Angkor is a name conventionally applied to the region of Cambodia serving as the seat of the Khmer empire that flourished from approximately the ninth century to the fifteenth century A.D. More precisely, the Angkorian period may be defined...

Basil I, called the Macedonian was a Byzantine Emperor who reigned from 867 to 886. Born a simple peasant in the theme of Macedonia, he rose in the Imperial court. He entered into the service of Theophilitzes, a relative of Emperor Michael...

Charles the Bald was the King of West Francia (843–877), King of Italy (875–877) and Holy Roman Emperor (875–877, as Charles II). After a series of civil wars during the reign of his father, Louis the Pious, Charles succeeded by the Treaty...

The Historia Brittonum, or The History of the Britons, is a historical work that was first composed around 830, and exists in several recensions of varying difference. It purports to relate the history of the Brittonic inhabitants of Britai...

Rurik or Riurik was a legendary Varangian chieftain who gained control of Ladoga in 862, built the Holmgard settlement near Novgorod, and founded the Rurik Dynasty, which ruled Kievan Rus (and later the Grand Duchy of Moscow and Tsardom of...

Verdun, Treaty of, the partition of Charlemagne's empire among three sons of Louis I, emperor of the West. Louis the German received the eastern portion (later Germany); Charles II (Charles the Bald) became king of the western portion (late...

Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899. Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English king to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the...

Tsar Simeon the Great was the ruler of Bulgaria, who reigned 893 - 927. He was 27 when he took the throne from his brother Vladimir, the son of Prince Boris, who was deposed and possibly blinded by his own father after his attempt to return...

Al-Farabi was a renowned scientist and philosopher of the Islamic Golden Age. He was also a cosmologist, logician, and musician. Through his commentaries and treatises, Al-Farabi became well known among medieval Muslim intellectuals as "...

Abd-ar-Rahman III was the Emir and Caliph of Córdoba (912–961) of the Ummayad dynasty in al-Andalus. Called al-Nasir li-Din Allah ("the Defender of God's Faith"), he ascended the throne in his early 20s, and reigned for half a century as th...

Between AD 900 and 1150, Chaco Canyon was a major center of culture for the Ancient Pueblo Peoples. Chacoans quarried sandstone blocks and hauled timber from great distances, assembling 15 major complexes which remained the largest building...

Timbuktu is a city in Tombouctou Region, in the West African nation of Mali. It was made prosperous by Mansa Musa. It is home to the prestigious Sankore University and other madrasas, and was an intellectual and spiritual capital and centre...

Otto I, traditionally known as Otto the Great, was German king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda. Otto inherited the Duchy of Saxony and the kingship...

Emperor Taizu of Song was the founder and first emperor of the Song dynasty in China. He reigned from 960 until his death in 976. Formerly a distinguished military general of the Later Zhou dynasty, Emperor Taizu came to power after staging...

Hugh Capet, son of Hugh the Great, was king of France from 987-996. He was the first of the Capetians, the royal house that ruled France until 1328. After the death of the Carolingian king of France, the nobles and prelates elected him king...