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Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany and Earl of Richmond (23 September 1158 – 19 August 1186) was Duke of Brittany between 1181 and 1186, through his marriage with the heiress Constance. Geoffrey was the fourth son of King Henry II of England and Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine.[1]

He was a younger maternal half-brother of Marie de Champagne and Alix of France. He was a younger brother of William IX, Count of Poitiers, Henry the Young King, Matilda, Duchess of Saxony and Richard I of England. He was also an older brother of Queen Eleanor of Castile, Queen Joan of Sicily and John of England.

King Henry arranged for Geoffrey to marry Constance, the heiress of Brittany. Geoffrey was invested with the duchy, and he and Constance were married in July 1181.[2] Geoffrey and Constance would have three children, one born after Geoffrey's death:

1.Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany (1184–1241)
2.Maud/Matilda of Brittany (1185 – before May 1189)
3.Arthur I, Duke of Brittany (1187–1203)
[edit] LifeGeoffrey was fifteen years old when he joined the first revolt against his father, and was later reconciled to Henry in 1174, when he participated in the truce at Gisors (when Richard was absent) and later, when Richard reconciled at a place between Tours and Amboise. Geoffrey prominently figured in the second revolt of 1183, fighting against Richard, on behalf of Henry the Young King.

Geoffrey was a good friend of Philip Augustus of France, and the two statesmen were frequently in alliance against King Henry. Geoffrey spent much time at Philip's court in Paris, and Philip made him his seneschal. There is evidence to suggest that Geoffrey was planning another rebellion with Philip's help during his final period in Paris in the summer of 1186. As a participant in so many rebellions against his father, Geoffrey acquired a reputation for treachery. Gerald of Wales said the following of him: He has more aloes than honey in him; his tongue is smoother than oil; his sweet and persuasive eloquence has enabled him to dissolve the firmest alliances and his powers of language to throw two kingdoms into confusion.

Geoffrey also was known to attack monasteries and churches in order to raise funds for his campaigns. This lack of reverence for religion earned him the displeasure of the Church and also of the majority of chroniclers who were to write the definitive accounts of his life.

[edit] DeathGeoffrey died on 19 August 1186, at the age of twenty-seven, in Paris. There are two alternative accounts of his death. The more common first version holds that he was trampled to death in a jousting tournament. At his funeral, a grief-stricken Philip was said to have attempted jumping into the coffin. Roger of Hoveden's chronicle[3] is the source of this version; the detail of Philip's hysterical grief is from Gerald of Wales.

In the second version, in the chronicle of the French Royal clerk Rigord, Geoffrey died of sudden acute abdominal pain, which reportedly struck immediately after his speech to Philip, boasting his intention to lay Normandy to waste. Possibly, this version was an invention of its chronicler; sudden illness being God's judgement of an ungrateful son plotting rebellion against his father, and for his irreligiosity. Alternatively, the tournament story may be an invention of Philip's to prevent Henry II's discovery of a plot; inventing a social reason, a tournament, for Geoffrey's being in Paris, Philip obscured their meeting's true purpose.

Margaret of France (November 1157 – August/September 1197) was the eldest daughter of Louis VII of France by his second wife Constance of Castile.

Margaret was a younger half-sister to Marie of France, Countess of Champagne, and Alix of France, Countess of Blois. Her older half-sisters were also older half-sisters of her future husband.

was married to Henry the Young King of England on 2 November 1160. Henry was the second of five sons born to King Henry II of England and Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine. He was five years old at the time of this agreement while Margaret was only two. Margaret's dowry was the vital and much disputed territory of Vexin.[1][2]

Her husband became co-ruler with his father in 1170. For unknown reasons, Margaret was not crowned along with her husband on 14 July 1170, an omission that greatly angered her father. In order to please the French King, Henry II had his son and Margaret crowned together in Winchester Cathedral on 27 August 1172.[3] Margaret became pregnant and gave birth to their only son William on 19 June 1177. The child was born prematurely and died on 22 June of the same year.

She was accused in 1182 of having a love affair with William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, although contemporary chroniclers doubted the truth of these accusations. Henry may have started the process to have their marriage annulled, ostensibly due to her adultery but in reality because she could not conceive an heir. Margaret was sent back to France, according to E. Hallam (The Plantagenets) and Amy Kelly (Eleonore of Aquitaine and the Four Kings), to ensure her safety during the civil war with Young Henry's brother Richard. Her husband died in 1183 while on campaign in the Dordogne region of France.

[edit] Second marriageAfter receiving a substantial pension in exchange for surrendering her dowry of Gisors and the Vexin, she became the second queen consort of Béla III of Hungary in 1186. The difficult delivery of her only known child in 1177 seems to have rendered her sterile, as she had no further children by either Young Henry or Béla.

[edit] Later lifeShe was widowed for a second time in 1196 and died on pilgrimage to the Holy Land at St John of Acre in 1197, having only arrived a few days prior to her death. She was buried at the Cathedral of Tyre, according to Ernoul, the chronicler who continued the chronicles of William of Tyre.

Khan Kotrag was the founder of Volga Bulgaria. He was the son of Kubrat who left Great Bulgaria after the death of his father. His successors reached the lands of modern Tatarstan and established a state during 7-9 centuries and recognised Islam as the official religion in 922 AD during the visit of Baghdad khalifat ambassador Ibn Fazlan and remained independent up until the 14th century, when it was conquered by the Batu-khan hordes of Mongolic and Turkic people widely known as Mongol-Tatars. The country's capital was called "Bulgar" or "Great Bulgar".

Kuber (or Kouver) was a Bulgar leader, brother of Khan Asparukh and member of the Dulo clan, who according to the Miracles of St Demetrius, in the 670s was the leader of a mixed Christian population of Bulgars, ‘Romans’, Slavs and Germanic people[1] that had been transferred to the Srem region in Pannonia by the Avars 60 years earlier[2][3]. The Miracles of St Demetrius states that, circa 680 AD, Kuber had a falling out with the Avar khagan, and after repelling an Avar attack, led his followers of around 70,000 people,[4] from Srem and to Macedonia (modern Republic of Macedonia). The Byzantines initially called his people Sermisianoi (after their former settlement - Sirmium), and later the Keramisians (after their new place: the Keramissian plain in Greater Macedonia).

In Macedonia, they had contacts and possibly mixed with the Dragovites - a Slavic tribe in the region.[2][3] Some of his people wanted to disperse to their respective various homelands. Since they were Christians, they were probably once imperial subjects that were captured by the Avars. Kuber asked the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV to not allow the dispersal of his people, fearing that his power will decline.[citation needed] Rebuffed by the Emperor, he resolved to attack Thessaloniki, but failed. He probably made a few other sporadic attacks on the Byzantines. Professor Vasil Zlatarski, a Bulgarian scholar, suggests that Kuber was the ‘unnamed son’ of Great Kubrat. Certainly, being a prominent prince would explain why the Avars gave him rule, and his appearance in 670 chronologically fits the downfall of Old Bulgaria. He also suggests that Kuber's people represented a second Balkan Bulgar ‘state’ in Macedonia, parallel to that of his brother's Asparukh realm in the north-eastern Balkans. Whether he had established a state of sorts or not, nothing is mentioned of Kuber after the 680s,[2] but in the beginning of the 8th century Asparukh's son, Tervel, is said to have cooperated with "his uncles" from Macedonia.[5] His people mixed with the local Slavs living in the area, well before Khan Presian expanded his Bulgarian Empire into Macedonia in the early 800s.[6]
Thearchaeologist from Republic of Macedonia Ivan Mikulcic revealed the presence not only of the Kuber group, but an entire Bulgar archaeological culture throughout Macedonia and eastern Albania [7]. He describes the traces of Bulgars in this region, which consist of typical fortresses, burials, various products of metallurgy and pottery (including treasure with supposed Bulgar origin or ownership), lead seals, minted from Kuber, amulets, etc. However, part of this could actually represent traces of Avar presence. They are known to have raided as far south as Macedonia, and the material culture of the Avars was very similar to the Bulgars.[2]

HonourKuber Peak in Tangra Mountains on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Kuber.

Aristobulus IV (31 BC – 7 BC) was a prince of Judea from the Herodian dynasty, and was married to his cousin, Berenice, daughter of Costobar and Salome. He was the son of Herod the Great and his second wife, Mariamne I[1], the last of the Hasmoneans, and was thus a descendant of the Hasmonean Dynasty.

Aristobulus lived most of his life outside of Judaea, having been sent at age 12 along with his brother Alexandros to be educated at the Imperial court of Rome in 20 BC, in the household of Augustus himself. Aristobulus was only 3 when his paternal aunt Salome contrived to have his mother executed for adultery. When the attractive young brothers returned to Jerusalem in 12 BC, the populace received them enthusiastically. That, along with their perceived imperious manner, picked up after having lived much of their lives at the very heart of Roman imperial power, often offended Herod. They also attracted the jealousy of their older half-brother, Antipater III, who deftly incited the aging king's anger with rumors of his favored sons' disloyalty. After many failed attempts at reconciliation between the king and his designated heirs, the ailing Herod had Aristobulus and Alexandros strangled on charges of treason in 7 BC, and raised Antipater to the rank of his co-regent and heir apparent.

Herod, however, retained his affection for Aristobulus' children, three of whom, Agrippa I, Herod and Herodias, lived to play important roles in the next generation of Jewish rulers.

Salampsio was the eldest daughter of Herod the Great by his royal Hasmonean wife, Mariamne I. She was married to Phasael ben Phasael, Herod's nephew (her first cousin).[1] The marriage resulted in five children--Antipater, Herod, Alexander, Alexandra, and Cypros. Cypros married Agrippa I, the son of Aristobulus and Alexandra married Timius of Cyprus.