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Ranjith Kollannur

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21 Oct, 11 tweets, 4 min read

https://twitter.com/Arby_K/status/1318381576019869696

A German Knight who grabbed the land of his order and converted away from Catholicism, creating the power base that would propel his family and his new religion to greater heights.

Story in the evening ...

https://twitter.com/Arby_K/status/1318381576019869696

Albrecht von Brandenburg was born in 1490 as the third son of Margrave Friedrich of Brandenburg Ansbach. Like many of his younger brothers, he was also slated for a career in church and became the Canon in Wurzburg, Mainz & Cologne. 1/10

The death of the Hochmeister of the Teutonic Order, Friedrich von Sachsen, brought Albrecht to Prussia. Prussia was ruled by the Order, but under the overlordship of Poland, which was ruled by Albrecht's uncle, Zygmunt. 2/10

Hochmeister Albrecht managed a watchful truce as he tried to free his province from Polish influence. In 1522, he came to Nuremberg to ask the Emperor for assistance. It was then that he met Martin Luther. 3/10

The 1521 Diet of Worms had led to Luther's excommunication and condemnation as an outlaw, but he had many supporters in the Holy Roman Empire. Albrecht had an intriguing proposal in front of him for action in Prussia. 4/10

Scheming with his brother and his uncle, Albrecht broke away from the Roman church and paid homage to King Zygmunt. His uncle invested Albrecht as the Duke of Prussia, who formally adopted Lutheranism as the state religion, making Prussia the first Protestant state. 5/10

Albrecht's son, Albrecht Friedrich, would inherit Prussia after him. Leaving no sons, with the senior Brandenburg Hohenzollern line eyeing Prussia, his son-in-law Johann Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, would succeed him in 1618. 6/10

In 1660, Prussia would become free from Poland, though Brandenburg remained part of the Holy Roman Empire. Lutheranism would also grow in Scandinavia and parts of Germany as well, becoming state religion in many other nations. 7/10

In return for supporting the Habsburg cause in the War of Spanish Succession, the Duke of Prussia, Friedrich, would be allowed to crown himself King in 1701. Not wanting to offend his liege lord and out of respect to the Polish throne, he called himself King in Prussia. 8/10

Over the next century as Poland weakened, the Hohenzollerns would carve up Polish territory for themselves. The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire would see Brandenburg merging with Prussia, with Berlin as its capital. 9/10

Finally, the duchy Albrecht created in 1525 would propel its rulers to imperial heights as the Germany Empire is formed in 1871 with Prussia at its helm. Though the Empire would ultimately collapse with defeat in WWI, Berlin still retains its role as the capital of Germany. 10/10

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Ranjith Kollannur

@Arby_K

20 Oct

https://twitter.com/Arby_K/status/1318014672637816833

An Emperor whose choice of religion and weakness in face of invaders of the same religion led to the collapse of an Empire, but not his own.

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https://twitter.com/Arby_K/status/1318014672637816833

Flavius Valens was born in 328 to an Illyrian soldier in Pannonia. Unlike his elder brother Valentinian who was an active Roman soldier, Valens was a virtual unknown, until his brother nominated him as his imperial colleague in the East in 364. 1/10

Valentinian was a consensus choice, acclaimed as Augustus by the troops, when Jovian had suddenly died. Jovian had been Augustus for less than a year and was acclaimed by the troops when Julian died. His major reform was the re-adoption of Christianity as the state religion. 2/10

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19 Oct

https://twitter.com/Arby_K/status/1317678020618981377

A German Count whose chance inheritance led to a dynasty that ruled or will rule all the four corners of Europe.

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When Christian was born in 1426, it was not expected he will go on to rule a kingdom, let alone three. His father was the Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst in the Holy Roman Empire and his mother was the daughter of the Count of Holstein Rendsburg and Duke of Schleswig. 1/10

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Ranjith Kollannur

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18 Oct

https://twitter.com/Arby_K/status/1317139179474612225

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But by 1278 they backed the winning side, the Habsburgs, who ruled Austria till 1918. Over time they gained Feldsberg, also in Bohemia, which served as the base for the House of Liechtenstein till the 20th century. 2/10

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Ranjith Kollannur

@Arby_K

16 Oct

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I will be writing next about a Byzantine princess who bridged the East West divide and helped setting in motion a religious shift in an Asian nation that has significant geopolitical ramifications even now.

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Princess Theodora was the daughter of Emperor Alexios Ioannes IV of Trebizond and his Georgian wife, one of the rump states formed out of the former Byzantine Empire, when it collapsed after the sack of Constantinople in 1204 by the Latin Crusaders. 1/10

Though the Greeks recovered Constantinople in 1261, the Komneni of Trebizond were left largely to fend for themselves, becoming vassals of Georgia and the Horde and with marital alliances with their neighbours. 2/10

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Ranjith Kollannur

@Arby_K

15 Oct

https://twitter.com/Arby_K/status/1316350710619926528

Next up another Queen who brought a semblance of unity to few countries; a unity which did not last in terms of geography, but has lasted in many societal development aspects.

https://twitter.com/Arby_K/status/1316350710619926528

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Ranjith Kollannur

@Arby_K

14 Oct

https://twitter.com/Arby_K/status/1315946857290293248

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https://twitter.com/Arby_K/status/1315946857290293248

When Princess Juana was born in 1479 as the third child (and second daughter) of her parents, she was never expected to rule. Though she became the Queen of two nations, she would never really rule either. 1/10

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