Elisa di Rivombrosa is an Italian television series (partly inspired by the 1740 novel Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded) about a love story in 18th century Italy between Fabrizio Ristori, a young Italian Count, and his mother's maid, Elisa. It was broadcast on Mediaset for two seasons from 2003 to 2005:

 "Elisa di Rivombrosa" (2003). The story starts in 1769.
 "Elisa di Rivombrosa - parte seconda" (2005).

This series is followed by a spin-off called La figlia di Elisa – Ritorno a Rivombrosa (2007), which takes place in 1797 and focuses on Elisa's daughter Agnese Ristori.

Cast

 Vittoria Puccini: Elisa Scalzi Ristori - Countess di Rivombrosa
 Alessandro Preziosi: Fabrizio Federico Giovanni Clemente Ristori
 Antonella Fattori: Anna Ristori di Radicati / Anna Ristori di Ceppi
 Jane Alexander: Lucrezia Van Necker Beauville
 Kaspar Capparoni: Giulio Drago
 Pierluigi Coppola: Angelo Buondio
 Luca Ward: Ottavio Ranieri
 Cesare Bocci: Antonio Ceppi
 Antonino Iuorio: Alvise Radicati
 Linda Batista: Isabella
 Regina Bianchi: Agnese Ristori madre
 Luis Molteni: Don Tognino
 Elio Pandolfi: Abate Van Necker
 Philippe Leroy: Carlo Emanuele III
 Francesca Rettondini: Clelia Bussani
Eleonora Mazzoni: Margherita Maffei
Giovanna Rei: Betta Maffei
 Marzia Ubaldi: Amelia
 Emanuela Garuccio: Celeste
 Antonio Salines: Jean Luc Beauville
 Pamela Saino: Orsolina Scalzi
 Giovanni Guidelli: Victor Benac
 Raffaello Balzo: Armand Benac
 Antonio Cupo: Christian Grey
 Elena Russo: Rossana Chevalier
 Marco Leonardi: Gaetano Capece
 Fiorenza Marchegiani: Cristina di Conegliano
 Sergio Assisi: Nicola di Conegliano
 Tommaso Ragno: Vittorio Amedeo III
 Monica Scattini: Eugenia Bonomi

Season I - Episodes

Episodes 1 - 7
Piemonte, Italy, 1769. Elisa Scalzi is a poor but beautiful and determined young lady, who pleasantly takes care of the old Countess Agnese Ristori of Rivombrosa. Anna Ristori, Agnese's daughter, is jealous of the privileged relationship Elisa has with the countess (who took her at her service as her lady companion although Elisa was only a maid). The Countess's health gets worse and she keeps expressing her desire to see her son, the charming Count Fabrizio Ristori, who has been enlisted in the French army for the past 10 years. Elisa decides to communicate the Countess' desire to Fabrizio, so She writes him a letter and She signs herself as "Elisa di Rivombrosa" . As soon as Fabrizio gets her letter, he decides to come back home. Before leaving, he's asked to deliver some important and confidential documents to a friend, Capitano Lombardi, who would be waiting for him on the way home. When the two friends meet, they're ambushed by a group of soldiers, sent by Duke Ottavio Ranieri, an evil and influent aristocrat and Commander of the Guard of his Majesty the King, who wants to steal these precious documents in order to save himself and several other plotting nobles from prison and death penalty.
Although Fabrizio managed to chasethe killers away , Captain Lombardi was seriously injured. Just before dying, he hands Fabrizio the documents and asks him to personally deliver them to King Carlo Emanuele III.
Fabrizio then goes home to the beautiful Estate of Rivombrosa, where everyone is pleased to see him after so long. When he meets Elisa, he's amazed by her beauty. Not knowing she's a maidservant, he mistakes "Elisa di Rivombrosa" for an aristocrat because she's smart and well educated. He tries to seduce her, and Elisa realises she's seriously falling for him.
Fabrizio shocks everyone - his sister Anna and all the other nobles, well aware of the girl's un-aristocratic conditions - when he dares invite Elisa to dance with him at a ball in honour of his return. The ball is interrupted by Dr. Antonio Ceppi, a former noble man who lost all of his properties and his title after getting married with Lucia, a servant girl. He's seriously worried about his wife, who can't be found, and asks the nobles to help him. The Count, against everyone's will, decides to help Antonio to look for his wife. Lucia is found dead in the lake : she committed suicide because she felt responsible for her husband's social downfall and wanted him to be happy and accepted by the Upper class.
Her desperate action makes Elisa confess her social position to Fabrizio, who really gets mad at her. He starts to treat her roughly and rudely, trying several times to take advantage of her. He even ends up locking her in a cellar, in order to subdue her. When his mother is about to die, he releases Elisa. Countess Agnese Ristori, who really loves the young girl, asks her son to take care of her. After the death of the Countess, Elisa, still traumatized by Fabrizio's behaviour, decides to leave Rivombrosa and find a job somewhere else. The Count, however, doesn't want to give up on the girl and persuades all the aristocrats in the neighbourhood not to hire her. Because of this, Elisa decides to go back to the village, to live with her mother and sister. On the way home, she is attacked by the drunken Count Giulio Drago (Fabrizio's best friend). Elisa hits him with a stone and ends up in prison. When Fabrizio is informed of it, he first tries to convince his friend Giulio to remove the charges against Elisa. When his friend refuses to do so, Fabrizio goes to Turin to ask the king for Elisa's grace in exchange for the confidential documents.
When he's about to give them to Duke Ranieri, he understands that the duke is the one who once tried to steal them. With an excuse, Fabrizio takes Elisa's grace and runs away from Turin. Those documents, in fact, could be very compromising for a number of nobles: they're a list of the king's conspirators.
Meanwhile, Elisa, still in prison, meets the young witch Celeste, who becomes a good friend of hers. Count Giulio Drago knows that Fabrizio really cares about Elisa, and he finally decides to go and remove charges from her, telling her he does it because his friend asked him to.
When Fabrizio finally arrives in Rivombrosa, he finds out that Elisa is already out of prison and safe.
When she comes thank the Count for his gesture, she decides with Fabrizio's approval to start working again at the Estate of Rivombrosa as a governess for Emilia, Fabrizio's niece and Anna's daughter.
Fabrizio and Elisa are now getting closer and closer, and they're both falling in love with each other. The problem, however, is Elisa's social condition. Because of that, in fact, they can't get married. Giulio Drago convinces Fabrizio to make her marry Angelo Buondio, a sweet servant boy who's always been in love with her, in order to make her become his mistress.
Disgusted by the proposal, Elisa firmly refuses. Fabrizio declares his love for her in the garden, in front of all the servants, and explains that this is the only way possible for him to stay with her.
In that moment, the carriage of the marchioness Lucrezia Van Necker, Fabrizio's former lover, arrives and the count tries to make Elisa jealous by flirting with the marchioness in front of her.
Lucrezia is a beautiful but cruel aristocrat woman and, together with her lover, the duke Ranieri, is one of the conspirators who longs for the king's death.
After Fabrizio's attempts with Lucrezia, Elisa decides to accept Angelo's marriage proposal but still refuses to become the count's mistress.

Episode 8
After deciding to marry Angelo, Elisa is getting ready for the wedding. Fabrizio is hurt by the girl's decision and, feeling like he lost her forever, he decides to leave for Turin with Lucrezia, who offers to help him deliver the documents to the king.
Fabrizio thinks that the woman's husband, the king's counselor, Marquise Bouville, is involved in the conspiracy. What he doesn't know is that the name written on the list is Lucrezia's, and not her husband's. In fact, she's plotting to help her lover steal the documents by misleading the Count Ristori : when he arrives in Turin, Fabrizio is captured. He manages to escape but gets hurt and falls into a river.
Meanwhile, Elisa, who's about to get married, remembers Fabrizio's words and his declarations of love, and runs away from the church, leaving a heart-broken Angelo at the altar.

Episode 9
After escaping from her wedding, Elisa returns to Rivombrosa, where she is now avoided by everyone. The girl tries to apologize to Angelo but he's so hurt that he can't even talk to her and decides to leave Rivombrosa forever. Elisa returns to her mother's house.
Fabrizio, wounded, is rescued by two fishermen and is then taken back to Rivombrosa by Celeste, Elisa's friend from prison, who recognised him.
His health condition is critical. While Dr. Ceppi tries his best to save him, Fabrizio asks for Elisa. Meanwhile, Celeste goes warn Elisa about Fabrizio's state, and the girl runs to the Count's Estate to be at his side.

Once Elisa reaches him, he asks her to hide the documents somewhere safe. The girl is a little confused by his request, but still grants his wish, and hides the conspirators' list between the endpapers of Countess Agnese Ristori's favourite book.

Episode 10
Fabrizio is getting better and Elisa and him can't deny their feelings anymore. Count's sister Anna is very worried and refuses to accept this socially dishonourable relationship. When Lucrezia comes to visit Fabrizio, Anna explains all her worries to the marchioness.
Giulio Drago is one of the conspirators, and as soon as he's informed that Duke Ranieri tried to hurt his friend, he argues with Lucrezia and the Duke, and leaves the conspirators' meeting in which they plot to attack the king.
Meanwhile, Count Ristori is so in love with young Elisa that he even starts thinking about a possible marriage, which would eventually make him lose his title. His friend Giulio, though, makes him think about Antonio Ceppi's condition and how his marriage ended, and Fabrizio gives up his idea.
He is then recalled up to the army. He does not want to leave Rivombrosa because he doesn't want to leave Elisa, but when the girl still refuses to be his mistress, he lets her go, and leaves. Elisa soon realizes she made a mistake and chases him, and the two end up making love.

Episode 11
The next morning, Anna bursts into her brother's bedroom and finds out Elisa is in bed with him.
Count Giulio Drago asks for Margherita Maffei's hand, a marchioness he's in love with and Elisa's good friend. Margherita's father, however, is forced to refuse his proposal because, due to a bad investment, he has lost all his properties, and he can't provide an appropriate dowry for his daughter.
Rumors of Elisa's love affair with Count Fabrizio reach everyone's ears, including Elisa's mother's, who refuses to talk to her. Elisa is upset but Fabrizio comforts her. The two lovers decide to get married secretly in Rivombrosa and ask Father Tognino to celebrate the ceremony. The old man accepts, but the Abbot Van Neker, disconcerted about such a wedding between a noble man and a maidservant, decides to warn his cousin, the marchioness Lucrezia. The jealous woman, still in love with Fabrizio, has Father Tognino killed. The Father is found dead in the church by Fabrizio and Elisa, right before their wedding.

Episode 12
Fabrizio receives a proposal from Duke Ranieri to join the conspiration. Fabrizio refuses, and the Duke tries to find out more about the documents: his guards, disguised as servants, pay the servant girl Bianca for information and she tells them to question Elisa.
During the play performed by a traveling theatrical troupe in Rivombrosa, which all the nobles attend, two of the Duke's men attack Elisa in order to get information about the documents. She is saved by the arrival of Fabrizio, who fights and kills them. Ludovico Maffei attempts suicide by poisoning himself, overwhelmed by the responsibility of having ruined his daughters lives. Margherita and Dr. Ceppi find him and try to save him. Anna, who still cannot accept the love between Fabrizio and Elisa, goes to Turin to ask her friend, the beautiful Duchess Clelia Bussani, to try to seduce her brother.

Episode 13
Clelia, Anna's friend and the King's cousin, arrives at Rivombrosa and Fabrizio decides to go back to Turin with her, hoping to meet the king there and warn him on the conspiracy. Clelia and Fabrizio get along quite well but Fabrizio remains faithful to Elisa.
Marquis Maffei, still sick from the poison he took, raves of the conspiracy to Margherita, who goes to Rivombrosa telling what she's heard. Unfortunately Fabrizio is not in the palace, so Margherita tells everything to Elisa. On the next day, Elisa goes to Turin to warn Fabrizio, and everything happens very fast. The Count is waiting with Clelia for the king, in her carriage. Seeing the barrel of a gun at a window, he runs to prevent the killer from shooting the king, while Elisa yells to warn the king's guards. Angelo, who now serves in the Royal Guard is badly injured when he tries to protect the king from the shooting. Fabrizio, who did not manage to catch the killer, has to flee to avoid being caught because it looks as though he was the one who tried to shoot the king. Clelia hides him in her carriage and Elisa and Fabrizio return to Rivombrosa together. Elisa is still feeling sick and weak and Amelia starts to think that she could be pregnant.

Episode 14
Elisa notices that a little orphan boy, Martino has a birth mark on his shoulder similar to that which is on Fabrizio's shoulder. Along with Amelia they come to the conclusion that the orphan is the result of a dissolute life he led after leaving Lucrezia van Necker 10 years ago. Elisa tells her observations to Fabrizio and accuses him of not caring about his son. Therefore, Fabrizio goes to buy Martino free and takes him to work in the stables. Finally, Elisa tells Fabrizio that she is pregnant. This makes the Count to decide not to expose their common happiness to any more risks and wants to return the list to Count Drago. Elisa tells him that whatever he does will be right and tells that she and their unborn baby will wait for him. Meanwhile, Anna's husband Fabrizio plans to incapacitate and take over the property. They organize a special dinner, in which van Necker and other nobles are invited to confirm that Fabrizio is crazy since he wants to marry a servant. Fabrizio understands what's going on and takes the opportunity to propose to Elisa. She runs away when she sees the nobles' faces.

Episode 15
Fabrizio resolves to never again hide their feelings and views. He wants to marry Elisa and let everybody know that he loves her. The wedding arrangements start at the Palace. Initially reluctant abbot van Necker agrees to marry them in the condition, however, that the bride and groom must find the two witnesses for the marriage. The Marquis Maffei for fear of reprisals refuses. Ceppi and Giulio agree to be the witnesses. Anna goes to Lucretia for help. The nobles arrive to the wedding ceremony but in the middle of it they all turn away from the young to mark their protest, only Clelia remains in place. By showing that she accepts their relationship.

Episode 16
Fabrizio drives his sister Anna away from Rivombrosa after guessing that she was responsible for what happened at his and Elisa's wedding. Exiled Anna moves out of the palace with her husband, and is forced to share their new place with his lover - Betta Maffei. Fabrizio swears revenge against all the enemies of Elisa. The only aristocracy, who shows their support for them is Lucrezia van Necker, who actually has her own good at stake too. Elisa does not trust her, and her care grows when he learns that Lucrezia and Fabriozo were lovers in the past. Margeritha Maffei enters the convent, according to the promise she made to God. Meanwhile Lucrezia invites Fabrizio and Elisa to dinner with other nobles. During this dinner Lucrezia sends men to Rivombrosa in order to steal the list.  But Elisa is not feeling too well and along with Fabrizio they return to Rivombrosa early. At night, Lucrezia's men come to Rivombrosa after bribing Bianca to lead them to the library. Along the way they kill one of the farmhands, that Martino finds and rushes to Fabrizio and Elisa's bedroom to tell what he has seen. The men can't find the list and set the library on fire. At the same moment there enters Fabrizio, who kills the two thugs. Unfortunately, the third one escapes. Concerned about the prolonged absence of Fabrizio and about the noises she hears, Elisa leaves the bedroom with a knife. Unfortunately she comes across with the man who escaped and fatally wounds him with the knife. The man falls down the stairs taking Elisa with him. Fabrizio finds Elisa and cries over worry for his beloved and the fate of their child.

Episode 17
Elisa after falling down stairs loses her child. Her condition is critical. Fabrizio calls her mother and sister to Rivombrosa. Lucrezia also offers her assistance insidiously. At the news of the attack on the palace Angelo returns to Rivombrosa, asking Fabrizio to rejoin his service. The Count trust him implicitly and entrusts to his care the safety of the occupants. He does not know that Angelo is a spy adviser of the king - Beuville and is detected, what is involved in the conspiracy count.

Episode 18
According to Dr Ceppi due to the fall and the abortion Elisa will remain infertile causing Elisa to suffer from depression. The doctor also warns Fabrizo that because of that she might commit suicide. When Elisa disappears one night, and the search does not yield results, Fabrizo gives way to despair.
At the Radicati Palace Alvise and his mistress Betta are celebrating yet another party. Two of the guests who are heavily drunk leave the main party room wandering through the palace eventually entering Emilia's bedroom. Anna comes to rescue her in time and tells Alvise she will return to Rivombrosa taking Emilia with her immediately.
Fabrizo finds Elisa in the monastery Margherita Maffei lives in finding out she left because she didn't want to condemn him to a childless life. With a little help from Anna Elisa can be convinced to return to Rivombrosa.
Lucrezia overhears the story of Martino and learns that his father is Fabrizio. In order to get closer to Fabrizio she convinces everyone that she is the mother of the boy. She claims that she bore a child before marriage with the Marquis Beuville, but her mother told her that the boy was born dead. Meanwhile, the inn has been planted. Now, Lucrezia wants to get the boy and make him a page to her. For Elisa, who has motherly feelings towards Martino the news is a huge blow, but she does not deny Lucrezia the right to take "her" child with her.

Episode 19
Lucretia takes Martino with her, making him a page to her. Fabrizo longing for the boy, often visits him in the awning, which does not like the Elisie. Elisa saw that Fabrizo approached the marquee, decides to move out of Rivombrosa. The Marquis returns to the mansion Beuville, who does not like that Fabrizo is a frequent guest of his wife. Marquis collects information on the Count Ristori, and provides it to Angelo. Giulio distraught after the loss of Margherita, Elisa asks that gave her an engagement ring. At the time of Count Drago vows he tries to interrupt the ceremony, but Ristroi him back. Then Margherita Elisie confesses that interfere with its meticulously Lucretia and the count in the marriage.

Episode 20
Fabrizio not believe the Elisa's accusations are true: that Lucretia is faking under the guise of a false friendship. Then Fabrizio being angry goes to Lucrezia asking her to give explanation; then Lucrezia openly professes his love to him, capturing him entirely off guard. Then in a fit of passion he kisses her, but then runs away. Meanwhile, Elisa saw that Fabrizo awning can be wrapped around your finger, asks him to make a choice: it either Lucrezia. Count selects Elisa. The girl is not ready to give up her lover, goes to the awning, to speak with her. Lucretia tells her about the kiss and promises to fight for Fabriza. Small Martino very long for Elise and is able to forgive her putting it into the house Lucretia. Awning with Prince Ranieri decide as soon as possible to recover the list of conspirators. With the mission to send the broken Rivombrosy Count Drago. He asks Fabriza bed so he can ease the pain of losing Margherita. At night went to the library to find out. Elisa and Fabrizo hear the roar of the library, also there's going. Gulio covered with by them, giving a list of demands. Count refuses and comes to a duel. When Fabrizo puts him in a critical position, Count Drago killed himself with his sword Fabriza. Gulio last wish is to see Margherita before his death. On the way to her, trying to guide the Count Drago Fabrizio that this Lucretia is the heads of the conspiracy, and not her husband. Count Drago Margherita dies in his arms.

Episode 21
Lucrezia decides to kill Elisa, because it is the only obstacle to her happiness with Fabrizio and to the top of power. Lucrezia asks Isabella to prick Elisa with a poisoned rose at the funeral of Count Drago. Meanwhile, Lucrezia goes to Martino, who has fever, but he calls Elisa. At Rivombrosa, the commander comes to ask Fabrizio to testify about the death of Gulio Drago. During the funeral, Isabella does not fully meet the order she received: she pricks to Elisa with the thorn of the rose, but the thorn was not poisoned. After the funeral, Elisa and Fabrizio go to the police station and testified that it was a duel and Giulio was killed by accident. Then Lucrezia discovers that Isabella did not fulfill its orders and kill her. Before his death, Isabella makes sure that Martino hears that Lucrezia is not the mother of Martin and reveals that his father is Fabrizo. In this situation, the boy decides to escape from the awning. When Lucretia realizes that the boy had disappeared, she sends the servants to catch him, ordering even shoot in his direction. She herself went to Rivombrosa, where is faking to be a worried mother. When entering the courtyard of the palace, Martino is attacked by people Lucretia, but he manages to survive the ambush. Martino tells to Fabrizio and Elisa what Lucrezia did (that Lucrezia is not his mother and she killed Isabella). Meanwhile, Angelo pretending to have a broken arm, scans the library, searching the list. He does not know that Count Fabrizio has placed the list in the Virgin Mary statue from the palace chapel. Fabrizio realizes that Angelo is looking for the list. During the confrontation reveals that he worked for the Marquis Beauville and is on the side of good. Fabrizio is stunned by the situation, remembering the last words of Giulio, realizes that all the time was wrong: that not the Marquis Beauville is the heads the conspiracy, but his wife - Lucrezia Van Necker Beauville.

Episode 22
Fabrizio decides to immediately contact the Marquis Jean Luc Beauville, for this purpose went to his mansion, but didn't found him there. Lucrezia guesses that Fabrizio knows the truth and decides to go to Turin. Fabrizio also going to Turin, and close Elisa, who wants to go with him, in a room for her safety. Elisa, however, escapes and follows him to Turin. As a result, they go together to the capital. Unfortunately, Lucrezia anticipates their movement and notifies her husband that Fabrizio will give it the list and that he himself belongs to the conspiracy. During the meeting between Jean Luc Beauville and Fabrizio, appears Lucretia and kills her husband and throws all the blame on Fabrizio Ristori. Fabrizio is thrown into prison, although it is threaten him with death, refuses to give the list to Ranieri. Elisa tries in vain to see him. For this purpose, went to Margherita Maffei, which manages to get into prison. Then the nun goes to the king to convince him of the Count of innocence, but this remains inexorable. Process begins, Elisa dressed as a nun, watching the whole event. Count Ristori testify against Lucretia and Ranieri, accusing them of murder of Beauville and treason. Fabrizio talk about the list, but he don't have the list with him. He knows that if he give the list to the judge, soon Lucrezia and Ranieri will destroy the list. In this situation, Elisa went to Rivombrosa with Angelo and they searched in the library, but does not know that Fabrizio put the list elsewhere. Anna directs them that they may be in the palace chapel, unfortunately, this do not bring the expected search results. At Rivombrosa returns the husband of Anna, Alvise Radicati. He makes its own orders and requests to Elisa, such devotion as to Fabrizio. Meanwhile, in Turin, the process continue, as a result of testimony commander leading the investigation into the death of Giulio Drago, comes to light that it was thanks to Elisa, that investigation was discontinued. Therefore, the royal guard arrives at Rivombrosa and took with him the terrified Elisa.

Episode 23
Elisa testifies before the court to release Fabrizio, but the judges deny her testimony, as the information reaches them that she is a maid in love with his master. Elisa returns to Rivombrosa, where Alvise Radicati has locked his wife in her room. Elisa steals the key from Alvise and persuades Anna that she must go to Turin and testify for his brother. Although Anna throws a whole new light on the death of the Marquis Beauville, judges remain unmoved. When the Alvise discovers that Anna is not in the room, he severely beats the little Martino, because he thinks that Martino stole the key. Fortunately, the boy is saved by Angelo who comes and attacks Alvise Radicati. In the morning, Dr. Antonio Ceppi arrives at Rivombrosa, who during wound care notes that Alvise has syphilis. Alvise forbids him to inform anyone about this. Then takes Betta Maffei to Turin, and joins the conspirators. Meanwhile, in prison, Ottavio Ranieri tries to persuade Fabrizio to give it the list. Count Fabrizio Ristori is found guilty and sentenced to be beheaded on 25 September 1769 years on the main square, in Rivombrosa. When Elisa learns about this, she takes matters into his own hands. Elisa threatens Lucretia.

Episode 24

Duke Ottavio Ranieri promise to Fabrizio to release him if he will receive the list; but Fabrizio refuses him. Then Ranieri orders that Fabrizio to be whipped. Fabrizio refuses again to say where is the list. Meanwhile, Elisa tries to reach out to the only person who can trust in Turin, therefore she go to asking help to the cousin of the king - Clelia Bussani. She is constantly accompanied by her faithful Angelo. Elisa and Angelo arrives at her palace, but the road is packed with soldiers Ranieri. In the garden of palace, the two dogs of Ranieri bark against these them. To save Elisa, Angelo shoots one of them. Elisa, running, slips and injures her hand. However, they manage to get to the palace. The shots can be heard throughout the garden, which arouses suspicion of soldiers. Meanwhile, Elisa reaches in the palace of Clelia, who hides her in his chambers. Lucrezia find a handkerchief with the blazon and initials of Fabrizio Ristori, which was dropped by Elisa, so Lucrezia guessed that the girl is hidden by Clelia in her palace. Lucrezia and Ranieri make a plan to find the list and to kill Elisa; they decide to help Fabrizio to escape from prison so he can take the list from the hiding place and then they can recover it from him. Alvise Radicardi returns without Betta from Turin to Rivombrosa and introduces its own orders. Dr. Antonio Ceppi, worrying about Anne, arrives at the Rivombrosa to inform her about the health of her husband. But seeing her unhappy and worried, he decides to delay to say about her husband's illness. Betta comes to Rivombrosa apologizing to Alvise. Anna annoyed when she sees it, and wants to throw it out, but her husband forbids. This time the doctor Antonio Ceppi says to Anna about the Alvise's disease and shows her his love: they are kissing. Lucrezia decides to implement a plan to get rid of Elisa and to recovery the list. Lucrezia goes to Clelia and blackmail her to show where is hidden Elisa. Then Lucrezia convinces her to try to escape Fabrizio from prison, arguing that what she are doing, it for purely emotional, because Fabrizio Ristori was the only love of her life. Elisa with Clelia go to prison, where they manage to release Fabrizio. Angelo is waiting in the street with two horses for help them escape. Elisa, Fabrizio and Angelo manage to escape. Fabrizio don't wants to flee the country like a criminal, therefore he wants return to Rivombrosa to retrieve the list and forward it to the king.

Episode 25

Elisa and Fabrizio come in the night. In the morning, along with Angelo they go to Rivombosa to take the list. When they enter in the courtyard, Elisa points out the open window in the library, and a lighted candle in the kitchen, which raised its alert. It turns out that this is an ambush. At the last minute Fabrizio informs Elisa, where he had hid the list and allows her to escape, he giving up. Terrified, she finds refuge in the house of Dr. Ceppi. Meanwhile, Fabrizio and Angelo are arrested and subjected to the cruelest torture. During the torture Angelo agrees to help Ranieri to recovery the list if he will be released. Ana tells Betta that Alvise is sick; then Betta packs his luggage and hurries from Rivombrosa. Elisa is hunted by Ranieri's men. Ana and Emilia leave from Rivombrosa to Ceppi's house, where they find Elisa. Elisa sends a letter to Cleila. Elisa and Ana return to Rivombrosa, enter in the chapel, Elisa finds the list and takes the list, then returns to dr. Ceppi. Fabrizio is visited in prison by Lucrezia, who tells him that she loves him, but his heart is only for Elisa. Clelia reads the letter, but her lady companion, Therese, goes and tells Ranieri about Elisa's letter. Clelia goes to the king to tell him that she will give him a gift before Fabrizio's execution. Meanwhile, in Turin, Ranieri try again to force Fabrizio to give him the list of conspirators. Ana tells Alvise that she shall move home to Antonio Ceppi; Alvise, being nervous, tries to squeeze her throat, but Ana hit him with a vase (bowl), then Alvise falls down. Then Ana leaves from Rivombrosa. Looking for Elisa, Angelo meets Anna, and they together go at Ceppi's house.

Episode 26

Dr. Antonio Ceppi takes care of Angelo's wounds. The King tells Lucrezia that Fabrizio will be executed earlier, than was planning on. Betta is seriously ill, and she stays at home with her father and her sister. Ranieri tells Lucrezia to get away from his life forever. In the night, Elisa and Angelo write another letter and another list; they make a false copy similar to the original one. Elisa and Angelo come to the Turin. There in the square before the Bussani Palace  they play a scene, Angelo "killing" Elisa and take her letters (with the fake list). Angelo takes a fake list and the pendant from the neck of Elisa and then give them to the Ranieri; but Angelo refuses to be paid. Ranieri goes to Fabrizio and tells him that Elisa is dead and gives him her pendant. Clelia takes Elisa in her palace; when Elisa feels safe, explains that what she saw in the square was a frame-up (sketch). Clelia do not realize that Therese is a spy of Ranieri. Therese go to Ranieri and says that he had received a false papers, because the genuine acts are at Clelia. When he discover of the betrayal of Clelia, he decides to kill her. In the night someone kills Clelia in her bed. Lucrezia decides to release Fabrizio and goes before the court and says that she and Fabrizio were lovers and that Fabrizio killed Jean Luc in a duel, for her. But Fabrizio denies and the court maintained the conviction. The next day, Fabrizio is brought to Rivombrosa, where in the main square, all the people are gathered together with the king and his new adviser - Ranieri. Clelia had promised the king that she would give him a gift before Fabrizio's execution, so the king is waiting for her. Meanwhile, Lucrezia rush in her chaise to Venezia, leaving the country. At Rivombrosa, at one moment, Clelia's carriage arrives. Elisa is disguised in Clelia, so she goes down from the carriage, and approaches the king. The king requests the guards to allow the women to approach. Elisa wants to give the letters to the king, but then Ranieri threatens the King and Elisa. Fabrizio uses the confusion and gets out from under ax. Follows the struggle between Fabrizio and Ranieri, and Elisa gives the king the list with conspirators. This he finds of the betrayal of his adviser, and sentence him to prison. Ranieri is arrested. Then, in the presence of all people, the King ennobles Elisa – he gives her the title of Countess. Elisa tells Fabrizio that she is pregnant. All people applaud and rejoice. For the two lovers it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor. Now there is nothing left to prevent the marriage of Fabrizio and Elisa.

See also
 La figlia di Elisa – Ritorno a Rivombrosa
 List of Italian television series

References

External links

Italian television series
2003 Italian television series debuts
2000s Italian television series
Television series set in the 18th century
Canale 5 original programming
Television shows set in Piedmont

Elisa di Rivombrosa


A Polish passport () is an international travel document issued to nationals of Poland, and may also serve as proof of Polish citizenship. Besides enabling the bearer to travel internationally and serving as indication of Polish citizenship, the passport facilitates the process of securing assistance from Polish consular officials abroad or other European Union member states in case a Polish consular is absent, if needed.

Every Polish citizen is also a citizen of the European Union. The passport, along with the national identity card allows for free rights of movement and residence in any of the states of the European Union, European Economic Area and Switzerland.

According to the 2023 edition of the Henley Passport Index, Polish passport allows visa-free travel to 186 countries and, together with Hungary and Australia, ranks as the 6th most powerful in terms of travel freedom.

Issuance and validity
The passports are issued by the Ministry of the Interior and applications are filed at voivodeship offices which have a passport office. Passports issued since mid-2006 are of a biometric variety, and valid for ten years. The blue cover passports issued up until 2001 and burgundy-cover passports (issued up until 2006) remain valid until their stated expiry dates, however their lack of biometric features inherently means that they have slightly different visa restrictions for travel abroad as they are considered to have insufficient security features by some nations, such as Canada (allows visa-free access only for Polish citizens in possession of a biometric passport).

Full Polish passports are issued for a period of ten years, whilst those issued to minors are valid up to an initial maximum of five years.

Holders of passports issued before 13 April 1993 who seek to renew their passports require the additional document "Confirmation of Polish Citizenship" issued by their local provincial authority.

Temporary passports are issued for a period of one year.

Previous passport designs

Second Polish Republic

The Polish passport from today is much different from those that appeared after World War I, following the creation of the Second Polish Republic. The first such passports began to appear around 1918 and were of simple paper, design and quality. These lasted until around 1929 when hard covered blue-jacket passports were designed and printed on good quality watermarked paper. These blue passports were used through World War II and were continued to be issued to Polish refugees after the war from Polish consulates in foreign countries until at least 1947.

Communist era
During the communist Polish People's Republic (PRL) era, another design was adopted around 1952 consisting of the Polish, French and Russian languages. In addition during this period, the crown of the Polish white eagle was absent from the emblem on the passport cover. Until October 1956, in practice, it was only possible to obtain a passport for a business trip. Regarding the passport application, issued only by a  under the Ministry of Public Security, an applicant had to obtain 12 hard to get attachments. The effect of the rigorous passport policy was the practical disappearance of tourist travel from Poland: in 1938 citizens leaving the country for tourist purposes numbered approximately 90,000; there were only 181 such people in 1950, not counting party, union and industry delegations, mainly to Warsaw Pact countries.

After 1956, trips abroad became easier; travel agencies such as Orbis were created to organise trips (80% of which was to the countries of "folk democracy"), and on the Polish-Czechoslovak border a tourist convention began to apply, facilitating movement in the Izera Mountains. However, an individual trip was still legally possible only by invitation. At that time, there were two types of passports: individual and collective. In the case of people travelling on collective passports, a special tour guide was available. Before each trip, you had to complete the application and go to a Biuro Paszportów attached to a local command of the Milicja Obywatelska. Upon arrival, the passport had to be returned to the same place.

Later (until 1972) the so-called "passport inserts" enabled travel to European Eastern Bloc countries, which had to be attached to the PRL internal passport. Initially, they were single use; with time they began to be spent on multiple trips, generally from 1973 with a validity of five years. From 1972, thanks to an agreement with East Germany, it was possible to go to the latter country only on the basis of a stamp embedded in the ID card issued by any Milicja Obywatelska command. This resulted in a massive increase in trips to this country from 200,000 in 1971 to 9.5 million a year later. In January 1977, similar regulations were in force for trips to Bulgaria, Czechoslovak, Romania, the USSR and Hungary. During martial law era (1981–83), the stamps expired and were replaced by new passports with a five-year validity period.

From 1984, Polish citizens were allowed to keep their own passports. It was not until December 1988 that long-term passports with 10 years validity and valid for all countries were introduced.

Third Polish Republic
After the fall of communism in Poland, the first post-communist passport design was introduced on 1 January 1992, featuring a navy blue cover. This was later followed with a burgundy-cover machine-readable passport design in 2001, which was issued until 2006.

Physical appearance and data contained
The Polish passports issued since 2006 are burgundy, with the words  (EUROPEAN UNION) and  (REPUBLIC OF POLAND) inscribed at the top of the front cover. The Polish white eagle is emblazoned in the centre of the cover, and below this the words , "PASSPORT" are to be found. The Polish passport has the standard biometric symbol emblazoned below the final set of text denoting the document as a passport, and uses the standard European Union design. Diplomatic passports are also burgundy in colour and of essentially the same design, but the French, English and Polish translations of the word 'passport' are replaced with those for 'diplomatic passport'; , "DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT".

Temporary passports have the words , "TEMPORARY PASSPORT" on the front cover and contain 16 pages. They do not bear the biometric passport logo.

The statement in a Polish passport declares in Polish and English:

THE AUTHORITIES OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND HEREBY KINDLY REQUEST ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN TO PROVIDE THE BEARER OF THIS PASSPORT WITH ALL ASSISTANCE THAT MAY BE DEEMED NECESSARY WHILE ABROAD.

The Polish statement for which is:

WŁADZE RZECZYPOSPOLITEJ POLSKIEJ ZWRACAJĄ SIĘ Z UPRZEJMĄ PROŚBĄ DO WSZYSTKICH, KTÓRYCH MOŻE TO DOTYCZYĆ, O OKAZANIE POSIADACZOWI TEGO PASZPORTU WSZELKIEJ POMOCY, JAKA MOŻE OKAZAĆ SIĘ NIEZBĘDNA W CZASIE POBYTU ZA GRANICĄ.

Biometric data
The biometric passports contain an RFID chip containing the passport's printed data in a digital format along with the photograph in a JPEG format along with a digital key to verify that the data contained is authentic and has not been tampered with. The data in the chip can only be accessed after using the printed codes on the lower part of the passport's personal data page. The European Union requires fingerprint data to be stored on the member state's passports at latest in June 2009. Poland already complies with this European act on collecting identity data, and, since 2006, requires passport applicants to provide fingerprint scans and other information relating to facial features when applying for a new passport.

Languages
The data page/information page is printed in Polish and English, whilst translation of this information into other official languages of the European Union can be found elsewhere in the document. The passport also contains two pages reserved for official notifications which are typically only recorded in Polish.

Visa free travel

Visa requirements for Polish citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of Poland. Polish citizens enjoy freedom of movement in the European Economic Area and can travel around the EEA as of right. As of July 2023, Polish citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 186 countries and territories, ranking the Polish passport 6th in the world terms of travel freedom according to the Henley Passport Index (tied with Hungary and Australian passports). Polish citizens can live and work in any country within the EU, EEA and Switzerland as a result of the right of free movement and residence granted in Article 21 of the EU Treaty.

Gallery of Polish passports

See also
 Polish nationality law
 List of passports
 Visa requirements for Polish citizens
 Passports of the European Union

References

Poland
European Union passports
Identity documents of Poland

Polish passport


Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum is a historic, Jacobean-style mansion and museum located at 104 Walker Street, Lenox, Massachusetts. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Visitors can tour the mansion and learn about the changes that occurred in American life, industry, and society during the late 19th-century period known as the Gilded Age.

History
The house was built in 1893 for George and Sarah Morgan, sister of J. P. Morgan, to designs by architects Rotch & Tilden. Its exterior is brick with brownstone trim, containing approximately 50 rooms in a total of  of living space, including 9 main bedrooms and 10 servant's bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, and 17 fireplaces. The house was set within a large landscaped garden of 26 acres (since reduced to 11.7 acres).

A smaller home was moved off of the property and across the street prior to the construction of Ventfort Hall.  This home was owned by the Haggerty family and known as Vent Fort.  The colonel of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and civil war hero, Robert Gould Shaw, spent his brief honeymoon here with his wife, Annie Kneeland Haggerty.  After Robert's death, Annie moved to Europe.  She did not return to Vent Fort until her last two summers, when she rented the memory-filled home from the Morgan family.

After the Morgans' deaths, the house was rented for several years to Margaret Vanderbilt, then purchased in 1925 by W. Roscoe and Mary Minturn Bonsal who in turn sold the house in 1945, after which it served as a dormitory for Tanglewood music students, a summer hotel, the Fokine Ballet Summer Camp, directed by Christine Fokine, and community housing for the religious organization The Bible Speaks (now known as Greater Grace World Outreach).   In 1991, a nursing home developer planned to demolish the building.  Over the following years, the house sustained significant damage, the paneling was stripped from the walls, and part of the roof collapsed. In June 1997 it was rescued by the Ventfort Hall Association. The non-profit has been repairing the damage, as well as trying to establish a national museum of the Gilded Age within its walls.

The Cider House Rules
Shortly after the Ventfort Hall Association purchased the house in 1997, the exterior of the building was used as St. Cloud's Orphanage in the Academy Award-winning 1999 film The Cider House Rules. Long time location managers Charlie Harrington and Mark Fitzgerald photographed the mansion even though director Lasse Hallstrom had specified a wooden structure. Although only the outside of the house was meant to be used in the filming, several scenes were shot on the magnificent staircase in the Great Hall that can be seen in the movie.  With this exception, all other interior scenes were filmed in Northampton.

See also
List of Gilded Age mansions
The Mount (Lenox, Massachusetts)
National Register of Historic Places listings in Berkshire County, Massachusetts

References

External links
 Ventfort Hall: The Museum of the Gilded Age

Historic house museums in Massachusetts
Museums in Lenox, Massachusetts
History museums in Massachusetts
Houses completed in 1893
Buildings and structures in Lenox, Massachusetts
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Berkshire County, Massachusetts
Gilded Age mansions
Museums on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts


A dwarf (: dwarfs or dwarves) is a type of supernatural being in Germanic folklore. Accounts of dwarfs vary significantly throughout history; however, they are commonly, but not exclusively, presented as living in mountains or stones and being skilled craftspeople. In early literary sources, only males are explicitly referred to as dwarfs. However, they are described as having sisters and daughters, while male and female dwarfs feature in later saga literature and folklore. Dwarfs are sometimes described as short; however, scholars have noted that this is neither explicit nor relevant to their roles in the earliest sources.

Dwarfs continue to feature in modern popular culture, such as in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien and Terry Pratchett, where they are often, but not exclusively, presented as distinct from elves.

Etymology
The modern English noun dwarf descends from . It has a variety of cognates in other Germanic languages, including  and . According to Vladimir Orel, the English noun and its cognates ultimately descend from Proto-Germanic . A different etymology of dwarf traces it to Proto-Germanic , with the r sound being the product of Verner's Law. Anatoly Liberman connects the Germanic word with Modern English dizzy, suggesting a link between the etymology and their role in inflicting mental diseases on humans, similar to some other supernatural beings in Germanic folklore such as elves.

For forms earlier than the Proto-Germanic reconstruction, the etymology of the word dwarf is highly contested. Scholars have proposed theories about the origins of the being by way of historical linguistics and comparative mythology, including the idea that dwarfs may have originated as nature spirits, as beings associated with death, or as a mixture of concepts. Competing etymologies include a basis in the Indo-European root  (meaning "damage"), the Indo-European root  (whence, for example, modern English "dream" and German  "deception"), and scholars have made comparisons with Sanskrit  (a type of "demonic being").

Modern English has two plurals for the word dwarf: dwarfs and dwarves. Dwarfs remains the most commonly employed plural. The minority plural dwarves was recorded as early as 1818. However, it was later popularized by the fiction of philologist and legendarium author J. R. R. Tolkien, originating as a hypercorrective mistake. It was employed by Tolkien for some time before 1917. Regarding his use of this plural, Tolkien wrote in 1937, "I am afraid it is just a piece of private bad grammar, rather shocking in a philologist; but I shall have to go with it."

Attestations

Eddic sources

Terminology
Scholars have noted that the  ('black elves') appear to be the same beings as dwarfs, given that both are described in the Prose Edda as the residents of Svartálfaheimr. Another potential synonym is dökkálfar ('dark elves'); however, it is unclear whether  and  were considered the same at the time of the writing of the Prose Edda. The partial overlap of dwarfs in Eddic sources with elves is supported by the names of dwarfs recorded in the Dvergatal section of Völuspá, which include Álfr ('Elf'), Gandálfr ('Wand-elf'), Vindálf ('Wind-elf'). Dvergatal further lists Yngvi – a name of the god Freyr who was given Álfheimr, the home of the elves, to rule according to Grímnismál.

Notable Eddic dwarfs

 Andvari, a shapechanging dwarf featuring in the Völsung cycle who is extorted out of his treasure by Loki.
 Fjalar and Galar, two brothers who murder Kvasir and brew the mead of poetry from his blood.
 Brokkr and Sindri, brothers who craft Draupnir, Gullinbursti and Mjölnir for the gods.
 Sons of Ívaldi, brothers who craft Gungnir, Skíðblaðnir and Sif's hair for the gods.
 Alvíss, a dwarf who requested the hand in marriage of Thor's daughter Þrúðr. Thor outwits him by keeping him talking until daybreak, whereupon he turns to stone
 Litr, a dwarf kicked by Thor into Baldr's funeral pyre for an unclear reason.

Germanic heroic legend and sagas

Continuity with older beliefs
After the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples, dwarfs continued in the folklore of Germanic-speaking areas of Europe and the literary works produced there. Opinions on the degree of continuity in beliefs on dwarfs before and after Christianisation differ significantly. Some scholars, such as Rudolf Simek, propose that the folk beliefs remained essentially intact in the transitional period, making later sources exceedingly informative on pre-Christian Germanic religion. In contrast, others, such as Schäfke, argue that there is no resemblance between Eddic and skaldic dwarfs and those in later sources.

Old Norse
Dwarfs feature throughout both fornaldarsögur and riddarasögur. In Völsunga saga, which details the events that unfold after Loki extorts treasure out of the dwarf Andvari, to pay the wergild for his killing of Ótr, a being whose brother Regin is also described in some sources as either resembling or being a dwarf. In Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, the sword Tyrfing is forged, and subsequently cursed, by a dwarf named Dvalinn, and another named Dulin in the Hauksbók manuscript.

Middle High German
In German literature, many dwarfs can make themselves invisible, typically via a "Tarnkappe" (cloak of invisibility), which has been suggested to be an ancient attribute of dwarfs. Depending on the story, they may be hostile or friendly to humans.

The dwarf Alberich plays a vital role in the Nibelungenlied, where he guards the Nibelung's treasure and has the strength of twelve men. He is defeated by Siegfried and afterwards serves the hero. In Ortnit, Alberich seduces the Lombardy queen, spawning the hero Ortnit. The dwarf then aids Ortnit in his adventures after revealing to the hero that he is his father. In Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid, Siegfried is aided by the dwarf Eugel, who is the son of the dwarf king Nibelung, originator of the Nibelung's treasure.

The hero Dietrich von Bern is portrayed in adventures involving dwarfs. In Laurin, he fights against the dwarf King Laurin at the dwarf's magical rose garden. He later rescues a woman whom Laurin had kidnapped. A similar plot occurs in the fragmentary poem Goldemar. In Virginal, Dietrich rescues the dwarf queen Virginal from a force of invading heathens. The dwarfs Eggerich and Baldung play a role in aiding Dietrich in the poem Sigenot: Baldung gives Dietrich a magical gem that prevents him from being bitten when thrown into a snake pit, whereas Eggerich helps Dietrich and Hildebrand escape. In the Heldenbuch-Prosa, a dwarf takes Dietrich out of this world after the death of all the other heroes, a role given to Laurin in some different versions of Dietrich's end.

Modern period
Dwarfs feature in the modern folklore of Germanic-speaking regions of Europe, such as the Simonside Dwarfs in Northumberland, who are sometimes believed to use lights to lure people off paths, akin to a will-o'-the-wisp.

Some dwarfs in modern folklore have been argued to belong to a broader group of smith-beings living within hollow mountains or in caves such as the Grinkenschmied. These craftsmen can be referred to explicitly as dwarfs or terms that describe their roles such as  ('mountain smith'). Mounds in Denmark can also be referred to by names derived from their inhabitants, such as 'smedsberg' or 'smedshoie' ('smith's hill' or 'smith's mound'). Anglian folklore tells that one can hear a forge from within a mound and feel furnace fires under the earth, while in Switzerland, the heat can be attributed to the underground kitchens of dwarfs. In one example, the furnace's heat is believed to increase soil fertility.

Attributes and themes

Diversity and vagueness
Rather than existing a "true" single nature of a dwarf, they vary in their characteristics, not only across regions and time but also between one another in the same cultural context. Some are capable of changing their form entirely. The scholar Ármann Jakobsson notes that accounts of dwarfs in the Eddas and the section of Ynglinga saga regarding Sveigðir lack prominence in their narratives and cohesive identity. Based on this, he puts forward the idea that dwarfs in these sources are set apart from other beings by their difficulty to be defined and generalised, ultimately stemming from their intrinsic nature to be hidden and as the "Other" that stands in contrast with humans.

Appearance

Form and colour

Based on the etymology of dwarf, it has been proposed that the oldest conception of a dwarf was as exclusively a formless spirit, potentially as in the case of disease-causing dwarfs; however, this view is not seen in the oldest manuscript accounts. In the quotation of Völuspá in the Prose Edda, the dwarfs emerge as beings with human form (), while in the Codex Regius manuscript the first two dwarfs created either dwarfs or people with human forms. The prose of the Ynglinga saga describes a dwarf sitting, standing, and speaking, leading to the proposal that at the time of writing, dwarfs were believed to, at least sometimes, have a human-like form. It nonetheless appears to have been recognised as a dwarf; however, that may have been due to its behaviour instead of its physical appearance. In skaldic and Eddic sources, it has been noted that their roles are what define them rather than their physical appearance, which has no significant relevance.

Many dwarf names in Eddic sources relate to light and brightness, such as  ('the gleaming one') and  ('glowing'). Stories do not explain these names, but it has been theorised that they refer to the fires in the forges the dwarfs work, or to  ('grave mound fires') that are found in later Icelandic folklore. In contrast, Snorri describes dökkálfar (which are typically identified as dwarfs) as "blacker than pitch". Alvíss is described by Thor in Alvíssmál as being as unsuitable for wedding his daughter Þrúðr as he was "pale about the nostrils" and resembled a þurs.

In Middle High German heroic poetry, most dwarfs have long beards, but some may appear childish.

Size
In the early Old Norse sources, dwarfs are typically described vaguely, with no reference to them being particularly small; in the legendary sagas and later folklore, however, they are often described as short.

Norðri, Suðri, Austri and Vestri are four dwarfs, potentially depicted as four anthropomorphic figures on the hogback stone in Heysham in Lancashire, that according to the Prose Edda, each holds up a corner of the sky, that was fashioned from the skull of Ymir. It has been suggested that this would imply that dwarfs could be very tall; however, it has been noted that the sky could have been conceived of as being close to the earth at the horizon. Regin, a figure identified as either a dwarf or resembling a dwarf, is a similar size to the hero Sigurd on both the Ramsund carving and carvings from the Hylestad Stave Church. Dwarf names in Eddic sources include  ('tall enough') and  ('high'); however, the terms are ambiguous and do not necessarily mean the dwarfs were conceived of as tall relative to a human. Some names suggest a small size, such as Nori and Nabbi, which have been translated as "tiny" and "little nub", respectively; however, it has been argued that this was not necessarily the general rule.

Not all late sagas involving dwarfs describe their size, but all that do describe them as short. In some German stories, the dwarf takes on the attributes of a knight but is most clearly separated from normal humans by his small size, in some cases only reaching up to the knees. Despite their small size, dwarfs in these contexts typically have superhuman strength, either by nature or through magical means. Anatoly Liberman suggests that dwarfs may have been initially thought of as lesser supernatural beings, which became literal smallness after Christianization.

Shape changing
Diversity in appearance is not only seen between dwarfs throughout time and region but also with individual dwarfs, who can be capable of changing their shape and size, such as in Reginsmál, in which the dwarf Andvari lived as a pike in the water due to curse from a Norn, however, could also take on a human-like shape. In later German folklore, the Zwergkönig ('Dwarf King') is a tiny being but is capable of becoming enormously tall at will.

Gender and family groups

In Eddic and skaldic sources, dwarfs are almost exclusively male; for example, in the Dvergatal, every dwarf named is male. Some scholars have proposed that female dwarfs were not believed to exist; however, they are likely attested in charms dating to the early medieval period and are explicitly described in later saga material. Dwarfs are also widely referenced in these sources as having family relations with others, such as brothers and sons. Pairs or groups of brothers are seen relatively abundantly in Eddic contexts, as with the sons of Ívaldi, and Fjalarr and Galarr.

The inscription on the 8th century Ribe skull fragment has been interpreted by some scholars as explicitly referring to a  ('female-dwarf') that may have been believed to have been causing harm to the user of the fragment. This interpretation is paralleled in Wið Dweorh XCIIIb (Against a Dwarf XCIIIb), in which a harmful dwarf's sister is called to prevent him from causing an afflicted person's illness.

In Fáfnismál, the worm Fáfnir refers to some Norns as "Dvalinn's daughters" (), while in the Prose Edda, they are described as "of the dwarfs' kin" (). As Norns are also female, this could mean that dwarfs were conceived of by the author of the poem as able to be female, it is not clear whether either their mother (or mothers) are dwarfs, or if they themselves are considered dwarfs just because they are descended from dwarfs.

It has been noted that it may not be that female dwarfs did not exist in the folklore of this period, only that no explicit references to them survive in preserved narratives. It has been proposed this may be because narratives typically centre on the gods rather than dwarfs and that female dwarfs were not conceived of as of great relevance to the gods, given their primary interest in obtaining goods from dwarfs, which does not depend on their gender. Humans, being of lower power and status, cannot control dwarfs as easily and require alternative strategies to obtain treasures from them, potentially explaining why female dwarfs are more prominent in saga literature.

Female dwarfs feature in the late Gibbons saga, Bósa saga and Þjalar-Jóns saga, where they are referred to by the term "". In these cases, female dwarfs are only mentioned alongside males and are not independently important to the plot. Beyond Svama, the named  in Þjalar-Jóns saga, the only other explicitly named dwarf woman in saga literature is the daughter of Sindri in Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar, Herríðr. In saga material, dwarf children are also seen. In Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar and Egils saga einhenda ok Ásmundar berserkjabana, central characters help these children and are rewarded in return by the father with treasures. Conversely, in Sigurðar saga þǫgla, the human Hálfdan is cursed after he throws a rock at a dwarf child, breaking its jaw, and is subsequently visited by the child's father in a dream who curses him. Hálfdan's brother later gives the child a gold ring to atone for the harm and is rewarded by the father, once more in a dream. Together, this suggests that dwarfs could be conceived of as loving and protective of their children by the saga authors. In Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar, this family love is extended to the human Hálfdan who develops a fostering relation with the dwarf Litr, likely with Hálfdan as the foster son.

In German heroic legend, male dwarfs are often portrayed as lusting after human women. In contrast, female dwarfs seek to possess the male hero in the legends.

Craftsmanship and treasure
In Eddic sources dwarfs are attributed with creating magical treasures for the gods such as Mjölnir, Sif's hair, Draupnir,  Gullinbursti, Skíðblaðnir, Gleipnir and Gungnir, while in Sörla þáttr they craft Brísingamen for Freyja. They further created the Mead of Poetry from the blood of Kvasir, which grants skill in poetry to those who drink from it. According to Skáldskaparmál, due to the role of dwarfs in crafting the drink, poetry can be referred to by kennings such as "the Billow of the Dwarf-Crag", "Thought's Drink of the Rock-Folk", "the Drink of Dvalinn", "the Dwarves' ship" and the "Ale of the Dwarves". John Lindow noted that stanza 10 of the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá can be read as describing the creation of human forms from the earth and follows a catalogue of dwarf names; he suggests that the poem may present Ask and Embla as having been created by dwarfs, with the three gods then giving them life.

In Eddic and some saga sources, rather than being exchanged, items of value move from dwarfs to others, often through extortion. This has been suggested to be a critical differentiator between dwarfs and elves in pre-Christian Germanic religion, who maintain reciprocal and positive relationships with gods and humans; Kormaks saga describes how food was to be shared with elves to heal sickness and Austrfararvísur records an álfablót being held around the early 11th century in Sweden. Dwarfs, on the other hand, according to these sources, are asocial, and there are no records of them receiving blóts or other gifts in this period.

Dwarfs maintain their roles as reluctant donors of their possessions in some later Old Norse legends such as Volsunga saga and Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, where they are forced to give up Andvaranaut and Tyrfing respectively. Some legendary and romance sagas diverge from this, with dwarfs acting friendlily and helpfully; however, this is attributed to their lateness and likely do not represent perceptions that predate Christianisation. Typically, in these later sagas, fighting dwarfs is considered dishonourable, in contrast to other beings such as dragons. Receiving help from a dwarf, however, such as being healed or given a treasure, was not seen as problematic; it has been proposed that the worldview of the saga writers was that a hero is not defined by achieving deeds alone but by being able to both give and accept help.

In German legends, they also possess other magical objects and often appear as master smiths.

Association with mountains and stones

The Codex Regius version of Völuspá records that dwarfs were produced out of the earth, while in the Prose Edda, they form like maggots in the flesh of Ymir, which became the earth. Beyond this, in early Old Norse sources, there is ambiguity between whether dwarfs live within stones or whether they are themselves stones. In Völuspá they are referred to as 'masters of the rocks' () and skaldic kennings for 'stone' include  ('house of the dwarf') and  ('the hall of Durnir's kinsman'). In Ynglingatal stanza 2 and the accompanying prose in the Ynglinga saga, a dwarf lures King Sveigðir into an open stone which closes behind them, whereupon he is never seen again. Ynglingasaga also describes this dwarf as being afraid of the sun (), akin to in Alvíssmál, where the poem's eponymous dwarf is turned to stone sunlight.

In German legends, they typically live inside of hollow mountains; in some cases, they may live above the ground, while in saga literature, such as Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar they commonly live in individual stones, which could also serve as workshops, such as in the forging of Brísingamen in Sörla þáttr. The presentation of dwarfs living within stones continued into modern folklore surrounding specific landscape features such as the Dwarfie Stane, a chambered tomb located on the island of Hoy, and the  in Seyðisfjörður.

It has been proposed by Lotte Motz that the inhabitation of mountains, stones, and mounds by dwarfs may be derived from their earlier association with the dead who were frequently buried in mounds and around megaliths.

Causing disease

The term '' can be used in Old English texts to describe an illness; it is commonly used in medical texts derived from Greek or Latin sources, where it is used to gloss symptoms such as fever. The "Dictionary of Old English" divides the definition of  into either "a dwarf or pygmy" or "a fever"; however, it has been argued that the distinction between the two meanings may not have been prevalent among Germanic peoples in the Early Middle Ages, due to the close association between the beings and sickness in medicinal charms.

The 8th century Ribe skull fragment, found in Jutland, bears an inscription that calls for help from three beings, including Odin, against either one or two harmful dwarfs. The item's function has been compared to the Sigtuna amulet I and Canterbury charm that seek to drive away a "lord of þursar" that is causing an infection, the latter explicitly with the help of Thor. A similar inscription dating between the 8th and 11th century is found on a lead plaque discovered near Fakenham in Norfolk, which reads "dead is dwarf" (), and has been interpreted as another example of a written charm aiming to rid the ill person of the disease, identified as a dwarf. The Lacnunga contains the Anglo-Saxon charm  XCIIIb (Against a Dwarf XCIIIb) that refers to a sickness as a  that is riding the afflicted person like a horse, similar to the harmful mare in the later folklore of the Germanic-speaking peoples. Despite the Christian elements in the  charms, such as the saints called upon for help, their foundations likely lie in a shared North-Sea Germanic tradition that includes inscribed runic charms such as those found in Ribe and Norfolk.

The conception of diseases as being caused by projectiles from supernatural beings is widespread in Germanic folklore through time, such as in the phenomenon of elfshot, in Wið færstice, where they are thrown by elves, Ēse and witches, and in the Canterbury charm in which an infection is caused by the 'wound-spear' () used by the "lord of þursar". In the case of dwarfs, this association has continued in places into the modern period, such as in the Norwegian words  or  which refer to an 'animal disease' and translate literally as 'dwarfshot'.

Toponomy
Placenames derived from dwarf or cognate:

England
 Dwarriden (Dwarf dale) – Valley in the West Riding of Yorkshire

Influence on popular culture

Dwarfs feature in modern tellings of folklore such as Walt Disney's 1937 film based on the folktale recorded by the Brothers Grimm.

Most dwarfs in modern fantasy fiction closely follow those of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, where the dwarves (Tolkien's spelling) were distinguished from elves: most modern fantasy has continued this distinction. Dwarfs are also present in other fantasy literature such as C. S. Lewis's Narnia stories,  Terry Pratchett's Discworld and the Artemis Fowl novels by Eoin Colfer.

The emergence of fantasy video games has led to differing depictions and interpretations of dwarfs. In the universe of The Elder Scrolls, "dwarves" (or Dwemer) are presented as a race of subterranean elves whose culture was centred around science and engineering, which differs from Tolkien's conceptualisation in that they are not particularly short, and are extinct. Other games like Dragon Age and Warcraft present an image of dwarfs as stout, bearded mountain dwellers, separate from Elves. Warhammer retains the Dungeons & Dragons dichotomy between Dwarves and Dark Dwarves, referring to the latter as Chaos Dwarfs.

See also
 Gnome
 Krasnoludek
 Smithing gods

Notes

References

Bibliography

Primary

Secondary

Mining spirits
Ymir
Fairy tale stock characters

Dwarf (folklore)


John William Ritchie (26 March 1808 – 13 or 18 December 1890) was a Canadian lawyer and politician from Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia who is one of the Fathers of Confederation.  Ritchie was the son of Thomas Ritchie and Elizabeth Wildman Johnston. He studied law with his uncle James William Johnston and was admitted to the bar in 1831. Appointed to the Nova Scotia legislative council as Solicitor General in 1864, he was a delegate to the London Conference on Canadian Confederation and as such is considered one of the Fathers of Confederation. Appointed to the Senate of Canada in 1867, he was a judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia from 1873 to 1882.  His younger brother, William Johnstone Ritchie, was Chief Justice of Canada. His daughter was Eliza Ritchie.

Ritchie died at his estate in the Northwest Arm of Halifax and is buried at St. John's Cemetery.

Gallery

References

1808 births
1890 deaths
Canadian senators from Nova Scotia
Canadian people of British descent
Fathers of Confederation
Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) senators
People from Annapolis County, Nova Scotia
Colony of Nova Scotia people
Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)
Members of the Legislative Council of Nova Scotia
Judges in Nova Scotia

John William Ritchie


Nandini Srikar (born 10 August 1969) is an Indian singer and performer. Her popular songs include Jo Bheji thi Duaa from the Bollywood movie, Shanghai, "Bhare Naina" from Ra.One and "Kannamma" from Rekka.

Early life

She was born in Hyderabad, India. She went to school and university there. Her mother, Shakunthala Chellappa, was a Carnatic vocalist and Hindustani Sitar player. As a child, she studied classical music, learning how to play veena at age three. She later learned sitar and guitar and Bharatanatyam.  She earned a master's degree in pure Mathematics from Osmania University and a degree in information systems management.

Career
Srikar after graduation, worked in software in Pune. She originally had no intention of becoming a professional musician and pursued music only as a hobby.

In 1997, playback singer Hariharan heard her song and suggested to Vidyasagar that he hire her to sing for his upcoming film Uyirodu Uyiraga. In the film, she performed a duet with KK called "I Love You" and the song became a hit. She quit her job and focused on music, collaborating with Ranjit Barot, Trilok Gurtu and Wally Badarou. She also began to write advertising jingles. In 2001, she appeared on Mahmood Khan's album Panah.

In 2008, she worked with music director Dhruv Ghanekar with the vocal arrangements and harmonies for the songs in Drona. Her debut solo album Beete Pal was released in 2011 in which she has composed, programmed, produced and performed all the songs. The album features Kai Eckhardt (Bass), Prasanna (Guitar), Michael Pope (Bass), Steve Zerlin (Bass), Atma Anur (Drums), Ed DeGenaro (Guitar) and other musicians. Her next venture is a collaboration with Shri and DJ Badmarsh.

In year 2016, she also worked for a Pakistani movie Hijrat (film) (directed by Farouq Mengal and produced by FM Productions). She sang an item song "Chali Re Chali" and Sana Nawaz (a popular Pakistani actress) appeared in the song.

In 2021, she collaborated with duo gardenstate in their song, "Aurora".

She is married and  speaks Tamil, English, Hindi and Telugu.

Discography
2001 Panah
2011 Beete Pal

Filmography as playback singer

Hindi songs
Abhay (Zingoria)
 2004 Morning Raga
 2005 Brides Wanted
 2005 Hanuman
 2006 Humko Deewana Kar Gaye
 2007 Johnny Gaddaar (Tamil)
 2008 Drona
 2009 Three – Love, Lies and Betrayal
 2009 Barah Aana
 2011 Ra.One(Bhare Naina)
 2012 Agent Vinod (Dil Mera Muft ka)
 2012 Shanghai (2012 film) (Duaa)
 2013 "Club 60" (Mera Saaya)
 2014 Queen (Harjaiyaan) (Hindi)
 2015 Runh (Samjena) (Marathi)
 2016 Fitoor (Hone Do Batiyan)
 2016 Nil Battey Sannata (Maula)
 2016 Hijrat (film) (Chali Re Chali) (Urdu)
2017 Vimaanam (Anthimaanam Mele) (Malayalam)

Tamil songs
 1998 Uyirodu Uyiraga - I Love You
 2001 Aalavandhan - Africa kaattupuli
 2003 Joot - Kattabomma
 2007 Urchagam - Narampookkal
 2013 Moondru Per Moondru Kaadhal - Aaha Kaadhal
 2014 Nerungi vaa muthamidadhe - Yaar
 2016 Rekka - Kannamma Kannamma
 2022 Valimai - Enna Kuraiyo

Television
 Taare Ankboot (2013)
 Ishq Main Aisa Haal Bhi Hona Hai (2014)
 Kambakht Tanno (2016)
 Shehrnaz (2017)
 Ahsas (2017)
 Haara Dil (2018)
 Sodai  (2018)

Awards
(GiMA 2012)- Nandini Srikar won the best playback singer female for her song Bhare Naina in Ra.One.
Mirchi Music Awards South 2014 - Nandini Srikar won the best female singer of the year award for her song "Aaha Kaadhal" from Moondru Per Moondru Kaadhal.
Southern India Cinematographers' Association - SICA Award 2015 - Nandini Srikar won the best female singer of the year award for her song "Harjaiyaan" from the film Queen. She also won Norway Tamil awards  - Best Playback singer  for Kannamma for Movie Rekka

References

External links
Official website

Indian guitarists
Indian women guitarists
Indian women playback singers
Indian women singer-songwriters
Indian singer-songwriters
1969 births
Living people
Tamil playback singers
Indian women classical singers
20th-century Indian singers
21st-century Indian singers
20th-century guitarists
21st-century guitarists
20th-century Indian women singers
21st-century Indian women singers
Film musicians from Andhra Pradesh
Singers from Hyderabad, India
Women musicians from Andhra Pradesh
20th-century women guitarists
21st-century women guitarists

Nandini Srikar


TrueReal was an American digital multicast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company, targeting women aged 25–54.

TrueReal and Defy TV, a complementary network targeted at men aged 25–54, launched together on July 1, 2021, with broadcast coverage of 92% of the United States. On March 27, 2023, TrueReal's schedule was merged with Defy and its channel space was reused to carry programming from Jewelry Television.

History
On March 2, 2021, Scripps announced that it would launch two new multicast networks—Defy and TrueReal—in the wake of its acquisition of Ion Media and television transmitters across the United States. The channels are part of Scripps's strategy to increase penetration among cord cutters that do not have traditional pay-TV packages. The tentative name for the network before launch was Doozy, but the name was later changed to TrueReal, clarifying the network's content.

The services launched on July 1 with 92% national coverage, mostly through Ion Television stations, but also on subchannels of some Scripps local TV stations and by agreement with other station groups.

On March 10, 2023, Scripps announced that TrueReal would shut down on March 27, merging its programming with that of Defy TV. After its closure, Scripps began leasing the open spectrum it created on its owned and operated stations to Jewelry Television.

Programming
TrueReal's schedule mainly included reality programs from the library of A&E Networks, including Storage Wars, Little Women: LA, Intervention, Hoarders, My Crazy Ex and Wahlburgers.

References

Television networks in the United States
Defunct television networks in the United States
Women's interest channels
Television channels and stations established in 2021
E. W. Scripps Company

Television channels and stations disestablished in 2023

TrueReal


Seabury-Western Theological Seminary (SWTS) was a seminary of the Episcopal Church, located in Evanston, Illinois.

It ceased operations as a residential seminary granting the Master of Divinity degree in May 2010, and in January 2012 it moved from Evanston to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America headquarters near O'Hare Airport. In 2013, it federated with Bexley Hall seminary to form the Bexley Hall Seabury Western Theological Seminary Federation, the federation then moved to the second floor of Chicago Theological Seminary in July 2016 to continue to offer its academic degrees including its Master of Divinity degree. The Federation is commonly known as Bexley Seabury.

Seabury-Western was formed in 1933 by a merger of Western Theological Seminary of Evanston (founded in 1883 in Chicago), and Seabury Divinity School of Faribault, Minnesota (founded in 1858).  The new seminary endeavored to hold in tension the "High Church" and "Low Church" identities of its predecessors. However, for most of its history, SWTS occupied a place within Anglican churchmanship akin to that of the General Theological Seminary in New York: a liturgical bent toward Anglo-Catholic practices and an acceptance of modern theology and social tolerance.

In the fall of 2008, the seminary stopped accepting seminarians for the traditional Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree. In 2009, Seabury's Evanston property was acquired by Northwestern University, with Seabury allowed continuing use of it for five years. In January 2012, Seabury formally left the Evanston site, functionally ending its presence as a residential seminary, and its former buildings are now used by Northwestern University. The seminary moved its offices to the national headquarters of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), near O'Hare Airport. In March 2012, the boards of Seabury-Western and of Bexley Hall Seminary in Bexley, Ohio, voted to federate. Roger Ferlo was named as the federation's first president.

Inaugurated April 27, 2013, Bexley Seabury seminary initially offered the Master of Divinity degree at the former Bexley Hall campus in Columbus through a partnership with Trinity Lutheran Seminary. From its Chicago campus near O'Hare Airport, the federation offered its Doctor of Ministry degree in Congregational Development and also a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) degree in Preaching, through the Association of Chicago Theological Schools. A Diploma of Anglican Studies was offered in both Columbus and Chicago.

In July 2016, Bexley Seabury consolidated on a single campus location at Chicago Theological Seminary in Chicago's Hyde Park/Woodlawn district. There, it offers the Master of Divinity degree and two Doctor of Ministry degrees (in Preaching, through the Association of Chicago Theological Schools) as well as the Diploma in Anglican Studies and continuing education and lifelong learning courses.

See also
A. K. M. Adam (b. 1957), professor
Edith Bideau (1888–1958), director of music
Mark Bourlakas, alumnus
James Lloyd Breck (1818–1876), founder of the school
Albert W. Hillestad, alumnus, Bishop of Springfield
Frederick W. Keator (1855–1924), alumnus, first Bishop of Olympia
Leonel Mitchell, professor and lecturer in Liturgics and Church History (1978–2005), professor emeritus until his death in 2012
Robert S. Morse, alumnus
Mark Sisk (b. 1942), president and dean, 1984–1998
Richard Thieme (b. 1944), alumnus
Charles Vaché (1926–2009), alumnus, Bishop of Southern Virginia
Alan Watts (1915–1973), alumnus
O'Kelley Whitaker, alumnus
John Albert Williams, alumnus
Robert M. Wolterstorff (1914–2007), alumnus, first Bishop of San Diego

References

External links

Anglican seminaries and theological colleges
Seminaries and theological colleges in Illinois
Episcopal Church (United States)
Episcopal Church in Illinois
Education in Evanston, Illinois
Educational institutions established in 1933
Universities and colleges in Cook County, Illinois
1933 establishments in Illinois

Seabury-Western Theological Seminary


Minage is a tribute album by Spanish recording artist Mónica Naranjo. The album was released on 16 March 2000 by Sony Music. Months later, a special edition was released with the Spanish versions of the two English language songs in the album, "Enamorada" and "If You Leave Me Now". The Spanish version of "If You Leave Me Now" was called "Seguiré sin ti". It achieved platinum status in Spain the day it was released. Minage is a tribute album to Italian singer Mina. All of the songs are Spanish covers of her songs, except "Enamorada" and "If You Leave Me Now" alongside a duet with Mina, Naranjo promoted the album through the Minage Tour and television appearances.

Track listing

Certifications

References

2000 albums
Mónica Naranjo albums
Albums produced by Brian Rawling
Tribute albums

Minage


The Pleasanton Public Library serves the city of Pleasanton in Alameda County, California. The library is located near downtown Pleasanton at 400 Old Bernal Avenue.

The Pleasanton Women's Improvement Club was formed in 1908 to improve the community of Pleasanton, an agricultural town located in the "Tri-Valley" area east of San Francisco.  Their first project was to establish a reading room.  With $1,100 they raised at an "Old Maid's Convention" and other fundraisers, they purchased a site to house the Reading Room.  In 1909, it was opened to the public.  Books were donated and a librarian was hired for $10 per month.  Honored guests for the formal opening were Mrs. Phoebe Apperson Hearst and her guest, the Consul of Persia.  After Pleasanton's first city hall (now the Museum on Main Street) was built in 1915, the city leased a portion of it to the club for $1 per year to house the library and reading room.

The library has grown to keep pace with Pleasanton as it changed from an agricultural town to a suburban residential community and one of the modern business centers of the East Bay area.  In 1964, the library became a full member of the Alameda County Library system.  In 1973, the need for growth led the library to a new  facility on Black Avenue, with approximately 35,000 books.  In 1987, the city recognized the need for an even larger library and began construction on the current  facility, which opened in 1988.

In 1999, in response to significant funding losses to the Alameda County Library system generated by California's "Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund", the City of Pleasanton withdrew from the system to become a municipal library.  Since that time, use of the library has more than doubled, with more than 1.1 million items checked out in calendar year 2005.

Management
The Pleasanton Library Commission gather every first Thursday of the month at 7:00pm and advises the Pleasanton City Council and the Pleasanton City Manager by reviewing and providing input on policies related to library services. The director of the City of Pleasanton Library and Recreation Department is Heidi Murphy.

References

External links
 Official website of the Pleasanton Public Library

Public libraries in California
Pleasanton, California
Link+ libraries
Libraries in Alameda County, California
Libraries established in 1909
Library buildings completed in 1988
1909 establishments in California

Pleasanton Public Library


Paolo Antonio Foscarini (c. 1565 – 10 June 1616) was a Carmelite father and scientist, whose book on the mobility of the earth was condemned by the Roman Inquisition in 1616 along with the writings of Copernicus.
Paolo Foscarini was born in Montalto in Calabria, with the family name Scarini.
He studied in Naples at the convent of the Carmine Maggiore and was professor of theology in Messina, where he also taught philosophy. He was appointed prior of the convent of Tropea, vicar provincial of the Order in Naples and from 1608 Father Provincial of Calabria. He died at a Carmelite convent he had founded in Montalto.

Works

He published a devotional book, "Meditations, preces, and Daily Exercises", in 1611. In 1613 he published a 7-volume encyclopedia of the liberal arts, physics and metaphysics.

But his attempt to publish in 1615 a "Letter of opinion over the Pythagorean and Copernican opinion concerning the mobility of the earth and the stability of the sun" was more contentious. The letter was addressed to the General of the Carmelites, Sebastiano Fantini. In it he addresses the common scriptural objections to the Copernican system.

This reached Galileo when his own "Letter to Castelli" was being considered by the Inquisition. But Cardinal Bellarmine responded to Foscarini saying that both men should confine themselves to treating the Copernican system as pure hypothesis and that purported reconciliations with the Bible were not allowed. Subsequently, the book was banned, unlike the others which were only censored.

An English translation by Thomas Salusbury was published in 1661.

Epistle concerning the mobility of the earth
Foscarini starts by observing:
"Because the common system of the world devised by Ptolemy has hitherto satisfied none of the learned, hereupon a suspicion is risen up amongst all, even Ptolemy's followers themselves, that there must be some other system which is more true than this of Ptolemy...The telescope (an optick invention) has been found out, by help of which many remarkable things in the heavens...were discovered...By this same instrument it appears very probable that Venus and Mercury do not move properly about the Earth, but rather about the sun; and that the Moon alone moveth about the earth.
"Now can there a better or more commodious hypothesis be devised than this of Copernicus? For this cause many modern authors are induced to approve of, and follow it: but with much hesitancy and fear, in regard that it seemeth in their opinion so to contradict the Holy scriptures, as that it cannot possibly be reconciled to them. Which is the reason that this opinion has been long suppressed and is now entertained by men in a modest manner, and as it were with a veiled face."

He identifies 6 classes of statements in the Bible that are taken to oppose the movement of the world:
the Earth stands still, and does not move
the sun moves and rotates about the earth
Heaven is above, and the Earth beneath
Hell is in the Centre of the World
Heaven is always opposed to the Earth
the sun, after the day of Judgment shall stand immoveable in the East, and the Moon in the West (derived from scholastic opinion)

He resolves these in turn mainly by the use of metaphor and the common way of speaking.

References

1565 births
1616 deaths
17th-century Italian writers
17th-century Italian male writers
17th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests

Paolo Antonio Foscarini


Cook Terrace is a heritage-listed terrace house at 249 Coronation Drive, Milton, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1888 to . It is also known as Gloralgar Flats and Milton Terrace. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.

History
This building was constructed as a two-storeyed brick row of six houses in 1888–1889 by Brisbane builder Joseph Blain Cook.

In September 1888 Cook had acquired from squatter John Frederick McDougall the title to subdivisions 1 to 6 of the Milton House estate, a section of prime real estate along the Milton Reach of the Brisbane River. He raised a mortgage of  on the property to finance construction of the terrace. The first house was erected in late 1888, and the remainder of the row was completed in 1889. The architect is unknown.

The terrace was built as a rental property, the Queensland Undue Subdivision of Land Prevention Act of 1885 prohibiting the granting of titles to individual terrace houses. The enterprise reflected the economic optimism of the late 1880s, but within two years of construction Cook was declared insolvent and the terrace passed to his mortgagees.

By 1895 the row was known as Milton Terrace, and with its river views and breezes and proximity to the centre of town, it remained one of Brisbane's more prestigious rental addresses until well into the twentieth century, attracting mainly professional and white-collar tenants.

The house adjacent to Park Road was occupied by the Rourke family from about 1895 to 1905. They owned the terrace at that period and it is likely they were responsible for adding a southwestern verandah and dome room.

By 1920 each house had been subdivided into at least two flats, and builder Simon Smith, who acquired the property in 1923, may have been responsible for removing the front parapet and installing dormer windows.

By 1928 a tennis court had been established in the southwestern yard. This is no longer extant.

In the thirties the name Milton Terrace was lost, and by the end of the decade the houses were known collectively as Gloralgar Flats.

During the Second World War the flats are believed to have been rented by army authorities for officer accommodation.

In the postwar period the verandahs were enclosed and the six houses were converted into twenty-seven flats, which were considered something of a bohemian retreat. Despite its decline, the building remained a visual landmark along Coronation Drive, and in 1984 it was refurbished and recycled as offices and a restaurant.

Description

Cook Terrace consists of six two-storeyed rendered brick houses, each with an attic and sub-floor.

The attics are contained within a corrugated iron mansard roof, which is divided by continuations of the party walls, which also separate the front and back verandahs.

Each attic is lit by a single dormer at the rear and a pair at the front. The latter appear to have been added at a later date, and a high front parapet of repeating circles, which partly obscured the roof, probably was removed at the same time.

Each house also has two double chimneys rising above the western dividing walls.

The front elevation is unified by supporting timber posts and capitals with cast-iron valances, brackets and balustrading, much of which has been replaced but not to the original pattern, along ground and first floors. The first floor verandahs are roofed with convex iron and overhang slightly those of the ground floor, and were glazed in 1984. A rendered front wall and stepped approaches separate the terrace from the street pavement.

Each house is constructed to an identical floor plan. On the ground floor an entrance to the side leads to the hallway from which two rooms open - originally drawing and dining rooms. These are divided by folding cedar doors, with a bay window which overlooks the river from the front room. At the far end of the hallway a cedar staircase leads to the first floor and attic.

On the first floor a broad arch separates the two main rooms, which were intended probably as bedroom and sitting room. Two sets of French doors open onto the front verandah from the main room and a smaller adjacent room, which likely was the dressing room, to its right. The rear room is lit by a triple window.

The attic also is divided into a front and back room, but the partitioning is plasterboard and no evidence of any original division is visible.

Interior finishes to each house include cedar joinery, plastered walls, marble fireplace surrounds in the ground floor rooms and tessellated entrance tiles.

Air-conditioning, sound-proofing, electronic security systems and signage, were introduced during the 1980s renovation.

Each house has a detached timber two-storeyed service wing, accessed from the rear verandah. Externally they remain substantially intact, but have been gutted. Glazed terracotta paving tiles, bearing the name "J Petrie" (most likely a reference to John Petrie) on the reverse, line the courtyards between the kitchen houses.

Around the turn of the century the western house was remodelled to include: a verandah extension with decorative timber elements of the Federation period along the side wall; a "dome room" rear addition which features a high coffered ceiling with arched timber ribs,  tongue-and-groove lining boards, chair rail, and fireplace with its original picture tiles; and pressed metal ceilings and ornamental pillars with capitals in the archway of the two ground floor rooms.

Cook Terrace is situated on one of the busiest arterial roads linking the western suburbs with the centre of the city. The river view remains undisturbed, and the mature fig tree in the grounds at the corner of Park Road and Coronation Drive contributes to the nineteenth century ambience.

Heritage listing
Cook Terrace was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.

The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history.

Completed in 1889, Cook Terrace provides evidence of the 1880s boom era confidence in Brisbane.

The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage.

Cook Terrace is substantially intact, including attached timber service wings which are rare, and survives as one of few nineteenth century terraces in Brisbane.

The continuation of the masonry party walls above the roof line, is an uncommon type of construction in attached row housing in Brisbane.

The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.

Cook Terrace is substantially intact, including attached timber service wings which are rare, and survives as one of few nineteenth century terraces in Brisbane.

The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.

Cook Terrace is prominently located fronting Coronation Drive, and contributes to the Coronation Drive riverscape and streetscape.

The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.

Cook Terrace is a local landmark and has a strong association for the people of Brisbane with Milton history, both 19th century and more recent 20th century, particularly when Cook Terrace was converted to flats and attracted a student clientele in the 1960s and 1970s.

References

Attribution

External links

Queensland Heritage Register
Heritage of Brisbane
Milton, Queensland
Houses in Queensland
Articles incorporating text from the Queensland Heritage Register
Residential buildings completed in 1889
Coronation Drive

Cook Terrace


Battle of Schuinshoogte, also known as Battle of Ingogo, was fought north of Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, on 8 February 1881 during the First Boer War. General Sir George Pomeroy Colley's communications with Newcastle were under constant harassment by mounted Boer patrols under Commander J D Weilbach after the Battle of Laing's Nek (another British defeat) and as a result he planned to clear a path along the Newcastle-Mount Prospect road to better protect the British supply line, and receive fresh reinforcements he needed to bolster his ranks.

The Battle
At roughly 9:00am he left the Mount Prospect camp with a force consisting mostly of infantrymen. A company of the 60th Rifles (King's Royal Rifle Corps) and two artillery pieces were left at a ridge overlooking the Ingogo River, while a handful of mounted men and infantry covered the drift.

As Colley advanced up the slope of the Ingogo he received word from his scouting party that a mainly mounted Boer force under Gen. Nicolaas Smit and Comdt. J D Weilbach was approaching nearby. The British formed circular/squared defensive positions on the crest of the ridge with 240 infantry, 38 cavalry and two pieces of artillery while the roughly 300 Boers attempted to surround them and cut them off from escape.

From noon until about 5:00 that evening a series of close range engagements was fought and the British suffered heavily from the accurate and concentrated Boer fire. Although the 60th Rifles wore dark green (in fact, almost black) uniforms, these were still in contrast to the light-coloured South African veldt, the only concession to camouflage being the white foreign service helmet stained khaki with tea. The gunners and mounted troops also wore dark uniforms, but the gunners in particular were exposed when working their guns. In contrast the Boers wore khaki coloured clothing, and were also expert at fieldcraft, thus being able to blend into the environment.

Afterward heavy rain began to fall and the battle came to an abrupt end. Rainfall swelled the Ingogo river, making it very difficult to ford. Boer forces, imagining that the British would be unable to cross, especially with artillery, waited during the night to resume the battle the next day. Colley's men, meanwhile, made a desperate night march, and managed to escape, horses, guns and all, although several men drowned in the river crossing. The Boer failure to assault and capture the guns during the rainstorm, allowing the British column to escape, probably represents their only major error during the war.

Aftermath
It has been speculated had Colley received his reinforcements before the onslaught of the rain, he would probably have been able to defeat the Boers for the first time and give the British better bargaining power during the peace negotiations.

When the British returned with a burial party the next day, they found the Boers had returned to take care of their own dead and wounded. No engagement occurred. The eight Boer dead were buried on the farm "Geelhoutboom" some 5 km west of the battle site. The British lost seven officers and 69 men killed and 68 wounded. The men were buried on the battlefield while the officers' bodies were exhumed four days later and taken to Fort Amiel for reburial.

Colley was plagued by defeat throughout the war, and although he would receive his reinforcements, his men were seriously demoralized by the string of defeats.  Eventually he would be killed in action at the Battle of Majuba Hill.

References

Further reading

 Laband, John. The Transvaal Rebellion. Routledge: London, United Kingdom, 2005.

External links
The South African Military History Society: The Battle of Schuinshoogte

Schuinshoogte
Schuinshoogte
1881 in the Colony of Natal
February 1881 events

Battle of Schuinshoogte