Vanished Kingdoms Read online

  Vanished Kingdoms

  NORMAN DAVIES

  Vanished Kingdoms

  The Rise and Fall of States and Nations

  VIKING

  VIKING

  Published by the Penguin Group

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  First American edition

  Published in 2012 by Viking Penguin,

  a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  Copyright © Norman Davies, 2011

  All rights reserved

  Illustration credits appear on pages viii–xiii.

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA

  Davies, Norman.

  Vanished kingdoms : the rise and fall of states and nations / Norman Davies.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  EISBN: 9781101545348

  1. Europe—History. 2. Europe—Historical geography. 3. Europe—History, Military. 4. Europe—Politics and government. 5. Nation-state—History. 6. Nationalism—Europe—History. 7. Social change—Europe—History. 8. Disasters—Europe—History. 9. Collective memory—Europe. I. Title.

  D104.D28 2011

  940—dc23

  2011035948

  Printed in the United States of America

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  I’r anghofiedig

  For those whom historians tend to forget

  Contents

  List of Illustrations

  List of Figures

  List of Maps

  Introduction

  1. Tolosa: Soujourn of the Visigoths (AD 418–507)

  2. Alt Clud: Kingdom of the Rock (Fifth to Twelfth Centuries)

  3. Burgundia: Five, Six or Seven Kingdoms (c. 411–1795)

  4. Aragon: A Mediterranean Empire (1137–1714)

  5. Litva: A Grand Duchy with Kings (1253–1795)

  6. Byzantion: The Star-lit Golden Bough (330–1453)

  7. Borussia: Watery Land of the Prusai (1230–1945)

  8. Sabaudia: The House that Humbert Built (1033–1946)

  9. Galicia: Kingdom of the Naked and Starving (1773–1918)

  10. Etruria: French Snake in the Tuscan Grass (1801–1814)

  11. Rosenau: The Loved and Unwanted Legacy (1826–1918)

  12. Tsernagora: Kingdom of the Black Mountain (1910–1918)

  13. Rusyn: The Republic of One Day (15 March 1939)

  14. Éire: The Unconscionable Tempo of the Crown’s Retreat since 1916

  15. CCCP: The Ultimate Vanishing Act (1924–1991)

  How States Die

  Notes

  Acknowledgements

  Index

  List of Illustrations

  CHAPTER FRONTISPIECES

  Road sign near Vouillé (Norman Davies)

  Dumbarton Rock (Purestock/Getty Images)

  Hammershus Castle, Bornholm (Christoph Müller)

  Palace at Perpignan (Norman Davies)

  Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (AP Photo/Belta, Nikolai Petrov)

  Bosphorus Bridge (Spectrum Colour Library/HIP/TopFoto)

  Kaliningrad (STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

  Republic Day Parade, Rome (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

  Halych (Roman Zacharij)

  Duomo in Florence (Roger Antrobus/Getty Images)

  Schloss Rosenau in Coburg. Chalk lithograph, c. 1860, by Hans A.Williard (1832–1867) (akg-images)

  The road to Cetinje, Montenegro, 1901 (copyright © ullsteinbild/TopFoto) 576

  The Prisoner of Zenda, 1952 (akg-images/album) 622

  Irish Free State postage stamp (Royal Philatelic Society, London) 636

  Demonstration in Tallinn, Estonia, 1989 (AP Photo/Pekka Elomaa) 688

  PLATES

  1. The Burial of Alaric. Woodcut, c. 1855, after a drawing by Eduard Bendemann (1811–1899) (akg-images)

  2. Clovis defeats Alaric III. Chalk lithograph by Nikolai D. Dmitrijeff Orenburgsky (1838–1898) after a painting by Friedrich Tüshaus (1832–1885), 1875 (akg-images)

  3. The Book of Aneirin (National Library of Wales, Cardiff)

  4. The Arms of the City of Glasgow (Public Domain)

  5. Statue of William Wallace in Aberdeen, Scotland (Public Domain)

  6. The Rhinegold. Oil painting, 1859, by Peter von Cornelius (ullstein bild/AKG Pressebild)

  7. Dagobert Solidus (Public Domain)

  8. King Gontran of Bourgogne designates his nephew Childebert II as his successor, miniature from the ‘Chronicles of France’, printed by A. Verard, Paris, 1493 (hand-coloured print), French School, fifteenth century (Biblioteca Nazionale, Turin, Italy/Index/The Bridgeman Art Library)

  9. Frederick I Barbarossa and his sons King Henry VI and Duke Frederick VI. Medieval illumination from the Chronic of the Guelphs, 1179–1191 (Hochschul- und Landesbibliothek Fulda, Germany)

  10. The Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good, and his son Charles. From the Chronicles of Hainault. Rogier van der Weyden miniature, 1477 (Royal Library, Brussels)

  11. Charles the Bold (1433–77), duke of Burgundy (1467–77), from the Rules and Ordinances of the Order of the Golden Fleece (vellum) (British Library, London, UK/copyright © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved/The Bridgeman Art Library)

  12. Mary of Burgundy (1457–1482), oil on wood, attributed to Michael Pacher, 1490 (original in a private collection)

  13. Aljaferia Palace, Zaragoza (akg/Bildarchiv Monheim)

  14. Naples waterfront (detail). Painting, 1465, by Francesco Pagano. Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy. (akg-images/Erich Lessing)

  15. Petronila of Aragon and Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona, oil on canvas 1634 (Prado Museum)

  16. Ferdinand the Catholic, king of Aragon, of Sicily, and of Castile-Leon, 1452–1516. Painting, contemporary copy after late-fifteenth-century painting by Michael Sittow (1469–1525). (akg-images/Erich Lessing)

  17. Isabella I, Queen of Castile, and Leon, 1451–1504. Painting, c. 1500, after Juan de Flandes, oil on wood (akg-images/Erich
Lessing)

  18. The Battle of El Puig from the St George Altarpiece (copyright © Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

  19. ‘The Ladder of John Klimakos’, icon, twelfth century, paint and gold leaf on panel (Monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt/Ancient Art and Architecture Collection Ltd/The Bridgeman Art Library)

  20. Siege of Constantinople, 1453 (original in the Bibliotheque National, Paris)

  21. Trakai Castle, Lithuania (akg-images/Volker Kreidler)

  22. Mir Castle, Belarus (Alex Zalenko)

  23. Barbara Radziwill (1520–51) c. 1553–56 (oil on copper), studio of Lucas Cranach the Younger (1515–86) (copyright © Czartoryski Museum, Cracow, Poland/The Bridgeman Art Library)

  24. Lithuanian Statutes (National Library, Warsaw)

  25. ‘The Polish Plumb Cake’, c. 1772 (engraving), John Lodge, (fl. 1782–d. 1796) (private collection/The Bridgeman Art Library)

  26. Portrait of Stanislas II Augustus, king of Poland (pastel on paper mounted on canvas), after Marcello Bacciarelli (1731–1818) (copyright © Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, UK/The Bridgeman Art Library)

  27. Summer afternoon in a ‘Stetl’ in Galicia. c. 1900 (ullstein bild/Imagno)

  28. A Hutsul man with horse, Poland (copyright © RIA Novosti/TopFoto)

  29. Górale men, Poland (Tatrzańskiego Parku Narodowego, Poland, with thanks to Mr Zbigniew Ładygin)

  30. Lwów scene, c. 1900 (Public Domain)

  31. Emperor Joseph II wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece. Oil on canvas, Georg Weickert, eighteenth century (ullstein bild/Imagno)

  32. Franz Joseph (1830–1916), Austrian emperor (Mary Evans Picture Library)

  33. Curonian Spit, East Prussia, wandering dune and lagoon, 1934 (copyright © ullstein bild/TopFoto)

  34. Marienburg, West Prussia. Castle of the Teutonic Order, from the northwest, c. 1930 (akg-images/Paul W. John)

  35. Detail from The Battle of Grunwald by Jan Matejko, oil on canvas, 1878 (National Museum in Warsaw)

  36. Tannenberg Memorial in 1934, on the occasion of the transfer of Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg’s remains to the crypt. (ullstein bild/Imagno)

  37. The Prussian Homage by Jan Matejko, oil on canvas, 1882 (Wawel Museum, Kraków)

  38. Albrecht I von Hohenzollern, duke of Prussia, painting, 1522 (akg-images)

  39. Frederick I, King of Prussia (1701–13), colour print, 1890, after a watercolour by Woldemar Friedrich (akg images)

  40. Frederick William (1620–1688), the ‘Great Elector’, after an engraving of 1683 by Antoine Masson (TopFoto.co.uk)

  41. Hautecombe monastery on the western shore of Lake Bourget, lithograph (c. 1860?) by A. Cuvillier (akg-images)

  42. Bonneville, Savoy with Mont Blanc, by J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851) (private collection/photograph copyright © Christie’s Images/The Bridgeman Art Library)

  43. The citizens of Chambéry vote for annexation, summer 1860 (Mary Evans Picture Library)

  44. Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy, king of Italy (copyright © 2006 Alinari/TopFoto)

  45. Fiftieth anniversary of the annexation of Savoy to France, illustration, Le Petit Journal, 18 September 1910 (colour lithograph) (private collection/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library)

  46. Activists in Piazza del Quirinale before the referendum of 2 June 1946 (copyright © 2006 Alinari/TopFoto)

  47. Marie Luise of Bourbon with her children. painting, 1807, by Wilhelm Titel (1784–1862) (akg-images/Rabatti/Domingie)

  48. Silver florin of the Kingdom of Etruria (private collection)

  49. Elisa Baciocchi, grand duchess of Tuscany, and her court, by Pietro Benvenuti, oil on canvas, 1813 (copyright © RMN/Chateau de Versailles)

  50. San Miniato in Val d’Arno, Tuscany, Italy (Bruno Morandi/Robert Harding/Getty)

  51. Napoleon in exile on Elba before his return to France. Aquatint, c. 1830, with later colouring (akg-images)

  52. Victoria and Albert at the time of their wedding, 1840 (Mary Evans Picture Library)

  53. Royal group photograph, Coburg, April 1894 (The Royal Collection, copyright © 2011 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II)

  54. Duke Karl Eduard of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 1916 (bpk/Langhammer)

  55. Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip on their wedding day, 20 November 1947 (copyright © 2003 Topham Picturepoint/TopFoto.co.uk)

  56. Funeral procession of George V (copyright © 2005 Topham Picturepoint/TopFoto.co.uk)

  57. Hitler entering Prague, 17 March 1939 (copyright © 1999 Topham Picturepoint/TopFoto.co.uk)

  58. Huszt, 1939 (Topham Picturepoint/TopFoto.co.uk)

  59. Black and Tans in Dublin, 1920 (Topham Picturepoint/TopFoto.co.uk)

  60. ‘The Treaty Makers’ (sepia photograph), English photographer (Private Collection/The Stapleton Collection/The Bridgeman Art Library)

  61. Women under guard in Dublin, 1921 (copyright © Underwood & Underwood/Corbis)

  62. De Valera taking the salute at an IRA parade (Topham Picturepoint/TopFoto.co.uk)

  63. King George V and Queen Mary during a visit to Ireland, July 1911 (photograph by Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

  64. Participants of the Imperial Conference 1926 seated with King George V (Library and Archives Canada)

  65. Queen Elizabeth II makes a speech watched by Irish taoiseach Enda Kenny and President Mary McAleese during a State dinner in Dublin Castle, 18 May 2011 in Dublin (photograph by Irish Governmen/Pool/Getty Images)

  66, 67, 68, 69, 70. Irish postage stamps (images courtesy of the Royal Philatelic Society; with thanks to Dr Alan Huggins)

  71. King Nikola of Montenegro with his family, undated (Mary Evans Picture Library)

  72. King Nikola of Montenegro, c. 1910 (ullstein bild)

  73. King Nikola in exile, France, 1921 (copyright © The Granger Collection)

  74. Montenegrin postage stamps (author’s collection)

  75. Montenegrin postage stamps (British Library, Philatelic Collections: Supplementary Collection – Montenegro)

  76. Kalevipoeg Carrying the Boards, 1914 (pastel on paper), by OskarKallis (1892–1917) (copyright © Art Museum of Estonia, Tallinn, Estonia/The Bridgeman Art Library)

  77. Bronze Soldier monument in the Tallinn military cemetery (akg-images/RIA Nowosti)

  78. Linda Monument in front of the Long Herman tower in Tallinn (copyright © RIA Novosti/TopFoto)

  79. Red Army soldiers occupying Tallinn, June 1940 (private collection)

  80. Volunteers of the Latvian Legion parade in Talinn, 1943 (SV-Bilderdienst)

  81. The Baltic Way Protest, August 1989 (ullstein bild/Nowosti)

  82. Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev, 1991 (copyright © RIA Novosti/TopFoto)

  List of Figures

  1. Carolingians and Bosonids

  2. The Burgundian succession

  3. Early rulers of Aragon: the House of Ramiro

  4. The House of Trastámara

  5. The Jagiellons

  6. The early Radziwiłłs

  7. Hohenzollerns and Jagiellons

  8. The later Hohenzollerns, 1701–1918

  9. Counts of Savoy

  10. I Buonaparti: the Bonapartes

  11. Bourbon – Borbón – Borbone (the Bourbons)

  12. The Hanovers and the Wettins

  13. The British Saxe-Coburgs and Gothas

  14. Petrović and Karadjeordjević

  List of Maps

  1 Kingdom of Tolosa, fifth–sixth centuries

  2 Firth of Clyde

  3 Northern Britannia, c. AD 410

  4 The ‘Old North’, sixth–seventh centuries

  5 The Viking invasions

  6 Northern Britain, ninth–tenth centuries

  7 Bornholm

  8 The first Burgundian Kingdom (411–437)

  9 The second Burgundian Kingdom (451–532/4)

  10 Burgundy within the Frankish realms, mid-sixth century

  11 The legacy of central Lotharingia

  12 The Duchy of Burgundy, e
leventh century

  13 The Kingdom of Provence, c. 900

  14 The Three Burgundies, c. AD 1000

  15 The imperial Kingdom of Arles from 1032

  16 The modern linguistic region Arpitania

  17 The disintegration of imperial Burgundy

  18 The Duchy and County of Burgundy in the fourteenth century

  19 The States of Burgundy, fourteenth–fifteenth centuries

  20 The Imperial Circles of the Holy Roman Empire

  21 Pyrenees

  22 Marches of Charlemagne’s Empire, ninth century

  23 The cradle of the Kingdom of Aragon, 1035–1137

  24 The Iberian peninsula in 1137

  25 The heartlands of the Crown of Aragon

  26 Aragonese Empire

  27 The two medieval Sicilies

  28 The Kingdom of Mallorca

  29 The union of Castile and Aragon, 1479

  30 Belarus

  31 The ‘Land of the Headwaters’

  32 The Principalities of Polatsk, c. twelfth century

  33 The Grand Duchy of Lithuania under Mindaugus (mid-thirteenth century)

  34 The Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the other Jagiellonian lands, c. 1500

  35 The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1572

  36 The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 1572–1795

  37 The Partitions of Poland-Lithuania, 1772–1795

  38 Western gubernias of the Russian Empire in the nineteenth century

  39 Istanbul and the Bosporus

  40 Contraction of the Byzantine Empire

  41 Kaliningrad oblast

  42 Borussia – land of the Moravia

  43 The Teutonic State, 1410

  44 Royal and Ducal Prussia after 1466

  45 Brandenburg-Prussia in 1648

  46 The growth of the Hohenzollern Kingdom, 1701–1795

  47 The Kingdom of Prussia, 1807–1918

  48 The Eastern frontline, 1944–1945

  49 Rome

  50 Savoy and Piedmont

  51 The Kingdom of Sardinia, c. 1750

  52 Italy, 1859–1861

  53 Northern Italy, spring 1860

  54 West Ukraine

  55 The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, c. 1900

  56 Galicia in Austria-Hungary, c. 1914

  57 Florence

  58 The Kingdom of Etruria, 1801–1807