Table of contents : Tolosa : soujourn of the Visigoths (AD 418-507) -- Alt Clud : Kingdom of the Rock (fifth to twelfth centuries) -- Burgundia : five, six, or seven kingdoms (c. 411-1795) -- Aragon : a Mediterranean empire (1137-1714) -- Litva : a grand duchy with kings (1253-1795) -- Byzantion : the star-lit golden bough (330-1453) -- Borussia : watery land of the Prusai (1230-1945) -- Sabaudia : The house that Humbert built (1033-1946) -- Galicia : kingdom of the naked and starving (1773-1918) -- Etruria : French snake in the Tuscan grass (1801-14) -- Rosenau : the loved and unwonted legacy (1826-1918) -- Tsernagora : Kingdom of the Black Mountain (1910-1918) -- Rusyn : the republic of one day (15 March 1939) -- Éire : The unconscionable tempo of the Crown's retreat (1916-2011) -- CCCP : the ultimate vanishing act (1924-1991) -- How states die.