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A Gallery of Crowns Through the Ages
Crowns have been used for millennia as a symbol of power, rank, and distinction, both for rulers and religious leaders. In this gallery of images, we take a look at some fabulous, unusual, and even slightly odd crowns that were worn in cultures...

Collection
British House of Hanover
The House of Hanover is a royal house that first ruled Hanover and then Great Britain from 1714 to 1901. The British Hanoverians began with George I when he succeeded the last of the Stuart monarchs, Queen Anne of Great Britain (r. 1702-1714...

Article
The Principate of Augustus
Augustus (r. 27 BCE to 14 CE), as the adopted son and heir of Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE), brought an end to the Roman Republic, and on 16 January 27 BCE, by Senatorial decree, he became the first Roman emperor. However, he would not be addressed...

Article
Fall of the Girondins
The fall of the Girondins, which occurred during the Paris insurrections of 31 May-2 June 1793, marked the end of a bitter power struggle between the Girondins and the Mountain during the French Revolution (1789-99). It was significant for...

Article
Robespierre & the Death Penalty
"I come to ask, not the gods, but legislators…to erase from the code of the French the blood laws that command judicial murders" (Robespierre, 6). These impassioned words, spoken by Maximilien Robespierre before France's National Constituent...

Article
Life in an Air Raid Shelter in the London Blitz
Crowded and uncomfortable air raid shelters became a feature of the urban landscape across Britain during the Second World War (1939-45) as the bombers of Nazi Germany systematically hit cities from 1940. The London Blitz was a particularly...

Article
The Mandate of Heaven and The Yellow Turban Rebellion
Throughout history, in order for a government to be respected and obeyed, it must possess some form of legitimacy recognized by the governed. Governmental systems have relied on a number of models for legitimacy, among them the dynastic form...

Article
Colonel Blood & the Theft of the Crown Jewels
Colonel Thomas Blood, a known conspirator, made an infamous but unsuccessful attempt to steal the British Crown Jewels from the Tower of London in 1671. Disguised as a clergyman, Blood and his gang swiped the royal regalia from under the...

Definition
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc (Jeanne D'Arc, l. c. 1412-1431 CE) was a medieval peasant who, claiming to receive visions from God, turned the tide of the Hundred Years' War in favor of a French victory. She was famously martyrd for standing by her claim of...

Definition
Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant refers to the box-like container that held the tablets of the Law received by Moses on Mount Sinai. Tradition claimed that it contained two stone tablets, carved by God, listing the first ten commandments given to...