Belemnotheutis

Belemnotheutis is an extinct coleoid cephalopod genus from the middle and upper Jurassic, related to but morphologically distinct from belemnites.
"Belemnotheutis" fossils are some of the best preserved among coleoids. Remains of soft tissue are well-documented in some specimens, even down to microscopic muscle tissue. In 2008, a group of paleontologists even recovered viable ink from ink sacs found in several specimens.
This genus was the subject of a dispute between several eminent 19th century British paleontologists, notably between Richard Owen and Gideon Mantell. Some authors incorrectly spell the genus Belemnoteuthis following the usual spelling "teuthis" (τευθίς) for 'squid'.
Description.
The genus "Belemnotheutis" is characterized by an internal shell consisting of a conical phragmocone covered apically by a thin rostrum, or guard, homologous to the bullet-shaped rostrum of true belemnites, a short forward projecting proostracum, and ten hook bearing arms of equal length.
"Belemnotheutis" fossils are sometimes found in remarkable states of preservation, some specimens retaining permineralized soft tissue. The mantle, fins, head, arms, and hooks are well-documented from remains preserved in "Lagerstätten". One specimen recovered from Christian Malford, Wiltshire and currently displayed in the Paleontology Department of the Natural History Museum in London is fossilized clasping a fish.
"Belemnotheutis" is not a 'true' belemnite (suborder Belemnitina) but a closely related coleoid. Both belemnotheutids and belemnites resembled modern squids except that they had chambered internal skeletons called phragmocones.
The apical portion of the "Belemnotheutis" internal skeleton is called the rostrum (plural: rostra) or the guard. The rostrum of "Belemnotheutis" differs significantly from that of true belemnites. Unlike the bullet-shaped dense guards of belemnites, the rostrum of "Belemnotheutis" is only present as a very thin sheath. It was also composed of aragonite rather than the heavy calcite of belemnites. In large specimens the rostrum can reach a maximum of only in thickness near the tip. The outer surface was covered by a thin organic layer in the live animal. In true belemnites, the large dense rostra acted as a counterbalance, keeping the animal horizontally oriented when swimming. It was long assumed that "Belemnotheutis" were confined to shallow waters, unable to venture into deeper waters due to the absence of the heavy rostra. The discovery of cameral deposits in the phragmocones of "Belemnotheutis" in 1952 made it clear that they were capable of controlling buoyancy.
The phragmocone of "Belemnotheutis" is short and blunt, measuring around to in length. The outer wall of the phragmocone is called the conotheca, distinct from the rostrum. It begins approximately from the tip of the phragmocone and consists of a nacreous outer layer and an inner lamellar layer. The outer layer gradually thins from in thickness to only about thick at about further down the shell until it eventually disappears around the opening of the phragmocone (the peristome). Sometimes there is a hollow gap between the rostrum and the lamellar layer of the conotheca, indicating either organic content that have since disappeared or disintegration of the lamellar layer itself. The phragmocone of "Belemnotheutis" had about 50 chambers that were originally aragonitic, though they are usually replaced by calcium phosphate during the process of fossilization.
At the very tip of the phragmocone beneath the rostrum is an embryonic shell known as the protoconch. In "Belemnotheutis", like in other belemnotheutids, the protoconch is roughly cup-shaped and sealed. This was thought to be another method of distinguishing it from other belemnites which usually have ball-shaped protoconchs. However, it is probably a taphonomic artefact, with the protoconch being spherical like other belemnites.
The long, weakly tapering structure in the dorsal anterior part of the internal skeleton is called the proostracum. It is striated longitudinally and often shows minute holes left by boring organisms usually less than 1 μm in diameter. The length of the proostracum is one to two times the length of the phragmocone. The proostracum was a thin, delicate structure substantially narrower than the phragmocone. Its original composition is unknown and it is always found separated from the phragmocone and the rostrum and often crushed. Whether the proostracum was connected to or derived from the phragmocone is still a subject of debate among paleontologists. Its general morphology, however, resembles that of true belemnites rather than those from other 'unusual' belemnoid coeloids with short rostra like "Permoteuthis" and "Phragmoteuthis".
The head is not well preserved in known specimens. It comprised approximately 20% of the body length (excluding the arms). Brain cartilage is observed in some specimens, as well as a pair of aragonitic statoliths which helped the animal determine horizontal orientation when swimming. "Belemnotheutis", like most of the other belemnoids, had ten arms of equal length lined with two rows of inward-pointing hooks each. Each of the hooks were composed of several sections. The curved pointed tip is called the uncinus and was probably the only part of the hooks exposed. The rest of the hook (the shaft and the base) were embedded in a sheath of soft tissue below the orbicular scar, a small groove where the tissue attachment terminated. They are also believed to have been stalked and mobile, helping the animal manipulate its prey. Traces of functional suckers have been found and these constitute a single row on each arm, alternating in between the pairs of hooks. The size of the suckers decreases distally along the arms, with the largest (around in diameter) being closest to the head. The length of the arms varies with the size of the individual but may have reached in larger specimens.
"Belemnotheutis" had a cylindriconical muscular mantle covered by an outer and inner skin (tunic). Traces of a criss-cross pattern composed of collagen fibers have been observed in the surface of some well-preserved fossils. The cross section of the exceptionally preserved body wall of a specimen from the Oxford Clay formations also reveals alternating bands of concentrically and radially oriented body fibers. They imply that "Belemnotheutis" were powerful swimmers and agile predators, similar to modern shallow-water squid species. The animal reached in length, including its arms. The body diameter was around 12 to 14% of the mantle length. At the center of the dorsal surface of the rostrum is a narrow V-shaped groove running about 3/5ths the length of the phragmocone from the apex, with two rounded ridges at its left and right sides. These grooves are one of the most distinctive features of the Belemnotheutidae and are theorized to have served as attachments to terminal oval or oar-shaped fins like in some modern squids. The siphuncle is marginal and located ventrally. Directly in front of the phragmocone was an ink sac that could reach long in large specimens. Intestinal casts (cololites) as well as the orientations and positions of fossilized remains reveal that the animal preyed on fish and other coleoids in life. Their great abundance in certain formations indicate that "Belemnotheutis" were highly gregarious animals, congregating in large monospecific or polyspecific shoals.
Distribution and geological time range.
"Belemnotheutis" existed during the late Middle Jurassic to the Upper Jurassic epoch, from the Callovian age (166.1 to 163.5 mya) to the Kimmeridgian age (157.3 to 152.1 mya). The belemnotheutid "Acanthoteuthis", a close relative which is treated by some paleontologists as synonymous with "Belemnotheutis", is known to have existed from as early as the Callovian age (166.1 to 163.5 mya) of the Middle Jurassic epoch to as late as the Aptian age (125 to 112 mya) of the Lower Cretaceous epoch. The earliest known possible remains of belemnotheutids (genera "Chitinobelus" and "Chondroteuthis") come from the Lower Jurassic, from phragmocones and rostra recovered from Toarcian formations in Dumbleton, Gloucestershire, and Ilminster, Somerset, England. However, these remains seem to have possessed the typical calcitic rostra of true belemnites rather than the characteristic aragonitic rostra of belemnotheutids.
"Belemnotheutis" serve as index fossils. They are mostly found in Jurassic formations like the Kimmeridge Clay formation, the Oxford Clay formation, and the Solnhofen Limestone formation. Their geographic range, thus far, is confined to Europe.
Taxonomy and nomenclature.
"Belemnotheutis" are coleoids belonging to the family Belemnotheutidae. "Belemnotheutis" and other belemnotheutids are considered by some paleontologists to be distinct from true belemnites (suborder Belemnitina). Most authorities like Jeletzky (1966), Bandel and Kulicki (1988), and Peter Doyle (1990) classify it under Belemnitida in the suborder Belemnotheutina (the classification used by this article). Others like Donovan (1977) and Engeser and Reitner (1981) classify it as a distinct order, Belemnotheutida, based on the aragonitic constitution of the rostra, the shape of the proostraca, protoconchs, and the arm crowns, among other morphological factors.
"Belemnotheutis" has been continually spelled as "Belemnoteuthis" by authors who believed that Pearce had made an honest mistake in naming the specimens. In 1999, D.T. Donovan and M.D. Crane succeeded in convincing the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature that the spelling was intentional, citing historical usage of the spelling Greek θευτίς ("theutis") as a valid variant of the usual τευθίς ("teuthis", 'squid'). Subsequently, the accepted spelling is now formally "Belemnotheutis".
Species.
The following is a list of species described under the genus "Belemnotheutis".
"Belemnotheutis montefiorei" has been transferred to the genus "Phragmoteuthis" and "B. rosenkrantzi" to the genus "Groenlandibelus".
Fossil ink.
Fossilized ink sacs were first discovered in belemnites in 1826 by Mary Anning a famous British fossil collector and paleontologist, who along with her brother Joseph and a friend and fellow fossil collector Elizabeth Philpot succeeded in recovering the ink, used to illustrate ichthyosaur and pterosaur fossils. The ink recovered from such fossils were also used to draw fossil ichthyosaurs by Henry De la Beche, a friend and supporter of Mary Anning.
In 2008, an excavation team led by the British Geological Survey in Christian Malford recovered fossilized ink sacs from several remarkably preserved remains of "Belemnotheutis antiquus" in the Oxford Clay. The specimens were fossilized rapidly in apatite (calcium phosphate) through a process paleontologist Phil Wilby called "The Medusa Effect". By mixing it with ammonia solution, the team was able to return the ink to its liquid form. Bringing to mind the 19th century practices of the aforementioned early paleontologists, they used the ~150 million year old ink to draw a replica of the original illustration of "Belemnotheutis" as drawn by Joseph Pearce. Dr. Wilby called the drawing "the ultimate self-portrait".
History and controversy.
"Belemnotheutis" was first described by the amateur paleontologist Joseph Pearce in 1842 in Wiltshire, South West England, two years after excavations from the construction of the Great Western Railway uncovered parts of the Oxford Clay. It is unknown why he chose the spelling "Belemnotheutis" rather than "Belemnoteuthis" as convention would have dictated. He described his discovery to the Geological Society of London in the same year.
In 1843, Richard Owen acquired specimens of "Belemnotheutis" from the same locality from another paleontologist, Samuel Pratt. He formally published a paper in 1844 ("On the Belemnites", ""), naming the specimens "Belemnites owenii" , after himself and crediting Pratt with the discovery while failing to mention Pearce. He believed that the specimens were of the genus "Belemnites" whose typically lengthy rostra simply got separated. He sent a copy of the paper to Pearce in the same year, proving that he was actually aware of Pearce's earlier description but had deliberately omitted any mention of him. Pearce responded by stating that examination by another paleontologist James Bowerbank, supported his belief that fossils did not possess the bullet-shaped guards typical of "Belemnites" but instead had rostra in the form of very thin sheaths. Bowerbanks confirmed this assertion but supported Owen's assignment of "Belemnites", saying that the presence of very short rostra did not justify the classification of "Belemnotheutis" as a separate genus from "Belemnites".
Owen received a Royal Medal from the Royal Society in 1846 for the 1844 paper, further inducing Pearce to protest what he viewed as erroneous descriptions of the specimens. In 1847, the "London Geological Journal" published a paper by Pearce of his objections to Owen's paper. At the same time the editor of the paper and another paleontologist, Edward Charlesworth, published an editorial criticizing Owen for deliberately failing to credit Pearce with the discovery of "Belemnotheutis", as well as his apparent disregard to the opinions of less well-known paleontologists like Pearce. This was also the first time that Pearce described the specific epithet "antiquus" to the fossils. Pearce died later in the same year in May 1847 taking no further part in what was to become a controversy. Shortly after his death, the same paper published the support of William Cunnington, a fossil collector, for this description as opposed to Owen's conclusions.
In 1848, Gideon Mantell read a description of "Belemnotheutis" specimens recovered by his son Reginald Neville Mantell to the Royal Society. His descriptions supported that of Pearce's views and held that the differences between belemnites and "Belemnotheutis" were enough to justify it being a separate genus. He also described the characteristic groove on the apical dorsal surface of the "Belemnotheutis" for the first time (structures which Owen had attributed as artifacts of crushing). He had expected Owen, who was present during the session, to support this amendment. Instead, Owen ridiculed Mantell, further aggravating the famous feud between the two.
Mantell continued to assert his position until his death in 1852, gaining supporters in other eminent paleontologists like Edward Forbes and Charles Lyell against Owen with regards to the true morphology of "Belemnotheutis". By then the hostility between Owen and Mantell had escalated, Owen going so far as to oppose the awarding of the Royal Medal to Mantell for his work in 1849. Mantell did eventually receive the Royal Medal for his work on "Iguanodon" to which Owen had attempted to claim another authority much in the same way that he had named "Belemnotheutis" after himself.
In 1860, three years after Mantell's death, Owen eventually published an amendment to his earlier descriptions. He acknowledged that "Belemnotheutis" indeed had very thin rostra and was distinct from the genus "Belemnites". He did so only after other prominent authorities described the very similar "Acanthoteuthis" and were considering "Belemnotheutis" as its synonym. However, he never recanted his earlier criticism of both Pearce and Mantell.


Anta das Pedras Grandes

Anta is the Portuguese name for about 5,000 megaliths built during the Neolithic period in the area of Portugal. The Anta das Pedras Grandes (Dolmen of large stones) is a late-Neolithic (between 4500 and 2000 BC) site located in Casal Nova in the parish of Caneças, in the Odivelas municipality, in the Lisbon District of Portugal. It was classified as a National Monument in 1944. Excavations in the early 21st century suggest that it was originally built as a dolmen or single-chamber megalithic tomb, consisting of a polygonal long chamber with eight supporting stones about 3 metres tall, and a short access corridor. There are traces of a tumulus, and human bones have been discovered. Excavations in the surrounding area also identified many flint chippings, suggesting that the area was used for the production of flint items.
The site was first identified in 1880 by the Portuguese archaeologist Carlos Ribeiro (1813-1882). It is the only surviving dolmen in the immediate area although several were discovered in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Nevertheless it has suffered considerably from the use of stones by farmers and for construction.
The Anta das Pedras Grandes now forms the centrepiece of a small urban park, which was officially opened in late 2018. The remaining stones, which had all fallen, were lifted, to provide a clearer impression of the original architecture of the megalith.


Jean Orry

Jean Louis Orry (Paris, 4 September 1652 – Paris, 29 September 1719) was a French economist.
Life.
Early career.
Jean Orry was born in Paris on 4 September 1652 to Charles Orry, a merchant, and Madelaine le Cosquyno.
Orry studied law and entered Royal service as a lawyer, becoming a munitioneer for the army of Italy between 1690 and 1698, where he was able to demonstrate his skill at planning and organisation. In 1701, at the start of the Spanish War of Succession, Orry purchased his nobility and became an adviser to Louis XIV of France.
Work in Spain.
Orry was sent to Spain by King Louis in 1701. There, Orry joined the self-styled Princesse des Ursins as the "de facto" rulers of Spain. Towards the end of his term there, by a royal decree composed by Orry on 23 December 1713, traditional local governments (the "Cortes") were centralized by the creation of twenty-one provinces. These "Consejos Territoriales" were superseded by an intendant directly responsible to Orry. Some of the local councils, such as the "Council of Castile" retained influence through less direct channels.
Dismissal from Spain.
Orry was dismissed through pressures brought to bear by the Parmesan contingent round the new queen, Elisabetta Farnese, and Giulio Alberoni. Orry was ordered from Spain on 7 February 1715. The King signed the "Decreto de Nueva Planta" later that year, revoking most of the historical rights and privileges of the different kingdoms that conformed the Spanish Crown, unifying them under the laws of Castile, where the Cortes regained some of its power.
Legacy.
Giulio Alberoni, the cardinal who succeeded him in power, continued the main lines of his financial reorganization and his repression of the power of the royal councils in favour of a bureaucracy wholly dependent upon the central power. Orry's creation of secretaries of state and intendants continued as a significant element in Spanish governmental administration.


Pochodnia

Pochodnia (literally Torch), full name: (the Association for the Promotion of Culture and Education "Torch", ) was a cultural association of Poles in Lithuania. The first chairman was Wiktor Budzyński (1924-1935), succeeded by Jan Przeździecki and Czesław Mackiewicz. Its activities included education, libraries, theatre, museums, exhibitions, press and literature. Its most important activity was school and after school education. It managed a number of preschools and private primary schools. In 1935 it managed 19 Polish afterschool cultural centers () with over 12,000 participants, and the central library with 115 library outlets.


Micia

Micia was a large Roman fort for auxiliary troops and an important part of the western Dacian limes (limes Dacia). The archaeological site is located in the municipality of Vețel (Witzel), Hunedoara County in Transylvania, Romania. This Roman garrison monitored and secured the road and the river route to "Partiscum", today Szeged, Hungary. In addition, there was a strategically important river port. In the civil settlement, there were large baths and a small amphitheater. The large number of ancient inscriptions are significant.
Amphitheater.
In the southeast of the great military bath, at a distance of about hundred meters, there was a small amphitheater. Possessed in a circle around an arena, the stone foundation of the walls had a circumference of 104 meters. The arena consisted of 31 × 29 meters.


Natale Monferrato

Natale Monferrato (1603–1685) was an Italian baroque composer. He was a pupil of Giovanni Rovetta, then was a singer at St Mark's Basilica in Venice, and then with the aid of Francesco Cavalli vicemaestro, or "maestro di coro" (1647–76). On 30 April 1676 he became director, after a competition with Giovanni Legrenzi, another of Rovetta's pupils, and Pietro Andrea Ziani. He was earlier maestro at the Mendicanti.
Following his death the junior post of "maestro di coro" fell to Giandomenico Partenio (1685–89), then Antonino Biffi (1699–1730).


Spartacus League

The Spartacus League () was a Marxist revolutionary movement organized in Germany during World War I. The League was named after Spartacus, leader of the largest slave rebellion of the Roman Republic. It was founded by Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, Clara Zetkin, and others, their goal being an international proletarian revolution in order to overthrow capitalism, imperalism and militarism worldwide. The League subsequently renamed itself the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD), joining the Comintern in 1919. Its period of greatest activity was during the German Revolution of 1918, when it sought to incite a revolution by circulating the newspaper "Spartacus Letters."
It originally pursued these goals from August 1914, as an opposition group, the "International Group," within the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). It called itself the "Spartakusgruppe" (Spartacus Group) from 1916, and joined the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) and split off from the SPD.
History.
Liebknecht (the son of SPD founder Wilhelm Liebknecht) and Luxemburg became prominent members of the left-wing faction of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). They moved to found an independent organization after the SPD supported Imperial Germany's declaration of war on the Russian Empire in 1914 at the start of World War I. Besides their opposition to what they saw as an imperialist war, Luxemburg and Liebknecht maintained the need for revolutionary methods, in contrast to the leadership of the SPD, who participated in the parliamentary process. The two were imprisoned from 1916 until 1918 for their roles in helping to organize a public demonstration in Berlin against German involvement in the war.
After two years of war, opposition to the official party line grew inside the SPD. More and more members of parliament refused to vote for war bonds and were expelled, which ultimately led to the formation of the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD). The Spartacus League was part of the USPD in its formation period.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Spartacus League began agitating for a similar course: a government based on local workers' councils, in Germany. After the abdication of the Kaiser in the German Revolution of November 1918, a period of instability began, which lasted until 1923. On 9 November 1918, from a balcony of the Kaiser's Berliner Stadtschloss, Liebknecht declared Germany a "Free Socialist Republic". However, earlier on the same night, Philipp Scheidemann of the SPD had declared a republic from the Reichstag.
In December 1918, the Spartakusbund formally renamed itself the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). In January 1919, the KPD, along with the Independent Socialists, launched the Spartacist uprising. This included staging massive street demonstrations intended to destabilize the Weimar government, led by the centrists of the SPD under Chancellor Friedrich Ebert. The government accused the opposition of planning a general strike and communist revolution in Berlin. With the aid of the Freikorps (Free corps), Ebert's administration quickly suppressed the uprising. Luxemburg and Liebknecht were taken prisoner and murdered in custody.
Spartacist Manifesto of 1918.
An excerpt from the Spartacist Manifesto (published in 1918):
The question today is not democracy or dictatorship. The question that history has put on the agenda reads: bourgeois democracy or socialist democracy. For the dictatorship of the proletariat does not mean bombs, putsches, riots and anarchy, as the agents of capitalist profits deliberately and falsely claim. Rather, it means using all instruments of political power to achieve socialism, to expropriate the capitalist class, through and in accordance with the will of the revolutionary majority of the proletariat.


Leonese dialect

Leonese (Leonese: "Llionés", ) is a set of vernacular Romance language varieties currently spoken in northern and western portions of the historical region of León in Spain (the modern provinces of León, Zamora, and Salamanca) and a few adjoining areas in Portugal. In this narrow sense, Leonese is distinct from the dialects grouped under the Asturian language. There is no real linguistic division, though; it is only a purely political and identitary division, as dialectal areas (western, central, eastern...) are in fact shaped along a north-south axis (thus encompassing lands both north and south of the mountains, both in Asturias and in Castile and León), following the migration of population from north to south during the Middle Ages (Reconquista). In the past, it was spoken in a wider area, including most of the historical region. The current number of Leonese speakers is estimated at 20,000 to 50,000. The westernmost fringes of the provinces of León and Zamora are in the territory of the Galician language, although there is dialectal continuity between the linguistic areas.
The Leonese and Asturian dialects have long been recognized as a single language, currently known as Astur-Leonese or Asturian-Leonese. Sometimes the language as a whole is simply called "Asturian" because of several reasons, such as the Leonese dialects being on the brink of extinction, or the widespread ignorance about its very existence (even in León), as well as their lack of recognition and institutional support (as opposed to their Asturian counterparts). On the other hand, Menéndez Pidal and fellow scholars 2008? discussed a "Leonese language" descending from Latin and encompassing two groups: the Asturian dialects on one hand, and dialects spoken in the provinces of León and Zamora in Spain and a related dialect in Trás-os-Montes (Portugal), on the other hand.
Unlike Asturian, which is regulated by the Academy of the Asturian Language (ALLA) and promoted by the Asturian Government and local legislation, the Leonese dialects are not officially promoted or regulated.
Moreover, the Asturleonese dialect (considered part of the Leonese dialects) of Miranda do Douro (Portugal), Mirandese, is most certainly a dialect on its own, considering the numerous differences it has when compared to dialects in the Spanish side. In fact, it is often considered as a separate language, especially in Portugal, where it is an official language along with Portuguese and it is regulated by the Institute of the Mirandese Language. Thus, Asturleonese is sometimes considered a group of two languages, Asturian or Asturleonese "proper", and Mirandese.
Name.
Menéndez Pidal used "Leonese" for the entire linguistic area, including Asturias. This designation has been replaced by Ibero-Romance scholars with "Asturian-Leonese", but "Leonese" is still often used to denote Asturian-Leonese by non-speakers of Asturian or Mirandese.
Linguistic description.
Phonology.
In Leonese, any of five vowel phonemes, , may occur in stressed position and the two archiphonemes , and the phoneme may occur in unstressed position.
Grammar.
Leonese has two genders (masculine and feminine) and two numbers (singular and plural). The main masculine noun and adjective endings are "-u" for singular and "-os" for plural. Typical feminine endings are "-a" for singular and "-as" for plural. Masculine and feminine nouns ending in "-e" in the singular take "-es" for the plural.
Adjectives.
Adjectives agree with nouns in number and gender.
Historical, social and cultural aspects.
History.
The native languages of Leon, Zamora, Asturias, and the Terra de Miranda in Portugal are the result of the evolution of Latin introduced by Roman conquerors in the region. Their colonization and organization led to the Conventus Astururum, with its capital at Asturica Augusta (present-day Astorga, Spain, the centre of Romanization for the indigenous tribes).
The city of Astorga was sacked by the Visigoths in the 5th century, and never regained its former prominence. The region remained unified until the eighth-century Islamic invasion. Around the 11th century, it began to be defined as Leonese territory roughly corresponding to the southern "conventus". In medieval León, the Romance Galician, Asturian-Leonese, and Castilian languages evolved and spread south.
The first known text in Asturian-Leonese is the "Nodizia de Kesos", written between 974 and 980 AD, an inventory of cheeses owned by a monastery written in the margin of the reverse of a document written in Latin. During the 12th and 13th centuries, Leonese reached its territorial zenith as the administrative language of the Kingdom of León, a literary language ("" and the "Libro de Alexandre"), in the Leonese court, judiciary (with the translation of the "Liber Iudicum o Liber Iudiciorum Visigoth" into Leonese), administration, and organization.
After the 1230 union of Leon and Castile, Leonese had greater written and institutional use, although at the end of the 13th century Castilian began to replace it as a written language. Leonese became an oral, rural language with little literary development.
At the beginning of the 20th century, it survived in oral form only in mid-western León and western Zamora provinces. Its scientific study and a nascent cultural movement began in the province of Leon in 1906. During the 1950s and 60s, the number of Leonese speakers and the area in which it was spoken decreased.
Use and distribution.
Although the Astur-Leonese linguistic domain covers most of the principality of Asturias, the north and west of the province of Leon, the northeast of Zamora, both provinces in Castile and León, and the region of Miranda do Douro in the east of the Portuguese district of Bragança, this article focuses on the autonomous community of Castile and León.
Julio Borrego Nieto, in "Manual de dialectología española. El español de España" (1996), wrote that the area in where Leonese is best preserved, defined as "area 1", consists of the regions of Babia and Laciana, part of Los Argüellos, eastern Bierzo and La Cabrera; in Zamora, non-Galician Sanabria.
Borrego Nieto describes another geographical circle, which he calls "area 2", where Leonese is fading: " ... It is extended to the regions between the interior area and the Ribera del Órbigo (Maragatería, Cepeda, Omaña ... ). In Zamora, the region of La Carballeda – with the subregion La Requejada - and Aliste, with at least a part of its adjacent lands ( and Tábara). This area is characterized by a blur and progressive disappearance, greater as we move to the East, of the features still clearly seen in the previous area. The gradual and negative character of this characteristic explains how vague the limits are".
Number of speakers.
A "speaker of Leonese" is defined here as a person who knows (and can speak) a variety of Leonese. There is no linguistic census of the number of Leonese speakers in the provinces of León and Zamora, and estimates vary from 5,000 to 50,000.
Studies.
Two sociolinguistic studies, in northern Leon and the entire province ("Estudiu sociollingüísticu de Lleón". Uviéu, ALLA, 2006, and "II Estudiu sociollingüísticu de Lleón". Uviéu, ALLA, 2008) analysed the prevalence of Leonese and the linguistic attitudes of its speakers. According to the latter, maintenance of the language is the primary wish but opinions differ about how to do so. Almost 37 percent think that the language should be kept for nonofficial uses, and about 30 percent believe it should be on a par with Spanish. Twenty-two percent favour its disappearance. Nearly the population supports granting official status to Leonese by amending the Statute of Autonomy. About 70 percent favour linguistic coordination between León and Asturias, with 20 percent opposing. Leonese in education is favoured by more than 63 percent of the population, and opposed by about 34 percent. Institutional promotion of the dialect, especially by town councils, was favoured by more than 83 percent of respondents.
Recognition.
The Statute of Autonomy of Castile and León, amended 30 November 2007, addresses the status of Spanish, Leonese, and Galician. According to Section 5.2, "Leonese will be specifically protected by the institutions for its particular value within the linguistic patrimony of the Community. Its protection, usage and promotion will be regulated".
On 24 February 2010, a parliamentary group from the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party presented a proposition to the courts of Castile and León to recognize the value of Leonese and implement a plan to protect and promote it. Although the proposition was approved unanimously by the plenary session of the parliament of Castile and León on 26 May, the government's position has not changed.
Vitality.
UNESCO, in its "Atlas of Languages in Danger in the World", lists Leonese in the most at-risk category. The category's criteria are:
Standardization.
The Autonomous Community of Castile and León lacks a government agency to promote minority languages and a nongovernmental agency in an advisory capacity in matters pertaining to minority languages. The Academy of the Asturian Language has sponsored linguistic and sociolinguistic research, which encompasses the non-Asturian dialects of Asturian-Leonese.
Two congresses about Leonese have been held, at which the following measures were proposed to move towards language standardization:
Promotion.
For about 15 years cultural associations have offered Leonese-language courses, sometimes with the support of local administrations in the provinces of Leon and Zamora. In 2001, the Universidad de León (University of León) created a course for teachers of Leonese. The dialect can be studied in the larger villages of León, Zamora and Salamanca provinces as "El Fueyu" courses, following an agreement between the Leonese provincial government and the organization. The Leonese Language Teachers and Monitors Association (Asociación de Profesores y Monitores de Llingua Llïonesa) was created in 2008 to promote Leonese-language activities.
Literature.
Leonese literature includes:


Council of Piacenza

The Council of Piacenza was a mixed synod of ecclesiastics and laymen of the Roman Catholic Church, which took place from March 1 to March 7, 1095, at Piacenza.
The Council was held at the end of Pope Urban II's tour of Italy and France, which he made to reassert his authority after the investiture controversy with Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. Two hundred bishops attended, as well as 4000 other church officials, and 30,000 laymen; there were so many people that the council had to be held outside of the city.
Attendants.
Among the lay attendees was Eupraxia of Kiev, a daughter of Vsevolod I, Prince of Kiev. She met with Pope Urban II, and on his urgings Eupraxia made a public confession before the church council. Henry, she claimed, held her against her will, forced her into orgies, offered her to his son Conrad, and attempted to use her in a black mass. These accusations were confirmed in turn by Conrad, who stated that this was the reason he turned against his father.
Also in attendance were ambassadors from Philip I of France, who came to appeal Philip's recent excommunication over his illegal divorce and remarriage to Bertrade de Montfort: Philip was given until Pentecost to rectify his situation. The rest of the business of the council expressed fairly typical church concerns: there were at least 15 canons published during the council, including a condemnation of the Berengarian heresy; a condemnation of the Nicolaitan heresy; an affirmation of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist; denunciations of the Antipope Clement III and his supporters; and a prohibition of payment to priests for baptisms, burials, or confirmations.
Condemnation of simony.
One of Urban II's greatest achievements at Piacenza was the depth of detail of his Canons, in particular Canons 1 through 7 legislating universal condemnation of 'simony': the practice of building to acquire, and acquiring via purchasing, position, or ordination, within the Church. Ecclesiastical appointments stained by simony were decreed to be invalid and powerless. However, a temperate attitude was shown to those ordained by simoniacs who were not simoniacs themselves, and had no prior knowledge that the person ordaining them had no actual ecclesiastical authority to do so. Likewise, churches purchased by parents for their children were allowed to remain within the order; as were children so-ordained, but with "benefices" (official financial support from Rome) removed.
Byzantine request.
In hindsight, the most important attendees were the ambassadors sent by Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus. Alexius had been excommunicated by Gregory VII, and been through a series of reinstatements in the Church, but Urban had ultimately lifted the excommunication when he became pope in 1088, and relations between the east and west were at least temporarily friendly. The Byzantine Empire had lost much of its territory in Asia Minor to the Seljuk Turks in the aftermath of the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, and Alexius hoped western knights could help him restore it. Upon hearing the Byzantine ambassadors' plea, Urban asked those present to lend aid to the Byzantine Emperor. However it is likely that Urban may have had some idea of an expedition to the East before Alexius's request, as Gregory VII had also called twice for one, but to no avail.
Chronicler.
Most of the information about the Council of Piacenza comes from the chronicler Bernold of Constance, who may or may not have been present. No extant contemporary Byzantine sources felt the ambassadors were important enough to mention, although many Byzantine sources from this time no longer exist. For example, the council is mentioned by the 13th century chronicler Theodore Skoutariotes, who quotes now-lost contemporary works.


Charles E. Kelly (cartoonist)

Charles Edward Kelly (15 June 1902 – 20 January 1981) was an Irish cartoonist, and one of the founders and editors of the satirical magazine "Dublin Opinion". His prolific contributions to the magazine were drawn in a variety of styles, from cartoony to illustrative.
Kelly was educated at Synge Street CBS, and joined the Irish civil service as a messenger boy at the age of 15. At the age of 19 he, fellow cartoonist Arthur Booth, a 28-year-old clerk, and writer Tom Collins, founded "Dublin Opinion" in 1922, on the eve of the Irish Civil War, with Booth becoming its first editor. Kelly had no formal art training, and developed his style by studying the work of the leading cartoonists of the time. After Booth's death in 1926, Kelly co-edited the magazine with Collins, while continuing to work in the civil service, eventually becoming Director of Broadcasting and Director of National Savings.
Kelly's cartoons were also published in "The Capuchin Annual" from 1942 to 1955. He began painting watercolours in the 1930s, and became a member of the Dublin Sketching Club and the Water Colour Society of Ireland: he exhibited over 60 pieces at the latter from 1941 to 1980, and had a solo exhibition of his watercolours in Dublin in 1972.
After Collins' death Kelly struggled on with "Dublin Opinion" for a few years, before it was voluntarily wound up in 1968. He received an honorary doctorate from the National University of Ireland in 1979, and was president and chairman of PEN.
His eldest son, Frank, was an actor best known for playing Father Jack in the Channel 4 sitcom "Father Ted". His daughter, Pauline Bracken, is a journalist who wrote a memoir, "Light of Other Days: A Dublin Childhood", published in 1992.


Pen y Gaer

Pen y Gaer (or Pen-y-gaer) is the location of a Bronze Age and Iron Age hillfort near the village of Llanbedr-y-Cennin in the Conwy valley, Wales.
A natural defensive site, it had a long history of occupation, indicated by the complexity of the defences, which were amended over time. There are two Bronze Age cairns on the north-west slope, and extensive prehistoric and later field systemsare nearby. The remains as seen today are mostly of Iron Age origin, but further earthworks, probably of medieval origin, lie on the south-eastern slopes.
The remains of the two walls of stone can be seen, as can those of a chevaux-de-frise. The entrance is to the west, and access can be gained from a car park, reached by the road from the village.


Laurence Sulivan

Laurence Sulivan (1713–1786) was an Anglo-Irish politician, Member of Parliament first for Taunton in 1762 and then for Ashburton in 1768. He was also Chairman of the British East India Company.
Sulivan was born in Ireland and moved to work for the East India Company, returning to England in 1753 with a moderate fortune, which enabled him to purchase Ponsbourne Park in Hertfordshire in 1761. He was elected a Director of the East India Company for 1755–8, 1764–5, 1769–70, 1771–2, 1778–80 and 1783 to his death. He was Deputy Chairman for 1763–4, 1772–3, 1780–1 and Chairman for 1758–9, 1760-2 and 1781–2.
He had married in India and had two sons. Ponsbourne passed to his son Stephen, who sold it in 1811. His grandson, Laurence Sulivan (1783–1866) was a philanthropist, statesman and Deputy Secretary at War.


Scyllaeum

Scyllaeum (Greek: ) was a promontory, and ancient town or fortress, on the west coast of Bruttium (modern Calabria), about 25 km north of Rhegium (Reggio di Calabria), and almost exactly at the entrance of the Sicilian strait.
The promontory is well described by Strabo as a projecting rocky headland, jutting out boldly into the sea, and united to the mainland by a narrow neck or isthmus, so as to form two small but well sheltered bays, one on each side. There can be no doubt that this rocky promontory was the one which became the subject of so many fables, and which was represented by Homer and other poets as the abode of the monster Scylla. But the dangers of the rock of Scylla were far more fabulous than those of its neighbor Charybdis, and it is difficult to understand how, even in the infancy of navigation, it could have offered any obstacle more formidable than a hundred other headlands whose names are unknown to fame.
At a later period Anaxilas, the despot of Rhegium, being struck with the natural strength of the position, fortified the rock, and established a naval station there, for the purpose of checking the incursions of the Tyrrhenian pirates. In consequence of this a small town grew up on the spot; and hence Pliny speaks of an "oppidum Scyllaeum"; but it was probably always a small place, and other writers speak only of the promontory. At the present day the rock is still occupied by a fort, which is a post of considerable strength, while a small town (modern Scilla) stretches down the slopes towards the two bays. The distance from the castle to the opposite point of the Sicilian coast, marked by the Torre del Faro, is stated by William Henry Smyth at 6047 yards (c. 5.5 km), or rather less than 3.5 English miles, but the strait afterwards contracts considerably, so that its width between the Punta Pezzo and the nearest point of Sicily does not exceed 3971 yards (c. 3.6 km).


Universal of National Unity

The Universal of National Unity, also known as the Declaration of National Unity, (, translit.: "Universal Natsional'noi Yednosti") is a declaration that was signed on August 3, 2006 by the President of Ukraine Viktor Yuschenko and leaders of the Ukrainian political parties represented in the parliament. It marked the resolution of the 2006 Parliamentary crisis in Ukraine. The process of negotiating and signing of the "Universal" caused a major public discussion of Ukraine's domestic and foreign policy.


Lausonius Lacus

Lausonius Lacus or Lacus Lausonius was an ancient name referencing a town or region in the country of the Helvetii about Lake Geneva; it was also an ancient name of the lake itself.
The Antonine Itinerary describes a road from Mediolanum (modern Milan) through Geneva to Argentoratum (modern Strasbourg). Sixteen Roman miles from Geneva, on the road to Strasbourg, the Itinerary places Equestris (Colonia Equestris or Noviodunum) (modern Nyon); and the next place is Lacus Lausonius, 20 Roman miles from Equestris (approximately 30 km). To the next station, Urba (modern Orbe), is 18 Roman miles (27 km). In the Table the name is "Lacum Losonne", and the distances from Geneva to Colonia Equestris and Lacum Losonne are respectively 18 M.P., or 36 together. The Lacus Lausonius is supposed to be Lausanne, on the Lake of Geneva; or rather a place or district, as D'Anville calls it, named "Vidi" (modern Vidy). The distance from Geneva to Nyon, along the lake, is about 15 English miles (24 km); and from Nyon to Lausanne, about 22 or 23 miles (35 to 37 km). The distance from Geneva to Nyon is quite close, allowing for the variability of a coastal road; but the 20 Roman miles from Equestris to the Lacus Lausonius is not enough. If Vidi, which is west of Lausanne, is assumed to be the place, the measures will agree better. D'Anville cites M. Bochat as authority for an inscription, with the name "Lousonnenses", having been dug up at Vidi, in 1739; and he adds that there are remains there.
Lousanna is the historical Roman settlement in the area, an important vicus where about 1500 people lived at its peak.


Ugandi County

Ugandi (Latin: "Ungannia" or "Ugaunia"; ; Low German: "Uggn") was an independent county between the east coast of Lake Võrtsjärv and west coast of Lake Pskov, bordered by Vaiga, Mõhu, Nurmekund, Sakala, Tālava, and The Principality of Pskov. Ugandi had an area of approximately 3000 hides. Ugandi corresponded roughly to the present Estonia's territory of Võru County, Põlva County and half of Tartu County and Valga County, as well as Petseri County.
The county was first mentioned in print by Henry of Livonia After the Northern crusades it became the Bishopric of Dorpat. In Latvian: "Igaunija" ("Ugaunija" is the Latvian name for the Ugaunia county) is still the modern national name for Estonia. The name "Ugandi" is derived by associating "Ugaunia" with the name of "Uandimägi" Hill near Otepää. An alternate theory proposes that the name "Ugaunia" could have been derived from the Slavic language word "Ug", meaning "South" (cf. Yugoslavia). The power center of Ugandi is believed to have been in the fortified stronghold of Otepää (Ugaunian for "bear's head"; , ) in present-day Linnamägi Hill in the town of Otepää. The hill is indeed shaped like a head of a bear, thought to have been a holy animal for Ugaunians. Another important Ugaunian stronghold was Tarbatu by the river Emajõgi (literally, "Mother River"). It was erected around 600 AD on the east side of Toome Hill (Toomemägi) in what is today Tartu. Due to its location, Ugandi always bore the brunt of East Slavs' attacks against Chudes, as they called Finnic peoples around their North-Eastern boundaries.
History.
In 1030 Kievan Prince Yaroslav I the Wise organized a military campaign against Chuds, defeated them and established fort Yuryev (literally "Yury's" - Yury being Yaroslav's Christian name) in what is modern day Tartu. Kievan rule of Tartu/Tarbatu may have lasted 30 years until 1061, when, according to Old East Slavic chronicles, Yuryev was burned down by "Sosols" (probably Sackalians, Oeselians or Harionenses). In modern Estonian literature, the province of Ugaunia is called "Ugandi" or "Ugala". In Latvian, the country of Estonia is still called "Igaunija" after Ugaunians, their ancient warlike neighbors. In Estonian folklore, Ugaunians ("ugalased") are enemy warriors and robbers. For example, a folk song from Viljandi calls for speeding up the harvest work because Ugaunians might attack. "Ugalane" has also been used as a disparaging word for an unsophisticated country person. Rulers of Novgorod Republic and Principality of Pskov made frequent raids against Ugaunians in the 12th century but never succeeded to subjugate them. Fort Bear's Head was conquered in 1116 and 1193, Tarbatu in 1134 and 1192. Ugaunians themselves made several raids against Pskov.
At the beginning of the 13th century, a new powerful enemy appeared. German crusaders had established a foothold at the mouth of the Daugava river and started to expand and christen local tribes. The Ugaunians' southern neighbors, the Latgalians (or Letts), saw the crusaders as potential allies against their traditional adversaries. The Ugaunians wanted to continue the truce with their new neighbors, but the crusaders had a list of preconditions. They demanded that the Ugaunians pay reparation for an old incident. Many years ago the Ugaunians, upon the advice of the Livonians, had robbed a caravan of German merchants by the Daugava river. In 1207 the crusaders sent a priest called Alabrand to Ugaunia to demand compensation, but did not receive an answer. Next year the Letts and Teutonic Knights sent a new delegation to Ugaunia and returned with Ugaunian envoys. Ugaunians were offered "eternal peace" if they accept Christianity and return everything they had robbed from Germans and Letts. Ugaunians refused and left, threatening the Letts with "very sharp lances". The crusaders and Letts went to war against Ugaunians. They burned Otepää and returned with captives and booty. Ugaunians and Sackalians retaliated, raided territories of the Letts and burned their worst enemies alive. The Livonians and the Bishop of Riga wanted peace and sent the priest Alabrand to Otepää to negotiate. Alabrand used the gathering of Ugaunians to preach the Christianity to them. Some pagan Ugaunians wanted to kill him because of his preaching, but his status as the messenger of the bishop protected him. Ugaunians made peace with the Bishop of Riga, the leader of the Livonian Crusade.
In 1210 the Novgorodian prince Mstislav the Bold and his brother, Vladimir the Prince of Polatsk, sent an army against Ugaunians. They besieged Otepää and fought there for eight days. Defenders of the fort suffered a shortage of food and water and were forced to ask for peace. Ugaunians had to accept Orthodox baptism and pay a tribute of 400 "nogata" marks. ("Nogat" or "nahad" is Estonian word for pelts). The same summer Ugaunians of Otepää surrendered to crusader commander Bertold of Wenden. Ugaunians continued to raid Lettish territories. Wars between Ugaunians and Letts lasted the whole decade. The elders of Ugaunians and Letts had deep personal feuds. When Ugaunians captured Tālivaldis of Trikāta in 1215 and burned him alive, his sons burned alive all Ugaunian men they could catch to avenge. They also tortured Ugaunians to force them to show hiding places in the woods. When all Ugaunian provinces were burnt down, the people still alive sent messengers to Riga, asking for peace and promised to receive baptism. They told that all who had been involved in the robbery of German merchants had already been killed. The priests Otto and Peter Kakuwalda were sent to baptize them. Hearing about that, prince Vladimir of Pskov attacked Ugaunians. Ugaunians and German crusaders fortified Otepää and avenged Russians, raiding lands of Pskov and Novgorod. After that Ugaunians went with crusaders, Livonians and Letts against Estonian pagan provinces Jerwia and Vironia. Prince Vladimir of Pskov sent messengers through all of Estonia to besiege Germans and Ugaunians at Otepää. Harrians and Oeselians came and even already baptized Sackalians. While troops of 20000 of Novgorodians and Œselians attacked Otepää, Ugaunians alongside with crusaders made raids against Novgorod, Vironians and Votians.
In 1220 Ugaunians rebelled against the Germans. Sackalians sent bloody swords with which they had killed Germans to Ugaunians of Tarbatu and Otepää. In Tarbatu they decided by lot whether to sacrifice to the gods an ox or their priest Hartwig, who was equally fat. Luckily for the priest, the lot fell upon the ox. Ugaunians decided to side with Novgorodians. Russian princes of Pskov, Novgorod and Suzdal sent huge troops of 20000 men to Ugaunia. The people of Tarbatu sent them large gifts and Otepää welcomed them too. The Russians left Vetseke as their prince to rule Ugaunians and any other Estonian province around he could gathered tax from. In 1224 crusaders retook all provinces in mainland Estonia. After casting lot, bishop Hermann of Buxhoeveden was given rule over Ugaunia while Sackala was given to the order. Otepää was happy over the rule of bishop Hermann but Tarbatu was still ruled by Vetseke and his Ruthenians. Later that year however, Tarbatu was conquered and all its Ugaunian and Ruthenian defenders killed. Bishop Hermann started to fortify Otepää and Tarbatu. He chose Tarbatu/Dorpat to be his residence. Bishop Hermann and his Ugaunian subjects fought frequently against Novgorod and were defeated by prince Alexander Nevsky in the Battle on Lake Peipus in 1242. Ugaunia became subsequently known as the Bishopric of Dorpat.


Modern English

Modern English (sometimes New English or NE (ME) as opposed to Middle English and Old English) is the form of the English language spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England, which began in the late 14th century and was completed in roughly 1550.
With some differences in vocabulary, texts from the early 17th century, such as the works of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible, are considered to be in Modern English, or more specifically, are referred to as using Early Modern English or Elizabethan English. English was adopted in regions around the world, such as North America, the Indian subcontinent, Africa, Australia and New Zealand through colonisation by the British Empire.
Modern English has many dialects spoken in many countries throughout the world, sometimes collectively referred to as the anglosphere. These dialects include American English, Australian English, British English (containing English English, Welsh English and Scottish English), Canadian English, Caribbean English, Hiberno-English, Indian English, Pakistani English, Nigerian English, New Zealand English, Philippine English, Singaporean English, and South African English.
According to the Ethnologue, there are almost 1 billion speakers of English as a first and second language. English is spoken as a first or a second language in many countries, with the most native speakers being in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Ireland; there are also large populations in India, Pakistan, the Philippines and Southern Africa. It "has more non-native speakers than any other language, is more widely dispersed around the world and is used for more purposes than any other language". Its large number of speakers, plus its worldwide presence, have made English a common language ("lingua franca") "of the airlines, of the sea and shipping, of computer technology, of science and indeed of (global) communication generally".
Development.
Modern English evolved from Early Modern English which was used from the beginning of the Tudor period until the Interregnum and Restoration in England. The works of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible are considered to be in Modern English, or more specifically, are referred to as using Early Modern English or Elizabethan English. By the late 18th century the British Empire had facilitated the spread of Modern English through its colonies and geopolitical dominance. Commerce, science and technology, diplomacy, art, and formal education all contributed to English becoming the first truly global language. Modern English also facilitated worldwide international communication. English was adopted in North America, India, parts of Africa, Australia, and many other regions. In the post-colonial period, some of the newly created nations that had multiple indigenous languages opted to continue using Modern English as the official language to avoid the political difficulties inherent in promoting any one indigenous language above the others.
Outline of changes.
The following is an outline of the major changes in Modern English compared to its previous form (Middle English), and also some major changes in English over the course of the 20th century. Note, however, that these are generalizations, and some of these may not be true for specific dialects:
Phonology.
Up until the American–British split (1600–1725), some major phonological changes in English included:
After the American-British split, further changes to English phonology included:
Alphabet.
Changes in alphabet and spelling were heavily influenced by the advent of printing and continental printing practices.
Consequently, Modern English came to use a purely Latin alphabet of 26 letters.


Divljana Monastery

Divljana Monastery, also known as the Monastery of St. Demetrius, is a Serbian Orthodox monastery located near the village of Divljana and Divljana Lake, south of Bela Palanka, in the foothills of Suva Planina, above sea level. It is dedicated to St. Demetrius, who is celebrated on 8 November. The monastery was first built in 394 at this location, which became the property of the Mrnjavčević brothers at the end of the 13th century after the destruction of the monastery. In the monastery complex, there are records of ancient burials from the 4th century, some of which can be seen two of the capitals. Around 880, with the revival of Christianization, there were also new eparchies. Based on physical evidence and the Charter of the Byzantine emperor Basil II, archaeologists believe that the site also included an early Christian building from the 9th century related to a renewal of church life in Middle Ponišavlje.
Geography.
The monastery is located south of Bela Palanka, not far from the ancient road to Skopje and Thessaloniki. Situated above sea level in the foothills of the south-eastern part of Suva Planina, there are wooded slopes around the monastery, offering a unique view of the Svrljig Mountains and Šljivovački vrh.
History.
Over the years, many churches similar to the medieval church have been demolished and rebuilt in the area. According to some sources, the first Christian church was built in 394. This church was built on the foundation of a pagan temple dedicated to the sun god Mitras. The place was long considered sacred; thus, when Christianity became the religion of the former state, the monastery complex was built here. The temple dedicated to Mitras was not the first structure. It had been preceded by many other pagan temples.
Prehistoric and ancient sites.
Based on various records and sources, it can be assumed that the site of the present village of Divljana was one of the sacred sites of the Triballi (Thracians) tribe who lived there in ancient times. Only one kilometer (0.62 mile) from the current location of the monastery, there was a Bronze Age settlement, Igrište, from around 1200 BC. 600 meters (0.37 miles) from location of the monastery, burial pits were discovered with the ashes of the deceased in various ceramic containers. Within a radius of less than around the monastery, there were several settlements in Roman times (Stasovac, Bils, Villa Rustica, Teberna). Five kilometres (3.11 miles) from the location of the monastery, there was the ancient settlement of Remesiana, or today's Bela Palanka. However, in the village of Divljana, there is little evidence of the various pagan temples. The only indication stems from legends about fairies who were closely related to ancient nymphs. This ancient shrine was closed in 392, just before the founding of the first Christian monastery dedicated to St. Demetrius, in whose interior were placed reliquiae from the old church (marble icons of a nymph and a Thracian horseman).
Temples dedicated to the sun god Mitras were placed close to main roads and sources of water. This was characteristic for the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, especially in the Ponišavlje district. This is based on the presence of two bequeath altars, one in Divljana and another in village of Osmakova, and of two relief icons, one in village Ragodeš and another in village of Rasnica, within 20 km (12 miles). Temples of Mitras were built in smaller sizes, usually and generally oriented east-west, as opposed to the later churches, which had the altar on the west side and entrance on the east. There is a wealth of ancient materials at the site, one of the richest in south-eastern Serbia. Other remains include:
Origin of the name of the monastery.
The name "Divljana" is derived from Latin "Divus", meaning "divine" or "god". Professor S. Petrović mentions toponyms with the base and root words: giant (Ser. "див") and wild (Ser. "Дивји"). Giants were part of Serbian pre-Christian mythology. The Serbian word "div" (Ser. "див"), itself was derived from the word "dievo", and related words were used in Indo-European languages for naming gods: Indian "Deva", Old-Persian "Daeva" or "Divus", and Latin "Deus". However, it is obvious that the present name "Divljana" comes from the Latin word "Divian", which means "land of the gods" (sr. "Боговина").
Early Christian church.
The first church at this location was an early Christian three-nave basilica. This can be seen from the period of its construction, from archaeological research and by comparison with other churches of the same type in the area. Christian churches in Remesiana from that era were generally oriented east-west with the altar on the east side, where the dimensions were . Above the main entrance stood a porch which would have been borne by two massive pillars with bases and capitals. On the capitals, there were usually engravings of the early Christian sign of the cross and the letter omega. The floors and wall paneling were made of marble. The Church of St. Demetrius in Divljana had dimensions of . The former church in Divljana was very similar to the present-day church which was almost the same size, with the same foundation and at the same location, except that it had a larger western portal. The present church was built in the Romanesque and Renaissance styles. The church had a two-story roof in combination with west facade and thus created the impression of a three-nave church. Here there is no dome but its decorations include 124 blind arcades, pilaster strips and trefoil.
The founder of this church was Nicetas of Remesiana (338–420). It was built between 392 and 395. Nicetas is well known by his achievements throughout the Roman Empire, where he was an active missionary and writer. He held the position of bishop in Remesiana (366–420), leaving many of the oldest churches and monasteries in the area. His importance is reflected by the fact that other early monasteries were established at the time: in Milan between 374 and 379 by Bishop Ambrose, in Tugasta in 398 by St. Augustine, and in Marseille in 415 by John Cassian. However, at the time when the Divljana Monastery was created, the Roman Empire suffered frequent incursions by the Goths across the Danube, and the monastery was frequently destroyed. In these times, bishop Nicetas, who was in touch with senior state and church officials, did his utmost to protect Christianity in the region.
Based on research undertaken by M. Kostić, it is no coincidence that the monastery was located where it stands. Choosing a place to build a monastery dedicated to St. Demetrios was not only due to its extraordinary natural environment, but also because it is very close to the Divljana hot springs. Like other hot springs, these were known for their medicinal composition and their sacred connotations, but over time there were changes to the composition of the water due to demineralization. In the Middle Ages, the function of the holy place resulted in the Divljana monastery. The role of the place "Diviana" becomes clearer when the Thracian Triballi tribe from Ponišavlje began to worship at hot springs and rivers, especially in spas and other sources of healing waters. They developed a cult of the gods of health and vitality. All this led to the founding of a Christian monastery.
After the closing of the pagan temple in 392, the monastery was built on the same site between 392 and 395, at a time when Christianity had already been established as the official religion in the Roman Empire. Based on archaeological research, it remains to be proven whether the original church of the Divljana monastery was on the same site as the medieval church.
The selection of the Thessaloniki miracle worker St. Demetrius as patron of the monastery was by the Bishop Niketa, indicating the rapid development and expansion of the worship of this saint in Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki had been the capital of the prefecture of Illyria, to which Remesiana (Bela Palanka) belonged at the end of the 4th century. It is not known exactly when the first church, dedicated to St Demetrius, was built, but prefect Leontius built a large basilica in Thessaloniki, and later, in 412, he built another in the Sirmium. Niketa had multiple connections with Thessaloniki, and some of these connections were with his master chief of the church with whom he discussed everything; another connection was that he traveled by boat from Thessaloniki to east and west, and also met with the Emperor Theodosius. All this becomes clearer from the fact that Thessaloniki for Niketa was the same as for St. Sava 800 years later.
The main temple of Middle Ponišavlje.
Divljana monastery survived the fall of the Roman Empire, and around it there was a permanent settlement of pagan Slavs in the Ponišavlje district around 614. But soon after that, Christian life on that location disappeared for the next two centuries, clearly confirming the renewal and reaffirmation of worship in 870 when re-Christianization began. The re-opening of dioceses and parishes was undertaken by the Greek hierarchy of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. All shrines that were in evidence as Christian churches were restored. Since Remesiana had been destroyed, Divljana monastery became a center of this region for an extended period, as can be seen from a charter by Emperor Basil II from 1019. The temple has survived much rebuilding. In one reconstruction, elements in the Byzantine style were taken. This region was the center of Christianity in Ponišavlje until the Turks arrived, leading to its destruction and abandonment. Before the devastation, the monastery owned of land as well as Prnjavor (an earlier name for the village of Divljana) which covered another .
One of the final demolitions occurred in 1386, during the great military campaign of the Turks at Niš, when they destroyed and burned the whole Ponišavlje district, including towns, villages and monasteries. In that military campaign, the Turks moved from Sofia to Niš, under the leadership of Sultan Murad, who later was killed in Kosovo. Another demolition took place in 1389 with the battle of Kosovo, leading to heavy battles in the Pirot region. The church was restored in 1395 and stood until 1902 when it was destroyed for the last time. Thereafter came the present church. Based on travel writer Stephan Gerlach's notes in 1578, five monks in the monastery held school there. From the Turkish cadastral census of 1595, we see that Divljana monastery is not new and that means that the monastery had already come under Turkish rule from 1574, requiring payment of 300 groat in tax to the Turkish authority. Also, from the stone monument from 1670, we learn of Stojan Vuja from Suračevo. One oktoih was repaired in 1714. The same sources reveal that in 1723, a fair was held in the name of Mary (mother of Jesus). In 1719, the Austrian diplomat K. Drish mentioned that monks were living in the monastery by the rules of St. Basil, the most prominent in the clergy.
Later, the monks Arsenius and Maksimus were recorded in the Kardzhali pogrom in 1796, on the territory of Ponišavlje district; two years later, in 1798, a well was dug for the monastery. Before the battle of Čegar, the monastery was burned during the First Serbian Uprising in 1809. Thereafter, the monastery library and whole church interior were reconstructed, and the sponsor of this work, Thracian guild from Pirot, donated an icon of St. Spyridon in 1820. In 1873, the narthex was demolished, and in 1876–77 the monastery quarters were burnt with the fire reaching the library and destroying two parchment manuscripts. After the liberation from the Turks in 1878, it was decided a new church should be built with construction beginning in 1902 and ending in 1908. In 1902, the nave was demolished and after that the church was completed as it stands today. The author of the new church was the architect Milorad Rudivić. During the Bulgarian occupation between 1915 and 1916, Bulgarians looted and vandalized the monastery, which was the last seen of an old record which told of how St. Sava spent a time at the monsatery.
After the liberation and the October Revolution, Russian nuns, doctors and officers escaped in large numbers, and some of them came to Divljana monastery. They painted and arranged the new temple, and in 1933, they built a winter church dedicated to Sarov miracle worker St. Seraphim. They lived in the monastery until the beginning of World War II, when the remains of a sorority of Serbian nuns moved into the monastery. After the war, all property was revoked from the monastery, and a church dedicated to St Demetrius was restored; the monastery quarters were demolished and on its foundation a new one was built in 2005.
Architects D. Milutinović and M. Valtrović made color illustrations and measured drawings of the church, immediately after liberation from the Turks in 1878. After that, the monastery was visited by M. Milicević between 1878 and 1882, F. Kanic in 1889, Stevan Sremac in 1892, Vulić and Premeštajn in 1900, and A. Belić in 1901.
Not far from the monastery is an oak tree more than 1000 years old, which is an attraction for tourists.
References.


Pavlo Kurtik

Pavlo Kurtik or Pal Kurti (fl. 1431–1432) (Albanian: Pal Kurti) was an Albanian or styled Slavo-Albanian feudal lord who held an Ottoman vilayet, an administrative unit in the Ottoman Empire similar to a county or shire, located between the Erzen and Shkumbin rivers in present-day Albania. While he was Christian, one of a few Christian lords in the Ottoman Empire, his sons converted in Islam and held various official titles throughout the Empire.
History.
In the 14th century, after the defeat of the Serbian Empire by the Ottomans, the Western Balkans became a collection of independent feudal states. After the Battle of Savra (1385) the Ottoman Empire absorbed the area of what is now the State of Albania. As an official in the Ottoman Empire Pavlo Kurtik is first mentioned in the first Ottoman defter (the official record of the Empire) of the Sanjak of Albania, dated 1431–1432. He entered Ottoman service shortly after 1400, and was one of few pre-Ottoman, Christian feudal lords along with his brother Karl Kurti(k). He governed over the vilayet of the same name (the Pavlo Kurtik vilayet) one of 9 vilayets of the Arvanit-ili province until 1466. In the 1431–1432 defter, Pavlo Kurtik held a timar of 26 villages subordinate to his son, Isa. The terms "tahvil" and "vilayet-i Pavlo Kurtik" shows that Pavlo Kurtik held the region before the Ottoman administration. His sons converted into Islam and became "subaşi", a royal or administrative title in the Ottoman Empire similar to lord or sheriff, of various Ottoman subdivisions throughout Ottoman Albania.
Family.
The Kurti family was originally Christian, but it was Islamized in the second generation.
Kurtik had the following descendants:


List of years in Poland

This is a list of years in Poland. See also the timeline of Polish history. For only articles about years in Poland that have been written, see .


Letters of Gediminas

There are 6 surviving transcripts of letters of Gediminas written in 1323–1324 by Grand Duke Gediminas. These letters are one of the first surviving documents from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Since they were sent to Western Europe, the pope, merchants, and craftspeople, they were written in Latin.
The first letter was written to Pope John XXII. Gediminas claimed that the Teutonic Knights did not act in the interest of the Catholic faith. Instead, they brutally devastated the land. The people were forced into resistance. Gediminas enumerated many crimes and damages done by the knights; for example, he claimed that his predecessor Vytenis sent a letter to the Franciscan friars asking for two brothers who could come to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to look after a local church. When the Teutonic Knights learned about the letter, they sent their army and destroyed the church. In the last sentence Gediminas vaguely promised to accept Christianity and obey the pope.
The second letter was written on January 25, 1323 to the German cities of Lübeck, Sund, Bremen, Magdeburg, Cologne and other cities in the Holy Roman Empire. Gediminas explained that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was very tolerant to the Christians, but remained pagan and did not accept Christianity only because of brutal Teutonic Knights. He told about the first letter sent to the pope and his intentions to baptize in the Catholic rite. Gediminas invited knights, squires, merchants, doctors, smiths, wheelwrights, cobblers, skinners, millers, and others to come to the Grand Duchy and practice their trade and faith without any restrictions. The peasants were promised tax exemption for ten years. The merchants were also exempt from any tariffs or taxes. This letter is best known because Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, was mentioned in written sources for the first time. Therefore, 1323 is considered to be the official founding year of Vilnius. Gediminas is considered to be the city's founder even though the city existed years before Gediminas' reign. Also, Vilnius is unambiguously mentioned as the capital city. His invitation notably included German Jews as well as Christians, and its issuance is closely linked to the establishment of the Jewish community in Lithuania.
The third letter addressed to Lübeck, Rostock, Sund, Greifswald, Stetin, Gotland cities was written on May 26, 1323. In essence it repeated the second letter. It asked for various craftspeople (the list of crafts was expanded) to come to Lithuania and practice their trade. It said that there were three churches in the duchy: two Franciscan (in Vilnius and in Navahradak) and one Dominican. Everyone was free to use them.
The fourth and the fifth letters were also written on May 26, 1323 and were addressed to the Franciscan and Dominican Orders. Gediminas, in anticipation of his baptism, invited priests and friars to come to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He also asked to spread the word to craftspeople that they were welcome in Lithuania. In the letter to the Dominicans, Gediminas mentioned that his seal was burned by the Teutonic Knights.
The last surviving letter was written on September 22, 1324 and was addressed to the bishop of Tartu, Erzel, ruler of Tallinn land, and Council of Riga. It reported that the Teutonic Knights violated a peace treaty signed earlier. The Knights attacked border regions, killed residents, and took all valuables. Many messengers were captured and killed. Gediminas asked for help enforcing the treaty.


List of left communist organisations in the Weimar Republic

The list of Left Communist organisations in the Weimar Republic includes groups and organisations associated with left communism. Some of them are groups of the left-wing opposition of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) who opposed the course of KPD leadership both within and without the party, especially against the Stalinization. They formed party factions in the KPD, were excluded or broke away to form independent groups.


Memorial Pillar (Valivade)

The Memorial Pillar located in Valivade (a village near Kolhapur, India) is in memory of over 5000 Polish refugees who escaped to India during World War II and were given shelter in the area. Poland"s Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz unveiled the pillar on 14 September 2019.
Background.
The first group of refugees had arrived in Valivade on 11 June 1943 and stayed till 1948. Whereas in 1948, many Poles returned to their homeland, a few stayed back. Valivade was the largest settlement of Polish citizens In India during the war.
There were other smaller Polish settlements in India at the time in areas such as Balachadi and Panchgani which offered settlement mainly due to the hospitality of Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji, Maharaja Jam Sahib of Nawanagar State. A Polish cemetery is also in Vilavade, home to 78 people who died there.


Tahir Pasha (Egypt)

Tahir Pasha or Thir Pasha born in Kavala as the son of Ahmed Bey and Zohra Khanum, older sister to Muhammad Ali of Egypt - (died 29 April 1818) was the Albanian commander of bashi-bazouks under Koca Hüsrev Mehmed Pasha. He rebelled and assumed government of Cairo, becoming the acting Ottoman governor of Egypt on 6 May 1803. He was beheaded by a Janissary soldier within a month of acting as governor when he was unable to pay the troops their outstanding pay.
Albanian commander.
Ottoman Albanian troops were sent by the Ottoman sultan in 1801 to fight against the French invasion of Ottoman Egypt under Napoleon, which had occurred in 1798. Tahir Pasha was the commander of the Albanian troops sent by the Ottoman sultan in 1801 to fight against the French.
Although successful in ousting the French with significant help from the British, the Albanian troops, led by the other Albanian commander, his maternal Uncle Muhammad Ali, chose to remain in Egypt and gain influence for themselves.
Cairo seized.
In accordance with the Treaty of Amiens, the British evacuated Alexandria in March 1803 leaving a power vacuum in Egypt. Muhammad Bey al-Alfi had accompanied the British to lobby them to help restore the power of the Mamelukes. In their attempts to return to power, the Mamelukes took Minia and interrupted communication between Upper and Lower Egypt.
About six weeks later, the legitimate Ottoman governor of Egypt Koca Hüsrev Mehmed Pasha, finding himself in a financial bind and unable to pay all the troops under his command, attempted to disband his Albanian mercenaries or Albanian bashi-bazouks (or Arnauts) without pay in order to be able to pay his regular other Otomans soldiers. The Albanians, led by Tahir Pasha, refused to disband, and instead surrounded the house of the "defterdar" (finance minister), who appealed in vain to Hüsrev Pasha to satisfy their claims. Instead, the Pasha commenced an artillery bombardment from batteries located in and near his palace on the insurgent soldiers who had taken the house of the "defterdar", located in the Ezbekia. The citizens of Cairo, accustomed to such occurrences, immediately closed their shops and armed themselves. The tumult in the city continued all day, and the next morning a body of troops sent out by Hüsrev Pasha failed to quell it.
Tahir Pasha then repaired to the citadel, gaining admittance through an embrasure, and from there began a counter bombardment of the pasha's forces over the roofs of the intervening houses. Soon thereafter, Tahir descended with his guns to the Ezbekia and then laid close siege to the governor's palace. The following day, Koca Hüsrev Mehmed Pasha fled with his women, servants, and regular troops to Damietta along the Nile.
Acting Ottoman Governor of Egypt.
After Koca Hüsrev Mehmed Pasha fled, Tahir assumed the government. The local judges confirmed him as "kaymakam" (acting governor) on 6 May 1806, largely because his Albanian troops were very loyal to him.
On May 19 there was a disturbance that resulted in the arrest beheading of Master Malati, also known as Moallem Malati, a Coptic Orthodox Church scribe of Ayyoub Bey El-Defterdar. He was one of the Mamluks of Muhammad Bey Abu al-Dhahab and was made general manager of a department to look after national problems when the French under Napoléon Bonaparte occupied Egypt. After the French left, the rulers of Egypt assumed the responsibility to protect Master Gergis El-Gohary, Master Wasef, and Master Malati. Malati was beheaded at Bab Zoweila in Cairo and subsequently canonized by the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Manipulated by his maternal Uncle Muhammad Ali, two Janissary chiefs confronted him for their jamakiya pay that he was unable to pay. The two drew their swords and rushed at Tahir, and one beheaded him.<ref name="JabartiPhilipp1994-3/376–377"></ref>
A prolonged battled then ensued between the Albanians and other Ottoman troops, creating a chasm between the two leading forces. For a time, Mameluks oscillated between the two factions and also considered regaining power on their own behalf. His maternal Uncle Muhammad Ali, one of the regimental commanders, became the leader of the Albanians. Realizing he had a weaker position than the other Ottomans, Ali entered into an alliance with the Mameluke leaders Ibrahim Bey and Osman Bey al-Bardisi.
The two men that killed Tahir Pasha were sentenced to death.
Funerary complex.
In 1819 a funerary complex with a domed mausoleum was established in Cairo of 15th century Mamluk style architecture that was dedicated to Tahir and other family members. It is described in "Islamic Art in the 19th Century" as the first initiative of Mamluk revival in the 19th century."


2000 in England

Events from 2000 in England


Giovanni Felice Sances

Giovanni Felice Sances (also Sancies, Sanci, Sanes, Sanchez, ca. 160024 November 1679) was an Italian singer and a Baroque composer. He was renowned in Europe during his time.
Sances studied at the Collegio Germanico in Rome from 1609 to 1614. He appeared in the opera "Amor pudico" in Rome in 1614. His career then took him to Bologna and Venice. His first opera "Ermiona" was staged in Padua in 1636, in which he also sang.
In 1636 he moved to Vienna, where he was initially employed at the imperial court chapel as a tenor. In 1649, during the reign of Ferdinand III he was appointed vice-"Kapellmeister" under Antonio Bertali. He collaborated with Bertali to stage regular performances of Italian opera. He also composed "sepolcri", sacred works and chamber music.
In 1669 he succeeded to the post of Imperial "Kapellmeister" upon Bertali's death. From 1673, due to poor health, many of his duties were undertaken by his deputy Johann Heinrich Schmelzer. He died in Vienna in 1679.
Works.
Secular works.
Six operas, of which three lost


Ischyrosaurus

"Ischyrosaurus" (meaning "strong lizard", for its large humerus; name in quotation marks because it is preoccupied) was a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Kimmeridgian-age Upper Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay of Dorset, England. It was once synonymized with the Early Cretaceous-age "Pelorosaurus".
History and Taxonomy.
"Ischyrosaurus" is based on a partial humerus (NHMUK R41626) found in 1868. John Hulke described it briefly in 1869, then named it in 1874. The genus is preoccupied by a name Edward Drinker Cope coined in 1869.
Like most sauropod remains from the Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous of Europe, it became part of the "Pelorosaurus"-"Ornithopsis" taxonomic tangle, being referred first to "Ornithopsis" as "O. manseli", then to "Pelorosaurus" as "P. manseli". Upchurch "et al.", in their review of sauropods (2004), listed it as a dubious sauropod. A 2010 overview of Late Jurassic sauropods from Dorset noted that "Ischyrosaurus" shared features seen in both Rebbachisauridae and Titanosauriformes, but lacked features to nail down its exact phylogenetic position.
Paleobiology.
As a sauropod, it would have been a large quadrupedal herbivore.


Timeline of Portuguese history (Lusitania and Gallaecia)

This is a historical timeline of Portugal.


Cosmati

The Cosmati were a Roman family, seven members of which, for four generations, were skilful architects, sculptors and workers in decorative geometric mosaic, mostly for church floors. Their name is commemorated in the genre of Cosmatesque work, often just called "Cosmati", a technique of "opus sectile" ("cut work") formed of elaborate inlays of small triangles and rectangles of colored stones and glass mosaics set into stone matrices or encrusted upon stone surfaces. Bands, panels and shaped reserves of intricate mosaic alternate with contrasting bands, guilloches and simple geometric shapes of plain white marble. Pavements and revetments were executed in Cosmatesque technique, columns were inlaid with fillets and bands, and immovable church furnishings like cathedras and "ambones" were similarly treated.
In addition, members of the Cosmati also engaged in commerce in ancient sculptures, some unearthed in the course of excavating for marbles for reuse. More than one ancient Roman sculpture has survived with the name of one of these craftsmen incised in it.
The following are the main known Cosmati:
The earliest recorded work was executed for a church at Fabieri in 1190 (Lorenzo) ("CE"). The principal works of the Cosmati in Rome are:
The chief signed works by Jacopo the younger and his brother Luca are at Anagni and Subiaco.
A large number of other works by members and pupils of the same family, but unsigned, exist in Rome. These are mainly altars and "baldacchini", choir-screens, paschal candlesticks, "ambones", tombs and the like, all enriched with sculpture and glass mosaic of great brilliance and decorative effect.
Besides the more mechanical sort of work, such as mosaic patterns and architectural decoration, they also produced mosaic pictures and sculpture of very high merit, especially the recumbent effigies, with angels standing at the head and foot, in the tombs of Aracoeli, S. Maria Maggiore and elsewhere. One of their finest works is in S. Cesareo; this is a marble altar richly decorated with mosaic in sculptured panels, and (below) two angels drawing back a curtain (all in marble) so as to expose the open grating of the "confessio". The magnificent cloisters of Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, built about 1285 by Giovanni, the youngest of the Cosmati, are one of the most beautiful works of this school. The "baldacchino" of the same basilica is a signed work of the Florentine Arnolfo di Cambio, 1285, "cum suo socio Petro", probably a pupil of the Cosmati. Other works of Arnolfo, such as the at Orvieto, show an intimate artistic alliance between him and the Cosmati. The equally magnificent cloisters of the Lateran, of about the same date, are very similar in design; both these triumphs of the sculptor-architects and mosaicists work have slender marble columns, twisted or straight, richly inlaid with bands of glass mosaic in delicate and brilliant patterns. In the crypt at Anagni is the largest section of undisturbed Cosmatesque flooring.
Cosmatesque decoration is not entirely confined to Rome, or even to Italy. At Westminster Abbey there are two Cosmatesque pavements, the finest north of the Alps set in Purbeck Marble: one is the Great Pavement before the high altar, the other the paving and decor associated with the shrine of Edward the Confessor in the Sanctuary, both works executed about 1268 for the connoisseur-king Henry III. They are extremely unusual in England: more characteristic luxury flooring in England consisted of lead-glazed ceramic tiles painted in patterns. This mosaic is depicted in Hans Holbein's "The Ambassadors".
The general style of works of the Cosmati school is more closely related to Romanesque art, even though some of the buildings they worked in are Gothic, as in their main lines are their larger structures, especially in the elaborate altar-canopies, with their pierced geometrical tracery. In detail, however, they differ widely from the purer Gothic of northern countries. The richness of effect which the English or French architect obtained by elaborate and carefully worked mouldings was produced in Italy by the beauty of polished marbles and jewel-like mosaics; the details being mostly rather coarse and often carelessly executed.
Initial inspiration for the technique was Byzantine, transmitted through Ravenna and Sicily, but some of the minutely-figured tiling patterns are Islamic in origin, transmitted through Sicily.
Ecclesiastical patronage in Rome dried up with the removal of the Papacy to Avignon in 1305, and by the time the curial court had returned and the ensuing schism had been settled a hundred years later, the craft tradition had lapsed. The differential resistance of the stones used in Cosmati work, marbles, porphyry and other colored stones has resulted in uneven wear on pavements, which have been periodically repaired, whether finely or coarsely, since the late Middle Ages, with the result that modern assessments of the quality of individual works may be compromised by overlooking later repairs.


Orangism (Kingdom of the Netherlands)

In the context of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Orangism is royalism that favors the House of Orange's rules as kings and queens. Orangism became a political force in the 1860s, when it was embraced by the dominant liberal tendency. Though presented as a national, a-political stance, to gather the support of monarchist Protestants and Catholics, liberal Orangism was in fact an attempt at achieving national unity at the expense of socialist and denominational politics.


Starodub

Starodub (, "old oak") is a town in Bryansk Oblast, Russia, located on the Babinets River (the Dnieper basin), southwest of Bryansk. Population: 16,000 (1975).
History.
Starodub has been known since the 11th century, when it was a part of Severia. It was burned to the ground by the Mongols in the 13th century. It became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 14th century, and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1503–1618, Starodub was a part of the Grand Duchy of Moscow and then Commonwealth until 1648. During the Khmelnytskyi Uprising, Zaporozhian Cossacks seized the town, and 188 families of local Ruthenian nobility recognized the Ukrainian hetman as a new governor. Starodub became the center of Starodub Cossack Regiment and enjoyed a large measure of autonomy between 1666 and 1686.
Starodub remained rudiments of Cossack Hetmanate's administrative division until 1782 when it became an uyezd town. In 1796, Starodub was incorporated into Chernigov Governorate. In 1918, the town was occupied by the Germans. The Soviet authority was reinstated in November 1918.
During the Soviet period, Starodub was a part of Gomel Governorate (1919–1926), Bryansk Governorate (1926–1929), Western Oblast (1929–1937), and Oryol Oblast (1937–1944). The town was once again occupied by the Germans between August 18, 1941 and September 22, 1943. Starodub finally became a part of Bryansk Oblast in 1944.
Administrative and municipal status.
Within the framework of administrative divisions, Starodub serves as the administrative center of Starodubsky District, even though it is not a part of it. As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as Starodubsky Urban Administrative Okrug—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, Starodubsky Urban Administrative Okrug is incorporated as Starodub Urban Okrug.
Prior to January 1, 2013, Starodub was administratively incorporated as a town of district significance within Starodubsky District.
Architecture.
As a significant center of the Cossack Hetmanate, Starodub is the only place in Russia where authentic examples of Ukrainian Baroque may be seen. The Nativity Cathedral, built in 1617 and overhauled after a conflagration in 1677, is a typical example of Cossack Baroque. The Epiphany Church goes back to 1789, while the Church of St. Nicholas was erected in the Neoclassical style in 1802.


Hellanicus of Lesbos

Hellanicus (or Hellanikos) of Lesbos (Greek: , "Ἑllánikos ὁ Lésvios"), also called Hellanicus of Mytilene (Greek: , "Ἑllánikos ὁ Mutilēnaῖos") was an ancient Greek logographer who flourished during the latter half of the 5th century BC. He was born in Mytilene on the isle of Lesbos in 490 BC and is reputed to have lived to the age of 85. According to the "Suda", he lived for some time at the court of one of the kings of Macedon, and died at Perperene, a city in Aeolis on the plateau of Kozak near Pergamon, opposite Lesbos. He was one of the most prolific of early historians. His many works, though now lost, were very influential. He was cited by a number of other authors, who thereby preserved many fragments of his works, the most recent collection of which is by José J. Caerols Pérez, who includes a biography of Hellanicus.
Hellanicus authored works of chronology, geography, and history, particularly concerning Attica, in which he made a distinction between what he saw as Greek mythology and history. His influence on the historiography of Athens was considerable, lasting until the time of Eratosthenes (3rd century BC).
He transcended the narrow local limits of the older logographers, and was not content to merely repeat the traditions that had gained general acceptance through the poets. He tried to record the traditions as they were locally current, and availed himself of the few national or priestly registers that presented something like contemporary registration.
He endeavoured to lay the foundations of a scientific chronology, based primarily on the list of the Argive priestesses of Hera, and secondarily on genealogies, lists of magistrates (e.g. the archons at Athens), and Oriental dates, in place of the old reckoning by generations. But his materials were insufficient and he often had to seek recourse to the older methods.
Some thirty works are attributed to him, chronological, historical and episodical. They include:
His work includes the first mention of the legendary founding of Rome by the Trojans; he writes that the city was founded by Aeneas when accompanying Odysseus on his travels through Latium. He also supported the idea that an incoming group of Pelasgians lay behind the origins of the Etruscans. The latter idea, from "Phoronis", influenced Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who cites him [I.28] as a source.


Paul Raud

Paul Raud ( in Kirikuküla, Viru-Jaagupi Parish – 22 November 1930 in Tallinn) was an Estonian painter.
Life and works.
The twin brother of painter Kristjan Raud, he studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf beginning in 1886, becoming influenced by the work of Eduard von Gebhardt. He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. After his return to Estonia, he painted mainly portrait commissions for some time, before traveling with his brother and Amandus Adamson to the islands of Muhu and Pakri in 1896. His works of this period are reminiscent of those of Max Liebermann. In 1899 he returned to work in Germany, taking on some of the stylistic trappings of Impressionism; this, coupled with time spent working with Ilya Repin, influenced his later style. Later in his career, most especially during and after World War I, he began to teach, from 1915 working as a drawing instructor at the Tallinn Institute of Commerce and from 1923 at the State School of Industrial Art in Tallinn.
Paul Raud is represented with works in the Art Museum of Estonia, Tallinn.


Trakai Voivodeship

Trakai Voivodeship, Trakai Palatinate, or Troki Voivodeship (, , ), was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1413 until 1795.
History.
Trakai Voivodeship together with Vilnius Voivodeship was established by the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas the Great in 1413 according to the Union of Horodło. Vytautas copied the Polish system of administrative division in order to centralize and strengthen the government. Trakai Voivodeship replaced the former Duchy of Trakai, which was ruled directly by the Grand Duke or his close relative (brother or son). The Duke of Trakai () was replaced by appointed officials – voivodes and his deputy castellan.
The voivodeship was divided into four powiats: Grodno County, Kaunas, Trakai (ruled directly by the voivode), and Upytė. The biggest cities in the voivodeship were Kaunas, Grodno and Trakai.
The western portion of the voivodeship was split off in 1513 by Sigismund I the Old and transferred to the Polish Crown. It was organized as the Podlaskie Voivodeship. In 1793, the counties of Grodno, Sokółka and Wołkowysk one of Nowogródek Voivodeship were merged into Grodno Voivodeship.
After the Union of Lublin the voivodeship, together with the whole Grand Duchy of Lithuania, became part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until the partitions of the Commonwealth in 1795. Most of the territory became part of the Russian Empire, while territories west of the Neman River – part of the Province of East Prussia.
Voivodes.
The Voivode of Trakai (, ) was one of the most important state offices in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They were appointed from prominent magnate families and competed only with voivode of Vilnius and Grand Chancellors for power and prestige. Voivodes were the "ex officio" members of the Lithuanian Council of Lords. Voivodes had their residence in Trakai city, near Galvė Lake, north of the Trakai Peninsula Castle.


Rutland Formation

The Rutland Formation is a geologic formation in England. It preserves fossils dating back to the late Bajocian to Bathonian stages in the Jurassic period, about 169 million years ago. It is the lateral equivalent of the Sharp's Hill Formation and the Fuller's Earth Formation. The "Rutland Dinosaur" specimen of "Cetiosaurus" is known from the formation.