After Philip IV of France died, his heir Charles IV left no hiers further by 1328, and the Valois family took over the French throne, but Edward III, King of England, also claimed the throne because he was Charles IV's nephew (in France only the male line was recognized), starting the Hundred Years War. England defeated France at the Battle of Crecy in 1346, then Edward III's son Edward the Black Prince (called so because of his trademark black armor) took the French king captive a decade later. Charles V became king, and regained some territory, then Charles VI was called the Mad because he was nuts, but a situation was arising in England that gave the French some breathing room.

EDWARD III (14th)

RICHARD II (14th)

Edward the Black Prince died a year before his father King Edward III, so Richard his 10-year old grandson became King Richard II. Trouble now, the Duke of Lancaster (Richard's cousin and a legitimate claimant to the throne) went into open rebellion and the Parliament supported him, because Richard was getting authoritarian. Lancaster successfully deposed Richard and became King Henry IV. Then Henry V of England struck at the Battle of Agincourt, and took Normandy in 1415.

While it seemed England would rule France by the end of this Hundred Years' War, no one predicted Joan. In 1429 Joan, driven by Christian visions that she was to be the Savior of France, led the French at the Battle of Orleans, starting a cascade of victories both diplomatic and battlefield, and by 1453 the English were expelled from France but for Calais. Joan did in fact die like a savior, having been captured by the English and handed over to pro-English French allies in Rouen, they tried her for witchcraft and burned her at the sake in 1431. The real reason they tried her was, just maybe, that she was saving her homeland and supporting the Dauphin, Charles VII.

JOAN OF ARC (15th)

CHARLES VII THE DAUPHIN (15th)

In England the dynastic Wars of the Roses made it unlikely the English would be back in France for the time being, so Charles VII the Dauphin went to rebuilding the country. Now trouble came from the other direction, though, and those Habsburg alliance marriages were taking parts of Southern France, like Burgundy, and joining it with the Habsburg realm. Ain't feudalism great? For the rest of the 15th century, things became tense with each new marriage and coronation, until the coming of Francis I in 1515, when things got nasty.

Duke of Burgundy Charles the Bold was another issue in the Hundred Years' War. He ruled the territory between France and the Empire, and wanted to expand through whatever means. Wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece (r), he occupied Lorraine, angering France, and moved on Alsace, the cities of which sought aid from Switzerland. In 1476 he lost at Granson to a coalition, and then was killed in battle at Nancy the following year, leaving a 19 year old daughter behind. This amounted to a huge political marriage opportunity, and she married... Maximilian Habsburg of Austria. France and the Empire then split Burgundy up.

CHARLES THE BOLD (15th)

ENGLISH MONARCH

DYNASTY

FRENCH MONARCH

DYNASTY

Alfred the Great - 9th century

Wessex

Clovis I - 6th century

Merovingian

Aethelstan - 10th century

Wessex

Childebert I

Merovingian

Sweyn Forkbeard - 11th century

Denmark

Chlothar II the Great

Merovingian

Aethelred the Unready

Wessex restored

Dagobert I - 7th century

Merovingian

Canute the Great

Denmark

Clovis II the Lazy

Merovingian

Edward the Confessor

Wessex res. again

Chlothar III

Merovingian

Harold Godwinson

Wessex

Theuderic III

Merovingian

William I the Conqueror

Normandy

Childebert III the Just - 8th

Merovingian

William II

Normandy

Charles Martel

Carolingian

Henry I - 12th century

Normandy

Pepin the Short

Carolingian

Henry II

Angevin

Carloman I

Carolingian

Richard I the Lionheart

Angevin

Charlemagne - 9th century

Carolingian

John Lackland - 13th century

Angevin

Louis I the Pious

Carolingian

Henry III

Plantagenet

Charles II the Bald

Carolingian

Edward I Longshanks

Plantagenet

Charles the Fat

Carolingian

Edward II Caernarfon - 14th c.

Plantagenet

Odo of Paris

Robertian

Edward III

Plantagenet

Charles III the Simple - 10th

Carolingian

Richard II

Plantagenet

Rudolph

Bosonid

Henry IV Bolingbroke - 15th c.

Lancaster

Louis IV

Carolingian

Henry V

Lancaster

Lothair

Carolingian

Henry VI

Lancaster

Louis V the Lazy

Carolingian

Edward IV

York

Hugh Capet

Capetian

Henry VI

Lancaster res.

Henri I - 11th century

Capetian

Edward IV

York res.

Philippe I the Amorous

Capetian

Edward V

York

Louis VI the Fat - 12th century

Capetian

Richard III

York

Louis VII the Young

Capetian

Henry VII

Tudor

Philippe II Augustus

Capetian

Henry VIII - 16th century

Tudor

Saint Louis IX - 13th century

Capetian

Edward VI

Tudor

Philippe III the Bold

Capetian

Mary I

Tudor

Philip IV the Fair - 14th century

Capetian

Elizabeth I

Tudor

Philippe VI the Fortunate

Valois

James I - 17th century

Stewart

Charles V the Wise

Valois

Charles I

Stewart

Charles VI the Beloved

Valois

Oliver Cromwell - Lord Protector

Protectorate

Henry VI of England - 15th c.

Lancaster

Charles II

Stewart

Charles VII the Dauphin

Valois res.

James II

Stewart

Louis XI the Prudent

Valois

Mary II

Stewart

Louis XII the Father of People

Orleans

William III of Orange

Stewart

Francis I the Restorer - 16th c.

Orleans

Anne - 18th century

Stewart

Henri IV the Green Gallant

Bourbon

George I

Hanover

Louis XIII the Just - 17th cent.

Bourbon

George II

Hanover

Louis XIV the Sun King

Bourbon

George III

Hanover

Louis XV the Beloved - 18th c.

Bourbon

George IV - 19th century

Hanover

Louis XVI the Restorer

Bourbon

William Henry

Hanover

Napoleon I the Great - 19th c.

Bonaparte

Victoria

Hanover

Louis XVIII

Bourbon

Edward VII - 20th century

Hanover / Windsor

Louis-Philippe the Citizen King

Orleans

George V - 1910-1936

Windsor

Napoleon III

Bonaparte

Edward VIII - 1936

Windsor

Georges Clemenceau

none

George VI - 1936-1952

Windsor

Charles de Gaulle

none

Elizabeth II - 1952-Present

Windsor

None other of note

KING HENRY V (15th)

Apt subject for a Shakespearean play, Henry V was the son of the Duke of Lancaster who usurped the throne to become Henry IV with the support of the nobles. Now Henry V could focus on France and the Hundred Years' War, the longest war in history (but not the bloodiest by any means). Tragically, Henry V died unexpectedly and the tide turned against the English. His son, Henry VI, lost all the continental possessions but Calais, and had a mental condition to boot.

THE 16TH EARL OF WARWICK (15th)

 Henry VI was getting worse, and Richard, Duke of York, his cousin, staked a claim in 1455, triggering Civil War called the Wars of the Roses, in which the Lancasters had a Red Rose and the Yorks flew a White Rose. Richard of York's son Edward IV obtained the throne with the help of "The Kingmaker" and most powerful peer of the time, Richard Neville, the Duke of Warwick. But then Warwick changed sides 9 years later, started an alliance, and Edward IV fled, only to return to defeat Warwick and Henry VI's son Edward, arrest Henry VI, lock him in the Tower of London. He was executed in 1471.

RICHARD III GLOUCESTER

Edward IV ruled another 12 years till 1483, then in a cruel move, his brother Richard of Gloucester denied both his young sons the succession by locking them up in the Tower, where both died "mysteriously". and usurped the throne as Richard III. He reigned for 2 years until one person had had enough.

HENRY VII TUDOR

 Richard III usurpation of the throne was too much for Henry Tudor, a rival claimant and nephew of Henry VI. Heir of the house of Lancaster and the ancient Welsh royal house, he moved on Richard, and at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, killed Richard ("A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!"), became Henry VII Tudor, founder of a new dynasty, and ended the Wars of the Roses by marrying Elisabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, uniting the feuding houses.

Karl IV (Karel IV in Czech) promulgated the Golden Bull, whereby succession procedures were codified for 400 years. He also organized the states of the Empire into peace-keeping confederations, and establised the University of Prague (Charles University)- the oldest in the German lands. Though a German emperor, he is known as the Father of the Czech Nation today, along with Frantisek Palacky.

KARL IV, 14th century

ST. OLAF II (11th century)

Olaf II was Norway's second king, and considered one of the greatest. He was given the title Norway's Eternal King after his death in battle in 1030. Other kings like Sverre Sigurdsson strengthened the monarchy in the 13th century, while Haakon IV extended Norwegian rule to Iceland and Greenland. The Althing, an assembly of all men, governed Iceland previously, the first example of a modern direct democracy.

CANUTE THE GREAT - 11th century

King of Denmark who led an expedition to England and occupied it, thus creating a great kingdom along the coasts of the North Sea, the likes of which would not be seen again for over 300 years, until the Union of Kalmar. Canute was the son of a Danish prince and Polish princess.

Folllowing the Volkerwanderung, the Slavs remained in Eastern Europe, in tribes. The Bohemians and Moravians became the Czechs, and the Polanie, Wislani, Pomorzani and about 5 others became the Poles. Mieszko was the first king of Poland. In 966, he unified the realm and became Christian, inaugurating the Piast Dynasty of kings. The Ottonians of the Empire were wary of a unified Poland, but Mieszko obtained permission from the pope and a bishopric was begun at Gniesno (the Nest).

MIESZKO I - 10th century

BOLESLAW THE BRAVE - 11th century

King of Poland who did battle with the Empire over the province of Pomerania, and moved on Kiev, cradle of Russia, and etched his sword on the gate, which is now in a museum in Krakow. In 1024 he secured Poland's independence from these forces, as his grandson Kazimierz I had to, fighting invasion from Bohemia and Kievan Rus, while Boleslaw III Krzywousty (Wrymouth) in 1138 restructured the monarchy in such a way so that the king in Krakow would oversee autonomous relatives in the provinces. These nobles would manage their own affairs in the feudal way, which Krzywousty thought would be good for stability, but dynastic squabbles, Mongol invasion in 1241 and German advance took the kingdom into fragmentation until Kazimierz III.

Konrad of Mazovia, a feudal lord, invited the Teutonic Knights to his realm in the 13th century and gave them rights to help defeat the Prussian pagans. The Knights decimated the pagans and then built the huge castle of Marienberg for the Grandmaster, who then imposed on Konrad and other lords. In 1320, Wladyslaw I Lokietek (Elbowhigh) reunified the realm and his son Kazimierz III The Great "found Poland built of wood and left Poland built of stone." He compromised with Bohemia, and allowed Jews to settle in their own neighborhoods in Polish cities as a middle class. The last of the 400 year long Piast dynasty, the crown went to Louis I Anjou, King of Hungary, whose daughter Jadwiga married, at the behest of the Polish nobles, the Lithuanian Grand Duke Jagiello, who was crowned Wladyslaw II Jagiello in 1386.

KAZIMEIRZ THE GREAT (14th)

WLADYSLAW II JAGIELLO (15th)

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was now the largest state in Europe, as Russia was under the Mongol yoke. Lithuania actually possessed much Ruthenian Russian territory all the way to Kiev, taken from the Golden Horde. But 20 years into Jagiello's reign, a showdown would occur between the Teutonic Knights and the Commonwealth at Grunwald (1410). The Commonwealth was victorius, and 50 years later, the Knights signed the Treaty of Torun acknowledging the Polish king, now Kazimierz IV, as their sovereign. The kings played the lesser nobles (szlachta) against the higher nobles (magnates), but by doing so they created the most democratic state since ancient times, with 1,000,000 eligible voters. The kingship was weakened though, in 1505, when under the Nihil Novi law, a single nobleman had the right to veto legislation in parliament (Sejm).

In Bohemia, the Czech Premyslid dynasty founded the country in the 9th century. "Good King Wenceslas" promoted Christianity and established ties with the Empire to the west, until he was martyred in 929. Today Wenceslas Square is at the center of the Czech capital. The Empire acknowledged Bohemia as autonomous, and in the 12th century gave the Premyslids the title of hereditary kings. One Premyslid king, Otakar, challenged Rudolf I of Habsburg for the title of emperor and the battle of Marchfeld ensued in which Otakar fell. The dynasty ended with Otakar's grandson in 1306. This seemed bad, but Johannes of Luxembourg married the sister and their son Karl IV (see above) made Prague a great capital of the empire in the 14th century.

ST. KING WENCESLAS (10th)

JOHN WYCLIFFE, 14th century

JAN HUS (15th)

The son of Karl IV was authoritarian and inspired a revolt among the nobles. At the same time, Jan Hus, a Christian reformer who became angry, like Wyclifee, at corruption in the church hierarchy, attended the Council of Constance in 1415, called to end the Papal Schism (in which "Antipope" John XXIII called for a crusade against Pope Gregory VII and authorized the sale of indulgences in Bohemia to pay for it). At the Council, Hus was arrested and sentenced to death at the stake. His followers (the majority in Bohemia), erupted in revolt against Sigismund of Luxembourg, who promised Hus safe passage to the conference and betrayed him. The pope now called for a crusade against the Hussites, but it failed, and a compromise was only reached after the moderate faction of the Hussites turned on the radical faction, defeated it, and entered negociations. This is seen as a predecessor event to the Reformation, and featured Jan Zizka's of the radical Hussites throwing burghers out of windows when stones were throne at them as they paraded, called the "Defenestration of Prague."

Hungary became a state under the Arpad dynasty, named for its forerunner who led the Magyars into Europe and in their settlement of the Pannonian plains around 900. There was a vacuum there because the Avars were defeated by Charlemagne and then again by the Magyars at the Battle of Pressburg in 907, until they moved back to the Caucasus region. When the Germans defeated the Magyars in 955 at Lechfeld, Prince Geza became Christian, and his son Istvan became the first King of Hungary.

ARPAD - 10th century

ST. ISTVAN - 1000

The conversion of Istvan and his crowning as King of Hungary in 1001 helped made Hungary a European nation. He welcomed German help in building an economic and administrative structure, and many Germans moved to live in Hungary, as they do to this day. Translyvania was added to the Hungarian realm not long after, and both Magyars and Germans settled there. Arpad King Andras II extended rights to the nobility and church, much like John Lackland did, and even signed a Golden Bull, a Magna Carta like document, in 1222.

Bela IV, son of Andras II, was able to take back some royal power, because he was already Duke of Slavonia and Translyvania, and had converted pagan Cumans in the south. However, upon his coronation, the Mongols arrived and devastated Hungary. Bela survived the battle of Mohi, and when the Mongols unexpectedly left, he spent the rest of his years fortifying the land in case they ever returned. Fortresses were built, colonists invited from the Empire, and autonomy was granted to local lords to allow them to build buffer zones (like Byzantine Themes). Yet, while the Mongols never returned, that other Central Asian force would- the Turks. After Arpad and Istvan, Bela is considered a new founder of the Hungarian state, and defender of its people.

BELA IV (13th)

SIGISMUND OF LUXEMBOURG - 14th century

The Arpads ended in 1301, much like the Polish Piasts and the Czech Premsylids, and Louis of Anjou, nephew of Kazimierz III of Poland, became king of Hungary (and later of Poland).  After he died, Poland went to the Jagiellos and Hungary to Sigismund of Luxembourg, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia and of Hungary. Sigismund had to deal with a new threat in 1396, for the Ottomans were on the march. They arrived and smashed Sigismund's army at Nicopolis on the Danube, but then they left for 100 years to focus on destroying the Byzantines. (visit site)

The greatest outcome of Bela IV's division of the land into military units was the rise of nobleman Janos Hunyadi, voivode of Translyvania and military commander of the southern districts. To prepare for the Turks, he used Hussite like techniques, hand cannons and wagon trains, and mobilized peasant batallions, as well as professional, paid armies. When the Ottomans began plundering his march, Hunyadi's methods scored victories. When they came in force at the Battle of Varna (where Polish King Wladyslaw IV died in defence of Europe) and 2nd Kosovo (1448), they defeated Hunyadi, but then Hunyadi personally led the defense of Belgrade in 1456, attacked by Sultan Murad II himself. Pope Pius II called him "Christ's Champion," and when he died later of plague, the bells tolled for him every noon for a long time, and his victories kept the Turks at bay for 60 years.

JANOS HUNYADI, 15th century

MATTIAS CORVINUS, 15th century

Sometimes the son disappoints after a father is considered a great hero, as Hunyadi was. But his son Matthias Corvinus was elected as King of Hungary in 1457, and he enabled a brilliant Renaissance court to appear in Budapest. His famous library is still well regarded. Corvinus had no legitimate children, so Ulaszlo II was elected king, and his son Louis II would fall at the Battle of Mohacs in 1526.

Remember me, Simeon I, called the Great. My father was Boris I, the first king of Bulgaria. He adopted Christianity in 865, and we became Orthodox. He sent me to Constantinople for cultural learnings and to become a monk. Well, that wasn't for me. In 893 I returned and usurped the throne, then turned and attacked Constantinople, unsuccessfully, however. In 925, my title became Czar of All the Bulgars. I promoted learning, the Cyrillic alphabet, and under me the Bulgarian Empire prospered. After me the kingdom declined, fought with the Rus and with the Byzantines, who had this guy named Basil III the Bulgarslayer. Not a fan.

SIMEON I THE GREAT, 10th century

DEMIETRIUS ZVONIMIR, 11th century

Remember me, the Croatian king who set the course to Catholicism when I was crowned by the pope in 1076. Doing this helped my country repel the Ottomans, and divided us from Orthodox Serbia. My country has a beautiful coastline called Dalmatia, though the capital, Zagreb, is in the interior. During the Middle Ages we allied with Hungary, and our two countries have a special relationship. We sent a viceroy called a Ban to Budapest. Ragusa, today's Dubrovnik, is considered the Jewel of the Adriatic. It was an independent city-state for many centuries.

STEFAN I NEMANJA (12th)

Remember me, Grand Duke Stefan Nemanja, founder of the Serbian Kingdom and reorganizer of the Orthodox Christian Church in Serbia for all times to come. My son Sava finished this task. I saw the Byzantine Empire was in decline in 1167, and so I had new bishops appointed, with Serbian as the new langauge of liturgy, not Greek. Now we could understand more, and as Cyril and Methodius taught, we came to write in the Cyrillic alphabet as well. Later when the Ottomans tried to make us Muslim, the national identity fostered by the Serbian Church helped keep us whole. A left to become a monk when I was old, retiring to the beautiful Sudenica Monestary, which I founded in 1196.

Remember me, Kaloyan Asen, who revived the Bulgarian Empire 200 years after Basil the Byzantine overwhelmed it. There is a great monument to me in Veliko Turnovo in Central Bulgaria, my capital. The pope blessed my rule, but I turned to help the Byzantines against the Latin Crusader States after 1204. At Adrianopole, I defeated Baldwin I of Constantinople, inflicting damage to the Latin Empire. Bulgaria after me prospered. My successor Ivan Asen II took land all the way from the Black Sea to the Adriatic. When the Mongols came in 1242, they defeated us but left soon after, and later, in 1389 when Serbia stood up for Christ against the Ottomans, we helped.

KALOYAN ASEN (13th)

STEFAN IV DUSAN (14th)

Remember me, for I am Stefan Dushan, a national hero of Serbia. After our 1330 defeat of the Bulgars, I moved on Greece and was victorious. I took Macedonia too, and put forth Dusan's Code, reformatting law in the region. I elevated the Serbian Church from archbishopric to patriarchate, and constructed the Visoki Dacani Monestary as its new centerpiece. Under my son Stefan V, the empire fragmented, but the unity I provided lives on in the present day. I fought the Ottomans until the last year of my life, and we held them back. Visit Cetinje Monestary in Montenegro if you want to see me sometime.

Remember me, Lazar Hrebeljanovic of Serbia, who stood on the Field of the Blackbirds in 1389. Ottoman Sultan Murad ordered me and the Serbs and our allies to submit to their far greater strength, but we did not. We stood our ground, and they indeed vanquished us, becoming supreme in the entire Balkan peninsula. Belgrade remained Christian, but it would fall 60 years after we tried to stop the great invasion, despite Janos Hunyadi and the Hungarians trying to save it. We did our part and died valiently. Now Kosovo is sacred ground to us.

PRINCE LAZAR (14th)

MIRCEA THE OLD (14th)

Remember me, Mircea the Old, first "king" (actually voivod) of the people you call the Romanians but I called the Vlachs (hence Wallachia). We named it Romania later on. I moved to Bucharest in 1385 and it became my capital. When the Ottomans came to my land, I paid them off so they would leave us alone in 1396, having seen what they did to the Serbs on the field of Kosovo in 1389. When a grandson of mine shifted allianced to Hungary, the Ottomans buried him alive.

Remember me, for I am Count Dracul, the one Bram Stoker called "Count Dracula," when he wrote a book about me and my nocturnal cravings for blood in the 19th century. Why would he do that? Well, when the Ottomans came to conquer my land of Wallachia in 1476, I fought back. My father Vlad II was part of the Order of the Dragon and sworn to defend Christianity. He and I are folk heroes in Romania today. Thing is, when my men captured those Turks, I had the prisoners impaled, 20,000 of them, on needle-thin stakes sticking 4ft. out of the ground. From ass through the gut organs and windpipe, and out through the mouth, the stake stuck them. There they sat for days, bleeding slowly to death. In the war for civilization, sometimes you have to put the fear in the invader.

VLAD III THE IMPALER (15th)

STEFAN III THE GREAT (15th)

Remember me, Stefan III the Great, most honored of all the Moldavians. Moldavia is a neighboring province of Wallachia, and though Vlad the Impaler was brutal, we could not stem the Turkish conquest- only delay it. As Voivod, I formed alliances with Wallachia to do this, and it ultimately failed. But I can say this, our example of resistance carried over to later centuries. When Michael the Brave led a revolt against the Ottomans in 1601, he remembered me. Today there is a small country in Eastern Europe called Moldova, heart of my realm, and they remember me by a statue in the capital, Chisnau.

Crusading did not end with the truce between Saladin and Richard the Lionheart after the 3rd Crusade. Other, rather sad affairs took place, including the Children's Crusade, in which 20,000 or so Christian kids with missionary intentions went to the Holy Land to peacefully convert Muslims to Christianity, only to be taken in and sold into slavery in the Middle East. In another crusade in 1204, instead of sacking Jerusalem or even getting to the Holy Land, the crusaders sacked the Byzantine capital instead, and placed their own man, Baldwin I of Flanders, as Latin Emperor.

BALDWIN I OF CONSTANTINOPLE, 13th century

MICHAEL VIII PALAIOLOGOS, 13th century

What happened to the Byzantine state? It didn't die, it moved to Nicaea in Greece, where the great council was called in the 4th century that decided on the role of Jesus in the Trinity. After 30 years went by, the Byzantines attacked the Latin Empire to regain Constantinople, but failed to do so. In 1246 they took Salonika, and finally, Michael VIII Palaiologos arose to usurp the Byzantine throne and then form alliances with Italian cities like Genoa, the rival of Venice, the city which supported the Latin Empire. When Latin Emperor Baldwin II was on pilgrimage in Italy, Michael struck, taking Constantinople and reviving Byzantium in its ancient capital, in 1259. There it would live on for another 200 years.

429 BC

Athens, Greece

Typhoid kills 75,000 during "Plague of Athens"

170

Roman Empire

Smallpox kills 30% of the Roman population

541

Byzantine Empire

Bubonic Plague kills 40% of Byzantine population

1346

Europe

Bubonic Plague kills 50% of European population

1600

Spain/England

Bubonic Plague kills many people

1630

Italy

Plague kills 280,000

1633

Plymouth Colony

Smallpox takes out many American colonists

1663

Holland

Plague kills 25,000

1665

England

Great Plague of London kills 100,000

1668

France

Plague kills 40,000

1679

Austria

Great Plague of Vienna kills 76,000

1687

Boston

Measles kills many residents

1690

New York City

Yellow Fever kills many residents

Place

Population 1300

Population 1400

China

85 million

75 million

India

91 million

97 million

Europe

79 million

59 million

Remember me, for I tried to ease tension between the Christian and Mongol worlds. Last time, the Pope Innocent IV heard the Mongols were attacking the Abbasids from the east, just as the crusading spirit in Europe was waning, and he was worried. He inquired of the khan whether he wanted an alliance against the Muslim foe, and the khan replied that the Christians were next in line to feel the Mongol scourge. Didn't go well, therefore. So in 1287 I, a Nestorian Christian working for the Ilkhan of Persia who was about to invade the Holy Land and bring the Islamic forces there to heel, was dispatched to entreat the pope or the king of France to ally with him. They were not interested, and because Ilkhan Ghazan converted to Islam, famously, the matter was soon moot anyway.

RABBAN SAUMA (13th) 

I traveled like Marco Polo all around. I started in Morocco and went to Mali, Egypt, the Swahili Coast, Arabia, Russia, India and China, and many lands were welcome to me as a Muslim traveler. John Green on Crash Course said if he could be anyone in history, it would be me, because I explored all around the known world. I lived, in his terms, "an awesome life." Well, true, but I was shocked at women's nakedness in Africa, not very Muslim, after all, and at how 20 slave girls bring the chief his food during Ramadan of all times! They seriously need some sufis to come here and teach them.

IBN BATTUTA (14th)

While some Nestorian Christians went out east, not many Catholics did. But I did, to bring the message of Jesus, knowledge of the sacraments and the holy eucharist to the peoples of China and all along the way. In 1307, I established an archbishopric in Khanbaliq, as the khan was welcoming. I translated the Bible into Turkish, and baptized thousands of people. We built churches in China, but overall, the lasting effect myself and my followers had in the region was negligible. The Mongols wound up with Buddhism, and the Turks with Islam, while the Chinese followed the paths of Confucius, Lao Tzu and the Buddha. None of our buildings exist anymore, but that doesn't mean I didn't try.

JOHN OF MONTECORVINO (14th)

I am Zheng He, eunuch, but I had a lot of drive anyway. I had the desire to command a fleet of treasure ships for my Ming masters, on the greatest seaborne adventure we knew of- traveling the WHOLE Indian Ocean route. No one had ever done it, now, in 1405, we would set off. Emperor Yongle wants me to take an army with me, just in case people at foreign ports in Malaya, India, Arabia or Africa get anxious at our wealth, and there is plenty of room to bring them- 25,000 of them. In Africa we picked up a giraffe and some other weird creatures, and the Chinese are sure to love it- it looks like a great dragon from folklore! My ships were floating cities, larger than Columbus' ships would be, 70 years in the future. Who knows, if we had sailed east instead of west, we might have found America.

ZHENG HE, 15th century

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