Brigands are organised bands who practise general robbery, making their headquarters in fastnesses in forests or mountains from which they sally forth to plunder travellers of their property, or seize them until a ransom is paid for their liberation. Brigandage had its origin in Greece and Italy, and soon spread to France and Germany. Research Brigands
Alaric was a king of the Visigoths. He was born in 370 and died in 410. He is first mentioned in history in 394,when Theodosius the Great gave him the command of his Gothic auxiliaries. The dissensions between Arcadius and Honorius, the sons of Theodosius, inspired Alaric with the intention of attacking the Roman empire. In 396 he ravaged Greece, from which he was driven by the Roman general Stilicho, but made a masterly retreat to Illyria, of which Arcadius, frightened at his successes, appointed him governor. In 400 he invaded Italy, but was defeated by Stilicho at Pollentia in 403, and induced to transfer his services from Arcadius to Honorius on condition of receiving 4000 lbs. of gold. Honorius having failed to fulfil this condition, Alaric made a second invasion of Italy, during which he besiegedRome thrice. The first time in 408 the city was saved by paying a heavy ransom; the second in 409 it capitulated, and Honorius was deposed, but shortly afterwards restored. His sanction of a treacherous attack on the forces of Alaric brought about the third siege, and the city was taken on the 24th August, 410, and sacked for six days, Alaric, however, doing everything in his power to restrain the violence of his followers. He quitted Rome with the intention of reducing Sicily and Africa, but died at Cosenza in 410. Research Alaric
Atalmalpa was the last of the Incas. He succeeded his father in 1529 on the throne of Quito, whilst his brother Huascar obtained the Kingdom of Peru. They soon made war against each other, when the latter was defeated, and his kingdom fell into the hands of Atahualpa. The Spaniards, taking advantage of these internal disturbances, with Pizarro at their head, invaded Peru, and advanced to Atahualpa's camp. Here, while Pizarro's priest was telling the Inca how the pope had given Peru to the Spaniards, fire was opened on the unsuspecting Peruvians, Atahualpa was captured, and, despite the payment of a vast ransom in gold, was treacherously murdered by the Spanis in 1533. Research Atalmalpa
Pierre Du Terrail, Seigneur De Bayard was a French knight. He was born in 1476 at Catle Bayard and died in 1524. He was known as chevalier sanspeur et sans reproche (knight without fear and without reproach). At the age of eighteen he accompanied Charles VIII to Italy, and in the battle at Verona took a standard. At the beginning of the reign of Louis XII, in a battle near Milan, he entered the city at the heels of the fugitives, and was taken prisoner, but dismissed by Ludovico Sforza without ransom.
In Apulia he killed his calumniator, Sotomayor, and afterwards defended a bridge over the Garigliano singly against the Spaniards, receiving for this exploit as a coat of arms a porcupine, with the motto Vires agminis unus habet ('one has the strength of a band'). He distinguished himself equally against the Genoese and the Venetians, and, when Julius II declared himself against France, went to the assistance of the Duke of Ferrara.
He was severely wounded at the assault of Brescia, but returned, as soon as cured, to the camp of Gaston de Foix, before Ravenna, and after new exploits was again dangerously wounded in the retreat from Pavia. In the war commenced by Ferdinand the Catholic he displayed the same heroism, and the fatal reverses which embittered the last years of Louis XII only added to the personal glory of Bayard. When Francis I ascended the throne he sent Bayard into Dauphine to open a passage over the Alps and through Piedmont. Prosper Colonna lay in wait for him, but was made prisoner by Bayard, who immediately after further distinguished himself in the battle of Marignano.
After his defence of Mezieres against the invading army of Charles V he was saluted in Paris as the saviour of his country, receiving the honour paid to a prince of the blood. His presence reduced the revolted Genoese to obedience, but failed to prevent the expulsion of the French after the capture of Lodi. In the retreat the safety of the army was committed to Bayard, who, however, was mortally wounded by a stone from a blunderbuss in protecting the passage of the Sesia. He kissed the cross of his sword, confessed to his squire, and died on April the 30th, 1524. He was buried in a church of the Minorites, near Grenoble. Research Bayard
Egil Skallagrim was an Icelandicbard or poet of the 10th century. He distinguished himself by his warlike exploits in predatory invasions of Scotland and Northumberland. Having fallen into the hands of a hostileNorwegian prince, he procured his freedom by the composition and recitation of a poem called Egil's Ransom, which is still extant. Research Egil Skallagrim
Henry IV was King of England from 1399 to 1413. He was born in 1367 and died in 1413. Henry IV was the eldest son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, third son of Henry III. by the heiress of Edmund, earl of Lancaster, second son of Henry III and the first king of the house of Lancaster.
He was made Earl of Derby and Duke of Hereford, but having in 1398 preferred a charge of treason against Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, he was banished with his adversary. On the death of John of Gaunt in 1399 Richard withheld Henry's inheritance, and Henry, landing in England, gained possession of Richard's person. The deposition of Richard by parliament, and the election of Henry, was followed by the murder of the late king. A plot against the king in 1400 was discovered in time to prevent its success, and many executions of men of rank followed; but an insurrection in Wales under Owen Glendower proved more formidable.
The Scots were decisively defeated by the Percies at Homildon, and their leader, the Earl of Douglas, was captured in 1402. An order from Henry not to permit the ransom of that nobleman and other Scottish prisoners was regarded as an indignity by the Percies, who set Douglas free, made an alliance with him, and joined Glendower. The king met the insurgents at Shrewsbury in 1403, the battle ending in the defeat and death of Percy. The Earl of Northumberland was pardoned, and but few victims were executed.
A new insurrection, headed by the Earl of Nottingham and Scrope or Scroop, archbishop of York, broke out in 1405, but was suppressed by the king's third son, Prince John. The rest of this king's reign was comparatively untroubled. In 1405 James, son and heir to King Robert of Scotland, was captured at sea on his way to France, and was detained a prisoner in England. Henry died in 1413, and was succeeded by Henry V. Research Henry IV
Henry VI was German emperor. He was born in 1165 and died in 1197. The son of Frederick I and Beatrice of Burgundy, he was the third emperor of the house of Hohenstaufen, and was crowned king in 1169, and succeeded his father as emperor in 1190. He kept Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) in prison, and obtained a large ransom for him. Research Henry VI of Germany
John Barbour was the father of Scottish poetry. He was born in 1316 and died in 1395. By 1357 he was archdeacon of Aberdeen, and in the following year was appointed a commissioner to treat for the ransom of David II. He appears as auditor of the exchequer more than once, as travelling through England on several occasions, and was pensioned by Robert II. His chief poem, The Bruco, written about 1375, was first published in 1571, and a manuscript exists in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, dated 1489. Of another long poem, setting forth the Trojan origin of the Scottish kings, no manuscript remains, unless a portion of two Troy books in the Cambridge and Bodleian libraries may be ascribed to Barbour. He has also been credited, probably without sufficient grounds, with having compiled a Book of Legends of Saints, existing in a single manuscript at Cambridge, and published only in relatively recent times. Research John Barbour
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Brigands
