Line of Descent Quotes
He had tripled the size of Rus, pulling together the disparate areas which had been under the thrall of the Golden Horde. The custom was when the Grand Prince died he left parts of his dominion to each of his sons and grandsons. However. Ivan changed that pattern and wanted one son to be the ruler over all of what was becoming a large unified state. After that his pattern was followed by all the Czars until the Russian Communist Revolution in 1917." Ivan the Great
Gennadios II, 1400-1473, had been taken as a prisoner when the Ottomans captured Constantinople 3 days earlier. Despite the fact that there was doctrine that said that Islam should be the only religion, Mehmed—only 21 at the time—realized that he had to rule the city including the many Greek Orthodox and had Gennadios freed and personally invested him as the Petrarch of the Eastern Christian Church. Mehmed was particularly shrewd in his choice. Gennadios had been a strong opponent of the Union movement of Eastern and Western Christian Churches would end their schism and reunite. See {635099} for another notable who was vehemently opposed to Union. There were some Unionists among the defeated Christians who were still alive. The last thing strategically that the Ottoman’s wanted was for Union to have traction and the Eastern Christians of Constantinople looking to the Western Christians led by the Pope, the Holy Roman Emperor and the Christian European Kings for an alliance to eject the Ottomans from and retake Constantinople. The graphic depicts Mehmed investing Gennadios—a practice that was followed with each new Patriarch and the Sultan then in office. See {635084} for another quotation describing Ottoman pragmatic religious tolerance. One of Mehmed’s historical heroes was Alexander the Great who was able to rule most of the known world in large part because of his education by Aristotle advising him to be very tolerant of conquered people’s cultures, religious and otherwise. Mehmed, after his death, came under criticism from ultra orthodox Muslims including his own son and successor, for his religious tolerance and emulating a non-believer—Alexander the Great.
The king would often walk alone or with only a few companions. His brother expressed concern about exposing the royal person to risk.
King Henry VII had only 1 son, Edward who became king at age 9. But at the age 15 he became very ill and died with no children. Before his death however, Mary who would normally have been the next in line was a Catholic and Northumberland, the head of the Privy Counselor, and father of Jane’s Husband arranged for Edward to change his will before he died. Jane Grey riled for 9 days. Parliament then made Mary the Queen.
There were a number of Blacks who believed that they were descended from the progeny of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings, one of his slaves. Despite most evidence supporting that position, the Thomas Jefferson Society of Jefferson’s descendents, refused to admit them.
