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Mesedi
The Mesedi was the personal bodyguard of the king of the Hittites. The Mesedi was led by the Gal mesedi, who held considerable prestige in Hittite society. The Mesedi were a unit of 12 spearmen who protected the king wherever he might go. They probably numbered more in total in order to protect the king at all hours. They were reinforced and probably monitored by another unit numbering 12, known as the "golden spearmen." The Mesedi's purpose was the protection of the king against assassinations, which was endemic to the Hittite nobility. They also played a prominent role during festivals. Professor Christopher I. Beckwith has compared the Mesedi to other royal bodyguard units of Indo-European societies, generally referred to as Comitatus. See also * Mannerbund * Anglo-Saxon military organization * Huskarl * Druzhina * Hird * Comitatus * Al-Haras * Gabiniani * Somatophylakes * Maryannu * Varangian Guard * German Guard * Leidang * Fyrd * Thingmen The Thingmen () was a unit ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Haras
The haras (; "the Guard") was a personal bodyguard unit of the caliphs during the Umayyads and the Abbasids. The haras was also instituted in the Emirate of Córdoba in contemporary Spain. Origin Muhammad era The Haras were depicted first time during the time of Muhammad, prophet of Islam, where several early Muslim strong man such as Abu Bakr, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, Dzakwan ibn al-Qays, Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, Bilal ibn Rabah, Abbad ibn Bishr, and Abu Ayyub al-Ansari served as the prophet's personal Haras. Rashidun Caliphate era During the ascension of Abu Bakar as first caliph and the outbreak of the Ridda wars, the Haras wa al-Shurta units under Ali ibn Abi Talib, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, and Zubayr ibn al-Awwam saw combat in the battle of Zhu Qissa against the rebels who attacked Medina, and later in pursuing the rebels towards Dumat al-Jandal. The caliph had resorted to the use of this unit because the main army of the caliphate was engaged in the Expedit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hittites
The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in modern-day Turkey in the early 2nd millennium BC. The Hittites formed a series of Polity, polities in north-central Anatolia, including the kingdom of Kussara (before 1750 BC), the Kültepe, Kanesh or Nesha Kingdom (–1650 BC), and an empire centered on their capital, Hattusa (around 1650 BC). Known in modern times as the Hittite Empire, it reached its peak during the mid-14th century BC under Šuppiluliuma I, when it encompassed most of Anatolia and parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia, bordering the rival empires of the Hurri-Mitanni and Assyrians. Between the 15th and 13th centuries BC, the Hittites were one of the dominant powers of the Near East, coming into conflict with the New Kingdom of Egypt, the Middle Assyrian Empi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gal Mesedi
The ''gal mesedi'' was a Hittite military and administrative title literally meaning "chief of the royal bodyguards". He was in charge of the Mesedi, the personal bodyguard of the Hittite king.Burney p.234-235 It is considered to be one of the most important and prestigious posts of the Hittite Kingdom. History The ''gal mesedi'' was a commander responsible for the safety of the king himself. On most cases he was a member of the royal family and sometimes the brother of the king, whom he sometimes succeeded as in the case of Hattusili III, who before becoming a king was the ''gal mesedi'' of his brother, King Muwatalli II.Bryce p.22 A ''gal mesedi'' could also at times command independent military units that weren't under the king's jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scarecrow Press
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an American independent academic publishing company founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing company National Book Network based in Lanham, Maryland. History The current company took shape when the University Press of America acquired Rowman & Littlefield in 1988 and took the Rowman & Littlefield name for the parent company. Since 2013, there has also been an affiliated company based in London called Rowman & Littlefield International. It is editorially independent and publishes only academic books in Philosophy, Politics & International Relations and Cultural Studies. The company sponsors the Rowman & Littlefield Award in Innovative Teaching, the only national teaching award in political science given in the United States. It is awarded annually by the American Political Science Association for people w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial support of Charles Scribner, as a printing press to serve the Princeton community in 1905. Its distinctive building was constructed in 1911 on William Street in Princeton. Its first book was a new 1912 edition of John Witherspoon's ''Lectures on Moral Philosophy.'' History Princeton University Press was founded in 1905 by a recent Princeton graduate, Whitney Darrow, with financial support from another Princetonian, Charles Scribner II. Darrow and Scribner purchased the equipment and assumed the operations of two already existing local publishers, that of the ''Princeton Alumni Weekly'' and the Princeton Press. The new press printed both local newspapers, university documents, '' The Daily Princetonian'', and later added book publishing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thingmen
The Thingmen () was a unit (or a body of men) in the service of the Kings of England during the period 1013–1051. The unit was financed by direct taxation which had its origins in the tribute known as Danegeld. It consisted mostly of men of Scandinavian descent and it had an initial strength of 3,000 housecarls and a fleet of 40 ships, which was subsequently reduced. The last remnant of a Thingmen was disbanded by Edward the Confessor in 1051. In the 11th century, three courts outside Scandinavia were particularly prominent in recruiting Scandinavian troops:Pritsak 1981:386 Novgorod-Kiev (Kievan Rus') c. 980–1060, Constantinople (the Varangian Guard) 988–1204, and England 1018–1051. Scandinavia was however also a recruiting area for attacks against England and this is why a defence needed to be organized by the Danish king Cnut the Great.Pritsak 1981:410Pritsak 1981:411 The Thingmen attracted Swedish mercenaries, and probably some Norwegian as well. History Formation an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fyrd
A fyrd was a type of early Anglo-Saxon army that was mobilised from freemen or paid men to defend their Shire's lords estate, or from selected representatives to join a royal expedition. Service in the fyrd was usually of short duration and participants were expected to provide their own arms and provisions. The composition of the fyrd evolved over the years, particularly as a reaction to raids and invasions by the Vikings. The system of defence and conscription was reorganised during the reign of Alfred the Great, who set up 33 fortified towns (or burhs) in his kingdom of Wessex. The amount of taxation required to maintain each town was laid down in a document known as the Burghal Hidage. Each lord had his individual holding of land assessed in hides. Based on his land holding, he had to contribute men and arms to maintain and defend the burhs. Non-compliance with this requirement could lead to severe penalties. Ultimately the fyrd consisted of a nucleus of experienced so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leidang
The institution known as ''leiðangr'' (Old Norse), ''leidang'' ( Norwegian), ''leding'' ( Danish), ''ledung'' ( Swedish), ''expeditio'' (Latin) or sometimes lething (English), was a form of conscription ( mass levy) to organize coastal fleets for seasonal excursions and in defense of the realm typical for medieval Scandinavians and, later, a public levy of free farmers. In Anglo-Saxon England, a different system was used to achieve similar ends, and was known as the fyrd. The first recorded instance of a Norse lething is disputed among scholars. There is considerable evidence that substantiates its existence in the late 12th century. However, there are also written sources and archeological evidence which indicate that the lething system was introduced as early as the tenth century, if not earlier. Origins The age of the lething is disputed among scholars. The Icelandic sagas link the introduction of the lething to King Haakon I (The Good) of Norway in the tenth century. The fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Guard
The Numerus Batavorum, also called the cohors Germanorum,Suetonius, ''Galba' Germani corporis custodes, Germani corpore custodes, Imperial German Bodyguard or Germanic bodyguard, was a personal, imperial guards unit for the Roman emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty (30 BC – AD 68) composed of Germanic soldiers. Although the Praetorians may be considered the Roman emperor's main bodyguard, the Germanic bodyguards were a unit of more personal guards recruited from distant parts of the Empire, so they had no political or personal connections with Rome or the provinces. From ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'', it is known that Julius Caesar also had a Germanic bodyguard. Overview The members of the Numerus Batavorum were recruited from the Germanic tribes resident in, or on the borders of, the Roman province of Germania Inferior, with most recruits drawn from the Batavi but also from neighbouring tribes of the Rhine delta region, including the Frisii, Baetasii and Ubii. Li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Varangian Guard
The Varangian Guard () was an elite unit of the Byzantine army from the tenth to the fourteenth century who served as personal bodyguards to the Byzantine emperors. The Varangian Guard was known for being primarily composed of recruits from Northern Europe, including mainly Norsemen from Scandinavia but also Anglo-Saxons from England. The recruitment of distant foreigners from outside Byzantium to serve as the emperor's personal guard was pursued as a deliberate policy, as they lacked local political loyalties and could be counted upon to suppress revolts by disloyal Byzantine factions. The Rus' people, Rus' provided the earliest members of the Varangian Guard. They were in Byzantine service from as early as 874. The Guard was first formally constituted under Emperor Basil II in 988, following the Christianization of Kievan Rus' by Vladimir I of Kiev. Vladimir, who had recently taken control of Kiev with an army of Varangian warriors, sent 6,000 men to Basil as part of a military ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maryannu
The Maryannu were a caste of chariot-mounted hereditary warrior nobility that existed in many of the societies of the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. ''Maryannu'' is a Hurrianized Indo-Aryan word, formed by adding the Hurrian suffix ''-nni'' to the Indo-Aryan root ''márya'', meaning "(young) man"von Dassow, Eva, (2014).Levantine Polities under Mittanian Hegemony. In: Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Nicole Brisch and Jesper Eidem (eds.). ''Constituent, Confederate, and Conquered Space: The Emergence of the Mittani State'', p. 27 or a "young warrior". Philologist Martin West suggested that the name '' Meriones'', a character in Homeric epic, is "identical" to ''maryannu''. Thus, ''Mērionēs'' would be the Homeric Greek version of the term, reflected in pre- Mycenaean poetic verse as ''Mārionās''. The term is attested in the Amarna letters written by Haapi. The majority of the Maryannu had Semitic and Hurrian names. See also * Bronze Age Collapse: changes in warfare * Indo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Somatophylakes
''Somatophylakes'' (; singular: ''somatophylax'', σωματοφύλαξ) were the bodyguards of high-ranking people in ancient Greece. The most famous body of ''somatophylakes'' were those of Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great. They consisted of seven men, drawn from the Macedonian nobility, who also acted as high-ranking military officers, holding command positions such as General officer, general or chiliarch. Alexander the Great appointed Peucestas as eighth ''somatophylax'' after the Mallian Campaign, siege of Malli. Under Alexander the Great (Note that this list is speculative in several cases and would be disputed by scholars. For example, Hephaestion was probably not named as early as given below. The only ''complete'' list of Alexander's bodyguard in the original sources is found in Arrian (6.28.4), upon the extraordinary appointment of Peucestas in Carmania.) ;336–334 *Aristonous of Pella, Aristonous, Lysimachus, Peithon, Arybbas (somatophylax), Aryb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
