An edict issued by the Emperor Conrad II in 1037, by which all lesser fiefs throughout the Empire were made hereditary, while the feudal dues payable to the greater Lords were reduced. This edict became the law of German feudalism.
A conspiracy against the Medici in Florence in 1478, headed by the Pazzi family, and supported by Pope Sixtus IV. The plan was to assassinate the two brothers, Lorenzo and Giuliano, in the cathedral, but the assassins failed to kill Lorenzo, whose prompt measures quickly put down the rising.
A treaty between Great Britain and the United States which closed the American War of Independence. By its provisions Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States, and their right to the whole of the Northern Continent of America except Canada and Newfoundland. This treaty was confirmed by the Treaty of Versailles of 1783, to which Spain and France were also parties.
An Act passed in the Queensland Parliament in 1894, to deal with the terrorism rife in the pastoral districts owing to the action of the Shearers’ Union.
A society founded in London in 1816 to advocate the principle that war is inconsistent with Christianity and humanity. It is entirely unsectarian, though most of its earlier members were Quakers.
A rising of the peasants of Suabia, Franconia, Alsace and Lorraine, in 1525, under the leadership of Görtz von Berlichingen. They issued a manifesto demanding, among other concessions, the right to choose their own pastors, the payment of tithes in kind only, the proceeds thereof to be devoted to ecclesiastical purposes, the abolition of serfdom, and free hunting and fishing. In the later stages of the war they were led by the fanatic Münzer, who proclaimed community of goods. After much bloodshed the rising was suppressed in the course of the year, Münzer being killed in battle.
A treaty between Edward IV and Louis XI, by which the English King agreed to withdraw his troops from France, on the payment by Louis of the expenses of the war, a yearly pension, and 50,000 crowns as ransom for Margaret of Anjou. This treaty, signed in 1475, was secured by Louis mainly by large bribes administered to Edward’s advisers.
The name given by the Magyars, after the war of 1848, to those Hungarians who were suspected of Austrian sympathies.