Canosa di Puglia

Canosa di Puglia, generally known simply as Canosa (), is a town and "comune" in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, Apulia, southern Italy. It is located between Bari and Foggia, on the northwestern edge of the plateau of the Murgia which dominates the Ofanto valley and the extensive plains of Tavoliere delle Puglie, ranging from Mount Vulture at the Gargano, to the Adriatic coast. Canosa, the Roman Canusium, is considered the principal archaeological center of Apulia, and is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in Italy. A number of vases and other archaeological finds are located in local museums and private collections. It is not far from the position on the Ofanto River where the Romans found refuge after the defeat of the Battle of Cannae and is the burial place of Bohemund I of Antioch.
Name.
Canosa is the Italian development of the Latin ', derived from the Greek "Kanýsion" (), whose origin is uncertain. According to the Latin commentator Servius, Canusium derived from ' ("dog"), an animal associated with the local worship of Aphrodite. Other derivations include from Greek "kháneon" (, "wicker basket"), from the abundant wicker growing along the Ofanto; the Hebrew "chanuth" ("tavern"); and the Etruscan name "Canzna".
Geography.
Territory.
Canosa sits on the right bank of the Ofanto river (the ancient "") and is nearly from the Adriatic Sea. The town sits upon the Murgia plateau, between above sea level. The city is built on a mostly sandy or clay surface that covers a limestone layer ("calcareniti of Gravina") which in turn constitutes the typical white-yellowish tuff and is easily collapsible.
This morphological feature allowed the underground construction of artificial grottoes (used in the 19th century as cellars), and the creation of a Hypogean. The tuff derived from the excavations has gone towards the construction of buildings on the surface. There are risks of subsidence due to the presence of caves and underground channels typical of karst environments. The buildings of the town of Canosa are considered high risk for collapse. In recent years there have been many building failures and disruptions of roads. The area extends south to the slopes of the Murgia, and is mostly flat. The basins of Rendina and Locone contribute to the large area .
Climate.
Canosa has a typical temperate climate, mild spring and autumn, and cold winters and mild summers.
The monthly average temperature is strongly influenced by the Murgiano Range from in January, to in August. The average annual rainfall is of rainfall, distributed mainly in the period from September to April. Climate classification of Canosa is Climate zone C.
History.
Prehistory.
The ancient Greeks and Romans ascribed the foundation of Canusion or Canusium to the Homeric hero Diomedes, but archeologists have established human presence in the area back to the 7th millennium BC. The Diomedea fields were one of the main centers of the Dauni, a northern branch of the Iapyges, during the Neolithic (6th to 4th millennia BC). Toppicelli on the Ofantina plain has revealed buildings and tombs of a rich aristocracy that also seem related to this group.
Excavations have also discovered metal and amber designs which appear Etruscan.
Antiquity.
Canusion became an important commercial center for craftsman, especially of ceramics and pottery. Probably settled by the Pelasgians, it became a Greek polis by the time of the development of Magna Grecia. This Hellenistic city—located at the site of the present urban core—first appears in the historical record as an ally of the Samnites in their wars against Rome but was either subdued or voluntarily switched sides in , after which it served as a Roman ally. Following Hannibal's victory over the consuls Paullus and Varro at nearby Cannae, Canosa protected the fleeing remnants of the Roman army within its walls. In the second year of the Social War, it joined the rebels and successfully resisted a Roman siege. During that conflict or the civil wars that followed, it seems to have suffered greatly and been much reduced in size, although it improved its status to a self-governing municipality ("") in and protected those privileges throughout the conflicts. A list of its local senators has been recovered from the ruins.
The town was a center for agricultural production and trade, particularly in Apulian wool. Horace's "Satires" complain of the area's gritty bread and bad water but note that the people were still fluent in both Latin and Greek. Its coins continued to bear Greek inscriptions through the Roman period. The Via Traiana reached the town in and the ruins of a large gateway still honor that emperor. The city also boasted a very large amphitheater. It became a Roman colony ("") under Marcus Aurelius. Herodes Atticus oversaw the process and constructed an aqueduct, completed in 141. Antoninus Pius made it the capital of the Province of Apulia and Calabria. Towards the end of the 3rd century it became the capital of Apulia and Calabria II Royal.
Middle Ages.
The city continued to flourish into the early medieval period, when it became known as the "city of bishops". Some of its bishops are known from the 4th century. Bishop Stercorius took part in the 343 Council of Sardica, and Bishop Probus intervened decisively against a Spanish bishop who wanted to name his own successor in a council convoked at Rome by Pope Hilarius in 465. The diocese reached its apogee under St Sabinus (514–566), who subsequently was honored as the town's patron saint.
The area suffered severely at the hands of the Lombards during the invasion that established the Duchy of Benevento and the Muslim invasions which followed. In the early 9th century, Muslims entirely destroyed the town and, in 844, Bishop Angelarius translated the relics of  Rufinus, Memorus, and Sabinus to Bari. Soon after, Pope Sergius II confirmed him as the bishop of Bari and Canosa, a united title borne by Bari's archbishops until 1986. (It remains a titular see.)
In 963, Canosa was rebuilt at a site below the former Roman city. It remained a Lombard gastaldate until the Norman conquest that established the Kingdom of Sicily. Under Bohemund I of Antioch (d. 1111), son of Robert Guiscard, it regained some of its earlier importance. The 5-domed cathedral of St Sabinus was completed in 1101. Bohemund's tomb is located just to its south. Following the extirpation of the Hohenstaufens, however, it again went into decline.
Modernity.
The ruins and settlement of Canosa were repeatedly damaged by earthquakes, particularly those in 1361, 1456, 1627, 1659, 1694, and 1851. The town was also repeatedly sacked, notably by the Tarantini in 1451 and by Napoleon in 1803. As a fief, it was controlled by the Casati, the Orsini of , the Grimaldi of Monaco, the Gemmis family of Castelfoce, the Affaitati of Barletta, and the Capece Minutolo of Naples. Tiberio Capece was named "prince of Canosa" in 1712.
After the Italian Wars of Independence and the disastrous earthquake in 1851, Canosa remained predominantly bourgeois town as demonstrated by the construction of palaces. Virtually unscathed by World War I, the town suffered the effects of the 1930 Irpinia earthquake, which caused enormous damage.
On 6 November 1943, during World War II, the area was bombed by the Allies shortly after the armistice of 8 September. Some buildings were damaged, including the churches of San Francesco and San Biagio and the Town Hall, and 57 people lost their lives. In April 2001 the City of Canosa was awarded the bronze medal for Civil Valor in remembrance of the tragedy. On 17 September 1962, by decree of the President, Canosa was awarded the title of City for its historical traditions and the merits acquired by the community. In 1980 Canosa was again damaged by an earthquake.
Currently the economy of Canosa is based mainly on agriculture, with a service sector (archaeological, tourism) and industry and handicrafts, including textiles, food processing and manufacturing.
Main sights.
Religious architecture.
Cathedral of San Sabino.
The Cathedral of San Sabino was founded in the 8th century by the Lombards Duke Arechis II of Benevento, after the abandonment of early Christian sites in San Leucio and St. Peter. Originally dedicated to Saints John and Paul, was named after St. Sabinus of Canosa on 7 September 1101, by Pope Paschal II, some four hundred years after the transfer of the saint's remains in the crypt. It was recognized as a cathedral in 1916 by Pope Benedict XV.
The plan of the basilica is a Latin cross, covered by five domes and an apse lit by three windows, whose central body is covered with a stained glass window depicting the patron saint. It is an example of Romanesque/Byzantine architecture. Below the chancel are the crypt, shrine of the saint. The arches are supported by marble columns with Corinthian capitals, which were retrieved from devastated ancient monuments. The cathedral lies three feet below the square.
After the earthquake of 1851, the cathedral was damaged and the restoration work led to an expansion of the Latin cross, as well as the reconstruction of the facade in local tuff with three portals, each corresponding to the aisles.
The chapels contain in order: a baptismal font, a fresco, an altar dedicated to Our Lady of the Fountain (protectress of Canosa) whose icon came after the First Crusade, in the adjacent Mausoleum of Bohemond, the wooden statue and a painting of Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, and the tomb of Blessed Father Antonio Maria Losito (1838–1917).
The left aisle houses the tomb of the Bishop of Lecce Archbishop Francesco Minerva (1904–2004) following three chapels: one containing the relics, chalices, crucifixes, and a silver bust of the saint enclosed by an iron grating, and the other dedicated to St. Anthony (but with canvas representing St. Francis of Assisi), the third devoted to St. Anne. On the left arm of a Latin cross are two other chapels that of the St. Sacramento containing the statue of the Sacred Heart and the other of St. Joseph.
The presbytery has a high altar with ciborium, set on a marble base with three steps, surmounted by a canopy supported by four red marble columns with Corinthian capitals, octagonal pyramid in two sections held up a total of 48 columns of the same marble, very similar to that in the Basilica of San Nicola di Bari.
Mausoleum of Bohemond.
Accessible from the right transept of the cathedral is the Mausoleum of Bohemond. (You will have to ask a church official to unlock the door which gives access.) Erected sometime after 1111, the little building has an upper part characterized by a polygonal drum surmounted by a hemispherical dome. Opposite the door to the Mausoleum is a stone carved heraldic device, a Lion Rampant, the style of which appears contemporary with Bohemond, and could therefore represent his personal Coat of Arms. An asymmetrical bronze double door (now preserved in the side chapel in the adjoining Basilica of Our Lady of the Fountain) was probably created by Roger Melfi (11th century). Inside, in addition to the columns, one going deep, there is on the marble floor with the word "".
Civil architecture.
Historical buildings.
The center of the city is littered with 18th- and 19th-century buildings of great artistic and aesthetic value.
Teatro D'Ambra.
The city 's historic theater is the Teatro D'Ambra, now owned by the city and renamed Teatro Comunale. Its construction was commissioned by Raffaele Lembo, a wealthy local grain merchant, and dates to 1923. The draft prepared by engineer and architect Arturo Boccasini of Barletta, had designed the Teatro Di Lillo of Barletta and had collaborated on the project of Teatro Margherita di Bari. The theater was opened in late 1926 when, with scarce economic resources, they completed part of the structure including without ornaments and decorations. Purchased by the City of Canosa and delivered to the city on 5 February 2005, the historic theater will be completely renovated and restored to house performances again.
In May 2006 the renovation work were frozen after of an exceptional archaeological discovery, which was found under the gallery of the theater. This is a complicated intersection of Imperial age with some structures being from the Archaic Age (8th-7th centuries BC).
Other.
Villa Comunale.
The Villa Comunale, the center of Canosa, has its origins in the 19th century. Mayor Vincent Sinesi who in 1888 arranged the building adjacent to the Cathedral and the Mausoleum of Bohemond to be donated to the municipality by a few Canosa families.
Beyond the Mausoleum of Bohemond, there is a monument dedicated to Scipio Africanus, and an altar commemorating the fallen of all wars.
The lapidarium is composed of a remarkable archaeological heritage with Dauna and Roman inscriptions, funerary reliefs, capitals and columns, lintels, and the well of the imperial villas.
Archaeological sites.
Castle.
The "castle" is actually the acropolis of ancient Canosa ("Castrum Canus"). The three great towers are the ruins of the eponymous estate located atop the hill overlooking the valley Ofantina. Originally a place of worship and pre-Roman fort, built of tufa blocks was rebuilt as a bastion of the same materials by the Grimaldi. Last owners, from 1856, were the Prince of Canosa Capece Minutolo of Naples, and remained until 1948. The wear of the blocks that compose it and the color denotes the passage of these various civilizations that have developed the structure in different epochs. The castle has also reported damage after the devastating bombing of the Second World War. Along the steep hill of the Acropolis, there is the old part of the country, with its narrow streets and staircases. At the southern base lie the remains of a Roman amphitheater.
Hypogeum and catacombs.
Canosa has ancient Hypogeum (many probably still hidden). These were used first by Dauni as pagan catacombs, and, within them, celebrated funerary cults, demonstrating an advanced civilization in the vast era from 6000 BC to 2nd century AD). The burials in the tombs continued to Roman times. The tombs contained, in addition to the deceased (often found in the fetal position), personal items found in urns or deposited in niches. Over the years, however, many of these artifacts (including precious jewelry in gold and bronze, pottery, red figures and askos) have been lost (or in private hands) due to grave robbers. Often these sites have frescoes with an allegorical passage of the deceased to take in the afterlife (for dedutio inferos). The most important are those of the Cerberus, Lagrasta, Boccaforno and the Hoplite. Other exhibits recovered at the local Museum.
Not far from the town lies in the depths of clay soil, the necropolis of Santa Sofia. Used around the 4th century AD, for early Christians, it extended over other tombs dating back to the time of the persecution against the Christians. It was discovered around 1960 and is undergoing restoration.
Other hypogeum and catacombs include:
Temples and archaic churches.
Basilica di San Leucio.
The Basilica of San Leucio is one of the greatest examples of early Christian architecture in Apulia. A pagan temple until the 2nd century AD, probably dedicated to Minerva, was transformed into a Christian Basilica between the 4th and 5th centuries AD
The structure is the result of merging the cultures of Magna Graecia and Italica consisting of a cell dedicated to worship located between two large rooms, with polychrome mosaics, tufa plastered figured capitals and painted columns in Doric – Ionic.
The early Christian Basilica of San Leucio was built on a Hellenistic temple. Its construction reused the already existing walls, columns and capitals. The floor plan is called a double envelope consists of an outer wall of square shape of per side with exedra on each side within which there is a second concentric squares with colonnade exedras. The architecture of the basilica is of oriental inspiration, with preference for large color spaces. In the 9th century a chapel was built adjoining the apse for burial rites.
Basilica di San Pietro.
The Basilica di San Pietro was the first cathedral of the Christian era, then transformed into a tomb of Saint Sabino (556), patron of Canosa.
The complex is with three naves, apse and narthex of St. Peter's, preceded by a large atrium portico and bordered by a residential building and several other structures used in cemetery functions: a mausoleum, the Sepulchre of Bishop Sabino, a large brick kiln devoted to cooking and a domus, used probably as a bishop's residence. Also present are mosaics and Doric-Ionic capitals. Since 2001 the entire area is ongoing systematic excavation by the University of Foggia and the University of Bari.
Baptistry of San Giovanni.
The main body of the twelve-sided shape, contained a heptagonal baptismal font. The compositions were mainly in marble and tuff. The columns that support the barrel vault was damaged over time, as they have lost the gold mosaics that once covered it. Corresponding to the cardinal points, left four small dodecagon aisles to form a structure of a Greek cross. In the 1800s, it was used as a mill. Nevertheless, such use did not affect the status of the building. Since 2001 it is the subject of research by the University of Foggia. Recently, under the Baptistry, have yielded two distinct levels of an early Christian church.
Temple of Jupiter "Toro".
The Roman temple of Jupiter "Toro", a peripteral temple with six columns on the short sides and ten on the long sides, and a brick staircase, took its name from a statue of Jupiter found at the excavation in 1978.
Other sites.
Among other monuments are the Ofanto Roman Bridge (1st century AD), which allowed the passage of the Via Traiana from one side of the river and was used for road traffic until the 1970s. It was reconstructed in the Middle Ages and restored again in 1759. The base consists of four pillars shaped like a spearhead and five mixed arches.
Notable are the Tower and Mausoleums, Casieri Bagnoli and Barbarossa, and the Arch of Gaius Terentius Varro, opus latericium and the opus reticulatum monuments dedicated to the passage of the Roman consul in the Battle of Cannae. The first three sites preserve the remains of some of the fallen in the battle.
Finally, the Roman Baths (Ferrara and Lomuscio) located in the city center came to light in the 1950s. They have enriched apse mosaics.
Languages.
The dialect is a primary Italo-Romance dialect arising directly from the Vulgar Latin spoken in ancient Canusium. Linguistically, part of the southern dialects spoken in North Central Apulia. The vocabulary is almost entirely of Latin origin with influences of ancient Greek. Norman domination has left some words, without upsetting the existing lexical and grammatical system.
Culture.
Education.
Canosa is home to four secondary schools:
Museums.
Museo Civico Archeologico.
The Archaeological Museum was established in 1934 and placed in the 18th-century Casieri palace. It houses about 2,000 archaeological finds from excavations in tombs at Canosa and the 5th-3rd centuries BC. There are inscriptions, sculptures, reliefs, marbles, coins, jewelry, ceramics and pottery dating back to a broad span of about 1500 years representing the ancient Dauno, Roman, early Christian and medieval Byzantine.
In the past, the museum has been deprived of some pieces of inestimable value, such as gold from the Tomb of the Ori. These jewels are now held at the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto, and scattered in major Italian and European museums (including the Louvre Museum in Paris). The museum collection includes:
Palazzo Sinesi - Archaeological Foundation Canosina.
Palazzo Sines (19th century), has since 1994 been an exhibition space for thematic exhibitions. It is the seat of the Archaeological Foundation Canosina and home to the Superintendent of Archaeological Heritage of Apulia.
Palazzo Iliceto.
Palazzo Iliceto is an imposing 18th-century building intended as an exhibition space for special exhibits. Until 2005 it was the home of the Museo delle Marionette Canosa, and since 2005 houses the archaeological exhibition God with lightning. It was also used for some theater in the summer of 2003, and outdoor film screenings in the summers of 2004 and 2005. Exhibitions include:
Museum of Country Life.
The Museum of Country Life is housed in an old bakery in the service area of the castle and is sporadically open during the summer, the patron festivals, and at events organized in the castle.
The museum, through an extensive development of original objects, traces the daily rural life in the last century, browsing habits and customs of a civilization now vanished. The museum is divided into three macro-areas:
Food and wine.
The 'Canosina' gastronomy is strongly linked to rural and Mediterraneans culinary traditions.
One of the most characteristic is the burned flour of wheat (in the Apulian dialect gren IARS): A dark meal of humble origins, obtained from the grain recovered from the burning of stubble after harvest, from which it was produced the characteristic dark color meal. This recovery was done by people who could not afford the "normal" flour. The most original and popular products that are obtained by mixing equal parts white flour and wheat flour are burned dragged (in dialect strasc-net) with prosciutto and bread (in dialect ppen to prusutt) to make a dark bread mixed with white.
Distinguishing gastronomy features of the city are the renowned extra virgin olive oil obtained from Corato olives. Rosso Canosa Wine, produced with Uva di Troia (grapes of Troy, also called a variety of Canosa). Wine production also includes white and red wines, as well as excellent sparkling wines. The main products under the brand IGT (Typical Geographic Indication) are: Nero di Troia, Trebbiano, Cabernet Sauvignon, Puglia Rosso, Sangiovese.
Rosso Canosa DOC.
The Italian wine DOC of Rosso Canosa is designated only for red wine production with the 100 ha (250 acre) zone. Grapes are limited to a harvest yield of 14 tonnes/ha with the finished wine needing at least 12% alcohol. The wine are a blend of 65% Uva di Troia, up to 35% blend of Montepulciano and Sangiovese with Sangiovese, itself, not to exceed 15%, and other local red grape varieties allowed up to 5%. If the wine is labeled "Riserva" then it must be aged for a minimum of 2 years with at least one of those years spent in oak barrels/wood. "Riserva" wine must also have a higher minimum alcohol level of 13%.
Markets.
The food market (also known as the square) takes place daily in the Piazza Galuppi, currently in the recovery phase, while the traditional weekly market is held every Thursday (with some exceptions) in the St. Johns (known as field-field).
Economy.
The Canosina economy is mainly linked to agriculture. The historic resources, archaeological and tourist, facilitate the influx of visitors. The city's central position in relation to the surrounding area, however, helped give rise to particular firms in the textile and food industries.
Agriculture.
The location puts the area between the Canosa Murgia and Tavoliere delle Puglie, a few miles of Lake Locone. Due to the mild temperatures, typical of the area are the production of figs, prickly pears, almonds, lampascioni, peaches and cherries, without neglecting other vegetables (turnips, beets and Arugula), and vegetables.
Recently (2005) there have been controversies and protests by farmers due to low scores on local products, which have followed the movement disruption and confrontation with the recording of incidents of crime.
Farms surrounding cattle, sheep and goats guarantees the production of milk and cheese for the surroundings dairy industries.
Handicrafts.
The realization of handmade wicker baskets or clay pots are still frequent. Still practiced is the ancient crafts such as shoemaking.
Industry.
The rolas a strategic road junction has allowed the city to host a number of distribution centers for goods, such as fruits and medicines. In recent decades, Canosa has developed several wineries and olive oil center, along with a major pasta factory.
Since the early 2000s a planned incinerator in the territory of Canosa has led to many demonstrations and protests. After a long and complicated litigation between the municipal administration and the manufacturers of the plant, in March 2007 a decision of the Council of State overturned the building permit for the construction.
Transportation.
Roads and highways.
Canosa is located near one of the most important motorway hubs of southern Italy. From 1973, the Motorway A16 (Naples-Canosa, also known as Two Seas Highway) intersects Motorway A14 (Bologna – Taranto, also called the Adriatic highway). The toll of Canosa is 172 km from Naples, 611 km from Bologna and 133 km from Taranto. At average of 15 - 20 thousand cars, with peaks of 40 - 45 thousand units, and the toll road of Canosa will be extended.
In the northeast the modern Provincial Road 231 Andries Coratina (SS 98) parallels the Via Traiana built by Emperor Trajan in 108 AD, linking the ancient Trajan Benevento to Brindisi. In Roman times there was probably a port for shipment of goods, which still is an all-important reference port located at Barletta. Other roads of major importance are the Provincial Road 231 Andries Coratina (SS 98) and State Road 93 Appulo Lucana Barletta-Canosa.
Railways.
Canosa has a railway station, currently on the Barletta-Spinazzola line. The project dates back to 1861, but in 1888 is entered into an agreement with Southern Railways Company for the construction of the line. The railway line was inaugurated on August 1, 1895. Since the nineties the line was strongly curtailed.
Twin towns.
Canosa is twinned with:
Sports.
The soccer team of the city is the SS Canosa. The company's corporate colors are red and blue. Currently playing in the Promotion cup, but in the past has played in the Cup of Excellence and the Championship Series D. It also won the Amateur Cup of Italy. Among the sports facilities in the city include:
External links.
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Vitebsk Voivodeship

Vitebsk Voivodeship (, , ) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (from 1569 Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) from the 15th century until the partitions of Poland in 1795.
Zygmunt Gloger in his monumental book Historical Geography of the Lands of Old Poland provides this description of the Witebsk Voivodeship:
“Witebsk (in Latin Vitebscum), located on the Dvina river, was one of main gord of the Principality of Polotsk. In the second half of the 12th century, it emerged as a local center of government. Conquered by one of the sons of Mindaugas in ca. 1239, it became a permanent part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since the times of Gediminas. In ca. 1342 Witebsk was already the seat of a starostas, who in the early 16th century were named voivodes. First voivode of Witebsk was Jerzy Chlebowicz (...)
The Dvina river divided the voivodeship into two parts, of which northern one was smaller. Since the town of Witebsk was located in the middle of a sparsely populated province, at first the voivodeship was not divided into counties. Later on, however, the County of Orsza, which had been part of Smolensk Voivodeship, was attached to Witebsk Voivodeship (...) Witebsk Voivodeship remained in the Commonwealth until September 1772, when most of it was annexed by the Russian Empire. What remained was southern part of the Land of Orsza, which belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until 1793 (...)
Starostas resided at Witebsk and Orsza, while local sejmiks took place in both towns. Altogether, Witebsk Voivodeship elected four deputies to the Sejm - two from each county. After the first partition, the sejmiks were moved to the town of Cholopienicze, located in Minsk Voivodeship”.
Voivodeship Governor (Wojewoda) seat:
Voivodes: Samuel Sanguszko (1629- XI 1638), Paweł Jan Sapieha (15 VIII 1646-)
Administrative division:


Udine Cathedral

Udine Cathedral (, "Cattedrale di Santa Maria Maggiore") is a Catholic cathedral located in Udine, north-eastern Italy. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Udine.
History.
The cathedral's construction began in 1236 by will of Berthold, patriarch of Aquileia, on a Latin cross-shaped plan with three aisles and side-chapels. The style should follow that of the contemporary Franciscan churches. The church was consecrated in 1335 as "Santa Maria Maggiore".
In 1348 an earthquake damaged the building, which was restored starting from 1368. In this occasion, the larger previous rose window of the façade was replaced by the smaller current one.
At the beginning of the 18th century a radical transformation project involving both the exterior and the interior was undertaken at the request and expense of the Manin family. The designer was architect Domenico Rossi, the work being finished in 1735.
Description.
The church has two main portals, one of which, called "Portale della Redenzione", executed by an unknown German master in the 14th century. It has reliefs portraying the Redemption and pointed internal arches. The other one is known as "Portale dell'Incoronazion", and was also executed by a German sculptor in 1395-1396. It has figures of saints and, one the upper tympanum, scenes of the Life of Jesus.
The interior has a nave and two aisles separated by pillars. At the sides are four chapels communicating with each other.
In contrast with the Romanesque-Gothic exterior, the Baroque interior has monumental dimensions and contains many works of art by Maffeo Verona, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Pomponio Amalteo, and Ludovico Dorigny. The painter Pellegrino da San Daniele contributed to the altarpiece of Saint Joseph and the organ doors. On the ground floor of the bell tower (built from 1441 over the ancient baptistry) is a chapel which is completely adorned with frescoes by Vitale da Bologna (1349).
The cathedral also houses an important museum of religious decorative arts, the "Museo del Duomo di Udine".


Benjamin Thompson

Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, FRS (; March 26, 1753August 21, 1814) was an American-born British physicist and inventor whose challenges to established physical theory were part of the 19th-century revolution in thermodynamics. He served as lieutenant-colonel of the King's American Dragoons, part of the British Loyalist forces, during the American Revolutionary War. After the end of the war he moved to London, where his administrative talents were recognized when he was appointed a full colonel, and in 1784 he received a knighthood from King George III. A prolific designer, Thompson also drew designs for warships. He later moved to Bavaria and entered government service there, being appointed Bavarian Army Minister and re-organizing the army, and, in 1791, was made a Count of the Holy Roman Empire.
Early years.
Thompson was born in rural Woburn, Massachusetts, on March 26, 1753; his birthplace is preserved as a museum. He was educated mainly at the village school, although he sometimes walked almost ten miles to Cambridge with the older Loammi Baldwin to attend lectures by Professor John Winthrop of Harvard College. At the age of 13 he was apprenticed to John Appleton, a merchant of nearby Salem. Thompson excelled at his trade, and coming in contact with refined and well educated people for the first time, adopted many of their characteristics including an interest in science. While recuperating in Woburn in 1769 from an injury, Thompson conducted experiments concerning the nature of heat and began to correspond with Loammi Baldwin and others about them. Later that year he worked for a few months for a Boston shopkeeper and then apprenticed himself briefly, and unsuccessfully, to a doctor in Woburn.
Thompson's prospects were dim in 1772 but in that year they changed abruptly. He met, charmed and married a rich and well-connected heiress named Sarah Rolfe (née Walker). Her father was a minister, and her late husband left her property at Concord, New Hampshire, then called Rumford. They moved to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and through his wife's influence with the governor, he was appointed a major in the New Hampshire Militia. Their first child (also named Sarah) was born in 1774.
American Revolutionary War.
When the American Revolutionary War began Thompson was a man of property and standing in New England and was opposed to the uprising. He was active in recruiting loyalists to fight the rebels. This earned him the enmity of the popular party, and a mob attacked Thompson's house. He fled to the British lines, abandoning his wife, as it turned out, permanently. Thompson was welcomed by the British to whom he gave valuable information about the American forces, and became an advisor to both General Gage and Lord George Germain.
While working with the British armies in America he conducted experiments to measure the force of gunpowder, the results of which were widely acclaimed when published in 1781 in the "Philosophical Transactions" of the Royal Society. On the strength of this he arrived in London at the end of the war with a reputation as a scientist.
Bavarian maturity.
In 1785, he moved to Bavaria where he became an "aide-de-camp" to the Prince-elector Charles Theodore. He spent eleven years in Bavaria, reorganizing the army and establishing workhouses for the poor. He also invented Rumford's Soup, a soup for the poor, and established the cultivation of the potato in Bavaria. He studied methods of cooking, heating, and lighting, including the relative costs and efficiencies of wax candles, tallow candles, and oil lamps.
On Prince Charles' behalf he created the Englischer Garten in Munich in 1789; it remains today and is known as one of the largest urban public parks in the world. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1789. For his efforts, in 1791 Thompson was made a Count of the Holy Roman Empire; he took the name "Rumford" for Rumford, New Hampshire, which was an older name for the town of Concord where he had been married, becoming "Reichsgraf von Rumford" (English: Imperial Count Rumford).
Experiments on heat.
His experiments on gunnery and explosives led to an interest in heat. He devised a method for measuring the specific heat of a solid substance but was disappointed when Johan Wilcke published his parallel discovery first.
Thompson next investigated the insulating properties of various materials, including fur, wool and feathers. He correctly appreciated that the insulating properties of these natural materials arise from the fact that they inhibit the convection of air. He then made the somewhat reckless, and incorrect, inference that air and, in fact, all gases, were perfect non-conductors of heat. He further saw this as evidence of the argument from design, contending that divine providence had arranged for fur on animals in such a way as to guarantee their comfort.
In 1797, he extended his claim about non-conductivity to liquids. The idea raised considerable objections from the scientific establishment, John Dalton and John Leslie making particularly forthright attacks. Instrumentation far exceeding anything available in terms of accuracy and precision would have been needed to verify Thompson's claim. Again, he seems to have been influenced by his theological beliefs and it is likely that he wished to grant water a privileged and providential status in the regulation of human life.
He is considered the founder of the sous-vide food preparation method owing to his experiment with a mutton shoulder. He described this method in one of his essays.
Mechanical equivalent of heat.
Rumford's most important scientific work took place in Munich, and centred on the nature of heat, which he contended in "An Experimental Enquiry Concerning the Source of the Heat which is Excited by Friction" (1798) was not the caloric of then-current scientific thinking but a form of "motion". Rumford had observed the frictional heat generated by boring cannon at the arsenal in Munich. Rumford immersed a cannon barrel in water and arranged for a specially blunted boring tool. He showed that the water could be boiled within roughly two and a half hours and that the supply of frictional heat was seemingly inexhaustible. Rumford confirmed that no physical change had taken place in the material of the cannon by comparing the specific heats of the material machined away and that remaining.
Rumford argued that the seemingly indefinite generation of heat was incompatible with the caloric theory. He contended that the only thing communicated to the barrel was motion.
Rumford made no attempt to further quantify the heat generated or to measure the mechanical equivalent of heat. Though this work met with a hostile reception, it was subsequently important in establishing the laws of conservation of energy later in the 19th century.
Rumford's calorific and frigorific radiation.
He explained Pictet's experiment, which demonstrates the reflection of cold, by supposing that all bodies emit invisible rays, undulations in the ethereal fluid. He did experiments to support his theories of calorific and frigorific radiation and said the communication of heat was the net effect of calorific (hot) rays and frigorific (cold) rays and the rays emitted by the object. When an object absorbs radiation from a warmer object (calorific rays) its temperature rises, and when it absorbs radiation from a colder object (frigorific rays) its temperature falls. See note 8, "An enquiry concerning the nature of heat and the mode of its communication" Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, starting at page 112.
Inventions and design improvements.
Thompson was an active and prolific inventor, developing improvements for chimneys, fireplaces and industrial furnaces, as well as inventing the double boiler, a kitchen range, and a drip coffeepot. He invented a percolating coffee pot following his pioneering work with the Bavarian Army, where he improved the diet of the soldiers as well as their clothes.
The Rumford fireplace created a sensation in London when he introduced the idea of restricting the chimney opening to increase the updraught, which was a much more efficient way to heat a room than earlier fireplaces. He and his workers modified fireplaces by inserting bricks into the hearth to make the side walls angled, and added a choke to the chimney to increase the speed of air going up the flue. The effect was to produce a streamlined air flow, so all the smoke would go up into the chimney rather than lingering, entering the room, and often choking the residents. It also had the effect of increasing the efficiency of the fire, and gave extra control of the rate of combustion of the fuel, whether wood or coal. Many fashionable London houses were modified to his instructions, and became smoke-free.
Thompson became a celebrity when news of his success spread. His work was also very profitable, and much imitated when he published his analysis of the way chimneys worked. In many ways, he was similar to Benjamin Franklin, who also invented a new kind of heating stove.
The retention of heat was a recurring theme in his work, as he is also credited with the invention of thermal underwear.
Industrial furnaces.
Thompson also significantly improved the design of kilns used to produce quicklime, and Rumford furnaces were soon being constructed throughout Europe. The key innovation involved separating the burning fuel from the limestone, so that the lime produced by the heat of the furnace was not contaminated by ash from the fire.
Light and photometry.
Rumford worked in photometry, the measurement of light. He made a photometer and introduced the standard candle, the predecessor of the candela, as a unit of luminous intensity. His standard candle was made from the oil of a sperm whale, to rigid specifications. He also published studies of "illusory" or subjective complementary colours, induced by the shadows created by two lights, one white and one coloured; these observations were cited and generalized by Michel-Eugène Chevreul as his "law of simultaneous colour contrast" in 1839.
Later life.
After 1799, he divided his time between France and England. With Sir Joseph Banks, he established the Royal Institution of Great Britain in 1799. The pair chose Sir Humphry Davy as the first lecturer. The institution flourished and became world-famous as a result of Davy's pioneering research. His assistant, Michael Faraday, established the Institution as a premier research laboratory, and also justly famous for its series of public lectures popularizing science. That tradition continues to the present, and the Royal Institution Christmas lectures attract large audiences through their TV broadcasts.
Thompson endowed the Rumford medals of the Royal Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and endowed a professorship at Harvard University. In 1803, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and was as a member of the American Philosophical Society.
In 1804, he married Marie-Anne Lavoisier, the widow of the great French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, his American wife—the one he abandoned in America upon the outbreak of the American Revolution—having died since his emigration. Thompson separated from his second wife after 3 years, but he settled in Paris and continued his scientific work until his death on August 21, 1814. Thompson is buried in the small cemetery of Auteuil in Paris, just across from Adrien-Marie Legendre. Upon his death, his daughter from his first marriage, Sarah Thompson, inherited his title as Countess Rumford.


2007 in Europe

Events from the year 2007 in Europe.


Isaac Hayne

Isaac Hayne (23 September 1745 – 4 August 1781) was one of the most prominent Americans to be executed by the British during the American War of Independence.
Biography.
At the beginning of the War of Independence Hayne joined the rebellion, and was a commissioned a captain of artillery, and at the same time state senator. In 1780, on the invasion of the state by the British, he served in a cavalry regiment during the final siege of Charleston, and, being included in the capitulation of that place, was paroled on condition that he would not serve against the British while they held possession of the city.
When in 1781 the fortunes of the British began to decline, he, with all the others who were paroled on the same terms, was required to join the royal army or be subjected to close confinement. Hayne would gladly have accepted imprisonment, but his wife and several of his children lay at the point of death from smallpox. He went to Charleston, and, being assured by the deputy British commandant, Patterson, that he would not be required to bear arms against his former compatriots, took the oath of allegiance. After the successes of General Greene had left the British nothing but Charleston, Hayne was summoned to join the royal army immediately. This being in violation of the agreement that had been made, he considered that this released him from all his obligations to the British. He went to the American camp, and was commissioned colonel of a militia company.
Hayne then commanded an American rebel raid which captured Brigadier-General Andrew Williamson, an American Loyalist. Colonel Nisbet Balfour, the British commander in Charleston during the 1781 siege of Charlestown, fearing that Williamson would be hanged as a traitor, sent a column to intercept the raiding party. The interception was successful. There was a skirmish resulting in the defeat of the raiding party, the release of Williamson and the capture of Hayne.
Hayne, although a prisoner of war, was sentenced to death by hanging by the British, because in the opinion of the British court martial, he had broken his earlier parole not to take up arms against the Crown. His sentence was carried out in Charleston on August 4, after which Hayne was buried on the family property in Jacksonboro.
References.
Attribution


Bad Breisig (Final Palaeolithic site)

Bad Breisig is an archaeological site in Germany.
History of investigation.
In 1999 Georg Waldmann discovered an archaeological find scatter in the profile of a gravel quarry in the so-called Golden Mile (Schirmer 1990), north of Bad Breisig. Due to typical lithic specimens the concentration is attributed to the Final Palaeolithic Federmesser-Gruppen (Waldmann / Jöris / Baales 2001). Excavations were conducted in autumn 2000 and spring 2001 on behalf of the local office for the preservation of cultural heritage in Koblenz by the department for Palaeolithic Studies of the Romano-Germanic Central Museum (Mainz). These works yielded a concentration of burnt lithic and faunal material around a hearth of which approximately 50% were preserved (Grimm 2004). The archaeological assemblage and the site were analysed in a M.A. thesis at the Institute for Prehistory at the University of Cologne, supervised by Gerhard Bosinski, in close cooperation with department of Palaeolithic Studies at Schloss Monrepos (Neuwied, meanwhile: MONREPOS) where the finds are stored until today.
Setting, profile and dating.
The archaeological site was placed on a lower terrace of the Rhine (“Niederterrasse” (lower terrace) 2 = NT2, Schirmer 1990; Baales et al. 2001). West of the site the terrain slopes abruptly down by some 10 m to the modern floodplain of the Rhine. The finds were recovered from slack water deposits („Hochflutlehm“) which were overlaying material from the Laacher See volcanic eruption which is dated to the late Allerød (ca. 11.000 v. Chr.; Baales et al. 2002). The onset of the incision of the Rhine to the next terrace (NT3) was generally assumed to start instantly after the volcanic eruption due to the high amount of pumice in the terrace deposits (Schirmer 1990). Thus, the formation of the slack water deposits containing the archaeological finds can be set to the transition from the Allerød to the Younger Dryas. The settlement of the site is dated to the last part of the Allerød (Greenland Interstadial 1a, Lowe et al. 2008) based on the stratigraphic position of the assemblage, the temperate fauna (Baales et al. 2001) and the dominantly coniferous species determined by charcoal analysis (Waldmann et al. 2001). One of three 14C measurements dated to the transition between the Allerød and the Younger Dryas, whereas the other two samples delivering considerably younger results suffered from presumable contaminations (Baales et al. 2001).
Archaeological results.
No other Final Palaeolithic site except Bad Breisig is thus far known from the time after the Laacher See eruption in the Central Rhineland, whereas from time before the volcanic eruption several, well preserved sites were found (Baales 2002). The assemblage from Bad Breisig shows no significant changes to the remains of the well known Federmesser-Gruppen sites from before the eruption: The structure of the site (dense concentration around a hearth), the activities performed on the site (knapping / working place, subsistence related activities) as well as the exploitation of resources (pinewood used as fuel; generally red, occasionally roe deer as alimentary resource; mainly local Tertiary Quartzite, more scarcely Flint from at least 100 km distance were used in the production of Stone tools) and even the origins of the lithic raw materials are similar (Grimm 2004). An indication for a younger development of the finds is given by small lithic bladelets with lateral and terminal retouch, which also occurred in France during the late Allerød and which became a dominant type (the so-called Malaurie points) during the Younger Dryas. Thus, for the Central Rhineland the Final Palaeolithic site of Bad Breisig is evidence for a rapid return and resumption of traditional behaviour patterns of Lateglacial hunter-gatherers after the devastating natural hazard of the Laacher See eruption.


Pitsligo Press

The Pitsligo Press was a printing press founded in 1852 by Scottish Episcopal priest and scholar George Hay Forbes (1821–1875) in Burntisland, Scotland. It published sermons, periodicals, patristic texts, liturgical material, and used fonts in Latin types, as well as Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Ethiopic and Armenian.
After Forbes's death in 1875, the press moved to Edinburgh under the direction of the Rev. Walter Bell (died 1892), Honorary Canon of Cumbrae.


Erengisle Suneson, Earl of Orkney

Erengisle Sunesson of Hultboda, jarl of Orkney (died 26 December 1392) was an important Swedish magnate in the 14th century. In his later life, he was known as "Jarl Erengisle" in Sweden. He was knight, high councillor, and titular (Norwegian) Jarl.
Family.
He was born in a noble family later called Bååt (Old Swedish for "boat") originally from Småland, as son of Sune Jonsson, the lawspeaker of Tiohärad, and his first wife Cathrine Henriksdatter Glysing.
In 1320, Erengisle's father Sune and uncle Peter obtained the effectively hereditary position of chatelain of Viipuri castle in easternmost coast of Finland by purchasing it from the governor. It was set there by the deposed king Birger of Sweden. Peter and Sune recognized the new king, Magnus IV of Sweden, and received important privileges, which effectively turned their holding of Viipuri as an independent feudal fief, the start of a veritable margraviate (see fief of Viipuri).
Life.
Erengisle possessed immense wealth in several provinces of Sweden. In Viipuri province, his patrimony included Kymenkartano manor, on which spot the later town of Kotka became erected. His chief seat was the medieval castle of Hultaboda (now Hultaby) in Näsby outside of Vetlanda. Also Flishult manor in the same district belonged to him.
He was usually a supporter of his king, Magnus VII of Norway and Sweden, although in some instances he was in alliance with king's rivals. The king's Norwegian tasks for him led to his marriage with an unnamed daughter (possibly Agnes) of Maol Íosa, the Jarl of Orkney (including Caithness), and Earl of Strathearn. Because Maol Íosa did not have sons, families of his daughters divided or competed over his inheritance. Erengisle became the Orkney Jarl, although there is little evidence that he ever treated it as anything other than a high title, bringing him prestige over the then titleless Swedish nobility; he doesn't even seem to have ever visited his jarldom.
In 1357 Erengisle was among magnates who proclaimed Eric, the eldest son of king Magnus, as king in place of the father. He then led negotiations which resulted in reconciliation between father and son, with them splitting the kingship. The marriage of Haakon VI of Norway to the daughter of Valdemar IV of Denmark, and Eric's sudden death (from The Plague), drastically changed the political dynamic of Scandinavia, leading Erengisle to be ejected from the Jarldom in 1359.
The Jarldom lay vacant until Valdamar's death, in 1375. Haakon chose Alexander de l'Ard, a son-in-law of Maol Iosa, but he proved a disappointment, and was ejected after a few months. In 1379 Haakon granted the jarldom to Maol Iosa's (youngest) grandson, Henry Sinclair. Nevertheless, Erengisle continued to use the title of "jarl of Orkney" until his own death (as evidenced by e.g. his appellation in the text of his last will and testament).
Death and will.
Erengisle died childless, "at a great age", many years later. He was buried in Vadstena monastery church.
His last wife, Countess Ingeborg had several children from her first marriage with lord Bengt Turesson of the family of Kraakerum.
Erengisle's own nephews and nieces (and sisters) were already dead, without further issue, the last of them, Christina Ulvsdotter of Rickeby, having died in c 1389. His paternal family had only first cousins to continue the line (the Trolle, the Pipa, the Hammersta and the Snakenborg of Flishult presumably were lineages descending from such cousins).
His possessions were divided by his last will and testament, the church receiving much.
Marriages:
Coat of arms.
Erengisle's family's hereditary shield depicted a boat. He thus belonged to the extensive clan of the Bonde. Well-known Bonde magnates, such as High Constable Tord and king Charles VIII, appear to have regarded Erengisle's family as their kinsmen.
He belonged to the Haak-Bååt branch of the Bonde clan (the byname Haak was even used of his well-known uncle), mentioned as agnates of the Bonde.
Erengisle's close kinsman was also bishop Charles of Linköping, but we do not know how exactly they were related.
Also knight Erengisle Jonson 'the younger' (flourished 1335), was their kinsman.
His crest depicts, like those of families Bååt and Bonde, a boat.


La Roche-en-Ardenne Castle

La Roche-en-Ardenne Castle () is a ruined medieval castle near La Roche-en-Ardenne in the Province of Luxembourg, Belgium. Located on a rocky ridge overlooking a loop of the Ourthe river, its origins go back to a Celtic "oppidum".
History.
The castle was built on the ruins of a Celtic oppidum, on a site where human presence dates back to Neolithic times. The Romans later established a fortified camp there. In the early eighth century, Pepin Landen built a villa on the site.
The first castle was built in 844 (approximately) by Adelard, Count of La Roche. After the death of Henri de la Roche in 1152, the countship passed to Henri the Blind Count of Namur, and upon his death in 1196, to his daughter Ermesinde of Luxembourg and thus to the line of the counts of Luxembourg.
In the 14th century, the inhabitants of La Roche were authorized by Jean the Blind, count of Luxembourg, to protect their city by a wall and towers that strengthened the defensive system of the castle.
The strategic importance of the castle did not escape Louis XIV. From 1681 to 1688, he had a student of Vauban reinforce the structures. However, these improvements did not benefit him much since the castle was taken by the winners of the War of Succession of Spain and they neglected it little by little.
The misfortunes of the castle continued in 1721, when it was badly damaged by a fire caused by lightning. Joseph II of Austria then dismantled it. It was the prey of vandals in the nineteenth century, and it also was damaged in the bombing of December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge.
Fortunately for history and architecture enthusiasts, the ruins of the castle of La Roche-en-Ardenne still constitute today a beautiful example of military architecture throughout the ages.


Redcar Mudstone Formation

The Redcar Mudstone Formation is a geological formation in North Yorkshire, England. Part of the Lias Group, it was deposited in the Hettangian to Pliensbachian stages of the Early Jurassic. The lithology consists of fissile mudstones and siltstones, with the lower part having thin beds of limestone and the upper part having thin beds of sandstone. The Redcar Mudstone Formation at Wine Haven, Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire contains the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Pliensbachian.


Novohrad-Volynskyi

Novohrad-Volynskyi (; ; translit. "Zvil"; ) is a city in the Zhytomyr Oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. Originally known as Zvyahel, the city was renamed in 1795 after annexation of territories of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by the Russian Empire soon after the third Partition of Poland.
It serves as the administrative center of Novohrad-Volynskyi Raion (district), though administratively it does not belong to the raion and is incorporated separately as a city of oblast significance. Population:
The city is located on the main route to Kyiv () near its crossing at the Sluch River.
Name.
The city has previously been known as: Возвягель "Vozvyahel’", Звяголь "Zvyahol’", Звягель Zvyahel, Звягаль "Zvyahal’", Dzwihel.
History.
The city was mentioned in the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle under the year of 1256 as the town of Zvyahel. The original settlement was an Old Russian town of "Bolokhiv Land" located on the right bank of Sluch. In 1257 it was razed by Daniel of Galicia.
The next mentioning of the settlement is found in 1432 as a rebuilt one on the left bank upstream from the original site. Since 14th century it belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania owned by Zvyahelski princely family. In 1501 to 1554 the town belonged to Ostrogski princely family. In 1507 Konstanty Ostrogski built here a castle. After formation of Volhynian Voivodeship, it was located in Lutsk County. Following the 1569 Union of Lublin it was passed on to the Crown of Poland.
During the Khmelnytskyi Uprising, Cossacks destroyed portion of the city's fortification and burnt down the Catholic church (kosciol). In September 1648 in the city was formed an insurgency group of local peasants led by Mykhalo Tysha. In 1650s in Zvyahel existed Zvyahel Regiment.
In 18th century the city belonged to Lubomirski princely family.
The city had an important Jewish community. In the late 19th century it was home to 9,378 Jews, more than half the population of the town. Pogroms killed approximately 1,000 Jews in 1919. After the Treaty of Riga, Novohrad-Volynskyi became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union. By the start of World War II only 6,840 Jews remained, (30% of the total population). Hundreds of Jews were murdered in mass executions perpetrated by an Einsatzgruppen in 1941. Many Survivors were imprisoned in harsh conditions in a ghetto and murdered in November 1942, and an important part of the town was destroyed during the war.
Twin towns – sister cities.
Novohrad-Volynskyi is twinned with:


Odomanti

Odomanti or Odomantes () were an ancient Thracian tribe. Some regard it as Paeonian, while others claim, that the tribe was with certainty Thracian. The Odomanti are noted by Herodotus, Thucydides, Stephanus of Byzantium and Pliny the Elder.
The district which they occupied, was called after them, Odomantice (). The tribe were settled upon the whole of the great mountain Orbelus, extending along the northeast of the lower Strymonic plain, from about Melnik (Bulgaria) and Sidirokastro (Greece) to Zikhne inclusive, where they bordered on Pangaion, the gold and silver mines of which they worked with the Pieres and Satrae. (Herod. "l. c.") Secure in their inaccessible position, they defied Megabazus. (Herod. v. 16.) The northwest portion of their territory lay to the right of Sitalces as he crossed Mount Cercine; and their general situation agrees with the description of Thucydides (ii. 101), according to whom they dwelt beyond the Strymon to the north, that is to say, to the north of the Lower Strymon, where, alone, the river takes such a course to the east as to justify the expression. Cleon invited Polles, their chieftain, to join him with as many Thracian mercenaries as could be levied. (Thuc. v. 6; Aristoph. Acharn. 156, 164; Suid. s. v. ἀποτεθρίακεν; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. pp. 210, 306, 465.)
During the Roman period, most of their land belonged to the territory ("chora") of the ancient city of Sirra (today Serres)


Castulo

Castulo (Latin: "Castulo"; Iberian: "Kastilo") was an Iberian town and bishopric (now Latin titular see located in the Andalusian province of Jaén, in south-central Spain, near modern Linares.
History.
Evidence of human presence since the Neolithic period has been found there. It was the seat of the Oretani, an Iberian tribe which settled in the vicinity in the north of the Guadalquivir River beginning in the sixth century BC. According to tradition, a local princess named Himilce married Hannibal, gained the alliance of the city with the Carthaginian Empire.
In 213 BC, Castulo was the site of Hasdrubal Barca's crushing victory over the Roman army with a force of roughly 40,000 Carthaginian troops plus local Iberian mercenaries. Thereafter the Romans made a pact with the residents of city — who then betrayed the Carthaginians — and they became foederati (allied people) of Rome. According to Livy, the inhabitants of Castulo were intimidated by Scipio Africanus ordering the wholesale massacre of the inhabitants of the neighboring Illiturgis
Its medieval name was Cazlona. It lost importance even more when Andalusia fell under Islamic rule in the Middle Ages, and at the same time the nearby village of Linares grew because of its strong castle —first built as an Arab fortress, then rebuilt by the Christians after the Reconquista— overlooking the city. In 1227 the walls of Castulo were destroyed, and the town was depopulated shortly afterwards.
Ecclesiastical history.
A Bishopric of Castulo was established around 350 AD on territory split from the Andalusian diocese of Tucci (now also a titular see).
Information about Christian bishops of Castulo appears in the first half of the fourth century AD through participation by its bishops in the Council of Elvira and that of Sardica. It may have been reabsorbed by Tucci.
The diocese reappears two centuries later, when in 589 a bishop of Castulo, which by then was under Visigoth rule and a suffragan of the Metropolitan of Toledo, took part in the third Council of Toledo. Other bishops of Castulo were at later Visigoth councils down to the tenth Council of Toledo in 656. Thereafter, Castulo is replaced as bishopric by the Diocese of Baeza. Enrique Flórez,
Titular see.
No longer a residential bishopric, Castulo is listed by the Catholic Church as a Latin titular see.
It was nominally restored in 1969 and since has had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting episcopal (lowest) rank "with an archiepiscopal exception":


Oulu

Oulu ( , ; ; ) is a city and municipality of 208.939 inhabitants () in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in Northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere and Vantaa and the fourth largest urban area in the country after Helsinki, Tampere and Turku. Oulu's neighbouring municipalities are: Hailuoto, Ii, Kempele, Liminka, Lumijoki, Muhos, Pudasjärvi, Tyrnävä and Utajärvi.
Oulu is considered one of Europe's "living labs", where residents experiment with new technology (such as NFC tags and ubi-screens) on a community-wide scale. Oulu has also been very successful in recent urban image surveys; in a study published by the Finnish Economic Survey in 2008, it received the best ranking of large cities in image ratings across the country, including ratings from respondents in all provinces.
Etymology.
The city is named after the river Oulujoki, which originates in the lake Oulujärvi. There have been a number of other theories for the origin of the name "Oulu". One possible source is a word in the Sami language meaning 'flood water', but there are other suggestions. At minimum, the structure of the word requires that, if originally given by speakers of a Uralic language, the name must be a derivative. In all likelihood, it also predates Finnish settlement and is thus a loanword from one of the now-extinct Saami languages once spoken in the area.
The most probable theory is that the name derives from the Finnish dialectal word "oulu", meaning "floodwater", which is related to e.g. Southern Sami "åulo", meaning "melted snow", "åulot" meaning "thaw" (of unknown ultimate origin). Two other word families have also been speculated to be related. The first is seen in the Northern Savo dialectal word "uula" and its Sami counterpart "oalli", both meaning "river channel". The second is the Uralic root reconstructed as *"uwa", meaning "river bed" (reflected as "vuo" in modern Finnish, also in derivatives such as "vuolas" "heavy-flowing"). To either of these roots, some Sami variety would have to be assumed having added further derivational suffixes.
History.
Oulu is situated by the Gulf of Bothnia, at the mouth of river Oulujoki, which is an ancient trading site. The city proper was founded on 8 April 1605 by King Charles IX of Sweden, opposite the fort built on the island of Linnansaari. This took place after favourable peace settlements with Russia, which removed the threat of attack via the main east-west waterway, the river Oulu. The surrounding areas were populated much earlier. Oulu was the capital of the Province of Oulu from 1776 to 2009.
In 1822, a major fire destroyed much of the city. The architect Carl Ludvig Engel, chiefly known for the neoclassical (empire style) buildings around Helsinki Senate Square, was enlisted to provide the plan for its rebuilding. With minor changes, this plan remains the basis for the layout of Oulu's town center. The Oulu Cathedral was built in 1832 to his designs, with the spire being finished in 1844. During the Åland War, part of the Crimean War, Oulu's harbour was raided by the British fleet, who destroyed ships and burned tar houses, leading to international criticism.
Once known for wood tar and salmon, Oulu has evolved into a major high-tech centre, particularly in IT and wellness technology. Other prominent industries include wood refining, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, paper, and steel.
The municipality of Ylikiiminki was merged with the city of Oulu on 1 January 2009. Oulu and the municipalities of Haukipudas, Kiiminki, Oulunsalo, and Yli-Ii were merged on 1 January 2013.
Oulu was the site of the 2018 Oulu child sexual exploitation scandal. Prime Minister Juha Sipilä declared that “Sex crimes against children are inhumane acts of incomprehensible evil.”
Geography.
Oulu is located in northern Finland, a considerable distance from the other cities in the country. It is located north of the capital city Helsinki. Mainland Finland's northernmost and southernmost points are roughly equidistant from Oulu. Oulu's coast sits at the Bothnian Bay ("Perämeri" in Finnish) and the Swedish mainland is about 180 km directly west across the Bothnian Bay. The nearby island Hailuoto is just off the coast, away in the Bothnian Bay.
Subdivisions.
Oulu is divided into 106 city districts. The largest of these are Haukipudas, Oulunsalo, Kaakkuri, Ritaharju, Tuira, and Kello.
Climate.
Oulu has a subarctic continental climate (Köppen: "Dfc"). It is the largest Finnish city entirely in this climatic zone as well as one of the largest such in the world. The typical features are cold and snowy winters with short and warm summers. Average annual temperature is . The average annual precipitation is falling 105 days per year, mostly in late summer and fall. The warmest temperature ever recorded in Oulu was in July 1957, while the coldest temperature on record was in February 1966.
Demographics.
In 2008, there were 316 Swedish speaking inhabitants, which was 0.2% of the total population, making the city unilingual. In 2007, there were 2,417 foreign citizens living in the city, of whom 618 were from elsewhere in the EU. 51.1% of the population is female.
In 2017, the population grew to over 200,000 inhabitants, making Oulu the fourth Finnish locality with at least 200,000 inhabitants after Helsinki, Tampere and Turku.
Culture.
The best known cultural exports of the city of Oulu are the Air Guitar World Championships held annually in August, Mieskuoro Huutajat (also known as "Screaming Men"), the now defunct metal band Sentenced, and one of the best ice hockey teams in Europe, Oulun Kärpät.
Many artists, writers, and musicians live in the city. A variety of concerts — rock, classical, and jazz — as well as other cultural events take place each year. Examples include the Oulu Music Video Festival, the Air Guitar World Championships, and the Musixine Music Film Competition, all in August. In July, the annual rock festival Qstock takes place. The Oulu Music Festival is held in winter and the Oulunsalo Music Festival in summer. The Irish Festival of Oulu takes place each October, and the International Children's Film Festival each November.
Museums in Oulu include the Northern Ostrobothnia museum, the Oulu Museum of Art (OMA), the Tietomaa science center, and the Turkansaari open-air museum.
Notable statues and sculptures in Oulu include a sculpture of Frans Michael Franzén and "The Bobby at the Market Place" statue.
Kalmah is a melodic death metal-band from Oulu that formed in 1998.
Education.
The University of Oulu and Oulu University of Applied Sciences have their main campuses located in Oulu.
Oulu is home to the most northerly architecture school in the world. The school is best known for its strong regionalistic ideas for developing architecture. This movement is named "the Oulu school" ("Oulun koulu") of architecture.
Oulu Vocational College has over 13 000 students. It houses several different study subjects in different units which are spread over Oulu and neighbouring municipalities. Oulu Vocational College School of Business Studies is one of the few vocational schools which has game programming in its curriculum.
Oulu International School is one of nine schools in Finland offering basic education in English. There's also a Swedish-speaking private school (Swedish Svenska Privatskolan i Uleåborg) for students up until high school. The school is the northernmost Swedish-speaking school in Finland.
Transport.
Oulu is served by Oulu Airport, the second largest airport in Finland by passenger volume. It is located south-west of the city centre.
The Port of Oulu is one of the busiest harbours on the Bothnian Bay. It includes four separate harbour areas: Vihreäsaari oil and bulk docks, Nuottasaari docks and Oritkari docks.
The shortest travel time from Oulu railway station to Helsinki Central railway station is 8 h 41 min, operated by VR. Other destinations include Kolari, Rovaniemi, Seinäjoki and Tampere.
The most important road in Oulu is Highway 4 (E8/E75) that runs from Helsinki to Utsjoki via Lahti, Jyväskylä, Oulu, Kemi and Rovaniemi. Other highways running to and from Oulu are Highway 20 to Kuusamo and Highway 22 to Kajaani.
Oulu is notable for its transportation network dedicated to non-vehicular traffic, including pedestrians and bicycles (termed "light" traffic in Finland). In 2010, the city contained more than of pathways and more than 100 underpasses and bridges devoted exclusively to light traffic. The network is used year-round. The ratio of light traffic pathways to residents is the highest in Finland and the cycling mode share is 20 percent. Oulu is often touted as an excellent city for bicycling.
In 2015, a large underground parking facility, Kivisydän ("Stone Heart"), opened in the city center directly beneath main shopping streets. The network of parallel roads for cars and pedestrians was drilled in the rock at the depth of 30 meters. The parking facility includes two ramps, 900 visitor parking lots (expandable to 1500), six access points to the ground served by 19 elevators (expandable to nine and 25), a service facility for commercial delivery vehicles, and ubi-screens that guide the driver to the selected ground access point and help locate the parked car by its license number.
Solar power.
In 2015, the Kaleva Media printing plant in Oulu became the most powerful photovoltaic solar plant in Finland, with 1,604 solar photovoltaic (PV) units on its roof. Although the city of Oulu, located near the Arctic Circle, has only two hours of weak sunlight in December, the photovoltaic cells work almost around the clock in the summer. The cold climate means the PV panels can get up to a 25% boost per hour, as they don't overheat.
Because the sun is quite low in the sky at this latitude, vertical PV installations are popular on the sides of buildings. These solar walls also capture light reflected from snow.
Snow is not necessarily cleared from rooftop solar installations.
The local utility, Oulun Energia, is owned by the city of Oulu. The energy mix it receives from the Nordic-wide grid includes wood pellets, waste incineration, bioenergy, hydro-electric, geothermal, wind, nuclear, peat, natural gas and coal.
Employment.
As of 31 December 2008, the active working population was employed as follows:
In 2011, the most important employers were:
Sports.
Ice hockey is the most popular spectator sport in Oulu. The local club Kärpät has won the SM-liiga championship title eight times (1981, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2015 and 2018). It has also twice been the runner-up in the IIHF European Champions Cup, in 2005 and in 2006.
In football AC Oulu plays in Ykkönen, the second tier of the Finnish league system. So far OPS has claimed the Finnish football championship only twice by winning Mestaruussarja in 1979 and in 1980. Other notable football clubs include OLS, OTP and JS Hercules.
Oulu has one well-known bandy club, OLS, which plays in Bandyliiga and has become Finnish champions 14 times, most recently in 2014. The other bandy club, OPS, with its 7 championships and a bronze medal as late as in 2009, announced it would be closing down after the 2009-10 season. In 2001 the city was the main venue for the Bandy World Championship.
Oulu is also home to several other sports clubs such as Oulu Northern Lights (American football), Oulun NMKY (Basketball), Oulun Lippo (Pesäpallo), Oulun Pyrintö (Track and field), SK Pohjantähti (Orienteering)), OYUS (Rugby union), Oulu Irish Elks (Gaelic football) and ETTA (Volleyball).
Oulun Tervahiihto is an annual ski marathon event held since 1889.
Terwa Run & Marathon is an annual running event held since 1989 in late May.
International relations.
Twin towns and sister cities.
Oulu is twinned with:
Partnership and twinning cities.
In addition Oulu has eight 'Partnership & Twinning cities':
International municipal projects.
The educational department was apart of the Lifelong Learning Programme 2007–2013 in Finland.


Pactum Sicardi

The Pactum Sicardi was a treaty signed on 4 July 836 between the Greek Duchy of Naples, including its satellite city-states of Sorrento and Amalfi, represented by Bishop John IV and Duke Andrew II, and the Lombard Prince of Benevento, Sicard. The treaty was an armistice ending a war between the Greek states and Benevento, during which the Byzantine Empire had not intervened on behalf of its subjects. It was supposed to last five years between the Lombard prince and the Neapolitans. It was a temporary armistice and was distinguished from other treaties such as "Pactum Warmundi", which established temporary alliances.
The political situation in the Campania region during the ninth- and tenth-century was described as unstable and typified by constant tensions between and within the neighbouring polities. The Pactum Sicardi assumed the form of a multi-clause treaty that probably aimed to address all possible causes of conflict between the two signatories.
By the treaty Prince Sicard recognised the rights of merchants from the three cities to travel through his domains. He made navigation up the rivers Patria, Volturno, and Minturno open to merchants, "responsales" (envoys), and "milities" (soldiers). Sicard did not give up his powers of enforcement over either the illegal slave trade (in Lombards) or the trafficking in stolen merchandise. He did abolish the "lex naufragii" (law of shipwreck) by which the landowner on whose shores a wrecked ship or its cargo washed up was the possessor of that wealth: "If a ship is wrecked because of the fault [of the men aboard] the goods found in it are to be returned to the one to whome they belonged and still belong." This measure, protecting the property rights of shipping companies and merchants, was "far in advance of these times".
Despite these efforts, a war began again in 837, when Duke Andrew of Naples called in Saracens as allies against Benevento. In 838 Sicard captured Amalfi by sea. The Pactum Sicardi has indicated the interest of the parties on this territory, particularly with the fragmentary reference of the treaty, which detailed an interest on both sides to control the activities of the Amalfitans.


List of abbots and abbesses of Kildare

The following is a list of abbots and abbesses of Kildare, heads of Kildare Abbey, founded — according to tradition — by Saint Brigit.


Romanian dynastic crisis

The dynastic crisis () of the Kingdom of Romania began in December 1925, when Prince Carol II stated he would renounce his rights to the throne, and ended in June 1930, when he deposed his young son and took the throne for himself.


2006 in Scotland

Events from the year 2006 in Scotland.


Albania under the Bulgarian Empire

The territory of modern Albania was part of the Bulgarian Empire during certain periods in the Middle Ages and some parts in what is now eastern Albania were populated and ruled by the Bulgarians for centuries. Most of Albania became part of the First Empire in the early 840s during the reign of Khan Presian. Some coastal towns such as Durrës remained in the hands of the Byzantines for most of that period. The castles of the inner mountainous country remained one of the last Bulgarian strongholds to be conquered by the Byzantines in 1018/1019 during the fall of the First Bulgarian Empire — Tomornitsa. During the Byzantine rule Albania was one of the centres of a Uprising of Peter Delyan. The last Bulgarian Emperor to govern the whole territory was Ivan Asen II (1218–1241) but after his successors the Bulgarian rule diminished. Much of that area corresponded with the Bulgarian historical region Kutmichevitsa.
Background.
During the 6th century the territory of the whole Balkan Peninsula including Albania was settled by the Slavs who came from the north. The Eastern Roman Empire was incapable of defending its Balkan possessions and most of the indigenous population found refuge in the large coastal towns while inland they were slowly assimilated by the Slavs. With the arrival of the Bulgars in the region during the 7th century, one Bulgar group led by Kuber settled in Macedonia and eastern Albania.
First Bulgarian Empire.
The formation of the Bulgarian state as a coordinated effort of Bulgars and Slavs under Khan Asparukh in 681 determined the political doctrine of the new state — incorporation of the Slavic tribes in the Balkans under the Bulgar rulers. The major successes over the Byzantines during the reign of Krum enabled the Slavic expansion to the south-west. In the 840s most of what is now Albania and Macedonia were annexed by Bulgaria ruled by Presian and his "kavkhan" (first minister) Isbul. After the Christianization of Bulgaria in the mid 9th century under Presian's son and successor, Boris I, many towns in southern and eastern Albania such as Devol, Belgrad or Glavinitsa became major cultural centres. That area including western Macedonia became the second cultural centre of the Bulgarian Empire under the influence of the Ohrid Literary School. That region was known under the name Kutmichevitsa. Around 896 the new and energetic Bulgarian ruler Simeon I seized more than 30 fortresses around Dyrrhachium, the only major town in Byzantine hands, but could not take the town itself. Dyrrhachium was captured in the second half of the 10th century by Emperor Samuil. In 996 Samuil appointed the noble Byzantine captive Ashot for governor of the town who later escaped to Constantinople. In 1005 the Byzantines managed to recapture Dyrrhachium after its new governor John Chryselios handed it over in exchange for the title of patrician for himself and his sons. In an attempt to recover following the disastrous defeat of the Bulgarian army in the battle of Kleidion (1014), Emperor Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria launched an attack on Dyrrhachium but was killed in the battle marking the end of the First Empire. Resistance in separate fortresses in Albania continued until 1019 led by one of Samuil's generals Ibatzes.
Later rule.
In 1040 an uprising broke out in the area around Durrës under the leadership of the soldier Tihomir following the discontent of the Bulgarian population by the heavy taxes required by the Byzantine administration. Soon the rebellion encompassed the whole of Albania and the rebels joined forces with Peter Delyan who claimed to have been a successor of Samuil. Following the defeat of the Bulgarians in 1041 the Byzantines restored their control over Albania. In 1072 another uprising broke out under Georgi Voiteh but it was also crushed.
After the restoration of the Bulgarian state, most of eastern Albania was incorporated into the Empire by Kaloyan (1197–1207) but was lost to the Despotate of Epiros after his death. However, in 1230 the Epirote armies were decisively defeated by the Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Asen II and most of its lands joined Bulgaria without resistance including the whole of Albania. In an inscription in the SS. Forty Martyrs Church in the capital Tarnovo was written that he conquered "the whole land of Theodore Komnenos from Adrianople to Durrës". Due to the lack of a successor of age and the internal struggle among the nobility, Bulgaria lost most of Albania without any decisive defeat in 1256 after a humiliating treaty signed from the Bulgarian side by the Russian noble Rostislav Mikhailovich. That treaty cost the life of Emperor Michael Asen I. The decline of Bulgaria continued and the country lost its last fortresses in Albania under Constantine Tikh Asen (1257–1277).


Battle of Kurekdere

The Battle of Kürekdere took place on 6 August 1854 as part of the Crimean War. The battle occurred when an Ottoman army from the Turkish fortress of Kars marched out to confront a marauding Russian detachment near the village of Kürekdere in the Trans-Caucasus.
Background.
On 2 December 1853, after the defeat at the Battle of Başgedikler, the beaten and demoralized Anatolian army fell back to the Turkish fortress of Kars. In January 1854, after the defeat at Başgedikler was blamed on Abdi Pasha, Ahmed Pasha was appointed "mushir" or field-marshal of the Anatolian army. During the winter of 1853-1854, Abdi Pasha severely neglected the welfare of his conscripted army at Kars and as many as 20,000 men died of malnutrition and disease. As the winter came to an end, Ahmed Pasha was removed as the field marshal and recalled to Istanbul.
In the spring of 1854, the former governor of the province of Erzurum, Zarif Mustafa Pasha, was appointed as the new field-marshal. Although he had attained the rank of Pasha, Zarif Mustafa was not a man with a strong background of military leadership. His early military experience had been as a regimental clerk and later in his military career he served in commissaries. While the army was reinforced with Armenian conscripts under his command, little was done to improve or correct equipment deficiencies. Never-the-less, Zarif Pasha was under great pressure to confront and defeat the Russian forces in the Trans-Caucasus.
Maneuvers.
By the summer of 1854, the Anatolian army had been reinforced to the extent that the Turks had numerical superiority over the Russian forces in the southern Caucasus. During this time, Zarif Pasha had numerous opportunities to take the offensive and attack Russian outposts and garrisons; however, he initiated no activity against the Russians even when members of his staff urged him to do so. Because of Zarif Pasha's passive conduct, the Russians felt safe to move about actively and strike the Turks when they had the advantage.
On 1 July, Russian General Bebutov led an expedition of 15,000 men across the Akhuryan River and established an encampment near the village of Kürekdere approximately an hour's march from Turkish outposts at Sobattan and Hadgi-Velikoi. After Zarif Pasha learned of the Russian encroachment, he moved his army from the fortress at Kars to the Turkish outpost at Hadgi-Velikoi and prepared to confront the Russians.
For the month of July the two armies remained in the field but there was no battle. One day the armies formed up ready to fight but withdrew due to a violent thunderstorm. During the period that the two armies were encamped, the Bashi-bazouk Turkish allies conducted several cavalry raids on the Russians, one in which they suffered many casualties because the Turks failed to support them. Many of the Bashi-bazouks ultimately became frustrated with the failure of Zarif Pasha to take action and returned to their homes.
During this time, Zarif Pasha reinforced his army with the infantry division from Ardahan commanded by Kerim Pasha bringing the number of men in the Turkish encampment to approximately 40,000. Russian General Bebutov did the same calling in field detachments increasing the size of his force to approximately 28,000 men. Even as reinforcements arrived and the Turks maintained their numerical superiority, Zarif Pasha remained bewildered as to whether he should attack or maintain a defensive posture.
On 3 August, Zarif Pasha received the disturbing news that on 18 July Russian General Vrangel leading 11,000 troops attacked and defeated Selim Pasha's Turkish force of 8,000 men at Bayezid. Turkish casualties were nearly 2,400 men. The Russians were now en route to the small Turkish garrison at Erzurum and there was concern that the Russian detachment would ultimately be heading north toward Hadgi-Velikoi to attack Zarif Pasha's army from the rear.
Battle plan.
It then became apparent that the Turks must take action. Without a plan of his own, Zarif Pasha held a council with his officers to discuss options. There were more than twenty Ottoman pashas and also more than twenty European staff officers, including Richard Guyon, the British-born Hungarian General serving as the chief of staff for the Anatolian army. The relationship between Zarif Pasha and Guyon, however, was very poor. Zarif Pasha did not believe that Guyon knew how to take orders or to command an army. When Guyon made recommendations as he did earlier that summer to attack the Russians at their bases, Zarif Pasha rejected the proposals outright.
At the war council, however, the pashas argued among themselves and could not agree upon what should be done. Reluctantly, Zarif Pasha approved a plan put forward by Guyon to immediately attack Bebutov's army as it was encamped at Kürekdere and then turn and pursue the Russian detachment advancing upon Erzurum. Although Zarif Pasha gave his approval to Guyon's plan on the evening of 3 August, he never-the-less delayed the attack for 48 hours because August 4 and 5 were unlucky days on the Turkish calendar.
Guyon's plan called for the army to set out at sunset taking advantage of the moonlight to travel through the night to a position near the Russian camp and then to attack at dawn. The evening of August 5 was clear and the moon lit up the countryside. The troops were ready to go, but once again Zarif Pasha upset the plans when he failed to understand the importance of the timetable for the movement of the troops and neglected to give the order to march. Even when Guyon urged Zarif Pasha to issue the order, Zarif Pasha reportedly replied “I am the müşir. I know when to set out”. Zarif Pasha refused to be prompted and the Turkish troops were held for over two hours, marching out at approximately midnight.
The night march was then further upset by Zarif Pasha. Both divisions of the Turkish army, the first division commanded by Kerim Pasha and the second division commanded by Vely Pasha, were to march through the night and arrive at the Russian camp simultaneously to attack in a coordinated manner. Zarif Pasha, however, allowed Vely Pasha and the second division to halt their march for a two hour period when they ran into difficulty crossing the terrain in the darkness. As a result, the first division of the Turkish force not only arrived two hours after dawn but also two hours before the second division. All the benefit of an early morning surprise attack with a concentrated force was lost and the Russians were up and in battle formation when the first of the Turks arrived.
Battle.
On Sunday, 6 August 1854, the two armies met at Kürekdere and the battle started by means of a 30 minute exchange of cannon fire. The Turkish artillery was more effective at the outset and drove the Russians off of an elevated hillside.
At the beginning of the fighting on the battlefield, the first division of the Turks was successful at driving back the Russian infantry. The Russian dragoons, however, followed-up and rode into the Turkish infantry at a high rate of speed. This caused the Turkish infantry to panic and retreat leaving their artillery unprotected. In a series of attacks, the dragoons and the Russian infantry then attempted without success to capture the Turkish artillery. During that struggle, the Russian infantry routed a Turkish battalion composed of inexperienced conscripts who quickly broke and fled. Shortly thereafter, the dragoons captured the Turkish artillery and then began an indiscriminant attack upon the Turkish infantry, cavalry, and artillery corps. The entire Turkish force started to break and give way. Efforts by Kerim Pasha to re-form and fight were in vain. About that time, the second division arrived and immediately attacked the Russians by means of a cannonade. The battle began to turn back in the favor of the Turks.
Guyon and Resul Pasha then brought the Turkish cavalry into the fight advancing at a gallop. As the force advanced toward the Russians encampment and crested the top of a hill, they rode headlong into a Russian infantry regiment. When the cavalry reined in, it caused great disorder and confusion which turned into panic and spread to the Bashi-bazouks. Quickly, all the mounted Turkish forces fled back toward their own lines riding into their own infantry and causing such a disruption that the organization and control of the infantry was lost. As a result, the entire Turkish force panicked and fled in confusion.
As the cavalry began to disrupt the infantry, Guyon ordered Vely Pasha and the second division to advance and support the first division. Vely Pasha, however, refused to do so until ordered by Zarif Pasha. When the mushir was located an hour later, the order was then given to Vely Pasha to support the first division, but it was too late. The first division was already retreating pursued by Russian dragoons. Guyon was able to regroup four battalions of infantry, one regiment of cavalry, and one artillery battery, and lead them in a charge. He was successful in regaining some lost ground, but was overcome by the greater number of Russians.
The battle was over. Quickly the Turks fled back to their encampment, gathered what they could and proceeded to retreat in great disorder. Soon there was a caravan of the remnants of an army stretching for miles on the road to Kars. Included among the shattered remains of the army were disorganized units of infantry, cavalry, and artillery; the walking wounded; bullock carts carrying materials and the wounded; baggage carts; horses, mules, and camels; and non-combatants. Although the caravan was an easy target, the Russians did not pursue their beaten enemy.
At the Kars fortress chaos reigned. Bashi-Bazouk riders had ridden back in haste to warn that the Russians were coming. People were collecting their valuables and fleeing the city. Zarif Pasha ultimately brought his defeated army back to Kars and took refuge in the fortress expecting the Russians to attack. The Russians, however, chose not to attack the strongly fortified city at that time.
The defeat of the Anatolian army at Kürekdere can be attributed to the incompetence of Zarif Pasha and the cowardice of the majority of the Turkish officers. The implementation of the battle plan by Zarif Pasha was poor. The Turkish forces were divided into three groups that became widely separated. As a result, the individual Turkish groups fought individually rather than as a group taking advantage of their numerical superiority. The artillery performed well and fought bravely. The performance of the Turkish cavalry was a disgrace as was the conduct of the Bashi-bazouks. The conduct of the Turkish officers in general was shameful as they deserted their men and fled back to their camp to secure their baggage and retreat to Kars.
The Times correspondent, Humphry Sandwith witnessed the battle and wrote:
Guyon attempted to lead the Turks in the battle, however, he was only the chief of staff and had no line authority to command; as such, the commanders of Turkish forces weren't authorized to obey his orders without approval from Zarif Pasha.
Aftermath.
The battle of Kürekdere demonstrated again that the Turkish army was incapable of pushing the Russians out of the Trans-Caucasus without the assistance of its allies.
Both Zarif Pasha and Guyon were recalled and put on trial by the Sublime Porte in Istanbul. Zarif Pasha tried to place the blame for the defeat on Guyon. Guyon, however, had many supporters including at least two foreign correspondents; Zarif Pasha's aide-de-camp, Count de Melfray; and Şükrü Pasha of the Turkish army, all who defended the Englishman's battle plan and conduct. Zarif Pasha was accused of corruption in the administration of the Anatolian army and taking offensive action in the battle of Kürekdere when his orders were to only be on the defensive. In July 1855, Zarif Pasha was acquitted and released.
The Ottoman Empire's allies recommended that all foreign officers at Kars be recalled and that the command of the army be entrusted to General Klapka. Eventually in September 1854, İsmail Pasha, the chief of staff of the Rumelian army, was appointed to take the command of the Anatolian army at Kars. There were no further military conflict of a substantial nature between the Ottoman and Russian Empires in the Trans-Caucasus for the remained of the year.


Emperor of the Serbs

Between 1345 and 1371, the Serbian monarch was self-titled emperor (tsar), the full title being Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks and Bulgarians ( / ) in Serbian and "basileus" and "autokrator" of Serbia and "Romania" ["the land of the Romans"] () in Greek. This title was soon enlarged into "Emperor and Autocrat of the Serbs and Greeks, the Bulgarians and Albanians".
The Serbian Empire was ruled by only two monarchs; Stefan Dušan (r. 1331–55) and Stefan Uroš V (r. 1355–71). Two other claimants of the title ruled in Thessaly, Central Greece.
Establishment and titles.
Taking advantage of the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 by alternately supporting both sides of the conflict, the Serbian king Stefan Dušan expanded his state southwards, conquering Albania and most of Macedonia by 1345, with the exception of the great fortress cities of Serres and Thessalonica. This growth in power made Serbia the "de facto" dominant state in the Balkans, and fuelled Dušan's imperial ambitions: already in early 1343, the Serbian ruler elevated his titles to "tsar and "autokrator" of all the Serbian and Maritime Lands and "čestnik" of the Greek [Byzantine] Lands".
Following his conquest of Serres, which crowned his conquest of Macedonia, in November or December 1345 Stefan Dušan proclaimed himself emperor ("basileus"), laying claim on the Byzantine imperial inheritance. On 16 April 1346 he was crowned emperor at Skopje in an assembly attended by the elevated Serbian Patriarch, and also the Bulgarian Patriarch and the Archbishop of Ohrid. His imperial title was recognised by Bulgaria and various other neighbors and trading partners but not by the Byzantine Empire. According to imperial tradition, only one emperor could exist, the emperor of Roman Empire. Others may be only Caesars (the second in rank). Mount Athos addressed him as Emperor, though rather as "Emperor of Serbs" than "Emperor of Serbs and Greeks". In Serbian charters, ethnic terms are used – "Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks" ( / ).
In Greek, the title was ""basileus" and "autokratōr" of Serbia and of "Romania" (). The use of "Romania"" (i.e. the land of the Romans, the Byzantine Empire) and not the usual Byzantine formula "of the Romans" was probably deliberately chosen; although in his Law Code Dušan claimed the direct succession to all Byzantine emperors from the time of Constantine the Great, he lacked possession of Constantinople and of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which alone conferred full legitimacy to a Byzantine ruler. Notably, when the Byzantines came around to recognizing Dušan's imperial title, it was only for Serbia proper, much as they had done with the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon 400 years earlier. The contemporary Byzantine writers also clearly distinguished between the ancestral Serbian lands, where Dušan's son Stefan Uroš ruled as king, and the conquered lands "in Romania", where Dušan (and Stefan Milutin before him) continued to use the pre-existing Byzantine administration. How clear this duality was in practice is open to question, however, in contrast to the lionization of Dušan by modern Serbian historiography—Dušan's proclamation of empire was not well received in Serbia proper, as indicated by the fact that he was never sanctified by the Serbian Church, or why his official biography, alone among the medieval Serbian rulers, was never completed.
On his early Western-style coinage, issued between his proclamation as emperor and his coronation, Dušan continued to use the abbreviated Latin title "Rex Rasciae" ("King of Rascia"), and simply added the title "I[m]p[erator] Roma[niae]" ("Emperor of "Romania""), but also "I[m]p[erator] Ro[ma]io[ru]m" ("Emperor of the Romans"). After his coronation, the title of king was dropped.
Monarchs.
When Stefan Dušan died in 1355, his son Stefan Uroš V succeeded him. Uroš V's uncle Simeon Uroš in Thessaly claimed the title in rivalry, continued by his son John Uroš. With the extinction of the main line of the Nemanjić dynasty with the death of heirless Stefan Uroš V in 1371, the imperial title became obsolete. The fall of the Serbian Empire saw the state fragmenting into provinces ruled by magnates, holding various titles, except the imperial. In 1527, a renegade Hungarian-Serbian commander, Jovan Nenad, styled himself Emperor.


Muranum

Muranum, was an ancient town of the interior of Lucania, the name of which is not found in any ancient author; but its existence is proved by the Itinerary of Antoninus, which places a station "Summurano", evidently a corruption of "Sub Murano", on the road from Nerulum to Consentia (modern Cosenza); and this is confirmed by the inscription found at La Polla (ancient Forum Popilii), which gives the distance from that place to Muranum at 74 M.P. It is, therefore, evident that Muranum must have occupied the same site as the modern town of Morano Calabro (in the Province of Cosenza, Calabria, Italy), on a considerable hill, at the foot of which still runs the high road from Naples to Reggio di Calabria, and where was situated the station noticed in the Itinerary. Near it are the sources of the river Coscile, the ancient Sybaris. (Itin. Ant. pp. 105, 110; Orell. "Inscr." 3308; Romanelli, vol. i. p. 387.)