New Castle of Ansembourg

The New Castle of Ansembourg (), in central Luxembourg is one of the castles belonging to the Valley of the Seven Castles. Located about one kilometre or just over half a mile below the Old Castle of Ansembourg, it was built by the industrialist Thomas Bidart in 1639.
History.
In 1639, Thomas Bidart built the central part of today's castle as a comfortable house surrounded by walls and towers, two of which still stand. Originally from Liège in Belgium, Bidart, who was a pioneer of Luxembourg's iron and steel industry, named the building "Maison des Forges" (House of the Ironworks). During the Thirty Years' War, he tapped the region's many water sources and exploited its timber and iron, manufacturing arms at a foundry close to the old castle. As a result, his family prospered, earning rights to the title of Lords of Amsembourg which had belonged to the Raville family until 1671.
It was the de Marchant family who, after inheriting the property by marriage, undertook its astonishing transformation into today's modern-looking castle. In 1719, the courtyard was extended with two wings on either side of the original building. The southern gable was enhanced with a magnificent arch where four statues represent the four continents. Fitted with two small towers, the new façade overlooked the gardens which were connected to the castle through an arcade. The first-floor balcony above the porch provided an excellent view of the gardens, complete with flowerbeds and a fountain. Between 1740 and 1750, Lambert Joseph de Marchant et d'Ansembourg further improved the gardens and extended the buildings on the north side of the main courtyard so that they could be used as stables and lodgings for the castle staff. In 1759, Count Lambert Joseph added the impressive Baroque gateway bearing the arms of de Marchant of Ansembourg and Velbruck.
The castle today.
In the early 1970s the castle hosted an foreign studies program for students from three American private Catholic Colleges. Students lived in the newly created dorms on the second floor, and took classes in Literature, Art History, Music Education, and Foreign Language. They also assisted with art restoration and teaching music at DuPont International School. One of the partner colleges, Mercy College of Detroit, sent professors. Students had complete access to the castle and its furnishings, including the Music Room that had pink gilt furniture and a grand piano.
Since 1987, the castle has belonged to the Japanese new religious organisation Sûkyô Mahikari which uses the castle as its European and Africa headquarters and holds monthly Ceremonies and seminars throughout the year for its members. Sukyo Mahikari promotes such concepts as "The Baptism by Fire." which can be survived with "Salvation by Divine Light." The members claim to be able to radiate Divine Light from their hands after attending a three day seminar.
Sukyo Mahikari has undertaken substantial renovation work with the assistance of Luxembourg's "Service des Sites et Monuments nationaux". Initially work was centred on reinforcing the foundations and walls and on restoring the staircase of honour on the upper terrace in the gardens. From 1999, the statues and the fountains in the garden were repaired while the roofs over the two wings and the central section were rebuilt. Work is now concentrated on restoring the oldest part of the building which dates from the 17th century.
The castle gardens are open to visitors from 9 am every day. The castle also hosts a number of cultural events during the year.


County of Bentheim

The County of Bentheim ("Grafschaft Bentheim", Low German "Benthem") was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the south-west corner of today's Lower Saxony, Germany. The county's borders corresponded largely to those of the modern administrative district ("Landkreis") of Grafschaft Bentheim.
Geographically, Bentheim is composed largely of fenland, and early settlement was concentrated along the banks of the rivers which pass through the county. Deposits of Bentheim sandstone formed the basis of a profitable export trade to other parts of present-day Germany and the Netherlands.
History.
Around 500–600 CE Germanic tribes settled in the area. The Saxon tribes lost their independence in 804 CE after the Franks won the Saxon Wars. Between 800 and 850 Emperor Charlemagne had them forced to convert to Christianity. The scholten system was introduced, and Emlichheim, Uelsen, Veldhausen, and Nordhorn become church and court districts.
The county of Bentheim was in existence by c. 1050 AD, although little is known of its history before 1115. In that year, the county passed to Count Otto, of the House of Salm. His heir and daughter, Countess Sophia, married Dirk VI, Count of Holland, and they co-ruled the county until Dirk's death in 1157. Sophia died in 1176, and the title of count passed to her son Otto I. In 1263, Bentheim annexed the County of Tecklenburg, and over time various branches of the counts of Bentheim would annex and purchase various territories in Rheda, Steinfurt, and the Netherlands. In 1277, the County of Bentheim was partitioned into Bentheim-Bentheim (containing the County of Bentheim) and Bentheim-Tecklenburg (containing the County of Tecklenburg).
The first County of Bentheim-Bentheim endured until 1530, when its line of counts had become extinct and Bentheim was granted to Arnold II of Bentheim-Steinfurt. In 1544, Arnold officially converted to Lutheranism, beginning a slow process of introducing the Reformation in Bentheim and other territories he ruled. Protestant preachers were introduced into Bentheim during the autumn of 1587. The following year Bentheim officially gained a new Church constitution, which was later introduced in Tecklenburg (1589) and Steinfurt (1591). In 1613, Count Arnold Jobst of Bentheim-Steinfurt created the Higher Church Council to help administer the spiritual matters of Bentheim, as well as establishing the Reformed Church of Bentheim in all three of the counties.
When Arnold Jobst died in 1643, the County of Bentheim-Steinfurt was partitioned into Bentheim-Steinfurt and Bentheim-Bentheim, the latter comprising the County of Bentheim. In 1753, the County of Bentheim was seized by the elector of Hanover. "In 1753, trouble within made them (the Counts of Bentheim) take out a mortgage to the King of Hanover and England."
For almost 700 years prior to this, Grafshaft Bentheim was independently ruled by the Counts of Bentheim and that they might have continued thus had it not been for the circumstances of 1753.
At the end of the Holy Roman Empire, the Count of Bentheim-Steinfurt and the Count of Bentheim-Bentheim each had one voice in the Assembly of the Imperial Circle of the Lower Rhine-Westphalia. As members of the College of the Counts of Westphalia, they were represented in the Council of Princes of the Imperial Diet ("Reichstag"). These representation made the House of Bentheim a member of the German High Nobility.
In 1803 the Bentheim-Bentheim branch became extinct. In 1804 the Count of Bentheim-Steinfurt made a bargain with the Government of France. He paid a fraction of the old debt of the Count of Bentheim-Bentheim to Hanover and obtained the possession of the County of Bentheim despite the protest of the Elector of Hanover.
In July 1806, by the Act of the Confederation of the Rhine, the Grand Duchy of Berg mediatised the Imperial immediate Counties of Steinfurt and Bentheim that belonged to the Count of Bentheim-Steinfurt.
In 1808, the Grand Duchy of Berg mediatised the Lordship ("Herrschaft") of Rheda and the County of Hohenlimburg, the independent possessions of the Count of Bentheim-Tecklenburg.
Bentheim was annexed by France in 1810 with the Kingdom of Holland and many northwest German regions.
The Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) put Steinfurt and Rheda under overlordship of Prussia, and Bentheim under overlordship of Hanover.
In 1817, the King of Prussia granted the Counts of Bentheim-Steinfurt and Bentheim-Tecklenburg the title of Prince.
Since 1854, the Princes of Bentheim-Steinfurt and Bentheim-Tecklenburg were hereditary members of the House of Lords of Prussia.
Today, the still extant branches of the House of Bentheim are the princes of Bentheim-Steinfurt with their seat at Steinfurt Castle (also still owners of the ancestral seat Burg Bentheim) and the princes of Bentheim-Tecklenburg-Rheda with their seats at Rheda Castle and Hohenlimburg Castle, also owners of the former monasteries of Herzebrock and Clarholz.
Language.
Although Bentheim is a German county, the dialect spoken, "plattdeutsch", or "low german," is heavily influenced by the Dutch language.
The people.
"In spirit," writes Harger, "the people of Bentheim have never lost their independence. They became Hanoverians; they were invaded by Napoleon. Prussia took them over in 1866. They lived under the Kaiser and under Hitler. Through all this they came with good courage. If you ask them today about their identity, they just might tell you, 'Wy bin't Groofschappers' (We are from the County)."
Arranged marriages have been a longstanding tradition in Grafschaft (county) Bentheim. In former times, the parents arranged for their children to marry a distant relative. Weddings lasted three days with each invited guest giving about 100 DM ($50 in 1988) to the newly married couple. The couple signs the marriage contract before the ceremony. The presentation of the dowry and hope chest was part of the ceremony.
Until the 1950s, most gave birth, with aid of a midwife, in their own home. After birth, the baby would have its lower body tightly wrapped to prevent it becoming bowlegged and a tight fitting cap would be placed on its head, covering the ears, "so the ears would grow nice and close to the face." Children born during the week would be baptized in the Reformed tradition that coming Sunday, attended by the neighbors and midwife to stand as witnesses. In former times, the new mother would not leave the house during the first six weeks after giving birth.
When a family member dies, the next-door neighbor is the first to be contacted. He is in charge for the next four days, and instructs the other neighbors as to their duties. He is responsible for contacting the pastor (officiant), the bell ringer, and the gravedigger and making the burial arrangements. The town bell would be sounded one toll for each year the deceased had lived. If the death occurred after 9:00 p.m., this would wait until 9:00 the following morning. The casket builder would then begin his work, and the "death messengers" would be dispatched to inform the citizenry of the death with a message akin to "You are asked to attend the funeral of the departed ____________ at (time and date)." All in attendance at the funeral would wear unadorned black clothing. From 850 CE to about 1850 CE, burial was done in the churchyard, the idea being that the "church on earth" was the closest place to the "Church Triumphant." A grave was family-owned, and could be reused for another family member after 30 years. Napoleon decreed the establishment of cemetery yards outside of the city or village (for sanitary reasons) in 1808, an edict which was resisted in Bentheim, but finally adopted in 1850.
The funeral was followed by a church service featuring songs about resurrection. The length of the mourning period varied by relationship to the deceased: three years for the spouse, two years for the children, one year for the siblings, and 6 weeks for the next-door neighbor. During this period, unadorned black was to be worn, and this was strictly enforced.
Legacy.
The modern Landkreis "Grafschaft Bentheim" which covers approximately the same territory takes its name from the former county and continues to use its coat of arms.


Wigtownshire

Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-west Scotland. It is popularly known as and referred to as "The Shire." Until 1975, Wigtownshire was one of the administrative counties used for local government purposes, and is now administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway. As a lieutenancy area, Wigtownshire has its own Lord Lieutenant, currently John Alexander Ross. In the 19th century, it was also called West Galloway (). The county town was historically Wigtown, with the administrative centre moving to Stranraer, the largest town, on the creation of a county council in 1890.
Geography.
Wigtownshire borders the Irish Sea to the west, the Solway Firth to the south, Ayrshire to the north, and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright (or Kidcudbrightshire) to the east. Across the sea to the west lies Northern Ireland and to the south the Isle of Man, both of which can be readily seen on a clear day. Together the Stewartry and Wigtownshire are referred to as Galloway. The county is largely flat, with some low hills in the north, with Craigairie Fell being the county's tallest peak at a modest . The western 'hammer-head' peninsula of Wigtownshire is known as Rhinns of Galloway, and is split from the 'mainland' by Loch Ryan in the north and Luce Bay in the south; its northern tip is Milleur Point and its southern the Mull of Galloway, which is also the southernmost point in Scotland. Across Luce Bay lies the Machars peninsula, a roughly triangular-shaped land of low hills, separated from Kidcudbrightshire by Wigtown Bay, and culminating in Burrow Head. Machars contains a number of small lochs in its north, notably Dernaglar Loch, Whitefield Loch, Castle Loch and Mochrum Loch. The Scares, a group of very small rock-islands, lie in Luce Bay.
Transport.
Major road links to the area comprise the A77 to the north, and A75 to the east. The European route E18 starts in Northern Ireland and runs from Stranraer, Wigtownshire (A75) – Gretna (M6) – Carlisle (A69) to Newcastle. It then re-joins at Norway, goes through Sweden, Finland and ends at Saint Petersburg, Russia. Like all European routes, it is not signposted as such in the United Kingdom. The European Union is partly financing "The Stranraer and Loch Ryan Waterfront Project", at Inch.
Ferries.
The port at Cairnryan is Scotland's main embarkation point for ferries to Northern Ireland, with regular crossings to Larne and the Port of Belfast. These services formerly left from Stranraer.
Railways.
Stranraer station connects the Glasgow South Western Line to Ayr, and Glasgow Central as well as , and for the West Coast Main Line to , and London Euston.
The Beeching cuts cut off the Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway and Portpatrick Railway in 1965 resulting in an adverse mileage increase via the Glasgow South Western Line to reach Stranraer from Carlisle and the West Coast Main Line.
Proposed Irish Sea bridge.
Wigtownshire has been one of the mooted location for a proposed bridge or tunnel linking Britain and Ireland. A 2010 report by the Centre for Cross Border Studies estimated building a bridge from Galloway to Ulster would cost just under £20.5 billion.
History.
The 11th-century ex-King of Dublin and Mann, Echmarcach mac Ragnaill, had the title "Rex Innarenn", "King of the Rhinns", attributed to him on his death in 1065 AD. The western sections of Galloway had been firmly aligned with the Isle of Man, and Norse and Gaelic-Norse settlement names from the 10th and 11th centuries are spread all along the coastal lands of south-western Scotland.
Most of Wigtownshire was still Gaelic-speaking at the beginning of the 16th century.
Archaeology.
In 2012 the University of Glasgow led a community archaeology project in Inch, between Stranraer and Cairnryan, including a geophysical survey of the area to the north of the motte at Innermessan. It is a site with a very long history – from the early mesolithic, about 10,000 years ago, to a medieval town, now disappeared, which in its time was more important than Stranraer.
An unnamed detectorist found a gold lunula in a cultivated field near Garlieston, Sorbie in March 2011, the first Scottish gold lunula found in over 100 years. The lunula is a flat, crescent-shaped neck ornament thought to date from around 2300 – 2200 BC, and described by some archaeologists as a symbol of power. The gold sheet, probably hammered out from a bar, is very thin () and decorated around its edges with incised and punched zigzags, lines and dots. It had been cut up and folded, and the two pieces do not join; together they amount to just under a third of the original collar. Initial surface analysis has shown that the metal contains 11% silver and 0.5% copper. Further analysis may indicate whether the lunula had been made of Irish or Scottish gold. Staff of Stranraer Museum and the Wigtownshire branch of the University of the Third Age walked the field looking for artefacts. Test pits were dug and Historic Scotland commissioned a geophysical survey. No more metalwork was found, nor any evidence for why the lunula might have been buried there.
From Glenluce Sands there have been recovered "more objects of antiquity than from any area of similar extent in Scotland". The relics range from neolithic to mediaeval times.
The fields between the mound and Dunragit village and Droughduil Mote, Old Luce, Wigtownshire, contain "one of the most important Stone Age sites in Scotland". Aerial photography and archaeological excavation of the henge has revealed the remains of three massive concentric timber circles; the outer circle was in diameter, almost six times the size of Stonehenge. Built c.2500 BC, this huge monument was a ceremonial centre and a meeting place for south-west Scotland's early farming communities. Funding for the dig was provided by Historic Scotland and the University of Southampton. The staff at Stranraer Museum assisted with computing and communications facilities and access to collections.
Civil parishes.
Wigtownshire was divided into civil parishes:
The civil parish of Stranraer was created out of parts of Leswalt and Inch parishes in 1622. The parish of Glenluce was split into the parishes of New Luce and Old Luce in 1646.
Other parishes became defunct at earlier dates:


Medina, Isle of Wight

Medina was a non-metropolitan district with the status of a borough on the Isle of Wight in England from 1974 to 1995.
The district was formed by the Local Government Act 1972, and was a merger of the municipal boroughs of Newport and Ryde along with the urban district of Cowes. It was one of two districts on the Island formed in 1974 - the other was South Wight.
"Medina" was an older name for Newport which has been preserved in the River Medina.
Following a review by the Local Government Commission for England, the borough was abolished on 1 April 1995, when a single Isle of Wight Council replaced the Isle of Wight County Council and the island's two district councils.
References.


Dankwarderode Castle

Dankwarderode Castle () on the "Burgplatz" ("castle square") in Braunschweig (Brunswick) is a Saxon lowland castle. It was the residence of the Brunswick dukes for centuries and, today, is part of the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum.
Construction and history of use.
Dankwarderode Castle was built between c. 1160 and 1175 as the "Pfalz" of Duke Henry the Lion on an island in the river Oker. Next to the castle, construction of Brunswick Cathedral began in 1173. The castle lost its military significance as a defensive structure early, when it became surrounded completely by the growing city.
During the 15th century, the dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel moved their "Residenz" out of the city and to the nearby town of Wolfenbüttel. In 1616 the "palas" was remodelled in the renaissance style, while the rest of the castle was demolished or left to decay. During the 19th century, the castle keep served as a barrack, plans to demolish it completely were stopped by public protests in 1873. The present structure was rebuilt in 1887 by Ludwig Winter, based on archaeological investigations. Today the ground floor of Dankwarderode Castle houses the permanent collection of medieval objects of the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum.


Romance Flanders

Romance Flanders or Gallicant Flanders is a historical term for the part of the County of Flanders in which Romance languages were spoken, such as varieties of Picard. Today the region straddles the border of France and Belgium.
Name.
In Early Modern English, Romance Flanders was also known as "Welch Flanders" or "Gallike Flanders". The original French name is "Flandre Gallicane" or "Flandre Gallicante", derived from the Latin term "Gallo Flandria" or "Flandria Gallica".
The term "Walloon Flanders" has also been used to designate the region although strictly this would be a political rather than a linguistic designation as the local Romance dialect is Picard and not Walloon even though part of Romance Flanders lies within the Belgian political region of Wallonia.
Territory.
In France :
In Belgium :


Audulf

Audulf or Audwulf, (Latin: Audulfus) was a Frisian king at the time of the Great Migration, (around 600).
Nowadays historians mostly think that there was a Frisian king in the first half of the 7th century with the name Audulf, containing the words "adel" and "wolf". The land this king ruled was probably the central rivers area of the Netherlands. The written sources do not contain any information of this monarch, but there are some golden coins found with the words “Audulfus” and “Frisia” on them. The land where the Frisian people once lived was at that time divided, each with his own ruler. Excavations in the north of Friesland, in the area called Westergo proved that some kind of power has existed in that time in the province of Friesland.
The coins were found in the Netherlands at Escharen in nearby Arnhem and also in England. Most are dated between 600 and 630. At the beginning of 2006 a coin stamp of Audwulf with the words "AUDWULF FRISIA" was found in the Frisian village Wijnaldum at the place which earlier was searched for the "keningshal" of the Frisian kings.
Another interesting finding that is brought in context with Audulf is the treasure trove of Wiuwert. One of the coins has the inscription "VICTORIA AUDUFO", probably made to remember a remarkable victory on another people. Some think this people were the Franks who fought the Frisian for control of the Rhine delta.


Battle of Pianosa

The Battle of Pianosa is a naval engagement which took place on April 25, 1519 when a Genoese fleet inflicted a severe defeat on the flotilla of the Tunisia-based Barbary corsair Kaid Ali in the Tyrrhenian Sea, in view of the island of Elba. The battle broke the back of one of the rising corsair bases on the Barbary Coast, Bizerte, and established Andrea Doria as one of the foremost captains in the Mediterranean .
Background.
Raiding had for long been part of the life of the Mediterranean, the last decades of the Middle Ages had seen numerous famous corsairs harassing both the coastal populations and shipping activities, but the turn of the 16th century coincided with a marked surge of the phenomenon. Most notably, several captains established bases on the North African coast where strong corsair flotillas left every year for months-long cruises. During the spring and summer, they raided and pillaged the coastal regions and the maritime trade of Mediterranean Europe. Among the most famous Barbary corsairs of the region at the time were Hayreddin Barbarossa and Kurtoğlu Muslihiddin. The latter set up his base of operation in the Tunisian town of Bizerte with the support of the local Hafsid Dynasty. The prowess of Kurtoğlu at sea attracted the attention of the Ottoman government and he was offered the command of the Turkish fleet in 1516. After Kurtoğlu Muslihiddin left North Africa, command in Bizerte was assumed by another captain ("reis"), Kaid Ali (literally Ali the Boss) who soon proved as much a scourge for the Europeans as his predecessor had been. The Bizertine flotilla had grown strong enough to be a threat not only for the merchant ships and the coast villages but even for military vessels. In a battle in mid-September 1518, Kaid Ali managed to defeat and capture the flagship galley ("Capitana") of the Pope and to take the admiral of the papal fleet, Paolo Vettori, near Mont’Argentario, on the Tuscan coast.
For the most part, the European Christian powers were too occupied fighting each other to pay much heed to the rather small-scale predation of the Barbary corsairs. Spain, for instance, notably diminished the resources allocated to the fight against the North African raiders during the 1510s, considering French expansionism as a much greater threat to its security. The corsairs were only taken seriously by lesser coastal powers such as Genoa and the Papal States in particular because they directly menaced the all-important trade routes upon which their economies and grain supplies depended. In the early spring 1519, aware of the arrival of Kaid Ali's flotilla in the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Genoese Republic entrusted the defence of its coastline to a local captain, the nobleman Andrea Doria, who had acquired a good reputation fighting in Corsica for the Republic. Mindful of the difficulty of the task at hand, Andrea Doria demanded that the four galleys of the Republic be reinforced with another two. His request was granted by the Genoese government but, as there were not enough prisoners and captives to provide the necessary rowers to the two new boats, free oarsmen were recruited (known as "buonavoglia") to complement the rowing crew.
The battle.
The Genoese fleet left its base mid-April and headed south into the Tyrrhenian Sea looking for corsairs. On April 25, in the Tuscan archipelago, near the island of Pianosa, the Genoese ships met the flotilla of Kaid Ali. More numerous and with the support of a favourable strong southern wind ("sirocco"), the Barbary corsairs were at a clear advantage. Andrea Doria had his galleys turn face and flee while the Bizertine began to pursue. The chase went on for about 20 nautical miles and probably 4 hours. The strong wind put the larger and more seaworthy Genoese ships at an advantage. They reached the westernmost cape of the island of Elba ahead of their pursuers.
Having reached Elba, the Genoese captain took advantage of a local wind pattern to change direction and head straight towards the Bizertines. However, the newly recruited free-rowers of the two additional ships lacked the skill and strength for these arduous manoeuvres and began drifting with the wind. Andrea Doria had to send two of his older galleys to tow the less experienced ships. Two-thirds of the Genoese ships were unable to face-off and run down the adversary in a timely fashion. Rather than letting the opportunity pass, Andrea Doria put his nephew Filippino Doria in charge of the four slower ships and took his main galleys, the "Capitana" and the "Patrona", straight towards the Bizertine to pin them down before the main force arrived.
The Genoese had more artillery than the corsairs and managed to do some damage with their cannons. However the Bizertine succeeded in grappling the Genoese ships and to board them. Hand-to-hand combat ensued. Badly outnumbered, Doria and his men managed to sustain the shock for fifteen minutes. At this point the four ships under Filippino Doria reached the thick of the fight and within half-an-hour the battle was won for the Genoese. Only three fustes of the corsairs managed to get away, the rest of the flotilla – possibly as many as 9 vessels of various sizes – were captured or sunk. The "Capitana" of the Pope had been recovered and was towed back to Genoa along with four other ships.
Aftermath.
The fight, as is often the case on the overcrowded galleys, had been extraordinarily violent and bloody. Italian sources mention 500 corsairs dead, this may be an overestimate but the losses on the side of the Bizertines were undoubtedly heavy. The Genoese had also suffered important casualties. One of Andrea Doria's nephews, Lazzarino Doria, was killed in action and his second-in-command Filippino Doria was wounded twice. The Genoese only managed to take a handful of prisoners among whom, however, was the Bizertine captain Kaid Ali. Most of these captive were rapidly ransomed but Kaid Ali himself was not exchanged and was kept as a prisoner in the fortress of Pianosa until his death, in 1530.
With Kaid Ali prisoner and Kurtoğlu Muslihiddin serving the Ottomans in the East, the bulk of their men dead and most of their ships captured or sunk, the strength of the Bizertine corsair base had been broken and the city receded to the status of a very secondary raiding base, far behind the main corsair ports Tripoli and, above all, Algiers.


Tauresium

Tauresium (Latin; ), today as Gradište (), is an archaeological site in North Macedonia, approximately southeast of the capital Skopje. Tauresium is the birthplace of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (ca. 482) and King Theodahad of the Ostrogoths (480).
Location and general characteristics.
Tauresium is located in Zelenikovo Municipality, near the village Taor, some southeast of Skopje. The site was discovered by British archaeologist Arthur Evans in the late 19th century. According to Justinian's biographer Procopius, the Emperor was born in Tauresium in 482, more precisely in the castle of Baderiana, which is near the modern village Bader.
in the book "De aedificiis" by Procopius he states:
The similarity in the names of Taoresium and Barderia as Taor - Таор and Bader-Бадер was brought to attention by Antun Mihanović, the First Austrian Konzul 1836-1858 and proposed to wrighter Hun, who stopped on his journey to investigate the location, which is noted in the book "Stara Srbija i Makedonija – Spiridion Gopčević". The stories from the local peasants and badly damaged Cyrillic script were not sufficient to prove the theory initially, but later in the Monastery of St.John in Veles, Cyrillic writings were presented to him after which he concluded that this the same Byzantine City of Tauresium, birthplace of Justinian I who laid the foundation for The First Golden Age of The Byzantine Empire.
Tauresium and the castle Baderiana were destroyed in an earthquake in 518 and the epicentre of the earthquake was in the nearby city of Skupi. As a gesture of gratitude to his birthplace, Justinian I rebuilt the city. According to the excavations that have been done so far, it is estimated that the oldest parts of Tauresium date from the 4th century and this oldest part is a castle with four towers known as "Tetrapirgia". Regarding Baderiana, Procopius states that it "is settled castle with oddments from IV-VI century". "Baderiana" or the modern Bader is located 6 km east of Tauresium and Taor.


Battle of Bazargic

The Battle of Bazargic, also known as the Battle of Dobrich or the Dobrich epopee (), took place between 5 and 7 September 1916 between a joint Bulgarian–German–Ottoman force, consisting mainly of the Bulgarian Third Army, and a Romanian–Russian force, including a Division of Serbian Volunteers serving under the Russian 47th Corps. The battle was part of the Romanian campaign towards the end of 1916. It ended with a Central Powers victory.
Background.
Although bound by the pre-war Triple Alliance to the Central Powers, Romania instead joined the Triple Entente in August 1916, following the signing of the Treaty of Bucharest (1916). German Commander Field Marshal August von Mackensen was put in charge of the Romanian campaign in the Dobruja front. In September the 3rd Bulgarian Army was reinforced with two Ottoman divisions and part of a German division. The Central Powers' plan was to attack the Romanian forces in Transylvania, while at the same time attacking along the Black Sea, into the Dobruja, a region inhabited mainly by Bulgarians and assigned to Romania in 1913, as a result of the Second Balkan War and the ensuing Treaty of Bucharest (1913).
Battle.
Mackensen started with a surprise move on Turtucaia, a Romanian fortress. Although the besieging force was smaller than the garrison, most surrendered quickly to the Bulgarian 3rd Army after their commander fled.
Along with German reinforcements, Bulgarian units on the Southern front who crossed the border and invaded the Dobruja found themselves facing the Romanian Third Army and two Russian infantry divisions. Some of the Romanian units had surrendered to the Russians, believing them to be Bulgarians.
Simultaneously with the assault of the fortress of Turtucaia, the Bulgarian Third Army defeated the Romanian-Russian force, including the First Serbian Volunteer Division, at the Battle of Bazargic, despite their numerical superiority. The outnumbered forces of the Central Powers managed to push the Romanians and the Russians north, while the Serbian Volunteer division suffered heavy casualties with 8,539 dead and wounded.
On 7 September after intense fighting the defeated Russian general ordered a withdrawal.
Aftermath.
As the Romanian army withdrew into Moldavia by the beginning of November, the Central Powers had captured the whole of Dobruja.


Goscote Wapentake

Goscote was a wapentake in the county of Leicestershire, England; consisting of the north and north-west of the county. It was recorded in the Domesday Book, but as the wapentakes evolved to form hundreds, was split into East Goscote Hundred and West Goscote Hundred in 1346.


Oneum

Oneum was an Illyrian settlement of the Delmatae on the site of which, later a Roman city was built.
The probable location of Oneum is today's Omiš.


Czech and Slovak Federative Republic

After the Velvet Revolution in late-1989, Czechoslovakia adopted the official name Czech and Slovak Federative Republic (, ; ČSFR) during the period from 23 April 1990 until 31 December 1992, after which the country was dissolved into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.
Adoption of the name.
Since 1960, Czechoslovakia's official name had been the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic ("Československá socialistická republika", ČSSR). In the aftermath of the Velvet Revolution, newly elected President Václav Havel announced that "Socialist" would be dropped from the country's official name.
Conventional wisdom suggested that the country would resume the name used from 1919 to 1938 and from 1945 to 1960, Czechoslovak Republic ("Československá republika"). However, Slovak politicians objected that the traditional name subsumed Slovakia's equal status in the federal state too much. The first compromise was Constitutional Law 81/1990, which changed the country's name to Czechoslovak Federative Republic (, ; "ČSFR"), explicitly acknowledging the federal nature of the state. It was passed on 29 March 1990 (coming into force on the same day) only after an informal agreement on the Slovak form which would be explicitly codified by a future law on state symbols. This was met with general disapproval and another round of haggling, dubbed "the hyphen war" ("pomlčková válka/vojna") after Slovaks' wish to insert a hyphen into the name ("Česko-Slovensko"). However, aggrieved Czechs vehemently opposed it as too reminiscent of such practice during the Second Czechoslovak Republic (when the official name was "Czecho-Slovak Republic"—which had also been used from 1938 to 1939)—when the country had been mutilated by the Munich Agreement and was slipping toward its final dismemberment at the hands of Nazi Germany a year later. The resultant compromise, after much behind-the-scenes negotiation, was Constitutional Law 101/1990, passed on 20 April and in force since its declaration on 23 April. The law changed the country's name to "Czech and Slovak Federative Republic"; unlike the previous one, it also explicitly listed both versions and stated they were equal.
The name breaks the rules of Czech and Slovak orthography, which do not use capitalization for proper names' second and further words (see above), nor adjectives derived from them. Thus the correct form would be "Česká a slovenská federat... republika." However, "Česká a Slovenská F. R." was adopted in hopes of eliminating any debate about the prestige of Slovakia. While few people were happy with the name, it came into use quickly. Czech and Slovak tensions, of which this was an early sign, soon became manifest in matters of greater immediate importance which made the country's name a comparatively minor issue and at the same time even more impossible to change, so the name remained.
The 1960 Constitution remained in force on an interim basis. It was also heavily amended to remove its Communist character. Work on a permanent constitution was still underway at the time of the dissolution of Czechoslovakia.


History of Milford Haven

The town of Milford Haven was founded in 1793 by Sir William Hamilton, who initially invited Quaker whalers from Nantucket to live in his town, and then, in 1797, the Navy Board to create a dockyard for building warships.
Milford Haven Waterway has a longer history as a staging point on sea journeys to Ireland, and was used as a shelter by Vikings.
Early history.
From the 790s until the Norman Invasion in 1066, the waterway was used occasionally by Vikings looking for shelter. During one visit in 854, the Viking chieftain Hubba wintered in the Haven with 23 ships, eventually lending his name to the district of Hubberston. It is likely that the area was used as a permanent headquarters in the period after 914, to provide a staging post for traffic in the Celtic Sea. Evidence of metal working in the area was recently excavated, suggesting a level of industrialization in the period 750 - 1100. Additionally, the remains of early hill forts at Thornton and Priory have been identified, which commanded excellent views over the landscape. A medieval castle was constructed towards the east of the town's boundaries, at the head of the inlet known as Castle Pill.
A Benedictine priory called Pill Priory was established at the head of Hubberston Pill in 1170, as a daughter house of St Dogmaels Abbey. Built on virgin land, it stood alongside the priory on Caldey Island as part of the Tironian Order in West Wales, and was dedicated to St Budoc. Founded by Adam de Rupe, it stood until the Dissolution under Henry VIII. Richard de Clare commenced his invasion of Leinster from the Haven in 1167. In 1171 Henry II designated the area the rendezvous for his Irish expedition. An army of 400 warships, 500 knights and 4,000 men-at-arms gathered in the haven before sailing to Waterford, and on to Dublin, which marked the first time an English king had stood on Irish soil, and the beginning of Henry's invasion of Ireland. Henry's son John sailed form the area twice to subdue the Irish, in 1185 and 1210. St Thomas à Becket Chapel was dedicated to St Thomas Becket in 1180, a structure which looked out over the Haven from the north shore of the town. In later years it was used as a beacon for sailors in foul weather, and ultimately as a pig sty, until it was reconsecrated in the 20th century.
In his play "Cymbeline" Act 3, Scene 2 (1611), Shakespeare remarks that Milford is a haven:
George Owen of Henllys, in his "Description of Penbrokshire", claimed in 1603 that Milford Haven was the most famous port of Christendom. The area however was a source of anxiety for the Tudor monarchy. Due to its location, it was exposed to attacks from Ireland, a convenient base from which England could be invaded via Wales. In 1405, the French landed in force having left Brest in July with more than 2,800 knights and men-at-arms led by Jean II de Rieux, the Marshal of France, in order to support Owain Glyndŵr's rebellion. It was here that Henry Tudor landed with his uncle, Jasper Tudor, in 1485 before his march towards Lincolnshire, ending in the Battle of Bosworth.
The Tudor era began to recognise the strategic importance of defence of the area, and Thomas Cromwell highlighted this fact to the Council of the Marches of Wales. Some 40 years later, this led to the construction of device forts at West Blockhouse and East Blockhouse. Milford Haven was one of the objectives during the Spanish Armada of 1597, and possible landing places were examined. George Owen had recommended the construction of forts at Dale Point, Thorn Island and Stack Rock, but no action was taken. Although a storm dispersed much of the Armada, some Spanish ships pressed on and landfall was made in the Cleddau. The arrival of Welsh militia and the dispersal of their fleet however soon forced the Spanish to retreat. One of the ships, a forty-ton caravel "Nuestra Senora Buenviage" which had been damaged in the storm attempted to flee but was boarded and captured by six Welsh boats and thus pillaged. The cargo included gold and silver and as a result a fight broke out amongst the pillagers in which one man was wounded. Piracy was also recognised as a problem, perhaps encouraged by the lack of fortification and nature of the landscape. The Queen's Remembrancer Roll of 1562 reported that:
In April 1603, Martin Pring used the Haven as his departure point for his exploratory voyage to Virginia. The land comprising the site of Milford, the Manor of Hubberston and Pill, was acquired by the Barlow family following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the mid-16th century. It acquired an additional strategic importance in the 17th century as a Royalist military base. Charles I ordered a fort to be built at Pill which could prevent re-enforcement of the Parliamentarian garrison of Pembroke Castle, and this was completed in 1643. On 23 February 1644, a Parliamentarian force led by Rowland Laugharne crossed the Haven and landed at Castle Pill. The fort was gunned from both land and water, and a garrison was placed in Steynton church to prevent a Royalist attack from the garrison at Haverfordwest. The fort was eventually surrendered, and quickly taken, along with St Thomas a Becket chapel. Just five years later in 1649 Milford Haven was again the site of Parliamentarian interest when it was chosen as the disembarkation site for Oliver Cromwell's invasion of Ireland. Cromwell arrived in the Haven on 4 August, meeting George Monck, before Cromwell and over a hundred craft left for Dublin on 15 August.
By the late 18th century, the two creeks which would delimit the future town of Milford's boundaries to the east and west, namely Hakin and Castle Pill, were being used as harbours for ships to load and unload coal, corn and limestone. A ferry service to Ireland operated from Hakin around the start of the 20th century, although this ceased in the early 19th century. Although surrounding settlements at Steynton, Thornton, Priory, Liddeston and Hubberston/Hakin were established, they were little more than hamlets. The only man-made structures on the future site of Milford were the medieval chapel, and Summer Hill Farm, and its accompanying cottages.
The 18th century − Foundation.
By the mid 18th century, the lands had been inherited by Catherine Barlow of Slebech, who at the time was living in London. In 1758 she married Sir William Hamilton, and on her death in 1782, he inherited the land in the Hubberston and Pill area. He became interested in the Pembrokeshire Coalfield, and the idea of developing the land and harbour into a town. Hon. Charles Francis Greville, his nephew, was given responsibility for managing the project, and in 1790 an Act of Parliament was granted which made it possible to continue. In 1791, Mary Morgan visited Hubberston on a tour of Wales, and noted in her journal:
There had been a Quaker population in Pembrokeshire since 1650, although its numbers had been in decline following emigration to North America. Greville, supported by Sir William Harcourt, proceeded to invite seven Nantucket Quaker families to settle in the new town, and in 1792 they arrived, led by the Starbuck family, with the intention of developing a whaling fleet to service the growing demand for street lighting. Greville had highlighted the opportunities for trade with the Americas from the town to the New Englanders, and lobbied the Board of Trade to support the plan. A lack of suitable accommodation in the town encouraged building of residential properties on undeveloped land above the harbour, which had been organised into three long streets, terraced back one from the other, with intersecting side streets. The Front Street housed austere homes for the Quakers, which allowed them to look out to sea in keeping with the Nantucket style. The Middle Street became the commercial centre, and the back street housed artisans. The frequent claim that an American gridiron pattern was used may not have been as integral to the design as the fact that the topography of the landscape required it, the steep gradient preventing other designs. Several important Quaker families established large homes during this time, including Samuel Starbuck Sr at Priory Lodge and Uriah Bunker at Bunkers Hill, and by 1810 the town could boast 150 houses, businesses and a hotel. In 1797 the Navy Board established a dockyard which produced warships. Seven royal vessels were eventually launched from the dockyard, including HMS "Surprise" and . Progress was rapid, and by 1802, Admiral Horatio Nelson had been invited to view the town in person as part of a tour to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of the Nile. He spoke glowingly during a banquet held in his honour, commenting on the number of whaleships sent to the Southern Oceans, Milford's status as a primary seaport on the west coast of Britain, and culminated in comparing the harbour with that of Trincomalee in Sri Lanka as to be the two best he had ever seen. Greville's plans were no less ambitious. At a site on high ground in Hakin, he planned to build "The College of King George the Third founded at Milford", whose centrepiece would be an observatory. Although the observatory was built, and indeed scientific instruments were delivered, the college never functioned as such. A church, dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria, was consecrated in October 1808. Located in the underdeveloped eastern side of the town, it remained a chapel of ease until 1891 when Milford became a parish, until that time competing with St Peter and St Cewydd in Steynton. By around the start of the 19th century, a mail coach was operating between London and Hubberston, arriving in the evening and returning the following day, connecting with the packet service to Ireland. In 1800 the short-lived Milford and Pembrokeshire Bank was established by Thomas Phillips, operating from a branch in the town. It collapsed in 1810.
The 19th century − Development of the town.
Between 1801 and 1803, the town and waterway were protected by temporary batteries at Hakin Point and south of St Katherine's Church, in response to the perceived threat following the Fishguard Invasion. In 1814 the Royal Dockyard was transferred to Pembroke Dock, which quickly reduced the fortunes of the new town. John Bartholomew commented in 1887 that Milford was in a languishing state, although he noted that the commercial docks, at that time under construction, "will probably become a great seat of trade with America." Robert Fulke Greville inherited the estate in 1824, and in 1853 relocated to the town. He commenced a series of improvements, including the building of a wooden pier and hotel for the Irish traffic, two bridges across Milford's two pills (accompanied by toll houses) and obtaining an Improvement Act for the town.
The town's population was further boosted by Quaker whalers from Nantucket, and a growing fishing industry that employed a large number of people. By 1849, the district of Hakin was described as a considerable centre of boat building, with approximately 200 "shipwrights residing at that place". The Milford Docks Act 1874 authorised the construction of a docks in Hubberston Pill, a plan which was estimated to require two and a half years before completion. Actual completion was not achieved until 1888, delayed in part due to the bankruptcy of Samuel Lake. Contemporary speculation suggested that a journey between London and New York via Milford would now be possible in less than seven days, two days fewer than the voyage on the established Liverpool route. There was also considerable thought given to a proposed "Montreal & Milford Line", linking the two ports and potentially cutting the journey time even further than that of New York. It was eventually finished in 1888, but the transatlantic trade hoped for never materialized. Instead, the newly completed dockyard became the home of a sprawling fishing industry. By 1906, Milford had become the sixth largest fishing port in the UK, and in contrast to the general decline in Pembrokeshire's economy and a migration towards the South Wales Coal fields during the 1880s, its population rose. The "Pembrokeshire Herald" claimed in 1912 that "the fish trade is Milford's sole industry...the population of the town has doubled by means of it". In 1863, the railway network came to Milford, linking it to the Haverfordwest line and beyond. In 1866, work was completed on an additional extension which provided access to the docks and mining depot on the eastern side of the town. If the Manchester and Milford Railway scheme had come to fruition, the town would have enjoyed a direct rail link to the Midlands and Northwest England.
Between 1875 and 1886 the "Great Eastern" was a permanent fixture at Milford Docks, remaining there for lengthy repairs. Her arrival into the docks, marked by an artillery salute and town festivities, was heralded as an example of the scale of vessel which the town could expect to attract. On 24 October 1889, the liner "City of Rome", part of the Anchor Line fleet, arrived from New York City into the Haven. She anchored in Hubberston Roads, and her 134 passengers immediately transferred to a train at the new station, bound for London. They carried mainly employees of Barnum's Circus about to commence a European tour, and this represented one of the few examples of transatlantic traffic flowing through the town. January 1900 saw the docks become the temporary home of the "City of Paris" liner, where it underwent light repairs after running aground off the coast of Cornwall. In the late 1850s, work began on a network of forts on both sides of the Milford Haven estuary, as a direct result of the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom. They were designed with the intention of defending the United Kingdom against French invasion, although were never used for this purpose. Notable examples in the town were Fort Hubberstone in Gelliswick.
The 20th century.
By 1901, the town's population had reached 5,102, and by 1931 had doubled to 10,104. During World War I, the Haven was an assembly point for convoys to Gibraltar, and a base, under the command of R.N.R. Captain (and retired Admiral) Charles Holcombe Dare, to counter the activity of German U-boats off the coast of Pembrokeshire. The town welcomed many Belgian refugees from Ostend, many of whom had known the area through landing fish; they bolstered the fishing fleet, depleted by war service, and later erected a memorial in gratitude. The early 20th century saw a period of increased urbanization of the area. The land immediately back from Hamilton Terrace, bounded by Robert St, Priory Road and Great North Road was now completely built upon. In the period from the First World War to 1937, 312 council houses were built in a variety of locations, including estates at Hakinville, Prioryville, Glebelands and Prescelly Place. In 1926 the Urban District Council completed work on an electricity plant, thereby completing the electrification of the town, at a cost of £70,000. A sewerage plant followed in 1930, the Prescelly Waterworks in 1932, and in the same year the original toll bridge linking Milford and Hakin was replaced with Victoria Bridge. The steep gradient of the Rath was at this time constructed, and in 1939 a Town Hall was opened on Hamilton Terrace, at that time possessing an inbuilt fire station. 1939 also saw the opening of an outdoor swimming pool on the Rath. During the Second World War Milford Haven was chosen as a base for allied American troops, and roughly 1,000 American military personnel were housed in the town at this time. They manned an amphibious base which included a hospital built in Hakin and a docks complex at Newton Noyes. The base, initially commanded by Rear Admiral P. E. Phillips and from 1942 by Vice-Admiral Fairbairn, had a complement of 71 officers and 902 enlisted men, and played a role in preparations for D-Day. A focus of activity for the base included mine sweeping of the Haven, which was subject to aircraft attack on 50 occasions. Milford town escaped serious damage from German bombings during the Second World War however, and bombs were seldom dropped on land. Despite its strategic importance as the home of a large fish market, a mines depot, a flax factory, and housing numerous military personnel, a co-ordinated attack on the town never materialised. In the summer of 1941 a bomb fell in fields near Priory Road, and later that year, a bomb damaged a house in Brooke Avenue. In neither instance were there casualties. August 1941 saw the Meades Farm hit in an unsuccessful attack on Air Ministry underground petroleum tanks in Priory Pill, which resulted in non fatal injuries. Due to it strategic importance as a naval base, few children were evacuated from urban centres to Milford Haven. Requisition of the fishing fleet in August 1939 for naval duty meant that the number of trawlers in Milford dropped from 109 in July 1939 to 51 in December of that year.
The Oil Age.
By the 1950s, the fishing industry was in decline, and unemployment in the area had reached 11%. The government had in fact scheduled it as a 'distressed' area. Over-fishing coupled with national economic factors contributed to a significant decline in the fishing industry, resulting in smaller catches and fewer trawlers. By 1972, only twelve trawlers were registered at the port, and 1974 saw industrial and political action to save jobs related to the industry. There had been a housing boom however in the years following Second World War. The District Council took advantage of recently lifted restrictions, and built over 1,000 new homes to accommodate the rising population. The wide sheltered waterway, cheap land on either side of the Haven and government support contributed to the decision in 1957 to create a major oil port. Legislation was passed, and 1958 saw the establishment of the Milford Haven Conservancy Board. In 1960, the Esso Company completed work on an oil refinery near the town, which opened despite environmental objections. This was followed by similar developments by many other chief oil companies in a 10-year period. BP opened a deep water terminal near Angle, connected to a refinery at Llandarcy by underground pipeline. The site encompasses Popton Fort. In 1964 Texaco completed construction on a refinery a near Rhoscrowther, and 1968 saw the opening of the Gulf Refinery near Waterston. The Amoco Refinery near Roberston Cross was the last to be built, in 1973. All three refineries were linked to the main railway line by branch lines. In 1973, Pembroke Power Station came online, burning fuel from the surrounding refineries. In 1974, Milford could boast an oil trade of 58,554,000 tons, which was three times the combined trade of all the other ports of Wales.
By the early 1980s, the Esso refinery was the 2nd largest in the UK. "The industry however was not labour intensive, and did not provide huge labour opportunities for locals, in the 1970s employing only 2,000 workers." The nature of large construction projects meant that workers were attracted from outside the local area, and the decline of the fishing industry was to a certain extent masked. However, this employment was not permanent. On completing the construction of construction projects such as the Esso refinery and the Cleddau Bridge, those who decided to relocate to the town were faced with what the Preseli District Council called in 1977 "the area's serious unemployment problem". In August 1983, a major boilover fire at the Amoco Refinery required 150 firemen, 50 fire engines and two days to extinguish. In 1984, a serious explosion on a tanker being repaired in the Haven resulted in three fatalities. In 1996 the area hit the headlines internationally when the oil tanker "Sea Empress" ran aground, causing a substantial oil spill.
Etymology.
Milford Haven is an Anglicization of an old Scandinavian name "Melrfjordr" that was first applied to the waterway - the Old Norse "Melr", meaning sandbank, and "fjordr", meaning inlet, developing into "Milford"; then later the term "Haven" was added. The town was named Milford after the waterway, and, as with the waterway, Haven was added later - in this case around 1868, when the railway terminus was built. The Welsh for Milford Haven, "Aberdaugleddau", refers to the estuary which is the meeting point of the "White River Cleddau" ("Afon Cleddau Wen") and the "Black River Cleddau" ("Afon Cleddau Ddu"). The term "Aber" is associated with the 'pouring out' of a river, hence the description of the two rivers meeting and forming an estuary. Cleddau itself may make reference to the action of a weapon or tool cutting through the land. From the 1970s onward, the term "Milffwrd" can be occasionally heard, having even appeared on tourist maps.


Paolo Navigajoso

Paolo Navigajoso (died 1277) was a scion of the noble Venetian Navigajoso family and third Latin ruler of the island of Lemnos in Greece.
Paolo was the eldest son and heir of Leonardo Navigajoso. Upon his father's death in 1260, he inherited the rule of one half of Lemnos as well as the title of "megadux" of the Latin Empire, which he continued to use even though the remnants of the Latin Empire fell to the Byzantine Greeks of the Empire of Nicaea in 1261. Along with his two brothers, Filippo and Nicolao, and his cousins, Giovanni Foscari and Filocalo Gradenigo, who controlled the other half of the island, he opposed the Byzantines when they attacked the island in 1276 under Licario. Licario however persisted, and gradually took the island, as one by one the Latin princes fell in battle. The main fortress of Kastro continued to resist, and after Paolo was killed in 1277, his widow, Maria Sanudo, a daughter of Angelo Sanudo, continued to defend it until she was eventually forced to surrender it in 1278.


Venetian arsenal, Gouvia

The Venetian arsenal at Gouvia was a shipyard built by the Republic of Venice during their rule over the island of Corfu. It was located on the west side of what used to be called "Govino Bay", the current location of the modern village of Gouvia.
The arsenal was built in 1716 as part of defenses against the Ottomans. It was abandoned by the Venetians in 1798, when the Venetian Republic ceased to exist.
In 2017, the regional director of the Ionian Islands approved the sum of €500,000 for the "rehabilitation and promotion of the Venetian arsenal at Gouvia". These projects are the first for the Ionian Islands for the 2014-2020 fiscal year and they are funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Greek government.
On 22 May 2016, to celebrate the restoration of lighting to the monument, the local cultural agency of Gouvia and the Greek Society for the Environment organised a concert at the arsenal where the Philharmonic Society of Corfu "Mantzaros" and the German choir "Dinkelsbühler Knabenkapelle" from Neumarkt, Germany performed marching songs.
Description.
The remains of the old arsenal still exist at the Bay of Gouvia, and are located approximately 8 km from Corfu city. The ruins are behind the modern marina of the port of Gouvia and are separated from it by an iron fence.
The Venetian shipyard features three arched docks which were used to service their two fleets which were stationed in Corfu. The columns, walls and arches of the arsenal survive almost intact but the roof is missing. The arches have been described as "beautifully boned", "strong" and "impressive", "almost surreal", and "a striking collection of skeletal arches".
History.
Located near the mouth of the Adriatic Sea, Corfu was a very strategic location for Venice and the Venetians built extensive fortifications to defend the island against incursions. The island was also at the centre of their naval operations in the Levant. As part of their defence plans the Venetians stationed two squadrons in Corfu, one of twenty five galleys, the other of twelve heavy sailing ships. Two Venetian Vice Admirals oversaw the naval operations in Corfu, one for each squadron.
In the aftermath of the second great siege of Corfu by the Ottomans in 1716, the Venetians, as part of their reinforcement of the fortifications of Corfu, built the arsenal to service their ships, that used the bay as a port. Besides its strategic importance, the location was near a forested area that could provide high quality wood for ship repairs.
The shipyard at Gouvia was part of a network of Venetian arsenals and naval stations in Greece, including shipyards in the Aegean Sea, Epirus, the Peloponnese, the Kingdom of Candia (modern Crete) and even Venice itself. Aside from Corfu, such locations in Greece included Methoni, Koroni, Chalkis, Preveza, Chania and Heraklion.
The keystone of the arched gate at the entrance to the shipyard bears the inscription"ZBM/ANNO/MDCCL/XXVIII" in four lines. "ANNO MDCCLXXVIII" means "year 1778". The letters "ZBM" are probably the initials of one of the Venetian captains who constructed the arsenal and added their coat of arms and initials to the buildings. (This practice by the Venetian captains has been documented in the late-18th-century writings of French consul to Corfu Saint-Sauveur.)
The arsenal at Gouvia was supposed to be used for ship repairs during the winter after each fleet had returned from their yearly campaign during peacetime. However, the Venetian Senate became alarmed at the prospect of an arsenal in proximity to Venice which could potentially compete with the central arsenal in Venice. In order to protect the privileges of the latter, the Senate limited the repair activities at Corfu to basic maintenance such as cleaning and caulking. Many captains, instead of repairing their damaged ships at the arsenal, chose to sink them.
As time went on, the number of ships being serviced at the location declined. Use of the site was finally discontinued when the Treaty of Campo Formio, signed on 18 October 1798, put an end to the Republic of Venice and to the Venetian dominion over Corfu, which had lasted for over 400 years.
Admiral Ushakov landed his troops at the site of the arsenal and created a military camp there during the Siege of Corfu in 1798. The arsenal also functioned as a base for the French in 1917–1918.
Conservation and restoration.
In 2011, the regional director of the Ionian Islands, submitted a plan to the Greek Ministry of Culture for the conservation and development of the ruins. The proposal includes the plans of the landmark which have been developed by the polytechnic of Bari which consist of photographs, historical analysis of the structure and diagrams. The study was funded by the European Union regional funding programme Interreg III Greece-Italy.
The 2011 application of the director described the state of ruin and neglect of the arsenal which used to invite negative comments by visitors to the area, given the historical importance of the monument to the Ionian Islands and Greece, and suggested to the ministry the restoration of its walls and roof and its conversion to a Museum of the Sea. The application also included mention of the support of the proposal of the director of the 21st Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities of Greece, who approved of the idea calling it "very good and indispensable".
The ministry, in response to the 2011 application, had expressed interest in the idea, and had described the arsenal as a monument of high importance for the Venetian period of Corfu. The Ministry also explained that the arsenal was not yet eligible for the special government programme which provides funds for the development of the Greek provinces but suggested a joint funding project with the participation of the Ionian Islands directorate. The ministry also proposed that the gate of the monument be immediately repaired and structurally braced for safety reasons, suggesting the participation of the 21st Ephorate in any future repair works.
In 2017, the regional director of the Ionian Islands approved the sum of €500,000 for the "rehabilitation and promotion of the Venetian arsenal at Gouvia". These projects are the first for the Ionian Islands for the 2014-2020 fiscal year and they are funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Greek government.
On 22 May 2016, to celebrate the restoration of lighting to the monument, the local cultural agency of Gouvia and the Greek Society for the Environment organised a concert at the arsenal where the Philharmonic Society of Corfu "Mantzaros" and the German choir "Dinkelsbühler Knabenkapelle" from Neumarkt, Germany performed marching songs.


Gerulf I of Frisia

Gerulf, also Gerulf the Elder, (d. after 865) was the first count of Frisia by this name and an ancestor of the Counts of Holland. Initially dispossessed for opposing emperor Louis the Pious, Gerulf was given back his lands in 839.
Life.
Gerulf was the son of count Dirk. In the times of emperor Louis the Pious he was count of Friesland as Louis' vassal, and reeve of the Frisians between Vlie and the river Weser. Already in the beginning of his reign, Louis, in an act of grace, had returned to the Frisians what they had lost earlier in their uprisings against his father. This act made the emperor popular among the Frisians but weakened the count's position towards the population. Later, Louis' weak policy against the Normans caused further annoyance in Frisia. In 826, he ceded a part of Frisia that was to be protected by the count of Friesland to the Danish pretender Harald Klak. Harald got the land of Rüstringen at the left bank of the Weser to have a refuge from hostile attacks by his kin. However, this was considerably interfering with the power of the counts of Friesland. It is presumed that in that time, Gerulf joined the opposition against the emperor.
A document by the emperor that was created on 8 July 839 in Kreuznach proves that there was an uprising in Friesland against the emperor. During the kinstrife between Louis and his sons, count Gerulf presumably took an active part in the movement against Louis, at the very least he lost his fiefs and his own estates were confiscated. On 8 May 839 after the reconciliation between Louis and his son Lothair, Gerulf's private properties were returned to him. The Kreuznach document mentions possessions of Gerulf in and around Leeuwarden and between Vlie and Lonbach.
It is assumed that Gerulf was related to the founders of Corvey Abbey. Furthermore, he may have married a daughter of Wala of Corbie.
Issue.
Gerulf I had the following children:


Leader of Alderney

The Leader of Alderney is the civil leader of Alderney. Alderney is a dependency of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. Its leader has traditionally been appointed by the British Crown and has been known by various titles including "Lord of Alderney", "Governor of Alderney", and the current "President of the States of Alderney". The President of the States of Alderney is directly elected every four years and there is no constitutional limit to the number of terms served. The current president, William Tate has held the post since 2019.
Current function.
The Leader of Alderney is the highest civil figure in Alderney. The President as leader currently is elected by all of Alderney for a four-year term. The President is also the chairman of the States of Alderney and entitled to vote; however, this is usually only done in the event of a tied vote, where he has the deciding vote.
Historical role.
Alderney was initially part of the Duchy of Normandy from 933 AD. In 1042, possession of Alderney passed to Mont Saint Michel Abbey and from there, passed to the Bishop of Coutances. In 1182, the first individual leader of Alderney was William L'Ingenieur who was ennobled as Lord of Alderney. During L'Ingenieur's time as Lord of Alderney, possession was granted to him as a fief. As a result of this, Alderney was invaded and occupied by the French twice in 1204 and 1205 before being reclaimed by England each time. Under his successor as Lord of Alderney, Peter L'Ingenieur, ownership of Alderney was divided between the King of England (as the Duke of Normandy) and the Bishop of Coutances. In 1228, the title of the Lord of Alderney became extinct as Peter L'Ingenieur had no lawfully begotten male heirs. During this time France invaded Alderney again before being expelled by English forces, with King Henry III of England stripping the Bishop of the rights to Alderney and taking sole ownership as a result of the French actions. Under the Treaty of Brétigny in 1260, the Bishop's rights in Alderney were restored.
In 1559, George Chamberlain was appointed as the Lieutenant-Governor of Alderney and later bought the title and lease of Alderney from the Crown. In 1586 Queen Elizabeth I of England ordered the Bishop of Coutances surrender the rights to Alderney to the Bishop of Winchester, which was done shortly after the leadership of Alderney had passed to Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex despite the Earl of Essex never visiting Alderney. During the English Civil War and the Commonwealth of England, leadership of Alderney changed hands several times between the Royalists and Parliamentarians with Nicholas Ling being appointed as the Lieutenant-Governor of Alderney by Oliver Cromwell. In 1660, during the Restoration of the Monarchy, Edward de Carteret was granted the title of Governor of Alderney by King Charles II of England as a reward for loyalty to the Crown and became the leader of Alderney as a result, with Ling remaining as Lieutenant-Governor. Alderney was also separated from Guernsey as a result of the creation of the governorship. The governorship went into abeyance after the death of his son, Edward de Carteret before being sold to Sir Edmund Andros by de Carteret's widow. Andros then was granted the governorship on a 99-year lease from the Crown in exchange for an annual 13 shillings payment of rent to the Crown. The Governor of Alderney became a hereditary position and later passed to the Le Mesurier family through marriage with the Andros family. The lease was later extended by King George III of Great Britain. In 1825 the governor, John Le Mesurier III resigned the grant of the island and returned it to the Crown in exchange for an annual pension of £700 (approximately £). This agreement eventually expired in 1862.
After the office of Governor of Alderney was abolished, the Judge of Alderney assumed the role of leader of Alderney as the highest ranking appointed representative of the Crown on the island. The Judge of Alderney was the leader of Alderney as well as the head of Alderney's judiciary. This lasted up until the Second World War when Alderney and the rest of the Channel Islands were occupied by Nazi Germany and the leadership of Alderney was assumed by German officials. Most of Alderney's population had been evacuated and the Nazis used Alderney as a base to build the Atlantic Wall and the Alderney camps. Thus during the war, the concentration camp commandants and administrators took over as leaders of Alderney.
When the Channel Islands were liberated, the Judge of Alderney regained leadership of Alderney. However, by 1947 less than 50% of Alderney's population had returned to the island. This led to the Parliament of the United Kingdom discussing what to do with Alderney as land ownership markers and official papers had been destroyed in the war and Alderney's economy was stagnating as a result of more than half of the islanders not returning. The United Kingdom's Home Secretary, Chuter Ede recommended "Guernseyfication" of Alderney. In 1948 His Majesty's Privy Council decided that Alderney would become a part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey again. Later in the year, both the States of Alderney and the States of Guernsey voted through the Alderney (Application of Legislation) Law which gave powers to the States of Guernsey in respect of certain "transferred services" in 1949. The law also provided for a democratically elected President of the States of Alderney to be the Leader of Alderney as the Judge of Alderney had been superseded as the representative of the Crown on Alderney by the Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey.


Giles Duwes

Giles Duwes, D'Ewes or Dewes (died 1535) was a Fleming, who was a tutor and musician at the English court during the Tudor period.

2025 Dutch general election


John Clayton (Roundhead)

John Clayton (born 1620) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1659 and 1660. He fought in the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War.
Clayton was the son of John Clayton, of Okenshaw, Yorkshire and his wife Elizabeth Fitzwilliam, daughter of Gerard Fitzwilliam of Bentley. His father was a barrister and recorde of Leeds. He was admitted at Clare College, Cambridge on 18 June 1638 and matriculated in 1639. He was admitted at Inner Temple in 1639 and was called to the bar in 1648. In 1643, he was a captain of foot in the Parliamentary army and took the colours of Sir William Savile in the capture of Leeds. He fought in the defence of Hull and became major before 1650.
In 1659, Clayton was elected Member of Parliament for Lostwithiel in the Third Protectorate Parliament. In 1660, he was elected MP for Lostwithiel in the Convention Parliament. There was a double return which was resolved in his favour in June. He was imprisoned for four months in 1662 on a charge of treasonable words. The last evidence of him is in 1694 when he complained to the benchers of his Inn about his chambers, which had been sublet to a "blackamoor".
Clayton was unmarried and over 50 on the death of his father in 1671 and had to marry within three years to inherit. He married Thomasine Goodwin, widow of Deane Goodwin of Bletchingley and daughter of Sir Samuel Owfield of Upper Gatton Surrey.


George Abbotts

George Abbotts or Abbot (1602–1645) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1640 and 1645.
Biography.
Abbotts was born in Middlesex, the son of Sir Maurice Abbot(ts). He matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford on 15 October 1619, aged 17 and was awarded BA on 28 February 1622. In 1622 he became a fellow of Merton College, Oxford and was awarded M.A. on 20 May 1625. He was incorporated at Cambridge University in 1627 and was awarded B.C.L. on 16 November 1630.
In April 1640, Abbotts was elected Member of Parliament for Guildford in the Short Parliament and supported the Parliamentary (Roundhead) cause. He was re-elected MP for Guildford in the Long Parliament in November 1640 and sat until his death. In July 1641 he wanted to resign his seat, but his request was not granted.


Ruse blood wedding

The phrase Ruse blood wedding () usually refers to a 1910 conflict among ethnic groups and the army in Ruse, Bulgaria, resulting in the deaths of 24 people; 70 others were injured. The clashes were caused by the wedding of a Bulgarian man and an ethnic Turkish girl, of which the local Turks disapproved and state authorities violently opposed.
Incident.
On 24 February 1910 Yordan Stefanov (Archaic ) and Saafet obtained permission to marry from a doctor, as Saafet was "mentally healthy" and claimed to be 18 years old. Saafet decided to adopt a Slavic name — Ruska (). On the next day, her father, who was a "hodzha" (; a priest), expressed his protest before the mayor, along with other Muslims. The court revoked the marriage permission on 27 February 1910, and ordered that the girl be returned to her parents, so she returned to their house until the evening. At night, a crowd of "adventurers" gathered in front of Saafet's house with the intention to "steal" her and set her free. The authorities responded by moving the girl to a police station, but could not cope with the approximately 1000 people, and Saafet eventually married Yordan on the 28th. Their wedding was celebrated by many on the central square, as this was the first Sunday before Lent (), and a traditional fancy-dress carnival was held.
The local police officer, who also attended the carnival, was mocked for not being able to keep Saafet in the police station. Half an hour later, he called up support from the cavalry, and after some mutual verbal insults, the citizens and the military started a fight. There were 24 dead and about 70 injured after the clashes. At first, the police attempted to cover up the story by restricting communications to and from Ruse, but it soon became the top news in newspapers all over the country.
Political context.
Reactions varied — some blamed the police, while others blamed the government for giving the orders, and claimed that the police only did what it should. The socialist party stated that that was just a "stupid love comedy" which should not have ended as it did.
The wedding posed a difficult problem to Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, who had already planned to have a meeting with Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The relations between Ferdinand and the Sublime Porte were tense after he became a self-declared tsar (former knyaz). The Turkish diplomats in Bulgaria insisted that not returning the girl to her parents would have been an insult to their religion, so that could have been the major factor which influenced the government's orders to guard Saafet "at any cost".
Folklore.
The event is popularly perceived as an example of both ethnic intolerance in a multi-cultural urban society, and the prevalence of emotion over descent.
Several versions of a folk song, inspired by the blood wedding, can be heard in the Ruse, Veliko Tarnovo, and Varna regions. A song from Turkish folklore in those regions is also known to be based on this story.


Betto Douglas

Betto Douglas (also known as Elizabeth Douglas, c. 1772 – ?) was a slave on St. Kitts, at the time a British Colony. What is known of her life illuminates the practice slavery in the Caribbean and the efforts of abolitionist societies to free them. Douglas is an iconic figure of resistance to slavery in the country and her story is featured in the National Museum of Saint Kitts and Nevis. In Britain, she is included on the initial slave register for St. Kitts and kept in the Central Slave Registries at the British National Archives, which are enrolled in the UNESCO Memory of the World Registry.
History.
Betto Douglas was born around 1772 to a white father and enslaved mother on the Romney Plantation in St. Kitts. She was listed on the initial slave register for St. Kitts, which was compiled in 1817, as a mulatto woman, aged forty five with two children, Cleisby and Sawney Frazer. She was the property of the Earl of Romney, an absentee landlord of the estate on St. Kitts. While John George Goldfrap was the agent for the 2nd Earl, Douglas asked to purchase the freedom of her two sons. Goldfrap wrote to the Earl on Douglas' behalf and received a letter that he would allow her to be manumitted, indicating he had instructed his new agent, Rev. Davis to take the necessary measures.
After several years had passed without them being emancipated, a new overseer, Richard Cardin, was hired on the estate. Cardin hired out Douglas requiring her to pay a fee of three and a half dollars per month from her earnings for the small house she lived in and her daily food allowance. Douglas complained that the fee was too high and given the economic times, indicated no one would pay such a fee for her services. She often went into arrears or had to borrow the funds, but she refused to engage in illegal behavior, like thievery or prostitution to acquire the monies. After several years passed without the emancipation being procured, Douglas petitioned Governor Charles William Maxwell in 1825. Maxwell made inquiry and procured statements from both Douglas and Cardin. Douglas claimed that when she was unable to pay the fee, Cardin withheld food from her and locked her in the stocks for six months. She stated that he threatened her with imprisonment for failure to pay and ordered her to be lashed, so she ran away. Cardin confirmed the terms of Douglas' hire fees, difficulty in paying and that she had been placed in the stocks, but insisted that Douglas had been provided food daily from the estate, which she refused because she was being punished. Cardin stated that her family had provided her with daily food and that she was allowed out of the stocks when she needed to bathe in the river. At the completion of the inquiry, the grand jury's decision was that Douglas had been insubordinate, that they could not determine that her punishment had been excessive, and she was ordered to return to the estate.
Transmitting the findings to Lord Bathurst, Governor Maxwell stated that Douglas’ treatment had been illegal, but that it was customary in the island and "considered justifiable and proper". Bathurst noted that no witnesses favorable to Douglas had been called and expressed his disapproval that the punishment inflicted upon her was disproportionate to her offense. As she did not feel she had received justice, Douglas then took her case in 1827 to the colonial courts. Her case was taken up by abolitionists world-wide. The "Anti-Slavery Reporter" began covering the case in 1827 in London. The courts reviewed the case and reprimanded Douglas for injuring the reputation of Cardin. Returned again to the estate, she was again confined to the stocks for a period of six months and eleven days. The Female Society for the Relief of British Negro Slaves collected funds in 1830 to try to buy her freedom, but were refused by the Lord Proprietor. South African, Thomas Pringle first wrote about her in 1832 in his journal, the "Anti-Slavery Record" and a year later was still writing about the refusal to grant her emancipation. Douglas was finally granted manumission three months before the Abolition Act passed in July 1833.
Legacy.
Douglas' case shows that even when slaves utilized legal remedies to obtain relief, the justice system often failed to protect them. The elderly woman was subjected to contradictions in the law, which treated her case as if she was a public nuisance under colonial customs, rather than someone who should have been protected by British law. Her testimony also shows that she was familiar with legal concepts as well as the economic functioning of the slave system, bringing to light the complex nature of slave relationships with their owners.
In St. Kitts, Douglas is viewed as an icon of those who resisted slavery and fought for their emancipation. Her story has been featured in the National Museum of St. Kitts and Nevis and is regularly featured in presentations about the island's history. In Britain, she is included on initial register for St. Kitts, which was compiled in 1817, and kept in the Central Slave Registries at the British National Archives, which were enrolled in the UNESCO Memory of the World Registry in 2008 for preservation.


Burial sites of Serbian monarchs and consorts


Nicholas Armorer

Sir Nicholas Armorer (c.1620–1686) was a Royalist army officer during the English Civil War. During the Interregnum he was an active Royalist conspirator who ran a spy network in England and helped to foment insurrection against the Commonwealth and the Protectorate. He took part in Booth's Rebellion in 1659 and was forced to flee back to the continent when the uprising failed.
After the restoration of the monarchy as a reward for his services to Charles II he was made appointed equerry in ordinary to the hunting stable. In 1662 he was given several parcels of land confiscated from members of the former regime, and was granted the monopoly on the import of horses for the king's use. In the same year he was also knighted.
Towards the end of the Civil War he had spent some time in Ireland, and after the Restoration he spent much of his time there, as he had been under the patronage of Duke of Ormond during his time in exile, and continued to do so under the Restoration: he was appointed a captain in the Irish Guards and lieutenant-governor of Fort Duncannon.


Chaim Ozer Grodzinski

Chaim Ozer Grodzinski (; August 24, 1863 – August 9, 1940) was a pre-eminent "Av beis din" (rabbinical chief justice), "posek" (halakhic authority), and Talmudic scholar in Vilnius, Lithuania in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During his 55 years of community service, he was recognized as the leading "posek" and spiritual guide of his generation, fielding halakhic queries from all parts of the world and being consulted on every Jewish communal issue. He played an instrumental role in preserving Lithuanian yeshivas during the Communist era, and saved the yeshivas of Poland and Russia during the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, when he arranged for these yeshivas to relocate to Lithuanian cities.
Biography.
Chaim Ozer Grodzinski was born on 9 Elul 5623 (24 August 1863) in Iwye, Belarus, a small town near Vilnius. His father, Rabbi David Shlomo Grodzinski, was Rav of Iwye for over 40 years, and his grandfather was also Rav of the town for 40 years before that.
From infancy, Chaim Ozer was weak and sickly. However, he was gifted with a fine memory, never forgetting anything he read or heard. At the age of 9, he was tested by Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, who asked the boy a question in halakha. Ozer refuted the Rav's thesis and cited a different one from the sources, astounding the Rav.
When he was 12 years old, his father sent him to learn with the "perushim", a group of the finest Lithuanian Torah scholars assembled in Eishyshok. Chaim Ozer celebrated his bar mitzvah there. He declined to deliver the usual bar mitzvah "pilpul", but demonstrated his fluency in the "Ketzos Hachoshen" and the "Nesivos Hamishpat" by asking his guests to recite a few words from these "seforim" and he continued for them, quoting entire pages word for word and clearly explaining each topic.
At the age of 15, he began studying at the Volozhin yeshiva and was accepted into Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik's shiur.
By the age of 20, when he passed through Vilnius, his fame preceded him. Both Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Grodnenski — the leading Rav of Vilna and the son-in-law of Rabbi Yisroel Salanter — and Rabbi Elinke Levinsohn of Kretinga desired the young Torah prodigy for their own son-in-law. The two went to Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor of Kovno to decide which family would merit this honor. After hearing each one's position, Spektor asked to meet Grodzinski, and spoke at length with him on various Torah topics. Afterward, Spektor told the two prospective fathers-in-law: "The truth is that if I had a daughter to marry off, I would take him and leave you both out in the cold. Since I have no such daughter, however, I have decided in favor of the Rav of Vilna".
Two years after his marriage, Grodzinski's father-in-law died and the community of Vilnius asked him to take his place. Thus he became the leading Rav of Vilna at the age of 22. He was immediately accepted by all the older rabbis. When people remarked, "But he's so young for such a lofty position," Grodzinski humorously replied, "Don't worry, it's only a temporary blemish. I'll get over it with time". Any lingering doubts about his fitness for the position were put to rest when Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik and Rabbi Alexander Moshe Lapidos came to the city and first went to call on the Rav of Vilna, Chaim Ozer Grodzinski.
Leadership.
In 1887 he was appointed as a dayan (religious judge) of the beth din of Vilna. He was a participant in the founding conference of Agudath Israel (in Kattowitz, Silesia, in 1912) and served on the party's Council of Sages. He also was a co-founder and active leader of the Va'ad ha-Yeshivot (Council of the Yeshivot), based in Vilnius, an umbrella organization that offered material and spiritual support for yeshivot throughout the eastern provinces of Poland from 1924 to 1939.
In addition to his communal work, he maintained a strict schedule of Torah learning, producing his monumental, three-volume work "Achiezer" even as he was fully involved in communal affairs.
He did not have his own yeshiva but assisted in the management of the Rameilles Yeshiva of Vilnius. He also established a "kibbutz" (group) of elite young Torah scholars, all known as "iluyim" (prodigies), and gave them "shiurim" on obscure Talmud topics. His students included Rabbi Yehezkel Abramsky, Rabbi Eliezer Silver, Rabbi Moshe Shatzkes, and Rabbi Reuven Katz.
With the death of Rabbi Yitzchak Elchonon Spektor in 1896, Grodzinski became the leader of European Jewry. He was consulted regularly in the fight for traditional Torah education in the Russian empire and to counteract the ban against shechitah (ritual slaughter) of kosher meat. Eventually his influence was so strong that no Rav or shochet could be appointed anywhere in Poland or Russia without his consent. Thanks to his phenomenal memory, he remembered names of people and places from all over the world, making him a valuable resource when communities far and wide sought to appoint a new Rav or rosh yeshiva.
Both the communities of Jerusalem and St. Petersburg offered him the position of chief rabbi, but he declined, saying that he was needed where he was. In gratitude for his dedication, the Jewish community of Vilnius wanted to name him the official chief rabbi of Vilnius, but he refused this honor, saying that he had not come to change the city's long-standing tradition not to have a central rav. When the community offered him a pay raise instead, he agreed on condition that all the other rabbis in Vilnius would receive one, too.
When his daughter lay in the hospital on the verge of death, he ran to his office to answer all the halakhic correspondence waiting on his desk, since he knew that he would not be able to research and answer these pressing questions during the week of shivah.
Final years.
Grodzinski died of cancer on 9 August 1940 (5 Av 5700). His death was closely preceded by the deaths of two other leaders of Lithuanian-style Orthodox Judaism: Rabbi Shimon Shkop, rosh yeshiva of the Grodno yeshiva, who died on 22 October 1939, and Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Kaminetz, who died on 17 November 1939.


Tinker Fox

Colonel John "Tinker" Fox (1610–1650), confused by some sources with the MP Thomas Fox, was a parliamentarian soldier during the English Civil War. Commanding a garrison at Edgbaston House in Warwickshire – a location that guarded the main roads from strongly parliamentarian Birmingham to royalist Worcestershire – Fox operated largely independently of the parliamentarian hierarchy, all factions of which tended to view him with suspicion. Though lauded by the parliamentarian press for his "continual motion and action", to royalist propagandists Fox became an icon of dangerous and uncontrolled subversiveness, being decried as a "low-born tinker" whose troops "rob and pillage very sufficiently". By 1649 Fox's notoriety was such that he was widely, though wrongly, rumoured to be one of the executioners of Charles I.
Life and career.
Fox was baptised in the parish church of Walsall, Staffordshire on 1 April 1610 and is recorded marrying in the same church 1634. He probably worked in the metal trades of nearby Birmingham – the origin of his caricature as a tinker – before serving as a captain in the Roundhead cavalry under Lord Brooke from February 1643.
By October 1643 Fox had recruited a garrison to occupy Edgbaston Hall, to the south east of Birmingham, a town whose puritan traditions had made it a bastion of support for Parliament, and whose metal trades provided Fox with a fertile recruiting ground. Fox was commissioned as a colonel by the Earl of Denbigh in March 1644 to command the regiment at Edgbaston, which by June 1644 consisted of 256 horse, dragoons and scouts, and by July was made up of three separate troops commanded by Fox himself, his brother Reighnold and his brother-in-law Humphrey Tudman. The royalist newspaper "Mercurius Aulicus" quickly sought to capitalise on Fox's background:
Fox's garrison was highly active: his men probably took part in the attack on Aston Hall on 28 December 1643, removing the main royalist base in the Birmingham area, and Fox's troops would regularly patrol local roads to intercept merchants heading towards royalist areas
On 22 March 1644, his brother led a raid in which they captured Stourton Castle. The royalists lay siege to the castle, so Fox led a relief column, but it was intercepted and routed by royalists under the command of Sir Gilbert Gerard, the Governor of Worcester, in an action on Stourbridge Heath. With no hope of relief the Parliamentary garrison of Stourton Castle surrendered on terms.
Undaunted on 3 May 1644 — in an escapade that in the opinion of historian J. W. Willis-Bund "reads far more like an incident out of 'The Three Musketeers', or some other of Dumas' novels than an actual event" — sixty of Fox's troops raided the royalist garrison at Bewdley, taking forty prisoners including Sir Thomas Lyttelton, the royalist governor.
Fox also had a very capable intelligence network which regularly passed timely information onto the Earl of Denbigh: predicting Prince Rupert of the Rhine's rendezvous at Bloxwich and subsequent move to Newark on 18 March 1644 and passing on the location of the King himself on 8 July. In December 1644, Fox raided Dudley a matter of hours after the departure of its royalist garrison.
That September, Fox headed the list of officers appointed to the County Committee for Worcestershire, a county still largely in royalist hands. They were authorised to meet at Hawkesley House (in Kings Norton), a new garrison established by Fox.
Throughout his occupation of Edgbaston, Fox seems to have been ill-provided with money to feed and pay his troops. He was accused of having unruly soldiers and of embezzlement, but his lack of funding from the Warwick County Committee makes the behaviour hardly surprising. He died in 1650 in great debt, and leaving his children impoverished and dependent on his brother-in-law, Humphrey Tudman.


John Holcroft

John Holcroft (died 1656) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1640 and 1648. He fought in the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War.
In April 1640, Holcroft was elected Member of Parliament for Liverpool in the Short Parliament. He was Mayor of Liverpool in 1644. In 1646 he was elected MP for Wigan in the Long Parliament and sat until 1648 when he was excluded under Pride's Purge. He was mayor of Liverpool again in 1657.
Holcroft married Margaret Heywood. His daughter Maria married Thomas Blood who stole the Crown Jewels. His grandson was Holcroft Blood, an artillery commander under the Duke of Marlborough.
References.


Bohemian National Cemetery (Chicago)

Bohemian National Cemetery () is a cemetery at 5255 North Pulaski Road on the north side of Chicago, Illinois.
History.
The cemetery was established by members of Chicago's Czech community in 1877. The community had been outraged when a Czech Catholic woman named Marie Silhanek was denied burial at several Catholic cemeteries in Chicago because she supposedly never made her Easter Duty (going to confession and Holy Communion at least once during the Easter season), which is incumbent on all Catholics, even today. In response, the Czechs purchased land in what was then Jefferson Township to create a cemetery that would be under their control. The original plot of land was . Over the years, the cemetery expanded to .
The cemetery was notably featured in the 1998 film "U.S. Marshals". It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
Major features.
Bohemian National Cemetery is known for its limestone gatehouse and its highly decorated columbarium niches, which contain photographs, artwork, flags, and other mementos of the individuals whose ashes are stored there. Czech-American military veterans are honored through an American Civil War memorial, a Spanish–American War memorial, and a World Wars memorial, which were dedicated in 1889, 1926, and 1952, respectively. The cemetery also boasts two sculptures by Albin Polasek, who headed the sculpture department at the Art Institute of Chicago. They are called "Mother" and "Pilgrim".
Chicago Cubs columbarium.
In 2009, the cemetery added a columbarium specially dedicated to Chicago Cubs fans. The structure is a replica of Wrigley Field's red brick wall, with a stained glass image of the stadium's scoreboard and a yellow 400 foot (120 m) marker. The wall contains 288 niches, and seats from Wrigley Field have been placed along its base. A Cubs fan named Dennis Mascari helped raise funds for the project in hopes of making visits to the cemetery less depressing. The cemetery agreed to let him build the columbarium on their grounds, but nixed a plan to broadcast Cubs games through a nearby speaker. The Cubs themselves were not directly involved with the project; Mascari worked with Eternal Images, which makes baseball-themed funerary products.


Tverai

Tverai () is a small town in Rietavas municipality, Lithuania. It is situated on Aitra River, tributary to Jūra, about 17 km east from Rietavas and 14 km from Varniai. Tverai, with population of about 560, is a capital of an elderate.
History.
Tverai is identified with Tviriment Castle, mentioned in 1251 by the Hypatian Codex. The castle was the fortress where Vykintas, Duke of Samogitia and victorious leader of the Battle of Saule, defended himself against Mindaugas, crowned as King of Lithuania in 1253, during a civil war for power in the early Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Vykintas was defeated and Mindaugas became the undisputeded monarch.
During World War II, a group of Jews were murdered in summer and fall of 1941.