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When you've got a lot of people together, it makes sense to pick someone to be in charge. As exploration expanded, individuals were chosen to oversee colonies and settlements. This section highlights those men (and some women), as well as the leaders and attendant ruling class -- nobles, peerage, wannabes and hangers-on --back home.
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Cross-listed in Writers

Thomas Babington Macaulay

aka: 1st Baron Macaulay
bornactivedied
1800, Oct 251825-18591859, Dec 28
a British historian and Whig politician. He wrote extensively as an essayist and reviewer; his books on British history have been hailed as literary masterpieces. Macaulay held political office as the Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841, and the Paymaster-General between 1846 and 1848. He played a major role in introducing English and western concepts to ...
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William Lyon Mackenzie

borndied
1795, Mar 121861, Aug 28
a Canadian-British journalist and politician. He was the first mayor of Toronto and was a leader during the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion.
Timeline (2)Links (1)


Dolley Madison

borndied
1768, May 201849, Jul 12
the wife of James Madison, President of the United States from 1809 to 1817. She was noted for her social graces, which boosted her husband’s popularity as President. In this way, she did much to define the role of the President’s spouse, known only much la...
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Timeline (2)Links (1)


James Madison

bornactivedied
1751, Mar 161809-18171836, Jun 28
an American statesman, political theorist, and the fourth President of the United States (1809–17). He is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for being instrumental in the drafting of the U.S. Constitution and as the key champion and author of the Bill of Rights. He served as a politician much of his adult life.
Timeline (12)Links (23)Notes (2)


Joan Maetsuycker

borndied
1606, Oct 141678, Jan 24
the Governor of Zeylan during the Dutch period in Ceylon and Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1653 to 1678. He was appointed as Governor of Zeylan on 24 March 1646 and was governor until 26 February 1650. He was succeeded by Jacob van Kittensteyn. Maetsuycker studied law in Leuven, and was a lawyer first in The Hague, and later in Amsterdam. Fr...
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Links (1)Notes (1)


Begum Hazrat Mahal

aka: Begum of Awadh, Begum of Oudh
borndied
1820 ca1879, Apr 7
the first wife of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. She rebelled against the British East India Company during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After her husband had been exiled to Calcutta, she took charge of the affairs in the state of Awadh and seized control of Lucknow. She also arranged for her son, Prince Birjis Qadra, to become Wali (ruler) of Awadh; However, he was...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Mahathammarachathirat

aka: Sanphet I, Khun Phirenthep
bornactivedied
15091569-15901590, Jun
the first King of Ayutthaya Kingdom of the Sukhothai dynasty ruling from 1569 to 1590. As a powerful Sukhothai noble, Phirenthep gradually rose to power. After playing many political turns, he was eventually crowned as the King of Siam. In 1570, the King of Lovek marched Cambodian armies to Ayutthaya and laid siege on the city but failed. In 1574, under the ...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Clergy

Mahmud I

bornactivedied
1696, Aug 21730-17541754, Dec 13
Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph (Sunni Islam) of the Ottoman Caliphate from 1730 to 1754. Mahmud I's reign was dominated by political intrigue and wars with Persia, Austria and Russia. Mahmud I entrusted government to his viziers and spent much of his time composing poetry.
Timeline (1)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Clergy

Mahmud II

bornactivedied
1789, Jul 201808-18391839, Jul 1
the 30th Sultan and Caliph (Sunni Islam) of the Ottoman Empire/Caliphate from 1808 until his death in 1839. His reign is recognized for the extensive administrative, military, and fiscal reforms he instituted, which culminated into the Decree of Tanzimat ("Reorganization") that was carried out by his sons more
Timeline (3)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Mangkunegara I

aka: Raden Mas Said, Pangeran Sambernyawa
borndied
1725, Apr 71795, Dec 23
the founder of Praja Mangkunegaran , a great duchy in southern central Java, and Hero National Indonesia . His father was named Prince Arya Mangkunegara of Kartasura and his mother was named RA Wulan. RM Said was born in Kartasura with the father of KPA Mangkunegara, the eldest son of Sunan Amangkurat IV (Pakubuwana I), the ruler of Mataram-Kartasura Kesunan...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Daniele Manin

borndied
1804, May 131857, Sep 22
an Italian patriot, statesman and leader of the Risorgimento in Venice. He is considered by many Italian historians a hero of the Italian unification. In 1847 Manin presented a petition to the Venetian congregation, a powerless consultative assembly tolerated by Austria, informing the emperor of the wants of the nation. He was arrested on a charge of high tr...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Educators

Horace Mann

borndied
1796, May 41859, Aug 2
an American educational reformer and Whig politician known for his commitment to promoting public education. A central theme of his life was that "it is the law of our nature to desire happiness. This law is not local, but universal; not temporary, but eternal. It is not a law to be proved by exceptions, for it knows no exception."[1] He served in the Massac...
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Cross-listed in Military

Manuel of Portugal

aka: Emanuel I, Prince of Portugal
borndied
1568 ca1638, Jun 22
the illegitimate son of António, Prior of Crato, pretender to the Portuguese throne during the 1580 Portuguese succession crisis. He secretly married in 1597 Countess Emilia of Nassau, daughter of William the Silent and Anna of Saxony. Manuel was born in ...
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Timeline (2)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Artists

John Mare Jr.

bornactivedied
17391765-17991802/03
an American painter, businessman, and public figure. Not much is known of Mare's training, although his portraits share some of the characteristics found in the work of colonial New York painter Thomas McIlworth. His earliest surviving portrait, of fewer than a dozen known, is of Henry Livingston, dating to 1760; a painting of Henry's brother Robert, similar...
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Links (1)


Margaret of Parma

borndied
1522, Dec 281586, Jan 18
was Governor of the Netherlands from 1559 to 1567 and from 1578 to 1582. She was the illegitimate daughter of the then 22-year-old Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Johanna Maria van der Gheynst. She was a Duchess of Florence and a Duchess of Parma and Piacenza by m...
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Timeline (2)Links (1)


Maria of Austria

aka: Duchess of Jülich-Cleves-Berg
borndied
1531, May 151581, Dec 11
the daughter of Emperor Ferdinand I from the House of Habsburg and Anna Jagiello. She married William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg on 18 July 18, 1546 as his second wife and they had the seven children.
Timeline (1)Links (1)


Maria Theresa

bornactivedied
1717, May 131740-17801780, Nov 29
the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma. By marriage, she was Duchess of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and Holy Roman Empress.
Timeline (6)Links (1)


Princess Marianne of the Netherlands

aka: Princess of Orange-Nassau, Wilhelmina Frederika Louise Charlotte Marianne
borndied
1810, May 91883, May 29
a member of the House of Orange-Nassau. In The Hague on 14 September 1830, Marianne married her first cousin Prince Albert, the fourth son of her mother's brother, King Frederick William III of Prussia. The union produced five children. In 1845 she left her unfaithful husband and began to live with her lover and former coachman Johannes van Rossum (nl). On 2...
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Timeline (2)Links (8)


William Markham [2]

borndied
16351704, Jun 12
served as deputy governor of the Province of Pennsylvania. Markham was the acting governor of Pennsylvania from 1681 to 1682 and from 1693 to 1699. He was a member of the Church of England and tended to favor the interests of minority religious groups in the primarily Quaker colony. On 10 April 1681, Markham was appointed by his first cousin, Governor Willia...
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John Marshall

borndied
1797, Dec 281836, Oct 31
an English politician, the Member of Parliament for Leeds (1832–1835). He was the second son of the wealthy industrialist John Marshall who introduced major innovations in flax spinning and built the celebrated Marshall's Mill and Temple Works in Leeds, West Yorkshire. His eldest brother William was MP for Beverley, Carlisle and East Cumberland and his nex...
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John Marshall [2]

borndied
1755, Sep 241835, Jul 6
the fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1801–1835). His court opinions helped lay the basis for United States constitutional law and many say made the Supreme Court of the United States a coequal branch of government along with the legislative and executive branches. Previously, Marshall had been a leader of the Federalist Party...
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Timeline (5)Links (18)


Cross-listed in Commerce

John Marshall [3]

borndied
1765, Jul 271845, Jun 6
a British businessman and politician from Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Marshall joined the family business when he was seventeen. Five years later his father died and Marshall became the controlling partner in the company. He inherited a new house, a warehouse, and £7,500. Shortly before his father's death, Marshall heard that two men from Darlington, Jo...
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Josiah Martin

borndied
1737, Apr 231786, Apr 13
a British administrator who served as the ninth Governor of North Carolina, serving from 1771 to 1776. On March 1, 1771, Martin received his appointment as Governor of North Carolina, succeeding James Hasell. Handicapped by illness, he remained in New York and was unable to present himself in the governor's palace at New Bern until Monday, August 12, 1771.
Timeline (1)Links (1)


Cross-listed in WritersEducators

Ignac Martinovics

aka: Ignác
borndied
1755, Jul 201795, May 20
a Hungarian scholar, philosopher, writer, secret agent, Freemason and a leader of the Hungarian Jacobin movement. He was condemned to death for high treason and beheaded on 20 May 1795, along with count Jakab Sigray, Ferenc Szentmarjay, József Hajnóczy and others. From 1783 he was a teacher in natural sciences at the University of Lemberg. During his acade...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Writers

Andrew Marvell

borndied
1621, Mar 311678, Aug 16
an English metaphysical poet, satirist and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1678. During the Commonwealth period he was a colleague and friend of John Milton. His poems range from the love-song "To His Coy Mistress", to...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Clergy

Queen Mary I

bornactivedied
1516, Feb 181553-15581558, Nov 17
the Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death. Her executions of Protestants led to the posthumous sobriquet "Bloody Mary". As the fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, Mary is remembered for her restoration of Roman Catholicism after her half-brother's short-lived Protestant reign. During her five-year reign, she had over 280 religi...
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Timeline (5)Links (1)Notes (1)


Cross-listed in Clergy

Queen Mary II

bornactivedied
1662, Apr 301689-16941694, Dec 28
joint Sovereign of England, Scotland, and Ireland and Supreme Governor of the Church of England with her husband (who was also her first cousin), William III and II, from 1689 until her death. William and Mary, both Protestants, became king and queen regnant, resp...
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Timeline (5)Links (1)Notes (1)


Mary of Hungary

aka: Mary of Austria
bornactivedied
1505, Sep 151514-15581558, Oct 18
queen consort of Hungary and Bohemia as the wife of King Louis II, and was later Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands. The daughter of Queen Joanna and King Philip I of Castile, Mary married King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia in 1515. Their marriage was happy but short and childless. Upon her husband's death following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Queen M...
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Mary of Orange

aka: Mary Henrietta Stuart, Princess of Orange, Countess of Nassau
borndied
1631, Nov 41660, Dec 24
Princess of Orange and Countess of Nassau by marriage to Prince William II. She was the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland and his wife, Henrietta Maria of France. Her only child, William succeeded her husband as Prince of Orange-Nassau and later reigned as King of England, Ireland and Scotland. Mary was the first daughter of...
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Timeline (2)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Explorers

Pedro Mascarenhas

bornactivedied
14701512-15551555, Jun 16
a Portuguese explorer and colonial administrator. He was the first European to discover the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in 1512. He also encountered the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius in 1512, although he may not have been the first Portuguese explorer to do so; earlier expeditions by Diogo Dias and Afonso de Albuquerque along with Diogo Fer...
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Cross-listed in WritersCommerce

George Mason

bornactivedied
1725, Nov 301747-17921792, Oct 7
a Virginia planter and politician, and a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of three delegates who refused to sign the constitution. His writings have been a significant influence on political thought and events, including substantial portions of the Fairfax Resolves of 1774, the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, and his Obj...
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Timeline (1)Links (18)


John Mason

borndied
15861635
a sailor and colonizer born at King's Lynn, Norfolk, England, and educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge. He was appointed the second Proprietary Governor of Newfoundland's Cuper's Cove colony in 1615, succeeding John Guy. Mason arrived on the island in 1616 and explored much of the territory. He compiled a map of the island and wrote and published a short tract ...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Massasoit

aka: Massasoit Sachem, Ousamequin
borndied
1581 ca1661
the sachem or leader of the Wampanoag tribe. The term Massasoit means Great Sachem. Massasoit Ousamequin lived in Montaup, a Pokanoket village in Bristol, Rhode Island. He held the allegiance of a number of lesser Pokanoket sachems. Outbreaks of smallpox had devastated the Pokanokets, and Massasoit sought an alliance with the colonies of New England against ...
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Cross-listed in PiratesMilitary

Matsura Takanobu

aka: Taqua Nombo
bornactivedied
15291550s-1560s1599, Apr 1
a 16th-century Japanese samurai and 25th hereditary lord of the Matsura clan of Hirado. He was one of the most powerful feudal lords of Kyushu and one of the first to allow trading with Europeans, particularly the Portuguese, through whom he amassed great profits in the import of western firearms. He was also an early host and patron to the Jesuits, who he ...
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Timeline (1)Links (2)


HRE Matthias

aka: Matthias II
bornactivedied
1557, Feb 241595-16191619, Mar 20
Holy Roman Emperor from 1612, King of Hungary and Croatia from 1608 (as Matthias II) and King of Bohemia from 1611. He was a member of the House of Habsburg. Matthias was born in the Austrian capital of Vienna to Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria of ...
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Timeline (2)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Maurice of Orange

aka: Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange
borndied
1567, Nov 141625, Apr 23
stadtholder of all the provinces of the Dutch Republic except for Friesland from 1585 at earliest until his death in 1625. Before he became Prince of Orange upon the death of his eldest half-brother Philip William in 1618, he was known as Maurice of Nassau. Maurice spent his youth in Dillenburg in Nassau, and studied in Heidelberg and Leiden. He succeeded h...
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Timeline (17)Links (1)


Maurice of Saxony

borndied
1521, Mar 211553, Jul 9
Duke (1541–47) and later Elector (1547–53) of Saxony. His clever manipulation of alliances and disputes gained the Albertine branch of the Wettin dynasty extensive lands and the electoral dignity. Later, Maurice refused to join the Protestant Schmalkaldic League, although the Landgrave Philip of Hesse, his friend and father-in-law, was its leader. The p...
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Timeline (3)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

John Maurice

aka: Prince of Nassau-Siegen, The Brazilian
borndied
1604, Jun 171679, Dec 20
was count and (from 1674) prince of Nassau-Siegen, and Grand Master of the Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg). John Maurice joined the Dutch army in 1621, at a very early age. He distinguished himself in the campaigns of his cousin, the stadtholder Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. In 1626 he became captain. He was involved in 1629 in the captur...
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Timeline (6)Links (1)


HRE Maximilian I

bornactivedied
1459, Mar 221490-14931519, Jan 12
King of the Romans (also known as King of the Germans) from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never crowned by the Pope, as the journey to Rome was always too risky. He was the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, and Eleanor of Portugal. He ruled jointly with his father for the last ten years of his father's reign, f...
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Timeline (15)Links (1)


Maximilian I of Bavaria

aka: Elector of Bavaria, Duke of Bavaria, Maximilian the Great
bornactivedied
1573, Apr 171591-16511651, Sep 27
a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and a prince-elector (Kurfürst) of the Holy Roman Empire. His reign was marked by the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). Maximilian refrained from any interference in German politics until 1607, when he was entrusted with the duty of executing the imperial ban against the free city of Donauwörth, a Protestant stronghold. In Dec...
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Timeline (4)Links (1)


Maximilian II

bornactivedied
1527, Jul 311564-15761576, Oct 12
a member of the Austrian House of Habsburg, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1564 until his death. He was crowned King of Bohemia in Prague on 14 May 1562 and elected King of Germany (King of the Romans) on 24 November 1562. On 8 September 1563 he was crowned King of Hungary and Croatia in the Hungarian capital Pressburg (Pozsony in Hungarian; now Bratislava, Slo...
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Timeline (5)Links (13)


Cross-listed in Military

Maximilian II Emanuel

aka: Max Emanuel, Maximilian Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria
borndied
1662, Jul 111726, Feb 26
a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and a Kurfürst of the Holy Roman Empire. He was also the last governor of the Spanish Netherlands and duke of Luxembourg. An able soldier, his ambition led to conflicts that limited his ultimate dynastic achievements. By 1683 he was already embarked on a military career, fighting in the defense of Vienna against the attempt o...
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Timeline (4)Links (1)


Maximilian III

bornactivedied
1558, Oct 121593-16181618, Nov 2
the Archduke of Further Austria from 1612 until his death. From 1585 Maximilian became the Grandmaster of the Teutonic Order; thanks to this he was known by the epithet der Deutschmeister ("the German Master") for much of his later life. In 1587 Maximilian stood as a candidate for the throne of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, following the death of the previ...
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Cross-listed in MilitaryLegal

Joseph McDowell

aka: Pleasant Gardens Joe, P.G.
bornactivedied
1758, Feb 251776-17951795, May 18
an American lawyer, soldier, and statesman from Morganton, North Carolina. His estate was named "Pleasant Gardens", and he was nicknamed "Pleasant Gardens Joe" to distinguish him from his cousin, Joseph "Quaker Meadows" McDowell. The two men are not always clearly distinguished in historical records: both were at the 1780 Battle of Kings Mountain, one as ...
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Cross-listed in MilitaryCommerce

Joseph McDowell Jr.

aka: Quaker Meadows Joe
bornactivedied
1756, Mar 81776-17991801, Feb 5
an American planter, soldier, and statesman from North Carolina. He was known as "Quaker Meadows Joe" to distinguish him from his cousin Joseph "Pleasant Gardens" McDowell, who was also a legislator and American Revolutionary War officer from North Carolina. The two men are not always clearly distinguished in historical records; both were in the 1780 Battle ...
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Cross-listed in Legal

Thomas McKean

bornactivedied
1734, Mar 191755-18121817, Jun 24
an American lawyer and politician from New Castle, in New Castle County, Delaware and Philadelphia. During the American Revolution he was a delegate to the Continental Congress where he signed the United States Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. McKean served as a President of Congress. He was at various times a member of the Fede...
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Timeline (1)Links (23)Notes (1)


Cross-listed in Legal

John McLean

bornactivedied
1785, Mar 111807-18611861, Apr 4
an American jurist and politician who served in the United States Congress, as U.S. Postmaster General, and as a justice on the Ohio and U.S. Supreme Courts. He was often discussed for the Whig and Republican nominations for President. He was elected to the U.S. House for the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1813, until he resigned...
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Timeline (1)Links (12)


Catherine de' Medici

borndied
1519, Apr 131589, Jan 5
an Italian noblewoman who was Queen of France from 1547 until 1559, as the wife of King Henry II. As the mother of three sons who became kings of France during her lifetime, she had extensive, if at times varying, influence in the political life of France. For a time, she ruled France as its regent.
Timeline (2)Links (1)


Mattias de' Medici

borndied
1613, May 91667, Oct 11
the third son of Grand Duke Cosimo II de' Medici of Tuscany and Archduchess Maria Maddalena of Austria. He was governor of Siena, with interruptions, from 1629. He never married. career at the age of 16. His father, Cosimo II, died on 28 February 1621; he was succeeded by Ferdinando de' Medici, the elder son. On 29 May 1629, Grand Duke Ferdinando appointed ...
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Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici

aka: Piero the Unfortunate
borndied
1472, Feb 151503, Dec 28
the Gran maestro of Florence from 1492 until his exile in 1494. He was the eldest son of Lorenzo de' Medici (Lorenzo the Magnificent) and Clarice Orsini. He was raised with alongside his younger brother Giovanni, who would go on to become Pope Leo X; and his cousin Giulio, who would later become Pope Clement VII. He was educated to succeed his father as head...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Clergy

Mehmed III

aka: Muhammed III
bornactivedied
1566, May 261595-16031603, Dec 21/22
the Sultan and Caliph of the Ottoman Empire from 1595 until his death in 1603. His reign is mostly remembered from his murders of his siblings and causing a general period of revolts and unease. Mehmed III was more conservative than his predecessor and largely halted artistic patronage, including support of the Society of Miniaturists. His reign saw no majo...
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Cross-listed in Clergy

Mehmed IV

aka: Muhammed) IV
bornactivedied
1642, Jan 21648-16871693, Jan 6
the Sultan and Caliph of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687. Taking the throne at age six, his reign was significant as he changed the nature of the Sultan's position forever by giving up most of his executive power to his Grand Vizier. He ascended to the throne in 1648 at the age of only six. His ascension marked the end of a very volatile time for the Ot...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Writers

Yirmisekizzade Mehmed Said Pasha

borndied
unknown1761, Oct
an Ottoman statesman and diplomat. He was Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from October 25, 1755 to April 1, 1756. He was dispatched for an embassy in Paris in 1742, as well as another more historically significant one in Sweden in 1733 and Poland, which led to his writing a sefaretname like his father. In Sweden, he succeeded Mustapha Aga as ambassador.
Links (1)


Empress Meisho

bornactivedied
unknown1629-1643unknown
Given name: Okiko


Cross-listed in Military

Francisco de Melo

borndied
15971651, Dec 18
a Portuguese nobleman and general. Melo was born in Estremoz, Portugal. He was marquis of the Portuguese Tor de Laguna, count of Assumar, and, from 1641 to 1644, interim governor of the Southern Netherlands. When Francisco de Melo came to the Southern Netherlands, he already had an impressive political career. From 1632 to 1636 he had been Spanish ambassador...
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Ana de Mendoza

aka: Princess of Eboli, Duchess of Pastrana
borndied
1540, Jun 291592, Feb 2
a Spanish aristocrat, suo jure 2nd Princess of Mélito, 2nd Duchess of Francavilla and 3rd Countess of Aliano. Her husband was a chief councillor and favourite with Philip, and from 1559 Prince of Éboli. Although she may have been blind in one eye, the Princess of Éboli was considered very attractive. She was an energetic person, and prominent in court lif...
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Antonio de Mendoza

borndied
14951552, Jul 21
the first Viceroy of New Spain, serving from April 17, 1535 to November 25, 1550, and the third Viceroy of Peru, from September 23, 1551, until his death on July 21, 1552. Mendoza became Viceroy of New Spain in 1535 and governed for 15 years, longer than any subsequent viceroy. On his arrival in New Spain, he found a recently conquered territory beset with I...
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Cross-listed in Writers

Diego Hurtado de Mendoza

borndied
15031575, Aug 14
a Spanish novelist, poet, diplomat and historian, governor of Granada. He acted for some time as military governor of Siena, represented Spain diplomatically at the Council of Trent, and in 1547 was nominated special plenipotentiary at Rome, where he remained till 1554. His Guerra de Granada (concerning the 1568 Morisco Revolt in the Alpujarras) was publishe...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Pedro de Mendoza

borndied
1487 ca1537, Jun 23
a Spanish conquistador, soldier and explorer, and the first adelantado of New Andalusia. In 1529, he offered to explore South America at his own expense and establish colonies. Thanks to the efforts of his mother María de Mendoza, in 1534 his offer was accepted: he was made adelantado governor, captain general, and chief justice over New Andalusia. This gra...
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Timeline (1)Links (2)


Alexander Danilovich Menshikov

aka: Prince of the Russian Empire, Duke of Izhora, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, Duke of Cosel
borndied
1673, Nov 61729, Nov 12
a Russian statesman. A highly appreciated associate and friend of Tsar Peter the Great, he was the de facto ruler of Russia for two years. As the story goes, he was making a living on the streets of Moscow as a vendor of stuffed buns known as pirozhki at the ...
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Pieter Merkus

borndied
1787, Mar 181844, Aug 2
a Dutch colonial administrator and Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1841 to 1844. He also served as governor of the Molucca Islands.
Links (1)Notes (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Hendrik Merkus de Kock

aka: Baron de Kock
borndied
1779, May 251845, Apr 12
a Dutch military general, minister, and senator. In 1801, he joined the Batavian navy, and by 1807 was posted to the Dutch East Indies. In 1821 he commanded a military expedition to Palembang to suppress a local uprising. Later, as Lieutenant Governor-General (1826–1830), De Kock led the fight against Prince Diponegoro in the Java War.
Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Metacomet

aka: King Philip, Pokanoket, Pometacomet, Pometacom, Metacom
bornactivedied
1639 ca1660s-1670s1676
Wampanoag; The second son of Massasoit, Metacomet (or King Philip) led an open rebellion against the English Massachusetts Bay Colony known as King Philip's War.
Timeline (1)Links (15)Notes (1)


Cross-listed in Legal

Theron Metcalf

bornactivedied
1784, Oct 161807-18651875, Nov 12
an American attorney and politician from Massachusetts. He was a New England jurist and served as an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. He was appointed Reporter of the Massachusetts Supreme Court in 1839, and sat on the bench of that court from February 24, 1848 until his resignation on August 31, 1865. His annotations were cons...
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Miantonomoh

aka: Miantonomo, Miantonomah, Miantonomi
borndied
1600 ca1643, Aug
a chief of the Narragansett people of New England Indians. He was a nephew of the Narragansett grand sachem, Canonicus (died 1647), with whom he associated in the government of the tribe, and whom he succeeded in 1636. Miantonomoh seems to have been friendly to the English colonists of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, though he was accused of be...
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Michael I

aka: Mikhail Romanov
bornactivedied
1596, Jul 121613-16451645, Jul 13
the first Russian Tsar of the house of Romanov after the zemskiy sobor of 1613 elected him to rule the Tsardom of Russia. He was the son of Feodor Nikitich Romanov (later known as Patriarch Filaret) and of Xenia (later known as "the great nun" Martha). He was also a nephew of Feodor I (the last Rurikid Tsar) through his aunt Anastasia Romanovna (his paternal...
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Timeline (3)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Commerce

Johannes Henricus Midderigh

borndied
1753, Jul 61800, Apr 30
a Rotterdam wine merchant and Freemason , a radical patriot and unitarian. He belonged to the first Catholic politicians in the Netherlands. Midderigh was the rotating chairman of the Second National Assembly during the coup on the night of Sunday on Monday, January 22, 1798. He supported this coup, but was arrested himself on 12 June 1798 at the next coup d...
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Timeline (1)


Arthur Middleton

bornactivedied
1742, Jun 261764-17871787, Jan 1
a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence. He was educated in Britain, at Harrow School, Westminster School, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He studied law at the Middle Temple and traveled extensively in Europe where his taste in literature, music, and art was developed and refined. He was a leader of the American Party in Carolina and one o...
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Links (15)Notes (1)


Cross-listed in Naval

Charles Middleton

aka: 1st Baron Barham
borndied
1726, Oct 141813, Jun 17
a Royal Navy officer and politician. As a junior officer he saw action during the Seven Years' War. Middleton was given command of a guardship at the Nore, a Royal Navy anchorage in the Thames Estuary, at the start of the American War of Independence, and was subsequently appointed Comptroller of the Navy. He went on to be First Naval Lord and then First Lor...
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Links (1)


Henry Middleton [1]

borndied
17171784, Jun 13
a planter and public official from South Carolina. A member of the colonial legislature, during the American Revolution he attended the Continental Congress and served as that body's presiding officer for a few days in 1774. He left Congress before it declared independence. Back in South Carolina, he served as president of the provincial congress and senator...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Commerce

Henry Middleton [2]

borndied
1770, Sep 281846, Jun 14
an American planter and political leader from Charleston, South Carolina. He was the 43rd Governor of South Carolina (1810–1812), represented South Carolina in the U. S. Congress (1815–1819). He served as Minister to Russia (1820–1830), being sent there in the first instance to replace George Washington Campbell so as to look after slave-owners' intere...
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Links (1)


Miguel I of Portugal

borndied
1802, Oct 261866, Nov 14
"the Absolutist" (Portuguese: "o Absolutista") or "the Traditionalist" (Portuguese: "o Tradicionalista"), was the King of Portugal between 1828 and 1834, the seventh child and third son of King João VI (John VI) and his queen, Carlota Joaquina of Spain. Following his exile as a result of his actions in support of absolutism in the April Revolt (Abrilada), M...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Peter Minuit

aka: Peter Minuit, Pieter Minuit, Pierre Minuit, Peter Minnewit
bornactivedied
1583 ca1625-16381638, Aug 5
a Walloon from Wesel, in present-day North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, then part of the Duchy of Cleves. His surname means "midnight". He was Director of the Dutch colony of New Netherland from 1626 until 1631, and founded the Swedish colony of New Sweden in 1638. Minuit is generally credited with orchestrating the purchase of Manhattan Island for the Dutch f...
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Timeline (3)Links (16)


Cross-listed in Military

Miguel Miramon

aka: Miramón, Miguel Gregorio de la Luz Atenógenes Miramón y Tarelo
borndied
1832, Sep 291867, Jun 19
a Mexican conservative general and politician. He served as anti-constitutional interim conservative President of Mexico in opposition to the constitutional president, Benito Juárez of the Liberal Party. He was a staunch conservative, a supporter of monarchy, aristocracy and religious privileges for the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church supported his mil...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Moctezuma II

aka: Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin
borndied
1466 ca1520, Jun 29
the ninth tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan, reigning from 1502 to 1520. The first contact between indigenous civilizations of Mesoamerica and Europeans took place during his reign, and he was killed during the initial stages of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, when conquistador Hernán Cortés and his men fought to escape from the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan....
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Commerce

Thomas Modyford

aka: 1st Baronet
borndied
1620 ca1679, Sep 2
a planter of Barbados and Governor of Jamaica from 1664 to 1670. Modyford was the son of a mayor of Exeter with family connections to the Duke of Albemarle, who emigrated to Barbados as a young man with other family members in 1647, in the opening stages of the English Civil War. He had £1,000 for a down payment on a plantation and £6,000 to commit in the ...
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Links (1)


Mohammed III

aka: Mohammed ben Abdallah
bornactivedied
1710 ca1748-17901790, Apr 9
Sultan of Morocco from 1757 to 1790 under the Alaouite dynasty. He was the governor of Marrakech around 1750. He was also sultan briefly during 1748. He was the son of Sultan Abdallah IV who reigned 1745–1757. A more open-minded ruler than many of his forebears, he signed numerous peace treaties with the European powers, and curtailed the power of the Barb...
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Links (1)


Emperor Momozono

bornactivedied
unknown1747-1762unknown
Given name: Toohito


Elizabeth Monroe

aka: Elizabeth Kortright, Eliza
bornactivedied
1768, Jun 301817-18251830, Sep 23
First Lady of the United States from 1817 to 1825, as the wife of James Monroe, fifth President. Due to the fragile condition of Elizabeth's health, many of the duties of official hostess were assumed by her eldest daughter, Eliza Monroe Hay. Elizabeth began her...
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Timeline (1)Links (15)


James Monroe

bornactivedied
1758, Apr 281817-18251831, Jul 4
the fifth President of the United States (1817–1825). Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States and the last president from the Virginian dynasty and the Republican Generation. Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, Monroe was of the planter class and fought in the American Revolutionary War. He was wounded in the Battle ...
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Timeline (14)Links (24)Notes (2)


Cross-listed in Writers

Charles Montagu

aka: 1st Earl of Halifax
bornactivedied
1661, Apr 161683-17061715, May 19
an English poet and statesman. In 1685, Montagu's verses on the death of King Charles II made such an impression on the Earl of Dorset that he was invited to town and introduced to other entertainments. In 1687, Montagu joined with Matthew Prior in "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse," a burlesque of John Dryden's The Hind and the Panther.
Links (1)


Cross-listed in Naval

Philip de Montmorency

aka: Count of Horn, Hoorne, Hoorn
borndied
unknown1568, Jun 5
a victim of the Inquisition in the Spanish Netherlands. He became stadtholder of Guelders in 1555, an Admiral of Flanders, and a knight of the Golden Fleece in 1556. In 1559 he commanded the stately fleet which conveyed Philip II from the Netherlands to Spain, and he remained at the Spanish court until 1563. On his return he placed himself with the Prince of...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Charles Mordaunt

aka: 3rd Earl of Peterborough, 1st Earl of Monmouth
borndied
16581735, Oct 25
an English nobleman and military leader. He was the son of John Mordaunt, 1st Viscount Mordaunt, and his wife Elizabeth, the daughter and sole heiress of Thomas Carey, the second son of Robert Carey, 1st Earl of Monmouth. Mordaunt's father, John Mordaunt, was created Viscount Mordaunt of Avalon and Baron Mordaunt of Reigate, Surrey, in 1659.
Timeline (1)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Daniel Morgan

bornactivedied
1736, Jul 61775-17991802, Jul 6
an American pioneer, soldier, and United States Representative from Virginia. One of the most gifted battlefield tacticians of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), he later commanded troops during the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion (1791–1794).
Timeline (1)Links (15)


Boris Morozov

borndied
15901661
a Russian statesman and boyar who led the Russian government during the early reign of Tsar Alexis, whose tutor and brother-in-law he was. During his long career at the Kremlin court, Morozov supervised a number of government departments (called prikazy) – Grand Treasury, Streltsy, Pharmacy, and Payroll. Aspiring to increase the treasury’s income, Morozo...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Gouverneur Morris

bornactivedied
1752, Jan 311775-18141816, Nov 6
an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a native of New York City who represented Pennsylvania in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation. Morris was also an author of large sections of the Constitution of the United States and one of its signers. He is widely credited as the autho...
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Timeline (1)Links (17)


Lewis Morris

bornactivedied
1726, Apr 81760-17881798, Jan 22
an American landowner and developer from Morrisania, New York. He signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Continental Congress from New York. As a prominent land owner in colonial New York, Lewis was appointed as a judge of the Admiralty Court for the province in 1760. In 1769, he was elected to the Colonial Assembly. In 1774, as the...
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Links (11)Notes (1)


Cross-listed in Commerce

Robert Morris Jr.

bornactivedied
1734, Jan 201750-17981806, May 8
a Founding Father of the United States, was a Liverpool-born American merchant who financed the American Revolution, oversaw the striking of the first coins of the United States, and signed the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution. Along with more
Links (1)Notes (1)


John Morton [2]

bornactivedied
17251756-17771777, Apr 1
a farmer, surveyor, and jurist from the Province of Pennsylvania and a Founding Father of the United States. As a delegate to the Continental Congress during the American Revolution, he was a signatory to the Continental Association and the United States Declaration of Independence. Morton provided the swing vote that allowed Pennsylvania to vote in favor of...
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Links (9)Notes (1)


Jacob Mossel

borndied
1704, Nov 281761, May 15
went from being a common sailor to become Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1750 to 1761. He was of noble birth, born in Enkhuizen. When he was 15 he left as an able-bodied seaman aboard a Fluyt (a type of Dutch sailing cargo vessel) called de Haringthuyn, bound for the Indies. As his family had a coat of arms, he was able to obtain a privileged...
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Links (1)Notes (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Muhammad XII

aka: Boabdil
borndied
1460 ca1533
the twenty-second and last Nasrid ruler of Granada in Iberia. In 1491, Muhammad XII was summoned by Ferdinand and Isabella to surrender the city of Granada, which was besieged by the Castilians. Eventually, on 2 January 1492, Granada was surrendered. In most sumptuous attire the royal procession moved from Santa Fe to a place a little more than a mile from G...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Clergy

Frederick Muhlenberg

bornactivedied
1750, Jan 11770-18011801, Jun 4
an American minister and politician who was the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A delegate to the Pennsylvania state constitutional convention and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and a Lutheran pastor by profession, Muhlenberg was born in Trappe, Pennsylvania. His home, known as The Speaker's House...
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Timeline (1)Links (13)


Cross-listed in ClergyMilitary

Peter Muhlenberg

bornactivedied
1746, Oct 11768-18071807, Oct 1
an American clergyman, Continental Army soldier during the American Revolutionary War, and political figure in the newly independent United States. A Lutheran minister, he served in the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate from Pennsylvania. Muhlenberg was elected to the 1st Congress (1789–1791) as one of the at-large representat...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Clergy

Murad III

bornactivedied
1546, Jul 41574-15951595, Jan 15/16
the emperor and Caliph of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 until his death in 1595. Murad's reign is most remembered as a period of economic stagnation and failures in seemingly endless warfare on two fronts. Murad's reign was a time of financial stress for the Ottoman state. To keep up with advances in European technology, the Ottomans trained infantrymen in th...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Clergy

Murad IV

bornactivedied
1612, Jul 26/271623-16401640, Feb 8
the Sultan and Caliph of the Ottoman Empire from 1623 to 1640, known both for restoring the authority of the state and for the brutality of his methods. Murad IV was born in Istanbul, the son of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603–17) and the ethnic Greek Valide Kösem Sultan. ...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in MilitaryNaval

Joachim Murat

aka: Gioacchino
bornactivedied
1767, Mar 251790-18151815, Oct 13
a Marshal of France and Admiral of France under the reign of Napoleon. He was also the 1st Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808, and King of Naples from 1808 to 1815. He received his titles in part by being Napoleon's brother-in-law through marriage to his youngest sister, Caroline Bonaparte, as well as personal merit. He was noted as a daring,...
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Timeline (6)Links (15)


John Murray

aka: 4th Earl of Dunmore, Lord Dunmore
borndied
17301809, Feb 25
a Scottish peer and colonial governor in the American colonies and The Bahamas. He was the last British Governor of Virginia. Lord Dunmore was named governor of the Province of New York in 1770. He succeeded to the same position in the Colony of Virginia the following year, after the death of Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt. As Virginia's governor, Du...
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Timeline (2)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Clergy

Mustafa II

bornactivedied
1664, Feb 61695-17031703, Dec 28/30
the Sultan and Caliph of the Ottoman Empire from 1695 to 1703. In June 1695, Mustafa II left Edirne for his first military campaign against the Habsburg Empire. On April 1696 Mustafa II left Edirne for his second military campaign against the Habsburg Empire. In June 1697 Mustafa II left the capital on his third military campaign against the Habsburg Empire....
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Clergy

Mustafa III

bornactivedied
1717, Jan 18/281757-17741774, Jan 21
the Sultan and Caliph of the Ottoman Empire from 1757 to 1774. He was a son of Sultan Ahmed III (1703–30) and was succeeded by his brother Abdul Hamid I (1774–89). He was born in Edirne Palace. An energetic and perceptive ruler, Mustafa III sought to modernize ...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Kara Mustafa Pasha

bornactivedied
1634/351660s-16831683, Dec 25
an Ottoman military leader and grand vizier who was a central character in the Ottoman Empire's last attempts at expansion into both Central and Eastern Europe. He served as a commander of ground troops in a war against Poland, negotiating a settlement with Jan Sobieski in 1676 that added the province of Podolia to the empire. The victory enabled the Ottoman...
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Timeline (2)Links (9)


Cross-listed in Clergy

Mustafa I

aka: Mustafa the Mad
bornactivedied
15911617-16231639, Jan 20
the son of Mehmed III and was the Sultan and Caliph of the Ottoman Empire from 1617 to 1618 and from 1622 to 1623. His two reigns are generally ill reputed points in history for the Empire. Mustafa was never more than a tool of court cliques at the Topkap? Palace. In 1618, after a short rule, another palace faction deposed him in favour of his young nephew O...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Clergy

Mustafa IV

bornactivedied
1779, Sep 81807-18081808, Nov 15/16
the Sultan and Caliph of the Ottoman Empire from 1807 to 1808. Mustafa's brief reign was turbulent. Immediately upon ascending to the throne, the Janissaries rioted throughout Constantinople, looting and murdering anyone who appeared to support Selim. More threatening, however, was a truce signed with the Russians, which freed Mustafa Bayrakdar, a pro-reform...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)

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