Following the Swiss victory in the Burgundian Wars, tensions between the cantons increased over the distribution of spoils of war. In 1481 they were on the bring of war between each other, but a mysterious advice from a hermit named Nicholas of Flüe brought peace! How? I explain.
Nicholas of Flüe used to be a brave soldier. He married when he was 30 and his wife gave him 10 children. However at the age of 50 he received a vision of a lily eaten by a horse which he interpreted as a call for giving up on worldly life completely, and he became a hermit!
Little is known about this part of his life other than as hermit he was greatly respected for his wisdom and piety. Called "brother Klaus", he was held in immensely high regard in Swiss cantons and beyond, people from across Europe came to seek advice from him!
So when in 1481 the Swiss cantons were at the brink of war and the Confederacy was about to fall apart, they sought advice from brother Klaus! A priest named Heini Amgrund visited this man of great wisdom and received counsel from him for the leaders of Swiss cantons.
Heini Amgrund returned to the Swiss Diet called Tagsatzung and delivered to them the wise words of counsel from Nicholas of Flüe. They listened to Nicholas' message and followed his advice. The delegates immediately reached a compromise. All the quarrels were put aside!
What was the advice that this myserious brother Klaus gave them? We will never know because it remains a secret to this day! We only have letters of gratitude from the cantons of Bern and Solothurn left. It will always be a mystery.
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It's wild how Denmark had colonies in India for more than 200 years from 1620 to 1869.
Fort Dansborg, built in 1620, still stands today in the Bay of Bengal.
They had forts, factories, trading posts. But they eventually sold their possessions to British Empire.
The Danish presence in India was of little significance to the major European powers as they presented neither a military nor a mercantile threat so they let them carve out their own niche.
A map of Danish trade routes in the region.
The operation was initially conducted by Danish East India Company.
But the early years of the Danish adventure in India in 1620s were horrible. Almost two-thirds of all the trading vessels dispatched from Denmark were lost.
English explorer John Smith, famous for his involvement in establishing the Jamestown colony in America in 1607.
His coat of arms featured the heads of three Ottoman soldiers whom he beheaded in duels while serving as a mercenary in Transylvania during the Long Turkish War.
John Smith is known today for his role in managing the colony of Jamestown in Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in North America, and his connection with a Powhatan woman called Pocahontas.
But John Smith was also a powerful warrior and mercenary prior to that.
Born in England, he set off to sea in 1596 at age 16 after his father died to become a mercenary, fighting for the French against the Spanish.
He was looking for what he called "brave adventures".
After a truce was made in 1598, he joined a French pirate crew in Mediterranean.
Many Irishmen served the Habsburgs over centuries and distinguished themselves.
Over 100 Irishmen were field marshals, generals, or admirals in the Austrian Army!
Some of the illustrious Irish warriors serving the Habsburg emperors. 🧵
In 1853 there was an assassination attempt on emperor Franz Joseph in Vienna by a Hungarian nationalist.
But the emperor's life was saved by Count Maximilian Karl Lamoral O'Donnell who cut the assassin down with a sabre.
O'Donnell was a descendant of Irish nobility!
Maximilian ancestors -the powerful O'Donnell clan- left Ireland during the Flight of the Earls in 1607, when Irish earls and their followers left Ireland in the aftermath of their defeat against the English Crown in the Nine Years' War in 1603.
Many inns appeared in medieval Europe, offering foods, drinks and a place to socialize, as well as lodging for travelers, helping transportation logistics.
In this thread I will present some of the old medieval inns that survived to this day, from various European countries!🧵
The George Inn. Norton St Philip in Somerset, England 🏴.
Built in 14th century and completed in 15th century, this is a proper medieval inn.
Being an innkeeper was a respected social position. In medieval England, innkeepers were generally wealthy and held influence in towns!
Stiftskeller St. Peter. St Peter's Abbey in Salzburg, Austria 🇦🇹.
Often mentioned as the oldest inn in Central Europe, for it was first mentioned in 803 in a letter to Charlemagne.
It operated as part of the monastery to give food to pilgrims. Now a prestigious restaurant.
This is the Mercedes-Benz W125 Rekordwagen made in 1937.
I was always fascinated with this car.
It's crazy how in 1938 this car recorded a speed of 432.7 km/h (268.9 mph). This remained the fastest ever officially timed speed on a public road until broken in 2017.
The record was set by German driver Rudolf Caracciola who drove this car on the Reichs-Autobahn A5 between Frankfurt and Darmstadt on 28 January 1938.
This reflected the obsession with breaking records and showcasing industrial prowess of nations at the time.
The onlookers who observed the spectacle of a car racing at astonishing 432.7 km/h past them also noted the brutal boom of the side spewing exhaust stacks as the silver car hurtled past.
It must have been an incredible spectacle to witness!