Personal Unions of Crowns: Map & History

Frederick II's most profound and revolutionary legal legacy remains the Constitutions of Melfi or Constitutiones Regni Siciliarum (English: Constitutions of the Kingdom of the Sicilies), promulgated in 1231 in the Kingdom of Sicily. The sophistication of the Constitutions, also known as the Liber Augustalis, and his involvement in their formulation sets Frederick apart as perhaps the supreme lawgiver of the Middle Ages. Under the direction of a group of jurists headed by Frederick himself, including Roffredo Epifanio, Pier della Vigna, and archbishops Giacomo Amalfitano of Capua and Andrea Bonello of Barletta, the Constitutions harmonized decades of Siculo-Norman legal tradition stretching back to Roger II.

From Wikipedia: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor · Law reforms and Imperial policy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Frederick eventually sailed again from Brindisi in June 1228. Gregory IX, surprised by the emperor's defiance, regarded this action as a provocation, since, as an excommunicate, Frederick was technically not capable of conducting a crusade. Gregory excommunicated the emperor a second time. Frederick's crusade in the East began with his attempt to assert imperial authority over Cyprus, but his tactless and high-handling of the Cypriot barons—especially John of Ibelin—created immediate tension and mistrust. After arriving at Acre in September, the emperor quickly recognized that success would have to come through diplomacy rather than war. The crusading army was already a small force and papal hostility and divisions among the crusaders undermined his position. Many of the local nobility, the Templars, and Hospitallers were also reluctant to offer overt support.

From Wikipedia: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor · The Sixth Crusade and the War of the Keys: Sixth Crusade and the Treaty of Jaffa (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Frederick had a great thirst for knowledge and learning. Frederick employed Jews from Sicily, who had migrated there from the Holy Land, to translate Greek and Arabic works. He also introduced paper into a European court.

From Wikipedia: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor · Literature and science (CC BY-SA 4.0)

When he died, Frederick II still retained his fundamental dominance, even though his conflict with the papacy and its allies in Italy and Germany was unresolved. The remarkable recovery of imperial fortunes across the board in 1250 seems to have confirmed his apparent personal supremacy. Indeed, the shock of his sudden death signified, perhaps, a contemporary sense that he bestrode the era like a colossus in the "full glory" of imperial power. Yet, for all the grandeur of his reign, his "herculean" efforts to bind together first Sicily, then Italy and Germany, in closer imperial unity proved futile with the eventual collapse of his dynasty. Frederick had attempted the impossible and achieved the improbable. Considering the highly complex, many-faceted level he had operated, and for so long against such intensity, his achievements were weighty.

From Wikipedia: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor · Recovery and Death: Demise of the Hohenstaufen (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Historians rate Frederick II as a highly significant and consequential European monarch of the Middle Ages. This reputation was present even among his contemporaries, who saw him as an almost cosmic figure capable of monumental things. The emperor's posthumous shadow was scarcely less imposing than his living presence. From Matthew of Paris to Giovanni Villani, and Dante to Boccaccio, many medieval commentators, whether hostile or favorable to the emperor, seemed to have viewed him as an extraordinarily sophisticated and imaginative ruler. In the century after his death, Italian writers continued to treat Frederick as the decisive benchmark against which imperial authority, ambition, and legitimacy were measured. Yet he was still seen ambivalently, as opposed to his grandfather, Frederick Barbarossa, who was a more cleanly accessible chivalric-emperor.

From Wikipedia: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor · Significance and legacy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Weneclaus was one of three sons of Ottokar II and Kunigunda, and the only one to survive to adulthood. In 1276 Rudolf I, King of the Romans, placed Ottokar under the ban of the empire and besieged Vienna. This compelled Ottokar in November 1276 to sign a new treaty by which he gave up all claims to Austria and the neighbouring duchies, retaining for himself only Bohemia and Moravia. Wenceslaus was then betrothed to Rudolf's daughter Judith, creating an uneasy peace. Wenceslaus's father died on 26 August 1278 in the Battle on the Marchfeld shortly before Wenceslaus's seventh birthday.

From Wikipedia: Wenceslaus II of Bohemia · Early years (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Wenceslaus II is considered one of the most important Czech kings. He built a great empire stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Danube river and established numerous cities, such as Plzeň in 1295. He won for his family three royal crowns (Bohemia, Hungary and Poland). The Kingdom of Bohemia was the largest producer of silver in Europe in his time. He created the Prague Groschen, which was an important European currency for centuries.

From Wikipedia: Wenceslaus II of Bohemia · Review of the government of Wenceslaus II (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Because of the increase in taxes to pay for the acquisition of the Scanian province, some Swedish nobles supported by the Church attempted to oust Magnus, setting up his elder son Erik as king. Erik died supposedly of the plague in 1359, with his wife Beatrix and their son.

From Wikipedia: Magnus Eriksson · Biography: Conflict with Erik (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In spite of his many formal expansions, his rule was considered a period of decline both for Swedish royal power and for Sweden as a whole. Foreign powers such as Denmark (after its recovery in 1340) and Mecklenburg intervened, and Magnus appears to have been unable to counter the internal opposition that arose. He was regarded as a weak king and criticised for giving favourites too much power.

From Wikipedia: Magnus Eriksson · Reputation and legacy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Throughout the reign of Haakon, the Norwegian military was extensively reformed. The military structure was altered from that of the traditional leidang peasant conscription to under the direct control of loyal Norwegian lords. His Norwegian predecessor had pursued a domestic policy to establish a functional civil service in his realm, also extending to the military. This was however not continued by Haakon who elected to transfer more power and military responsibilities on to loyal lords. As a consequence, Haakon would be able to field much larger armies, but it became increasingly expensive to maintain this system. Because of the war against Sweden and the aggressive Norwegian policies in the east, Haakon had to mortgage and borrow money at an unprecedented scale to maintain his armies, and had to increasingly rely on the Norwegian nobility and the rich German merchants.

From Wikipedia: Haakon VI · Military policies (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Margaret was born in March 1353 as the sixth and youngest child of King Valdemar IV and Queen Helvig of Denmark. She was born in the prison of Søborg Castle, where her father had already confined her mother. She was baptised in Roskilde and in 1359, at the age of six, engaged to the 18-year-old King Haakon VI, the youngest son of the Swedish-Norwegian king Magnus IV & VII. As part of the marriage contract, it is presumed that a treaty was signed ensuring Magnus the assistance of King Valdemar in a dispute with his second son, Erik "XII" of Sweden, who in 1356 held dominion over Southern Sweden. Margaret's marriage was thus a part of the Nordic power struggle. There was dissatisfaction with this in some circles, and the political activist Bridget of Sweden described the agreement in a letter to the Pope as "children playing with dolls".

From Wikipedia: Margaret I of Denmark · Early years and marriage (CC BY-SA 4.0)

E.C. Otte writes in 1874, that "f Margaret could have been certain of being followed on the throne by rulers as able and just as she had been, this Act of the Union of Calmar might have worked for the good of the three kingdoms. For it was quite true, as the Queen said, that each one alone was a poor weak state, open to danger from every side, but that the three united would make a monarchy, strong enough to defy the attacks and schemes of the Hanse traders and all foes from the side of Germany, and would keep the Baltic clear of danger from foreigners. However no ruler came after Queen Margaret equal to her, as there had been none before her to be compared to her."

From Wikipedia: Margaret I of Denmark · Reputation and legacy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Margaret was born in March 1353 as the sixth and youngest child of King Valdemar IV and Queen Helvig of Denmark. She was born in the prison of Søborg Castle, where her father had already confined her mother. She was baptised in Roskilde and in 1359, at the age of six, engaged to the 18-year-old King Haakon VI, the youngest son of the Swedish-Norwegian king Magnus IV & VII. As part of the marriage contract, it is presumed that a treaty was signed ensuring Magnus the assistance of King Valdemar in a dispute with his second son, Erik "XII" of Sweden, who in 1356 held dominion over Southern Sweden. Margaret's marriage was thus a part of the Nordic power struggle. There was dissatisfaction with this in some circles, and the political activist Bridget of Sweden described the agreement in a letter to the Pope as "children playing with dolls".

From Wikipedia: Margaret I of Denmark · Early years and marriage (CC BY-SA 4.0)

E.C. Otte writes in 1874, that "f Margaret could have been certain of being followed on the throne by rulers as able and just as she had been, this Act of the Union of Calmar might have worked for the good of the three kingdoms. For it was quite true, as the Queen said, that each one alone was a poor weak state, open to danger from every side, but that the three united would make a monarchy, strong enough to defy the attacks and schemes of the Hanse traders and all foes from the side of Germany, and would keep the Baltic clear of danger from foreigners. However no ruler came after Queen Margaret equal to her, as there had been none before her to be compared to her."

From Wikipedia: Margaret I of Denmark · Reputation and legacy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In 1419, the death of Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia left Sigismund titular King of Bohemia, but he had to wait for seventeen years before the Czech Estates would acknowledge him. Although the two dignities of king of the Romans and king of Bohemia added considerably to his importance, and indeed made him the nominal temporal head of Christendom, they conferred no increase of power and financially embarrassed him. It was only as King of Hungary that he had succeeded in establishing his authority and in doing anything for the order and good government of the land. Entrusting the government of Bohemia to Sophia of Bavaria, the widow of Wenceslaus, he hastened into Hungary.

From Wikipedia: Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor · Biography: Hussite Wars (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Along with the desire of the Catholic Monarchs to extend their dominion to all the kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, their reign was characterised by the religious unification of the peninsula through militant Catholicism. On receiving a petition for authority, Pope Sixtus IV issued a bull in 1478 to establish a Holy Office of the Inquisition in Castile. This was to ensure that Jews and Muslims who converted to Christianity did not revert to their previous faiths. The papal bull gave the sovereigns full powers to name inquisitors, but the papacy retained the right to formally appoint the royal nominees. The Inquisition did not have jurisdiction over Jews and Muslims who did not convert. Since the kingdom of Aragon had existed since 1248, the Spanish Inquisition was the only common institution for the two kingdoms.

From Wikipedia: Catholic Monarchs of Spain · Religious policy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

From his maternal grandmother, Isabella I of Castile, who had funded Christopher Columbus's first voyage in 1492, Charles inherited Castile's overseas territories in the Americas. Spanish colonization of the Americas began in 1493, but these permanent settlements in the Caribbean and Spanish Main were marginal to Charles's European empire and not the focus of his attention. Through the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), Spain and Portugal had agreed on a division of overseas territories, so that with the exception of Brazil, which Portugal could claim, Charles could claim the rest of the New World.

From Wikipedia: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor · Administration: Americas (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Charles V has traditionally attracted considerable scholarly attention. There are differences among historians regarding his character, his rule and achievements (or failures) in the countries in his personal empire, as well as various social movements and wider problems associated with his reign. Historically seen as a great ruler by some or a tragic failure of a politician by others, he is generally seen by modern historians as both a capable politician and a brave and effective military leader, although his political vision and financial management tend to be questioned. References to Charles in popular culture include a large number of legends and folk tales; literary renderings of historical events connected to his life and romantic adventures, his relationship to Flanders, and his abdication; and products marketed in his name.

From Wikipedia: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor · Historiography, commemoration, and popular culture (CC BY-SA 4.0)