History.

Nordic walking (originally Finnish sauvakävely) is fitness walking with specially designed poles. While trekkers, backpackers and skiers had been using the basic concept for decades, Nordic walking was first formally defined with the publication of ""Hiihdon lajiosa"" (translation: "A part of cross-country skiing training methodic") by Mauri Repo in 1979. "(.)" Nordic walking's concept was developed on the basis of off-season ski-training activity while using one-piece ski poles.  For decades hikers and backpackers used their one-piece ski poles long before trekking and Nordic walking poles came onto the scene. Ski racers deprived of snow have always used and still do use their one-piece ski poles for ski walking and hill bounding. The first poles specially designed and marketed to fitness walkers were produced by Exerstrider of the US in 1988. "Nordic Walker" poles were produced and marketed by Exel in 1997. Exel coined and popularized the term 'Nordic Walking' in 1999.

Benefits.

Compared to regular walking, Nordic walking (also called pole walking) involves applying force to the poles with each stride. Nordic walkers use more of their entire body (with greater intensity) and receive fitness building stimulation not present in normal walking for the chest, latissimus dorsi muscle, triceps, biceps, shoulder, abdominals, spinal and other core muscles that may result in significant increases in heart rate at a given pace. Nordic walking has been estimated as producing up to a 46% increase in energy consumption, compared to walking without poles.  According to the findings of the research, conducted by the group scientists from various universities*, both Nordic walking and conventional walking are beneficial for older adults. However, Nordic walking provides additional benefits in muscular strength compared to conventional walking, making it suitable for improving aerobic capacity and muscular strength as well as other components of functional fitness in a short period of time. The key points stated by the study authors are:

Equipment.

Nordic walking poles are significantly shorter than those recommended for cross-country skiing. Nordic walking poles come in one-piece, non-adjustable shaft versions, available in varying lengths, and telescoping two or three piece twist-locking versions of adjustable length. One piece poles are generally stronger and lighter, but must be matched to the user. Telescoping poles are 'one-size fits all', and are more transportable.  Nordic walking poles feature a range of grips and wrist-straps, or rarely, no wrist-strap at all. The straps eliminate the need to tightly grasp the grips. As with many trekking poles, Nordic walking poles come with removable rubber tips for use on hard surfaces and hardened metal tips for trails, the beach, snow and ice. Most poles are made from lightweight aluminium, carbon fiber, or composite materials. Special walking shoes are not required, although there are shoes being marketed as specifically designed for the sport.

Technique.

The cadences of the arms, legs and body are, rhythmically speaking, similar to those used in normal, vigorous, walking. The range of arm movement regulates the length of the stride. Restricted arm movements will mean a natural restricted pelvic motion and stride length. The longer the pole thrust, the longer the stride and more powerful the swing of the pelvis and upper torso.

Nordic walking is a total-body version of walking that can be enjoyed both by non-athletes as a health-promoting physical activity, and by athletes as a sport. The activity is performed with specially designed walking poles similar to ski poles.


Education.

Born in Rača, Bratislava, Gruberová began her musical studies at the Bratislava Conservatory ("Konzervatórium v Bratislave"), where she was a student of Mária Medvecká. She then continued at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (VŠMU). While studying, she was a singer of the Lúčnica folk ensemble and appeared several times in the Slovak National Theatre.

Career.

In 1968, Gruberová made her operatic debut in Bratislava as Rosina in "The Barber of Seville". After winning a singing competition in Toulouse, she was then engaged as a soloist of the opera ensemble of the "J. G. Tajovský Theatre" in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, from 1968 to 1970. Since communist Czechoslovakia was going through a period called normalization, during which the borders were closed with non-communist countries, Medvecká surreptitiously arranged for an audition for Gruberová in the summer of 1969 at Vienna State Opera, which immediately engaged her. The following year, she made her first major breakthrough when she sang the Queen of the Night. Gruberová then decided to emigrate to the West. In subsequent years, she became a soloist in Vienna and was invited to sing at many of the most important opera houses in the world, especially in coloratura roles.  Gruberová made her debut at Glyndebourne in 1973 and at the Metropolitan Opera in 1977, both as the Queen of the Night. In 1977, she first appeared at the Salzburg Festival, as Thibault in "Don Carlo", under Herbert von Karajan. In 1982, she appeared opposite Ingvar Wixell and Luciano Pavarotti in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's film of "Rigoletto". Gruberová made her Royal Opera House debut as Giulietta in Bellini's "I Capuleti e i Montecchi" in 1984. Other important roles she has sung include Zerbinetta in "Ariadne auf Naxos", Gilda in "Rigoletto", Violetta in "La traviata", Lucia in "Lucia di Lammermoor", Konstanze in "Die Entführung aus dem Serail", the title role in Massenet's "Manon" and Oscar in "Un ballo in maschera"; she sang Donna Anna in "Don Giovanni" at La Scala in 1987, Marie in "La fille du régiment" in 1987, the title role in "Semiramide" in 1992 in Zürich, Queen Elizabeth I in Donizetti's "Roberto Devereux" in Vienna in 1990. In 2003, she added the title role in "Norma" to her repertoire, and sang it in Munich in 2008/09.  She gave her last staged opera performance on 27 March 2019 as Queen Elizabeth I in "Roberto Devereux" at the Bavarian State Opera.  She is an Austrian and Bavarian Kammersängerin and honorary member of the Vienna State Opera.  Gruberová has made many recordings, most notably in recent years full-length recordings and extended selections from Donizetti's Tudor Queens trilogy and other "bel canto" operas, lately exclusively on Nightingale label. More than a dozen of her filmed and televised opera appearances have been released on DVD, including "I Puritani", "Die Zauberflöte", "Così fan tutte", "Die Entführung aus dem Serail", "Ariadne auf Naxos", "Norma", "Manon", "Beatrice di Tenda", "Lucrezia Borgia", and "Linda di Chamounix".

Edita Gruberová (born 23 December 1946) is a Slovak coloratura soprano. She had enjoyed huge success in roles such as Zerbinetta in "Ariadne auf Naxos" and Queen of the Night in "The Magic Flute". In her later career, she explores heavier roles in the Italian bel canto repertoire, such as the title role in "Lucia di Lammermoor", Elvira in Bellini's "I Puritani", or Elisabetta in Donizetti's "Roberto Devereux".


Early life.

Sokolovsky was born into a peasant family in Kozliki, a small town in the province of Grodno (now in Białystok County in Poland, then part of the Russian Empire). He worked as a teacher in a rural school, where he took part in a number of protests and demonstrations against the Tsar.

Military career.

Sokolovsky joined the Red Army in February 1918.  He began his formal military schooling in 1919, but was frequently called up by the Red Army and forced to leave his schoolwork. He graduated in 1921 and became the chief of staff of a division stationed in Turkmenistan. He was wounded during a battle near Samarkand and subsequently decorated for bravery. After the Russian Civil War ended in 1922/1923 he held a number of staff positions, eventually becoming the chief of staff for the Moscow Military District and then the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, the position he held at the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa (22 June 1941).  In December 1941, with German forces a mere 20 kilometers from Moscow, Sokolovsky was made the chief of staff of the Soviet Western Front, where he was able to help co-ordinate the Soviet winter counter-attacks that forced the Germans away from Moscow. He remained in this position until February 1943, when he became the commander of the Western Front.  He led this front through the Battle of Kursk. In the summer of 1943, the Soviets launched Operation Kutuzov on 12 July against Army Group Centre in the Orel salient, directly north of the Kursk salient. The Bryansk Front, under the command of Markian Popov, attacked the eastern face of the Orel salient while the Western Front, commanded by Sokolovsky, attacked from the north. The operation ended on 18 August 1943 with the Soviet capture of Orel and collapse of the Orel bulge. In October–November 1943, Sokolovsky commanded the Western Front in failed Soviet Orsha offensives against Gotthard Heinrici's 4th Army in the Orsha region of Belarus. In April 1944 the Western Front was broken into two parts and Sokolovsky was made chief of staff of 1st Ukrainian Front under Georgy Zhukov. He remained in this position until the end of the war in 1945. As the chief of staff of 1st Ukrainian Front, Sokolovsky helped plan and execute the capture of Berlin. Sokolovsky sat next to Zhukov as he accepted the German Instrument of Surrender in Berlin.  After World War II, Sokolovsky became the deputy commander-in-chief of the Soviet Forces in East Germany until July 3, 1946. On that day Sokolovsky was promoted to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union, and also made commander-in-chief of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany and head of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany. His walking out of a meeting of the Allied Control Council on 20 March 1948 as the Soviet representative on that body effectively immobilized it from that date. In 1949 he became the Soviet Union's Deputy Minister of Defense, a position he held until 1952, when he was made the Chief of the General Staff. In 1960 Sokolovsky became the Inspector-General of the Ministry of Defense. He retained this position until his death on May 10, 1968.  Sokolovsky became widely known in the West with the publication in 1962 of "Military Strategy", a book that contained rare detail on Soviet thinking about war, particularly nuclear war.  Sokolovsky was a key member of the Soviet war command during World War II and known as an excellent planner and exceptional military leader. He was particularly well-trusted by Marshal Georgy Zhukov. The urn containing Sokolovsky’s ashes is buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.  Sokolovsky appears as a prominent figure in William T. Vollmann's 2005 National Book Award-winning novel, "Europe Central".

Vasily Danilovich Sokolovsky (; July 21, 1897 – May 10, 1968) was a Soviet general and Marshal of the Soviet Union who led Red Army forces on the Eastern Front during World War II. As Georgy Zhukov's chief of staff, Sokolovsky helped plan and execute the Capture of Berlin.


Life.

Early activities.

A nobleman born in Couffé, arrondissement of Ancenis, Charette served in the French Navy under Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte, notably during the American War of Independence, and became "lieutenant de vaisseau". He notably served on the 74-gun "Hercule", under Puget-Bras.  Following the outbreak of the French Revolution, he quit the Navy in 1789 and emigrated to Koblenz (Trier) in 1792 (a common move for royalist aristocrats). He soon returned to France to live at his property in La Garnache, and became one of the royalist volunteers who assisted in defending King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette from physical harm during the mob attack on Tuileries Palace (the "Journée du 10 août"); arrested in Angers, he was released through the intervention of Charles François Dumouriez.

Vendée War.

In 1793, the Revolt in the Vendée against the French First Republic broke out, and the peasant fighters asked Charette to be their leader. He joined Jacques Cathelineau following the taking of Saumur in June 1793 and fought in most of the battles of the Catholic and Royal Army. On 19 September 1793, he participated in the victorious Battle of Tiffauges. Afterwards he and Louis Marie de Lescure had marched on Saint-Fulgent to pursue Jean-Baptiste Kléber, who had escaped. Charette won another victory over the Republicans at the First Battle of Noirmoutier. Some of the captured soldiers took part in the Machecoul Massacres and a quarter of them were executed for retribution by Charette's troops, against his orders. After the parting of the Vendean leaders in September 1793, he and his men retreated. He became the leader of the Lower Vendée, and successfully used guerrilla warfare against the Republican troops, capturing a Republican camp in Saint-Christophe-du-Ligneron, near Challans, but ran out of supplies and was decisively attacked by the troops of Nicolas Haxo. Trapped in the, Charette, with the fellow leader Couëtus was informed of an escape route by a local to the isle. Leaving behind all guns, ammunition, horses, refugees and the wounded, Charette, Couëtus and their men swam through the marshes to Châteauneuf. By a chance stroke of luck, Charette met up with the army of Joly, and both him and Charette retaliated by circling Haxo, gaining back supplies and distracting the Republican army from the refugees.Haxo later attacked the Isle of Noirmoutier, with Louis Turreau, which had been taken by Charette the month before, and after promising life to the inhabitants if they surrendered, against Haxo's command Turreau killed most men, women and children on the isle at the steps of the local church (La chapelle de la Pitié), including D'Elbée who had taken refuge there after sustaining 14 wounds at the battle of Cholet.  After this, Charette's army returned and collected reinforcements; Revolutionary brutality and the 'Infernal Columns' sent by the Convention to destroy the Vendée forced many peasants to join Charette's army for merely safety. Charette won a victory at Saint-Fulgent, only to be chased into hiding in the forest of Grala. He emerged from it to attack the 'Brouzils'; he was wounded in the arm but kept on until the end of the fight. After obtaining food for his starving army, Charette was brought to La Morière, a convent near Machecoul, to recover from his wound; he was only able to rest there for a few days when his location was betrayed and the Republicans surrounded the convent. Warned, he was able to escape, but the nuns and a large number of the refugees who had come with Charette's army and had hidden in the church were massacred.

Defeat.

On 17 February 1795, after being introduced to it by his sister, Charette signed the Treaty of La Jaunaye with the emissaries of the National Convention, which included freedom of religion guarantees and excluded the conscription of local peasants from the "levée en masse". The republicans soon reneged on the terms of the treaty, and their parole, repudiating the guarantees of religious freedom; and they began conscripting peasants once again. They also murdered thousands of royalist prisoners including the Bishop of Dol. Charette and his men returned to the fight again in July and moved to help the planned invasion at Quiberon by French royalist emigrés with assistance from the British Royal Navy.  The Count of Artois, the Bourbon successor to the throne of France, made him Lieutenant General and gave orders to prepare for a royal return which, however, did not eventuate. Charette remained loyal to the old dynasty and the Catholic religion, as did his men and most of the Vendean and Breton peasantry. He, and all the loyal royalists, later refused to join the liberal Orléanists. After the failure of the Quiberon expedition, Charette and his men were pursued by General Lazare Hoche. Charette was wounded but escaped. However, due to lack of munitions he was eventually captured outside La Chabotterie and taken to Nantes for a trial. He was sentenced to death by a republican court and then taken to the town square in procession for a public execution by firing squad. A plaque has been erected and still stands upon the place where he was shot. Today, memorial ceremonies continue to take place there.  According to a contemporary writing in "Walker's Hibernian Magazine", it was Charette who said, by way of extenuating the number of deaths for which he was responsible, "Omelets are not made without breaking eggs."  Charette was described by Napoleon as a great character and military leader who "betrays genius".

Depictions in films and popular culture.

Charette is a character in the episode "The Frogs and the Lobsters" of the "Hornblower" film/television series. Charette is a royalist general in exile who, with the support of the British Royal Navy, attempts and fails to rally the surviving royalists and raise an army in France to restore the king to power. Unlike his real-life counterpart here he is slain in battle defending a captured fortification. He is also fluent in English in the television adaptation.  Charette has been since 2018 the lead character and his life story is depicted in the production of "Le Dernier Panache" (“The Last Plume”), at the French theme park, Puy Du Fou.

François Athanase de Charette de la Contrie (2 May 1763 – 29 March 1796) was a French Royalist soldier and politician. He served in the French Royal Navy during the American Revolutionary War and was one of the leaders of the Revolt in the Vendée against the revolutionary regime. His nephew Athanase-Charles-Marie Charette de la Contrie was a noted military leader and grandson of Charles X the last king of France.


Names.

The name is derived from the archaic Slovak word meaning a "glade covered by smoke after burnt roots". "Dolný Kubín" means "Lower Kubín", in contrast with to Vyšný ("Upper") Kubín. The location and the settlement was known also as "Kublen" (1314), "Clbin" (1393), "Culbyn" (1408), "Kubyn Nysny" (1547), "Dolny Kubin" (1773). Other names in the past include,.

Geography.

Dolný Kubín lies at an altitude of above sea level and covers an area of. It is located in northern Slovakia on the Orava River, between the Lesser Fatra, Oravská Magura and Chočské vrchy mountains. It is located around from Ružomberok, from the Polish border and from Bratislava. The town is composed of 10 boroughs: "Banisko", "Beňova Lehota", "Brezovec", "Kňažia", "Malý Bysterec", "Medzihradné", "Mokraď", "Staré mesto", "Veľký Bysterec" and "Záskalie".

Climate.

The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Dfb" (Warm Summer Continental Climate).

History.

The first written reference of the location dates from 1314 and is about the land (not the settlement yet) Kubín. In 1325, the existence of "Superior Kolbyn" (Vyšný Kubín) was recorded what could indicate also the existence of Dolný Kubín, more detailed information about the settlement are from 1380s. The settlement belonged to the Orava Castle and was the center for the neighboring settlements. The citizens lived by animal husbandry and hunting, but also by quarrying. It was granted town privileges (town status, town charter) in 1632, and its importance was further strengthened in 1633 when the town was granted the right to hold markets. In 1683 the town became the seat of the Orava county and in 1776 also the seat of a processus district. In the 19th century Dolný Kubín was a centre of Slovak national life and the poet Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav and other Slovak national revivalists were active in the town.  After World War I, Dolný Kubín remained the seat of the Orava County until 1923, when Orava became a part of Váh County and it became the seat of the district. During World War II, the local garrison actively participated in preparation of Slovak National Uprising. Between December 1944 and January 1945, the town suffered from retaliatory actions and mass arrests. Red Army arrived to the town in the night from 4 to 5 April 1945, warmly welcomed by the local population.  The town experienced major developments mainly after World War II, when electrical works as well as other enterprises were established.

Landmarks and culture.

The Gothic St. Catherine church was built in the 14th century. The Čaplovič Library, containing collection of newspapers, books, maps and other printed works from 15th to the 19th century, along with the P. O. Hviezdoslav Museum, is located in the town. The Orava Gallery focuses on the art works from the 15th century to the 20th century and is seated in the former County House from the 17th century. The Slovak poetical and prose competition, called "Hviezdoslavov Kubín (Hviezdoslav's Kubín)", takes place in the town since 1954. The Orava Castle is located few kilometres north-east of the town.

Demographics.

According to the 2001 census, the town had 19,948 inhabitants. 97.03% of inhabitants were Slovaks, 1.07% Czechs and 0.28% Roma. The religious make-up was 65.11% Roman Catholics, 16.62% Lutherans and 14.55% people with no religious affiliation.

Twin towns — sister cities.

Dolný Kubín is twinned with:

Genealogical resources.

The records for genealogical research are available at the state archive "Statny Archiv in Bytca, Slovakia"

Dolný Kubín (; ) is a town in northern Slovakia in the Žilina Region. It is the historical capital of the Orava region.


Background.

McNair was born October 21, 1950, in Lake City, South Carolina, to Pearl M. and Carl C. McNair. He had two brothers, Carl S. and Eric A. McNair. In the summer of 1959, he refused to leave the segregated Lake City Public Library without being allowed to check out his books. After the police and his mother were called, he was allowed to borrow books from the library, which is now named after him. A children's book, "Ron's Big Mission", offers a fictionalized account of this event. His brother, Carl S., also wrote the official biography, "In the Spirit of Ronald E. McNair—Astronaut: An American Hero".  McNair graduated as valedictorian of Carver High School in 1967.  In 1971, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering physics, magna cum laude, from the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina.  In 1976, he received a Ph.D. degree in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the guidance of Michael Feld, becoming nationally recognised for his work in the field of laser physics.  After graduation from MIT (receiving four honorary doctorates, a score of fellowships and commendations while achieving a 6th-degree black belt in taekwondo), he became a staff physicist at the Hughes Research Lab in Malibu, California.  McNair was a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

Astronaut career.

In 1978, McNair was selected as one of thirty-five applicants from a pool of ten thousand for the NASA astronaut program. He flew as a mission specialist on STS-41-B aboard "Challenger" from February 3 to February 11, 1984, becoming the second African American to fly in space.

"Challenger" disaster.

Following the STS-41-B mission, McNair was selected for STS-51-L as one of three mission specialists in a crew of seven. The mission launched on January 28, 1986. He was killed when "Challenger" disintegrated nine miles above the Atlantic Ocean 73 seconds after liftoff.  He was buried at the Rest Lawn Memorial Park in Lake City, South Carolina.

Music in space.

McNair was an accomplished saxophonist.  Before his last fateful space mission he had worked with the composer Jean-Michel Jarre on a piece of music for Jarre's then-upcoming album " Rendez-Vous". It was intended that he would record his saxophone solo onboard the "Challenger", which would have made McNair's solo the first original piece of music to have been recorded in space (although the song "Jingle Bells" had been played on a harmonica during an earlier Gemini 6 spaceflight). However, the recording was never made, as the flight ended in the disaster and the deaths of its entire crew. The final track on "Rendez-Vous", "Last Rendez-Vous," has the subtitle "Ron's Piece," and the liner notes include a dedication from Jarre: "Ron was so excited about the piece that he rehearsed it continuously until the last moment. May the memory of my friend the astronaut and the artist Ron McNair live on through this piece." Ron McNair was supposed to have taken part in Jarre's "Rendez-vous Houston" concert through a live feed from the orbiting Shuttlecraft.

Public honors.

McNair was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 2004, along with all crew members lost in the "Challenger" and "Columbia" disasters.  A variety of public places, people and programs have been renamed in honor of McNair.

Ronald Erwin McNair (October 21, 1950 – January 28, 1986) was an American NASA astronaut and physicist. He died during the launch of the Space Shuttle "Challenger" on mission STS-51-L, in which he was serving as one of three mission specialists in a crew of seven.


Biography.

After having studied at a college in Poligny and in Lons-le-Saunier, Lecourbe enlisted in the Regiment of Aquitaine where he served for eight years as an enlisted man. Having been promoted to corporal when the French Revolution started he became commandant of the National Guard of Ruffey-sur-Seille in 1789. He was then given command of the 7th volunteer battalion of the Jura, with which he served in the armies of the Rhine and the Nord. Having been promoted to colonel in 1791 Lecourbe distinguished himself in the battle of Fleurus. Having been promoted to general of brigade in 1794 and to general of division in 1798, he fought against Alexander Suvorov in Switzerland and distinguished himself in the Second Battle of Zurich under André Masséna.  Lecourbe's friendship with Jean-Victor Moreau and his vocal defense of Moreau in the process Georges Cadoudal brought on the enmity of Napoleon Bonaparte which forced his retirement in 1805. After Napoleon's abdication he was made a count by Louis XVIII of France. The count of Artois recalled Lecourbe to active duty in February 1815 and made him inspector-general of the 6th military Division with headquarters in Besançon.  Upon Napoleon's return from exile on Elba, Lecourbe offered him his services and during the Hundred Days he commanded the Army of the Jura (I Corps of Observation), operating in the Jura against Archduke Ferdinand. With an army of only 8,000 he held the city of Belfort for 15 days against the 40,000 Austrian troops of General Colloredo-Mansfeld, only agreeing a ceasefire on 11 July 1815, a feat which earned him a place of honour in French schoolbooks. After Louis's second return to the throne, Lecourbe retired and on 22 October 1815 he died in Belfort after a long illness.

Legacy.

A statue commemorating him stands in the Place de la Liberté in Lons-le-Saunier, where a street is also named after him. Streets named in his honour can also be found in Paris and in Besançon. In Belfort a statue commemorates him as "The glorious defender of the city".

Claude Jacques Lecourbe (22 February 1759 – 22 October 1815), born in Besançon, was a French general during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.


Early life.

Thomas was born 7 January 1355 at Woodstock Palace in Oxfordshire after two short-lived brothers, one of whom had also been baptised Thomas. He married Eleanor de Bohun in 1374, was given Pleshey Castle in Essex, and was appointed Constable of the Realm. The younger sister of Woodstock's wife, Mary de Bohun, was subsequently married to Henry of Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby, who later became King Henry IV of England.  In 1377, at the age of 22, Woodstock was knighted and created Earl of Buckingham. On 22 June 1380 he became Earl of Essex in right of his wife. In 1385, he received the title Duke of Aumale, and at about the same time was created Duke of Gloucester.

Campaign in Brittany.

Thomas of Woodstock was in command of a large campaign in northern France that followed the War of the Breton Succession of 1343–64. The earlier conflict was marked by the efforts of John IV, Duke of Brittany to secure control of the Duchy of Brittany against his rival Charles of Blois. John was supported in this struggle by the armies of the Kingdom of England, whereas Charles was supported by the Kingdom of France. At the head of an English army, John prevailed after Charles was killed in battle in 1364, but the French continued to undermine his position, and he was later forced into exile in England.  John returned to Brittany in 1379, supported by Breton barons who feared the annexation of Brittany by France. An English army was sent under Woodstock to support his position. Due to concerns about the safety of a longer shipping route to Brittany itself, the army was ferried instead to the English continental stronghold of Calais in July 1380.  As Woodstock marched his 5,200 men east of Paris, they were confronted by the army of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, at Troyes, but the French had learned from the Battle of Crécy in 1346 and the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 not to offer a pitched battle to the English. Eventually, the two armies simply marched away. French defensive operations were then thrown into disarray by the death of King Charles V of France on 16 September 1380. Woodstock's chevauchée continued westwards largely unopposed, and in November 1380 he laid siege to Nantes and its vital bridge over the Loire towards Aquitaine. However, he found himself unable to form an effective stranglehold, and urgent plans were put in place for Sir Thomas Felton to bring 2,000 reinforcements from England. By January, though, it had become apparent that the Duke of Brittany was reconciled to the new French king Charles VI, and with the alliance collapsing and dysentery ravaging his men, Woodstock abandoned the siege.

Dispute with King Richard II.

Thomas of Woodstock was the leader of the Lords Appellant, a group of powerful nobles whose ambition to wrest power from Thomas's nephew, King Richard II of England, culminated in a successful rebellion in 1388 that significantly weakened the king's power. Richard II managed to dispose of the Lords Appellant in 1397, and Thomas was imprisoned in Calais to await trial for treason.  During that time he was murdered, probably by a group of men led by Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, and the knight Sir Nicholas Colfox, presumably on behalf of Richard II. This caused an outcry among the nobility of England that is considered by many to have added to Richard's unpopularity.  Thomas was buried in Westminster Abbey, first in the Chapel of Saint Edmund and Saint Thomas in October 1397, and two years later reburied in the Chapel of Saint Edward the Confessor. His wife was buried next to him.

Marriage and progeny.

Thomas married Eleanor de Bohun (c. 1366–1399), the elder daughter and co-heiress with her sister, Mary de Bohun, of their father Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford (1341–1373). Thomas of Woodstock and his wife Eleanor had:  As he was attainted as a traitor, his dukedom of Gloucester was forfeit. The title Earl of Buckingham was inherited by his son, who died in 1399 only two years after Thomas' own death. Thomas of Woodstock's eldest daughter, Anne, married into the powerful Stafford family, who were Earls of Stafford. Her son, Humphrey Stafford was created Duke of Buckingham in 1444 and also inherited part of the de Bohun estates.  The other part of these estatesincluding the Earldom of Hereford, which had belonged to Mary de Bohun and had then become incorporated into the holdings of the House of Lancasterbecame a matter of contention in the latter 15th century.

Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester (7 January 13558 or 9 September 1397) was the fifth surviving son and youngest child of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault.


Description.

The bee hummingbird is the smallest living bird. Females weigh and are long, and are slightly larger than males, with an average weight of and length of. Like all hummingbirds, it is a swift, strong flier.  The male has a green pileum and bright red throat, iridescent gorget with elongated lateral plumes, bluish upper parts, and the rest of the underparts mostly greyish white. The male is smaller than the female. The female is green above, whitish below, with white tips to the outer tail feathers. Compared to other small hummingbirds, which often have a slender appearance, the bee hummingbird looks rounded and plump.  Female bee hummingbirds are bluish green with a pale gray underside. The tips of their tail feathers have white spots. During the mating season, males have a reddish to pink head, chin, and throat. The female lays only two eggs at a time, each about the size of a coffee bean.  The brilliant, iridescent colors of the bee hummingbird's feathers make the bird seem like a tiny jewel. The iridescence is not always noticeable, but depends on the viewing angle. The bird's slender, pointed bill is adapted for probing deep into flowers. The bee hummingbird feeds mainly on nectar, and an occasional insect or spider, by moving its tongue rapidly in and out of its mouth. In the process of feeding, the bird picks up pollen on its bill and head. When it flies from flower to flower, it transfers the pollen. In this way, it plays an important role in plant reproduction. In one day, the bee hummingbird may visit 1,500 flowers.

Diet.

The bee hummingbird has been reported to visit 10 plant species, nine of them native to Cuba. These flowers include "Hamelia patens" (Rubiaceae), "Chrysobalanus icaco" (Chrysobalanaceae), "Pavonia paludicola" (Malvaceae), "Forsteronia corymbosa" (Apocynaceae), "Lysiloma latisiliquum" (Mimosaceae), "Turnera ulmifolia" (Passifloraceae), "Antigonon leptopus" (Polygonaceae), "Clerodendrum aculeatum" (Verbenaceae), "Tournefortia hirsutissima" (Boraginaceae), and "Cissus obovata" (Vitaceae). They occasionally eat insects and spiders. In a typical day, bee hummingbirds will consume up to half their body weight in food.

Habitat and distribution.

The bee hummingbird is endemic to the entire Cuban archipelago, including the main island of Cuba and the Isla de la Juventud in the West Indies. Its population is fragmented, found in Cuba's mogote areas in Pinar del Rio province and more commonly in Zapata Swamp (Matanzas province) and in eastern Cuba, with reference localities in Alexander Humboldt National Park and Baitiquirí Ecological Reserve (Guantanamo province) and Gibara and Sierra Cristal (Holguin province).

Breeding.

The bee hummingbird's breeding season is March–June. They lay up to two eggs at a time. Males in the “bee” hummingbird clade court females with sound from tail‐feathers, which flutter during display dives.  Using bits of cobwebs, bark, and lichen, the female builds a cup-shaped nest that is about in diameter. Nests have been built on single clothespins. She lines the nest with soft plant fibers. There she lays her eggs, which are no bigger than peas. She alone incubates the eggs and raises the young.

Coevolution with flowers.

The bee hummingbird interaction with the flowers that supply nectar is a notable example of bird–plant coevolution with its primary food source (flowers for nectar).

The bee hummingbird, zunzuncito or Helena hummingbird ("Mellisuga helenae") is a species of hummingbird which is the world's smallest bird. It is endemic to Cuba.


From peasant crusade to rebellion.

Dózsa was born in Dálnok (today Dalnic). During the wars against the Ottoman Empire, he was a soldier of fortune who won a reputation for valour.  In 1514, the Hungarian chancellor, Tamás Bakócz, returned from the Holy See with a papal bull issued by Leo X authorising a crusade against the Ottomans. He appointed Dózsa to organize and direct the movement. Within a few weeks, Dózsa had gathered an army of some 40,000 so-called "hajdú", consisting for the most part of peasants, wandering students, friars, and parish priests - some of the lowest-ranking groups of medieval society. They assembled in their counties, and by the time he had provided them with some military training, they began to air the grievances of their status. No measures had been taken to supply these voluntary crusaders with food or clothing. As harvest-time approached, the landlords commanded them to return to reap the fields, and, on their refusing to do so, proceeded to maltreat their wives and families and set their armed retainers upon the local peasantry.  The volunteers became increasingly angry at the failure of the nobility to provide military leadership (the original and primary function of the nobility and the justification for its higher status in the society.) The rebellious, anti-landlord sentiment of these "Crusaders" became apparent during their march across the Great Hungarian Plain, and Bakócz cancelled the campaign. The movement was thus diverted from its original object, and the peasants and their leaders began a war of vengeance against the landlords.

Growing rebellion.

By this time, Dózsa was losing control of the people under his command, who had fallen under the influence of the parson of Cegléd, Lőrinc Mészáros. The rebellion became more dangerous when the towns joined on the side of the peasants. In Buda and elsewhere, the cavalry sent against them were unhorsed as they passed through the gates.  The rebellion spread quickly, principally in the central or purely Magyar provinces, where hundreds of manor houses and castles were burnt and thousands of the gentry killed by impalement, crucifixion, and other methods. Dózsa's camp at Cegléd was the centre of the "jacquerie", as all raids in the surrounding area started out from there.  In reaction, the papal bull was revoked, and King Vladislaus II issued a proclamation commanding the peasantry to return to their homes under pain of death. By this time, the uprising had attained the dimensions of a revolution; all the vassals of the kingdom were called out against it, and soldiers of fortune were hired in haste from the Republic of Venice, Bohemia, and the Holy Roman Empire. Meanwhile, Dózsa had captured the city and fortress of Csanád (today's Cenad), and signaled his victory by impaling the bishop and the castellan.  Subsequently, at Arad, Lord Treasurer István Telegdy was seized and tortured to death. In general, however, the rebels only executed particularly vicious or greedy noblemen; those who freely submitted were released on parole. Dózsa not only never broke his given word, but frequently assisted the escape of fugitives. He was unable to consistently control his followers, however, and many of them hunted down rivals.

Downfall and execution.

In the course of the summer, Dózsa seized the fortresses of Arad, Lippa (today Lipova), and Világos (now Şiria), and provided himself with cannons and trained gunners. One of his bands advanced to within 25 kilometres of the capital. But his ill-armed ploughmen were outmatched by the heavy cavalry of the nobles. Dózsa himself had apparently become demoralized by success: after Csanád, he issued proclamations which can be described as millenarian.  As his suppression had become a political necessity, Dózsa was routed at Temesvár (today Timișoara, Romania) by an army of 20,000 led by John Zápolya and István Báthory. He was captured after the battle, and condemned to sit on a smouldering, heated iron throne, and forced to wear a heated iron crown and sceptre (mocking his ambition to be king). While he was suffering, a procession of nine fellow rebels who had been starved beforehand were led to this throne. In the lead was Dózsa's younger brother, Gergely, who was cut in three despite Dózsa asking for Gergely to be spared. Next, executioners removed some pliers from a fire and forced them into Dózsa's skin. After tearing his flesh, the remaining rebels were ordered to bite spots where the hot pliers had been inserted and to swallow the flesh. The three or four who refused were simply cut up, prompting the others to comply. In the end, Dózsa died from the ordeal, while the rebels who obeyed were released and left alone.  The revolt was repressed but some 70,000 peasants were tortured. György's execution, and the brutal suppression of the peasants, greatly aided the 1526 Ottoman invasion as the Hungarians were no longer a politically united people. Another consequence was the creation of new laws, an effort in the Hungarian Diet led by István Werbőczy. The resulting Tripartitum elaborated the old rights of peasants, but also greatly enhanced the status of lesser nobility (gentry), erecting an iron curtain between Hungarians until 1848 when serfdom was abolished.

Legacy.

Today, on the site of the martyrdom of the hot throne, there is the Virgin Mary Monument, built by architect László Székely and sculptor György Kiss. According to the legend, during György Dózsa's torture, some monks saw in his ear the image of Mary. The first statue was raised in 1865, with the actual monument raised in 1906. Hungarian opera composer Ferenc Erkel wrote an opera, "Dózsa György", about him.  His revolutionary image and Transylvanian background were drawn upon during the Communist regime of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. The Hungarian component of his movement was downplayed, but its strong anti-feudal character was emphasized.  In Budapest, a square, a busy six-lane avenue, and a metro station bear his name, and it is one of the most popular street names in Hungarian villages. A number of streets in several cities of Romania were named "Gheorghe Doja". Also, a number of streets in serval cities of Serbia were named "Ulica Doža Đerđa". Two Postage stamps were issued in his honor by Hungary on 12 June 1919 and on 15 March 1947, the latter in the "social revolutionists" series.

György Dózsa (or "György Székely", ; 1470 – 20 July 1514) was a Székely man-at-arms (and by some accounts, a nobleman) from Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary who led a peasants' revolt against the kingdom's landed nobility. He was eventually caught, tortured, and executed along with his followers, and remembered as both a Christian martyr and a dangerous criminal. During the reign of king Vladislas II of Hungary (1490–1516), royal power declined in favour of the magnates, who used their power to curtail the peasants’ freedom.


Etymology.

The word "dogma" was translated in the 17th century from Latin "dogma" meaning "philosophical tenet" or principle, derived from the Greek "dogma" (δόγμα) meaning literally "that which one thinks is true" and the verb "dokein", "to seem good". The plural, based on the Greek, is "dogmata" (), though "dogmas" may be more commonly used in English and other languages.

Religion.

Formally, the term dogma has been used by some theistic religious groups to describe the body of positions forming the group's most central, foundational, or essential beliefs, though the term may also be used to refer to the entire set of formal beliefs identified by a theistic or non-theistic religious group. In some cases dogma is distinguished from religious opinion and those things in doctrine considered less significant or uncertain. Formal church dogma is often clarified and elaborated upon in its communication.

Buddhism.

View or position (Pali ', Sanskrit ') is a central idea in Buddhism. In Buddhist thought, a view is not a simple, abstract collection of propositions, but a charged interpretation of experience which intensely shapes and affects thought, sensation, and action. Having the proper mental attitude toward views is therefore considered an integral part of the Buddhist path, as sometimes correct views need to be put into practice and incorrect views abandoned, while othertimes all views are seen as obstacles to enlightenment.

Christianity.

Christianity is defined by a set of core beliefs shared by virtually all Christians, though how those core beliefs are implemented and secondary questions vary within Christianity. When formally communicated by the organization, these beliefs are sometimes referred to as 'dogmata'. The organization's formal religious positions may be taught to new members or simply communicated to those who choose to become members. It is rare for agreement with an organization's formal positions to be a requirement for attendance, though membership may be required for some church activities. Protestants to differing degrees are less formal about doctrine, and often rely on denomination-specific beliefs, but seldom refer to these beliefs as dogmata. The first unofficial institution of dogma in the Christian church was by Saint Irenaeus in his "Demonstration of Apostolic Teaching", which provides a'manual of essentials' constituting the 'body of truth'.

Catholicism and Eastern Christianity.

For Catholicism and Eastern Christianity, the dogmata are contained in the Nicene Creed and the canon laws of two, three, seven, or twenty ecumenical councils (depending on whether one is Church of the East, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, or Roman Catholic). These tenets are summarized by John of Damascus in his "Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith", which is the third book of his main work, titled "The Fount of Knowledge". In this book he takes a dual approach in explaining each article of the faith: one, directed at Christians, where he uses quotes from the Bible and, occasionally, from works of other Church Fathers, and the second, directed both at members of non-Christian religions and at atheists, for whom he employs Aristotelian logic and dialectics.  The decisions of fourteen later councils that Catholics hold as dogmatic and a small number of decrees promulgated by popes exercising papal infallibility (for examples, see Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Mary) are considered as being a part of the Church's sacred body of doctrine.

Islam.

In Islam the Quran", Hadith", and "aqidah" correspond, albeit differently across cultural and theological lines, to the Latin terms "dogma/dogmata".

Philosophy.

Stoicism.

In Stoicism "dogma" (δόγμα) is a principle established by reason and experience. Stoicism has many dogmas, such as the well-known Stoic dogma "the only good is moral good, and the only evil is moral evil".

Pyrrhonism.

In Pyrrhonist philosophy "dogma" refers to assent to a proposition about a non-evident matter. The main principle of Pyrrhonism is expressed by the word "acatalepsia", which connotes the ability to withhold assent from doctrines regarding the truth of things in their own nature; against every statement its contradiction may be advanced with equal justification. Consequently, Pyrrhonists withhold assent with regard to non-evident propositions, i.e., dogmas. Pyrrhonists argue that dogmatists, such as the Stoics, Epicureans, and Peripatetics, have failed to demonstrate that their doctrines regarding non-evident matters are true.

Dogma is an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, or the positions of a philosopher or of a philosophical school such as Stoicism.


History.

17th and 18th century.

Construction of Huis ten Bosch began on 2 September 1645, under the direction of Bartholomeus Drijffhout, and to a design by Pieter Post and Jacob van Campen. It was commissioned by Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, the wife of stadtholder Frederick Henry, on a parcel of land granted to her by the States General (Loonstra 1983, Slothouwer 1945). The first stone was laid by Elizabeth of Bohemia.  After her husband's death in 1647, Amalia dedicated the palace to him. Led by the architect-painters Jacob van Campen and Pieter Post, other major artists of the day, such as Gerard van Honthorst, Jacob Jordaens, Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert, Theodoor van Thulden, Caesar van Everdingen, Salomon de Bray, Pieter Soutman, Gonzales Coques, Pieter de Grebber, Adriaen Hanneman and Jan Lievens, filled the Oranjezaal ("Orange Hall" ) with paintings glorifying the late prince. Between 1734 and 1737 the architect Daniel Marot added two wings to the palace, including a new dining room.  Over the next century and a half, the palace would change possession from the Nassau family, the king of Prussia, and many stadtholders until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. The government of the newly created Batavian Republic gave the palace to the Batavian (Dutch) people who still own it to this day.

19th and 20th century.

The National Art Gallery, predecessor of the Rijksmuseum, was housed in the building from 1800 to 1805. Napoleon Bonaparte's brother, Louis, king of Holland, briefly lived in the palace between 1805 and 1807.  When William Frederick, Prince of Orange-Nassau, the only surviving son of the last stadtholder, was proclaimed King of the Netherlands as William I in 1815, he made Huis ten Bosch Palace one of his official residences. It became a favourite location for many members of the Royal Family. In 1899 the palace was the site of several meetings of the First International Peace Conference at The Hague. During World War I it became the primary residence of Queen Wilhelmina.  The Queen and her family were forced to evacuate the palace for Britain (from which the Queen's family, but not the Queen herself, would move on to Canada) when the German army invaded the Netherlands during World War II. The Nazi administration planned to demolish the palace, but the controller convinced them otherwise. However, the palace was damaged beyond habitation.  Between 1950 and 1956, the palace was restored and once again became a Royal residence. It became the prime residence once more in 1981.  The palace has undergone major reconstructions since it was built. Currently, it consists of a central part with two long wings, spanning approximately 110 meters from end to end.

Huis ten Bosch (, ; English: "House in the Woods") is a royal palace in The Hague, Netherlands. It is one of three official residences of the Dutch monarch; the two others being the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague and the Royal Palace in Amsterdam.


Description.

On young, vigorous shoots, the leaves may be up to long, and deeply and intricately lobed, with the lobes rounded. On older trees, the leaves are generally long, unlobed, cordate at the base and rounded to acuminate at the tip, and serrated on the margins. The trees are generally deciduous in temperate regions, but trees grown in tropical regions can be evergreen. The flowers are single-sex catkins; male catkins are long, and female catkins long. Male and female flowers are usually on separate trees although they may occur on the same tree. The fruit is long; in the species in the wild it is deep purple, but in many cultivated plants it varies from white to pink; it is sweet but bland, unlike the more intense flavor of the red mulberry and black mulberry. The seeds are widely dispersed in the droppings of birds that eat the fruit.  The white mulberry is scientifically notable for the rapid plant movement involved in pollen release from its catkins. The stamens act as catapults, releasing stored elastic energy in just 25 μs. The resulting movement is approximately, over half the speed of sound, making it the fastest known movement in the plant kingdom.

Taxonomy.

Two varieties of "Morus alba" are recognized:

Cultivation.

Cultivation of white mulberry for silkworms began over four thousand years ago in China. In 2002, 6,260 km of land were devoted to the species in China.  The species is now extensively planted and widely naturalized throughout the warm temperate world. It has been grown widely from the Indian subcontinent west through Afghanistan and Iran to southern Europe for over a thousand years for leaves to feed silkworms.  More recently, it has become widely naturalized in disturbed areas such as roadsides and the edges of tree lots, along with urban areas in much of North America, where it hybridizes readily with the locally native red mulberry "(Morus rubra)". There is now serious concern for the long-term genetic viability of the red mulberry because of extensive hybridization in some areas.

Uses.

White mulberry leaves are the preferred feedstock for silkworms, and are also cut for food for livestock (cattle, goats, etc.) in areas where dry seasons restrict the availability of ground vegetation. The leaves are prepared as tea in Korea. The fruit are also eaten, often dried or made into wine.  For landscaping, a fruitless mulberry was developed from a clone for use in the production of silk in the U.S. The industry never materialized, but the mulberry variety is now used as an ornamental tree where shade is desired without the fruit. A weeping cultivar of white mulberry, "Morus alba" 'Pendula', is a popular ornamental plant. The species has become a popular lawn tree across the desert cities of the southwestern United States, prized for its shade and also for its cylindrical berry clusters composed of sweet, purplish-white fruits. The plant's pollen has become problematical in some cities where it has been blamed for an increase in hay fever.

Morus alba, known as white mulberry, is a fast-growing, small to medium-sized mulberry tree which grows to tall. It is generally a short-lived tree with a lifespan comparable to that of humans, although there are some specimens known to be over 250 years old. The species is native to northern China and India, and is widely cultivated and naturalized elsewhere (United States, Mexico, Australia, Kyrgyzstan, Argentina, Turkey, Iran, etc.).


Biography.

Bessarion was born in Trebizond, the Black Sea port in northeastern Anatolia that was the heart of Pontic Greek culture and civilization during the Byzantine and Ottoman periods. The year of his birth has been given as 1389, 1395 or 1403.  Bessarion's Neoplatonism  Bessarion was educated in Constantinople, then went in 1423 to Peloponnese to study Neoplatonism under Gemistus Pletho. Under Pletho, he "went through the liberal arts curriculum..., with a special emphasis on mathematics...including the study of astronomy and geography" that would have related "philosophy to physics...cosmology and astrology" and Pletho's “mathematics would include Pythagorean number-mysticism, Plato’s cosmological geometry and the Neoplatonic arithmetic which connected the material world with the world of Plato’s Forms. Possibly it also included astrology..." Woodhouse also mentions that Bessarion "had a mystical streak...[and] was proficient in Neoplatonic vocabulary...mathematics...and Platonic theology".  Bessarion's Neoplatonism stayed with him his whole life, even as a cardinal. He was very familiar with Neoplatonist terminology and used it in his letter to Pletho's two sons, Demitrios and Andronikos, on the death of his still-beloved teacher in 1452. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about his life was that a Neoplatonist could have played such a significant role in the Roman Church for at least a brief time, though he was attacked for his views by more orthodox Catholic academics shortly after his death.  Bessarion's life as a monk and role in the Council of Ferrara  On becoming a tonsured monk, he adopted the name of an old Egyptian anchorite Bessarion, whose story he has related. In 1436 became abbot of a monastery in Constantinople and in 1437, he was made metropolitan of Nicaea by the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaeologus, whom he accompanied to Italy in order to bring about a reunion between the Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Catholic) churches. The emperor hoped to use the possibility of re-uniting the churches to obtain help from Western Europe against the Ottoman Empire. Bessarion participated in the Byzantine delegation to the Council of Ferrara-Florence as the most eminent representative of unionists, although originally belonged to the party of anti-unionists. On 6 July 1439 he was the one who read the declaration of the Greek Association of Churches in the cathedral of Florence, in the presence of Pope Eugene IV and the Emperor John VIII Palaeologus.  Some have impugned Bessarion's sincerity in adhering to the Union. It has been argued that he was pragmatic patriot and thought religious Union would be the only hope and refuge for the Byzantine Empire faced with the Ottoman advance. However, Gill upholds Bessarion's sincerity in being convinced to the truth of the Roman position in the matters discussed at the Council quoting from the bishop's own "Oratio Dogmatica":  Upon his return to the East, he found himself bitterly resented for his attachment to the minority party that saw no difficulty in a reconciliation of the two churches. At the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438–1445), Bessarion supported the Roman church and gained the favour of Pope Eugene IV, who invested him with the rank of cardinal at a consistory of 18 December 1439.  From that time, he resided permanently in Italy, doing much, by his patronage of learned men, by his collection of books and manuscripts, and by his own writings, to spread abroad the new learning. His palazzo in Rome was a virtual Academy for the studies of new humanistic learning, a center for learned Greeks and Greek refugees, whom he supported by commissioning transcripts of Greek manuscripts and translations into Latin that made Greek scholarship available to Western Europeans. He supported Regiomontanus in this fashion and defended Nicholas of Cusa. He is known in history as the original patron of the Greek exiles (scholars and diplomats) including Theodore Gaza, George of Trebizond, John Argyropoulos and many others.  He held in succession the archbishopric of Siponto and the suburbicarian sees of Sabina and Frascati. At the papal conclave of 1455 which elected the Aragonese candidate, Alfons de Borja, as Callixtus III, Cardinal Bessarion was an early candidate for his disinterest in the competition between Roman factions that pressed candidates of the Orsini and Colonna factions. He was opposed for his Greek background by the French Cardinal Alain de Coëtivy. "It is probable that the cardinals were less afraid of his Greek training and temperament than they were of his known austerity and passion for reform", Francis A. Burkle-Young has observed.  For five years (1450–1455), he was legate at Bologna, and he was engaged on embassies to many foreign princes, among others to Louis XI of France in 1471. Other missions were to Germany to encourage Western princes to help their fellow Christians in the East. For these efforts, his fellow humanist Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, then Pius II, gave him the purely ceremonial title of Latin Patriarch of Constantinople in 1463.  As "primus Cardinalium" (from April 1463) — the title Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals was not yet in use — Cardinal Bessarion presided over the Papal conclave, 1464 and Papal conclave, 1471.  Vexation at an insult offered him by Louis XI is said to have hastened his death, which took place on 19 November 1472 at Ravenna. He is buried in the basilica of Santi Apostoli, Rome.

Works.

Bessarion was one of the most learned scholars of his time. Besides his translations of Aristotle's "Metaphysics" and Xenophon's "Memorabilia", his most important work is a treatise directed against George of Trebizond, a vehement Aristotelian who had written a polemic against Plato, which was entitled "In Calumniatorem Platonis" ("Against the Slanderer of Plato"). Bessarion, though a Platonist, was not so thoroughgoing in his admiration as Gemistus Pletho, and he strove instead to reconcile the two philosophies. His work, by opening up the relations of Platonism to the main questions of religion, contributed greatly to the extension of speculative thought in the department of theology.  It was thanks to him that the Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus), an important compendium of Greek Mythology, has survived to the present.  His library, which contained a very extensive collection of Greek manuscripts, was presented by him in 1468 to the Senate of the Republic of Venice, and forms the nucleus of the famous library of St Mark's, the "Biblioteca Marciana". It comprised 482 Greek and 264 Latin manuscripts.  Most of Bessarion's works are in Migne, "Patrologia Graeca", vol. 161.

Basilios (or Basilius) Bessarion (Greek: Βασίλειος Βησσαρίων; 2 January 1403 – 18 November 1472), a Catholic cardinal bishop and the titular Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, was one of the illustrious Greek scholars who contributed to the great revival of letters in the 15th century. He was educated by Gemistus Pletho in Neoplatonic philosophy. Later, he became a cardinal, and was twice considered for the papacy. He has been mistakenly known also as Johannes Bessarion or Giovanni Bessarione due to an erroneous interpretation of Gregory III Mammas.


Features.

The nomads of Mongolia sustain their lives directly from the products of domesticated animals such as cattle, horses, camels, yaks, sheep, and goats, as well as game. Meat is either cooked, used as an ingredient for soups and dumplings (buuz, khuushuur,, manti), or dried for winter (borts). The Mongolian diet includes a large proportion of animal fat which is necessary for the Mongols to withstand the cold winters and their hard work. Winter temperatures are as low as −40 °C (−40 °F) and outdoor work requires sufficient energy reserves. Milk and cream are used to make a variety of beverages, as well as cheese and similar products.  The nomads in the countryside are self-supporting on principle. Travelers will find gers marked as "guanz" in regular intervals near the roadside, which operate as simple restaurants. In the ger, which is a portable dwelling structure (yurt is a Turkic word for a similar shelter, but the name is ger in Mongolian), Mongolians usually cook in a cast-iron or aluminum pot on a small stove, using wood or dry animal dung fuel ("argal").

Common foods.

The most common rural dish is cooked mutton, usually without any other ingredients. To accompany the meats, vegetables and flour products may be used to create side dishes as well. In the city, every other local displays a sign saying "buuz". Those are steamed dumplings filled with meat. Other types of dumplings are boiled in water (, manti), or deep fried in mutton fat (khuushuur). Other dishes combine the meat with rice or fresh noodles made into various stews ("", "budaatai huurga") or noodle soups ("guriltai shol").  The most surprising cooking method is only used on special occasions. In this case, the meat (often together with vegetables) gets cooked with the help of stones, which have been preheated in a fire. This either happens with chunks of mutton in a sealed milk can (khorkhog), or within the abdominal cavity of a deboned goat or marmot ("boodog").  Milk is boiled to separate the cream ("öröm", clotted cream). The remaining skimmed milk is processed into cheese ("byaslag"), dried curds (aaruul), yogurt, kefir, and a light milk liquor ("shimiin arkhi"). The most prominent national beverage is airag, which is fermented mare's milk. A popular cereal is barley, which is fried and malted. The resulting flour (arvain guril) is eaten as a porridge in milk fat and sugar or drunk mixed in milky tea. The everyday beverage is salted milk tea (süütei tsai), which may turn into a robust soup by adding rice, meat, or bansh. As a result of the Russian influence during socialism, vodka has also gained some popularity with a surprising number of local brands (usually grain spirits).  Horse meat is eaten in Mongolia and can be found in most grocery stores.  Mongolian sweets include boortsog, a type of biscuit or cookie eaten on special occasions.  Vodka is the most popular alcoholic beverage; Chinggis vodka (named for Genghis Khan) is the most popular brand, making up 30% of the distilled spirits market.

Mongolian cuisine predominantly consists of dairy products, meat, and animal fats. The most common rural dish is cooked mutton. In the city, steamed dumplings filled with meat—"buuz"— are popular.


Early life.

Babenco was born in Buenos Aires and raised in Mar del Plata. His mother, Janka Haberberg, was a Polish Jewish immigrant, and his father, Jaime Babenco, was an Argentine "gaucho" of Ukrainian Jewish origin. Babenco lived in Europe from 1964 to 1968. In 1969, he decided to stay in São Paulo, Brazil, permanently.

Career.

His first solo feature film as a director was "O Rei da Noite" ("King of the Night") (1975), starring Paulo José and Marília Pêra.  Babenco had an international success with "Pixote – A lei do mais fraco" (1981). It concerns Brazil's abandoned children. In the words of E. Ruby Rich while it concerns "a pair of boys who form a symbiotic sexual union", the film cannot "be held up as an example of how gay desire can be depicted, given its sensationalistic and sordid treatment of gay sex as accommodation, substitution, and punishment". The film featured impressive work of young actor Fernando Ramos da Silva, 10 years old at the time, who was discovered in the suburbs of São Paulo. The film received numerous prizes.  For "Kiss of the Spider Woman" (1985), Babenco was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, the first Latin American to be nominated in this category.  He directed some of the most respected American actors of his time, including William Hurt, John Lithgow, Raul Julia, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Tom Berenger, Daryl Hannah, Aidan Quinn and Kathy Bates.  In 2012 Babenco was part of the jury in the 34th Moscow International Film Festival.  His last film was "My Hindu Friend" (2016), which stars Willem Dafoe. It recounts the story of a film director close to death.

Personal life.

In 2010, Barbenco married actress Bárbara Paz. He was previously married to Xuxa Lopes and Raquel Arnaud. He was the father of two daughters, Janka Babenco and Myra Arnaud Babenco, from his previous marriages, and also had two grandchildren.

Health issues and death.

In 1994, Babenco fell ill and had to undergo a bone marrow transplant to treat a lymphatic cancer.  On July 12, 2016, Barbenco was admitted to Hospital Sírio-Libanês to treat sinusitis. The following night, he suffered a cardiac arrest, and passed away shortly thereafter.

Héctor Eduardo Babenco (February 7, 1946July 13, 2016) was an Argentine-Brazilian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor who worked in worked in several countries including Brazil, Argentina, and the United States. He was one of the first Brazilian filmmakers to gain international critical acclaim, through his films which often dealt with social outcasts on the fringes of society. His best-known works include "Pixote" (1980), "Kiss of the Spider Woman" (1985), "Ironweed" (1987), "At Play in the Fields of the Lord" (1990) and "Carandiru" (2003).


Pre-1914 life and career.

He was the sixth Prince and eighth Count Lichnowsky. He succeeded his father in 1901. His father was Carl, Prince Lichnowsky, fifth Prince and seventh Count Lichnowsky, a general of cavalry, and his mother was Marie, Princess of Croy. He was the head of an old noble Bohemian family, possessing estates at Kuchelna, then in Austrian Silesia, and Grätz in Austrian Moravia (Now Hradec nad Moravicí, Czech Republic). As a hereditary member of the upper house of the Prussian Diet, Lichnowsky played a part in domestic politics, adopting in general a moderate attitude and deprecating partisan legislation. Though a Roman Catholic, he avoided identifying himself with the clerical party in Germany.  Entering the diplomatic service, Lichnowsky was appointed an attaché at the London embassy in 1885 and later served as legation secretary at Bucharest. He became German Ambassador to Austria-Hungary in 1902, replacing Philipp, Prince of Eulenburg-Hertefeld, but was forced into retirement in 1904, accused of too much independence from the Foreign Office after several conflicts with Friedrich von Holstein, head of the Office's political division. In 1904, he married Countess Mechtilde von Arco-Zinneberg (1879-1958).  He spent eight years in retirement, as his memoirs relate, "on my farm and in my garden, on horseback and in the fields, but reading industriously and publishing occasional political articles." For several years, newspaper rumour in Germany had connected the name Lichnowsky with practically every important diplomatic post that became vacant, and even with the Imperial chancellorship. No official appointment was forthcoming, however, beyond the designation of privy councilor (German: "Wirklicher Geheimrat") in 1911.  In 1912, Lichnowsky was appointed ambassador to the United Kingdom, in which post he served until the outbreak of war in 1914. Soon after his appointment, he filed a report on a conversation with Lord Haldane, British secretary of state for war. In it, Haldane had made clear that Britain could go to war if Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia and Germany attacked France. The report was said to have infuriated Kaiser Wilhelm II.

The 1914 Crisis.

During the July Crisis of 1914, Lichnowsky was the only German diplomat who raised objections to Germany's efforts to provoke an Austro-Serbian war, arguing that Britain would intervene in a continental war. On 25 July, he implored the German government to accept an offer of British mediation in the Austro-Serbian dispute. On 27 July, he followed with a cable arguing that Germany could not win a continental war. This cable was not shown to Kaiser Wilhelm II. A cable on 28 July relayed an offer from King George V to hold a conference of European ambassadors to avoid general war. A final cable on 29 July to the German Foreign Office stated simply "if war breaks out it will be the greatest catastrophe the world has ever seen." These warnings went unheeded, and by the time the final cable reached Berlin, Austrian troops were already bombarding Belgrade.  On Britain's declaration of war on 4 August 1914, Lichnowsky returned to Germany. So highly was he thought of, a British military guard of honour saluted his departure – a rare privilege in the circumstances.

His 1916 pamphlet.

His privately printed pamphlet, "My Mission to London 1912-1914", circulated in German upper-class circles in 1916, accused his government of failing to support him in efforts to avert World War I; its 1917 publication in the United States led to his expulsion from the Prussian House of Lords. In 1918, the renamed "Lichnowsky Memorandum" was published in "The Disclosures from Germany" (New York: American Association for International Conciliation, 1918). It was also published in the Danish journal "Politiken" in March 1918, from which a British copy was published by Cassell & Co., later in 1918, with a preface by Professor Gilbert Murray.  The pamphlet mainly covers the period 1912–1914, and occasionally back to 1900. Lichnowsky deplored the German alliance with Austria-Hungary (though he owned land in Austria and had served as a diplomat in Vienna), feeling that it inevitably pulled German diplomacy into Balkan crises and tensions with Russia, without any compensating benefits to Germany with its new industries, trade and colonies. "This is a return to the days of the Holy Roman Empire and the mistakes of the Hohenstaufens and Habsburgs," he wrote.  The Kaiser had commented on 31 July 1914 about an encircling British diplomacy during the crisis: "For I no longer have any doubt that England, Russia and France have agreed among themselves, knowing that our treaty obligations compel us to support Austria-Hungary, to use the Austro-Serb conflict as a pretext for waging a war of annihilation against us.... Our dilemma over keeping faith with the old and honourable Emperor has been exploited to create a situation which gives England the excuse she has been seeking to annihilate us with a spurious appearance of justice on the pretext that she is helping France and maintaining the well-known Balance of Power in Europe, i.e. playing off all European States for her own benefit against us."  In contrast, Lichnowsky outlined how the British foreign minister Sir Edward Grey had helped, with two treaties, on dividing the Portuguese Empire and establishing the Berlin–Baghdad railway, and had supported Germany's policy in the resolution of the Balkan Wars in 1912 and 1913 that excluded Russia. Britain had held back from declaring war until 4 August, after Belgium had been invaded, yet in a telegram sent to him from Berlin on 1 August: "... England was already mentioned as an opponent..."  Lichnowsky summed up his view on blame for the outbreak of war, and the failure of diplomacy, in three main points:  "In view of the above, undeniable, facts, it is no wonder that the whole of the civilised world outside Germany places the entire responsibility for the world war upon our shoulders."  At the pamphlet's end, he forecasts that the Central Powers were doomed to lose World War I, and says: "The world will belong to the Anglo-Saxons, Russians and Japanese." The German role, he wrote, "will be that of thought and commerce, not that of the bureaucrat and soldier. (Germany) made its appearance too late, and its last chance of making good the past, that of founding a Colonial Empire, was annihilated by the world war."  The pamphlet heavily influenced the minds of the French and British politicians who promulgated the Versailles Peace Treaty in 1919.

Comments.

In his column in the 11 May 1918, issue of "Illustrated London News" G. K. Chesterton would note:  The latter refers to the harsh terms the Germans imposed on Russia in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in early March 1918. Chesterton was reminding his readers that, were Germany to win the war in the west, it would impose equally harsh terms on Belgium and France, in line with the 1914 Septemberprogramm.  Professor Murray summarised his 1918 foreword to the pamphlet with:  Lichnowsky was seen as a 'Good German' who had truthfully warned his government but had been ignored at the crucial moment.  Lichnowsky's viewpoint was largely followed by the controversial historian Fritz Fischer in his 1961 book "Germany's Aims in the First World War".

Karl Max, Prince Lichnowsky (Kreuzenort, Upper Silesia, Prussia [now Krzyżanowice, Poland], 8 March 1860 – Kuchelna, Czechsoslovakia, 27 February 1928) was a German diplomat who served as ambassador to Britain during the July Crisis and who was the author of a 1916 pamphlet that deplored German diplomacy in mid-1914 which, he argued, contributed heavily to the outbreak of the First World War.


Description.

The grand fir was first described by Scottish botanical explorer David Douglas, who in 1831 collected specimens of the tree along the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest.  "Abies grandis" is a large evergreen coniferous tree growing to 40–70 m (exceptionally 100 m) tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 2 m. The leaves are needle-like, flattened, 3–6 cm long and 2 mm wide by 0.5 mm thick, glossy dark green above, and with two green-white bands of stomata below, and slightly notched at the tip. The leaf arrangement is spiral on the shoot, but with each leaf variably twisted at the base so they all lie in two more-or-less flat ranks on either side of the shoot. On the lower leaf surface, two green-white bands of stomata are prominent. The base of each leaf is twisted a variable amount so that the leaves are nearly coplanar. Different length leaves, but all lined up in a flat plane, is a useful way to quickly distinguish this species. The cones are 6–12 cm long and 3.5–4.5 cm broad, with about 100-150 scales; the scale bracts are short, and hidden in the closed cone. The winged seeds are released when the cones disintegrate at maturity about 6 months after pollination.

Varieties.

There are two varieties, probably better treated at subspecies rank though not yet formally published as such:  Grand fir is very closely related to white fir, with the interior variety "idahoensis" particularly similar to the western forms of white fir from western Oregon and California, intergrading with it where they meet in the Cascades of central Oregon.

Uses.

The inner bark of the grand fir was used by some Plateau Indian tribes for treating colds and fever. The foliage has an attractive citrus-like scent, and is sometimes used for Christmas decorations in the United States, including Christmas trees. It is also planted as an ornamental tree in large parks.  For medicine uses, The Okanagan-Colville tribe used it as a Strengthener's drug for a general feeling of weakness.

Timber.

The lumber is non-resinous and fine textured. In the North American logging industry, the grand fir is often referred to as "hem fir", with hem fir being a number of species with interchangeable types of wood (specifically the California red fir, noble fir, Pacific silver fir, white fir, and western hemlock). Grand fir is often shipped along with these other species. It can also referred to as "white fir" lumber, an umbrella term also referring to "Abies amabilis", "Abies concolor", and "Abies magnifica".  Lumber from the grand fir is considered a softwood. As such, it is used for paper making, packing crates, and construction. Hem fir is frequently used for framing, and is able to meet the building code span requirements of numerous construction projects.  As a hem fir, the trunk of the grand fir is considered slightly below the "Douglas fir-larch" species combination in strength, and stronger than the "Douglas fir-South" and "spruce-pine-fir (South)" species combos (both umbrella terms for a number of species with similar wood). Because it is nearly as strong as Douglas fir-larch, it often meets the structural load-bearing requirements for framing in residential, light commercial, and heavy construction. Excluding Douglas fir-larch, hem fir's modulus of elasticity value as a stiffness factor in floor systems (denoted as MOE or E) is stronger than all other western species combinations. Hem fir is preferred by many builders because of its ability to hold and not be split by nails and screws, and its low propensity for splintering when sawed.

Abies grandis (grand fir, giant fir, lowland white fir, great silver fir, western white fir, Vancouver fir, or Oregon fir) is a fir native to the Pacific Northwest and Northern California of North America, occurring at altitudes of sea level to 1,800 m. It is a major constituent of the Grand Fir/Douglas Fir Ecoregion of the Cascade Range.


Life.

Stürgkh descended from a Styrian noble family (originally from the Bavarian Upper Palatinate region), which had been elevated to the status of Imperial Counts in 1721. He owned large estates in Halbenrain and was elected a member of the Austrian Imperial Council in 1891. From 1909 until 1911 he served as education minister in the cabinets of Richard von Bienerth-Schmerling and Paul Gautsch von Frankenthurn.  Gautsch resigned when rising prices led to bloody unrest in Vienna and even a shooting in parliament (the bullets just missed Stürgkh), whereafter Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria appointed him Austrian Minister-President (Prime Minister) on 3 November 1911. He went on to rule the Cisleithanian lands autocratically: On 16 March 1914 he used the continuous filibustering in parliament to indefinitely adjourn the convenings of the Imperial Council and to pass laws by emergency decrees. This "de facto" elimination of the legislature turned out to be fatal in the following July Crisis, when upon the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria the deputies were not able to interact with the government on the way to World War I.  Stürgkh together with Foreign Minister Leopold Berchtold and Chief-of-Staff Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf advocated a preventive strike against Serbia, mainly for internal reasons, in order to defy Pan-Slavism in the Bohemian, Carniolan and Croatian crown lands. After the declaration of war on 28 July, Stürgkh implemented a harsh censorship and kept refusing to convoke the parliament.  He served as Prime Minister until he was shot and killed by Friedrich Adler, son of the Social Democratic party chairman Victor Adler, while having lunch in the Meissl & Schadn Hotel's dining room. Adler's action was a protest against Stürgkh's government without the legislature. Emperor Franz Joseph appointed Ernest von Koerber his successor, one of his last official acts, as he died four weeks later. Adler was sentenced to death, pardoned by Emperor Charles I and finally amnestied after the war.

Karl von Stürgkh (30 October 1859 – 21 October 1916) was an Austrian politician and Minister-President of Cisleithania during the 1914 July Crisis that led to the outbreak of World War I. He was shot and killed by the Social Democratic politician Friedrich Adler.


Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth

Early life.

Louise was the daughter of Guillaume de Penancoët, Seigneur de Kéroualle (d. 1690) and his wife (married on 27 February 1645) Marie de Ploeuc de Timeur (d. January 1709), paternal granddaughter of René de Penancoët, Seigneur de Kéroualle et Villeneuve, and his wife (married on 12 October 1602) Julienne Emery du Pont-l'Abbé, Dame du Chef du Bois, and maternal granddaughter of Sébastien de Ploeuc, Marquis de Timeur, and his wife (married on 8 January 1617) Marie de Rieux (d. 1628). The name Kéroualle was derived from an heiress whom an ancestor François de Penhoët had married in 1330.  The Kérouaille family were nobles in Brittany, and their name was so spelt by themselves. The form "Quérouaille" was commonly used in England. All are derivations of the original Breton name Kerouazle, which is the most common form in Brittany.  Louise had a sister, Henriette Mauricette de Penancoët de Kérouaille, who married firstly in 1674 Philip Herbert, 7th Earl of Pembroke and secondly in 1685 Jean-Timoléon Gouffier, Marquis de Thais. Her paternal aunt, Suzanne de Penancoët married Claude Le Veyer; their daughter Catherine became the matriarch of the Breton noble family de Saisy de Kerampuil of Carhaix, Brittany. Her maternal aunt Renée Mauricette de Ploeuc de Timeur married Donatien de Maillé, Marquis de Carman (d. 1652).

Mistress to Charles II.

Louise was early introduced to the household of Henrietta Anne Stuart, Duchess of Orléans, sister of Charles II of Great Britain, and sister-in-law of Louis XIV of France. Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, asserts that her family threw her in the way of Louis XIV in the hope that she would become a royal mistress. In 1670, she accompanied Henrietta on a visit to Charles II at Dover. The sudden death of Henrietta left her unprovided for, but Charles II appointed her as a lady-in-waiting to his own queen, Catherine of Braganza. Unlike her predecessor Barbara Palmer, who had openly insulted the Queen, Louise was careful to show her every respect, and relations between the two women were never less than amicable.  It was later said that Louise had been selected by the French court to fascinate Charles II, but for this there seems to be no evidence. Yet when there appeared a prospect that Charles would show her favour, the intrigue was vigorously pushed by the French ambassador, Colbert de Croissy, who was aided by the secretary of state Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington, and his wife.  Louise, who concealed great cleverness and a strong will under an appearance of languor and a rather childlike beauty (diarist John Evelyn speaks of her "baby face"), yielded only when she had already established a strong hold on Charles' affections and character. Her son Charles (1672–1723) was created Duke of Richmond in 1675.  The support Louise received from the French envoy was given on the understanding that she should serve the interests of her native sovereign. The bargain was confirmed by gifts and honours from Louis XIV and was loyally carried out by Louise. However, she was much disliked by the people in England. Louis gave her a pair of earrings worth the astonishing sum of eighteen thousand pounds, his most expensive gift to England that year and certainly more lavish than anything he had ever given Charles' queen.  However, the hatred openly avowed for her in England was due as much to her own activity in the interest of France as to her notorious promiscuity. Nell Gwynne, another of Charles' mistresses, called her "Squintabella", and when mistaken for her, replied, "Pray good people be civil, I am the "Protestant" whore."  The titles of Baroness Petersfield, Countess of Fareham and Duchess of Portsmouth were granted to her for life on 19 August 1673. Her pensions and money allowances of various kinds were enormous. In 1681 alone she received £136,000. The French court gave her frequent presents, and in December 1673 conferred upon her the title "Duchess of Aubigny" in the Peerage of France at the request of Charles II.  At about this time Louise was instrumental in bringing to Charles II's attention a young Frenchman who proposed a solution to the longitude problem. While the Frenchman's proposal was ineffective, it led Charles to establish the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and appoint John Flamsteed as Astronomer Royal.  Louise's thorough understanding of Charles' character enabled her to retain her hold on him to the end. She contrived to escape uninjured during the crisis of the "Popish Plot" in 1678: she found an unexpected ally in Queen Catherine, who was grateful for the kindness and consideration which Louise had always shown her. She was strong enough to maintain her position during a long illness in 1677 and in spite of a visit to France in 1682. One of Charles' nicknames for her was 'Fubbs', meaning plump or chubby. This female form was much in vogue at the time, and in 1682 the royal yacht HMY "Fubbs" – in reference to Louise's nickname – was built. In February 1685, she assisted in measures to see that Charles II was received into the Catholic Church on his deathbed. That Charles was truly attached to her is shown by his dying instruction to his brother to "do well by Portsmouth", making her one of three women in his life, along with the Queen and Nell Gwynne, who were in his thoughts at the end.

After Charles II's death.

Soon after the death of Charles II, Louise quickly fell from favour. She retired to France, where, except for one short visit to England during the reign of James II and her attendance at the Coronation of George I, she remained. Her attendance at George I's coronation was remarked upon by the Countess of Dorchester when they met the Countess of Orkney ("we three whores"). Between them, they had been in turn the maîtresse en titre for successive kings for over 20 years. Her pensions and a grant on the Irish revenue given her by Charles II were lost either in the reign of James II or at the Revolution of 1688.  During her last years, she lived at Aubigny and was harassed by debt. The French king Louis XIV and, after his death, the regent Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, gave her a pension and protected her against her creditors. Louise died in Paris on 14 November 1734, aged 85.

Louise Renée de Penancoët de Kéroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth (5 September 1649 – 14 November 1734) was a mistress of Charles II of England.


Hybrid origin.

"Magnolia" × "soulangeana" was initially bred by French plantsman Étienne Soulange-Bodin (1774–1846), a retired cavalry officer in Napoleon's army, at his château de Fromont near Paris. He crossed "Magnolia denudata" with "M. liliiflora" in 1820, and was impressed with the resulting progeny's first precocious flowering in 1826.  From France, the hybrid quickly entered cultivation in England and other parts of Europe, and also North America. Since then, plant breeders in many countries have continued to develop this plant, and over a hundred named horticultural varieties (cultivars) are now known.

Description.

Growing as a multistemmed large shrub or small tree, "Magnolia" × "soulangeana" has alternate, simple, shiny, dark green oval-shaped leaves on stout stems. Its flowers emerge dramatically on a bare tree in early spring, with the deciduous leaves expanding shortly thereafter, lasting through summer until autumn.  "Magnolia" × "soulangeana" flowers are large, commonly 10–20 cm (4–8 in) across, and colored various shades of white, pink, and maroon. An American variety, 'Grace McDade' from Alabama, is reported to bear the largest flowers, with a 35 cm (14 in) diameter, white tinged with pinkish-purple. Another variety, "Magnolia" × "soulangeana" 'Jurmag1', is supposed to have the darkest and tightest flowers. The exact timing and length of flowering varies between named varieties, as does the shape of the flower. Some are globular, others a cup-and-saucer shape.

Cultivation.

"Magnolia" × "soulangeana" is notable for its ease of cultivation, and its relative tolerance to wind and alkaline soils (two vulnerabilities of many other magnolias). The cultivar 'Brozzonii' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Magnolia" × "soulangeana, the saucer magnolia, is a hybrid plant in the genus "Magnolia" and family Magnoliaceae. It is a deciduous tree with large, early-blooming flowers in various shades of white, pink, and purple. It is one of the most commonly used magnolias in horticulture, being widely planted in the British Isles, especially in the south of England; and in the United States, especially the east and west coasts.


History.

In an interview with "Vice Magazine", the twins stated, "Part of our heritage is German American. Also our eyes are blue, and Prussian Blue is just a really pretty color." They also remarked, "there is also the discussion of the lack of 'Prussian Blue' coloring (Zyklon B residue) in the so-called gas chambers in the concentration camps. We think it might make people question some of the inaccuracies of the 'Holocaust' myth." This is a reference to claims made by many Holocaust deniers that the Holocaust either did not happen or had far fewer victims than generally believed.  Lynx and Lamb Gaede first performed together by singing at a white nationalist festival called "Eurofest" in 2001. They began learning how to play instruments in 2002 (Lamb plays the guitar and Lynx plays the violin). In the same year they appeared on a VH1 special called "Inside Hate Rock". In 2003, they were featured in a Louis Theroux BBC documentary, entitled "Louis and the Nazis", on racism and white supremacy in the United States. Lamb, Lynx, and their mother, April Gaede, also appeared in the low-budget 2003 horror film "Dark Walker".  The twins recorded and released a debut CD at the end of 2004 called "Fragment of the Future" (Resistance Records) which had both acoustic folk-rock and bubblegum-pop sounds. A year later, they recorded their second album, "The Path We Chose", which has a more traditional rock sound including both acoustic and electric guitar. Most of the songs on the second album lack the racial and white supremacist overtones of "Fragment of the Future" and are about more mainstream subject matter, like boys, crushes, and dating. On October 20, 2005, Prussian Blue was featured in a critical segment on ABC's "Primetime". A DVD, "Blonde Hair Blue Eyes", featuring three music videos and some live performances, was released in 2005. The pair toured the United States in 2005. On August 22, 2006, they were again featured in a critical segment on ABC's "Primetime".  The twins moved with their mother and stepfather, Mark Harrington, and their younger half-sister, Dresden, from Bakersfield to Kalispell in Montana, in 2006; in their mother's words, Bakersfield was "not white enough." Some of their new neighbors did not welcome them; many city residents passed out flyers warning people of the family's views, and signs proclaiming "No Hate Here" appeared on some windows around the town. Some of the people who passed out flyers received threatening letters from members of out-of-state white supremacist organizations. The Montana Human Rights Network planned a rally in Kalispell to protest against the family's racist views.  The twins toured Europe in the summer of 2007, performing at events for white nationalist organizations. They also appeared as guests on "The Political Cesspool". But as of early 2009, the band's website and MySpace page were no longer operational.

Ideology.

The duo had strong ties to the National Vanguard organization, a "white nationalist" group formed by disaffected former members of the National Alliance. Their ideology has been described as racist and white supremacist by mainstream media outlets. "The Daily Telegraph" reported that, on stage, the twins executed Nazi salutes.  According to ABC News, the girls were homeschooled by their mother, April Gaede, an activist and writer for the white nationalist organization National Vanguard. The twins' maternal grandfather, who lives in Squaw Valley, Fresno County, California, wears a Nazi swastika belt buckle; he also features the swastika on his truck and has registered it as a cattle brand. During their ABC interview, the twins said they believed that Adolf Hitler was a great man with good ideas, and they described the Holocaust as being exaggerated. They have also been criticized for stipulating that the goods they donated to Hurricane Katrina victims should only go to white people: "After a day of trying, the supplies ended up with few takers, dumped at a local shop that sells Confederate memorabilia."  A 2011 profile in "The Daily" describes the twins' rejection of some of their previous politics:  But after enrolling in public school and moving to Montana — a predominantly white state, albeit one with a decidedly hippie-ish vibe — Lamb and Lynx decided they simply no longer believed what they'd been taught...."I'm glad we were in the band," Lynx said, "but I think we should have been pushed toward something a little more mainstream and easier for us to handle than being front-men for a belief system that we didn't even completely understand at that time. We were little kids.  Despite this, they still made statements that were skeptical about elements of the Holocaust.

Lyrics and influences.

About half of the songs on Prussian Blue's first album are covers of other songs put out by other white pride bands with one (Lamb Near the Lane) co-written by David Lane and a few of the others by Ian Stuart Donaldson and Ken McLellan. One of their infamous cover songs, "Victory Day", was a cover song from the racist band RaHoWa. Two of Prussian Blue's songs on their first album are dedicated to famous German Nazi and white nationalist activists, including Rudolf Hess and Robert Jay Mathews. One of those songs, dedicated to Donaldson, Mathews, Hess, and William L. Pierce, which was written by Lamb, is "Sacrifice".  Another song, "Gone With the Breeze," is dedicated to Mathews. The cover songs on their album invoke ideas like Valhalla and Vinland, taken from Norse mythology and sagas. Several songs, including "Victory Day," refer to a holy war waged under the banner of Creativity.  The lyrics to their song "The Stranger" are taken from a Rudyard Kipling poem of the same name.  Prussian Blue also released a cover of a song called "Ocean of Warriors" in mp3 format, dedicated to white participants in the 2005 Sydney, Australia race rioting.  In 2006, a compilation album was released through the far right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) titled "For The Fatherland".

Media.

Prussian Blue appeared in two British television documentaries. The first, 2003's "Louis and the Nazis" by documentary maker Louis Theroux, was an account of white nationalists, including Prussian Blue. The second, "Nazi Pop Twins", by James Quinn, was first aired in 2007. This documentary stressed the tension that existed between the twins and their mother, April. In this documentary, Lynx and Lamb disavowed their mother's race-related views and said that they want to perform music that was not focused on race. Lynx told Quinn that they wore the infamous T-shirts bearing a smiley face that resembled Adolf Hitler because she believed they "were a joke" and said that "being proud of being white" did not mean she was a racist. Louis Theroux revisited the twins and their mother to collect material for his book "Call of the Weird".

End of white nationalist politics.

A 2012 article in the UK newspaper "The Daily Mirror" reported that the girls hold more liberal views than the politics they promoted through their music in their early teens. The twins support the legalization of marijuana. While the article characterized them as "laid-back liberals celebrating the joys of ethnic diversity" and speculates if the twins' use of marijuana was part of their change of politics from white nationalism to apolitical whereas a blog belonging to one of the girls says the changes are not due to any usage of cannabis.

Prussian Blue was an American white nationalist, Neo-Nazi pop duo formed of Lynx Vaughan Gaede and Lamb Lennon Gaede, fraternal twins born on June 30, 1992, in Bakersfield, California. The duo Prussian Blue was formed in early 2003 by their mother April Gaede, who now goes by April Harrington. The twins referred to the Holocaust as a myth and promoted Holocaust denial and their group was described as racist and white supremacist.