John M. Systermans (died May 28, 1989) was born Jean-Marie Systermans, but was better known as Father Henry Systermans or Pater Henri Systermans. He was a 20th-century Belgian-born missionary and priest with the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
He served for most of his life in Hawaii most notably during the 1950s at the leper colony at Kalaupapa on Molokai. His service there followed in the tradition of fellow Belgian priest, Saint Damien, and his contributions were part of the research gathered by Gavan Daws for the definitive biography Holy Man: Father Damien of Molokai.

On August 9, 1958, he was elected as the seventh Superior General of the order.
He served as a Council Father in all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965.
On April 17, 1967, Systermans was part of a delegation meeting Pope Paul VI to present petitions advocating beatification of Father Damien.
He retired in 1970, and died on May 28, 1989.

References

20th-century Belgian Roman Catholic priests
Belgian emigrants to the United States
Hawaii Catholic priests
Belgian humanitarians
Belgian Roman Catholic missionaries
Leprosy nurses and caregivers
Roman Catholic missionaries in Hawaii
1989 deaths
Year of birth missing
Roman Catholic medical missionaries

John M. Systermans


A foam is a substance that is formed by trapping gas in bubbles.  Gas is present in large amounts so it will be divided in gas bubbles separated by liquid regions which may form films, thinner and thinner when the liquid phase is drained out of the system. When the scale is small, e.g. for fine foam, this dispersed medium can be considered as a type of colloid.

References

Mechanics
Materials science

Foam


The Rats is a survival horror text adventure for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum computers. It is based on the 1974  novel  The Rats by James Herbert. The game was programmed by GXT (Five Ways Software), and published by Hodder & Stoughton, who were the publishers of James Herbert's book The Rats. An Amstrad CPC version was planned, but was never released.

Gameplay
The game is  a simulation that allows the player to strategically send emergency forces (rat exterminators, police men, fire men and eventually army troops) to areas where the rat threat has spread and provide them with equipment. Also the player can get ten available researchers to develop addition weapons, defences and super weapons to keep the rats at bay and to provide useful information to progress in the game. Should the rat threat reach beyond the London limits, the Research centre, the Government centre or Harris' apartment or if all emergency forces are lost, the game is over.

In between the simulation gameplay, the game suddenly switches to the role of a playable character in a randomly chosen text adventure scenario. The player has to select one or more verbal options to perform actions to allow the character to survive against the rat threat and avoid getting killed. While it is not crucial to keep the characters alive, saving them grants the player additional reinforcements and research to aid against the rat threat. However, if one of the main characters Harris, Howard or Foskins dies, the game is over.

Reception

The ZX Spectrum version of The Rats was well-received on release in 1985, gaining a 5-star rating in Sinclair User, a 4-star rating in Popular Computing Weekly, and a 5-star rating in ZX Computing. Crash awarded it 70% in its "Frontline" strategy section, giving the gameplay element 90% but marking the game down over issues to do with the loading sequence.  It awarded it 7/10 in its "Adventure Trail" section of the same issue, again marking the game down for its loading sequence, but unlike the review in the strategy section, also for the gameplay.

The Commodore 64 version had mixed reviews, with a 79% in Zzap!64, 6/10 in Computer and Video Games, and 13/20 in Computer Gamer. Eurogamer published a retro game review on the C64 version in 2007, giving it 9/10.

In Video Games Around the World, The Rats is described as one of the first horror games, being games that seek to frighten players.

References

External links

The Rats at Spectrum Computing
The Rats manual
"Doomtown Rats" feature in Your Spectrum, November 1985
Rats! article in ACE, February 1991

1985 video games
Adventure games
Commodore 64 games
Government simulation video games
Survival video games
Video games about mice and rats
Video games based on novels
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
Video games set in London
ZX Spectrum games

The Rats (video game)


The Putnam House is a colonial home at 211 Putnam Hill Road, Sutton, Massachusetts built in 1737.

History
The two-story, wood-frame, post-and-beam house sits on top of Putnam Hill.  It was built by Edward Putnam (1710-1800) who came to Sutton in 1737 and established a 100-acre farm there.  Edward Putnam was a first cousin of Rufus Putnam and a first cousin once removed of Israel Putnam, both of whom were generals in the American Revolutionary War.

The house has a large central chimney, and a triple-run staircase which circumscribes the oven and chimney.  The house has five fireplaces, five windows in each room, and five trees planted in front of the house to break westerly winds.  The farm's large barn is close to the house and situated to break northeasterly winds.

What is now the breakfast room was previously known as the death room.  After a family member's death, caskets were brought through the door of this room because the design of the house made it almost impossible to navigate caskets through the front door.

Edward and Ruth Putnam had 12 children, all but one of whom were born in the house.  The home remained in the Putnam family for the next 200 years.  The current owners are operating the house as a historic B&B.

References

External links
 Putnam House Official Site

Houses in Worcester County, Massachusetts
Sutton, Massachusetts

Edward Putnam House


Khajuu-Ulaan (, also Hadju-Ulan, Hadzhu-Ulan) is urban-type settlement in Ikhkhet sum (district) of Dornogovi Province in south-eastern Mongolia. Khajuu-Ulaan is located 53 km SE from Darkhan sum center and 43 km NE of Bor-Öndör city of Khentii Province, 26 km NW from the Ikhkhet sum center and 79 km NE from Airag sum center of  Dornogovi Province.

In Khajuu-Ulaan is the fluorspar open pit mine, fluorspar is transported to the Bor-Öndör processing plant.

Mining communities in Mongolia

Khajuu-Ulaan


Quercus robur, the pedunculate oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe and western Asia, and is widely cultivated in other temperate regions. It grows on soils of near neutral acidity in the lowlands and is notable for its value to natural ecosystems, supporting a very wide diversity of herbivorous insects and other pests, predators and pathogens.

Description

Quercus robur is a deciduous tree up to 40 m tall, with a single stout trunk that can be as much as 11 m in girth (circumference at breast height) or even 14 m in pollarded specimens. Older trees tend to be pollarded, with boles (the main trunk) 2-3 m long. These live longer and become more stout than unpollarded trees. The crown is spreading and unevenly domed, and trees often have massive lower branches. The bark is greyish-brown and closely grooved, with vertical plates. There are often large burrs on the trunk, which typically produce many small shoots. Oaks do not produce suckers but do recover well from pruning or lightning damage. The twigs are hairless and the buds are rounded (ovoid), brownish and pointed.

The leaves are arranged alternately along the twigs and are broadly oblong or ovate, 10-12 cm long by 7-8 cm wide, with a short (typically 2-3 mm) petiole. They have a cordate (auricled) base and 3-6 rounded lobes, divided no further than half way to the midrib. The leaves are usually glabrous or have just a few simple hairs on the lower surface. They are dark green above, paler below, and are often covered in small disks of spangle gall by autumn.

Flowering takes place in spring (early May in England). It is wind-pollinated. The male flowers occur in narrow catkins some 2-4 cm long and arranged in small bunches; the female flowers are small, brown with dark red stigmas, about 2 mm in diameter and are found at the tips of new shoots on peduncles 2-5 cm long.

The fruits (acorns) are borne in clusters of 2-3 on a long peduncle (stalk) 4-8 cm long. Each acorn is 1.5-4 cm long, ovoid with a pointed tip, starting out whitish-green and becoming brown, then black. As with all oaks, the acorns are carried in a shallow cup which can be distinctive in identifying the species. It is an "alternate bearing" species, which means that big crops of acorns are produced every other year.

Taxonomy
Quercus robur (from the Latin quercus, "oak" + robur "hardwood, oak wood,  oak") was named by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum (vol. 2, p.996) in 1753. It is the type species of the genus and classified in the white oak section (Quercus section Quercus).

It has numerous common names, including "common oak", "European oak" and "English oak". In French, it is called "chêne pédoncule."

The genome of Q. robur has been completely sequenced (GenOak project); a first version was published in 2016. It comprises 12 chromosome pairs (2n = 24), about  genes and 750 million bp.

There are many synonyms, and numerous varieties and subspecies have been named. The populations in Italy, southeast Europe, and Asia Minor and the Caucasus are sometimes treated as separate species, Q. brutia Tenore, Q. pedunculiflora K. Koch and Q. haas Kotschy respectively.

Quercus × rosacea Bechst. (Q. petraea x Q. robur) is the only naturally-occurring hybrid, but the following crosses with other white oak species have been produced in cultivation:
 Q. × bimundorum (Q. alba × Q. robur) (two worlds oak)
 Q. × macdanielli (Q. macrocarpa × Q. robur) (heritage oak)
 Q. × turneri Willd. (Q. ilex × Q. robur) (Turner's oak)
 Q. × warei (Q. robur fastigiata x Q. bicolor).

There are numerous cultivars available, among which the following are commonly grown:
 'Fastigiata', cypress oak, is a large imposing tree with a narrow columnar habit.
 'Concordia', golden oak, is a small, very slow-growing tree, eventually reaching , with bright golden-yellow leaves throughout spring and summer.  It was originally raised in Van Geert's nursery at Ghent in 1843.
 'Pendula', weeping oak, is a small to medium-sized tree with pendulous branches, reaching up to 15 m.
 'Purpurea' is another small form, growing to 10 m, with purple leaves.
 'Pectinata' (syn. 'Filicifolia'), cut-leaved oak, is a cultivar where the leaf is pinnately divided into fine, forward-pointing segments.

Identification
The species most likely to be confused with it is sessile oak, which shares much of its range. Quercus robur is distinguished from Q. petraea by its leaves having auricles at the base, the very short petiole, its clusters of acorns being borne on a long peduncle, and the lack of stellate hairs on the underside of the leaf. The two often hybridise in the wild, the hybrid being Quercus × rosacea.

Turkey oak is also sometimes confused with it, but that species has "whiskers" on the winter buds and deeper lobes on the leaves (often more than half way to the midrib). The acorn cups are also very different.

Habitat and ecology

Pedunculate oak is a long-lived tree of high-canopy woodland, coppice and wood-pasture, and it is commonly planted in hedges. When compared to sessile oak, it is more abundant in the lowlands of the south and east in Britain, and it occurs on more neutral (less acid) soils. It is rare on thin, well-drained calcareous (chalk and limestone) soil. Sometimes it is found on the margins of swamps, rivers and ponds, showing that it is fairly tolerant of intermittent flooding. Its Ellenberg values in Britain are L = 7, F = 5, R = 5, N = 4, and S = 0.

Within its native range, Q. robur is valued for its importance to insects and other wildlife, supporting the highest biodiversity of insect herbivores of any British plant (at least 400 species). The most well-known of these are the ones that form galls, which number about 35. In Britain, the knopper gall is very common, and Andricus grossulariae produces somewhat similar spiky galls on the acorn cups. Also common in Britain are two types of spherical galls on the twigs: the oak marble gall and the cola nut gall. The latter are smaller and rougher than the former. A single, large exit hole indicates that the wasp inside has escaped, whereas a number of smaller holes shows that it was parasitised by another insect, and these emerged instead. The undersides of oak leaves are often covered in spangle galls, which persist after the leaves fall.

One of the most distinctive galls is the oak apple, a 4.5 cm diameter spongy ball created from the buds by the wasp Biorhiza pallida. The pineapple gall, while less common, is also easily recognised.

The quantity of caterpillar species on an oak tree increases with the age of the tree, with blue tits and great tits timing their egg hatching to the leaves opening. The most common caterpillar species include the winter moth, the green tortrix and the mottled umber, all of which can become extremely abundant on the first flush of leaves in May, but the oak trees do recover their foliage later in the year.

The acorns are typically produced in large quantities every other year (unlike Q. petraea, which produces large crops only every 4-10 years) and form a valuable food resource for several small mammals and some birds, notably Eurasian jays Garrulus glandarius. Jays were overwhelmingly the primary propagators of oaks before humans began planting them commercially (and still remain the principal propagators for wild oaks), because of their habit of taking acorns from the umbra of its parent tree and burying them undamaged elsewhere.

Chemistry
Grandinin/roburin E, castalagin/vescalagin, gallic acid, monogalloyl glucose (glucogallin) and valoneic acid dilactone, monogalloyl glucose, digalloyl glucose, trigalloyl glucose, rhamnose, quercitrin and ellagic acid are phenolic compounds found in Q. robur. The heartwood contains triterpene saponins.

Diseases
 Acute oak decline
 Powdery mildew caused by Erysiphe alphitoides
 Sudden oak death

Notable trees

It is often claimed that England has more ancient oaks than the rest of Europe combined. This is based on research by Aljos Farjon at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, who found that there were 115 oaks (of both species) in England with a circumference of 9 m or more, compared with just 96 in Europe. This is attributed to the persistence of mediaeval deer parks in the landscape. The Majesty Oak, with a circumference of , is the thickest such tree in Great Britain. The Brureika (Bridal Oak) in Norway with a circumference of  (in 2018) and the Kaive Oak in Latvia with a circumference of  are among the thickest trees in Northern Europe. The largest historical oak was known as the Imperial Oak from Bosnia and Herzegovina. This specimen was recorded at 17.5 m in circumference at breast height and estimated at over 150 m³ in total volume. It collapsed in 1998.

Two individuals of notable longevity are the Stelmužė Oak in Lithuania and the Granit Oak in Bulgaria, which are believed to be more than 1500 years old, possibly making them the oldest oaks in Europe; another specimen, called the 'Kongeegen' ('Kings Oak'), estimated to be about 1,200 years old, grows in Jaegerspris, Denmark. Yet another can be found in Kvilleken, Sweden, that is over 1000 years old and  around. Of maiden (not pollarded) specimens, one of the oldest is the great oak of Ivenack, Germany. Tree-ring research of this tree and other oaks nearby gives an estimated age of 700 to 800 years. Also the Bowthorpe Oak in Lincolnshire, England is estimated to be 1,000 years old, making it the oldest in the UK, although there is Knightwood Oak in the New Forest that is also said to be as old. The highest density of Q. robur with a circumference of  and more is in Latvia.

In Ireland, at Birr Castle, a specimen over 400 years old has a girth of , known as the Carroll Oak.

In the Basque Country (Spain and France), the 'tree of Gernika' is an ancient oak tree located in Gernika, under which the Lehendakari (Basque prime minister) swears his oath of office.

The largest example in Australia is in Donnybrook, Western Australia.

Commercial forestry

Quercus robur is planted for forestry, and produces a long-lasting and durable heartwood, much in demand for interior and furniture work. The wood of Q. robur is identified by a close examination of a cross-section perpendicular to fibres. The wood is characterised by its distinct (often wide) dark and light brown growth rings. The earlywood displays a vast number of large vessels (around  in diameter). There are rays of thin (about ) yellow or light brown lines running across the growth rings. The timber is around  per cubic meter in density.

In culture
In the Scandinavian countries, oaks were considered the "thunderstorm trees", representing Thor, the god of thunder. A Finnish myth is that the World tree, a great oak which grew to block the movement of the sky, sunlight and moonlight, had to be felled, releasing its magic, thus creating the Milky Way. The oak tree also had a symbolic value in France. Some oaks were considered sacred by the Gauls; druids would cut down the mistletoe growing on them. Even after Christianization, oak trees were considered to protect as lightning would strike them rather than on nearby inhabitation. Such struck trees would often be turned into places of worship, like the Chêne chapelle.

In 1746, all oak trees in Finland were legally classified as royal property, and oaks had enjoyed legal protection already from the 17th century. The oak is also the regional tree of the Southwest Finland region.

During the French Revolution, oaks were often planted as trees of freedom. One such tree, planted during the 1848 Revolution, survived the destruction of Oradour-sur-Glane by the Nazis. After the announcement of General Charles de Gaulle's death, caricaturist Jacques Faizant represented him as a fallen oak.

In Germany, the oak tree can be found in several paintings of Caspar David Friedrich and in "Of the life of a Good-For-Nothing" written by Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff as a symbol of the state protecting every citizen.

In Serbia the oak is a national symbol, having been part of the historical coat of arms of the Socialist Republic of Serbia, the historical coat of arms and flags of the Principality of Serbia, as well as the current traditional coat of arms and flag of Vojvodina.

In England, the oak has assumed the status of a national emblem. This has its origins in the oak tree at Boscobel House, where the future King Charles II hid from his Parliamentarian pursuers in 1650 during the English Civil War; the tree has since been known as the Royal Oak. This event was celebrated nationally on 29 May as Oak Apple Day, which is continued to this day in some communities.

Many place names in England include a reference to this tree, including Oakley, Occold and Eyke. Copdock, in Suffolk, probably derives from a pollarded oak ("copped oak"). 'The Royal Oak' is the third most popular pub name in Britain (with 541 counted in 2007) and HMS Royal Oak has been the name of eight major Royal Navy warships. The naval associations are strengthened by the fact that oak was the main construction material for sailing warships. The Royal Navy was often described as "The Wooden Walls of Old England" (a paraphrase of the Delphic Oracle) and the Navy's official quick march is "Heart of Oak". In folklore, the Major Oak is where Robin Hood is purportedly to have taken shelter.

Oak leaves (not necessarily of this species) have been depicted on the Croatian 5 lipa coin; on old German Deutsche Mark currency (1 through 10 Pfennigs; the 50 Pfennigs coin showed a woman planting an oak seedling), and now on German-issued euro currency coins (1 through 5 cents); and on British pound coins (1987 and 1992 issues).

See also

 Femeiche

References

 Flora Europaea: Quercus robur
 Bean, W. J. (1976). Trees and shrubs hardy in the British Isles 8th ed., revised. John Murray.
 Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. HarperCollins .
  Chênes: Quercus robur

External links

 Oaks from Bialowieza Forest in Poland (biggest oak cluster with the monumental sizes in Europe) {English}
 Monumental Trees, Photos and location details of large English oak trees
 Latvia - the land of oaks
 Quercus robur - information, genetic conservation units and related resources. European Forest Genetic Resources Programme (EUFORGEN)

robur
Trees of Asia
Trees of Europe
Trees of humid continental climate
Trees of mild maritime climate
Least concern plants
Least concern biota of Europe
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Garden plants of Europe
Ornamental trees

Quercus robur


John Milton Cage, Jr. usually known as just John Cage, (September 5, 1912 - August 12, 1992) was an American composer, writer, philosopher, and visual artist. He was one of the first composers (or musicians) to introduce different styles of music to popular culture. He made mostly avant-garde music and electronic music, and was very well known for making the piece 4'33", which challenged what music is. He also wrote music for pianos that had been "prepared" by having screws and nails placed in them. He was gay. His life partner from 1943 until his death was choreographer Merce Cunningham (1919-2009). Cage died of a stroke in New York City.

4'33"
This piece is in 3 movements (sections), and is special in that all of the movements are silent, the score having the Latin word for silence three times (tacit, tacit, tacit). Some people think that it is just a joke because of this, as there is nothing to listen to. It was written in 1952, and is 4 minutes and thirty three seconds long. Cage got the idea from being in a soundless chamber, but realising that even here there was no true silence because he could hear his heart beating.

References

Other websites
 John Cage's former record label
 John Cage's "Water Walk" video

1912 births
1992 deaths
20th-century American composers
LGBT artists
LGBT composers
LGBT people from Los Angeles
American LGBT writers
Musical entertainers from Los Angeles
Writers from Los Angeles

John Cage


The Fatherland League () was a Dutch liberal / reactionary political party founded in 1924.

The party was founded on November 15, 1924, by members of various (conservative) liberal groups, by initiative of J.A.A.H. de Beaufort and R.A. Fockema. Its initial members were industrialist, lawyers, civil servants, and politicians, like Samuel van Houten.

After the party obtained a disastrous result in the 1925 Dutch elections, the League started negotiations with the Verbond van Actualisten, a fascist party. Most of the liberals would have left the party by 1926 though.

On June 12, 1926, the party would be reinstituted as The Fatherland League, when the last remaining members of the Fatherland League merged with the faction de Jong of the Verbond van Actualisten.

Defunct political parties in the Netherlands

Fatherland League (Netherlands)


Henry Parker Sartwell (April 18, 1792 – November 15, 1867) was an American botanist.

Biography
Sartwell was a physician-botanist for whom was named the plant-genus Sartwellia, was born at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, April 18, 1792, and died November 15, 1867, at Penn Yan, New York. He began the practice of medicine early in life, and was a surgeon in the United States army in the War of 1812. He afterward made his home in Ontario County, New York, and about 1830 settled at Penn Yan, in an adjoining county, where he continued his medical practice for the remainder of his life. He devoted much of his time for many years to the study of botany, and particularly to the large and difficult genus Carex. He issued sets of these plants, under the title "Carices Americae Septentrionalis exsiccatae," of which the first part appeared in 1848 and the second in 1850; the third part was in course of preparation at the time of his death, but was never published. Dr. Sartwell was also the author of a "Catalogue of plants growing without cultivation in the vicinity of Seneca and Crooked lakes, in western New York" published in 1845 in the fifty-eighth annual report of the Regents of the University of New York.

In 1864, Hamilton College conferred upon him the degree of Ph.D.; and at about the same time he sold to that institution his very extensive private herbarium, containing not only the results of his own collecting for many years, but numerous specimens secured by exchange with Buckley, Torrey, Barratt, Boott, and other botanists. His most intimate associate in the study of sedges, Professor Chester Dewey, of Rochester, New York, survived him only one month.

Works

 Catalogue of plants, growing without cultivation in the vicinity of Seneca and Crooked lakes, in western New York (1835)
 Carices Americae Septentrionalis exsiccatae (1848 & 1850)
 Catalogue of specimens in the plant collection of Henry Parker Sartwell

References

External links
The Henry Parker Sartwell herbarium of Hamilton College

1792 births
1867 deaths
19th-century American botanists
United States Army Medical Corps officers
United States Army personnel of the War of 1812
People from Pittsfield, Massachusetts

Henry Parker Sartwell


Finding Steve McQueen is a 2019 American heist thriller film directed by Mark Steven Johnson and written by Ken Hixon and Keith Sharon. The film stars Travis Fimmel, Rachael Taylor, Forest Whitaker, and William Fichtner, telling the story of a gang planning to steal millions of dollars from President Nixon's illegal political slush fund. It was released in the United States on March 15, 2019, by Momentum Pictures. The film is based on the United California Bank robbery.

Plot
In 1980, Harry James Barber tells his story about the California bank burglary he committed eight years ago to his girlfriend Molly Murphy, whose relationship is under strain after discovering his secret.

In 1972, Harry lives next to a refurbished theater house in Pennsylvania and is a big fan of actor Steve McQueen. Harry had agreed to the plan led by the handler Enzo Rotella of burglarizing the bank supposedly containing the illegal slush fund of President Richard Nixon. The team is joined by Paul Callahan, Raymond Darrow, and Harry's brother Tommy Barber - a Vietnam War veteran.

The gang travels to California and rents a vacation house not far away from the bank. Harry meets the widow Molly Murphy at a bar, whose husband was killed in a vehicular accident. Harry and Molly happily develop their relationship, but he hides his secret about his scheme from Molly throughout the relationship. At night, the gang disables the alarm system, and enters the bank vault by blowing a hole into the vault roof with dynamite. After three days of burglary, they successfully loot about $9 million overall; however, Harry receives only $10,000, and the rest of the team go their separate ways.
After the burglary, the bank job has become public knowledge and FBI agents Howard Lambert and Sharon Price take the case. After a thorough investigation, they eventually locate the vacation house linked to the job and manage to identify the culprits through fingerprints left on unwashed dishes and utensils. All members of the gang are subsequently arrested by the authorities, except Harry who escapes and goes on the run.

In 1980, Harry tells Molly that he is done running from the law and he had called her father, a sheriff, to arrest him. As they get out from the diner, Howard and the local sheriffs arrive and Harry kisses her goodbye before being brought to the detention. The epilogue states that Harry was sentenced to seven years in prison but is reduced to three years after the letter from the Sheriff was signed by the townspeople to attest to Harry's character.

Cast

Production
Principal photography on the film began in early September 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Scenes were filmed in Dallas, Georgia in early October.

Reception

Box office
Finding Steve McQueen grossed $70 in the United States and Canada and $18,566 in other territories.

Critical reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of  based on  reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads, "Finding Steve McQueens title invites thoughts of old-school action classics, but this energetic heist picture is disappointingly thrill-deficient." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 56 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

2019 crime thriller films
2010s heist films
American crime thriller films
American heist films
American nonlinear narrative films
Films directed by Mark Steven Johnson
Films set in 1972
Films set in 1980
Films set in Youngstown, Ohio
Films set in Orange County, California
Films set in Pennsylvania
Films shot in Atlanta
2019 films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films

Finding Steve McQueen


Law enforcement in Transnistria is administered by the region's own police force (PMR militsiya). Transnistria functions as a presidential republic, with its own government, parliament, military, paramilitary and police (militsiya) force, constitution, currency, postal system and stamps, flag, national anthem, and coat of arms.

International recognition of its sovereignty is limited to Abkhazia and South Ossetia however, and due to the disputed status of Transnistria, it is subject to the security agencies and concerns of other nations, and both Russian and Transnistrian police officers work side by side patrolling the de facto border between Transnistria and Moldova. The PMR Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) is the main governmental body of the law enforcement. Paramilitary security forces such as the Internal Troops reinforce the Militsiya, and act as riot police during internal conflict.

Russian influence
A 2,500-strong Operational Group of Russian Forces (see Russian military presence in Transnistria), as well as over 20,000 tons of Soviet-era weapons and munition (in the Cobasna ammunition depot) are present in Transnistria. Moldova and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) demand their withdrawal. According to a verdict issued by European Court of Human Rights, the presence of these troops is illegal (breaking the 21 July 1992 Transnistria War ceasefire agreement), and Transnistria is "under the effective authority or at least decisive influence of Russia".

While Russian troops from Moldova proper and from the security zone were evacuated to Russia by January 1993, Russia continued to have a significant military presence in Transnistria. On 21 October 1994, Russia and Moldova signed an agreement that committed Russia to withdrawal of the troops in three years, which however did not come into effect because only Moldova ratified it. Moldovan diplomacy took advantage of the negotiations concerning The Adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CAF), and managed to ensure that a special paragraph about the removal of Russian troops from Moldova's territory was introduced into the text of the OSCE Summit Declaration of Istanbul (1999), through which Russia had committed itself to pulling out its troops from Transnistria by the end of 2002.

However, even after 2002, Russia continued to ignore the agreements made with the government in Chisinau and with the international community regarding the removal of its troops from Moldova. President Vladimir Putin eventually signed the Law on the ratification of the Treaty on CAF in Europe on 19 July 2004, which were committing Russia to remove from Moldova the heavy armaments limited by this Treaty by the end of 2001.

During 2000–2001, in order to comply to the CAF Treaty, Moscow withdrew 125 pieces of Treaty Limited Equipment (TLE) and 60 railway wagons containing ammunition from the Transnistrian region of Moldova. In 2002, Russia withdrew only 3 military equipment trains (118 railway wagons) and 2 of ammunition (43 wagons) from the Transnistrian region of Moldova, and in 2003, 11 rail convoys transporting military equipment and 31 transporting ammunitions. According to the OSCE Mission to Moldova, of a total of 42,000 tons of ammunitions stored in Transnistria, 1,153 tons (3%) was transported back to Russia in 2001, 2,405 tons (6%) in 2002 and 16,573 tons (39%) in 2003. Removal of troops has been stalled afterwards.

Andrei Stratan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Moldova stated in his speech during the 12th OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting in Sofia on 6 – 7 December 2004 that "The presence of Russian troops on the territory of the Republic of Moldova is against the political will of Moldovan constitutional authorities and defies the unanimously recognized international norms and principles, being qualified by Moldovan authorities as a foreign military occupation illegally deployed on the territory of the state[…]" Russia continues to 'sustain the Dniestr region as a quasi-independent entity through direct and indirect means'

School dispute

Through the 1990s the Transnistrian police were involved in a conflict over Romanian-language schools in Transnistria. In September 1996, the Grigoriopol administration used Cossacks and police to stop the activity of the local Romanian-language school. On 2 October 1996 three teachers were arrested and taken to Tiraspol. On 7 October 1996, as a result of a demarche by the President of the Republic of Moldova and the OSCE Mission, the teachers were released. In 2004, the Transnistrian authorities closed four of the six schools in the region that taught Moldovan language using the Latin script, known as Romanian. Some of the 3,400 enrolled children were affected by this measure and the teachers and parents who opposed the closures were temporarily arrested for up to six hours.

An OSCE report from June 2005 states: "If they [Moldovan parents in Transnistria] enroll their children in one of this schools that offer a Moldovan curriculum using a Latin script, they risk being threatened by the regional security service, and seeing their jobs put in jeopardy. Sending their children in one of the 33 Transdniestrian schools they teach in their native language in Cyrillic is, however, hardly an appealing alternative, as the schools follow an out-dated curriculum and use textbooks from the Soviet period".

In November 2006, Luis O'Neill, head of OSCE mission to Moldova, has urged local authorities in the Transnistrian city of Rîbnița to return a confiscated building to the Moldovan Latin-script school located in the city. The building was built by the Government from Chișinău and was almost finished in 2004, when Transnistrian police took it by force, during the school crisis.

See also
 Crime in Transnistria

References

Politics of Transnistria
History of Transnistria since 1991
Law enforcement in Moldova
Law of Transnistria

Law enforcement in Transnistria


Fort Douglas was the Selkirk Settlement (Red River Colony) fort and the first fort associated with the Hudson's Bay Company near the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in today's city of Winnipeg. Named for Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, founder of the Selkirk Settlement, the fort was built by Scottish and Irish settlers beginning in 1813. Completed in 1815, it was in the immediate vicinity (down river) of the North West Company establishment, Fort Gibraltar.

After the Battle of Seven Oaks in 1816, during the conflict between the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company, the fort was captured by the Métis and employees of the North West Company.    The fort was soon retaken by Selkirk's men and there was a short period of relative peace. Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk lived at the fort during his visit to the  Selkirk Settlement (Red River Colony) in the summer of 1817.  It was later used as a trading post and was the residence of the Governor of Assiniboia. Following the amalgamation of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and the North West Company (NWC) in 1821, the HBC's operations were relocated to the NWC's Fort Gibraltar, renamed Fort Garry. Fort Douglas remained the residence of the Governor of Assiniboia until it was mostly destroyed in the great Red River flood of 1826. A second flood in 1852 swept away remnants.

Today the site of Fort Douglas is located on Waterfront Drive in downtown Winnipeg, in Fort Douglas Park. As the heart of the Selkirk Settlement and the first significant structure in what is today Winnipeg's historic Exchange District, the site of the fort is the most important historical site in the district. The eminent Canadian historian Professor Chester Martin of the University of Manitoba, in 1924 described the site of Fort Douglas as "perhaps the most historic site in the prairie provinces."

References

Letter from Chester Martin, Department of History, University of Manitoba, to Judge F.W. Howay, 16 April 1924. Library and Archives Canada, RG84, Series A-2-a, Vol. 1389, File HS10-10, Reel T-14155.

External links
 Plan of the Settlement on Red River as it was June 1816
 The Lord Selkirk Settlement at Red River, Part 2

History of Winnipeg
Douglas
Hudson's Bay Company forts
National Historic Sites in Manitoba
North End, Winnipeg

Fort Douglas (Canada)


The Selling Wizard is a 1954 commercial short film presented by Anheuser-Busch that runs for 10 minutes to showcase large modern freezers that make it easier for grocers to sell their goods and make higher profits. It is aimed at businesses that require display freezers for their products. The narrator makes points of the promoted freezer cabinet to utilize efficient design in space saving, modernized refrigeration methods, and attractive presentation of products stored in the freezer. The title comes from a spokeswoman next to the freezer who is dressed as a wizard with a wand and in revealing clothes who does not talk but motions with the narration.

In popular culture
It is satirized on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 as a short paired with the movie The Dead Talk Back.

External links

1954 films
1954 short films
Sponsored films
Anheuser-Busch
American short films

The Selling Wizard


Nordkraft is a cultural centre in the Danish city of Aalborg. Opened in 2009, it is located in a former electricity generating station close to the waterfront in an area designated for cultural development. Neighbouring buildings include the Utzon Center and Musikkens Hus. Nordkraft is home to several cultural institutions including Skråen, a venue for jazz and rock concerts, Teater Nordkraft, the Biffen Art Cinema, the Kunsthal Nord art gallery and Dreamhouse, an innovative creation facility. It also has a multipurpose hall with seating for up to 1,500.

References

Buildings and structures in Aalborg Municipality
Tourist attractions in Aalborg
Cultural centers

Nordkraft (Aalborg)


The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byzantine Empire as the Western-recognized Roman Empire in the east, with a Catholic emperor enthroned in place of the Eastern Orthodox Roman emperors. The main objective of the Latin Empire was planned by Venice, which promoted the creation of this state for their self-benefit.

The Fourth Crusade had originally been called to retake the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, but a sequence of economic and political events culminated in the Crusader army sacking the city of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Originally, the plan had been to restore the deposed Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos, who had been usurped by Alexios III Angelos, to the throne. The crusaders had been promised financial and military aid by Isaac's son Alexios IV, with which they had planned to continue to Jerusalem. When the crusaders reached Constantinople the situation quickly turned volatile and while Isaac and Alexios briefly ruled, the crusaders did not receive the payment they had hoped for. In April 1204, they captured and plundered the city's enormous wealth.

The crusaders selected their own emperor from among their own ranks, Baldwin of Flanders, and divided the territory of the Byzantine Empire into various new vassal crusader states. The Latin Empire's authority was immediately challenged by Byzantine rump states led by the Laskaris family (connected to the Angelos dynasty of 1185–1204) in Nicaea and the Komnenos family (which had ruled as Byzantine Emperors 1081–1185) in Trebizond. From 1224 to 1242 the Komnenos Doukas family, also connected to the Angeloi, challenged Latin authority from Thessalonica. The Latin Empire failed to attain political or economic dominance over the other Latin powers that had been established in former Byzantine territories in the wake of the Fourth Crusade, especially Venice, and after a short initial period of military successes it went into a steady decline due to constant war with Bulgaria to the north and the various Byzantine claimants. Eventually, the Nicene Empire recovered Constantinople and restored the Byzantine Empire under Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1261. The last Latin emperor, Baldwin II, went into exile, but the imperial title survived, with several pretenders to it, until the 14th century.

Like the term "Byzantine Empire", "Latin Empire" was not a contemporary term used by the empire itself or the rest of the world. The Byzantines referred to the Latin Empire as the Frankokratia (,  "rule of the Franks") or the Latinokratia (,  "rule of the Latins") and the Latin Emperors themselves referred to the empire by various names, commonly  ( Empire of Constantinople), but also  ( Empire of Romania) and  ( Empire of the Romans). The term Romania ("Land of the Romans") had been used unofficially by the population of the Byzantine Empire for their country for centuries.

Etymology

Much like the term "Byzantine", which was invented in the 16th century, "Latin Empire" was not a contemporary name used by or for the regime set up by the crusaders of the Fourth Crusade in Constantinople. Instead, both terms were invented much later by historians seeking to differentiate between the classical period of the Roman Empire, the medieval period of the Byzantine Empire, and the late medieval Latin Empire, all of which called themselves "Roman". The term "Latin" has been used by these later historians because the crusaders (Franks, Venetians, and other westerners) were Roman Catholic and used Latin as their liturgical and scholarly language. It is used in contrast to the Eastern Orthodox locals who used Greek in both liturgy and common speech. The Byzantines referred to the Latin Empire as the Frankokratia (Φραγκοκρατία, lit. "rule of the Franks") or the Latinokratia (Λατινοκρατία, lit. "rule of the Latins").

Founding treaties issued by the crusaders specifically refer to the empire as the imperium Constantinopolitanum ("Empire of Constantinople"). Although this is a marked departure from the standard Byzantine nomenclature and ideology (designating the empire as the Basileía Rhōmaíōn, "Empire of the Romans"), imperium Constantinopolitanum was the standard name used for the eastern empire in western sources, such as in papal correspondence, and suggests that the Latin leaders viewed themselves as "taking over" the empire rather than "replacing" it. It would have been difficult for the crusaders to justify referring to the empire as "Roman" considering that Western Europe generally held the Germanic Holy Roman Empire to represent the legitimate Roman Empire.

Nevertheless, the crusaders were well aware of the fact that Constantinople was the capital of the Roman Empire and that the Greek-speaking inhabitants of the empire saw themselves as Romaioi (Romans). The full title actually used by the first Latin Emperor, Baldwin I, was Balduinus dei gratia fidelissimus in Christo imperator a Deo coronatus Romanorum moderator et semper augustus. His title is a near perfect replication of the title used by Byzantine Emperor Alexios IV Angelos, placed on the throne by the crusaders previously, in a letter (only known in its Latin version) to Pope Innocent III: fidelis in Christo imperator a Deo coronatus Romanorum moderator et semper augustus. Letters by Baldwin to Pope Innocent III give his title as imperator Constantinopolitanus, possibly altered by Papal scribes as the Pope recognized the Holy Roman Emperor as the imperator Romanorum. In his seals, Baldwin abbreviated Romanorum as Rom., conveniently leaving it open for interpretation whether he referred to Romaniae ("land of the Romans") or Romanorum ("the Romans"). It is probably more likely that he meant Romanorum. The term "Romania" had been used unofficially by the population of the Byzantine Empire for their country for centuries.

Baldwin's successor Henry used three different versions of his imperial title; Henricus Dei Gratia Imperator Romaniae ("Emperor of Romania"), Henricus Dei Gratia Imperator Romanorum ("Emperor of the Romans") and Henricus Dei Gratia Imperator Constantinopolitani ("Emperor of Constantinople"), possibly intended for different recipients. Usage of the title Emperor of Constantinople may not just have been to appease the Pope and Western Europe, but might also have been used to legitimize the rule of the Latin Emperors in regards to the Byzantines that they ruled. Possession of the city itself was a key legitimizing factor that set the Latin Emperors apart from Byzantine claimants in Nicaea, Trebizond and Thessalonica.

History

Origins

After the fall of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade, the crusaders agreed to divide up Byzantine territory. In the Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae, signed on 1 October 1204, three eighths of the empire — including Crete and other islands — went to the Republic of Venice. The Latin Empire claimed the remainder and exerted control over:
 areas of Greece, divided into vassal fiefs:
 the Kingdom of Thessalonica
 the Principality of Achaea
 the Duchy of Athens
 the Duchy of the Archipelago
 the short-lived Duchy of Philippopolis in north Thrace
Further duchies were projected in Asia Minor, at Nicaea (for Louis of Blois), Nicomedia (Thierry de Loos), Philadelphia  (Stephen du Perche), and Neokastra. These duchies remained theoretical, due to the establishment of the Empire of Nicaea in the area. Nicaea itself was never occupied and Louis of Blois was killed in 1205. Thierry de Loos was captured by the Nicaeans in 1207 and, although released, left the Latin Empire two years later. After a brief Nicaean reconquest, Nicomedia returned to Latin control, but the ducatus Nichomedie remained part of the Imperial domain.  Philadelphia never came under actual Latin control, although the Latin emperor Henry of Flanders laid claim to the region after defeating the local strongman, Theodore Mangaphas, in 1205. The duchy of Neokastra (ducatus Novi Castri) on the other hand was never accorded to a single holder, but was divided among the Knights Hospitaller (one quarter) and other feudatories. The term "duchy" in this case reflects the earlier Byzantine use of the term thema, usually governed by a doux, to designate a province.

The Doge of Venice did not rank as a vassal to the Latin Empire, but his position in control of three-eighths of its territory and of parts of Constantinople itself ensured Venice's influence in the Empire's affairs. However, much of the former Byzantine territory remained in the hands of rival successor states led by Byzantine Greek aristocrats, such as the Despotate of Epirus, the Empire of Nicaea, and the Empire of Trebizond, each bent on reconquest from the Latins.

The crowning of Baldwin I (16 May 1204) and the establishment of the Latin Empire had the curious effect of creating five simultaneously existing entities claiming to be successors of the Roman Empire: the Latin Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, and the three remnants of the Byzantine Empire, the Despotate of Epirus, the Empire of Nicaea, and the Empire of Trebizond. None of these polities actually controlled the city of Rome, which remained under the temporal authority of the Pope.

In Asia Minor

The initial campaigns of the crusaders in Asia Minor resulted in the capture of most of Bithynia by 1205, with the defeat of the forces of Theodore I Laskaris at Poemanenum and Prusa. Latin successes continued, and in 1207 a truce was signed with Theodore, newly proclaimed Emperor of Nicaea. The Latins inflicted a further defeat on Nicaean forces at the Rhyndakos river in October 1211, and three years later the Treaty of Nymphaeum (1214) recognized their control of most of Bithynia and Mysia.

The peace was maintained until 1222, when the resurgent power of Nicaea felt sufficiently strong to challenge the Latin Empire, by that time weakened by constant warfare in its European provinces. At the battle of Poimanenon in 1224, the Latin army was defeated, and by the next year Emperor Robert of Courtenay was forced to cede all his Asian possessions to Nicaea, except for Nicomedia and the territories directly across from Constantinople. Nicaea turned also to the Aegean, capturing the islands awarded to the empire. In 1235, finally, the last Latin possessions fell to Nicaea.

In Europe
Unlike in Asia, where the Latin Empire faced only an initially weak Nicaea, in Europe it was immediately confronted with a powerful enemy: the Bulgarian tsar Kaloyan. When Baldwin campaigned against the Byzantine lords of Thrace, they called upon Kaloyan for help. At the Battle of Adrianople on 14 April 1205, the Latin heavy cavalry and knights were crushed by Kaloyan's troops and Cuman allies, and Emperor Baldwin was captured. He was imprisoned in the Bulgarian capital Tarnovo until his death later in 1205. Kaloyan was murdered a couple of years later (1207) during a siege of Thessalonica, and the Bulgarian threat conclusively defeated with a victory the following year, which allowed Baldwin's successor, Henry of Flanders, to reclaim most of the lost territories in Thrace until 1210, when peace was concluded with the marriage of Henry to Maria of Bulgaria, tsar Kaloyan's daughter.

At the same time, another Greek successor state, the Despotate of Epirus, under Michael I Komnenos Doukas, posed a threat to the empire's vassals in Thessalonica and Athens. Henry demanded his submission, which Michael provided, giving off his daughter to Henry's brother Eustace in the summer of 1209. This alliance allowed Henry to launch a campaign in Macedonia, Thessaly and Central Greece against the rebellious Lombard lords of Thessalonica. However, Michael's attack on the Kingdom of Thessalonica in 1210 forced him to return north to relieve the city and to force Michael back into submission.

In 1214 however, Michael died, and was succeeded by Theodore Komnenos Doukas, who was determined to capture Thessalonica. On 11 June 1216, while supervising repairs to the walls of Thessalonica, Henry died, and was succeeded by Peter of Courtenay, who himself was captured and executed by Theodore the following year. A regency was set up in Constantinople, headed by Peter's widow, Yolanda of Flanders, until her death in 1219. Her son Robert of Courtenay being absent in France, the regency passed first to Conon de Béthune, and after his death shortly after, to Cardinal Giovanni Colonna, until 1221, when Robert of Courtenay arrived in Constantinople. Distracted by the renewed war with Nicaea, and waiting in vain for assistance from Pope Honorius III and the King of France Philip II, the Latin Empire was unable to prevent the final fall of Thessalonica to Epirus in 1224. Epirote armies then conquered Thrace in 1225–26, appearing before Constantinople itself. The Latin Empire was saved for a time by the threat posed to Theodore by the Bulgarian tsar Ivan II Asen, and a truce was concluded in 1228.

Decline and fall

After Robert of Courtenay died in 1228, a new regency under John of Brienne was set up. After the disastrous Epirote defeat by the Bulgarians at the Battle of Klokotnitsa, the Epirote threat to the Latin Empire was removed, only to be replaced by Nicaea, which started acquiring territories in Greece. Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes of Nicaea concluded an alliance with Bulgaria, which in 1235 resulted in a joint campaign against the Latin Empire, and an unsuccessful siege of Constantinople the same year. In 1237, Baldwin II attained majority and took over the reins of a much-diminished state. The empire's precarious situation forced him to travel often to Western Europe seeking aid, but largely without success. In order to raise funds, he was forced to resort to desperate means, from removing the lead roofs of the Great Palace and selling them, to handing over his only son, Philip, to Venetian merchants as a guarantee for a loan.

By 1247, the Nicaeans had effectively surrounded the main holdings of the Emperor in the new European land system. Following the victory at the Battle of Pelagonia in 1259 Michael VIII Palaiologos of the Nicaean empire  had only one obstacle left. The Theodosian walls and the Latin Forces. He had already cut of the Latins from aid from the Latin estates of Greece or the Nicaeans rivals and also a successor state to the Byzantines the Despotate of Epirus.

The first attempt to take Constantinople occurred in 1260 when a Latin knights taken prisoner in Pelagonia, and whose house was in the city walls, had promised to open a gate for the emperor's troops. He failed to do so, and Palaiologos launched an unsuccessful assault on Galata Instead . In preparation for another attempt an alliance with Genoa was concluded in march 1261, and in July 1261

As the one-year truce concluded after the failed Nicaean attack was nearing its end, the general Alexios Strategopoulos was sent with a small advance force of 800 soldiers (most of them Cumans) to keep a watch on the Bulgarians and spy out the defences of the Latins.

When the Nicaean force reached the village of Selymbria, some 30 miles (48 km) west of Constantinople, they learned from some independent local farmers (thelematarioi) that the entire Latin garrison, as well as the Venetian fleet, were absent conducting a raid against the Nicaean island of Daphnousia.Strategopoulos initially hesitated to take advantage of the situation, since his small force might be destroyed if the Latin army returned too soon, and because he would exceed the emperor's orders, but eventually decided he could not squander such a golden opportunity to retake the city.

On the night of 24/25 July 1261, Strategopoulos and his men approached the city walls and hid at a monastery near the Gate of the Spring. Strategopoulos sent a detachment of his men, led by some of the thelematarioi, to make their way to the city through a secret passage. They attacked the walls from the inside, surprised the guards and opened the gate, giving the Nicaean force entry into the city.The Latins were taken completely unaware, and after a short struggle, the Nicaeans gained control of the land walls. As news of this spread across the city, the Latin inhabitants, from Emperor Baldwin II downwards, hurriedly rushed to the harbours of the Golden Horn, hoping to escape by ship. At the same time, Strategopoulos' men set fire to the Venetian buildings and warehouses along the coast to prevent them from landing there. Thanks to the timely arrival of the returning Venetian fleet, many of the Latins managed to evacuate to the still Latin-held parts of Greece, but the city was lost.

Nicaean general Alexios Strategopoulos found an unguarded entrance to the city, and entered it with 800 troops only, restoring the Byzantine Empire for his master, Michael VIII Palaiologos.

The remaining Latin states ruled territories of present-day Greece, some of them until the 18th century, and are known as Latinokratia

Titular claimants
For about a century thereafter, the heirs of Baldwin II continued to use the title of Emperor of Constantinople, and were seen as the overlords of the various remaining Latin states in the Aegean. They exercised effective authority in Greece only when actually ruling as princes of Achaea, as in 1333–83.

Organization and society

Administration
The empire was formed and administered on Western European feudal principles, incorporating some elements of the Byzantine bureaucracy. The emperor was assisted by a council, composed of the various barons, the Venetian Podestà of Constantinople and his six-member council. This council had a major voice in the governance of the realm, especially in periods of regency, when the Regent (moderator imperii) was dependent on their consent to rule. The podestà, likewise, was an extremely influential member, being practically independent of the emperor. He exercised authority over the Venetian quarters of Constantinople and Pera and the Venetian dominions within the empire, assisted by a separate set of officials. His role was more that of an ambassador and vicegerent of Venice than a vassal to the empire. The podestà was granted the title of Governor of One-Fourth and One-Half of the Empire of Romania, and was entitled to wearing the imperial crimson buskins like the emperor.

Economy
The Latins did not trust the professional Greek bureaucracy, and in the immediate aftermath of the conquest completely dismantled the Greek economic administration of the areas they controlled.  The result was disastrous, disrupting all forms of production and trade.  Almost from its inception the Latin Empire was sending requests back to the papacy for aid.  For a few years, the major commodities it exported from the surrounding region of Thrace were wheat and furs; it also profited from Constantinople's strategic location on major trade routes.  While the empire showed some moderate vitality while Henry of Flanders was alive, after his death in 1216 there was a major deficit in leadership.  By the 1230s, Constantinople - even with its drastically reduced population - was facing a major shortage of basic foodstuffs.  In several senses, the only significant export on which the economy of the Latin Empire had any real basis was the sale of relics back to Western Europe which had been looted from Greek churches.  For example, Emperor Baldwin II sold the relic of the Crown of Thorns while in France trying to raise new funds.

Society

The elite of the empire were the Frankish and Venetian lords, headed by the emperor, the barons and the lower-ranking vassals and liege lords, including many former Byzantine aristocrats. The bulk of the people were Orthodox Greeks, still divided according to the Byzantine system in income classes based on land ownership.

Church

As with all Latin states, the Orthodox hierarchy was replaced by Roman Catholic prelates, but not suppressed. An expansive Catholic hierarchy was established, under the dual supervision of the Latin archbishop of Constantinople and the Papal legate, until the two offices were merged in 1231. Western Catholic religious orders, such as the Cistercians, the Dominicans and the Franciscans were established in the empire. The Orthodox clergy retained its rites and customs, including its right to marriage, but was demoted to a subordinate position, subject to the local Latin bishops.

See also
 Timeline of the Latin Empire
 Succession of the Roman Empire

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

The Latin Occupation in the Greek Lands - The Latin Empire, from the Foundation of the Hellenic World

States and territories established in 1204
States and territories disestablished in 1261
1261 disestablishments in Asia
1204 establishments in Europe
Former countries in the Balkans
Former monarchies of Europe
Former monarchies of Asia
States in medieval Anatolia
Former empires

Latin Empire


James Stewart, 5th Lord Innermeath (died 1586) was a Scottish courtier and landowner.

He was the son of John Stewart, 4th Lord Innermeath and Elizabeth Beaton, daughter of David Betoun of Creich. She was a former mistress of James V of Scotland.

His younger brother was the court poet John Stewart of Baldynneis. His half-sister was Jean Stewart, Countess of Argyll.

He became Lord Innermeath on the death of his father in 1579. Innermeath in Strathearn is now called Invermay.

He claimed in July 1582 that his family had held the right to the Colonelship of the Sherrifdom of Perth for generations, but Patrick Lord Drummond had challenged this right and stole away his court documents at the Market Cross of Dunblane.

He died on the 14 February 1586.

Marriage and family
He married Helen Ogilvy, daughter of James, 4th Lord Ogilvy of Airlie. Their children included:
 John Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl (1566–1603), who married (1) Margaret Lindsay, daughter of David Lindsay, 9th Earl of Crawford and Katherine Campbell, (2) Marie Ruthven, the widow of John Stewart, 5th Earl of Atholl, and daughter of William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie and Dorothea Stewart.
 Robert Stewart, who was a servant of the murdered Earl of Moray, and in 1592 tried to assassinate the Earl of Huntly in revenge. He disguised himself in Highlandman's clothes for an attempt made in Perth.
 Katherine Stewart, who married William Ruthven of Ballindean, and was the mother of Patrick Ruthven, 1st Earl of Forth

References

1586 deaths
16th-century Scottish people
Lords of Parliament (pre-1707)
James

James Stewart, 5th Lord Innermeath


The Eastern Roman (Byzantine) imperial church headed by Constantinople continued to assert its universal authority. By the 13th century this assertion was becoming increasingly irrelevant as the Eastern Roman Empire shrank and the Ottoman Turks took over most of what was left of the Byzantine Empire (indirectly aided by invasions from the West). The other Eastern European churches in communion with Constantinople were not part of its empire and were increasingly acting independently, achieving autocephalous status and only nominally acknowledging Constantinople's standing in the Church hierarchy. In Western Europe the Holy Roman Empire fragmented making it less of an empire as well.

High scholasticism and its contemporaries
Scholasticism originally began to reconcile the philosophy of the ancient classical philosophers with medieval Christian theology. It is not a philosophy or theology in itself, but a tool and method for learning which puts emphasis on dialectical reasoning. The primary purpose of scholasticism was to find the answer to a question or resolve a contradiction. It is most well known in its application in medieval theology, but was eventually applied to classical philosophy and many other fields of study.

In the 13th century there was an attempted suppression of various groups perceived as heterodox, such as the Cathars and Waldensians and the associated rise of the mendicant orders (notably the Franciscans and Dominicans), in part intended as a form of orthodox alternative to the heretical groups.  Those two orders quickly became contexts for some of the most intense scholastic theologizing, producing such 'high scholastic' theologians as Alexander of Hales (Franciscan) and Thomas Aquinas (Dominican), or the rather less obviously scholastic Bonaventure (Franciscan). There was also a flourishing of mystical theology, with women such as Mechthild of Magdeburg playing a prominent role. In addition, the century can be seen as period in which the study of Natural Philosophy that could anachronistically be called 'science' began once again to flourish in the hands of such men as Robert Grosseteste and Roger Bacon.

Notable authors include:

 Saint Dominic
 Albertus Magnus
 Robert Grosseteste
 Francis of Assisi
 Alexander of Hales
 Mechthild of Magdeburg
 Roger Bacon
 Bonaventure
 Thomas Aquinas
 Angela of Foligno

Western religious orders
The monastic orders, especially the Benedictines, Cistercians, and Premonstratensians, continued to have an important role in the Catholic Church throughout the 13th century. The Mendicant Orders, which focused on poverty, preaching and other forms of pastoral ministry, were founded at this time. The four Mendicant Orders recognized by the Second Council of Lyon are:
 The Order of Preachers (Dominicans), founded in 1215 by St. Dominic de Guzman.
 The Friars Minor (Franciscans), founded in 1209 by St. Francis of Assisi
 The Hermits of St. Augustine (Augustinians), founded in 1256 when different communities that followed the Rule of St. Augustine were united.
 The Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Carmelites), which were founded in the Holy Land in the 12th century but came to Europe in the 13th century.

Crusades
The Fourth Crusade, authorized by Innocent III in 1202, intended to retake the Holy Land but was soon subverted by Venetians who used the forces to sack the Christian city of Zara. Eventually the crusaders arrived in Constantinople, but rather than proceed to the Holy Land the crusaders instead sacked Constantinople and other parts of Asia Minor effectively establishing the Latin Empire of Constantinople in Greece and Asia Minor. This was effectively the last crusade sponsored by the papacy; later crusades were sponsored by individuals. Thus, though Jerusalem was held for nearly a century and other strongholds in the Near East remained in Christian possession much longer, the crusades in the Holy Land ultimately failed to establish permanent Christian kingdoms.

Crusades against Christians in the East by Roman Catholic crusaders was not exclusive to the Mediterranean though (see also the Northern Crusades and the Battle of the Ice). The sacking of Constantinople and the Church of Holy Wisdom and establishment of the Latin Empire as a seeming attempt to supplant the Orthodox Byzantine Empire in 1204 is viewed with some rancour to the present day. Many in the East saw the actions of the West as a prime determining factor in the weakening of Byzantium. This led to the empire's eventual conquest and fall to Islam. In 2004, Pope John Paul II extended a formal apology for the sacking of Constantinople in 1204; the apology was formally accepted by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. Many things that were stolen during this time: holy relics, riches, and many other items, are still held in various Western European cities, particularly Venice.

The crusades in southern Spain, southern Italy, and Sicily eventually led to the demise of Islamic power in the regions; the Teutonic Knights expanded Christian domains in Eastern Europe; and the much less frequent crusades within Christendom, such as the Albigensian Crusade, achieved their goal of maintaining doctrinal unity.

Fourth Crusade, 1202–1204

The Fourth Crusade was initiated in 1202 by Pope Innocent III, with the intention of invading the Holy Land through Egypt. Because the Crusaders lacked the funds to pay for the fleet and provisions that they had contracted from the Venetians, Doge Enrico Dandolo enlisted the crusaders to restore the Christian city of Zara (Zadar) to obedience. Because they subsequently lacked provisions and time on their vessel lease, the leaders decided to go to Constantinople, where they attempted to place a Byzantine exile on the throne. After a series of misunderstandings and outbreaks of violence, the Crusaders sacked the city in 1204 and established the so-called Latin Empire and a series of other Crusader states throughout the territories of the Greek Byzantine Empire. This is often seen as the final breaking point of the Great Schism between the Eastern Orthodox Church and (Western) Roman Catholic Church.

After the Sack of Constantinople, much of Asia Minor was brought under Roman Catholic rule, and the Latin Empire of the East was established. As the conquest by the European crusaders was not exclusive to the fourth crusade, many various kingdoms of European rule were established. After the fall of Constantinople to the Latin West the Empire of Nicaea was established, which was later to be origin of the Greek monarchy that defeated the Latin forces of Europe and re-established Orthodox Monarchy in Constantinople and Asia Minor.

Crusades against the Eastern Orthodox

Crusades against Christians in the East by Roman Catholic crusaders were not exclusive to the fourth crusade nor the Mediterranean. The sacking of Constantinople and the Church of Holy Wisdom, the destruction of the Monastery of Stoudios, Library of Constantinople and the establishment of the Latin Empire in Constantinople and also throughout West Asia Minor and Greece (see the Kingdom of Thessalonica, Kingdom of Cyprus) are considered definitive though. This is in light of perceived Roman Catholic atrocities not exclusive to the capital city of Constantinople in 1204 starting the period in the East referred to as Frangokratia. The establishment of the Latin Empire in 1204 was intended to supplant the Orthodox Byzantine Empire. This is symbolized by many Orthodox churches like Hagia Sophia and Church of the Pantokrator being converted into Roman Catholic properties and it is viewed with some rancour to the present day. Some of the European Christian community actively endorsed the attacking of Eastern Christians.

This was preceded by a European backed attempted conquest of Byzantium, Greece, and Bulgaria  and other Eastern Christian countries which led to the establishment of the Latin Empire of the East and the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople (with various other Crusader states).

The Teutonic Order's attempts to conquer Orthodox Russia (particularly the Republics of Pskov and Novgorod), an enterprise endorsed by Pope Gregory IX, can also be considered as a part of the Northern Crusades. One of the major blows for the idea of the conquest of Russia was the Battle of the Ice in 1242. With or without the Pope's blessing, Sweden also undertook several crusades against Orthodox Novgorod. Many in the East saw the actions of the West in the Mediterranean as a prime determining factor in the weakening of Byzantium which led to the empire's eventual conquest and fall to Islam.

Albigensian Crusade

The Albigensian Crusade was launched in 1209 to eliminate the heretical Cathars of Occitania (the south of modern-day France). It was a decade-long struggle that had as much to do with the concerns of northern France to extend its control southwards as it did with heresy. In the end, both the Cathars and the independence of southern France were exterminated.

After a papal legate was murdered by the Cathars in 1208, Pope Innocent III declared the Albigensian Crusade. Abuses committed during the crusade caused Innocent III to informally institute the first papal inquisition to prevent future aberrational practices and to root out the remaining Cathars. Formalized under Pope Gregory IX, this Medieval inquisition executed an average of three people per year for heresy at its height. Over time, other inquisitions were launched by the Church or secular rulers to prosecute heretics, to respond to the threat of Moorish invasion or for political purposes. The accused were encouraged to recant their heresy and those who did not could be punished by penance, fines, imprisonment, torture or execution by burning.

Children's Crusade

The Children's Crusade is a series of possibly fictitious or misinterpreted events of 1212. The story is that an outburst of the old popular enthusiasm led a gathering of children in France and Germany, which Pope Innocent III interpreted as a reproof from heaven to their unworthy elders. The leader of the French army, Stephen, led 30,000 children. The leader of the German army, Nicholas, led 7,000 children. None of the children actually reached the Holy Land; those who did not return home or settle along the route to Jerusalem either died from shipwreck or hunger, or were sold into slavery in Egypt or North Africa.

Fifth Crusade, 1217–1221

By processions, prayers, and preaching, the Church attempted to set another crusade afoot, and the Fourth Council of the Lateran (1215) formulated a plan for the recovery of the Holy Land. In the first phase, a crusading force from Austria and Hungary joined the forces of the king of Jerusalem and the prince of Antioch to take back Jerusalem. In the second phase, crusader forces achieved a remarkable feat in the capture of Damietta in Egypt in 1219, but under the urgent insistence of the papal legate, Pelagius, they launched a foolhardy attack on Cairo in July 1221.  The crusaders were turned back after their dwindling supplies led to a forced retreat. A night-time attack by Sultan Al-Kamil resulted in a great number of crusader losses and eventually in the surrender of the army. Al-Kamil agreed to an eight-year peace agreement with Europe.

Sixth Crusade 1228–1229

Emperor Frederick II had repeatedly vowed a crusade but failed to live up to his words, for which he was excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX in 1228. He nonetheless set sail from Brindisi, landed in Palestine, and through diplomacy he achieved unexpected success: Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem were delivered to the crusaders for a period of ten years.

In 1229 after failing to conquer Egypt, Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire made a peace treaty with Al-Kamil. This treaty allowed Christians to rule over most of Jerusalem, while the Muslims were given control of the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The peace brought about by this treaty lasted for about ten years. Many of the Muslims though were not happy with Al-Kamil for giving up control of Jerusalem, and in 1244, following a siege, the Muslims regained control of the city.

Seventh Crusade, 1248–1254

The papal interests represented by the Knights Templar brought on a conflict with Egypt in 1243, and in the following year a Khwarezmian force summoned by the Templars stormed Jerusalem. The crusaders were drawn into battle at La Forbie in Gaza. The crusader army and its Bedouin mercenaries were defeated by Baibars' force of Khwarezmian tribesmen. This battle is considered by many historians to have been the death knell to the Kingdom of Outremer.

Although this provoked no widespread outrage in Europe as the fall of Jerusalem in 1187 had done, Louis IX of France organized a crusade against Egypt from 1248 to 1254, leaving from the newly constructed port of Aigues-Mortes in southern France. It was a failure, and Louis spent much of the crusade living at the court of the crusader kingdom in Acre. In the midst of this crusade was the first Shepherds' Crusade in 1251.

Eighth Crusade, 1270

The Eighth Crusade was organized by Louis IX in 1270, again sailing from Aigues-Mortes, initially to come to the aid of the remnants of the crusader states in Syria. However, the crusade was diverted to Tunis, where Louis spent only two months before dying. For his efforts, Louis was later canonised.

Ninth Crusade, 1271–1272

The future Edward I of England undertook another expedition against Baibars in 1271, after having accompanied Louis on the Eighth Crusade. The Ninth Crusade was deemed a failure and ended the Crusades in the Middle East.

In their later years, faced with the threat of the Egyptian Mamluks, the Crusaders' hopes rested with a Franco-Mongol alliance. Although the Mongols successfully attacked as far south as Damascus on these campaigns, the ability to effectively coordinate with Crusades from the west was repeatedly frustrated most notably at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260. The Mamluks eventually made good their pledge to cleanse the entire Middle East of the  Franks. With the fall of Antioch (1268), Tripoli (1289), and Acre (1291), those Christians unable to leave the cities were massacred or enslaved, and the last traces of Christian rule in the Levant disappeared.

Northern Crusades

The Teutonic Order's attempts to conquer Orthodox Russia (particularly the Republics of Pskov and Novgorod), an enterprise endorsed by Pope Gregory IX, can be considered as a part of the Northern Crusades. One of the major blows for the idea of the conquest of Russia was the Battle of the Ice in 1242. With or without the Pope's blessing, Sweden also undertook several crusades against Orthodox Novgorod.

Between 1232 and 1234, there was a crusade against the Stedingers. This crusade was special, because the Stedingers were not heathens or heretics, but fellow Roman Catholics. They were free Frisian farmers who resented attempts of the count of Oldenburg and the archbishop Bremen-Hamburg to make an end to their freedoms. The archbishop excommunicated them, and Pope Gregory IX declared a crusade in 1232. The Stedingers were defeated in 1234.

Aragonese Crusade
The Aragonese Crusade, or Crusade of Aragón, was declared by Pope Martin IV against the King of Aragón, Peter III the Great, in 1284 and 1285.

Crusade against the Tatars
In 1259 Mongols led by Burundai and Nogai Khan ravaged the principality of Halych-Volynia, Lithuania and Poland. After that Pope Alexander IV tried without success to create a crusade against the Blue Horde.

Second Council of Lyon
The Second Council of Lyon was convoked to act on a pledge by Byzantine emperor Michael VIII to reunite the Eastern church with the West. Wishing to end the Great Schism that divided Rome and Constantinople, Gregory X had sent an embassy to Michael VIII Palaeologus, who had reconquered Constantinople, putting an end to the remnants of the Latin Empire in the East, and he asked Latin despots in the East to curb their ambitions. On June 29, 1274, Gregory X offered Mass in St John's Church, where both sides took part. The council declared that the Roman church possessed "the supreme and full primacy and authority over the universal Catholic Church."

The council was seemingly a success but did not provide a lasting solution to the schism; the emperor was anxious to heal the schism, but the Eastern clergy proved to be obstinate. However, Michael VII's son and successor Andronicus II repudiated the union.

Serbian Church
In 1217, Stefan Nemanjić was proclaimed King of Serbia, and various questions of the church reorganization were opened. On 15 August 1219, during the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, archimandrite Sava was consecrated by Patriarch Manuel I of Constantinople in Nicaea as the first Archbishop of the autocephalous (independent) Serbian Church.  The patriarch of Constantinople and his Synod thus appointed Sava as the first archbishop of "Serbian and coastal lands." In the same year, Archbishop Sava published Zakonopravilo (St. Sava's Nomocanon). Thus the Serbs acquired both forms of independence: political and religious.

Archbishop Sava appointed several bishops, sending them around Serbia to organize their dioceses. To maintain his standing as the religious and social leader, he continued to travel among the monasteries and lands to educate the people. In 1221 a synod was held in the Žiča monastery, condemning Bogomilism.

Rus' Church

Mongol rule in Kievan Rus lasted from the 13th (Genghis Khan's army entered Kievan Rus in 1220s) through the 15th century, the Rus' church enjoyed a favored position, obtaining immunity from taxation in 1270. Through a series of wars with Muslim countries the church did indeed establish itself as the protector of Orthodoxy.

See also

History of Christianity
History of the Roman Catholic Church
History of the Eastern Orthodox Church
History of Christian theology
History of Oriental Orthodoxy
Christianization
Timeline of Christianity#Middle Ages
Timeline of Christian missions#Middle Ages
Timeline of the Roman Catholic Church#800–1453
Chronological list of saints and blesseds in the 13th century

References

Bibliography

Further reading
 Lawrence, C. H. Medieval Monasticism. 3rd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education, 2001.

External links
Schaff's ''The Seven Ecumenical Councils

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Christianity in the 13th century


The Missionaries of the Company of Mary is a missionary religious congregation within the Catholic Church. The community was founded by Saint Louis de Montfort in 1705 with the recruitment of his first missionary disciple, Mathurin Rangeard. The congregation is made up of priests and brothers who serve both in the native lands and in other countries. The Montfortian Family comprises three groups: the Company of Mary, the Daughters of Wisdom and the Brothers of Saint Gabriel.

History
As early as 1700 Montfort had conceived the idea of founding a society of missionaries. Five months after his ordination, in November 1700, Montfort wrote: "I am continually asking in my prayers for a poor and small company of good priests to preach missions and retreats under the standard and protection of the Blessed Virgin".

In 1713 he went to Paris with a view to recruit members for his community. The director of the seminary Du St-Esprit promised to send him such young priests as would feel called to do missionary work. During the intervals between his missions Montfort wrote the Rule of the Company of Mary though no official membership would develop before his death. After de Montfort died in 1716, two young priests and occasional collaborators, Father Adrien Vatel and Father Rene Mulot continued his mission. From 1718 to 1781 the "Mulotins", although few in number, gave over 430 missions throughout western France, most of which lasted a month.

After the French Revolution Montfort's community was reorganised by Father Gabriel Deshayes, elected superior general in 1821. He received from Pope Leo XII a brief of praise for the Company of Mary and for the Daughters of Wisdom, which had also been formed by de Montfort with the help of Blessed Marie Louise Trichet. Father Dalin who was superior general from 1837 to 1855, obtained canonical approbation of both congregations. Hitherto the missionaries had but one residence, the mother-house at Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (where de Montfort and Trichet are buried) in the Pays de la Loire region. During Dalin's administration as general, several establishments were made in France. Under his successor, Father Denis (1855–1877) the community accepted the direction of a seminary at Pontchâteau in the Diocese of Nantes, from where priests were sent to Haiti, the company's first attempt at foreign missions.

The anti-clerical sentiment which arose in the French government in the late 19th century, resulted in the enacting of the Jules Ferry laws which led to many religious congregations which operated schools to leave France. The Montfortian novices took refuge in the Netherlands, where a novitiate and a scholasticate were established. In 1883, a school was also begun at Schimmert. That same year saw the establishment of the first house in Canada. The beatification of de Montfort, in 1888, gave a new stimulus to the company's expansion. A novitiate and a scholasticate were founded near Ottawa (1890); a mission school at Papineauville, Quebec (1900) and missions in Denmark. In 1901 the company took charge of what was then the Apostolic vicariate of Nyassa Land (Malawi) where the congregation ministers to this day.
The 20th century witnessed the expansion of the company throughout the world, and its members now serve on every continent.

Vows

As members of a religious congregation Montfortians embrace the evangelical counsels, taking the three traditional religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Religious Formation

Post Novitiate

Post novitiate is where the newly professed religious deepens his commitment as a member of the Montfortians and decides whether or not to make a lifelong commitment to vowed life. For those with a vocation to be a brother suitable training is pursued in his particular field of interest. It is normal for a brother to make his perpetual profession to the Congregation after 3 or 4 years. The Company of Mary asserts that The Brothers in particular enrich the Mission with their talents as builders especially, as agriculturists, secretaries, leaders in catechesis and in liturgy: services that they continue to offer with the help of the computer and the internet.

Those called to Holy Orders study for a degree in theology, taking courses in philosophy if they have no experience of that discipline. At the end of this period of formation, which, according to Canon Law, may last between 3 and 6 years perpetual profession (final vows) is made and ordination to the diaconate follows and then to the presbyterate between six months and a year later. In exceptional circumstances, temporary vows may be extended beyond the 6-year period, but for no more than 3 years.

Structure
As with all religious congregations in the Latin branch of the Catholic Church, the Montfortians are led by a superior general who calls a general chapter according to the constitutions of the company.

Communities
 Belgium Vice-province: Marian apostolate, parishes, mission in Democratic Republic of Congo
 Canada Vice-province: parishes in Quebec, retreats, Marian shrine in Montreal and parish missions
 Colombia Province: seminary in Bogota, parishes and a mission in the Vichada region
 France Province: parishes, missions in Argentina and Spain from where Spanish members have gone to Ecuador, missions in the Bahamas, Haiti, Réunion and Madagascar
 Germany General delegation: parishes, teaching, religious publications
 India Delegation: formation houses, education, tribal peoples, justice and peace
 Indonesia Vice-province: indigenous peoples, those affected by HIV, education
 Italy Province: parishes, retreats, parochial missions, publishing, missions in Madagascar, Malawi, Peru and Zambia
 Netherlands Province: missions in Brazil, Indonesia and Uganda, 3 parishes in Denmark with a presence in Mozambique
 Papua New Guinea Province (staffed solely by brothers and sisters): education, health care, those affected by HIV
 The Philippines General delegation: parish, rural communities on Cebu
 Portugal General delegation: parishes and international shrine of Our Lady of Fatima
 United Kingdom Vice-province: parish missions, retreats, immigrants, missions in Malawi and Uganda (where the work is primarily with those affected by AIDS
 The United States Province: parishes, retreats, parish missions, publishing of religious periodicals, missionary work in Nicaragua

See also
Saint Louis de Montfort
Daughters of Wisdom

References

External links
 Montfort publications
 Generalate website
 Montfortian Brothers in India
 Philippines Delegation
 United Kingdom Vice-province
 US Province
 Montfortian spirituality website
 Montfort Brothers of Saint Gabriel
 Daughters of Wisdom

1705 establishments in France
Catholic orders and societies
Catholic spirituality

Company of Mary


The Fiat 500, commonly known as "Topolino", is an Italian city car produced and manufactured by Fiat from 1936 to 1955.

The name Topolino () is Italian and translates literally as "little mouse". It is also the Italian name for Mickey Mouse.

History

The Topolino was one of the smallest cars in the world at the time of its production. Launched in 1936, three models were produced until 1955, all with only minor mechanical and cosmetic changes. It was equipped with a 569 cc four-cylinder, side-valve, water-cooled engine mounted in front of the front axle (later an overhead valve motor), and so was a full-scale car rather than a cyclecar. The radiator was located behind the engine which made possible a lowered aerodynamic nose profile at a time when competitors had a flat, nearly vertical grille. The shape of the car's front allowed exceptional forward visibility.

Rear suspension initially used quarter-elliptic rear springs, but buyers frequently squeezed four or five people into the nominally two-seater car, and in later models the chassis was extended at the rear to allow for more robust semi-elliptic springs.

With horsepower of about 13 bhp, its top speed was about 85 km/h (53 mph), and it could achieve fuel consumption of about 6 litres per 100 km of petrol (39.2 mpgus). The target price given when the car was planned was 5,000 lire. In the event the price at launch was 9,750 lire, though the decade was one of falling prices in several parts of Europe and later in the 1930s the Topolino was sold for about 8,900 lire. Despite being more expensive than first envisioned, the car was competitively priced. Nearly 520,000 were sold.

Three models were produced. Model A and B shared the same body, but the engine of model B had 16 hp, compared to the 13 hp of Model A. Model A was produced from 1937 to 1948, while B was produced in 1948 and 1949. Model A was offered as a 2-door saloon, 2-door convertible saloon (saloon with folding roof) and a 2-door van, while Model B also introduced a 3-door estate under the name 500 B Giardiniera ("estate car").

The Giardiniera was at the beginning only available as a so-called woodie, with an outside ash frame being used instead of steel, and was available in seven metallic colors. When it was later renamed Belvedere, the wood was replaced with metal. This model as well as the regular two-seater Convertible-Limousine were also produced in France by Simca as the Simca 5, and in Germany by the German Fiat subsidiary NSU-Fiat.

Model C was introduced in 1949 with a restyled body and the same engine as the Model B, and was offered in 2-door saloon, 2-door convertible saloon, 3-door estate and 2-door van body styles. In 1952, the Giardiniera was renamed Belvedere ("A turret or other raised structure offering a pleasant view of the surrounding area", referring to its sunroof). Model C was produced until 1955.

In 1955 the larger rear-wheel-drive Fiat 600 was launched by Fiat and that would become the design basis for the new Fiat 500, the Nuova 500. These two models ended up replacing the original 500.

Gallery

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Fiat 500 History - Gizmohighway Auto Guide
Jay Leno talks about his Topolino
"Soviet-italian comic car AHCHOO-2"

500 Topolino
1930s cars
1940s cars
1950s cars
Cars introduced in 1936
City cars
Coupés
Convertibles
Station wagons
Vans
Cars discontinued in 1955

Fiat 500 "Topolino"