Alberto Contador Velasco (born 6 December 1982 in Madrid) is a Spanish  road racing cyclist for the Astana Team. He won the 2007 Tour de France riding for the Discovery Channel team. He also won the 2008 Giro d'Italia riding for Astana. Contador is very good at climbing mountains.

Contador became a professional in 2003. In 2004 he started to have headaches. A few days later, while he was racing, he crashed and went to hospital. There, doctors found a problem with a blood vessel in his brain. He needed some dangerous surgery, and needed many months to recover (get better). In 2005 he was healthy, and rode in his first Tour de France. He finished in 31st place.

In 2006 his team had some trouble. A doctor in Spain had given drugs to athletes to help them to win. Some cyclists on Contador's team had worked with the doctor. The police wanted to check to see if Contador had taken drugs. As a result, Contador could not enter the 2006 Tour de France. Later the police decided that Contador had not taken drugs from the doctor. The case about the doctor was called the Operación Puerto doping case, and caused many problems in cycling.

2007 season
Contador had to find a new team. In January 2007, he joined the Discovery Channel team, and won the famous Paris-Nice race in March. In the Tour de France, he won the 14th stage, and was second in the race to Michael Rasmussen. Rasmussen had to leave the race because he had not been honest about where he was training before the race. Because of this, Contador wore the yellow jersey, meaning he was in first place in the race, from stage 18. In stage 19, a time trial, he did not lose too much time, and started the last stage with a 23 seconds lead over Cadel Evans in second place. Evans and Contador finished with the same time, so Contador won the 2007 Tour de France.

2008 season
The Discovery Channel Team stopped racing at the end of 2007, and Contador joined the Astana Team. This was the same team he had worked for in 2005, but with a new name and new people managing it. However, the group running the Tour de France decided that Astana could not join the 2008 Tour de France. One week before the 2008 Giro d'Italia, the group running it invited the Astana team to join. The team did not have much time to prepare (get ready), but Contador became the leader of the race on the 15th stage. He wore the maglia rosa (pink leader's jersey) until the finish in Milan. This meant that Contador had won his second grand tour.

Achievements

2003 – ONCE-Eroski
 Stage 8 (ITT), Tour de Pologne
 4th Overall, Vuelta a Castilla y León
2004 – Liberty Seguros
 Mountains Classification, Vuelta a Aragón
 5th Overall, Setmana Catalana
2005 – Liberty Seguros-Würth Cycling Team
 Stage 6 (ITT), Points Classification and 3rd Overall, Vuelta al País Vasco
 Stage 5, Tour Down Under
 1st Overall, Combination Classification and Stage 3, Setmana Catalana
 Stage 4 and 4th Overall, Tour de Romandie
 3rd, Youth Classification and 31st Overall, Tour de France
2006 – Astana-Würth Team
 Stage 8, Tour de Suisse
 Stage 3 and 2nd Overall, Tour de Romandie
 5th Overall, Vuelta al País Vasco
2007 – Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
 Vuelta a Castilla y León
 1st Overall
 1st Combination classification
 1st Spanish rider classification
 Winner Stage 4
 Paris-Nice:
 1st Overall
 1st Young rider classification
 Winner stages 4 and 7
 Stage 4, Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
Tour de France
Winner overall classification
Winner youth classification
Winner stage 14
2008 – Team Astana
 Vuelta a Castilla y León
 1st Overall
 1st Stage 1
 1st Stage 4
 Vuelta a País Vasco
 1st Overall
 1st Stage 1
 1st Stage 6
 Giro d'Italia
 Winner overall classification

1982 births
Living people
Doping cases in cycling
Giro d'Italia winners
Spanish cyclists
Sportspeople from Madrid
Tour de France winners
Vuelta a España winners

Alberto Contador


It is believed that the first Jews in England arrived during the Norman Conquest of the country by William the Conqueror (the future William I) in 1066. The first written record of Jewish settlement in England dates from 1070. They suffered massacres in 1189–90. In 1290, all Jews were expelled from England by the Edict of Expulsion.

William I to Henry I: 1066–1135
There is no record of Jews in England before the Norman Conquest in 1066. The few references to Jews in the Anglo-Saxon laws of the Roman Catholic Church relate to Jewish practices about Easter.

Believing that their commercial skills and incoming capital would make England more prosperous, William I (William the Conqueror) invited a group of Jewish merchants from Rouen, in Normandy, to England in 1070. However, Jews were not permitted to own land or to participate in trades (except for medicine). They were limited primarily to money lending. As Catholic doctrine held that money lending for interest was the sin of usury, Jews dominated this activity. The earliest immigrants spoke Judeo-French founded on the Norman dialect.

Around 1092, Gilbert Crispin, the Abbot of Westminster, issued a disputation about his exchange with a Jew, entitled "Disputation of a Jew with a Christian about the Christian Bible." Crispin wrote that:

This disputation was notable for the even-handed presentation of both the Christian and Jewish points of view, and for the congenial tone of the exchange.

At first, the status of Jews was not strictly determined. An attempt was made to introduce the continental principle that all Jews were the king's property and a clause to that effect was inserted under King Henry I in some manuscripts of the so-called Leges Edwardi Confessoris "Laws of Edward the Confessor".

However, during Henry's reign (1100–1135) a royal charter was granted to Joseph, the chief rabbi of London, and all his followers. Under this charter, Jews were permitted to move about the country without paying tolls, to buy and sell goods and property, to sell their pledges after holding them a year and a day, to be tried by their peers, and to be sworn on the Torah rather than on a Christian Bible. Special weight was attributed to a Jewish person's oath, which was valid against that of 12 Christians, because they represented the king of England in financial matters. The sixth clause of the charter was especially important: it granted Jews the right of movement throughout the kingdom, as if they were the king's own property (sicut res propriæ nostræ).

Jews did not settle outside of London before 1135.

Stephen to Henry II: 1135–1189

Christian-Jewish relations in England were disturbed under King Stephen who burned down the house of a Jewish man in Oxford (some accounts say with the owner in it) because he refused to pay a contribution to the king's expenses. It was also during this time that the first recorded blood libel against Jews was brought in the case of William of Norwich (March, 1144).

While the crusaders in Germany were attacking Jews, outbursts against the latter in England were, according to the Jewish chroniclers, prevented by King Stephen.

With the restoration of order under Henry II, Jews renewed their activity. Within five years of his accession, Jews are found at London, Oxford, Cambridge, Norwich, Thetford, Bungay, Canterbury, Winchester, Newport, Stafford, Windsor, and Reading. However, they were not permitted to bury their dead elsewhere than in London until 1177. Their spread throughout the country enabled the king to draw upon them as occasion demanded; he repaid them by demand notes on the sheriffs of the counties, who accounted for payments thus made in the half-yearly accounts on the pipe rolls (see Aaron of Lincoln).

Strongbow's conquest of Ireland (1170) was financed by Josce, a Jewish man from Gloucester; and the king accordingly fined Josce for having lent money to those under his displeasure. As a rule, however, Henry II does not appear to have limited in any way the financial activity of Jews. The favourable position of the English Jews was shown, among other things, by the visit of Abraham ibn Ezra in 1158, by that of Isaac of Chernigov in 1181, and by the resort to England of the Jews who were exiled from France by Philip Augustus in 1182, among them probably being Judah Sir Leon of Paris.

In 1168, when concluding an alliance with Frederick Barbarossa, Henry II seized the chief representatives of the Jews and sent them to Normandy, while tallaging the rest 5,000 marks). When, however, he asked the rest of the country to pay a tithe for the crusade against Saladin in 1186, he demanded a quarter of the Jewish chattels. The tithe was reckoned at £70,000, the quarter at £60,000. It is improbable, however, that the whole amount was paid at once, as for many years after the imposition of the tallage arrears were demanded from the Jews.

The king had probably been led to make this large demand upon  English Jewry by the surprising windfall which came to his treasury at the death of Aaron of Lincoln. In this period, Aaron of Lincoln is believed to have been, probably, the wealthiest man in 12th-century Britain, in liquid assets. All property obtained by usury, whether Jewish or Christian, fell into the king's hands on Aaron's death; his estate included £15,000 of debts owed by some 430 debtors scattered around the English counties. In order to track down and collect these debts a special section of the Royal Exchequer was constituted, which was known as the "Aaron's Exchequer". The cash treasure of the Aaron's estate, that came into the king's hands, however, was lost on a shipwreck during a transport to Normandy.

In this era, Jews lived on good terms with their non-Jewish neighbours, including the clergy; they entered churches freely, and took refuge in the abbeys in times of commotion. Some Jews lived in opulent houses, and helped to build a large number of abbeys and monasteries. However, by the end of Henry's reign they had incurred the ill will of the upper classes, and anti-Jewish sentiment spread further throughout the nation, fostered by the crusades.

Massacres at London and York (1189–1190)

Richard I had taken the cross before his coronation (3 September 1189). A number of the principal Jews of England presented themselves to do homage at Westminster; but there was a long-standing custom against Jews (and women) being admitted to the coronation ceremony, and they were expelled during the banquet which followed the coronation, whereupon they were attacked by a crowd of bystanders. The rumour spread from Westminster to London that the king had ordered a massacre of the Jews; and a mob in the Old Jewry, after vainly attacking the strong stone houses of the Jews throughout the day, set them on fire at night, killing those within who attempted to escape. The king was enraged at this insult to his royal dignity, but was unable to punish more than a few of the offenders, owing to their large numbers and to the considerable social standing of several of them. After his departure on the crusade, riots with loss of life occurred at Lynn, where some Jews attempted to attack a baptised coreligionist who had taken refuge in a church. The seafaring population rose against them, fired their houses, and put them to the sword. So, too, at Stamford Fair, on 7 March 1190, many were slain, and on 18 March, 57 were slaughtered at Bury St Edmunds. The Jews of Lincoln saved themselves only by taking refuge in the castle.

Isolated attacks on Jews also occurred at Colchester, Thetford, and Ospringe.

A significant loss of life occurred at York on the night of March 16 (Shabbat HaGadol, the Shabbat before Passover) and 17 March 1190. As crusaders prepared to leave on the Third Crusade, religious fervour resulted in several incidents of anti-Jewish violence. Josce of York, the leader of the Jews in York, asked the warden of York Castle to receive them with their wives and children, and they were accepted into Clifford's Tower. However, the tower was besieged by the mob of crusaders, demanding that the Jews convert to Christianity and be baptized. Trapped in the castle, the Jews were advised by their religious leader, Rabbi Yomtov of Joigny, to kill themselves rather than convert; Josce began by slaying his wife Anna and his two children, and then was killed by Yomtov. The father of each family killed his wife and children, before Yomtov and Josce set fire to the wooden keep, killing themselves. The handful of Jews who did not kill themselves died in the fire, or were murdered by rioters. Around 150 people are thought to have been killed in the incident.

Ordinance of the Jewry, 1194
During Richard's absence in the Holy Land and during his captivity, the Jews of England were harassed by William de Longchamp. The Jewish community was forced to contribute 5,000 marks toward the king's ransom, more than three times as much as the contribution of the City of London.

On his return, Richard determined to organise the Jewish community in order to ensure that he should no longer be defrauded of his just dues as universal legatee of the Jewry by any such outbreaks as those that occurred after his coronation. Richard accordingly decided, in 1194, that records should be kept by royal officials of all the transactions of the Jews, without which such transactions would not be legal.

Every debt was to be entered upon a chirograph, one part of which was to be kept by the Jewish creditor, and the other preserved in a chest to which only special officials should have access. By this means the king could at any time ascertain the property of any Jew in the land; and no destruction of the bond held by a Jew could release the creditor from his indebtedness.

This "Ordinance of the Jewry" was, in practice, the beginning of the office of Exchequer of the Jews, which made all the transactions of the English Jewry liable to taxation by the King of England, who thus became a sleeping partner in all the transactions of Jewish money lending. The king besides demanded two bezants in the pound, that is, 10 per cent, of all sums recovered by the Jews with the aid of his courts.

At this point in time Jews had many of the same rights as gentile citizens. However, their loans could be recovered at law, whereas the Christian money lender could not recover more than his original loan. They were in direct relation to the king and his courts; but this did not imply any arbitrary power of the king to tax them or to take their money without repayment, as is frequently exemplified in the pipe rolls.

Leadership of the Chief Rabbis, 13th century
Jews were allowed to have their own jurisdiction, and there is evidence of their having a beth din with three judges. Reference is made to the parnas (president) and gabbai (treasurer), of the congregation, and to scribes and chirographers. A complete system of education seems to have been in vogue.

At the head of the Jewish community was placed a chief rabbi, known as "the presbyter of all the Jews of England"; he appears to have been selected by the Jews themselves, who were granted a congé d'élire by the king. The latter claimed, however, the right of confirmation, as in the case of bishops. The Jewish presbyter was indeed in a measure a royal official, holding the position of adviser, as regards Jewish law, to the Exchequer of the Jews, as the English legal system admitted the validity of Jewish law in its proper sphere as much as it did that of the canon law.

Six presbyters are known in the 13th century: Jacob of London, reappointed 1200; Josce of London, 1207; Aaron of York, 1237; Elyas of London, 1243; Hagin fil Cresse, 1257; and Cresse fil Mosse.

Under John, 1205–1216
As early as 1198 Pope Innocent III had written to all Christian princes, including Richard of England, calling upon them to compel the remission of all usury demanded by Jews from Christians. This would render the Jewish community's very existence impossible.

On 15 July 1205, the pope laid down the principle that Jews were doomed to perpetual servitude because they had crucified Jesus. In England the secular power soon followed the initiative of the Church. John, having become indebted to the Jewish community while in Ireland, at first treated Jews with a show of forbearance. He confirmed the charter of Rabbi Josce and his sons, and made it apply to all the Jews of England; he wrote a sharp remonstrance to the mayor of London against the attacks that were continually being made upon the Jews of that city, alone of all the cities of England. He reappointed one Jacob archpriest of all the English Jews (12 July 1199).

But with the loss of Normandy in 1205 a new spirit seems to have come over the attitude of John to his Jews. In the height of his triumph over the pope, he demanded the sum of no less than £100,000 from the religious houses of England, and 66,000 marks from the Jews (1210). One of the latter, Abraham of Bristol, who refused to pay his quota of 10,000 marks, had, by order of the king, seven of his teeth extracted, one a day, until he was willing to disgorge.

Though John squeezed as much as he could out of the Jewish community, they were an important element on his side in the triangular struggle between king, barons, and municipalities which makes up the constitutional history of England during his reign and that of his son. Even in the Magna Carta, clauses were inserted preventing the king or his Jewish subjects from obtaining interest during the minority of an heir.

Increasing persecution, 13th century
With the accession of Henry III (1216) the position of the Jews became somewhat easier, but only for a short time. Innocent III had in the preceding year caused the Fourth Council of the Lateran to pass the law enforcing the Badge upon the Jews; and in 1218 Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, brought it into operation in England, the badge taking the form of an oblong white patch of two finger-lengths by four. The action of the Church was followed by similar opposition on the part of the English boroughs.

Petitions were accordingly sent to the king in many instances to remove his Jews from the boroughs, and they were expelled from Bury St. Edmunds in 1190, Newcastle in 1234, Wycombe in 1235, Southampton in 1236, Berkhamsted in 1242, Newbury in 1244. Simon de Montfort issued an edict to expel the Jewish population from Leicester in 1231, "in my time or in the time of any of my heirs to the end of the world". He justified his action as being "for the good of my soul, and for the souls of my ancestors and successors". The Jews appear to have found refuge in the suburbs outside his control.

The Papacy continued to develop its theological commitment to restrictions on Judaism and Jews. In England, a number of Benedictine priories showed particular hostility to Jews, or sought to capitalise on it. The fictional stories of Jewish ritual murder, for instance, emerged from Benedictine priories, apparently attempting to set competing local cults. In Worcester, Bishop William de Blois pushed for tighter restrictions on Jews, writing to Pope Gregory IX for assistance in enforcing segregation between Jews and Christians, including wearing of badges and prohibitions on Christians working for Jews especially within their homes.

The value of the Jewish community to the royal treasury had become considerably lessened during the 13th century through two circumstances: the king's income from other sources had continually increased, and the contributions of the Jews had decreased both absolutely and relatively. Besides this, the king had found other sources from which to obtain loans. Italian merchants, "pope's usurers" as they were called, supplied him with money, at times on the security of the Jewry. By the contraction of the area in which Jews were permitted to exercise their money-lending activity their means of profit were lessened, while the king by his continuous exactions prevented the automatic growth of interest.

By the middle of the 13th century the Jews of England, like those of the Continent, had become chattels of the king. There appeared to be no limit to the exactions he could impose upon them, though it was obviously against his own interest to deprive them entirely of capital, without which they could not gain for him interest. The great financial pressure Henry placed on the Jews caused them to force repayment of loans, fuelling anti-Jewish resentment. Jewish bonds were purchased and used by richer Barons and members of Henry III's royal circle as a means to acquire lands of lesser landholders, through payment defaults.

Henry had built the Domus Conversorum in London in 1232 to help convert Jews to Christianity, and efforts intensified after 1239. As many as 10 percent of the Jews in England had been converted by the late 1250s in large part due to their deteriorating economic conditions.

Blood libels and Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln

Many anti-Jewish stories involving tales of child sacrifice circulated in the 1230s-50s, including the account of "Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln" in 1255. The event is considered particularly important, as the first such accusation endorsed by the Crown. In August 1255, a number of the chief Jews who had assembled at Lincoln to celebrate the marriage of a daughter of Berechiah de Nicole were seized on a charge of having murdered a boy named Hugh. Henry intervened to order the execution of Copin, who had confessed to the murder in return for his life, and removed 91 Jews to the Tower of London. 18 were executed, and their property expropriated by the Crown. The king had mortgaged the Jewish community to his brother Richard of Cornwall in February 1255, for 5,000 marks, and had lost all rights over it for a year, Henry thus receiving no income from it except in the case of executions. The story was referred to in later English literature including Chaucer and Marlowe, and entered popular folk culture through a contemporary ballad. It was quoted as fact by Thomas Fuller in his posthumous 1662 book Worthies of England.

Further restrictions and the Statute of Jewry 1253
Henry III passed the Statute of Jewry in 1253, which attempted to stop the construction of synagogues and reinforce the wearing of Jewish badges (rather than accepting fines). A prohibition on Christian servants working for Jews was to reduce the 'risk' of sexual contact, also prohibited. It remains unclear to what extent this statute was actually implemented by Henry. The laws themselves were following the Catholic church's existing pronouncements.

In the later 1250s, as Henry was not fully in control over government, the Barons asked for limits on the resale of Jewish bonds. Jewish loans became a motivating factor in the following war. Henry's policies up to 1258 of excessive Jewish taxation, anti-Jewish legislation and propaganda had caused a very important and negative change.

Targeting of Jews during the conflict with the Barons
While the level of debts to Jewish moneylenders was in fact lower in the 1260s than the 1230s, Henry III's policies had made the landowning classes fear that debts to Jews would lead to them being deprived of their lands, which were used to secure loans. Excessive taxation of Jews, forcing them to collect no matter what the circumstances, was one factor in this. The other was the King's support for courtiers and relatives who bought Jewish loans in order to dispossess defaulters of their landholdings. These were the fears that de Montfort and his supporters played on to bring support to their rebellion.

With the outbreak of the Barons' war violent measures were adopted to remove all traces of indebtedness either to the king or to the higher barons. The Jewries of London, Canterbury, Northampton, Winchester, Cambridge, Worcester, and Lincoln were looted (1263–65), and the archæ (official chests of records) either destroyed or deposited at the headquarters of the barons at Ely.

Simon de Montfort, who in 1231 had expelled the Jews from his town of Leicester, when at the height of his power after the battle of Lewes cancelled the debts and interest owed to Jews of around 60 men, including those held by his baronial supporters.

Montfort had been accused of sharing the plunder but issued edicts for their protection after the battle. Nevertheless, his closest allies including two of his sons had led the violence and killing, so it seems implausible to regard him as ignorant of the likely consequences of the campaign.

Later policies of Henry III
Once de Montfort was dead and the rebels were defeated, Henry's policy went into reverse and as best as he was able, the debts were reimposed. However, Henry's finances were very weak, and he also wished to pursue the Crusade that he had tried to mount in the 1250s. Parliament refused to comply without legislation that restricted the abuse of Jewish finances, particularly by Christians. In 1269 Henry agreed to limits on perpetual fee-rents, an end to the sale of Jewish loans to Christians without the permission of the Crown and a prohibition on levying interest on loans purchased by Christians. These were the grievances that had helped fuel the wider crisis since 1239. In 1271 he conceded a ban on Jews holding freehold land and again ordered that the previous legislation be enforced. Nevertheless, these policies would not be adequate in allaying wider fears, which quickly resurfaced under Edward I.

In Lincoln, Henry III ordered for a man by the name of Jopin, who was accused of murdering and torturing a 8/9 year old Christian boy in a witchcraft ceremony, to be killed along with another 91 Jews and all to be sent to London. When the executions were ongoing in London, Richard, Earl of Cornwall stopped the executions while 18 had already died. Similar cases happened in London and Northampton in the 1260s and 1270s.

Edward I and the Expulsion
Jews were expelled from the lands of Queen Dowager Eleanor in January 1275 (which included towns such as Guildford, Cambridge and Worcester).

Statutum de Judaismo, 1275

Edward I returned from the Crusades in 1274, two years after his accession as King of England. In 1275, he made some experimental decrees. The Church laws against usury had recently been reiterated with more than usual vehemence at the Second Council of Lyon (1274), and Edward in the Statutum de Judaismo (Statute of the Jewry) absolutely forbade Jews to lend on usury, but granted them permission to engage in commerce and handicrafts, and even to take farms for a period not exceeding ten years, though he expressly excluded them from all the feudal advantages of the possession of land.

This permission to own land, however, regarded as a means by which Jews in general could gain a livelihood, was illusory. Farming can not be taken up at a moment's notice, nor can handicrafts be acquired at once. Moreover, in England in the 13th century the guilds were already securing a monopoly of all skilled labour, and in the majority of markets only those could buy and sell who were members of the Guild Merchant.

By depriving the Jews of a resort to usury, Edward was practically preventing them from earning a living at all under the conditions of life then existing in feudal England; and in principle the "Statute of the Jewry" expelled them fifteen years before the final expulsion. Some of the Jews attempted to evade the law by resorting to the tricks of the Caursines, who lent sums and extorted bonds that included both principal and interest. Some resorted to highway robbery; others joined the Domus Conversorum; while a considerable number appear to have resorted to coin clipping as a means of securing a precarious existence. As a consequence, in 1278 the whole English Jewry was imprisoned; and no fewer than 293 Jews were executed at London.

Expulsion, 1290

After the failed experiments in legislation which Edward I made from 1269 onward, there was only one option left: If the Jews were not to have intercourse with their fellow citizens as artisans, merchants, or farmers, and were not to be allowed to take interest, the only alternative was for them to leave the country. He expelled the Jews in 1287 from Gascony, a province still then held by England and in which he was travelling at the time; and on his return to England (July 18, 1290) he issued writs to the sheriffs of all the English counties ordering them to enforce a decree to the effect that all Jews should leave England before All Saints' Day of that year. They were allowed to carry their portable property; but their houses escheated to the king, except in the case of a few favoured persons who were allowed to sell theirs before they left. Between 4,000 and 16,000 Jews were expelled. They emigrated to countries such as Poland that protected them by law.

Between the expulsion of the Jews in 1290 and their formal return in 1655 there is no official trace of Jews as such on English soil except in connection with the Domus Conversorum, which kept a number of them within its precincts up to 1551 and even later.

Anti-Judaism did not disappear with the expulsion of Jews. Jeremy Cohen writes about accusations of host desecration:
The story exerted its influence even in the absence of Jews ... the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries saw the proliferation of the Host-desecration story in England: in collections of miracle stories, many of them dedicated to the miracles of the Virgin Mary; in the art of illuminated manuscripts used for Christian prayer and meditation; and on stage, as in popular Croxton Play of the Sacrament, which itself evoked memories of an alleged ritual murder committed by Jews in East Anglia in 1191.

See also

History of the Jews in England
Edict of Expulsion
History of the Marranos in England
Resettlement of the Jews in England
Menasseh Ben Israel
Jewish Naturalization Act 1753
Influences on the standing of the Jews in England
Emancipation of the Jews in England
Early English Jewish literature
History of the Jews in Scotland
Aaron, Son of the Devil, an anti-Semitic caricature dated 1277

Notes

References
Butler, Lawrence. (1997) Clifford's Tower and the Castles of York. London: English Heritage. .

Jewish English history
Sephardi Jews topics
Society in medieval England
Medieval Jewish history

History of the Jews in England (1066–1290)


Charles Sheffield (25 June 1935 – 2 November 2002), an English-born mathematician, physicist and science-fiction writer, served as a President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and of the American Astronautical Society.

His novel The Web Between the Worlds, featuring the construction of a space elevator, was published almost simultaneously with Arthur C. Clarke's novel on the subject, The Fountains of Paradise - a coincidence that amused them both.  Excerpts from both Sheffield's The Web Between the Worlds and Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise have appeared recently in a space-elevator anthology, Towering Yarns.

Sheffield served as Chief Scientist of Earth Satellite Corporation, a company that processed remote-sensing satellite data.  The association gave rise to many technical papers and two popular non-fiction books, Earthwatch (1981) and Man on Earth (1983), both collections of false-colour and enhanced images of Earth from space.

He won the Nebula and Hugo awards for his 1993 novelette "Georgia on My Mind" and the 1992 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel for his 1992 novel Brother to Dragons.

Sheffield was Toastmaster at BucConeer, the 1998 World Science Fiction Convention in Baltimore.

Before he died, he was writing a column for the Baen Books web-site; his last column concerned the discovery of the brain tumour that led to his death.

Personal life

Charles Sheffield attended St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a Double First in Mathematics and Physics.  During his studies he met and later married his first wife, Sarah Sanderson, whose death in 1977 became the catalyst for his writing career.  They had a son, Charles Christopher ("Kit"), and a daughter, Ann Elizabeth.  The family soon after moved to the United States, where Sheffield began working in the field of practical physics, a career that would lead him to a consultancy with NASA and the role of chief scientist at the Earth Satellite Corporation in Washington.

In response to the traumatic grief from the death of his wife Sarah to cancer (in 1977), Sheffield began a second career as a  science fiction author, winning both the prestigious Nebula and Hugo awards and serving as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (1984–1986). He maintained two successful careers, consulting for various scientific corporations while earning fame for his "Hard SF".   During this period he lived in Washington, DC, and met and married Linda Zall, a fellow scientist, and had two daughters, Elizabeth Rose and Victoria Jane.

At the time of his death, he was married to writer Nancy Kress, and lived with his children in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Fiction

Series

Behrooz Wolf
Sight of Proteus, Ace September 1978; revised, NEL January 1989 – book version of the following linked stories:
"Sight of Proteus", Amazing May 1978
"Legacy", Galaxy June 1977
"The Grooves of Change", reprinted in Amazing Feb. 1979
Proteus Unbound, Analog August 1988 / NEL Jan. 1989 / Ballantine Del Rey March 1989
Proteus in the Underworld, Baen May 1995
Volumes 1 and 2 were reprinted in omnibus version Proteus Manifest (SFBC July 1989) and later in a revised omnibus version Proteus Combined (Baen May 1994)

The Heritage Universe
Summertide, Ballantine Del Rey Feb. 1990 – loosely based on
"Summertide", Destinies, August 1981
Divergence, Ballantine Del Rey, February 1991
Transcendence, Ballantine Del Rey, April 1992
Convergence, Baen April 1997
Resurgence, Baen November 2002
Volumes 1, 2 and 3 were reprinted in omnibus version The Heritage Universe (SFBC October 1992); Volumes 1 and 2 were reprinted in revised omnibus version Convergent Series (Baen October 1998); Volumes 3 and 4 were reprinted in revised omnibus version Transvergence (Baen November 1999)

Cold as Ice
Cold as Ice, Tor June 1992
The Ganymede Club, Tor December 1995
Dark as Day, Tor March 2002

Chan Dalton
The Mind Pool, Baen, April 1993 – revised and expanded from an earlier version:
The Nimrod Hunt, Baen, August 1986
The Spheres of Heaven, Baen, February 2001

Jupiter (Young Adult Novels)
Higher Education (with Jerry Pournelle),  Analog February 1996 / Tor June 1996 – revised and expanded from
"Higher Education", Charles Sheffield & Jerry Pournelle, Future Quartet: Earth in the Year 2042: A Four-Part Invention, Ben Bova, Frederik Pohl, Jerry Pournelle and Charles Sheffield, AvoNova 1994
The Billion Dollar Boy, Tor April 1997
Putting Up Roots, Tor September 1997
The Cyborg from Earth, Tor March 1998

Supernova Alpha
Aftermath, Bantam Spectra Aug. 1998
Starfire, Bantam Spectra October 1999

Arthur Morton McAndrew
The Compleat McAndrew, Baen April 2000 – a collection of linked stories:
"Killing Vector", Galaxy March 1978; read online
"Moment of Inertia", Analog October 1980; read online
"All the Colors of the Vacuum", Analog 2 February 1981
"Manna Hunt", Analog September  1982
"The Hidden Matter of McAndrew", Analog June 1992
"The Invariants of Nature", Analog April 1993
"Rogueworld", F&SF May 1983
"With McAndrew, Out of Focus", Science Fiction Age March 1999
"McAndrew and the Fifth Commandment", Analog September 1999

The Compleat McAndrew was preceded by two earlier versions: The McAndrew Chronicles, (Tor, June 1983) and One Man's Universe (Tor, December 1993); also, Sheffield later wrote an additional McAndrew story:
"McAndrew and THE LAW", Cosmic Tales: Adventures in Sol System, ed. T. K. F. Weisskopf, Baen June 2004; read online

Waldo Burmeister and Henry Carver, Space Attorneys
Sheffield wrote about this series:

Space Suits (Fox Acre Press, August 2001); a collection of linked stories:
"Marconi, Mattin, Maxwell", Galaxy May 1977; read online
"Dinsdale Dissents", Galaxy July 1977
"The Deimos Plague", Stellar No. 4, ed. Judy-Lynn del Rey, Ballantine 1978; read online
"Perfectly Safe, Nothing to Worry About", Galaxy August 1977
"The Decline of Hyperion", Analog mid-Dec. 1992
"The Dalmatian of Faust",  Galaxy September  1978
"A Certain Place in History", Galaxy October 1977
"Parasites Lost", Proteus: Voices for the 80s, ed. Richard S. McEnroe, Ace May 1981
"Fifteen-Love on the Dead Man's Chest", Amazing May 1993
"With the Knight Male", The Chick is in the Mail, ed. Esther Friesner, Baen October 2000
"Space Opera", Analog mid-December 1988

Erasmus Darwin (Grandfather of Charles Darwin)
 The Amazing Dr. Darwin, Baen June 2002 – a collection of linked stories:
 "The Devil of Malkirk", F&SF June 1982; read online
 "The Heart of Ahura Mazda", AHMM November 1988
 "The Phantom of Dunwell Cove", Asimov's August 1995
 "The Lambeth Immortal", AHMM June 1979
 "The Solborne Vampire", AHMM January 1998
 "The Treasure of Odirex", Fantastic July 1978
 Appendix: Erasmus Magister: Fact and Fiction, Erasmus Magister, Ace 1982
The Amazing Dr. Darwin was preceded by an earlier version, Erasmus Magister (Ace, June 1982); also, Sheffield later wrote an additional Erasmus Darwin story:
 "The Demon of E Staircase", AHMM January 2003

Other novels
The Web Between the Worlds, Ace August 1979, revised Baen Feb. 2001
The Selkie (with David Bischoff), Macmillan March 1982 / Signet May 1983
My Brother's Keeper, Ace August 1982
Between the Strokes of Night, (n) Analog March 1985 (+3) / Baen July 1985 / significantly revised & expanded: Baen Nov. 2002
Trader's World, Ballantine Del Rey November 1988 – book version of linked stories:
"Trader's Blood," (na) Analog April 1986
"Trader's Partner," (nv) Analog July 1987
"Trader's Cross," (nv) Analog March 1987
"Trader's Secret," (nv) Analog August 1985
Brother to Dragons, Baen Nov. 1992
Winner of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel of 1992
Godspeed, Tor November 1993
The Judas Cross (with David Bischoff), Warner Aspect December 1994
Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Bantam Spectra January 1997 – revised and expanded from
"At the Eschaton," (na) Far Futures, ed. Gregory Benford, Tor December 1995

Other collections
Vectors, Ace December 1979
"What Song the Sirens Sang", Galaxy April 1977; read online
"Fixed Price War", Analog May 1978; read online
"Marconi, Mattin, Maxwell", Galaxy May 1977; read online
"Power Failure", Fantastic April 1978
"Killing Vector", Galaxy March 1978; read online
"Dinsdale Dissents", Galaxy July 1977
"We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident", Fantastic December 1977
"Skystalk", Destinies August 1979
"How to Build a Beanstalk" (article), Destinies August  1979
"Transition Team", Destinies November 1978
"Bounded in a Nutshell", Analog July 1978
"The Long Chance", Galaxy November 1977
"The Treasure of Odirex", Fantastic July 1978
"The Dalmatian of Faust", Galaxy September 1978
Hidden Variables, Ace July 1981
"The Man Who Stole the Moon", Destinies Summer 1980; read online
"The Deimos Plague", Stellar No. 4, ed. Judy-Lynn del Rey, Ballantine 1978; read online
"Forefather Figure", A Spadeful of Spacetime, ed. Fred Saberhagen, Ace 1981; read online
"Moment of Inertia", Analog October 1980; read online
"The New Physics: The Speed of Lightness, Curved Space, and Other Heresies", Analog September 1980
"From Natural Causes", Amazing August 1978
"Legacy", Galaxy June 1977
"The Softest Hammer", F&SF February  1981
"Hidden Variable", Destinies Fall 1980
"A Certain Place in History", Galaxy October  1977
"All the Colors of the Vacuum", Analog 2 February 1981
"Perfectly Safe, Nothing to Worry About", Galaxy Aug. 1977
"Summertide", Destinies v3 #2 1981
"The Marriage of True Minds",  F&SF November  1980
Dancing with Myself, Baen September 1993
"Out of Copyright", F&SF May 1989
"Tunicate, Tunicate, Wilt Thou Be Mine?", Asimov's June 1985
"Counting Up" (article), New Destinies, Vol. VI, ed. Jim Baen, Baen 1988
"A Braver Thing", Asimov's February 1990
"The Grand Tour", Analog May 1987
"Classical Nightmares and Quantum Paradoxes" (article), New Destinies, Vol. VII, ed. Jim Baen, Baen 1989
"Nightmares of the Classical Mind", Asimov's Aug. 1989
"The Double Spiral Staircase", Analog January 1990
"The Unlicked Bear-Whelp" (article), New Destinies, Vol. IX, ed. Jim Baen, Baen 1990
"The Seventeen-Year Locusts", Asimov's January 1983
"The Courts of Xanadu", Asimov's April 1988
"C-change", Analog November 1992
"Unclear Winter" (article), New Destinies, Vol. IV, ed. Jim Baen, Baen 1988
"Godspeed", Analog July 1990
"Dancing with Myself", Analog August 1989
"Something for Nothing: A Biography of the Universe" (article)
Georgia on My Mind and Other Places, Tor February 1995
"The Feynman Saltation", The Ultimate Dinosaur, ed. Byron Preiss & Robert Silverberg, Bantam Spectra 1992; read online
"The Bee's Kiss", Asimov's November 1994
"Millennium"
"Fifteen-Love on the Dead Man's Chest", Amazing May 1993
"Deep Safari", Asimov's March 1992
"Beyond the Golden Road", Arabesques 2, ed. Susan Shwartz, Avon 1989
"Health Care System", Asimov's Sep. 1990
"Humanity Test", Analog March 1989
"That Strain Again", Microcosmic Tales, ed. Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg & Joseph D. Olander, Taplinger 1980
"Destroyer of Worlds", Asimov's February 1989
"The Fifteenth Station of the Cross", Science Fiction Age July 1993
"Trapalanda", Asimov's June 1987
"Obsolete Skill", F&SF December 1987
"Georgia on My Mind", Analog Jan. 1993
Winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novelette of 1993
Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novelette of 1993
The Lady Vanishes and Other Oddities of Nature, Gale Group/Five Star June 2002
"The Lady Vanishes", Science Fiction Age Nov. 1996
"The Peacock Throne", Asimov's February 1996
"Brooks Too Broad for Leaping", Bending the Landscape: Science Fiction, ed. Nicola Griffith & Steven Pagel, White Wolf 1998
"The Art of Fugue", Asimov's June 2000
"The Whole Three Yards"
"Cloud Cuckoo", Asimov's July 1996
"Packing Fraction", Packing Fraction & Other Tales of Science & Imagination, ed. Julie E. Czerneda, Trifolium Books 1998
"Nuremberg Joys", Asimov's March 2000
"What Would You Like to Know?", Science Fiction Age March 1997
"Waiting for the Riddlers", Analog March 1997
"Phallicide", Science Fiction Age September 1999

Anthologies
 How to Save the World, ed. Charles Sheffield, Tor September 1995

Short stories
 "Humanity Test" (1989)
 "The Double-Spiral Staircase" (1990?)
 "A Braver Thing" (1990)
 "Georgia on My Mind" (1993) (Hugo, Nebula)
 "Tunicate, Tunicate, Wilt Thou Be Mine" (1989)
 "Dies Irae" (1985)
 "Brooks Too Broad For Leaping" (1998)
 "The Diamond Drill" (2002)
 "The Demon of E Staircase" (2003)

Nonfiction
 Earthwatch: A Survey of the World from Space (Macmillan 1981)
 Man on Earth: How Civilization and Technology Changed the Face of the World – A Survey from Space (Macmillan 1983) / (Sidgwick & Jackson 1983)
 Space Careers (with Carol Rosin) (William Morrow Sep. 1984)
 Borderlands of Science: How to Think Like a Scientist and Write Science Fiction (Baen, Nov. 1999)
 Interstellar Travel and Multi-Generational Space Ships (with Yoji Kondo, Frederick Bruhweiler & John H. Moore) (Apogee Books, July 2003)

See also

 List of people with brain tumors

References

External links

 Charles Sheffield yahoogroup ("study and appreciation", est. 2005)

 List of Sheffield stories in the Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections, Galactic Central (philsp.com)
 Links to Charles Sheffield stories online
 Charles Sheffield Papers at the University of South Florida

English science fiction writers
English non-fiction writers
English science writers
Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
20th-century American novelists
21st-century American novelists
American male novelists
American science fiction writers
American science writers
Hugo Award-winning writers
Nebula Award winners
1935 births
2002 deaths
Place of death missing
Place of birth missing
American male short story writers
English male novelists
20th-century American short story writers
21st-century American short story writers
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American male non-fiction writers
Deaths from brain cancer in the United States
Deaths from cancer in Maryland
Presidents of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association

Charles Sheffield


The Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg constitutes the House of Luxembourg-Nassau, headed by the sovereign Grand Duke, and in which the throne of the grand duchy is hereditary. It consists of heirs and descendants of the House of Nassau-Weilburg, whose sovereign territories passed cognatically from the House of Nassau to the House of Bourbon-Parma, itself a branch of the Spanish Royal House which is agnatically a cadet branch of the House of Capet that originated in France, itself a derivative dynasty from the Robertians and the founding house of the Capetian dynasty.

Order of Precedence As Follows

The following is the order of precedence in Luxembourg as of  , for the Royal Family, Government, and Parliament.

I. Grand Ducal Royal Family.

 HRH The Grand Duke of Luxembourg
 HRH The Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
 HRH The Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg
 HRH The Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
 HRH Prince Charles of Luxembourg
 HRH Prince Francois of Luxembourg
 HRH Prince Felix of Luxembourg
 HRH Princess Claire of Luxembourg
 HRH Princess Amalia of Luxembourg
 HRH Prince Liam of Luxembourg
 HRH Prince Louis of Luxembourg
 HRH Prince Gabriel of Luxembourg
 HRH Prince Noah of Luxembourg
 HRH Princess Alexandra of Luxembourg
 Mr Nicolas Bagory
 HRH Prince Sebastien of Luxembourg
 HI & RH Archduchess Marie Astrid of Austria
 HI & RH Archduke Christian of Austria
 Descendants of Archduchess Marie Astrid
 HRH Prince Jean of Luxembourg
 HRH Princess Diane of Luxembourg
 Descendants of Prince Jean
 HRH Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg
 HRH Princess Sibilia of Luxembourg
 Descendants of Prince Guillaume
 HRH Princess Joan of Luxembourg
 Descendants of Princess Joan

II. Royal Family with members of government, parliament, and others. (on formal occasions outside Inner Royal Family).

 HRH The Grand Duke of Luxembourg
 HRH The Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
 HRH The Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg
 HRH The Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
 HRH Prince Charles of Luxembourg
 HRH Prince Francois of Luxembourg
 HRH Prince Felix of Luxembourg
 HRH Princess Claire of Luxembourg
 HRH Princess Amalia of Luxembourg
 HRH Prince Liam of Luxembourg
 HRH Prince Louis of Luxembourg
 HRH Prince Gabriel of Luxembourg
 HRH Prince Noah of Luxembourg
 HRH Princess Alexandra of Luxembourg
 Mr Nicolas Bagory
 HRH Prince Sebastien of Luxembourg
 The President of the Chamber of Deputies
 The Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies
 Members of the Chamber of Deputies
 The Prime Minister of Luxembourg
 The Deputy Prime Minister of Luxembourg
 The Former President of the Chamber of Deputies
 The Former Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies
 The Former of Prime Minister of Luxembourg
 The Former Deputy of Prime Minister of Luxembourg
 Ministers
 The President of Supreme Court Justice
 The Vice President of Supreme Court Justice
 The Foreign Ambassadors
 The Chief of Defence
 The Director General Grand Ducal Police
 The Vice Director General Grand Ducal Police
 Canton Governor
 Recipients of Grand Duke's Medal

History
In 1443 the last member of the senior branch of the House of Luxemburg, Duchess Elisabeth, sold the Duchy of Luxembourg to Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy, a prince of the French House of Valois. In 1477 the duchy passed by marriage of Philip's granddaughter, Mary of Burgundy, to Archduke Maximilian I of Austria of the House of Habsburg. Luxembourg was one of the fiefdoms in the former Burgundian Netherlands which  Maximilian and Mary's grandson, Emperor Charles V, combined into an integral union, the Seventeen Provinces, by issuing the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549. The southern Netherlands remained part of the Habsburg Empire, first held by the Spanish branch and then by the Austrian line, until 1794 when French revolutionaries replaced Habsburg rule with French hegemony until the defeat of Napoleon.

Luxembourg's territories, centering on the ancestral castle, were captured from occupying French forces in the first stages of the fall of Napoleon. Some were eventually ceded to William VI of Nassau, Prince of Orange, who had been declared Sovereign Prince of the Netherlands in 1813, by his cousin King Frederick William III of Prussia who annexed other territories which had been held by princes of the various branches of the House of Nassau.
The Great Powers agreed at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to re-constitute and elevate Luxembourg into a grand duchy, to be hereditary in the male line of the entire House of Nassau, beginning with the Prince of Orange, who was simultaneously but separately recognised as King of the Netherlands.

Thus William I of the Netherlands ascended the grand ducal throne as the first Grand Duke of Luxemburg. When the male line of the House of Orange-Nassau became extinct in 1890, the crown of the Netherlands went to his descendant, Wilhelmina of Orange-Nassau, but the crown of Luxembourg continued in the male line, devolving upon the head of the only surviving branch of the House of Nassau, ex-Duke Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg. His son, Guillaume IV (reigned 1905–1912), left no sons and was succeeded by his daughters, Marie-Adélaïde and then by Charlotte (reigned 1919–1964). Her descendants (from her marriage to Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma) comprise the Grand Ducal House in the 21st century.

Titulature
The monarch bears the style of Royal Highness (subsumed in the higher style of Majesty that was borne by its sovereigns during the personal union of the Grand Duchy with the Kingdom of the Netherlands until 1890), to which the heir apparent is also entitled. The other male-line descendants of Grand Duke Adolphe held the titles "Prince/Princess of Luxembourg" and "Prince/Princess of Nassau", with the style of Grand Ducal Highness. Until 1995, the daughters and male-line issue of Grand Duchess Charlotte also bore the title of "Prince/Princess of Bourbon-Parma" and were addressed as Royal Highness, in right of their descent from her consort, Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma.

On 28 July 1987, by grand ducal decree, members of the dynasty assumed the surname "de Nassau" and discontinued use of the princely title and inescutcheon of the House of Bourbon-Parma (the Dukes of which had not consented to the marriages to commoners of the dynasts of their Luxembourg cadet branch, Prince Charles in 1967 and Hereditary Grand Duke Henri in 1981), while retaining the style of Royal Highness.

Since the grand ducal decree of 21 September 1995, dynasts who are the children of a Grand Duke or Hereditary Grand Duke hold the titles "Prince/Princess of Luxembourg" and "Prince/Princess of Nassau" with the style of Royal Highness. Shortly after his accession to the throne in October 2000, Grand Duke Henri issued a grand ducal decree conferring upon his eldest son and heir, Prince Guillaume, the title of "Hereditary Grand Duke" and restoring to him the title "Prince of Bourbon-Parma". Male line descendants of Grand Duchess Charlotte who are not the children of a Grand Duke or Hereditary Grand Duke are "Prince/Princess of Nassau" with the style of His/Her Royal Highness.

A grand ducal decree in 2012, concerning the family pact, further defined the rules of titles borne.

The wives, children and male-line descendants of a prince of the dynasty whose marriage has not received grand ducal consent are "Count/Countess de Nassau".

To date, the title of "His/Her Royal Highness Prince/Princess of Bourbon-Parma" has been returned to all legitimate members of the Grand Ducal Family. Indeed, the members of the Grand Ducal Family have never ceased to actually be members of the Royal House of Bourbon-Parma.

Religion
Grand Dukes Adolphe (1817–1905) and William IV (1852–1912) were Evangelical Christians. William married the Roman Catholic Marie Anne of Portugal, believing that a country in which the great majority of people were Roman Catholic should also have a Roman Catholic monarch. In 1907, William declared the Evangelical Counts of Merenberg to be non-dynastic and named his own Roman Catholic daughter, Marie-Adélaïde (1894–1924), heiress to the grand ducal throne; she in 1919 abdicated in favour of her sister, Charlotte (1896–1985), who was also Roman Catholic, and Charlotte's Roman Catholic descendants have reigned in Luxembourg ever since.

However, although Roman Catholicism is the claimed faith of the overwhelming majority of the Luxembourgish people (ca. 90-93%), it does not have the status of a State religion, nor is there any legal or constitutional obligation for the Grand Duke (as head of state) to be Roman Catholic.

Members

Henri is the current Grand Duke of Luxembourg. He was born on 16 April 1955. He was married on 14 February 1981 to Maria Teresa Mestre y Batista, now Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg, who was born in 22 March 1956; in Havana, Cuba, and became Grand Duke when his father, Jean, abdicated on 7 October 2000. They have 5 children:
Guillaume is the Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, the Grand Duke's eldest son, born on 11 November 1981. He was married on 20 October 2012 to Countess Stephanie of Lannoy, now Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie of Luxembourg, who was born in 18 February 1984. They have 2 sons:
Prince Charles of Luxembourg, the Hereditary Grand Duke's elder son, was born on 10 May 2020 at the Grand Duchess Charlotte Maternity Hospital in Luxembourg City.
 Prince François of Luxembourg, the Hereditary Grand Duke's second son, was born on 27 March 2023 at the Grand Duchess Charlotte Maternity Hospital in Luxembourg City.
Prince Félix of Luxembourg, the Grand Duke's second son, born on 3 June 1984. He was married on 21 September 2013 to Claire Lademacher, now Princess Claire of Luxembourg, who was born in 21 March 1985. They have 2 children:
 Princess Amalia of Nassau, Prince Félix's daughter, was born on 15 June 2014 at the Grand Duchess Charlotte Maternity Hospital in Luxembourg City.
Prince Liam of Nassau, Prince Félix's son, was born on 28 November 2016 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Prince Louis of Luxembourg, the Grand Duke's third son, born on 3 August 1986. He was married on 29 September 2006 to Tessy Antony, later Princess Tessy of Luxembourg until divorce, who was born in 28 October 1985. Upon marrying, Prince Louis renounced his right of succession prior to his marriage. Prince Louis and Antony divorced on 4 April 2019. They have 2 sons:
 Prince Gabriel of Nassau, Prince Louis's eldest son, was born on 12 March 2006.
 Prince Noah of Nassau, Prince Louis's youngest son, was born on 21 September 2007 at the Grand Duchess Charlotte Maternity Hospital in Luxembourg City.
Princess Alexandra of Luxembourg, now Princess Alexnadra, Mrs. Bagory, the Grand Duke's daughter, born on 16 February 1991. She married Nicolas Bagory, who was born in 11 November 1988.
Prince Sébastien of Luxembourg, the Grand Duke's youngest son, born on 16 April 1992.

Extended family
Princess Marie Astrid of Luxembourg, now Archduchess Marie Astrid of Austria, the Grand Duke's eldest sister, was born on 17 February 1954. She was married on 6 February 1982 to Archduke Carl Christian of Austria, who was born in 1954.  They have five children.
Prince Jean of Luxembourg, the Grand Duke's brother, was born on 15 May 1957. He was married on 27 May 1987 to Hélène Vestur, later Countess Hélène of Nassau until divorce, who was born in 1958. They have children. On 26 September 1986, Prince Jean renounced his right of succession to the Luxembourg throne. His children were styled as Count(ess) of Nassau until given the title HRH Prince(ss) of Nassau on 24 November 2004. Prince Jean and Vestur divorced in 2004 and, on 18 March 2009, he married Diane de Guerre, now Countess Diane of Nassau, who was born in 1962, in a civil ceremony in Roermond, the Netherlands. They have no children.
 Princess Marie Gabrielle of Nassau, now Princess Marie Gabrielle, Mrs. Willms, Prince Jean's daughter, was born out of wedlock on 8 September 1986. Married Antonius Willms, who was born in 1988, in 2017. They have 2 sons.
 Prince Constantin  of Nassau, Prince Jean's eldest son, was born on 22 July 1988. He married Kathryn Mechie, now Princess Kathryn of Nassau, who was born in 1989, in 2020. They have 2 children.
 Prince Felix of Nassau, Prince Constantin's son, born out of wedlock on 22 Abril 2018.
 Princess Cosima of Nassau, Prince Constantin's daughter, born on 13 May 2022.
 Prince Wenceslas of Nassau, Prince Jean's second son, was born on 17 November 1990. He married Elisabeth Lamarche, now Princess Elisabeth of Nassau, who was born in 1990, in 2021. They have 1 son.
 Prince Calixte of Nassau, Prince Wenceslas's son
 Prince Carl Johann of Nassau, Prince Jean's third son and youngest child, was born on 15 August 1992. He married Ivanna Jamin, now Princess Ivanna of Nassau, who was born in 1994, in 2019. They have 2 children.
 Prince Xander of Nassau, Prince Carl Johann's son, born in 2021.
 Prince(ss) N.N. of Nassau, Prince Carl Johann's son/daughter, born in 2022.

 Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg, now Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein, the Grand Duke's youngest sister. She was born on 15 May 1957. She was married on 20 March 1982 to Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein, who was born in 1947. They have had 3 surviving children.
 Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg, the Grand Duke's youngest brother, was born on 1 May 1963. He was married on 8 September 1994 to Sibilla Sandra Weiller (the daughter of Donna Olimpia Torlonia dei principi di Civitella-Cesi and Paul-Annik Weiller, and great-granddaughter of Alfonso XIII of Spain), now Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg.
 Prince Paul-Louis of Nassau, Prince Guillaume's eldest son, was born on 4 March 1998.
 Prince Léopold of Nassau, Prince Guillaume's second son, was born on 2 May 2000. He is the twin brother of Princess Charlotte.
 Princess Charlotte of Nassau, Prince Guillaume's only daughter, was born on 2 May 2000. She is the twin sister of Prince Léopold.
 Prince Jean André of Nassau, Prince Guillaume's youngest son, was born on 13 July 2004.
 Princess Joan of Luxembourg (née Dillon), the Grand Duke's aunt, was born on 31 January 1935. She is the widow of Prince Charles of Luxembourg. They married on 1 March 1967. They have issue:
 Princess Charlotte of Luxembourg, now Princess Charlotte, Mrs. Cunningham, the Grand Duke's first cousin, was born on 15 September 1967. She was married in 1993 to Marc Victor Cunningham, who was born on 24 September 1965. They have issue.
 Prince Robert of Luxembourg, the Grand Duke's first cousin, was born on 14 August 1968 and married religiously on 19 September 1993 to Julie Elizabeth Houston Ongaro, now Princess Julie of Nassau, who was born on 9 June 1966. They have issue.
 Princess Charlotte of Nassau. Prince Robert's daughter, born 20 March 1995.
 Prince Alexandre of Nassau, Prince Robert's eldest son, born 18 April 1997.
 Prince Frederik of Nassau, Prince Robert's youngest son, born 18 March 2002.

Succession to the throne

The preference for men over women in succession to Luxembourg's throne was abandoned in favour of absolute primogeniture on 20 June 2011 by decree of Grand Duke Henri.
Henceforth, any legitimate female descendant of the House of Luxembourg-Nassau born of authorized marriage shall inherit the throne by order of seniority of line of descent and of birth as stipulated in Article 3 of the Constitution and the Nassau Family Pact without regard to gender, applicable first to succession by the descendants of Grand Duke Henri. The Grand Duke's Marshal issued an addendum to the decree explaining the context of the change: pursuant to the United Nations' 1979 call for nations to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women, in 2008 the Grand Duchy dropped the exception to gender non-discrimination it had declared in the matter of the grand ducal succession.

Summary family tree
For the ancestry of the House of Nassau, see Family Tree of the House of Nassau.

Arms
See also: Category:SVG coats of arms of Luxembourg

A complete armorial is given at the Armorial de la Maison de Nassau, section Lignée Valramienne at the French Wikipedia, and another one at Wapen van Nassau, Tak van Walram at the Dutch Wikipedia.

See also
 List of Grand Dukes of Luxembourg
 Line of succession to the throne of Luxembourg

References

Modern history of Luxembourg
Monarchy of Luxembourg
National symbols of Luxembourg

Roman Catholic families

Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg


Jacek Malczewski (; 15 July 1854 – 8 October 1929) was a Polish symbolist painter who is one of the most revered painters of Poland, associated with the patriotic Young Poland movement following a century of Partitions. He is regarded as the father of Polish Symbolism. His creative output combined the predominant style of his times with historical motifs of Polish martyrdom, the romantic ideals of independence, Christian and Greek mythology, folk tales, as well as his love of the natural world. He was the father of painter Rafał Malczewski.

Childhood
Malczewski was born in Radom, Congress Poland, under occupation of the Russian Empire. During his childhood and early youth he was greatly influenced by his father Julian, a Polish patriot and social activist who introduced him to the world of romantic literature inspired by the November Uprising. On his mother's side, he was related to the Szymanowski family whom they often visited on their Masovian country estate in Cygów. The attractiveness of the Polish landscape and associated folklore had been awakened in him by Feliks Karczewski, his uncle and long-time guardian, who had invited future novelist Adolf Dygasiński to his estate, to act as Jacek's home tutor.

Artistic career

Malczewski moved to Kraków at age 17, and began his artistic education in 1872 under the watchful eye of Polish painter and draughtsman  and attended his first art classes in the workshop of Władysław Łuszczkiewicz at the School of Fine Arts. A year later, in 1873, assessed by Jan Matejko himself, Malczewski formally enrolled at the School, and studied with Łuszczkiewicz, Feliks Szynalewski and Florian Cynk. In 1876 he went to Paris and studied for a year at the École des Beaux-Arts, in the studio of Henri Lehmann. He next moved to the Académie Suisse.

Malczewski had already begun master classes with Jan Matejko in 1875 before embarking on the trip to France, and completed them in 1879 after his return from abroad. In spite of considerable stylistic differences between them, Malczewski was greatly influenced by Matejko's historical painting filled with neo-romantic metaphor and patriotic themes. In 1879, Malczewski completed a course in composition under Matejko. He was equally impressed with the dramatic art of earlier Polish romantic painter Artur Grottger. His painting revolved around a few carefully selected motifs, constantly retold and expanded according to mythology and filled with national symbols. His own imagination enabled Malczewski to channel his creativity and let new aesthetic ideas emerge giving rise to what became Poland's school of Symbolism.

Inspiration
Over the course of some 30 years between 1885 and 1916, Malczewski regularly visited Paris, Munich and Vienna. He made several trips to Italy, Greece and Turkey. He also took part in an archaeological expedition organized by his friend Karol Lanckoroński. He drew his inspiration from a wide variety of sources often exotic or biblical, and translated them back into Polish folklore, tradition and motifs in his own painting. His most famous canvases include Błędne koło (Vicious Circle, 1895–97), Melancholia (1890–1894),  (Painter's Muse, 1897), Wizja (A vision, 1912), the Thanatos series, and Bajki (Fables). Many of his paintings prominently feature self-portraits in elaborate costume, a trademark of his style, often displaying a great sense of self-mocking humour.

In 1897–1900 and 1912–1921 Malczewski served as professor of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. He was elected rector of the academy in 1912. His art has been compared to that of the Frenchman Gustave Moreau, the Swiss Arnold Böcklin, and even to the Spaniard Salvador Dalí. His paintings won numerous awards at international exhibitions including Berlin in 1891, Munich in 1892, and Paris in 1900.

Personal life
Malczewski was married to Maria  and they had two children, Julia (born 1888) and Rafał (born 1892), also a painter. His son later sold off all of his father's works left to him, to the National Museum in Warsaw before World War II. During the war he left Poland and after travels in Southern Europe and Brazil, finally settled in Montreal.

It is believed that the subject of numerous nude studies in Jacek Malczewski's paintings, Maria Bal (Balowa) née Brunicka, was also his long-time lover. He lost his sight towards the end of his life and died in Kraków on 8 October 1929. He was buried at Skałka, Poland's national Panthéon.

Art market
In November 2022, Malczewski's 1908 oil-on-canvas painting entitled Rzeczywistość (Reality) was sold at DESA Unicum auction house in Warsaw for 17 million zlotys (€3.6 million) setting a new record for the most expensive painting sold on the Polish art market. The sale of the piece remains on hold after doubts were raised about the legal status of this property as the National Museum in Warsaw claims ownership of the work of art. The painting was last seen in public in 1926 in Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine). Its later whereabouts were unknown. The Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage reported to the police authorities that the painting could have been illegally taken from Poland in the 1950s.

Selected works

See also
 Culture of Kraków
 City of Radom
 List of Polish painters
 List of Poles
 National Museum, Kraków
 Sukiennice Museum in  Kraków

Notes and references

External links

 Paintings of Jacek Malczewski at Zascianek.pl
 Virtual Art Nouveau museum - Jacek Malczewski at Muzeum Secesji.pl
 Culture.pl

1854 births
1929 deaths
People from Radom
People from Radom Governorate
19th-century Polish painters
19th-century Polish male artists
Symbolist painters
20th-century Polish painters
20th-century Polish male artists
Commanders of the Order of Polonia Restituta
École des Beaux-Arts alumni
Academic staff of the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts
Polish male painters
Artists from Congress Poland
Painters from the Russian Empire

Jacek Malczewski


Adirondack is the tae-name for Maurs Sploration Rinaboot Speerit's first target stane. Scientists chuist Adirondack tae be Speerit's first target stane raither than anither stane, cried Sashimi, that wad hae been a shorter, straucht-aheid drive. Speerit stravaiged the saundy maurtian terrain at Gusev Crater tae arrive in front o this fitbaw-sized stane on Januar 18, 2004, juist three days efter it successfully rowen aff the launder.

The stane wis selectit as Spirit's first target acause its dist-free, flet surface is ideally suitit for grindin. Clean surfaces forbye are better for examinin a stane's top coatin. Scientists cried the angular stane efter the Adirondack Ben reenge in New York.

The name "Adirondacks" comes fae the Mohawk ratirontaks, meanin "they eat trees", a name that the Mohawk gied tae the Algonquian-spikkin tribes o the Adirondack Mountains; whan there wisnae much fuid, the Algonquians wad eat the buds an bark o trees.

Speerit's Mössbauer spectrometer detected a meeneral cried olivine, whilk disnae survive weathering weel. The lack o weatherin suggested bi the presence o olivine micht be evidence that the scaup stymes are finely ground volcanic material. Anither possible explanation is that the scaup layer whaur the measurements wis taen is extremely thin, an the olivine is actually in a stane unner the scaup. Speerit haes forbye retourned microscopic images an Mössbauer spectrometer readins o Adirondack taen the day afore the rinaboot developed computer an communication problems on Januar 22, 2004. Baith are wanprecedentit investigations o ony stane on anither planet. The microscopic images indicate Adirondack is a haurd, crystalline stane. The peends lairge an smaa in Adirondack's electromagnetic spectrum reveal that the meenerals in the stane include olivine, pyroxene an magnetite - a common composeetion in volcanic basalt stanes on Earth.

References

Rocks on Maurs

Adirondack


A rainforest is a forest that gets heavy rainfall. The most notable rainforests are in the tropics or subtropics. The biggest rainforest is the Amazon rainforest, which is mostly in Brazil.

Forests like this have extraordinary biodiversity. Over half of all plant and animal species live in the rainforest. Also more than 1/4 of all medicines come from here. They are an important source of oxygen, but not so much as the seas.

The rainforest gets an average of 50 to 250 inches (1.2-6.3m) of rain through the year. It is warm all year round rarely getting above 34°C (94 °F) or getting below 20 °C (68 °F). It has an average humidity of 77 to 88%. Tropical rainforests occur in three major geographical areas around the world.
 Parts of South and Central America  the Amazon River basin, and Costa Rica.
 Africa  Congo River basin, with a small area in West Africa; also eastern Madagascar.
 South Asia and Australasia  west coast of India, Assam, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and Queensland, Australia.

A less-used term is temperate rainforest. For temperate rain forests of North America, annual precipitation is over , and the mean annual temperature is between 4 and 12 °C (39 and 54 °F).
However, definitions in other countries differ. For example, Australian definitions are ecological-structural rather than climatic:
 Closed canopy of trees which excludes at least 70% of the sky.
 Tree species which do not require fire for regeneration, but with seedlings able to regenerate under shade and in natural openings.
This definition would not suit the forests of western North America, and so the term "temperate rainforest" is not so widely agreed. The weather in a rainforest would be humid, which is wet but warm like a greenhouse.

The bottom-most layer gets only 2% of the sunlight. Only plants adapted to low light can grow in this region. The understory layer lies between the canopy and forest floor. It is a home to a number of birds, snakes and lizards as well as predators such as jaguars or leopards on the forest floor. The leaves are much bigger at this level and insect life is abundant.

Characteristics
The characteristics of present-day tropical rainforests are:

 Land is mostly under 700 metres down to below sea level
 Climate:
 High rainfall
 High temperature
 Equable: not much variation
 Vegetation: 90% or more Angiosperms
 Tall canopy trees
 Lianas (climbing plants)
 Epiphytes
 Leaves large, complete margins, with drip tips
 Flowers and fruits large
 Pollination mainly by insects
 Leguminaceae are the most common plant family
 Evergreens: leaves may be shed, but not seasonally
 Animals
 High diversity: many different species
 Many insects which eat plants, and many anti-insect defences by plants
 Many arboreal (tree-living) mammals

The five layers
Tropical rainforests are typically dominated by different plants and animals at different levels. The top layer is the emergent layer. Then there is the canopy layer. Under the tall canopy is the understory. The understory is made up of smaller trees, vines and shrubs. The next layer is called the shrub layer, and has mainly bushes. The bottom layer is the forest floor. This is made up of the small plants on the ground.

Emergent layer
The emergent layer is the farthest from the ground. High in the trees eagles perch. Their keen eyes search constantly for small monkeys and other prey. Butterflies, parrots, toucans, and hundreds of other colourful birds constantly fly through the tops of the trees.

Canopy layer
The canopy is like a huge green roof over the forest. The trees grow up thin and straight, like pillars seeking the sun. They do not put out branches until they are very tall. Then, they spread out like an umbrella in the sunlight. The trees are so close together that very little light penetrates through to the lower layers. Many kinds of monkeys, birds, and insects live in the layer. Other mammals, like cats, also live there. Many animals that call this layer home often never touch the ground throughout their entire lives. They find everything they need in the canopy. Water can be got from the boles of trees, if not, the leaves and epiphytes which grow in the canopy can supply that need. The animals eat the leaves and fruit of the trees, insects, or other animals. The tall canopy trees must be able to reach the sunlight high in the air and still get nutrients from the thin soil on the forest floor. Their roots do not go deep into the soil because there is nothing there for the plants to reach. Instead, the roots spread out in all directions along or just under the ground. That way they can quickly make use of the nutrients from the recycled plants and animals that have fallen to the floor.

Understory layer
The understory is usually a dark, humid place, under the canopy. There is very little light and no breeze because they are blocked out by the canopy. The plants under the canopy must be able to live with very little sunlight. Bushes, large green plants, ferns and small trees make up this layer. Often they will only grow in open patches where a big tree has fallen down. Other plants, like vines, grow on the big trees.

Shrub layer
The shrub layer is mainly made out of bushes. It contains most of the rainforests orchids, because the orchids use water from the forest floor, vegetation from the understory and sunlight that is reflected from the canopy layer leaves. It is the smallest layer of the rainforest, yet contains over 84% of the rainforest's orchids. It is normally very dark in the shrub layer, apart from little spots of sunlight that comes through empty spaces of the emergent layer. Despite not having very much sunlight, the shrub layer is very humid [wet and warm]. Many invertebrates live in the shrub layer such as scorpions, beetles and tarantulas. Some experts categorize the rainforest into four layers rather than five. They consider the shrub layer to be part of the understory.

Forest floor
The ground level is called the forest floor. Snakes, tapirs, jaguars, tamanduas, and gorillas are just a few of the species that may live here. It is dark on the rainforest floor. Insects, giant centipedes, spiders, ants, and beetles are very abundant here. The floor of the rainforest is often very open and easy to walk across. That is because so little light reaches the floor that very few plants can grow there.

Plants and animals

One type of plant in the rainforest does not need soil. These plants are called epiphytes, or air plants. Air plants live on the branches of trees in the canopy or understory, with their roots out in the air. In the humid rainforest, they collect water from the rain that falls on them.

One kind of air plant is a flower called an orchid. There are thousands of different kinds of orchids in the rainforest. Some air plants store water in pools in and around their roots. These pools can become homes for frogs and salamanders. Frogs usually need to lay their eggs in ponds, but some rainforest tree frogs lay their eggs in the pools in air plants. That way, the frogs never have to go down to the ground. Some plants provide medicine for humans.

Many kinds of insects live in the rainforest. It never gets cold enough to kill them. There are bees, butterflies, termites, beetles, and many kinds of flies. There are ants everywhere. One kind of ant is the army ant. Army ants do not have nests. They march out in a line every day to hunt for other insects, which they eat. At night they hook themselves together to form a living nest around their queen and larvae.

Snakes live in the trees and on the forest floor. They eat frogs, eggs, birds, insects, and small animals. Some of the snakes, like the fer-de-lance of Latin America, are poisonous, but others are not. One large non-poisonous snake is the Anaconda of South America. It is one of the largest snakes in the world. It kills its prey by wrapping itself around the animal and squeezing it until it cannot breathe.

Monkeys are common animals in the rainforest. Most live their lives up in the canopy and the understory. They have long arms to swing from branch to branch, and some use their tails to hold onto the trees while they eat. They are fast and agile, jumping easily from tree to tree for food. Different monkeys eat different things. They can eat nuts, flowers, roots, and frogs. Their hoots and howls are heard throughout the rainforest, even when they cannot be seen among the trees.

Many colorful birds also live among the canopy of the rain forest, and there are also animals that live on the forest floor. The tapir is a forest animal that looks like a large pig. It is actually related to the horse and the rhinoceros. They live in South American and Asian rain forests, eating leaves, twigs, and fruit. Tapirs are among the animals hunted by the big cats of the rain forest. Jaguars, leopards, and tigers are the largest predators of rain forests. These cats have beautiful fur coats that have been hunted for the fur trade for years. The spotted coats of the jaguar and leopards were especially popular for fur coats. Today most countries are trying to protect their big cats, but many are still hunted illegally.

These are only a few of the animals and plants in the rainforest. About half of all of the different species, of plants and animals in the entire world live in rain forests. Many of the insects do not have scientific names, because they have never been classified.

People of the rainforest
There are many tribes of people who have lived in the rainforests for thousands of years. These forest dwellers usually belong to one of two groups. They are usually hunter/gatherers or slash-and-burn farmers.

Hunter/gatherers
Hunter/gatherers live as they do in every other region of the world. They kill animals and gather what the forest provides for part of their food. Unlike in the Arctic, tools are always available. Unlike in the desert, water is always available. The people do not need clothes to protect them from the weather. The forest even provides a way to make hunting easier. Many of the people hunt with poisoned arrows. The poisons come from the plants of the forest. That makes the animals easier to kill.

Slash-and-burn farmers
Most of the forest people are slash-and-burn farmers. They raise crops in small clearings as well as hunting and gathering in the forest. This provides them with food year-round. They start by cutting (slashing) down the trees and the other plants in an area. They let the dead plants dry out, then they burn them. The ash from the burned plants goes into the soil and makes it fertile for a little while. This is called slash-and-burn farming.

The small clearings grow food crops for a few years, then the family or group moves on and clears a new field. The old field is left to be overgrown by the forest. In a few years, it once again looks like the rain forest that surrounds it.

This type of farming does not harm the rain forest when only a few people are doing it. The small clearings become rain forest again without any damage. The land is used and recycled for use again some other time. The rain forest easily regrows to fill in the clearings after the people leave. That is changing today. Today, the rain forests are getting smaller because too many people are burning them.

Rainforests in danger
There are some serious problems concerning the rainforests that need to be fixed. Rainforests are being cut down too quickly. Every year an area about the size of West Virginia is being destroyed. This is a problem for everyone.

Rainforests are so large and thick that for many years very few people lived or went there. Today, however, that is changing. Millions of poor, often hungry, people live near the rainforests of the world. These people are desperate for a better life, and they think they can find it in the forests.

Settlers can get into the rainforests because modern machines have opened roads deep into the jungle. The roads are usually built by businesses who want to cut down trees or dig up minerals in the forest. Governments build other roads for trade and to allow settlers into the forest. Poor people come into the forest by the thousands on the roads and take land to raise food. They burn off the trees and plants to make a field. Then they plant crops for food and to sell. All around them other farmers do the same, so there is no forest left to grow back.

The new farms can only grow crops for a few years in the poor soil. The farmers then sell the land to a cattle rancher or just leave and clear a new piece of land. The soil is so poor that it will not even grow grass to feed cattle for more than a few more years. By then, the ground is hard packed and grows only a few weeds. The rainforest is destroyed and nothing can be done with the land.

If this continues long enough, the forests will be destroyed and the farmers will have no place to move. Then those people will starve
, because there will be no land left where they can grow food. Forcing them to stop cutting down the forest will not help, because they would just starve now instead of later. New ways need to be found for these people to live on the rainforest land without destroying it.

Also, no one knows how destroying the rainforests will change the earth. We know that less rain will fall once the trees are gone. That may cause some rivers, which supply water to cities around the rainforest, to dry up during part of the year. Also, burning trees puts carbon into the air. Carbon absorbs heat from the sun. Will the burning of so many trees change the air and make the climate on the earth warmer? Experts are arguing about it, but it might be happening.

The rainforests are also the source of many things that are useful to human beings. As many as one out of every four drugs bought at the store were discovered in rainforest. Coffee, chocolate, bananas, corn, tea, sweet potatoes, Brazil nuts, rubber, and tapioca all came from the rainforest. Very valuable wood is taken from the trees of the rainforest. Mahogany, teak, and balsa wood come from there. Those trees can not be grown without the thick, wet, warm rainforests. Thus, the loss of the rainforests would hurt other people besides those that must live there.

Related pages
 Biodiversity
 Peat swamp forest
 Congo rainforest
 Cloud forest
 Temperate rainforest

References

Tropical rainforest


A solenoid is a 3 dimensional structure of wire. When this wire is wrapped around a metallic block in a coil and electricity is passed through it, it has some special magnetic properties. Electromagnetic induction makes it an electromagnet that can be switched on or off. The side in which the current appears to be passing clockwise, is the South Pole, and the side in which the current seems to be passing anticlockwise is the Northern Pole. The solenoid works just like a bar magnet, and therefore has many uses.

This principle is used to create valves, among other things. Where the solenoid operates an electric switch, it is a relay.

Pinball machines, vehicles and traditional door bells use solenoids.

Electronic components
Electromagnetism

Solenoid


The Count of Soissons (French: comte de Soissons) was a member of the French court when the country was still a monarchy. They held the rank of Prince of the blood and as a result entitled to the style of Serene Highness but this was used in writing only.  The Counts were the owners of the one time famous Hôtel de Soissons in Paris. The title is unique in the sense that it was later inherited by a woman which was actually forbidden in France at the time.

François de Bourbon, the first Prince of Conti was also the brother of the founder of the Soissons line. Charles de Bourbon, Count of Soissons. The Counts Soissons were addressed at court as Monsieur le Comte and their wives as Madame la Comtesse. The members of the house were:

 1487–1495: François, Count of Vendôme (1470–1495);
 1495-1537: Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme (1489–1537), son of the preceding;
 1547–1557: Jean de Bourbon (1528–1557), son of the preceding;
 1557-1569: Louis  de Bourbon, prince of Condé (1535–1569), brother of the preceding;
 1569-1612: Charles de Bourbon  (1566–1612), son of the preceding;
 1612-1641: Louis de Bourbon (1604–1641), son of the preceding;
 1641-1656: Marie de Bourbon, Princess of Carignano and Countess of Soissons (Countess in her own right) (1606–1692), sister of the preceding.

Related pages
Prince of Conti
Prince of Condé
Duke of Orléans
Premier Prince du Sang

Titles in the old Kingdom of France

Count of Soissons


Visual kei (aka visual rock) is a Japanese musical style that started in the late 1980s. Visual kei was influenced by glam rock. Visual kei artists use striking fashion and theatrical performances to highlight their music.

Early visual kei bands were strongly influenced by glam rock and heavy metal. Over time, visual kei has changed to meet the consumers' taste for music. Today, visual kei music includes goth, industrial, J-pop, and hip hop. Sometimes it is called "neo-visual kei".

Visual kei influenced the Goth lolita fashion trend. Visual kei artists often have wild dress, androgynous looks, jewelry, dyed hair, and thick make-up. Goth lolita dressers say that they are inspired by their favorite visual kei bands.

X Japan is widely seen as the first visual kei band. Other well-known bands that helped to increase visual kei's popularity include Malice Mizer, Luna Sea, and Dir en grey.

References

VisualKei.com

Rock music
Japanese music

Visual kei


Pierre-Auguste Renoir (25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist. He was a leading painter who helped to create the Impressionist style. He painted portraits, and still life, but above all, he painted social scenes of the day.

As a painter of women, it has been said that "Renoir is the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to Watteau".

Youth
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France, the child of a working class family. As a boy, he worked in a porcelain factory where his drawing talents led to him being chosen to paint designs on fine china. He also painted hangings for overseas missionaries and decorations on fans before he enrolled in art school. During those early years, he often visited the Louvre to study the French master painters.

Maturity

In the late 1860s, through the practice of painting light and water en plein air (in the open air), he and his friend Claude Monet discovered that the color of shadows is not brown or black, but the reflected color of the objects surrounding them, an effect today known as diffuse reflection. Several pairs of paintings exist in which Renoir and Monet, working side-by-side, depicted the same scenes (La Grenouillère, 1869).

Renoir experienced his initial acclaim when six of his paintings hung in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. In the same year, two of his works were shown with Paul Durand-Ruel in London.

One of the best known Impressionist works is Renoir's 1876 Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (Bal du moulin de la Galette). The painting depicts an open-air scene, crowded with people, at a popular dance garden on the Butte Montmartre, close to where he lived.
The works of his early maturity were typically Impressionist snapshots of real life, full of sparkling colour and light.

A trip to Italy in 1881, when he saw works by Raphael and other Renaissance masters, that convinced him that he was on the wrong path. For the next several years he painted in a more severe, classical, style. After 1890, however, he changed direction again, returning to thinly brushed colour to dissolve outlines as in his earlier work. From this period onward he concentrated on nudes and domestic scenes.

A prolific artist, he made several thousand paintings. The warm sensuality of Renoir's style made his paintings some of the most well-known and reproduced works in the history of art. The single largest collection of his works—181 paintings in all—is at the Barnes Foundation, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In 1890, he married Aline Victorine Charigot. She, with a number of the artist's friends, had been a model for Le Déjeuner des canotiers (Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1881). They already had a child, Pierre, in 1885. After his marriage, Renoir painted many scenes of his wife and daily family life, including their children and their nurse, Aline's cousin. The Renoirs had three sons, one of whom, Jean, became a film director of note and another, Pierre, became a stage and film actor.

Old age

Around 1892, Renoir developed rheumatoid arthritis. In 1907, he moved to the warmer climate of "Les Collettes," a farm at Cagnes-sur-Mer, close to the Mediterranean coast. Renoir painted during the last twenty years of his life, even when arthritis severely limited his movement, and he was wheelchair-bound. He developed progressive deformities in his hands and ankylosis of his right shoulder, requiring him to adapt his painting technique. It has often been reported that in the advanced stages of his arthritis, he painted by having a brush strapped to his paralyzed fingers, but this is erroneous; Renoir remained able to grasp a brush, although he required an assistant to place it in his hand. The wrapping of his hands with bandages, apparent in late photographs of the artist, served to prevent skin irritation.

During this period, he created sculptures by cooperating with a young artist, Richard Guino, who worked the clay. Renoir also used a moving canvas, or picture roll, to help him paint large works.

In 1919, Renoir visited the Louvre to see his paintings hanging with the old masters. He died in the village of Cagnes-sur-Mer, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, on 3 December.

Gallery

Related pages
 List of French painters

References

1841 births
1919 deaths
French painters
People from Limoges
Impressionist painters

Pierre-Auguste Renoir


"Profit and Lace" is the 147th episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the 23rd episode of the sixth season. It was first broadcast on May 11, 1998.

Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures on the space station Deep Space Nine. This episode is one of several episodes focusing on the Ferengi, an alien race characterized by their love of monetary profit and their sexist social norms. In this episode, Deep Space Nine's Ferengi bartender Quark helps out when Zek's status as the Grand Nagus of the Ferengi Alliance is put in jeopardy by his proposal of equal rights for Ferengi females.

The episode received Nielsen ratings of 4.2 points corresponding to about 4.1 million viewers. It is widely regarded by fans and critics as one of the worst episodes of the series.

Plot
The episode opens with Quark sexually harassing one of his best waitresses. Rom rushes in to declare that, while trying to contact their mother, Ishka, he has lost contact with their home planet of Feringinar. He fears that the Dominion have taken over the planet. When they go and explain the situation to Captain Sisko, sensors pick up an incoming ship which is carrying both Grand Nagus Zek and Ishka.

The Nagus explains that by changing the Ferengi Bill of Opportunities to allow women to wear clothes, he has caused planet-wide upheaval and has been replaced by Former Liquidator Brunt who will be officially installed by the commission at its next meeting.

Quark, Rom and Nog contact all 432 of the Ferengi commissioners to come to DS9 to meet and talk about the situation. Only one commissioner agrees. Brunt finds out about the upcoming meeting and arrives on the station to torment Quark and thwart his plans. After standing up to Brunt and throwing him out of the bar, Quark and his mother return to Quark's quarters. They get into a shouting match, with Quark blaming his mother for everything that has happened to Zek, while Ishka argues that before Zek met her, he was a lonely man. The shouting match causes her to suffer a heart attack, and Dr. Bashir performs a transplant. Without Ishka to stand up and speak for herself at the meeting, Quark poses as a female named Lumba to try and fool the commissioner.

Over dinner Quark/Lumba has to fend off the advances of the commissioner while explaining the benefits of the increase in the workforce and consumer base that Ferengi females would bring. Once in the commissioner's room, the commissioner goes into full assault, chasing Quark around the apartment. Finally Brunt bursts in and tries to unmask Lumba as an impostor and a male. This fails when "she" removes her dress, revealing her female anatomy to Brunt and the commissioner. Convinced, the commissioner pledges his support for Zek. Later Quark's sex change is reversed and Zek and Ishka leave the station anticipating Zek's restoration as Grand Nagus. Quark, still experiencing the hormonal fluctuations from the sex change, apologizes to his mother, who accepts his apology. She tells him that while he was a lousy son, he made a wonderful daughter. After Zek and Ishka leave, Quark apologizes to the waitress he harassed at the start of the episode and gives her a raise.

Reception
A 2015 binge-watching guide for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine by Wired recommended skipping this episode.

In 2016, SyFy included this episode in a group of Star Trek franchise episodes they felt were commonly disliked but "deserved a second chance".

In 2018, CBR included this episode in a list of Star Trek episodes that are "so bad they must be seen."

References

External links

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (season 6) episodes
1998 American television episodes
Transgender-related television episodes
American LGBT-related television episodes
Television episodes about anti-LGBT sentiment

Profit and Lace