The Almost Forgotten

Count Amadeus VI of Savoy was from a small mountain county of the Holy Roman Empire in the western Alps, and helped turn it into what would eventually be one of the most important states in early modern Europe.

Rajendra I, Emperor of the Chola, ruled southern India in the 11th century. Rajendra’s father expanded the Chola empire to become the dominant power in southern India, and Rajendra grew it well beyond that, to become the dominant power around the whole Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.

Eumenes II brought the Kingdom of Pergamon to its greatest height, and helped make the city into something that would be influential for centuries. He did what he had to do to keep his kingdom strong and independent, but the price he paid for that helped sow the seed of Roman domination throughout the Eastern Mediterranean.

Attalus led Pergamon in the latter half of the 3rd century BC, as it grew from a small city to a major player in the Mediterranean in the span of a couple of generations. They took on the most powerful Hellenistic Kingdoms of the day, allied with the Roman Republic, and became a center of Hellenistic culture for a century.

Isar Samy was king of Ebla during its golden age, the 24th century BC. Ebla ruled a kingdom in northwest Syria that traded with Egypt, Sumer, and beyond, and manage to preserve a collection of some of the oldest written texts ever found.

Turenne was a major figure in France during the golden age of the Ancien Regime. Napoleon said his “audacity grew with years and experience” as some of his greatest victories were when he was in his mid-60s. He was a great general in an age of greats, a brilliant strategist, and was a supporter of the common soldier in an age of aristocracy.

Frederick II was the grandson of Barbarossa and of Roger the Great of Sicily. He inherited kingdoms from both lineages, and then lost and regained them both. He wound up ruling a vast territory and at least in some of his lands, began shaping his kingdom in a way that would be a lead-in to post-feudal Europe, even if he didn’t quite get there himself.

Frederick Barbarossa was succeeded by his sons, Henry and Philip. Both were capable rulers who looked to follow in their father’s footsteps and expand imperial power. Henry had significant successes, but neither lived long enough to truly become remarkable emperors. And they were succeeded by the rival Welf clan, although that King, Otto, didn’t last too long on the throne, either.

Frederick Barbarossa was Holy Roman Emperor in the 12th century. He forced his way into the imperial office, and then forced the office back into relevance after a century or so of decline. He was an incredibly energetic leader, a strong general and politician. He expanded the power of his empire, and is considered one of the greatest of the Holy Roman Emperors.

Yuknoom led the powerful Maya kingdom ruled by Snake Dynasty. He installed vassal kings in neighboring cities and succeeded in dividing the royal line of his main rival, the city of Tikal. He eventually sacked Tikal itself, and continued to grow the power and influence of his city, in what many historians consider the golden age for the Snake Kingdom.

Harsha took over a growing kingdom in eastern Punjab, during a time of divided polities after the collapse of the huge Gupta Empire. He expanded his lands east along the Ganges river, absorbing kingdoms along the way, before uniting lands to the west and further south, eventually creating an empire that ruled almost all of Northern India.

Kanishka led the Kushan Empire at its height, connecting China and India to lands west in the early era of the Silk Road. Kanishka was a strong leader who expanded the empire, stabilized it, and help connect cultures and cultural ideas across Asia.

Mithridates took charge of a relatively small kingdom that nominally held lands south and east of the Caspian sea. By the end of his reign, he had turned it into a powerful empire that ruled from Syria to India, and had grown to be the major rival to the power to their west, the Roman Empire.

Bardylis united the tribes of Illyria in the late 5th and early 4th century BC, created a powerful kingdom that held sway over Macedon and threatened the Peloponnese, and may have helped drive the development of the combined warfare that would allow Alexander to conquer the Persian Empire.

Argishti ruled the ancient kingdom of Urartu, located in today's Armenia and Eastern Turkey. During Argishti's reign in the 8th century BC, Urartu held sway over its powerful neighbor, the Neo-Assyrian Empire

Gaspar Yanga was possibly born as royalty, although no one is sure, but when he died he was certainly considered by many to be a king. Captured in Africa, brought to the Americas, he soon escaped enslavement near Veracruz in today’s Mexico. He soon became the leader of a community of others who escaped, but they were hunted by the Spanish authorities. Yanga led the resistance, and won, not only th...

Abbas the Great, the shah of the Safavid empire, was great military leader, reformer, and diplomat. He took a shrinking, disintegrating Persian empire and enabled it to grow its greatest extent, in no small part because of his own personal military campaigns

Ram Khamhaeng was the king of Sukhothai, and he ruled on of the first truly Tai-led kingdoms that was able to unite the surrounding states into something bigger. His success helped to unify the people and define the culture of what would persist in Thailand to this day.

Somerled was a Norse-Gael like born in what is today western Scotland, on the lands bordering the Irish Sea and the North Channel. He became King of the Isles, ruling many of those that the Vikings had taken over of the prior centuries. Despite his Viking heritage, while much of eastern Scotland was Anglo-Normanizing, he helped served as a bridge from the Viking Age to a Gaelic Scotland.

Tamar the Great built on the legacy of her great grandfather David the Builder. Under her rule, Georgia grew to its largest geographic extent, held off enemies and conquered new lands. Culture flourished under her rule, leading many to consider it the peak of Georgia’s golden age.

David became king of Georgia after it had been devastated by years of Turkish pillaging. He pushed the invaders out and restored the fortunes of his relatively new kingdom. By the time he died, Georgia neared the apex of its power, ruled most of the southern caucuses, and had entered a Golden Age.

One of several Viet leaders who helped his land on the road to sovereignty, Dinh Bo Linh united the land of An Nam, a Chinese protectorate that had gained some amount of autonomy, and brought it to full independence as the Kingdom of Nam Viet.

Goujian was the king of Yue at the end of Ancient China’s Spring and Autumn Period. He was defeated by the state of Wu and taken captive, where he served as a slave and plotted his revenge. Eventually returning to his own kingdom, his dedication to getting his revenge has become something of legends.

In the 20th century BC, Gungunum made himself king of the Sumerian city of Larsa. He brought Larsa from an inconsequential minor city to the dominant city state in Sumer, allowing him to claim the title of King of Sumer. His was the last dynasty that could be considered Sumerian, before the region shifted to what we now call Babylonia

Jacob Kettler was the Baltic German Duke of Courland and Semigallia, part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 17th century. Kettler decided the best way to modernize his duchy was to copy the major powers of Western Europe, by making the Duchy of Courland a colonial power