The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 CE) arose after the decline of the Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty. This is an account of the beginnings of the Ming.
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Tag Archives: 151-5
Church and State in the High Middle Ages
The connection established between the Frankish kings and the Roman Catholic Church (headed by the Pope) led to a blurring of the lines between religious and political power (for example, Pope Leo III naming Charlemagne the Holy Roman Emperor).
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The General Capitulary of the Missi Dominici
Charles the Great (better known as Charlemagne) became King of the Franks in 768 CE and added the Lombard kingdom to his own in 774 CE. In 800 CE, Pope Leo III crowned him “Holy Roman Emperor,” the first Roman Emperor in the West since 476 CE.
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Excerpts from Tacitus, Annals
Chapter 29. [Military campaign in Wales.]
During the consulship of Lucius Caesennius Paetus and Publius Petronius Turpilianus [AD 60-61], a dreadful calamity befell the army in Britain. Aulus Didius, as has been mentioned, aimed at no extension of territory, content with maintaining the conquests already made. Veranius, who succeeded him, did little more: he made a few incursions into the country of the Silures, and was hindered by death from prosecuting the war with vigour. He had been respected, during his life, for the severity of his manners; in his end, the mark fell off, and his last will discovered the low ambition of a servile flatterer, who, in those moments, could offer incense to Nero, and add, with vain ostentation, that if he lived two years, it was his design to make the whole island obedient to the authority of the prince.
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Tacitus on the end of the Republic
This is a brief excerpt from Tacitus’s Annals on the differences between the Roman Republic and the Roman Emperor. There is a great deal of judgement and condemnation here. Be sure to read this in conjunction with your various course materials on this period for in-depth context.
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Emperor Claudius Enlarges the Senate
During the 1st century CE, the government of Rome changed. While the Senate still served as (supposedly) the government of the Empire, the Emperor held enormous power to shape the Senate.
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Excerpts from the Writings of Han Fei
HAVING REGULATIONS
No country is permanently strong. Nor is any country permanently weak. If conformers to law are strong, the country is strong; if conformers to law are weak, the country is weak….
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Alexander’s Conquests and the Rise of Hellenism
Alexander the Great (AKA Alexander of Macedon) had a short but remarkable life.
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From Neo-Assyrian to Persian Empires
The Neo-Assyrian Empire (911-612 BCE) is remembered for the brutal and efficient manner in which it conquered its foes, often using mass deportation to remove conquered people to different and unfamiliar parts of their empire, using these subject peoples as everything raging from agricultural slaves to soldiers and charioteers.
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Persian Expansion and the Greeks
As the Persian empire expanded, it came into conflict with the Greeks. The Greeks, who were organized into an array of city-states, had established colony cities throughout the Mediterranean.
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