The Danube Lamprey (Eudontomyzon danfordi) is a parasitic freshwaterfish of the family Petromyzonidae found in the headwaters of the Danube and its tributaries. The Danube Lamprey is serpentine in shape and grows to about 30 cm in length. Unlike the Brook Lamprey, the Danube Lamprey becomes parasitic when adult, attaching itself to fish by its sucker; scrapes a hole in their skin and sucks out the blood and flesh. Research Danube Lamprey
The sturgeon (Acipenser) is a large ganoidfish of the order Palaeonisciformes, family Acipenseridae. The species are exclusively inhabitants of the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere, found both sides of the Atlantic, and live either in fresh water or pass a part of the year in rivers to spawn. They are large sluggish fishes reaching a length of three meters, and live on worms, crustaceans and molluscs which they rout out from the bottom with their snout which projects far in advance of the small, toothless mouth.
The skeleton is gristly, not bony, which is partly compensated by the head being encased in hard, bony plates which continue in five longitudinal rows along the body. The tail is heterocercal, the upper lobe being much longer than the lower. The Sturgeon has a single dorsal fin placed far back, only a little in advance of the tail.
The sturgeon is a 'royal fish' in Great Britain, as decreed by an Act of Parliament of Edward II, but the lord mayor of London has claim to those fish taken above London Bridge.
About twenty species of sturgeon are known, half of which occur in Europe. The largest species is Acipenser huso which is found in the Caspian Sea, the Sea of Azov, the Black Sea, the Danube and surrounding areas. Research Sturgeon
Agnes Bernauer was the daughter of a poor Augsburg citizen, whom DukeAlbert of Bavaria, only son of the reigning prince, secretly married. He conducted her to his own castle of Vohburg; but his father wishing to marry him to Anne, daughter of the Duke of Brunswick, he was compelled to proclaim his marriage with Agnes, giving her for residence the castle of Straubing on the Danube. The incensedDuke of Bavaria, however, caused her to be seized in her castle during the absence of his son, accused her of sorcery, and had her drowned in the Danube in 1435. Albert in revenge took arms against his father, but the Emperor Sigismund finally reconciled them. The DukeErnest raised a chapel to the memory of Agnes, and Albert married the Princess of Brunswick. Research Agnes Bernauer
Attila (Etzel) was King of the Huns. He was born in 406 and died in 453. The son of Mundzuk, and the successor, in conjunction with his brother Bleda, of his uncle Rhuas, he succeeded to the chieftainship in 434 when his people were masters of eastern Europe north of the Danube, and were terrorising western Europe as far as the Rhine and western Asia. They threatened the Eastern Empire, and twice compelled the weak Theodosius II to purchase an inglorious peace. Attila caused his brother Bleda to be murdered in 444, and in a short time extended his dominion over all the peoples of Germany and exacted tribute from the eastern and western emperors. The Vandals, the Ostrogoths, the Gepidse, and a part of the Franks united under his banners, and he speedily formed a pretext for leading them against the Empire of the East. He laid waste all the countries from the Black Sea to the Adriatic Sea, and in three encounters defeated the Emperor Theodoeius, but could not take Constantinople.
Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece all submitted to the invader, who destroyed seventy flourishing cities; and Theodosius was obliged to purchase a peace. Turning to the west, the 'scourge of God,' as the universal terror termed him, crossed with an immense army the Rhine, the Moselle, and the Seine, came to the Loire, and laid siege to Orleans. The inhabitants of this city repelled the first attack, and the united forces of the Romans under Aetius, and of the Visigoths under their king Theodoric, compelled Attila to raise the siege. He retreated to Champagne, and waited for the enemy in the plains of Chalons.
In apparent opposition to the prophecies of the soothsayers the ranks of the Romans and Goths were broken; but when the victory of Attila seemed assured the Gothic prince Thorismond, the son of Theodoric, poured down from the neighbouring height upon the Huns, who were defeated with great slaughter. Rather irritated more than discouraged, he sought in the following year a new opportunity to seize upon Italy, and demanded Honoria, the sister of Valentinian III, in marriage, with half the kingdom as a dowry. When this demand was refused he conquered and destroyed Aquileia, Padua, Vicenza, Verona, and Bergamo, laid waste the plains of Lombardy, and was marching on Rome when Pope Leo I went with the Roman ambassadors to his camp and succeeded in obtaining a peace. Attila went back to Hungary, and died on the night of his marriage with Hilda or Ildico in 453, either from the bursting of a blood-vessel or by her hand. The description that Jornandes has left us of him is in keeping with his Kalmuck-Tartar origin. He had a large head, a flat nose, broad shoulders, and a short and ill-formed body; but his eyes were brilliant, his walk stately, and his voice strong and well-toned. Research Attila
The Avars were a nation, probably of Turanian Origin, who at an early period may have migrated from the region east of the Tobol in Siberia to that about the Don, the Caspian Sea, and the Volga. A part advanced to the Danube in 555 AD, and settled in Dacia. They served in Justinian's army, aided the Lombards in destroying the kingdom of the Gepidse, and in the sixth century conquered under their khan Bajan the region of Pannonia. They then won Dalmatia, pressed into Thuringia and Italy against the Franks and Lombards, and subdued the Slavs dwelling on the Danube, as well as the Bulgarians on the Black Sea. But they were ultimately limited to Pannonia, where they were overcome by Charlemagne, and nearly extirpated by the Slavs of Moravia. After 827 they disappear from history. Traces of their fortified settlements are found, and known as Avarian rings. Research Avars
Caius Flavius Valerius Aubelius Claudius Constantine (Constantine the Great) was a Roman emperor. He was born in 274 and died in 337. The son of the Emperor Constantius Chlorus, when his father was associated in the government by Diocletian, the son was retained at court as a hostage, but after Diocletian and Maximian had laid down the reins of government, Constantine fled to Britain, to his father, to escape from Galerius.
After the death of his father he was chosen emperor by the soldiery, in the year 306, and took possession of the countries which had been subject to his father, namely, Gaul, Spain, and Britain. He more than once defeated the Franks who had obtained a footing in Gaul and drove them across the Rhine: and then directed his arms against Maxentius, who had joined Maximian against him. In the campaign in Italy he saw, it is said, the vision of a flaming cross in the heavens, beneath the sun, bearing the inscription, 'In hoc signo vinces.' Under the standard of the cross, therefore, he vanquished the army of Maxentius under the walls of Rome, and entered the city in triumph.
In 313, together with his son-in-law, the eastern emperor, Licinius, he published the memorable edict of toleration in favour of the Christians, and subsequently declared Christianity the religion of the state. Licinius, becoming jealous of his fame, twice took up arms against him, but was on each occasion defeated, and finally put to death.
Thus in 325 Constantine became the sole head of the Roman Empire. His internal administration was marked by a wise spirit of reform, and by many humane concessions with regard to slaves, accused persons, widows, etc. In 329 he laid the foundation of a new capital of the empire, at Byzantium, which was called after him Constantinople, and soon rivalled Rome herself. In 332 he fought successfully against the Goths, relieved the empire of a disgraceful tribute which his predecessors had paid to these barbarians, and secured his frontier upon the Danube.
In 337 he was taken ill near Nicomedia, was baptized, and died after a reign of thirty-one years, dividing his empire between his three sons, Constantine, Constantius, and Constans. He summoned the celebrated Council of Nicsea in 325 to settle the Arian controversy. He is sometimes regarded as a saint, with the 20th or 21st of May as his festival. Research Constantine
Originally the name Cossack was applied to any armed adventurer, later the name was applied to tribes who inhabited the southern and eastern parts of Russia, paying no taxes, but performing instead the duty of soldiers.
Nearly all of the Cossacks belonged to the Graeco - Russian Church, to which they were strongly attached, and to the observances of which they were particularly attentive. They were divided into two principal classes, both on account of their descent and their condition - the Cossacks of Little Russia and those of the Don. Both classes, and especially those of the Don, had collateral branches, distributed as Cossacks of the Azoff, of the Danube, of the Black Sea, of the Caucasus, of the Ural, of Orenberg, of Siberia, of the Chinese frontiers, and of Astrakhan.
Writers were not agreed as to the origin of this people and of their name, but they are believed to be a mixed Caucasian and Tartar race. In personal appearance the Cossacks bore a close resemblance to the Russians, but were of a more slender make, and had features which were decidedly more handsome and expressive.
Originally their government formed a kind of democracy, at the head of which was a chief or hetman of their own choice; while under him was a long series of officers with jurisdictions of greater or less extent, partly civil and partly military, all so arranged as to be able on any emergency to furnish the largest military array on the shortest notice. The democratical part of the constitution gradually disappeared under Russian domination. The title of chief hetman was later vested in the heir-apparent to the throne, and all the subordinate hetmans and other officers were appointed by the crown.
Each Cossack was liable to military service from the age of eighteen to thirty-eight, and had to furnish his own horse. They supplied the Russian empire with one of the most valuable elements in its national army, forming a first-rate irregular cavalry, and rendering excellent service as scouts and skirmishers. In 1570 they built their principal 'stanitza' and rendezvous, called Tcherkask, on the Don, not far above its mouth. As it was rendered unhealthy by the overflowing of the island on which it stood, New Tcherkask was founded in 1805 some miles from the old city, to which nearly all the inhabitants removed. This formed the capital of the country of the Don Cossacks, which constituted a government of Russia, and had an area of 61,900 square miles and a population of some 2.5 million in 1905. Research Cossack
Darius I was the fourth king of Persia. The son of Hystaspes, a prince of the royal family of the Achsemenidae, he attained the throne in 521 BC. His reign was distinguished by many important events. He reduced, after a two years' siege, the revolted city of Babylon, and led an expedition of 700,000 men against the Scythians on the Danube, from which he extricated himself after suffering great losses. To revenge himself against the Athenians who had promoted a revolt of the Ionian cities, he sent an army under Mardonius to invadeGreece. But the ships of Mardonius were destroyed by a storm in doublingMountAthos in 492 BC, and his army was cut to pieces by the Thracians. Darius, however, fitted out a second expedition of 500,000 men, which was met on the plains of Marathon by an Athenian army 10,000 strong, under Miltiades, and completely defeated in 490 BC. Darius had determined on a third expedition when he died in 485 BC. Research Darius I
DariusI was the fourth king of Persia. The son of Hystaspes, a prince of the royal family of the Achsemenidae, he attained the throne in 521 BC. His reign was distinguished by many important events. He reduced, after a two years' siege, the revolted city of Babylon, and led an expedition of 700,000 men against the Scythians on the Danube, from which he extricated himself after suffering great losses. To revenge himself against the Athenians who had promoted a revolt of the Ionian cities, he sent an army under Mardonius to invadeGreece. But the ships of Mardonius were destroyed by a storm in doublingMountAthos in 492 BC, and his army was cut to pieces by the Thracians. Darius, however, fitted out a second expedition of 500,000 men, which was met on the plains of Marathon by an Athenian army 10,000 strong, under Miltiades, and completely defeated in 490 BC. Darius had determined on a third expedition when he died in 485 BC. Research Darius I
Garcilaso de la Vega (properly Garcias Laso de la Vega) was a Spanish poet, He was born in 1600 0r 1503 at Toledo and died in 1536. He went in his youth to the Spanish court, and in 1529 distinguished himself in the Spanish corps serving against the Turks in Austria. An intrigue with a lady of the court led to his imprisonment on an island in the Danube, where several of his poems were composed. In 1529 he was engaged in the expedition against Soliman, and in 1535 in that against Tunis. He was made commander of thirty companies of infantry in 1536, and accompanied the imperial army against Marseilles, but was mortally wounded in attempting to scale a tower near Frejus. He died at Nice in that year, and was buried at Toledo. His name is associated with that of his contemporary Boscan in the impetus given to Spanish literature by the imitation of the Italian poetic style as exemplified in Petrarch, Ariosto, and Sannazaro. His works, which consist of eclogues, epistles, odes, songs, sonnets, etc, are graceful and musical.
Garcilaso de la Vega; or Garcias Laso de la Vega was a Peruvian historian. The son of Garcilaso de la Vega, one of the conquerors of Peru, and a princess of the race of the Incas, he was born in 1530 or 1540 at Cuzco, Peru and died in 1616 or 1620. Having fallen under the groundless suspicion of the Spanish government he was sent home in 1560. His great work on the history of Peru is in two parts: the first entitled Los Comentarios Reales que tratan delOrigen de los Incas, etc (published in Lisbon in 1609); the second, the Historia general delPeru (published in Cordova in 1616). He wrote also Historia de la Florida (published in Lisbon in 1609). Research Garcilaso de la Vega
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Danube Lamprey
