldemar Friedrich (akg images)

)

. Hautecombe monastery on the western shore of Lake Bourget, lithograph (c. 1860?) by A. Cuvillier (akg-images)