Whoever says anything, but great people still make history. And for the long time humanity has existed (with all its migrations of peoples, wars for territories and power, political fights, revolutions, etc.), every existing state has known many outstanding personalities.
Of course, in our time, people who “make the world a better place” are highly respected: various scientists of “peaceful” specialties, environmentalists, human rights activists, animal welfare advocates, philanthropists, peacekeeping politicians, etc.
But once the most respected people were considered great warriors - kings, leaders, kings, emperors - capable of not only protecting their own people, but also gaining new lands and various material wealth for them in battle.
The names of the most famous kings of the Middle Ages became so “overgrown” with legends that historians today have to make considerable efforts to separate the semi-mythical person from the person who existed in reality.
Here are just a few of these legendary characters:
10. Ragnar Lodbrok | ? - 865
Yes, dear fans of the Vikings series: Ragnar is a very real person. Moreover, he is the national hero of Scandinavia (there is even an official holiday here - Ragnar Lodbroka Day, celebrated on March 28) and a real symbol of courage and courage of the Viking ancestors.
Among the kings of our “top ten” Ragnar Lodbrok is the most “mythical”. Alas, most of the facts about his life, campaigns and impudent raids are known only from the sagas: after all, Ragnar lived in the 9th century, at that time the inhabitants of Scandinavia had not yet recorded the acts of their jarls and kings.
Ragnar Leather Pants (so, according to one version, his nickname is translated) was the son of the Danish king Sigurd Ring. He became an influential jarl in 845, and began his raids in neighboring countries much earlier (from about 835 to 865).
He really ravaged Paris (around 845), and in fact died in a pit with snakes (in 865), was captured by King Ella II when he tried to capture Northumbria. And yes, his son, Björn the Iron Side, became the king of Sweden.
9. Matthias I Hunyadi (Matthias Corvin) | 1443 - 1490
A long memory of Matthias I Corvin in Hungarian folk art remains as the most just king, the “last knight” of medieval Europe, etc.
How did he gain such a warm attitude? First of all, the fact that it was under him that the independent Hungarian kingdom survived its last (and very powerful) exaltation after decades of chaos and “squabbles” of local feudal lords for power.
Matthias Hunyadi not only restored the centralized state in Hungary (allowing the administration of administrative structures of uninvited, but smart and talented people), he ensured his relative safety from the Ottoman Turks, created an advanced mercenary army (where every 4th infantryman was armed with an arquebuse) , attached to his possessions some neighboring lands, etc.
The enlightened king willingly patronized the people of science and art, and his famous library was the largest in Europe after the Vatican. Oh yes! His coat of arms depicted a raven (corvinus or korvin).
8. Robert Bruce | 1274 - 1329
Even those of us who are very far from the history of Great Britain have probably heard the name of Robert Bruce - the national hero of Scotland and her king since 1306. The first thing that comes to mind is Mel Gibson’s film “Braveheart” (1995) with him in the role of William Wallace, the leader of the Scots in the war for independence from England.
As one could easily understand even from this film (in which, of course, historical truth was not too respected), Robert Bruce was a rather ambiguous character. However, like many other historical figures of that time ...
He betrayed the British several times (sometimes swearing an oath to the next English king, then again joining the uprising against him), and the Scots (well, you think what a trifle - to take and kill his political rival John Comin right in the church - but after that Bruce became leader of the anti-British movement, and then the king of Scotland).
And yet, after winning the Battle of Bannockburn, which secured Scotland for so long defended independence, Robert Bruce, no doubt, became its hero.
7. Boemund of Tarents | 1054 - 1111
The times of the Crusades still sound in European legends with the names of the most valiant crusader knights. And one of them is Norman Boemund of Taranto, the first prince of Antioch, the best commander of the First Crusade.
In fact, Boehmund was governed by no means an ardent Christian faith and concern for the unfortunate co-religionists oppressed by the Saracens - he was simply a real adventurer, and also very ambitious.
He was attracted mainly by power, fame and profit. A small possession in Italy absolutely did not satisfy the ambitions of a brave warrior and a talented strategist, and therefore he decided to conquer territory in the East in order to establish his own state.
And now Boemund of Tarents, having joined the crusade, conquered Antioch from the Muslims, founded the Principality of Antioch here and became its ruler (mortally quarreling because of this with another Crusader commander - Raimund Toulouse, who also claimed Antioch). Alas, in the end, Bohemund could not keep his acquisition ...
6. Saladin (Salah ad-Din) | 1138 - 1193
Another hero of the crusades (but already from the side of the Saracens ’opponents) - the Sultan of Egypt and Syria, the great commander of the Muslim army opposing the crusaders - earned great respect even among his Christian enemies for his sharp mind, courage and generosity to the enemy.
In fact, his full name is: Al-Malik al-Nasir Salah ad-Duniya wa-d-Din Abul-Muzaffar Yusuf ibn Ayyub. Of course, not a single European could have said this. Therefore, in the European tradition of the glorified enemy, it is customary to call Saladin or Salah ad-Din.
During the Third Crusade, it was Saladin who delivered especially large “sorrows” to Christian knights, completely defeating their army in the Battle of Hattin in 1187 (and taking almost all the crusader leaders from the great Templar master Gerard de Ridfort to the King of Jerusalem Guy de Lusignan), and then conquering most of the land from them, where the crusaders managed to settle: almost all of Palestine, Acre and even Jerusalem. By the way, Richard the Lionheart admired Saladin and considered his friend.
5. Harald I the Fair-haired | 850 - 933
Another legendary northerner (again remember the “Vikings” - still a son, not Halvdan the Black's brother) is famous for the fact that it was during his time that Norway became Norway.
Having become a king at the age of 10, Harald, at the age of 22, united most of the separate possessions of large and small jarls and hevdings under his rule (a series of his victories culminated in the great battle of Hafrsfjord in 872), and then introduced permanent taxes in the country and restrained the defeated jarls who fled from the country, settled on the Shetland and Orkney Islands and from there raided the lands of Harald.
Being an 80-year-old man (for that time this is an unprecedented record!) Harald transferred power to his beloved son Eirik the Bloody Sekir - his glorious descendants ruled the country until the XIV century.
By the way, where did such an interesting nickname come from - Fair-haired? According to legend, in early adolescence, Harald wed to a girl named Guda. But she said that she would marry him only when he became king of all of Norway. Well, so be it!
Harald became a king over the kings, and at the same time he didn’t cut his hair for 9 years and did not scratch his hair (and he was nicknamed Harald Lohmaty). But after the battle of Hafrsfjord, he finally put his hairstyle in order (they say he really had beautiful thick hair), becoming Fair-haired.
4. William I the Conqueror | OK. 1027/1028 - 1087
And again, we return to the Vikings series: do you know that Guillaume Bastard, the future king of England William I the Conqueror, was a descendant of the first Duke of Normandy Rollo (or Rollon)?
No, in fact, Rollo (or rather, the real Viking leader Hrolf Pedestrian, so he was nicknamed because he was huge and heavy, because of which no horse could carry him) was not at all Ragnar Lodbrock’s brother .
But he really captured at the end of the 9th - beginning of the 10th centuries a large part of Normandy and became its ruler (and in fact married Princess Gisela - the daughter of Charles III the Simple).
Let's go back to William: he was the illegitimate son of the Duke of Normandy Robert I, but still in his 8 years he inherited his father’s title, and then was able to stay on the throne.
The guy from a young age had quite considerable ambitions, - in Normandy he was cramped. And then Wilhelm decided to get the English throne - especially since a dynastic crisis was brewing in England: Edward the Confessor did not have an heir, and since his mother was (very successfully!) Wilhelm's cousin, he could easily lay claim to the English throne. Alas, diplomatic methods failed to achieve the goal ...
I had to use military force. Further events are known to everyone: the new king of England Harold suffered a crushing defeat from the troops of William at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, and in 1072, Scotland conquered William the Conqueror.
3. Frederick I Barbarossa | 1122 - 1190
Frederick I of Hohenstaufen, nicknamed Barbarossa ("Red Beard") - one of the most famous kings of the Middle Ages. Over his long life, he has earned the glory of a wise, just (and very charismatic) ruler and great warrior.
He was very physically strong, strictly adhering to the knightly canons, - after Barbarossa became emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1155, the German knighthood experienced an unprecedented heyday (and it was under him that the strongest army in Europe was created from heavily armed riders).
Barbarossa sought to revive the former glory of the empire of the time of Charlemagne, and for this he had to go to war 5 times in Italy in order to curb it became too rebellious cities. In fact, he spent most of his life hiking.
At the age of 25, Frederick took part in the Second Crusade. And when Saladin conquered all the major acquisitions of the crusaders in the Middle East, Friedrich Hohenstaufen, of course, gathered a huge (according to sources - 100 thousandth!) Army and went with him on the Third Crusade.
And it is not known how events would have turned around if he had not fallen from his horse and choked when crossing the Selif River in Turkey, having failed to get out of the water in heavy armor. Barbarossa at that time was already 68 years old (a very respectable age!).
2. Richard I the Lionheart | 1157 - 1199
Indeed, it’s not so much a real king as a legend! We all know Richard the Lionheart from books and movies (starting with Walter Scott’s novel “Aivengo” and ending with the 2010 Robin Hood movie with Russell Crowe).
If to face the truth, Richard was not at all “a knight without fear and reproach”. Yes, he had the glory of an excellent warrior, prone to dangerous adventures, but at the same time he was distinguished by treachery and cruelty; was handsome (tall blond with blue eyes), but immoral to the marrow of bones; He knew many languages, but not his native English, for he had hardly been to England.
He betrayed his allies (and even his own father) more than once, earning another nickname - Richard Yes-and-No - for the fact that it was easy to incline him to either side.
For all the time of his reign in England, he was in the country for no more than a year. Gathering the treasury to equip the army and navy, he literally immediately went on a crusade (distinguishing himself with particular cruelty to Muslims), and on the way back he was captured by his enemy Leopold of Austria and spent several years in the fortress of Dürstein. To redeem the king, his subjects had to collect 150 thousand marks in silver.
He spent his last years in wars with King Phillip II of France, dying of blood poisoning after being wounded by an arrow.
1. Charles I the Great | 747/748 - 814
The most legendary king of the top ten - Carolus Magnus, Karloman, Charlemagne, etc. - Love and honor in almost all countries of Western Europe.
He was called Great during his lifetime, and this is not surprising: the King of the Franks since 768, the King of the Lombards since 774, the Duke of Bavaria from 788 and, finally, the Emperor of the West from 800, the eldest son of Pipin Korotkiy for the first time united Europe under one reign and created a huge centralized state, whose fame and grandeur boomed throughout the then civilized world.
The name of Charlemagne is mentioned in European legends (for example, in the Song of Roland). By the way, he became one of the first monarchs who provided patronage to people of science and art and opened schools not only for children of the nobility.