Regnal Chronologies (original) (raw)







Regnal chronology is, specifically, the study of of king lists, sequences of governance in the history of a state, and the organizing of such data. I have extended the idea to intrude upon political geography as well, giving a representation of political eras within certain geographic regions. I have also included information culled from traditional and mythological eras - clearly labelled as such - to provide a foundation and context for what particular cultures regard as their roots. This study, therefore, inhabits a frontier region located somewhere near the intersection of political science, history, archeology, and geography - with a sprinkling of heraldry, genealogy, numismatics, epigraphy, and religion mixed in.

The notion here is the framework around which much of history is built: names, dates, tabular data, all the dismally boring aspects of history that most people remember from their school-days, with sorrow. I am sensitive to the issue and, while I personally do not think of this kind of information as dull, I recognize that many people will. I have, therefore, tried to inject into the tables some explanatory notes and a few human interest stories here and there, in order to provide some context for the information and also to make it a bit more interesting than the equivalent of reading a phone book. I do feel, though, that the material is important: not only does it provide a specific record of historical periods within geographic regions, but it provides the basis to which real history is to be examined - the floor upon which historians need to walk.

The documents herein must not be considered final in most instances; my research into this subject continues as I refine previous documentation and discover new sources. Quite apart from which, there are numerous regions which aren't linked, because I haven't been able to build those pages yet. So, if you are interested in a particular area, and the information is sparse or lacking, well, keep looking, I'll get there eventually... If you see anything which you feel is erroneous, please Email me. I ask only that you provide documentation for whatever you wish to have changed. I am an amateur historian (or chronicler, really), and my access to primary source material is correspondingly more limited than if I were an acknowledged authority in the field. Nevertheless, my basic goals here are accuracy and completeness, in that order.

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What's New... The latest additions and revisions.

CONCERNING GENEALOGY
Ineed to point out that I am not a professional genealogist, and do not have access to sources for that particular discipline. Although this website is devoted to an area of study which uses genealogy to a degree, it is primarily a chronological site, and should not be used as a foundation for deriving your ancestry. I cannot give much in the way of useful help in searches for family trees, and questions directed to me on such topics will normally be wasted effort. I would strongly urge people undertaking such research to start with the WorldGenWebproject. It is a vast series of links to regional genealogy sites, and is highly recommended for developing resources and research strategies.

CONCERNING ARRANGEMENT, COLOR CONVENTIONS, and ABBREVIATIONS.
There is the general question of how entries are arranged. There is a great deal of material in these pages, and I am trying to conserve db by keeping pictorial files to a minimum. How then to make these pages look interesting, and provide an additional dimension of meaning as well? By going hog-wild with the font palette, of course... Here is a mock-up example of a fairly typical entry, showing how I use color...

NAME OF A STATE, REGION, or LOCALITYA description of the area, giving aids to finding it if it is small or obscure, together with a few brief comments about important historical or cultural points to consider. Not every place has comments yet, but I hope to add at least something to every area I deal with at some point.

Within the archive, I make use of a number of conventional abbreviations which hopefully shouldn't be too obscure in context. Nevertheless, to insure clarity, here is a list of what will commonly be encountered: