Slavery in Libya has a long history and a lasting impact on the Libyan culture. It is closely connected with the wider context of slavery in North African and trans-Saharan slave trade.

History

Enslavement of the Berbers

When Amr ibn al-As conquered Tripoli in 643, he forced the Jewish and Christian Berbers to give their wives and children as slaves to the Arab army as part of their jizya. Uqba ibn Nafi would often enslave for himself (and to  sell to others) countless Berber girls, "the likes of which no one in the world had ever seen."

Ibn Abd al-Hakam recounts that the Arab General Hassan ibn al-Nu'man would often abduct "young, female Berber slaves of unparalleled beauty, some of which were worth a thousand dinars." Al-Hakam confirms that up to one hundred thousand slaves were captured by Musa and his son and nephew during the conquest of North Africa. In Tangier, Musa enslaved all the Berber inhabitants. Musa sacked a fortress near Kairouan and took with him all the children as slaves. The number of Berbers enslaved "amounted to a number never before heard of in any of the countries subject to the rule of Islam" up to that time. As a result, "most of the African cities were depopulated, [and] the fields remained without cultivation." Even so, Musa "never ceased pushing his conquests until he arrived before Tangiers, the citadel of their [Berbers'] country and the mother of their cities, which he also besieged and took, obliging its inhabitants to embrace Islam."

The historian Pascual de Gayangos observed: "Owing to the system of warfare adopted by the Arabs, it is not improbable that the number of captives here specified fell into Musa's hands. It appears both from Christian and Arabian authorities that populous towns were not infrequently razed to the ground and their inhabitants, amounting to several thousands, led into captivity."

Succesive Muslim rulers of North Africa continued to enslave the Berbers en masse. The historian Hugh N. Kennedy observed that
"the Islamic jihad looks uncomfortably like a giant slave trade." Arab chronicles record vast numbers of Berber slaves taken, especially in the accounts of Musa ibn Nusayr, who became the governor of Africa in 698, and who "was cruel and ruthless against any tribe that opposed the tenets of the Muslim faith, but generous and lenient to those who converted." Muslim historian Ibn Qutaybah recounts Musa ibn Nusayr waging "battles of extermination" against the Berbers and how he "killed myriads of them, and made a surprising number of prisoners."

According to the historian As-sadfi, the number of slaves taken by Musa ibn Nusayr was greater than in any of the previous Islamic conquests.

Enslavement of Europeans

There is historical evidence of North African Muslim slave raids all along the Mediterranean coasts across Christian Europe. The majority of slaves traded across the Mediterranean region were predominantly of European origin from the 7th to 15th centuries. In the 15th century, Ethiopians sold slaves from western borderland areas (usually just outside the realm of the Emperor of Ethiopia) or Ennarea.

It is estimated that between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by pirates and sold as slaves between the 16th and 19th century. Reports of Barbary raids and kidnappings of those in Italy, France, Iberia, England, Ireland, Scotland and as far north as Iceland exist from this period. Famous accounts of Barbary slave raids include a mention in the Diary of Samuel Pepys and a raid on the coastal village of Baltimore, Ireland, during which pirates left with the entire populace of the settlement. Such raids in the Mediterranean were so frequent and devastating that the coastline between Venice and Malaga suffered widespread depopulation, and settlement there was discouraged. It was said that this was largely because "there was no one left to capture any longer".

Enslavement of West & Central Africans

The Tuareg and others who are indigenous to Libya facilitated, taxed and partly organized the trade from the south along the trans-Saharan trade routes. In the 1830s – a period when slave trade flourished – Ghadames was handling 2,500 slaves a year. Even though the slave trade was officially abolished in Tripoli in 1853, in practice it continued.

The British Consul in Benghazi wrote in 1875 that the slave trade had reached an enormous scale and that the slaves who were sold in Alexandria and Constantinople had quadrupled in price. This trade, he wrote, was encouraged by the local government.

Adolf Vischer writes in an article published in 1911 that: "...it has been said that slave traffic is still going on on the Benghazi-Wadai route, but it is difficult to test the truth of such an assertion as, in any case, the traffic is carried on secretly". At Kufra, the Egyptian traveller Ahmed Hassanein Bey found out in 1916 that he could buy a girl slave for five pounds sterling while in 1923 he found that the price had risen to 30 to 40 pounds sterling.

Another traveler, the Danish convert to Islam Knud Holmboe, crossed the Italian Libyan desert in 1930, and was told that slavery is still practiced in Kufra and that he could buy a slave girl for 30 pounds sterling at the Thursday slave market. According to James Richardson's testimony, when he visited Ghadames, most slaves were from Bornu.

21st century

Human Rights Watch documented cases of migrants frequently being arbitrarily detained and sold in Libyan detention centers. Amnesty International also noted that migrants traveling through Libya were subject to detention in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions, and torture. The US state department also noted in their 2010 report on human trafficking: "As in previous years, there were isolated reports that women from West and Central Africa were forced into prostitution in Libya. There were also reports that migrants from Georgia were subjected to forced labor in Libya," and argued that the Libyan government did not show significant evidence of effort to prosecute traffickers or protect trafficking victims.

Slavery in the post-Gaddafi era
Since Muammar Gaddafi's regime was overthrown during the First Libyan Civil War in 2011, Libya has been plagued by disorder, leaving migrants with little cash and no papers vulnerable. Libya is a major exit point for African migrants heading to Europe. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) published a report in April 2017 showing that many of the migrants from West, Central and Sahelian Africa heading to Europe are sold as slaves after being detained by people smugglers or militia groups. African countries south of Libya were targeted for slave trading and transferred to Libyan slave markets instead. According to the victims, the price is higher for migrants with skills like painting and tiling. Slaves are often ransomed to their families and until ransom can be paid are tortured, forced to work, sometimes to death and eventually executed or left to starve if they can't pay for too long. Women are often raped and used as sex slaves and sold to brothels and private Libyan clients. Many child migrants also suffer from abuse and child rape in Libya.

After receiving unverified CNN video of a November 2017 slave auction in Libya, a human trafficker told Al-Jazeera that hundreds of migrants are bought and sold across the country every week. Migrants who have gone through Libyan detention centres have shown signs of many human rights abuses such as severe abuse, including electric shocks, burns, lashes and even skinning, stated the director of health services on the Italian island of Lampedusa  to Euronews.

A Libyan group known as the Asma Boys have antagonized migrants from other parts of Africa from at least as early as 2000, destroying their property. Nigerian migrants in January 2018 gave accounts of abuses in detention centres, including being leased or sold as slaves. Videos of Sudanese migrants being burnt and whipped for ransom, were released later on by their families on social media. In June 2018, the United Nations applied sanctions against four Libyans (including a Coast Guard commander) and two Eritreans for their criminal leadership of slave trade networks.

A 2023 report by the UN Human Rights Council warned that crimes against humanity were being committed by state security forces and militia groups against migrants in Libya, which included women being forced into sexual slavery. The report highlighted that the European Union contributed to these crimes by sending support to such forces.

Reactions
The governments of Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of the Congo responded to the reports by recalling their ambassadors from Libya. The CNN report incited outrage. Hundreds of protesters, mostly young black people, protested in front of the Libyan embassy in central Paris, with French police firing tear gas to disperse them. Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairman of the African Union Commission, called the auctions "despicable". Protests also took place outside Libyan embassies in Bamako, Conakry and Yaounde. UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that he was horrified by the auction footage and these crimes should be investigated as possible crimes against humanity. Hundreds protested outside the Libyan Embassy on 9 December in London.

President of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou summoned the Libyan ambassador and demanded the International Court of Justice to investigate Libya for slave trade. Foreign minister of Burkina Faso Alpha Barry also stated he had summoned the Libyan ambassador for consultations. France on 22 November sought an emergency meeting of UN Security Council, while President Emmanuel Macron called the footage "scandalous" and "unacceptable." He called the auctions a crime against humanity. President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari stated that Nigerians were being treated like goats and stated stranded Nigerian migrants in Libya will be brought back.

The African Union, European Union and United Nations agreed on 30 November to set up a task force in Libya against migrant abuse. The task force's aim is to coordinate its work with the GNA to dismantle trafficking and criminal networks. It also aims to help countries of origin and transit hubs to tackle migration with development and stability. African and European leaders agreed on the same day to evacuate the migrants trapped in camps.
Former Nigerian aviation minister Femi Fani-Kayode published images on Twitter claiming that slaves were having their organs harvested and some of their bodies are burnt. He also quoted a report claiming that 75% of the slaves are from southern Nigeria. It was unclear however whether his images were authentic.

A Ghanaian lawyer, Bobby Banson, also claimed that the organs of the migrants were being harvested and they were not being sold for work. He requested African Union to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the slave trade.

In 2017, the progressive media watchdog organization FAIR accused the mainstream media in Western nations of whitewashing the role NATO and the United States played in the resurgence of open slave markets in Libya, following the NATO-led ousting of Muammar Qadhafi in 2011.

NCHRL accusations of exaggerated reporting
In November 2017, the National Commission for Human Rights in Libya (NCHRL) claimed that the media reports of slavery in Libya were exaggerated, and that while slavery existed in Libya, it was also rare as well. Slave auctions, the commission said, are "such rare sights" and "are very discrete and clandestine". The commission also called for the Libyan government to stamp out the illegal practice of slavery as well.

See also

 African slave trade
 Human trafficking in Libya
 Slavery in modern Africa
 Islamic views on slavery
 Afro Arab
 Slavery in the Ottoman Empire
 2011 military intervention in Libya
 Timeline of abolition of slavery and serfdom

References

Society of Libya
History of Libya by topic
Libya
Racism in Libya
Anti-black racism in Africa
Human rights abuses in Libya
Human commodity auctions

Slavery in Libya


Roland John Wiley is an American musicologist, instructor and consultant whose main area of focus is on 19th-century Russian music and ballet. He has written a biography and critical study on the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and contributed the entry on the composer in the 2001 edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. His current project is a study of choreographer Marius Petipa.

Career
A California native, Wiley was raised in Nevada before returning to California to attend Stanford University. A music major, he earned a Bachelor of Arts with departmental honors in choral conducting. He entered Harvard University in Massachusetts after a tour of military service. His  dissertation at Harvard focused on Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake, and he earned a Doctorate in 1974. Later that year he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan, where he teaches presently.

Wiley, dubbed "ballet's super sleuth" in 1984 by Boston Globe, was consulted by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London for the Royal Ballet's revivals of Swan Lake and The Nutcracker.  He has also done translation work for that theater, the Edinburgh Festival and the Dallas Opera. His research has taken him four times to Russia and the former USSR, under grant by the American Council of Learned Societies and in conjunction with the International Research and Exchanges Board.  He has received other grants from the Guggenheim and Mellon Foundations and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Wiley has published several books on Tchaikovsky, his colleagues and his work. Among them,  1997's The Life and Ballets of Lev Ivanov: Choreographer of 'The Nutcracker' and 'Swan Lake,''' published through Oxford University Press, took the de la Torre Bueno Prize in 1998 for the best book in dance. 2009's Tchaikovsky, part of the Master Musicians series published by Oxford University Press, was critically well received. Michael Church of The Independent wrote, "Presenting life and art as parallel but separate strands, this coolly magisterial book scotches myths, accepts that some mysteries may never be solved, and builds up a picture of this profoundly conflicted man, and his wondrous music, which will probably never be bettered." The Washington Times, in its review, agreed that the book was "perhaps [the] definitive biography" of the composer, although reviewer John M. Taylor did qualify that the dense volume is a "fine book for the specialist, but not necessarily the best choice for your next air flight."

Publications

Books
 Slavonic and Western Music: Essays for Gerald Abraham (Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1985 (reprint)). . (Editor, with Malcolm Hamrick)
 Tchaikovsky's Ballets (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1985). .
 The Life and Ballets of Lev Ivanov, Choreographer of The Nutcracker and Swan Lake (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1997). .
 A Century of Russian Ballet: Documents and Eyewitness Accounts, 1816-1916 (Alton, Hampshire, UK: Dance Books Ltd., 2008 (reprint)) .
 Master Musicians: Tchaikovsky (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009). .

Articles
 "The Tribulations of the Nationalist Composers: A Speculation Concerning Borrowed Music in Kovanschina." In Mussorgsky, in Memoriam, 1881-1981 (Volume 3 of Russian Music Studies) (Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1982). .
 Title not given. In John Milton Ward Research Materials Concerning the Theatre (Harvard Theater Collection, 1985). ISBN n/a.
 "Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich." In The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition'' (London: Macmillan, 2001), 29 vols., ed. Sadie, Stanley. .

References
University of Michigan faculty page. Retrieved 28 Feb 2012.

Oxford University Press page for Tchaikovsky's Ballets. Retrieved 28 Feb 2012.

American musicologists
Living people
Stanford University alumni
University of Michigan faculty
Year of birth missing (living people)
Harvard University alumni
Tchaikovsky scholars

Roland John Wiley


The Rock Garden (also known as The Garden) in Calhoun, Georgia, is a garden filled with more than 50 miniature castles, churches, and other structures. The Garden, with its whimsical folk art, has become a local tourist attraction.

Background

The Rock Garden grew out of a "Town Game" Dewitt Boyd played with his eight children, in which he would create a village of tiny houses and tiny alter-ego porcelain figures for each child to play with. Boyd chose Genghis Khan as his alternative persona. Each time the family moved, Boyd recreated the village.

In 2007, Boyd started building the Rock Garden as the latest iteration of the Town Game. The Rock Garden is located beside a stream behind the Calhoun Seventh-Day Adventist church, where Boyd is a member. Boyd prefers to be called "Old Dog." He says he is "kind of a scoundrel" and working in the garden helps keep him out of trouble.  Boyd's children and grandchildren, as well as many other volunteers, have helped construct the miniature buildings.

Construction
Through trial and error, Boyd developed his current method of using cement reinforced with wire to build structures out of pebbles, shells, tiles, and broken glass and china. Previously, when Boyd and his family lived in the midwest, they built their miniature town out of clay but discovered that the structures broke into shards when they froze in the winter cold. The work is slow and labor-intensive. For example, the Notre Dame Cathedral took 27 months to build.

Features
The Rock Garden contains miniature versions of several famous structures, including the following:

 The cathedral of Notre Dame, complete with stained glass windows
 The Japanese Himeji Castle
 The Colosseum

In between the villages and structures are narrow cobblestone paths and bridges that people can walk on.

Each autumn, the Garden hosts an annual lighting ceremony where the castles and other miniature buildings are lit by candlelight.

Boyd's wife, Joyce Maples, also works on the Garden and is responsible for the Memory Wall with clay hearts for each marriage ceremony that has taken place in the Garden. As of 2016, 16 wedding ceremonies had taken place in the Garden, including one between Boyd and Joyce.

See also

 Miniature Park
 Rock Garden

References

Calhoun County, Georgia

Rock Garden, Calhoun


Irwin Larry Eberhart II, better known by his stage name Chip E. (born 1966), is an American DJ and record producer. He is one of the early artists of the then-burgeoning house music movement that began in 1980s Chicago.

Life and career
Born in Chicago, Chip E. attended St. Ignatius College Prep, Kenwood Academy, Columbia College Chicago and DePaul University. He started spinning records in 1982 and by 1984 he was producing records. In 1985 Street Mix magazine declared Chip E. as the "Godfather of House Music." In 1987, he became the first Chicago artist to be in regular rotation on all three major Chicago radio stations (WBMX, WGCI-FM and B96). Former B96 programming manager Joe Bohannon (Joe Bo) made the decision to add "If You Only Knew" to regular rotation and with that began the transition of the station from CHR (contemporary hit radio) to a dance music station.

Chip E's first recording Jack Trax was an extended play record that featured "Time to Jack" as well as "It's House". These songs are considered by many as the first House record, and the first to use the terms "Jack" and "House" as they relate to the genre.

Chip E. assisted Frankie Knuckles when he co-produced Frankie's first record You Can't Hide. Other artists Chip jump-started into the music world were Lidell Townsell, Kevin Irving, and Harri Dennis of The It. By the age of 21 Chip E. was a worldwide name. Because of difficulties getting out of a contract with D.J. International records, Chip decided that he would rather not record if he had to do it for D.J. International. His first release Jack Trax is one of the most coveted early house music releases, fetching upwards of $1500.00 (USD) on eBay.

Going Underground
Around 1995 Chip E. stopped recording music but could be found doing the rare DJ gig in Britain or Italy; he had moved into "the realms of mythology." However, while  Chip E. wasn't seen much in the music scene, he had resurfaced as a film and DVD guru. Besides work with artists such as Michael McDonald, Fleetwood Mac, Prince, The Dead, and The Black Eyed Peas, Chip E. also produced a feature-length documentary on the subject of house music. The documentary is entitled The UnUsual Suspects - Once Upon a Time in House Music. was released in the summer of 2005.

Back to Jack
In 2017 Chip E. connected with Carl Cox and the two started working on new music. Carl mentioned in the film 2017 that Chip's record "Time to Jack" was the first House/Techno record. Since their connection, Chip has released "Like This" (a remake of his '80s classic) with the group SLAM on Soma Records, "Time 2 Jack" with Carl Cox on Intec Digital, and collaborations with Gettoblaster and Saladin on We Jack and Phunk Junk Records.

Chip E. DJ'd at the 20th Anniversary of the Ultra Music Festival, and the following night joined Carl Cox on stage to premier their collaboration "Time 2 Jack" in March 2018. Since then Chip has been playing festivals around the world including Thailand and Cuba.

See also
List of house music artists

References

External links

 If You Only Knew (Chip E.) Interview - Gridface webzine
 SPIN's 1986 Feature on Chicago's Club Scene Interview - Spin Magazine
House Music Legend Chip E. Lights Up Chicago November 18 Interview - 5 Magazine

1966 births
Living people
American dance musicians
American electronic musicians
American house musicians
Remixers
Club DJs
DJs from Chicago
St. Ignatius College Prep alumni
Kenwood Academy alumni

Chip E.


Newton Compton Editori, sometimes spelled Newton & Compton, is an Italian publisher.

The publisher was founded in Rome by Vittorio Avanzini in 1969. The house has published mostly paperbacks and low cost editions, including literature classics, essays and poetry. After devoting its activities mainly to reprints, starting from 2000s Newton Compton also publishes previously untranslated horror, science fiction, fantasy and historical novels by authors such as Simon Scarrow, Lisa J. Smith and Stuart MacBride. It has also published original works by Italian authors, including Andrea Frediani and Claudio Rendina.

External links
Official website

Italian publishers (people)
Publishing companies established in 1969

Newton Compton Editori


Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. A certain amount of binding is obtained through the use of carefully selected interlocking stones.

Dry stone construction is best known in the context of stone walls, traditionally used for the boundaries of fields and churchyards, or as retaining walls for terracing, but dry stone shelters, houses and other structures also exist.  The term tends not to be used for the many historic styles which used precisely-shaped stone, but did not use mortar, for example the Greek temple and Inca architecture.

The art of dry stone walling was inscribed in 2018 on the UNESCO representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity, for dry stone walls in countries such as France, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Switzerland and Spain.

History
Some dry stone wall constructions in north-west Europe have been dated back to the Neolithic Age. In County Mayo, Ireland, an entire field system made from dry stone walls, since covered in peat, have been carbon-dated to 3800 BC. In Belize, the Mayan ruins at Lubaantun illustrate use of dry stone construction in architecture of the 8th and 9th centuries AD.Great Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe, Africa, is an acropolis-like large city complex constructed in dry stone from the 11th to the 15th centuries AD. It is the largest of structures of similar construction throughout the area.

The cyclopean walls of the acropolis of Mycenae, Greece, have been dated to 1350 BC and those of Tiryns slightly earlier.

Location and terminology
Terminology varies regionally. When used as field boundaries, dry stone structures are more commonly known as dykes in Scotland, where professional dry stone wall builders are referred to as 'dykers'.  Dry stone walls are characteristic of upland areas of Britain and Ireland where rock outcrops naturally or large stones exist in quantity in the soil. They are especially abundant in the West of Ireland, particularly Connemara. They may also be found throughout the Mediterranean, including retaining walls used for terracing. Such constructions are common where large stones are plentiful (for example, in The Burren) or conditions are too harsh for hedges capable of retaining livestock to be grown as reliable field boundaries. Many thousands of kilometres of such walls exist, most of them centuries old.

In the United States they are common in areas with rocky soils, such as New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and are a notable characteristic of the bluegrass region of central Kentucky as well as Virginia, where they are usually referred to as rock fences or stone fences, and the Napa Valley in north central California. The technique of construction was brought to America primarily by English and Scots-Irish immigrants. The technique was also taken to Australia (principally western Victoria, some parts of Tasmania, and some parts of New South Wales, particularly around Kiama) and New Zealand (especially Otago).

Similar walls also are found in the Swiss–Italian border region, where they are often used to enclose the open space under large natural boulders or outcrops.

The higher-lying rock-rich fields and pastures in Bohemia's south-western border range of Šumava (e.g. around the mountain river of Vydra) are often lined by dry stone walls built of field-stones removed from the arable or cultural land. They serve both as cattle/sheep fences and the lot's borders. Sometimes also the dry stone terracing is apparent, often combined with parts of stone masonry (house foundations and shed walls) that are held together by a clay and pine needle "composite" mortar.

The dry stone walling tradition of Croatia was added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in November 2018, alongside those of Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland. In Croatia, dry stone walls () were built for a variety of reasons: to clear the earth of stone for crops; to delineate land ownership; or for shelter against the bora wind. Some walls date back to the Liburnian era. Notable examples include the island of Baljenac, which has  of dry stone walls despite being only  in area, and the vineyards of Primošten.

In Peru in the 15th century AD, the Inca made use of otherwise unusable slopes by building dry stone walls to create terraces. They also employed this mode of construction for freestanding walls. Their ashlar type construction in Machu Picchu uses the classic Inca architectural style of polished dry stone walls of regular shape. The Incas were masters of this technique, in which blocks of stone are cut to fit together tightly without mortar. Many junctions are so perfect that not even a knife fits between the stones. The structures have persisted in the high earthquake region because of the flexibility of the walls, and because in their double wall architecture, the two portions of the walls incline into each other.

Construction
The style and method of construction of a wall will vary, depending on the type of stone available, its intended use and local tradition. Many older walls were constructed from stones and boulders cleared from the fields during preparation for agriculture (field stones) although some used stone quarried nearby. For modern walls, quarried stone is almost always used.

One type of wall is called a "double" wall and is constructed by placing two rows of stones along the boundary to be walled. The foundation stones are ideally set into the ground so as to rest firmly on the subsoil. The rows are composed of large flattish stones, diminishing in size as the wall rises. Smaller stones may be used as chocks in areas where the natural stone shape is more rounded. The walls are built up to the desired height layer-by-layer (course by course) and, at intervals, large tie-stones or through stones are placed which span both faces of the wall and sometimes project. These have the effect of bonding what would otherwise be two thin walls leaning against each other, greatly increasing the strength of the wall. Diminishing the width of the wall as it gets higher, as traditionally done in Britain, also strengthens the wall considerably. The voids between the facing stones are carefully packed with smaller stones (filling, hearting).

The final layer on the top of the wall also consists of large stones, called capstones, coping stones or copes. As with the tie stones, the capstones span the entire width of the wall and prevent it breaking apart. In some areas, such as South Wales, there is a tradition of placing the coping stones on a final layer of flat stones slightly wider than the top of the wall proper (coverbands).

In addition to gates, a wall may contain smaller purposely built gaps for the passage or control of wildlife and livestock such as sheep. The smaller holes usually no more than  in height are called "Bolt Holes" or "Smoots". Larger ones may be between  in height, which are called "Cripple Holes".

Boulder walls are a type of single wall in which the wall consists primarily of large boulders, around which smaller stones are placed. Single walls work best with large, flatter stones. Ideally, the largest stones are being placed at the bottom and the whole wall tapers toward the top. Sometimes a row of capstones completes the top of a wall, with the long rectangular side of each capstone perpendicular to the wall alignment.

Galloway dykes consist of a base of double-wall construction or larger boulders with single-wall construction above. They appear to be rickety, with many holes, which deters livestock (and people) from attempting to cross them. These dykes are principally found in locations with exceptionally high winds, where a solid wall might be at risk of being unsettled by the buffeting. The porous nature of the wall significantly reduces wind force but takes greater skill to construct. They are also found in grazing areas where they are used to maximize the utility of the available stones (where ploughing was not turning up ever more stones).

Another variation is the Cornish hedge or Welsh clawdd, which is a stone-clad earth bank topped by turf, scrub, or trees and characterised by a strict inward-curved batter (the slope of the "hedge"). As with many other varieties of wall, the height is the same as the width of the base, and the top is half the base width.

Different regions have made minor modifications to the general method of construction—sometimes because of limitations of building material available, but also to create a look that is distinctive for that area. Whichever method is used to build a dry stone wall, considerable skill is required. Correcting any mistakes invariably means disassembling down to the level of the error. Selection of the correct stone for every position in the wall makes an enormous difference to the lifetime of the finished product, and a skilled waller will take time making the selection.

As with many older crafts, skilled wallers, today, are few in number. With the advent of modern wire fencing, fields can be fenced with much less time and expense using wire than using stone walls; however, the initial expense of building dykes is offset by their sturdiness and consequent long, low-maintenance lifetimes. As a result of the increasing appreciation of the landscape and heritage value of dry stone walls, wallers remain in demand, as do the walls themselves. A nationally recognised certification scheme is operated in the UK by the Dry Stone Walling Association, with four grades from Initial to Master Craftsman.

Notable examples include:
 Mourne Wall: twenty-two mile long wall in the Mourne Mountains location in County Down, Northern Ireland
 Ottenby nature reserve, built by Charles X Gustav in mid 17th century, Öland, Sweden

Other uses

While the dry stone technique is most commonly used for the construction of double-wall stone walls and single-wall retaining terracing, dry stone sculptures, buildings, fortifications, bridges, and other structures also exist.

Traditional turf-roofed Highland blackhouses were constructed using the double-wall dry stone method. When buildings are constructed using this method, the middle of the wall is generally filled with earth or sand in order to eliminate draughts. During the Iron Age, and perhaps earlier, the technique also was used to build fortifications such as the walls of Eketorp Castle (Öland, Sweden), Maiden Castle, North Yorkshire, Reeth, Dunlough Castle in southwest Ireland and the rampart of the Long Scar Dyke. Many of the dry-stone walls that exist today in Scotland can be dated to the 14th century or earlier when they were built to divide fields and retain livestock. Some extremely well built examples are found on the lands of Muchalls Castle.

Dry stone walls can be built against embankments or even vertical terraces. If they are subjected to lateral earth pressure, they are retaining walls of the type gravity wall. The weight of the stones resists the pressure from the retained soil, including any surcharges, and the friction between the stones causes most of them to act as if they were a monolithic gravity wall of the same weight. Dry stone retaining walls were once built in great numbers for agricultural terracing and also to carry paths, roads and railways. Although dry stone is seldom used for these purposes today, a great many are still in use and maintained. New ones are often built in gardens and nature conservation areas. Dry stone retaining structures continue to be a subject of research.

In northeastern Somalia, on the coastal plain 20 km to Aluula's east are found ruins of an ancient monument in a platform style. The structure is formed by a rectangular dry stone wall that is low in height; the space in between is filled with rubble and manually covered with small stones. Relatively large standing stones are also positioned on the edifice's corners. Near the platform are graves, which are outlined in stones. 24 m by 17 m in dimension, the structure is the largest of a string of ancient platform and enclosed platform monuments exclusive to far northeastern Somalia.

In Great Britain, Ireland, France and Switzerland, it is possible to find small dry stone structures built as signs, marking mountain paths or boundaries of owned land. In many countries, cairns, as they are called in Scotland, are used as road and mountain top markers.

Gallery

See also

 Anathyrosis (Greece)
 Broch (Scotland)
 Building material
 Cabanes du Breuil (France)
 Dry stone hut
 Great Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe)
 Machu Picchu (Peru)
 Mending Wall (US)
 Nuraghe (Sardegna)
 Stone industry
 Stora Alvaret (Sweden)
 Trullo (Italy)
 Village des Bories (France)

References

Further reading
 Colonel F. Rainsford-Hannay, Dry Stone Walling, Faber & Faber. 1957
 Alan Brooks and Sean Adcock, Dry Stone Walling, a practical handbook, TCV. 2013
 Carolyn Murray-Wooley & Karl Raitz, Rock Fences of the Bluegrass, University Press of Kentucky. 1992.
 The Dry Stone Walling Association, Dry Stone Walling, Techniques and Traditions. 2004
 Louis Cagin & Laetitia Nicolas, Construire en pierre sèche, éditions Eyrolles. 2008
 Patrick McAfee, Irish Stone Walls: History, Building, Conservation, The O'Brien Press. 2011
 Alen MacWeeney (photog.) & Richard Conniff, The Stone Walls of Ireland. London: Thames & Hudson, 1986 ; New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1986

External links

 How to build a dry stone wall
 Dry Stone Walling Association of Canada
 Dry Stone Walls Association of Australia
 The Dry Stone Wall Association of Ireland
 Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain
 Current Archaeology notes on Working Holidays repairing dry stone walls
 The Drystone Conservancy, US
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"The Sign" is a hit song performed by Ace of Base. It was released as a single on 29 October 1993 in Europe. The song hit #2 on the UK Singles Chart. It spent six weeks near #1 in the United States.

A cover version of this song was played on the television series Full House.

Another version of this song lasts six minutes and 49 seconds.

1993 songs
Pop songs

The Sign


Benedict (; died late 1319 or early 1320) was a Hungarian Dominican friar and prelate at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, who served as Bishop of Transylvania from 1309 until his death.

Early life
Benedict joined the Dominican Order at his young age, as a result contemporary documents styled him as "frater" throughout his whole life. His parentage is unknown. A papal document emphasizes his skills and literacy in science and theology. It is possible, he is identical with that lector Benedict, who appears in a source in 1295. Later, he elevated into the position of prior of the Dominican monastery in Gyulafehérvár (present-day Alba Iulia, Romania). In this capacity, he was an adviser and confidant ("amicus ac consiliarius") of the influential prelate, Peter Monoszló, who served as Bishop of Transylvania from the 1270s. Thereafter, he was transferred to the Dominican monastery of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Buda Island, where he functioned as prior too.

Episcopate

Controversial election
After a long-standing 37-year of episcopal reign, Peter Monoszló died on 27 November 1307. At the last decade of his life, the elderly bishop maintained a cooperative relationship with the powerful voivode Ladislaus Kán, who ruled the province de facto independently of the central royal authority, and thus he was considered one of the so-called "oligarchs" at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries. Consequently, the death of Peter Monoszló proved to be a good opportunity for Ladislaus Kán to extend his direct influence over the ecclesiastical affairs and properties in Transylvania. According to the accusations, the powerful lord confiscated the church benefices and filled the number of canons of the cathedral chapter with his loyal laymen. Moreover, Ladislaus Kán also demanded that one of his sons be elected as the new bishop of Transylvania. Several canons were hiding in various Dominican and Augustinian monasteries throughout the province in order to prevent the realization of his intentions. The voivode, however, captured and persuaded them to participate in the election process took place on 7 January 1308, in accordance with the canon law; other elderly canons were imprisoned temporarily. Disrupting the canons' right of free election, Ladislaus Kán appeared and chaired in person at the assembly and prevented the formation of a voting committee. The voivode declared that his son to be postulated formally and read the "new bishop's" inaugural diploma, persuading the intimidated clergymen to confirm the result with their seals.

The cathedral chapter, through their representative Peter of Paris, filed suit in the court of papal legate Gentile Portino da Montefiore regarding the oligarch's methods against the bishopric. The cardinal commissioned auditors general Filip de Sardinea and Johannes de Aretio to investigate the case. In July 1309, Ladislaus Kán – realizing its untenability – declared that he would not maintain his son's claim to the bishopric, but he suggested two new candidates to the canons: Augustinian friar Peter or Dominican friar Benedict, both of them were considered his confidants. The voivode emphasized he is willing to return the occupied church lands to the diocese, if the cathedral chapter elect his nominated candidates either. On 24 July 1309, the threatened canons were yielding to extortion and "unanimously" elected Benedict as the new Bishop of Transylvania on the recommendation of Benedict, archdeacon of Ózd in order to the "immediate elimination of dangerous ordeals". During the second lawsuit, the archdeacon, acted as lawyer of the cathedral chapter, argued that Benedict was a suitable candidate as he enjoyed the support of Ladislaus Kán, while as a former local prior and as a friend and councilor of the late Peter Monoszló, was aware of local conditions.

Benedict stayed in Buda, when he was informed on his election as bishop by canons Nicholas and Peter of Paris. He received the permission of Paul, Prior Provincial of Hungary to transfer him to Transylvania on 17 August; his superior also requested Gentile to confirm Benedict's election. According to the rules of the Dominicans, Benedict had to suspend his affiliation to the order after he nominally took the office. Benedict himself also requested the papal legate to confirm his election as "finally, a regular election took place to restore peace after the long threat had ended". However, only 15 of 24 members of the cathedral chapter took part in the election process. The remaining nine canons opposed Benedict's forced candidacy and one of them, John, provost of Gyulafehérvár protested against the election to the judicial court of Gentile in late August 1309, which resulted launching a second lawsuit on 1 September 1309 with the mandates of Filip de Sardinea and Johannes de Aretio. The plaintiff formulated three charges: he argued the date of election exceeded the three-month deadline after the death of the previous suffragan; the election of Benedict was hastened by cantor Thomas and his followers, who were excommunicated for their previous infringements; while the cathedral chapter itself did not fulfill its share in servitium commune, the sustenance of papal legate Gentile's court. As a result, John considered, the right of appointment of a new bishop returned to the competency of the Holy See. Because of the lawsuit, Benedict was forbidden to travel to his episcopal see and diocese without the permission of the papal legate.

Provost John declared in October 1309 that he is no longer opposing the election of Benedict. Despite that, the lawsuit continued throughout the year. The cathedral chapter nominated Benedict, archdeacon of Ózd as their legal representative at the court. The two auditors provided 40 days for Benedict to nominee two truthful witnesses, who will verify the regularity of the electoral process. The cathedral chapter was also granted the same deadline to prove the reason for the delay in the choice (secular interference and intimidation) and their existing right to choice a new suffragan (rejection of accusation of excommunication). The auditors even sent an order to Benedict from cardinal Gentile, who strictly forbade him travel to Transylvania under threat of excommunication. In mid-September 1309, both the seven Saxon deacons and Stephen, prior of the Augustinian friars at Gyulafehérvár confirmed that Ladislaus Kán hindered the orderly election until 1 July 1309. Regarding the second accusation, archdeacon Benedict emphasized that the cathedral chapter was not aware of the ecclesiastical punishments against cantor Thomas and his followers. Annihilating the third accusation, archdeacon Benedict and bishop-elect Benedict presented proof of payment of the chapter in October 1309, which proved the diocese's contribution to financing the operation of Gentile's court.

Episcopal activity
The controversy over Benedict's election was soon drawn into a political context; Ladislaus Kán seized the Holy Crown since 1307, thus Charles I of Hungary – following years of struggle for the Hungarian throne – was crowned with a temporary crown in June 1309. However, most Hungarians regarded this coronation invalid. Gentile and the Hungarian prelates urged the voivode to hand over the Holy Crown to Charles. According to János Temesváry and Mária Lupescu Makó, bishop-elect Benedict negotiated with Ladislaus Kán on behalf of the papal legate in order to recover the crown jewel in late 1309 or early 1310. According to Sándor Hunyadi, this occurred in the spring of summer of 1309, and the historian identified him with that envoy Benedict, who was captured and imprisoned by Henry Kőszegi's supporters on his way back to home. Hunyadi argues there was a second meeting between Ladislaus Kán and Benedict in early 1310. Consequently, the voivode promised he will send Benedict with the Holy Crown to the court of Gentile, but he delayed fulfillment of his promise. Another meeting with the oligarch took place in April, but without the participation of Benedict. In May 1310, the cardinal emphasized to Benedict that the interdict over Transylvania should be maintained, until Kán is not fulfilling his promise. It is possible that Benedict himself delivered the Holy Crown to Gentile at Pressburg (present-day Bratislava, Slovakia) on 1 July 1310. As a reward, the papal legate confirmed his election and consecrated him as a bishop in a "public place" on the next day, 2 July. On 27 August 1310, Archbishop Thomas of Esztergom put the Holy Crown on Charles's head in Székesfehérvár; thus, Charles's third coronation was performed in full accordance with customary law. Benedict also took part in the ceremony.

Contrary to the details of his controversial election and its subsequent lawsuits, only fragmented data exist about his decade long episcopal activity. Upon his request, Charles I confirmed and transcribed Ladislaus IV's 1275 donation letter to the Diocese of Transylvania on 20 July 1313. Benedict resided in the royal court for years. He participated in the royal campaign of 1313 against the province of Matthew Csák. He was present at bishops' meeting at Temesvár (present-day Timișoara, Romania) in July 1315. After Charles neglected to reclaim Church property that Matthew Csák had seized by force, the prelates of the realm, including Benedict, made an alliance in Kalocsa in March 1318 against all who would jeopardize their interests. Upon their demand, Charles held a Diet in summer, but refused to confirm the Golden Bull of 1222. The relationship between Ladislaus Kán and Benedict following his election is relatively unknown. It is plausible that, in exchange for recovering the Holy Crown for the royal court, the voivode may have retained the previously forfeited possessions from the cathedral chapter of Transylvania, including the income (tithe) from salt mining.

Throughout his whole episcopate, Benedict was overwhelmed by the burden of paying his arrears regarding the supplies of Gentile's court and his diocese's share, even after the departure and death of the papal legate. The bishopric of Transylvania accumulated large amount of arrears (938,5 marks) over three years until 1310. Benedict paid off some of the debt (520,5 marks) in December 1310. Under threat of penalty, the bishop and his diocese were only able to repay the remaining amount (410 marks) in several installments in the next 7 years. In the fourth and last year of Gentile's mandate in Hungary (1311), the papal legate determined the additional supply costs for the Diocese of Transylvania in a value of 450–500 marks. Benedict objected to the size of the amount and felt injustice on the cardinal's apart, as the much richer Archdiocese of Kalocsa had to pay similar amount. In July 1311, Benedict petitioned to the Holy See. After the death of Gentile in October 1312, his trusted tax collector, a certain Homboth, a burger of Pressburg demanded the collection of the tithe for the legate's staff along with the amount paid. In June 1318, Pope John XXII determined fixed the remaining debt in value of 953 Buda silver marks. Benedict was only willing to pay part of it. Benedict died in late 1319 or early 1320, the papal tax collector Rufinus de Civinio referred to him as a deceased person on 13 January 1320. Benedict was succeeded by Andrew Szécsi still in that year, however three letters of Pope John XXII from 1323 refer to one Franciscan friar Martin as Andrew's immediate predecessor. It is possible Martin was elected by the cathedral chapter shortly after Benedict's death, but he died before his consecration and papal confirmation.

References

Sources

13th-century Hungarian people
14th-century Hungarian clergy
Hungarian Dominicans
Dominican bishops
Bishops of Transylvania

Benedict, Bishop of Transylvania


Charles VIII, called the Affable (; 30 June 1470 – 7 April 1498), was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. He succeeded his father Louis XI at the age of 13. His elder sister Anne acted as regent jointly with her husband Peter II, Duke of Bourbon until 1491 when the young king turned 21 years of age. During Anne's regency, the great lords rebelled against royal centralisation efforts in a conflict known as the Mad War (1485–1488), which resulted in a victory for the royal government.

In a remarkable stroke of audacity, Charles married Anne of Brittany in 1491 after she had already been married by proxy to the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in a ceremony of questionable validity. Preoccupied by the problematic succession in the Kingdom of Hungary, Maximilian failed to press his claim. Upon his marriage, Charles became administrator of Brittany and established a personal union that enabled France to avoid total encirclement by Habsburg territories.

To secure his rights to the Neapolitan throne that René of Anjou had left to his father, Charles made a series of concessions to neighbouring monarchs and, due to his revolutionary artillery, conquered the Italian peninsula without much opposition. A coalition formed against the French invasion of 1494–98 attempted to stop Charles' army at Fornovo, but failed and Charles marched his army back to France.

Charles died in 1498 after accidentally striking his head on the lintel of a door at the Château d'Amboise, his place of birth. Since he had no male heir, he was succeeded by his second cousin once removed and brother-in-law at the time, Louis XII from the Orléans cadet branch of the House of Valois.

Youth
Charles was born at the Château d'Amboise in France, the only surviving son of King Louis XI by his second wife Charlotte of Savoy. His godparents were Charles II, Duke of Bourbon (the godchild's namesake), Joan of Valois, Duchess of Bourbon, and the teenage Edward of Westminster, the son of Henry VI of England who had been living in France since the deposition of his father by Edward IV. Charles succeeded to the throne on 30 August 1483 at the age of 13. His health was poor. He was regarded by his contemporaries as possessing a pleasant disposition, but also as foolish and unsuited for the business of the state. In accordance with the wishes of Louis XI, the regency of the kingdom was granted to Charles' elder sister Anne, a formidably intelligent and shrewd woman described by her father as "the least foolish woman in France." She ruled as regent, together with her husband Peter of Bourbon, until 1491.

Marriage

Charles was betrothed on 22 July 1483 to the 3-year-old Margaret of Austria, daughter of the Archduke Maximilian of Austria (later Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I) and Mary, Duchess of Burgundy. The marriage was arranged by Louis XI, Maximilian, and the Estates of the Low Countries as part of the 1482 Peace of Arras between France and the Duchy of Burgundy. Margaret brought the counties of Artois and Burgundy to France as her dowry, and she was raised in the French court as a prospective queen.

In 1488, however, Francis II, Duke of Brittany, died in a riding accident, leaving his 11-year-old daughter Anne as his heir. Anne, who feared for the independence of her duchy against the ambitions of France, arranged a marriage in 1490 between herself and the widower Maximilian. The regent Anne of France and her husband Peter refused to countenance such a marriage, however, since it would place Maximilian and his family, the Habsburgs, on two French borders. The French army invaded Brittany, taking advantage of the preoccupation of Maximilian and his father, Emperor Frederick III, with the disputed succession to Mathias Corvinus, King of Hungary. Anne of Brittany was forced to renounce Maximilian (whom she had only married by proxy) and agree to be married to Charles VIII instead.

In December 1491, in an elaborate ceremony at the Château de Langeais, Charles and Anne of Brittany were married. The 14-year-old Duchess Anne, not happy with the arranged marriage, arrived for her wedding with her entourage carrying two beds. However, Charles's marriage brought him independence from his relatives and thereafter he managed affairs according to his own inclinations. Queen Anne lived at the Clos Lucé in Amboise.

There still remained the matter of Charles' first betrothed, the young Margaret of Austria. Although the cancellation of her betrothal meant that she by rights should have been returned to her family, Charles did not initially do so, intending to marry her usefully elsewhere in France. Eventually, in 1493, she was returned to her family, together with her dowry – though the Duchy of Burgundy was retained in the Treaty of Senlis.

Around the king there was a circle of court poets, the most memorable being the Italian humanist Publio Fausto Andrelini from Forlì, who spread Renaissance humanism in France. During a pilgrimage to pay respects to his father's remains, Charles observed Mont Aiguille and ordered Antoine de Ville to ascend to the summit in an early technical alpine climb, later alluded to by Rabelais.

Italian War

To secure France against invasions, Charles made treaties with Maximilian I of Austria (the Treaty of Barcelona with Maximilian of Austria on 19 January 1493) and England, (the Treaty of Étaples with England on 3 November 1492) buying their neutrality with large concessions. The English monarch Henry VII had forced Charles to abandon his support for the pretender Perkin Warbeck by despatching an expedition which laid siege to Boulogne. He devoted France's resources to building up a large army, including one of Europe's first siege trains with artillery.

In 1489, Pope Innocent VIII (1484–1492), then being at odds with Ferdinand I of Naples, offered Naples to Charles, who had a vague claim to the Kingdom of Naples through his paternal grandmother, Marie of Anjou. Innocent's policy of meddling in the affairs of other Italian states was continued by his successor, Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503), when the latter supported a plan for a carving out a new state in central Italy. The new state would have impacted on Milan more than any of the other states involved. Consequently, in 1493, Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, appealed for help to Charles VIII. Charles then returned Perpignan to Ferdinand II of Aragon to free up forces for the invasion of Italy. The next year in 1494, Milan faced an additional threat. On 25 January 1494, Ferdinand I, King of Naples, died unexpectedly. His death made Alfonso II, king of Naples. Alfonso II laid claim to the Milanese duchy. Alfonso II now urged Charles to take Milan militarily. Charles was also urged on in this adventure by his favorite courtier, Étienne de Vesc. Thus, Charles came to imagine himself capable of actually taking Naples, and invaded Italy.

In an event that was to prove a watershed in Italian history, Charles invaded Italy with 25,000 men (including 8,000 Swiss mercenaries) in September 1494 and marched across the peninsula virtually unopposed, using gunpowder artillery powerful enough to rapidly reduce Italian fortifications not designed to endure it. He arrived in Pavia on 21 October 1494 and entered Pisa on 8 November 1494. The French army subdued Florence in passing on their way south. Reaching Naples on 22 February 1495, the French Army took Naples without a pitched battle or siege; Alfonso was expelled, and Charles was crowned King of Naples.

There were those in the Republic of Florence who appreciated the presence of the French king and his Army. The famous friar Savonarola believed that King Charles VIII was God's tool to purify the corruption of Florence. He believed that once Charles had ousted the evil sinners of Florence, the city would become a center of morality. Thus, Florence was the appropriate place to restructure the Church. This situation would eventually spill over into another conflict between Pope Alexander VI, who despised the idea of having the king in northern Italy where the Pope feared the King of France would interfere with the Papal States, and Savonarola, who called for the king's intervention. This conflict would eventually lead Savonarola to be suspected of heresy and to be executed by the State.

The speed and power of the French advance frightened the other Italian rulers, including the Pope and even Ludovico of Milan. They formed an anti-French coalition, the League of Venice on 31 March 1495.  The formation of the League of Venice, which included the northern Italian states of Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Mantua, and the Republic of Florence in addition to the Kingdom of Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Naples, appeared to have trapped Charles in southern Italy and blocked his return to France.  Charles would have to cross the territory of at least some of the League members to return home to France.  At Fornovo in July 1495, the League was unable to stop Charles from marching his army out of Italy. The League lost 2,000 men to his 1,000 and, although Charles lost nearly all the booty of the campaign, the League was unable to stop him from crossing their territory on his way back to France. Meanwhile, Charles' remaining garrisons in Naples were quickly subdued by Aragonese forces sent by Ferdinand II of Aragon, ally of Alfonso on 6–7 July 1495. Thus in the end, Charles VIII lost all the gains that he had made in Italy.

Over the next few years, Charles VIII tried to rebuild his army and resume the campaign, but he was hampered by the large debts incurred in 1494–95. He never succeeded in gaining anything substantive.

Death
Charles died in 1498, two and a half years after his retreat from Italy, as the result of an accident. While on his way to watch a game of jeu de paume (real tennis) in Amboise he struck his head on the lintel of a door. At around 2:00 p.m., while returning from the game, he fell into a sudden coma and died nine hours later.

Charles bequeathed a meagre legacy: he left France in debt and in disarray as a result of his ambition. However, his expedition did strengthen cultural ties to Italy, energizing French art and literature in the latter part of the Renaissance. Since his children predeceased him, Charles was the last of the elder branch of the House of Valois. Upon his death, the throne passed to his brother-in-law and second cousin once removed, Louis XII. Anne returned to Brittany and began taking steps to regain the independence of her duchy. In order to stymie these efforts, Louis XII had his 24-year childless marriage to Charles's sister, Joan, annulled and married Anne.

Appearance and personality
Charles was a man of very short stature and ill health, described as monstrous by the Italians, so much so that Jacopo d'Atri felt compelled to communicate to the Marquise Isabella d'Este that the king "is not as deformed as our people describe him". He had a big head, short crooked legs, six toes per foot ; He was also afflicted with a persistent tremor in his hands. According to chronicler Marin Sanudo, he did not wear a helmet because his weak complexity did not allow him to do so. Contemporaries agreed that its only beauty was the look, in which there was a certain nobility.

The Venetian ambassador Zaccaria Contarini described it in 1492:

He was considered ambitious and fanatical, an admirer of the ancient paladins of the Carolingian cycle to the point of wanting to imitate them with his enterprise in Italy. He was nicknamed the Affable or the Courteous for his friendliness in disposing with everyone. ] In these terms, in fact, the Duchess Beatrice d'Este speaks of it to her sister Isabella:About noon [King Charles] came to see us in a very domestic way together with his wealthier courtiers and stayed for about three hours with me and my ladies, with such familiarity and affection that no greater could be desired from a prince in the world. He wanted to see my ladies dance and then me, and he took singular pleasure in it. – Letter from Beatrice d'Este to Isabella d'Este, 12 September 1494.The historian Philip of Comines said of it: "there was never a man so petty of body and unintelligent as the king, but it was not possible to find in the world a better creature than himself", in relation to the fact that, in his opinion, Charles had consoled himself early on with the death of his only son, Charles Orlando, having the suspicion that the child, Bold and courageous already at the age of three, "continuing in that inclination would have ended up taking away his authority and power".

Passion for women

Charles was an unrepentant womanizer, indeed he had a real obsession for women: writes the chronicler Girolamo Priuli that, on returning to France in 1495, Charles had been attacked by "coast sickness" due to the excessive coitus practiced in Italy; and adds that he was reckoned among the most lewd men in France, that "when he had been involved with one, he cared no more than her", and that although he was careful not to touch the wives of others, he had sometimes "used also tyranny to take the virgins and the wives of others, to such an extent the beauty delighted them".

Marin Sanudo says: "According to the French custom of wanting above all to be in pleasure with women, and his climate is given to Venus, so this King followed his pleasures very much, both to be at an age suitable for this, and because his nature so he required. And he tried various types of women here in Italy, which were brought to him by his French".For this reason the Duchess Beatrice d'Este, in coming to pay homage to him in Asti, brought with her the eighty most beautiful ladies of Milan, whom he wanted to kiss all on the mouth according to the custom French, including the Duchess and the very young Bianca Giovanna Sforza, daughter of Ludovico il Moro. With some of those ladies the king then took pleasure, offering them gold rings in exchange.  At the same time he delighted to see Beatrice herself dance and to make her try on about twenty dresses, in order to choose which one she would wear in the portrait he had requested, under the pretext of showing his wife Anna the Duchess's clothing. Il Moro wrote to Caterina Gonzaga, a noble courtesan from Romagna, to make her come urgently to Asti to satisfy the king for a very rich fee, but it seems that the woman had refused to go because she was in love with Ferrandino d'Aragona.

In the same days the Marquis William IX of Montferrat invited the king to Casale to his mother Maria, whom Charles greatly desired to know because, although she had been married to an old man, she was still young and had a reputation for being beautiful.  In Naples he was mad with love for Eleonora Piccolomini d'Aragona, daughter of the late Duke of Amalfi, pushed by her mother Maria Marzano of Aragon to prostitute herself in order to regain the County of Celano; and at the same time had as a favorite a Gonzaga whom he met in Guastalla, which is assumed to be the same Caterina who had initially refused the offer of the Moro. This is evident from the chronicler Marin Sanudo and from a report of the Venetian ambassadors of May 1495.

During the battle of Fornovo an album containing the licentious portraits of all the mistresses he had had in Italy was stolen from him, to get it back which Carlo prayed at length to the Marquis Francesco II Gonzaga, who had sent it to his wife in Mantua. Still on 6 October, at the end of his unsuccessful expedition and during the negotiations for the Peace of Vercelli, he did not stop thinking about women: having received the visit of some Mantuan singers, he questioned them about the features of the Marquise Isabella d'Este, her character and her way of dressing, also wanting to know if she was as beautiful as her sister Beatrice d'Este.

In short, Charles liked short women because he too was short. Jacopo d'Atri communicated to the Marquise his suspicion that the king would come to Mantua to kiss her "a thousand times", however the meeting never took place, as shortly after he returned to France.

The manuscript Les dictz des femmes de diverses nations contains a miniature of the "duchesse de Bar", accompanied by a rhyming caption: "For proud bearing and merry countenance / Sumptuous costume in the new style / For kind welcome and choice beauty / There is no one in memory / Who has ever so pleased Charles the French King."  Referring to the sumptuous Milanese welcome in Asti and her actual exuberance in dress, which so impressed French visitors, the historian René Maulde-La-Clavière identified this woman in the Duchess of Bari, Beatrice d'Este. In fact, her husband Ludovico was also called "duc de Bar" in French and Charles himself addressed him with this title: "notre trés cher et trés amé cousin, le seigneur Ludovic, duc de Bar". The hypothesis would be confirmed by the fact that Louis d'Orléans unequivocally called Beatrice "la duchesse de Bar". The miniature shows a young woman riding a mule, wearing a showy feathered hat, a dress with horizontal stripes, a wand in her hand, and a dagger belted at her side. However, it would not appear to be a portrait of Beatrice, nor was she ever the king's lover, therefore the verses should be understood only in relation to gallant receptions, and not dedicated to a "mistress" of the king, as supposed by some. Other historians have identified this woman with the then Duchess of Bar, Philippa of Guelders (1467–1547), who died as a nun and in the odour of sanctity, and even in this case it does not appear that she was ever Charles's lover.

Issue

The marriage with Anne resulted in the birth of six recorded children, who all died young:
 Charles Orland, Dauphin of France (11 October 1492 – 16 December 1495), died of the measles when three years old. Buried at Tours Cathedral.
 Francis (August 1493), was premature and stillborn. Buried at Notre-Dame de Cléry.
 Stillborn daughter (March 1495)
 Charles, Dauphin of France (8 September 1496 – 2 October 1496). Buried at Tours Cathedral.
 Francis, Dauphin of France (July 1497). He died several hours after his birth. Buried at Tours Cathedral.
 Anne of France (20 March 1498). She died on the day of her birth at Château de Plessis-lez-Tours. Buried at Tours Cathedral.

Media
The 1671 English play Charles VIII of France by John Crowne depicts his reign.

Charles VIII's invasion of Italy and his relations with Pope Alexander VI are depicted in the novel The Sultan's Helmsman.

In the 2011 Showtime series The Borgias, Charles VIII is portrayed by French actor Michel Muller.
In the 2011 French-German historical drama Borgia, Charles VIII is played by Simon Larvaron.
The event of the king's death is depicted in the TV series Borgia with a small twist: in the episode, Charles himself plays a game of jeu de paume with Cesare Borgia and loses; while leaving the game, Charles strikes his head on the lintel of a door. The 2012 Spanish TV series Isabel also depicts the death of Charles VIII. In that series, Charles was played by the actor Héctor Carballo.

In the 2017 German-Austrian historical drama Maximilian, a young Charles when he was Dauphin is portrayed by French actor Max Baissette de Malglaive. Made available by American cable network Starz in 2018.

Ancestry

See also

First Italian War
Louis III of France, another French king who died after hitting his head on a lintel

Notes

References

Sources

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1470 births
1498 deaths
15th-century kings of France
Burials at the Basilica of Saint-Denis
Ancien Régime
Dauphins of France
Dauphins of Viennois
Deaths from head injury
French people of Cypriot descent
French real tennis players
House of Valois
Medieval child monarchs
People from Amboise
People of Byzantine descent
Sport deaths in France
1480s in France
1490s in France
Sportspeople from Indre-et-Loire
Sons of kings
Dukes of Brittany
French people of German descent

Charles VIII of France


The Mora was William the Conqueror's flagship for his invasion of England in 1066. It served as his personal ship between England and Normandy afterwards. It was the largest and fastest ship in his invasion fleet. The Mora was a gift to William by his wife Matilda of Flanders.

The ship

The Mora was built at Barfleur in Normandy. It was a gift from Matilda of Flanders to her husband  Duke William of Normandy. It was completed in the summer of 1066. Mora was a larger ship that could carry ten to twelve knights with their attendants, weapons and armor. It would also have a crew to sail it. The captain of the ship was Stephen, the son of Airard. Stephen was the captain of the Mora for over twenty years.  Orderic Vitalis described the ship: "it had for its figurehead the image of a child, gilt, pointing with its right hand towards England, and having in its mouth a trumpet of ivory. Mora carried multicolored sails and at the top of the mainmast was the papal banner (Pope's flag), consecrated and sent to William from Rome.<ref>G.H. Preble, 'The "Mora", A.D. 1066', The New York Times, June 3, 1883</ref> The banner was described as "a square white banner charged with a gold cross within a blue border."

 Maiden voyage

Before sunset on September 27th, according to William of Poitiers, Duke William's invasion fleet left for England. The Mora led the fleet. Mora carried a lantern on her mast so she could be seen in the dark. A horn also let the other ships know where the Mora was. The Mora was much faster than the other ships. By dawn William found himself in mid-channel, alone, with no other ships in sight. While he waited his servants served him breakfast with wine. Once the others were in sight the fleet proceeded to Pevensey in Sussex. According to Elisabeth van Houts, the meaning of the name is not known although there have been several suggestions. It might be named for the Morini, ancient inhabitants of Flanders.  This is where Matilda was from. The Latin word mora has several meanings, none of which seem likely. These range from 'delay' or 'pause' to 'foolish' or 'foolish woman'. Also is the possibility that Mora was an anagram of Amor''.

Notes

References

Sailing ships
Normandy
1060s establishments
1066 in England

Mora (ship)


William Allen Jowitt, 1st Earl Jowitt,  (15 April 1885 – 16 August 1957) was a British Liberal Party, National Labour and then Labour Party politician and lawyer who served as Lord Chancellor under Clement Attlee from 1945 to 1951.

Background and education
He was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, the son of Reverend William Jowitt, Rector of Stevenage, by his wife Louisa Margaret Allen.

At the age of nine, he was sent to Northaw Place, a preparatory school in Potters Bar, Middlesex, where he first met and was looked after by fellow student Clement Attlee, the future Labour Party Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

From Northaw, he went to Marlborough College, then to New College, Oxford where he studied law. He was admitted to the Middle Temple on 15 November 1906 and was called to the Bar on 23 June 1909.

Legal and political career (1922–1931)

Jowitt became a member of chambers in Brick Court in London. He proved himself a skilled advocate, attracting attention for his subdued and charming manner when barristers were more inclined to browbeat witnesses. He became a King's Counsel the day before the 1922 general election in which he was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for The Hartlepools. Jowitt was a member of the faction of the Liberal Party led by H. H. Asquith and somewhat radical in his beliefs. He continued to practise law whilst a backbench MP and was not considered a great orator in the House of Commons.

Jowitt was re-elected, now part of the re-united Liberal Party, at the 1923 general election, and in 1924, he was a member of the Royal Commission on Lunacy. He lost his seat in the 1924 general election. Jowitt stood successfully in Preston in the 1929 general election, again elected as a Liberal. Following the formation of a minority Labour government, he was offered the position of attorney general by the new prime minister, Ramsay MacDonald.

Labour had few experienced lawyers in its ranks in Parliament and had experienced problems filling the positions of legal officers in its first government. Jowitt agreed, but resigned his seat and stood again as a candidate for the Labour Party. At the by-election in July 1929, Preston re-elected him with an increased majority. As was customary, Jowitt received a knighthood upon becoming attorney general. His work mainly concerned the drafting of government bills, particularly the reversal of the Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act 1927.

As was still the custom for the attorney general, he occasionally prosecuted in high-profile cases, notably Sidney Harry Fox, charged with murdering his mother by suffocating her and then setting fire to her hotel room. It was said that a single question from Jowitt ("Explain to me why you shut the door?") sealed Fox's fate since Fox could think of no convincing answer.

Divided loyalties (1931–1939)
When the Labour government split over the financial crisis in 1931, Jowitt was one of only a handful of Labour MPs to follow MacDonald into the National Government. He was uncomfortable in a coalition with the Conservatives but believed that the proposed spending cuts causing the split were necessary, and the coalition was necessary to force them through. Like others who joined the National Government, he was expelled from the Labour Party.

He was made a Privy Councillor but found himself in a difficult electoral position when he could not secure the withdrawal of the Conservative candidate in Preston in the 1931 general election. He thus stood instead as the National Labour candidate for the Combined English Universities, but there too, he competed with other candidates supporting the National Government and was defeated. MacDonald persuaded Jowitt to remain as Attorney General in the hope that a new seat could be found to maintain the handful of National Labour positions in the government, but that proved impossible and Jowitt stepped down. He was replaced as Attorney General in January 1932 and returned to the Bar. Though relatively new to the party, Jowitt greatly regretted the split with Labour. He remained close to MacDonald, but after Stanley Baldwin became Prime Minister in 1935, Jowitt began campaigning for Labour.

A number of constituency Labour Parties attempted to nominate him as their candidate for the general election that year, but he was still expelled. Unable to stand for Labour, he refused to stand for any other party or as an independent.

Jowitt was readmitted to the Labour Party in November 1936. Still a public figure, he was a critic of the National Government's policy of appeasement, and in 1937, he called for the state control of the arms industry and rapid rearmament to face the growing threat of fascism on the Continent.

In February 1939 he called for the recreation of the Ministry of Munitions. In October, he was adopted as Labour's candidate at a by-election in Ashton-under-Lyne and was duly elected, unusually unopposed.

Churchill ministry (1940–1945)

Eight months later, Winston Churchill appointed Jowitt as Solicitor General in his coalition government. Jowitt dispensed legal advice to the government for two years in World War II before he was placed in charge of planning for reconstruction. He also held Cabinet positions that were mostly sinecures such as Paymaster General and then Minister without Portfolio in that role.

In 1944, he became Minister of National Insurance at the head of a new government department. He resigned from the government when Labour left the coalition in May 1945, after Victory in Europe Day, and he was re-elected for Ashton-under-Lyne in the general election in July.

Lord Chancellor (1945–1951)
After a landslide victory in the 1945 election, Labour formed its first majority government. Prime Minister Clement Attlee appointed Jowitt as Lord Chancellor. As soon as he was appointed, Jowitt met with US Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson to resolve outstanding points of contention over the draft London Charter, which would govern the procedures of the Nuremberg Trials. He retained the Conservative MP and outgoing Attorney General, Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, as the official liaison but indicated that the new Attorney General, Sir Hartley Shawcross, would serve as Britain's Chief Prosecutor in the trials themselves.

Jowitt introduced and saw signed the United Nations Act 1946, the legislation that governs how the UK subordinates itself to the UN.

He was raised to the peerage as Baron Jowitt, of Stevenage in the County of Hertford, on 2 August 1945 and entered the House of Lords. He led much important judicial legislation during the life of the Labour government.

Jowitt was also responsible for some key changes to the legal culture in Britain. He attempted to end political and social imbalances in the Magistrates Courts and is considered to have been the first Lord Chancellor to adopt a policy of appointing judges purely on the basis of merit.

As Lord Chancellor, he also served as speaker of the House of Lords, a delicate job given the Conservative majority in the Lords. Christopher Addison, Labour's leader in the Lords, died shortly after the party's defeat in the 1951 general election.

Labour was now in opposition, and Jowitt took over as leader of the Labour peers. He was created Viscount Jowitt, of Stevenage in the County of Hertford, on 20 January 1947, and was awarded an earldom by Attlee in the 1951 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours, being created Viscount Stevenage, of Stevenage in the County of Hertford and Earl Jowitt on 24 January 1952.

Later political life
A senior figure in the party, and a member of the Shadow Cabinet, Jowitt was careful to keep the Labour peers out of the conflict between the Bevanites and Gaitskellites in the early 1950s. The opposition to the Conservative government in the Lords was meagre but sometimes successfully rallied support from government backbenchers.

In 1955, for instance, Jowitt led a successful rebellion in the Lords over a government bill to criminalise the medical use of marijuana. Jowitt was a prominent spokesperson against human rights abuses during the suppression of the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya, teaming up with the Archbishop of Canterbury to launch a review of the circumstances surrounding the resignation of Colonel Arthur Young as Commissioner of Police in the colony. He stood down as leader in November 1955, at the age of 70.

Family

Jowitt married Lesley McIntyre, a daughter of James Patrick McIntyre, in 1913. He died at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, in August 1957, aged 72. His peerages did not survive his death, as he had no male heirs.

Publications
Jowitt wrote two books on espionage and compiled a legal dictionary, which was published posthumously in 1959, completed by Clifford Walsh, and became a standard reference work. It remains in print as Jowitt's Dictionary of English Law.

 The Strange Case of Alger Hiss (1953. London: Hodder & Stoughton)
 Some Were Spies (1954. London: Hodder & Stoughton)
 Dictionary of English Law (1959. London: Sweet & Maxwell)

References

External links

 UK Parliamentary Archives, Correspondence and papers of Sir William Allen Jowitt, Earl Jowitt, 1885-1957

1885 births
1957 deaths
Alumni of New College, Oxford
Attorneys General for England and Wales
English King's Counsel
English barristers
Knights Bachelor
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Labour Party (UK) hereditary peers
Law lords
Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Jowitt, William Jowitt, 1st Earl
Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Ashton-under-Lyne
Jowitt, William Jowitt, 1st Earl
Ministers in the Churchill wartime government, 1940–1945
National Labour (UK) politicians
People educated at Marlborough College
People from Stevenage
Solicitors General for England and Wales
UK MPs 1922–1923
UK MPs 1923–1924
UK MPs 1929–1931
UK MPs 1935–1945
UK MPs 1945–1950
UK MPs who were granted peerages
United Kingdom Paymasters General
Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951
Barons created by George VI
Viscounts created by George VI
Earls created by George VI

William Jowitt, 1st Earl Jowitt