The original Knight of the Swan was Lohengrin. LOHENGRIN (lō’en-grin), the hero of an old High German poem, written in the end of the 13th century. He was the son of Parzival, and a knight of the Grail. At King Arthur’s command he was taken by a swan through the air to Mainz, where he fought…
Diary of Wilford Woodruff
Excerpts from the Diary of Wilford Woodruff, LDS Apostle and President of the Church. Wilford Woodruff (1807-1898) was an early convert to the LDS church. He was responsible for converting the Luce family to Mormonism and led their party of 53 people in 10 wagons from Maine to Nauvoo in 1838. He became an Apostle…
von Reinach Family
In the 11th and 12th centuries the the Counts of Lenzburg ruled the Aargau, including the area of Beromunster and Reinach. When that family died out in 1173, the Counts of Kyburg inherited their possessions, to be succeeded after 1264 by their heirs the Counts of Habsburg. In 1273 Rudolf, Count of Habsburg was elected…
Bernadotte
The Bernadottes derive from a family of old lineage in Béarn, France, whose earliest known ancestor owned an estate in Pau known as Bernadotte in the 17th century. Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte (1763-1844) was the son of an attorney. Bernadotte joined the army, but not being noble remained an enlisted man until the Revolution. Thereafter, he…
Order of St. John
Early History The Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem was founded sometime before 1099 — perhaps as early as 1020 — as a hospice in Jerusalem to aid pilgrims to the Holy Land. The beginning of the First Crusade in 1099 began to change the character of the hospice. In 1113 Pope Pascal II…