History of Wales

The history of Wales begins with the arrival of human beings in the region thousands of years ago. Neanderthals lived in what is now Wales, or "Cymru" in the Welsh language, at least 230,000 years ago, while "Homo sapiens" arrived by about 31,000 BC. However, continuous habitation by modern humans dates from the period after the end of the last ice age around 9000 BC, and Wales has many remains from the Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age. During the Iron Age the region, like all of Britain south of the Firth of Forth, was dominated by the Celtic Britons and the Brittonic language. The Romans, who began their conquest of Britain in AD 43, first campaigned in what is now northeast Wales in 48 against the Deceangli, and gained total control of the region with their defeat of the Ordovices in 79. The Romans departed from Britain in the 5th century, opening the door for the Anglo-Saxon invasion. Thereafter Brittonic language and culture began to splinter, and several distinct groups formed. The Welsh people were the largest of these groups, and are generally discussed independently of the other surviving Brittonic-speaking peoples after the 11th century.
A number of kingdoms formed in present-day Wales in the post-Roman period. While the most powerful ruler was acknowledged as King of the Britons (later "Tywysog Cymru": "Leader" or "Prince of Wales"), and some rulers extended their control over other Welsh territories and into western England, none were able to unite Wales for long. Internecine struggles and external pressure from the English and later, the Norman conquerors of England, led to the Welsh kingdoms coming gradually under the sway of the English crown. In 1282, the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd led to the conquest of the Principality of Wales by King Edward I of England; afterwards, the heir apparent to the English monarch has borne the title "Prince of Wales". The Welsh launched several revolts against English rule, the last significant one being that led by Owain Glyndŵr in the early 15th century. In the 16th century Henry VIII, himself of Welsh extraction as a great grandson of Owen Tudor, passed the Laws in Wales Acts aiming to fully incorporate Wales into the Kingdom of England. Under England's authority, Wales became part of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 and then the United Kingdom in 1801. Yet, the Welsh retained their language and culture despite heavy English dominance. The publication of the extremely significant first complete Welsh translation of the Bible by William Morgan in 1588 greatly advanced the position of Welsh as a literary language.
The 18th century saw the beginnings of two changes that would greatly affect Wales, the Welsh Methodist revival, which led the country to turn increasingly nonconformist in religion, and the Industrial Revolution. During the rise of the British Empire, 19th century Southeast Wales in particular experienced rapid industrialisation and a dramatic rise in population as a result of the explosion of the coal and iron industries. Wales played a full and willing role in World War One. The industries of Empire in Wales declined in the 20th century with the end of the British Empire following the Second World War, while nationalist sentiment and interest in self-determination rose. The Labour Party replaced the Liberal Party as the dominant political force in the 1920s. Wales played a considerable role during World War Two along with the rest of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Allies, and its cities were bombed extensively during the Nazi Blitz. The nationalist party Plaid Cymru gained momentum from the 1960s. In a 1997 referendum Welsh voters approved the devolution of governmental responsibility to a National Assembly for Wales which first met in 1999. In May 2020, the National Assembly for Wales was officially renamed to Senedd Cymru or the Welsh Parliament (simply Senedd), to reflect significantly increased devolution and administrative power.
Prehistoric Wales.
The earliest known human remain discovered in modern-day Wales is a Neanderthal jawbone, found at the Bontnewydd Palaeolithic site in the valley of the River Elwy in North Wales, whose owner lived about 230,000 years ago in the Lower Palaeolithic period. The Red Lady of Paviland, a human skeleton dyed in red ochre, was discovered in 1823 in one of the Paviland limestone caves of the Gower Peninsula in Swansea, South Wales. Despite the name, the skeleton is that of a young man who lived about 33,000 years ago at the end of the Upper Paleolithic Period (old Stone Age). It is considered to be the oldest known ceremonial burial in Western Europe. The skeleton was found along with jewellery made from ivory and seashells and a mammoth's skull.
Following the last ice age, Wales became roughly the shape it is today by about 8000 BC and was inhabited by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. The earliest farming communities are now believed to date from about 4000 BC, marking the beginning of the Neolithic period. This period saw the construction of many chambered tombs particularly dolmens or "cromlechs". The most notable examples of megalithic tombs include Bryn Celli Ddu and Barclodiad y Gawres on Anglesey, Pentre Ifan in Pembrokeshire, and Tinkinswood Burial Chamber in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Metal tools first appeared in Wales about 2500 BC, initially copper followed by bronze. The climate during the Early Bronze Age (c. 2500–1400 BC) is thought to have been warmer than at present, as there are many remains from this period in what are now bleak uplands. The Late Bronze Age (c. 1400–750 BC) saw the development of more advanced bronze implements. Much of the copper for the production of bronze probably came from the copper mine on the Great Orme, where prehistoric mining on a very large scale dates largely from the middle Bronze Age. Radiocarbon dating has shown the earliest hillforts in what would become Wales, to have been constructed during this period. Historian John Davies, theorises that a worsening climate after around 1250 BC (lower temperatures and heavier rainfall) required more productive land to be defended.
The earliest iron implement found in Wales is a sword from Llyn Fawr which overlooks the head of the Vale of Neath, which is thought to date to about 600 BC. Hillforts continued to be built during the British Iron Age. Nearly 600 hillforts are in Wales, over 20% of those found in Britain, examples being Pen Dinas near Aberystwyth and Tre'r Ceiri on the Llŷn peninsula. A particularly significant find from this period was made in 1943 at Llyn Cerrig Bach on Anglesey, when the ground was being prepared for the construction of a Royal Air Force base. The cache included weapons, shields, chariots along with their fittings and harnesses, and slave chains and tools. Many had been deliberately broken and seem to have been votive offerings.
Until recently, the prehistory of Wales was portrayed as a series of successive migrations. The present tendency is to stress population continuity; the Encyclopedia of Wales suggests that Wales had received the greater part of its original stock of peoples by c.2000 BC. Recent studies in population genetics have argued for genetic continuity from the Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic or Neolithic eras. According to historian John Davies, the Brythonic languages spoken throughout Britain resulted from an indigenous "cumulative Celticity", rather than from migration.
Wales in the Roman era.
The Roman conquest of Wales began in AD 48 and was completed in 78, with Roman rule lasting until 383. Roman rule in Wales was a military occupation, save for the southern coastal region of South Wales east of the Gower Peninsula, where there is a legacy of Romanisation. The only town in Wales founded by the Romans, Caerwent, is located in South Wales. Both Caerwent and Carmarthen, also in southern Wales, would become Roman "civitates". During the occupation both the region that would become Wales and its people were a mostly autonomous part of Roman Britain.
By AD 47 Rome had invaded and conquered all of southernmost and southeastern Britain under the first Roman governor of Britain. As part of the Roman conquest of Britain, a series of campaigns to conquer Wales was launched by his successor in 48 and would continue intermittently under successive governors until the conquest was completed in 78. It is these campaigns of conquest that are the most widely known feature of Wales during the Roman era due to the spirited but unsuccessful defence of their homelands by two native tribes, the Silures and the Ordovices.
The Demetae of southwestern Wales seem to have quickly made their peace with the Romans, as there is no indication of war with Rome, and their homeland was not heavily planted with forts nor overlaid with roads. The Demetae would be the only Welsh tribe to emerge from Roman rule with their homeland and tribal name intact.
Wales was a rich source of mineral wealth and the Romans used their engineering technology to extract large amounts of gold, copper, and lead, as well as modest amounts of some other metals such as zinc and silver. When the mines were no longer practical or profitable, they were abandoned. Roman economic development was concentrated in southeastern Britain, with no significant industries located in Wales. This was largely a matter of circumstance, as Wales had none of the needed materials in suitable combination, and the forested, mountainous countryside was not amenable to development.
The year 383 denotes a significant point in Welsh history, remembered in literature and considered to be the foundation point of several medieval royal dynasties. In that year the Roman general Magnus Maximus would strip all of western and northern Britain of troops and senior administrators and launch a partly successful bid for imperial power, continuing to rule Britain from Gaul as emperor. Having left with the troops and Roman administrators, and planning to continue as the ruler of Britain in the future, his practical course was to transfer local authority to local rulers. Welsh legend provides a mythic background to this process.
In the story of "Breuddwyd Macsen Wledig" (English: "The Dream of Emperor Maximus"), he is Emperor of Rome and marries a wondrous British woman, telling her that she may name her desires, to be received as a wedding portion. She asks that her father be given sovereignty over Britain, thus formalising the transfer of authority from Rome back to the Britons themselves. The marriage also makes possible British descendants, a point not lost on medieval kings. The earliest Welsh genealogies give Maximus the role of founding father for several royal dynasties, including those of Powys and Gwent, a role he also played for the rulers of medieval Galloway in Scotland, home to the Roman-era Novantae whose territory was also made independent of Roman rule by Maximus. He is given as the ancestor of a Welsh king on the Pillar of Eliseg, erected nearly 500 years after he left Britain, and he figures in lists of the Fifteen Tribes of Wales.
Tradition holds that following the Roman departure, Roman customs held on into the 5th century in southern Wales, and that is true in part. Caerwent continued to be occupied, while Carmarthen was probably abandoned in the late 4th century. In addition, southwestern Wales was the tribal territory of the Demetae, who had never become thoroughly Romanised. An influx of settlers from southeastern Ireland had taken place in the late 4th century, both in northern Wales and in the entire region of southern and southwestern Wales under circumstances that are still poorly understood, and it seems far-fetched to suggest that they were ever Romanised.
Indeed, aside from the many Roman-related finds along the southern coast and the fully romanised area around Caerwent, Roman archaeological remains in Wales consist almost entirely of military roads and fortifications.
Post-Roman Wales and the Age of the Saints: 411–700.
When the Roman garrison of Britain was withdrawn in 410, the various British states were left self-governing. Evidence for a continuing Roman influence after the departure of the Roman legions is provided by an inscribed stone from Gwynedd dated between the late 5th century and mid 6th century commemorating a certain Cantiorix who was described as a citizen ("cives") of Gwynedd and a cousin of Maglos the magistrate ("magistratus"). There was considerable Irish colonisation in Dyfed in south-west Wales, where there are many stones with Ogham inscriptions. Wales had become Christian, and the "age of the saints" (approximately 500–700) was marked by the establishment of monastic settlements throughout the country, by religious leaders such as Saint David, Illtud and Teilo.
One of the reasons for the Roman withdrawal was the pressure put upon the empire's military resources by the incursion of barbarian tribes from the east. These tribes, including the Angles and Saxons, who later became the English, were unable to make inroads into Wales except possibly along the Severn Valley as far as Llanidloes. However, they gradually conquered eastern and southern Britain. At the Battle of Chester in 616, the forces of Powys and other British kingdoms were defeated by the Northumbrians under Æthelfrith, with king Selyf ap Cynan among the dead. It has been suggested that this battle finally severed the land connection between Wales and the kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd ("Old North"), the Brythonic-speaking regions of what is now southern Scotland and northern England, including Rheged, Strathclyde, Elmet and Gododdin, where Old Welsh was also spoken. From the 8th century on, Wales was by far the largest of the three remnant Brythonic areas in Britain, the other two being the Hen Ogledd and Cornwall.
Wales was divided into a number of separate kingdoms, the largest of these being Gwynedd in northwest Wales and Powys in east Wales. Gwynedd was the most powerful of these kingdoms in the 6th century and 7th century, under rulers such as Maelgwn Gwynedd (died 547) and Cadwallon ap Cadfan (died 634/5), who in alliance with Penda of Mercia was able to lead his armies as far as Northumbria in 633, defeat the local ruler Edwin and control it for approximately one year. When Cadwallon was killed in battle by Oswald of Northumbria, his successor Cadafael ap Cynfeddw also allied himself with Penda against Northumbria, but thereafter Gwynedd, like the other Welsh kingdoms, was mainly engaged in defensive warfare against the growing power of Mercia.
Early Medieval Wales: 700–1066.
Powys as the easternmost of the major kingdoms of Wales came under the most pressure from the English in Cheshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire. This kingdom originally extended east into areas now in England, and its ancient capital, Pengwern, has been variously identified as modern Shrewsbury or a site north of Baschurch. These areas were lost to the kingdom of Mercia. The construction of the earthwork known as Offa's Dyke (usually attributed to Offa, King of Mercia in the 8th century) may have marked an agreed border.
For a single man to rule the whole country during this period was rare. This is often ascribed to the inheritance system practised in Wales. All sons received an equal share of their father's property (including illegitimate sons), resulting in the division of territories. However, the Welsh laws prescribe this system of division for land in general, not for kingdoms, where there is provision for an "edling" (or heir) to the kingdom to be chosen, usually by the king. Any son, legitimate or illegitimate, could be chosen as edling and there were frequently disappointed candidates prepared to challenge the chosen heir.
The first to rule a considerable part of Wales was Rhodri Mawr (Rhodri The Great), originally king of Gwynedd during the 9th century, who was able to extend his rule to Powys and Ceredigion. On his death his realms were divided between his sons. Rhodri's grandson, Hywel Dda (Hywel the Good), formed the kingdom of Deheubarth by joining smaller kingdoms in the southwest and had extended his rule to most of Wales by 942. He is traditionally associated with the codification of Welsh law at a council which he called at Whitland, the laws from then on usually being called the "Laws of Hywel". Hywel followed a policy of peace with the English. On his death in 949 his sons were able to keep control of Deheubarth but lost Gwynedd to the traditional dynasty of this kingdom.
Wales was now coming under increasing attack by Viking raiders, particularly Danish raids in the period between 950 and 1000. According to the chronicle "Brut y Tywysogion", Godfrey Haroldson carried off two thousand captives from Anglesey in 987, and the king of Gwynedd, Maredudd ab Owain is reported to have redeemed many of his subjects from slavery by paying the Danes a large ransom.
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was the only ruler to be able to unite Wales under his rule. Originally king of Gwynedd, by 1057 he was ruler of Wales and had annexed parts of England around the border. He ruled Wales with no internal battles until he was defeated by Harold Godwinson in 1063 and killed by his own men. His territories were again divided into the traditional kingdoms.
Wales and the Normans: 1067–1283.
At the time of the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the dominant ruler in Wales was Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, who was king of Gwynedd and Powys. The initial Norman successes were in the south, where William Fitz Osbern overran Gwent before 1070. By 1074 the forces of the Earl of Shrewsbury were ravaging Deheubarth.
The killing of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn in 1075 led to civil war and gave the Normans an opportunity to seize lands in North Wales. In 1081 Gruffudd ap Cynan, who had just won the throne of Gwynedd from Trahaearn ap Caradog at the Battle of Mynydd Carn was enticed to a meeting with the Earl of Chester and Earl of Shrewsbury and promptly seized and imprisoned, leading to the seizure of much of Gwynedd by the Normans. In the south William the Conqueror advanced into Dyfed founding castles and mints at St David's and Cardiff. Rhys ap Tewdwr of Deheubarth was killed in 1093 in Brycheiniog, and his kingdom was seized and divided between various Norman lordships. The Norman conquest of Wales appeared virtually complete.
In 1094, however, there was a general Welsh revolt against Norman rule, and gradually territories were won back. Gruffudd ap Cynan was eventually able to build a strong kingdom in Gwynedd. His son, Owain Gwynedd, allied with Gruffydd ap Rhys of Deheubarth won a crushing victory over the Normans at the Battle of Crug Mawr in 1136 and annexed Ceredigion. Owain followed his father on the throne of Gwynedd the following year and ruled until his death in 1170. He was able to profit from disunity in England, where King Stephen and the Empress Matilda were engaged in a struggle for the throne, to extend the borders of Gwynedd further east than ever before.
Powys also had a strong ruler at this time in Madog ap Maredudd, but when his death in 1160 was quickly followed by the death of his heir, Llywelyn ap Madog, Powys was split into two parts and never subsequently reunited. In the south, Gruffydd ap Rhys was killed in 1137, but his four sons, who all ruled Deheubarth in turn, were eventually able to win back most of their grandfather's kingdom from the Normans. The youngest of the four, Rhys ap Gruffydd (The Lord Rhys) ruled from 1155 to 1197. In 1171 Rhys met King Henry II and came to an agreement with him whereby Rhys had to pay a tribute but was confirmed in all his conquests and was later named Justiciar of South Wales. Rhys held a festival of poetry and song at his court at Cardigan over Christmas 1176 which is generally regarded as the first recorded Eisteddfod. Owain Gwynedd's death led to the splitting of Gwynedd between his sons, while Rhys made Deheubarth dominant in Wales for a time.
Out of the power struggle in Gwynedd eventually arose one of the greatest of Welsh leaders, Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, also known as Llywelyn "Fawr" (the Great), who was sole ruler of Gwynedd by 1200 and by his death in 1240 was effectively ruler of much of Wales. Llywelyn made his 'capital' and headquarters at Abergwyngregyn on the north coast, overlooking the Menai Strait. His son Dafydd ap Llywelyn followed him as ruler of Gwynedd, but king Henry III of England would not allow him to inherit his father's position elsewhere in Wales. War broke out in 1241 and then again in 1245, and the issue was still in the balance when Dafydd died suddenly at Abergwyngregyn, without leaving an heir in early 1246. Llywelyn the Great's other son, Gruffudd had been killed trying to escape from the Tower of London in 1244. Gruffudd had left four sons, and a period of internal conflict between three of these ended in the rise to power of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (also known as "Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf"; "Llywelyn, Our Last Leader"). The Treaty of Montgomery in 1267 confirmed Llywelyn in control, directly or indirectly, over a large part of Wales. However, Llywelyn's claims in Wales conflicted with Edward I of England, and war followed in 1277. Llywelyn was obliged to seek terms, and the Treaty of Aberconwy greatly restricted his authority. War broke out again when Llywelyn's brother Dafydd ap Gruffudd attacked Hawarden Castle on Palm Sunday 1282. On 11 December 1282, Llywelyn was lured into a meeting in Builth Wells castle with unknown Marchers, where he was killed and his army subsequently destroyed. His brother Dafydd ap Gruffudd continued an increasingly forlorn resistance. He was captured in June 1283 and was hanged, drawn and quartered at Shrewsbury. In effect Wales became England's first colony until it was finally annexed through the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542.
Conquest: from the Statute of Rhuddlan to the Laws in Wales Acts 1283–1542.
After the passing the Statute of Rhuddlan (1284), which restricted Welsh laws, King Edward I's ring of impressive stone castles assisted in the domination of Wales, and he crowned his conquest by giving the title Prince of Wales to his son and heir in 1301. Wales became, effectively, part of England, even though its people spoke a different language and had a different culture. English kings appointed a Council of Wales, sometimes presided over by the heir to the throne. This Council normally sat in Ludlow, now in England but at that time still part of the disputed border area in the Welsh Marches. Welsh literature, particularly poetry, continued to flourish, however, with the lesser nobility now taking over from the princes as the patrons of the poets. Many consider Dafydd ap Gwilym, who flourished in the middle of the 14th century, the greatest of the Welsh poets.
There were a number of rebellions including ones led by Madog ap Llywelyn in 1294–1295 and by Llywelyn Bren, Lord of Senghenydd, in 1316–1318. In the 1370s the last representative in the male line of the ruling house of Gwynedd, Owain Lawgoch, twice planned an invasion of Wales with French support. The English government responded to the threat by sending an agent to assassinate Owain in Poitou in 1378.
In 1400, a Welsh nobleman, Owain Glyndŵr (or "Owen Glendower"), revolted against King Henry IV of England. Owain inflicted a number of defeats on the English forces and for a few years controlled most of Wales. Some of his achievements included holding the first Welsh Parliament at Machynlleth and plans for two universities. Eventually the king's forces were able to regain control of Wales and the rebellion died out, but Owain himself was never captured. His rebellion caused a great upsurge in Welsh identity and he was widely supported by Welsh people throughout the country.
As a response to Glyndŵr's rebellion, the English parliament passed the Penal Laws against Wales. These prohibited the Welsh from carrying arms, from holding office and from dwelling in fortified towns. These prohibitions also applied to Englishmen who married Welsh women. These laws remained in force after the rebellion, although in practice they were gradually relaxed.
In the Wars of the Roses which began in 1455 both sides made considerable use of Welsh troops. The main figures in Wales were the two Earls of Pembroke, the Yorkist Earl William Herbert and the Lancastrian Jasper Tudor. In 1485 Jasper's nephew, Henry Tudor, landed in Wales with a small force to launch his bid for the throne of England. Henry was of Welsh descent, counting princes such as Rhys ap Gruffydd (The Lord Rhys) among his ancestors, and his cause gained much support in Wales. Henry defeated King Richard III of England at the Battle of Bosworth with an army containing many Welsh soldiers and gained the throne as King Henry VII of England.
Under his son, Henry VIII of England, the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542 were passed, integrating Wales with England in legal terms, abolishing the Welsh legal system, and banning the Welsh language from any official role or status, but it did for the first time define the England-Wales border and allowed members representing constituencies in Wales to be elected to the English Parliament. They also abolished any legal distinction between the Welsh and the English, thereby effectively ending the Penal Code although this was not formally repealed.
Early modern period.
Following Henry VIII's break with Rome and the Pope, Wales for the most part followed England in accepting Anglicanism, although a number of Catholics were active in attempting to counteract this and produced some of the earliest books printed in Welsh. In 1588 William Morgan produced the first complete translation of the Welsh Bible. Morgan's Bible is one of the most significant books in the Welsh language, and its publication greatly increased the stature and scope of the Welsh language and literature.
Wales was overwhelmingly Royalist in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in the early 17th century though there were some notable exceptions such as John Jones Maesygarnedd and the Puritan writer Morgan Llwyd. Wales was an important source of men for the armies of King Charles I of England, though no major battles took place in Wales. The Second English Civil War began when unpaid Parliamentarian troops in Pembrokeshire changed sides in early 1648. Colonel Thomas Horton defeated the Royalist rebels at the battle of St. Fagans in May and the rebel leaders surrendered to Cromwell on 11 July after the protracted two-month siege of Pembroke.
Education in Wales was at a very low ebb in this period, with the only education available being in English while the majority of the population spoke only Welsh. In 1731 Griffith Jones started circulating schools in Carmarthenshire, held in one location for about three months before moving (or "circulating") to another location. The language of instruction in these schools was Welsh. By Griffith Jones' death, in 1761, it is estimated that up to 250,000 people had learnt to read in schools throughout Wales.
The 18th century also saw the Welsh Methodist revival, led by Daniel Rowland, Howell Harris and William Williams Pantycelyn. In the early 19th century the Welsh Methodists broke away from the Anglican church and established their own denomination, now the Presbyterian Church of Wales. This also led to the strengthening of other nonconformist denominations, and by the middle of the 19th century Wales was largely Nonconformist in religion. This had considerable implications for the Welsh language as it was the main language of the nonconformist churches in Wales. The Sunday schools which became an important feature of Welsh life made a large part of the population literate in Welsh, which was important for the survival of the language as it was not taught in the schools.
The end of the 18th century saw the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, and the presence of iron ore, limestone and large coal deposits in south-east Wales meant that this area soon saw the establishment of ironworks and coal mines, notably the Cyfarthfa Ironworks and the Dowlais Ironworks at Merthyr Tydfil.
Modern history.
Population.
The population of Wales doubled from 587,000 in 1801 to 1,163,000 in 1851 and had reached 2,421,000 by 1911. Most of the increase came in the coal mining districts especially Glamorganshire, which grew from 71,000 in 1801 to 232,000 in 1851 and 1,122,000 in 1911. Part of this increase can be attributed to the demographic transition seen in most industrialising countries during the Industrial Revolution, as death-rates dropped and birth-rates remained steady. However, there was also a large-scale migration of people into Wales during the industrial revolution. The English were the most numerous group, but there were also considerable numbers of Irish and smaller numbers of other ethnic groups, including Italians, migrated to South Wales. Wales received other immigration from various parts of the British Commonwealth of Nations in the 20th century, and African-Caribbean and Asian communities add to the ethno-cultural mix, particularly in urban Wales.
1900–1914.
The modern history of Wales starts in the 19th century when South Wales became heavily industrialised with ironworks; this, along with the spread of coal mining to the Cynon and Rhondda valleys from the 1840s, led to an increase in population. The social effects of industrialisation resulted in armed uprisings against the mainly English owners. Socialism developed in South Wales in the latter part of the century, accompanied by the increasing politicisation of religious Nonconformism. The first Labour MP, Keir Hardie, was elected as junior member for the Welsh constituency of Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare in 1900.
The first decade of the 20th century was the period of the coal boom in South Wales, when population growth exceeded 20 per cent. Demographic changes affected the language frontier; the proportion of Welsh speakers in the Rhondda valley fell from 64 per cent in 1901 to 55 per cent ten years later, and similar trends were evident elsewhere in South Wales.
Kenneth O. Morgan argues that the 1850–1914 era:
1914–1945.
The world wars and interwar period were hard times for Wales, in terms of the faltering economy of antiwar losses. Men eagerly volunteered for war service. Morgan argues:
The Labour Party replaced the Liberals as the dominant party in Wales after the First World War, particularly in the industrial valleys of South Wales. Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 but initially its growth was slow and it gained few votes at parliamentary elections.
Since 1945.
Morgan characterizes the recent period as:
The coal industry steadily declined after 1945. By the early 1990s there was only one deep pit still working in Wales. There was a similar catastrophic decline in the steel industry (the steel crisis), and the Welsh economy, like that of other developed societies, became increasingly based on the expanding service sector.
In May 1997, a Labour government was elected with a promise of creating devolved institutions in Scotland and Wales. In late 1997 a referendum was held on the issue which resulted a "yes" vote. The Welsh Assembly was set up in 1999 (as a consequence of the Government of Wales Act 1998) and possesses the power to determine how the government budget for Wales is spent and administered.
The results of the 2001 Census showed an increase in the number of Welsh speakers to 21% of the population aged 3 and older, compared with 18.7% in 1991 and 19.0% in 1981. This compares with a pattern of steady decline indicated by census results during the 20th century. The 2011 census showed that decline to have resumed. Though still higher than in 1991, the number of people aged 3 and over able to speak Welsh in Wales decreased from 582,000 (20.8 per cent) in 2001, to 562,000 (19.0 per cent) in 2011.
The Government of Wales Act 2006 (c 32) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the National Assembly for Wales and allows further powers to be granted to it more easily. The Act creates a system of government with a separate executive drawn from and accountable to the legislature. Following a successful referendum in 2011 on extending the law making powers of the National Assembly it is now able to make laws, known as Acts of the Assembly, on all matters in devolved subject areas, without needing the UK Parliament's agreement. In the 2016 referendum, Wales joined England in endorsing Brexit and rejecting membership of the European Union.
In May 2020, the National Assembly for Wales was renamed "Senedd Cymru" or "the Welsh Parliament", commonly known as the "Senedd" in both English and Welsh.
Religion.
Reformation.
Bishop Richard Davies and dissident Protestant cleric John Penry introduced Calvinist theology to Wales. Calvinism developed through the Puritan period, following the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II, and within Wales' Methodist movement. However few copies of Calvin's works were available before the mid-19th century. In 1567 Davies, William Salesbury, and Thomas Huet completed the first modern translation of the New Testament and the first translation of the "Book of Common Prayer" (). In 1588 William Morgan completed a translation of the whole Bible. These translations were as important to the survival of the Welsh language and had the effect of conferring status on Welsh as a liturgical language and vehicle for worship. This had a significant role in its continued use as a means of everyday communication and as a literary language down to the present day despite the pressure of English.
Nonconformity.
Nonconformity was a significant influence in Wales from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. The Welsh Methodist revival of the 18th century was one of the most significant religious and social movements in the history of Wales. The revival began within the Church of England in Wales and at the beginning remained as a group within it, but the Welsh revival differed from the Methodist revival in England in that its theology was Calvinist rather than Arminian. Welsh Methodists gradually built up their own networks, structures, and even meeting houses (or chapels), which led eventually to the secession of 1811 and the formal establishment of the Calvinistic Methodist Presbyterian church of Wales in 1823.
The Welsh Methodist revival also had an influence on the older nonconformist churches, or dissenters  the Baptists and the Congregationalists  who in turn also experienced growth and renewal. As a result, by the middle of the nineteenth century, Wales was predominantly a nonconformist country.
The 1904–1905 Welsh Revival was the largest full scale Christian revival of Wales of the 20th century. It is believed that at least 100,000 people became Christians during the 1904–1905 revival, but despite this it did not put a stop to the gradual decline of Christianity in Wales, only holding it back slightly.
Historiography.
Until recently, says Martin Johnes:


Alexander von Bunge (physician)

Alexander von Bunge ( 9 November 1851, in Dorpat – 19 January 1930, in Tallinn) was a Baltic German physician, zoologist and Arctic explorer in the employ of Russia. He was the son of botanist Alexander Georg von Bunge (1803–1890).
Biography.
From 1870 to 1878, he was a student at the University of Dorpat, where in 1874–75, he also worked as an assistant in the institute of anatomy. In 1880 he earned his medical doctorate, relocating to St. Petersburg during the following year. Here, he enlisted with the Russian Geographical Society on a meteorological expedition to the Lena River delta (1882–1884).
In 1885–86, with geologist Eduard von Toll (1858–1902), he participated on a scientific journey to the Verkhoyansk region and the New Siberian Islands. On the expedition, they found the remains of mammoths and the fossils of other large mammals, and in the process, demonstrated that the New Siberian Islands had a relatively warm climate during the Late Pleistocene. Eduard von Toll gave the name "Bunge Land" for the low sandy shoal region joining Kotelny Island to Faddeyevsky Peninsula (formerly believed to be separate islands).
Beginning in 1886, he worked as a physician on various Russian frigates, later participating in the Russo-Japanese War as head physician of the Russian Pacific Ocean squadron and marine hospitals in Port Arthur. In 1905 he embarked on an expedition to the mouth of the Yenisey River by way of the Northeast Passage. From 1906 to 1914, he was head physician in the Russian Baltic Sea navy. and during World War I was director of several military hospitals in St. Petersburg. In 1918 he relocated to Estonia, taking up residence at Mõtliku, a farmstead he inherited from his father. In 1924 moved to Tallinn, where he died six years later on January 19, 1930.


Estipeon


Alexander Heubel

Alexander Heubel or Aleksandrs Heibels (9 April 1813 – 22 January 1847) was a Latvian romantic painter. His works were characterized by depictions of biblical figures and were typically highly influenced by German Romanticism.
Biography.
Huebel was born in Limbaži as the son of the fine art woodworker August Gotthilf Heubel (1760–1846) and his wife Juliane Marie, "née" Geywitz (d. 1831). He started painting at an early age, studying first for his father and later in Tartu and Riga. Heubel came to Riga in 1829 where he took lessons from the painter Georg Heinrich Büttner.
Through the patronage of the Baltic German councillor in Riga, Friedrich Wilhelm Brederlo, he was able to travel to Germany and Italy to study in Dresden, Düsseldorf and Rome. In the autumn of 1832 he moved to Dresden together with Johann Karl Bähr to enter the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, and in 1834 he went to Düsseldorf, where he studied for Eduard Bendemann and Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow. In 1841 he went with his fellow student Ludwig Haach to Rome. He returned to Latvia, his native country, weak and sickly in 1845. He died from tuberculosis two years later, at the age of 33, in Riga.
Influences.
Heubel was much influenced by the German Romanticism of the Düsseldorf school of painting. He mainly focused on religious themes and depicted various biblical scenes. Several of his works are in the collections of the Latvian National Museum of Art. His painting of the Holy Family was recovered by the museum in 2012 after having been missing for 20 years after being stolen.
Works.
Among his works are a scene depicting Moses, supported by Aaron and Hur at the victory over the Amalekites at the Battle of Rephidim (1837) in the collections of the Latvian National Museum of Art; a biblical depiction of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being thrown into the fiery furnace (1841–44) commissioned in Rome by the Empress consort of Russia Alexandra Feodorovna and later hung at Ropsha Palace; an altarpiece at St. James's Cathedral in Riga of the Ascension of Christ (1845); a depiction of Job and his three friends, painted in Düsseldorf; a study of the head of an old man, once in the Brederlo Gallery. They also include a painting of the Holy Family in the collections of the Latvian National Museum of Art; a portrait of the painter Theobald von Oer (1844), painted in Dresden; a painting of the Flight into Egypt; a portrait of an Italian woman; a portrait of a German girl, and several self-portraits.


Richard Lyttelton

Lt-General Sir Richard Lyttelton KB (1718 – 1 October 1770) was a British soldier and politician who served in the British Army.
He was the fourth son of Sir Thomas Lyttelton, 4th Baronet. He served as Governor of Menorca from 1763 until 1766 after its restoration to British rule following the fall of Menorca to the French in 1756 – later returning to Britain where he died in 1770. He was also Governor of Guernsey.
He was the younger brother of George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton, a leading MP and a friend of William Pitt, and the uncle of Thomas Lyttelton, 2nd Baron Lyttelton and Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford, MP.
Lyttelton married Rachel, Duchess of Bridgewater (widow of Scroop Egerton, 1st Duke of Bridgewater) on 14 December 1745. He was an employer of John Burrows, a physician who served as his secretary in Menorca, and later made groundbreaking research into venereal disease.
His nephew Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford, daughter of his sister Christian, erected an obelisk to his memory in 1771 at the family seat at Boconnoc.


Canneto di Caronia fires

In 2004–2005, there was a series of unusual fires in Canneto di Caronia, Siciliy. While popular speculation ascribed the fires to various causes, including an unknown natural phenomenon, paranormal events or secret military technology, an inquiry by a team of scientific experts in 2004 could not identify a plausible cause of the fires. A separate investigation by the office of prosecutor in 2008 was closed stating that the fires were cases of arson, although no persons responsible nor possible motive nor method for the arson were named by the prosecutor, and the verdict was directly at odds with the investigation by scientific experts in 2004.
2003-4 events.
Canneto di Caronia is a village in Sicily, home to roughly 150 people.
Events began on December 23, 2003, at Antonino Pezzino's home on Via Mare; Pezzino's television reportedly exploded. Similar malfunctions reportedly affected fuse boxes, air conditioners, kitchen appliances, computers, and electronic car door locks. Fires were also said to have struck wedding presents and a piece of furniture. At least one person was said to have observed an unplugged electrical cable ignite while he was directly observing it.
On February 9, 2004, two houses on Via Mare burned. In response, Mayor Spinnato issued an order evacuating the 39 residents of Via Mare from their homes to the town's only hotel. ENEL, the Italian power utility, cut power to the town, but fires continued. From January through to March, 92 fires were reported.
On February 11, an investigation was announced by the local prosecutor. On March 16, fires resumed, and investigators reportedly witnessed malfunctions in compasses, electronic car locks, and cell phones.
In April, the government formed an interdisciplinary research group, coordinated by Francesco Venerando Mantegna from the Sicilian Protezione Civile. That team reportedly had widespread cooperation from the nation's armed forces, police, as well as utilities. Venerando's team reported anomalous 'electromagnetic activity', unexplained lights, and a helicopter that experienced allegedly-anomalous rotor damage. Scientists from the National Research Institute (CNR), with the support of NASA physicists, were also involved in investigating the events.
In June 2004, residents were returned to their homes on Via Mare.
Explanations for the events have ranged from the mundane to the paranormal. Public speculation attributed the events to poltergeists, demons, or UFOs. In 2007 it was proposed that the phenomena were caused by intermittent electromagnetic emissions. On 24 June 2008, following further investigation by the appointed experts, the case was dismissed by the prosecutor of Mistretta. The conclusion of the prosecutor was that the fires were arson cases, although no responsible persons for the arson were named by the prosecutor.
2014-15 events.
Mysterious fires returned again in mid-2014.
On March 5, 2015 police arrested and charged Giuseppe Pezzino, 26, with arson, conspiracy to commit fraud, and sounding a false alarm in association with the mysterious fires. His father, Antonino Pezzino, has also been implicated. The Italian military police had installed hidden cameras in the streets after the fires started again in July 2014. Video captured about 40 incidents implicating Giuseppe (and occasionally, Antonino). Further evidence was gathered by phone taps.
In popular culture.
The fires were featured in the US television program "The Unexplained Files". In 2019, the fires were featured on the program "".


Battle of Wogastisburg

According to the contemporary "Chronicle of Fredegar", the Battle of Wogastisburg was a battle between Slavs ("Sclav, cognomento Winidi") under King Samo and Franks under King Dagobert I in 631. The Frankish armies advanced into the area of the Slavic tribal union in three groups - Alamanni, Lombards, and Austrasian Franks. The first two were quite successful, but the main fighting force was defeated in a three-day battle near a place referred to as "Wogastisburg".
The site of the battle cannot be successfully located because the source, Fredegar's chronicle, gives no geographical specifications. Thus a lot of places claim to be connected with the battle (usually based on linguistic parallels and some excavations), such as Rubín hill near Podbořany (Bohemia), Úhošť hill near Kadaň (Bohemia), Bratislava (Slovakia), Trenčín (Slovakia), Beckov (Slovakia), Váh river = Voga (Slovakia), Staffelberg near Bad Staffelstein (Upper Franconia), Burk near Forchheim (Upper Franconia), Vienna, Augustianis and other places along the middle Danube etc.
In fact, there is no conclusive evidence for any of these locations and it is even possible that the term Wogastisburg referred only to a kind of temporary encampment rather than a permanent settlement, in which case establishing a definite location would be impossible.


Dursztyn

Dursztyn , (, ) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Nowy Targ, within Nowy Targ County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It lies approximately south-east of Nowy Targ and south of the regional capital Kraków.
The village has a population of 400.
It is one of the 14 villages in the Polish part of the historical region of Spiš (Polish: "Spisz"). It was first mentioned in a written document in 1317 as "Durst".


Royal Association of Contributors to the National Monument of Scotland


Bandava

Bandava (in Latvian and Lithuanian; ) - and old Curonian land which existed in the territory of the Latvia during the late Iron Age until it was conquered and divided in 1253 by Bishopric of Courland and Livonian Order.
History.
It is first mentioned in the biography of Bishop Ansgar ("Vita Anskarii") written by Bishop Rimbert of Bremen (lived before 888 AD). It is also mentioned in the January 17, 1231 treaty between the Baldwin von Alna and Curonians.
In the April 4, 1253 treaty it was split between Bishop of Courland and Order of Livonia.
Geography.
The country was located between Ventava, Ceklis, Piemare, Duvzare and the Baltic Sea on the present territory of Ventspils district and Kuldīga district in Latvia with the administrative center near the modern-day Kuldīga.
It included some of the following villages ("villae"): Valtaiķi, Sermīte, Vepele, Lipaiķi, Libiņi, Skrunda, Jērnieki, Turlava, Alsunga, Arsene, Asene, Ursuļi, Urāle, Ardone, Pakare, Nikte, Šķēde, Snēpele, , Kormale, Ķimale, Īvande, Tigve, Karitanke, Velži and Manestute
In the treaty of April 4, 1253, concluded by the Bishop of Courland Heinrich and the Master of the Livonian Order, the land of Bandava was divided into two parts. The north-eastern part with Kuldīga Castle near Venta was received by the Livonian Order, but the south-western part with Aizpute and Embūte castles was further ruled by the Diocese of Kurzeme.
The settlements of Bandava referred to in the Agreement in the part of the Livonian Order (two thirds of Bandava):
The settlements of Bandava in the part of the bishop of Kurzeme mentioned in the agreement (one third of Bandava):


Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn

The Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn () was an ecclesiastical principality (Hochstift) of the Holy Roman Empire from 1281 to 1802.
History.
The Diocese of Paderborn was founded in 799 by Pope Leo III. In the early years it was subordinated to the bishop of Würzburg. Since 855 the clergy had the right to elect the bishop. The diocese included the larger part of Lippe, Waldeck, and nearly half of the County of Ravensberg.
In 1180 when the Duchy of Saxony ceased to exist, the rights which the old dukedom had exercised over Paderborn were transferred to the Archbishopric-Electorate of Cologne. The claims of the archbishops of Cologne were settled in the 13th century, almost wholly in favor of Paderborn. Under Bernhard II, Bishop of Paderborn () (1188–1203) the bailiwick over the diocese, which since the middle of the 11th century had been held as a fief by the Counts of Arnsberg, returned to the bishops. This was an important advance in the development of the bishops' position as a secular ruler in his temporalities, forming a Hochstift of imperial immediacy since. From this time on the bishops did not grant the bailiwick as a fief, but managed it themselves, and had themselves represented in the government by one of their clergy. They strove successfully to obtain the bailiwicks over the abbeys and monasteries situated in their diocese.
Bishop Otto von Rietberg had to contend with Cologne; in 1281, when only bishop-elect, he received the regalia from Rudolph of Habsburg, and full judicial power (except penal judicature). After the defeat of the Cologne arch bishop at the Battle of Worringen 1288 the bishops of Paderborn became increasingly sovereigns, though not over the whole of their diocese. Bernhard V of Lippe (1321–41) established a first territorial constitution ("Privilegium Bernhardi"). However he had to acknowledge the city of Paderborn as free from his judicial supremacy. Heinrich III Spiegel zum Desenberg (1361–80), also Abbot of Corvey, left his spiritual functions to a suffragan; in 1371 he rebuilt the Burg Neuhaus at Paderborn. Simon II, Count of Sternberg (1380–89), involved the bishopric in feuds with the nobility, who after his death devastated the country. Wilhelm Heinrich van Berg, elected 1399, sought to remedy the evils which had crept in during the foregoing feuds, but when in 1414 he interested himself in the vacancy in the Archbishopric of Cologne, the cathedral chapter in his absence chose Dietrich III of Moers (1415–63). The wars of Dietrich, also Archbishop of Cologne, brought heavy debts upon the bishopric; during the feuds of the bishop with the city of Soest (1444–49) Paderborn was devastated.
Under Eric, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (1502–32), the Protestant Reformation obtained a foothold in the diocese, although the bishop remained loyal to the Church. Hermann von Wied (1532–47), also Archbishop of Cologne, sought to introduce the new teaching at Paderborn as well as Cologne, but he was opposed by all classes. The countships of Lippe, Waldeck, and Pyrmont, the part of the diocese in the County of Ravensberg, and most of the parishes on the right bank of the Weser became Protestant.
Heinrich IV, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (1577–85) was a Lutheran; he permitted the adoption of the Augsburg Confession by his subjects. In the city of Paderborn only the cathedral and the Monastery of Abdinghof remained faithful. To save the Catholic cause, the cathedral chapter summoned the Jesuits to Paderborn in 1580. Dietrich IV of Fürstenberg (1585–1618) restored the practice of the Catholic religion, built a gymnasium for the Jesuits, and founded the University of Paderborn in 1614.
During the German Mediatisation in 1802, the bishopric became Prussian, from 1807 until 1813 it was part of the Kingdom of Westphalia, and then part of the Prussian province of Westphalia.
While the bishopric as a state had been permanently dissolved, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paderborn was recreated by Pope Pius VII in 1821. Through the Prussian Concordate, it was promoted to an archdiocese in 1930; at the same time, Paderborn lost its districts around Erfurt and Heiligenstadt to the Diocese of Fulda, and two small areas to the Archdiocese of Cologne. The dioceses of Fulda and Hildesheim were made subordinate to it.
When the Diocese of Essen was created in 1958, Paderborn lost a significant portion of its district to it. In 1994 Paderborn lost the part of its district located in the former East Germany to the newly created Diocese of Magdeburg. Both Magdeburg and the Diocese of Erfurt were made subordinate to Paderborn. At the same time, Hildesheim was made subordinate to the Archdiocese of Hamburg.
In the 1990s, the conflict between the Archdiocese and renegade priest Eugen Drewermann made headlines.
The current archbishop is Hans-Josef Becker.


Anthony Ughtred

Sir Anthony Ughtred or Oughtred, Knight banneret ( – 6 October 1534) was as an English soldier and military administrator during the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII. Ughtred fought in Ireland, the Anglo Scottish border and both on land and at sea in France. He served with distinction as captain of Berwick, marshal of Tournai and governor of Jersey. In 1530, he married Elizabeth Seymour, sister to Jane, future third wife to Henry VIII.
Family.
The Ughtred family can be traced back to the early thirteenth century, however, it was Thomas Ughtred (1292 – 1365) who ensured their place as one of the most prominent families in Yorkshire. Following an outstanding military career, Thomas Ughtred was summoned to Parliament as Baron Ughtred from 1343 to 1364 and made a Knight of the Garter between May 1358 and April 1360. On his death in 1365, the barony became extinct as it was not passed on to his descendants. His son and heir, Sir Thomas, despite a distinguished career and a knighthood was never summoned to parliament.
Sir Anthony Ughtred was the third son of Sir Robert Ughtred (c.1428–c.1487) of Kexby, Yorkshire and Katherine, daughter of Sir William Eure of Stokesley, Yorkshire. Sir Robert and his wife had four sons and two daughters:
The Ughtreds were wealthy landowners. When Sir Robert Ughtred died in 1487, his second son, Sir Henry Ughtred, since the death of his eldest son, Robert, was his heir. After Sir Henry's death in 1510, his eldest son, Robert, still a minor, consequently inherited his father's assets. In 1520 he sold his manors of Skagglethorpe and Redhouse to his uncle, Anthony Ughtred and in May 1524, the newly knighted Sir Robert Ughtred released to his uncle the reversion of the manors of Kylneweke, Tolthorp, Fymour, and Owelesthrop in Yorkshire. They had been leased to Sir Anthony and his brother Christopher "for the life of the longer liver" by their father, the elder Sir Robert Ughtred.
Career.
Anthony Ughtred participated in Edward Poynings' campaign to subdue Ulster, leading a troop of twenty-seven soldiers in 1496. He was knighted at Eltham in 1512, took part in Edward Howard's naval expedition to Brittany in August 1512 and as captain of the 'Mary James' distinguished himself in the raid on Brest. He accompanied King Henry VIII to France in July 1513 and was appointed marshal of Tournai after the city's fall in September, where he remained until February 1515.
By April 1513, Ughtred was vice-captain and subsequently served as captain of Berwick from February 1515 until August 1532. As the most northerly of England's garrison towns Berwick played a vital role in the defence of the Anglo-Scottish border. In 1522 and 1523 the Duke of Albany's threatened invasions of England both centred on Berwick, and on the former occasion Albany's force, which included twenty-four pieces of artillery, came within 18 miles of the town. Ughtred was responsible for organising Berwick's defences, and was also involved in intelligence gathering and played a key role in the many negotiations that took place between England and Scotland.
The captaincy of Berwick was a challenging and demanding role, however Ughtred was amply rewarded for his military and administrative efforts over the years by a series of royal grants: In February 1514 he became steward of the lordship or manor of Lantyan, and constable of Tintagel Castle, Cornwall and in September of the same year, he was made steward of the Forest of Galtres, Yorkshire and master of the hunt. In 1519 he received a grant in reversion of the offices of steward, constable and gatekeep of the castle and lordship of Bamborough, Northumberland. In 1525, as a knight for the body, he was granted the reversion of the office of governor of Jersey, and of the castle of Mont Orgueil in that island.
Ughtred also pursued mercantile interests and was able to obtain, in 1525, a licence to export wools, woollen cloths, hides, lead, tin, and other English merchandise in a ship of 200 tons 'burthen, once within the next two years, beyond the straits of Marrock (Morocco), without payment of customs, provided they do not exceed 50 marks.' There was a further licence granted in 1527 to export woollen cloths.
In August 1532 he replaced Sir Hugh Vaughan at the castle of Mont Orgueil as captain and governor of Jersey. It has been suggested that when Sir Anthony was granted the reversion of the governorship of Jersey, in 1525, following the treaty of the More, that this was allegedly at the insistence of Anne Boleyn and that this represented the beginning of a more pro-French political influence in a time of peace. Anne Boleyn's influence is very likely in Ughtred's appointment to the governorship, especially since his wife, Elizabeth was present at court as a member of the future queen's household from 1532 to 1533. In 1532, Elizabeth presented the king with " 'A fine shirt with a high collar' "as a new year's gift.
Peace with France provided the governor of Jersey with the opportunity, in June 1533, to promise Thomas Cromwell, the king's chief minister better wine than any in England and to report that all was quiet on the island. Ughtred's seventeen years as captain of Berwick, his past service in France and his association with the Boleyns ensured that he was well-suited to the governorship of Jersey, a position he held until his death in 1534.
Marriages and issue.
Sir Anthony Ughtred was married firstly to Eleanor (Alianora), about whom nothing is known, sometime before 1514. By July 1530, he had married Elizabeth Seymour, daughter to Sir John Seymour and Margery Wentworth of Wiltshire. In January 1531, Ughtred and his wife, Elizabeth received the grant in survivorship, of the manors of Lepington and Kexby in Yorkshire. By 1472 Kexby manor was in the possession of Sir Anthony Ughtred's father, Sir Robert Ughtred. After his death, the manor went to his second son, Sir Henry Ughtred. When Sir Henry died in 1510, Kexby was inherited by his son and heir, Robert, born 1498. In 1524, the recently knighted Sir Robert Ughtred, sold Kexby to John Allen, however, Thomas Wolsey intervened and bought it himself. After Wolsey's attainder in 1530 the king granted the manor for life to Sir Anthony Ughtred and his wife Elizabeth.
The couple had two surviving children:
Death.
Anthony Ughtred died in Jersey on 6 October 1534 and was buried in the chapel of St George, in the castle of Mont Orgueil. He was survived by his wife who, in 1537, married Gregory Cromwell, later Baron Cromwell, the son and heir of Henry VIII's chief minister Thomas Cromwell. After Gregory Cromwell's death in 1551, Elizabeth went on to marry, in 1554, John Paulet, Baron St. John, the eldest son of William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester. She died 19 March 1568 and was buried at Basing, Hampshire.


James II of Aragon

James II (Catalan: "Jaume II"; Spanish: "Jaime II;" 10 April 1267 – 2 or 5 November 1327), called the Just, was the King of Aragon and Valencia and Count of Barcelona from 1291 to 1327. He was also the King of Sicily (as James I) from 1285 to 1295 and the King of Majorca from 1291 to 1298. From 1297 he was nominally the King of Sardinia and Corsica, but he only acquired the island of Sardinia by conquest in 1324. His full title for the last three decades of his reign was "James, by the grace of God, king of Aragon, Valencia, Sardinia and Corsica, and count of Barcelona" (Latin: "Iacobus Dei gracia rex Aragonum, Valencie, Sardinie, et Corsice ac comes Barchinone").
Born at Valencia, James was the second son of Peter III of Aragon and Constance of Sicily. He succeeded his father in Sicily in 1285 and his elder brother Alfonso III in Aragon and the other Spanish territories, including Majorca, in 1291. He was forced to cede Sicily to the papacy in 1295, after which it was seized by his younger brother, Frederick III, in 1296. In 1298 he returned Majorca to the deposed king of Majorca, a different James II, having received rights to Sardinia and Corsica from Pope Boniface VIII. On 20 January 1296, Boniface issued the bull "Redemptor mundi" granting James the titles of Standard-bearer, Captain General and Admiral of the Roman church.
Reign.
1285–1298.
He succeeded his father as King of Sicily in 1285. Upon the death of his brother Alfonso III in 1291, he succeeded also to the throne of the Crown of Aragon. He spent May of that year in Catania, inspiring the local monk Atanasiu di Iaci to write the "Vinuta di re Iapicu" about his time there. By a peace treaty with Charles II of Anjou in 1296, he agreed to give up Sicily, but the Sicilians instead installed his brother Frederick on the throne.
Due to the fact that Frederick would not withdraw from the island, Pope Boniface VIII asked James II, along with Charles II of Naples, to remove him. As an enticement to do this the Pope invested James II with the title to Sardinia and Corsica, as well as appointing him Papal Gonfalonier. Because of his inability to disguise his apathy on the matter, he returned to Aragon. Frederick reigned there until his death in 1337.
By the Treaty of Anagni in 1295, he returned the Balearic Islands to his uncle James II of Majorca. Aragon retained control over the continental territories of the Majorca kingdom — Montpellier and Roussillon — throughout James's reign. In 1298, by the Treaty of Argilers, James of Majorca recognised the suzerainty of James of Aragon.
1298–1327.
During the period that followed his return to Aragon, James II wanted to gain access to the Muslim world in the south, from which Castile restricted Aragon. In order to achieve this goal, and assisted by his Admiral Don Bernat de Sarrià, Baron of Polop, he formed an alliance with the enemies of the adolescent king of Castile, Ferdinand IV. James II wanted Murcia in order to give his kingdom access to Granada. The allied forces entered from all directions in 1296, where James II was victorious in capturing Murcia and holding it until 1304.
In 1313, James II granted administrative and political autonomy to the Aran Valley, the legal details of which are described in a Latin manuscript called the Querimonia. The devolution of power was a reward for the Aranese pledging allegiance to James II in a dispute with the kingdoms of France and Majorca over control of the valley.
James was involved in the 1321 leper scare. He ordered the arrest and torture of French lepers seeking shelter in his realm, and adopted harsher policy towards native lepers.
Writing.
It was probably during his reign at Sicily (1285–1291) that James composed his only surviving piece of Occitan poetry, a religious "dansa" dedicated to the Virgin Mary, "Mayre de Deu". A contemporary, Arnau de Vilanova, wrote a verse-by-verse Latin commentary of the "dansa" in 1305. The metaphor James uses has been analysed by Alfred Jeanroy, who sees similarities in the "Roman de Fauvel".
James begins by comparing the Church to a ship in a storm, poorly guided by its pilot ("nauchier", i.e. the Pope):
The literary quality of the verses is neither astounding nor disappointing, but the song was clearly written at a moment when James was in conflict with the Papacy, perhaps with a propagandistic end, to prove his piety and fidelity to the Church if not the Papacy. The final verses ask Mary to protect him, the king, from sin:
Family.
Marriages, concubines and children.
He married four times:
— Isabella of Castile, Viscountess of Limoges, daughter of Sancho IV of Castile and his wife María de Molina. The wedding took place in the city of Soria, on 1 December 1291 when the bride was only 8 years old. The marriage, which was never consummated, was dissolved and annulled after Sancho's death in 1295, when James chose to change his alliances and take advantage of the turmoil inside Castile.
— Blanche of Anjou, daughter of his family's rival Charles II of Naples and Maria of Hungary. They married in the city of Villabertran, on 29 October or 1 November 1295. She bore him several children:
— Marie of Lusignan (1273 – April, 1319 at Tortosa, buried at Barcelona), daughter of the King Hugh III of Cyprus. They married by proxy in Santa Sophia, Nicosia, on 15 June 1315, and in person in the city of Girona, on 27 November 1315. This marriage was childless.
— Elisenda de Montcada, daughter of Pedro I de Montcada, Lord of Altona and Soses, and wife Gisela d'Abarca. They married in the city of Tarragona, on 25 December 1322. This marriage was childless, too, and, after the king's death, she entered the Poor Clares Monastery of Pedralbes as a nun, where she died on 19 June 1364.
In addition to his legitimate offspring, James had three natural children born with Sicilian women:
— With Gerolda:
— With Lucrecia:


Venetia et Histria

Venetia et Histria (Latin: "Regio X Venetia et Histria") was an administrative subdivision in the northeast of Roman Italy. It was originally created by Augustus as the tenth "regio" in 7 AD alongside the nine other "regiones". The region had been one of the last regions of Italy to be incorporated into the Roman Empire. It was later renamed by Diocletian the "VIII provincia Venetia et Histria" in the third century. Its capital was at Aquileia, and it stretched geographically from the Arsia River in the east in what is now Croatia to the Abdua in the current Italian region of Lombardy and from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea.
Etymology.
The name "Venetia et Histria" was used for the region was in part because of the "early and unwavering" loyalty of the local Veneti people to the Roman state. This name was also preferred to using the name of a more rebellious group like the Celtic Cenomani because of the Roman belief in a shared descent with the Veneti from the Trojans.
History.
Pliny the Elder was the only Roman writer to discuss the Augustan subdivision of Italy into "regiones" directly and did so in his "Natural History". The region's new borders did not cleave directly to pre-existing regional identities. Verona which had traditionally been seen as part of Transpadana as it was north of the Po was not incorporated into the region with that name, "regio XI" but was made part of "regio X".
Neratius Pansa, a Roman senator of the late first century AD, is believed, on the basis of epigraphic evidence, to have led a census here under the reign of the Emperor Vespasian in 73-74.
Geography.
In the late first century AD, Pliny identified 36 cities in the region, while Strabo identified 12 in the same area. The CIL has identified 16 separate settlements using epigraphic evidence, and other historians have argued that "the density of cities for the region is not high compared to the rest of Italy".
While the capital of the region, Aquileia, was a major centre for commerce, transport, and public life in northeastern Italy, with an amphitheater that could hold more than 27,000 and a position at the centre of a wide network of roads, other cities like Concordia, Tergeste, and Altinum were also substantial regional hubs.


List of lifeboat disasters in Britain and Ireland

Many lives have been lost by lifeboat crews going to the aid of people and vessels in distress at sea and around the coasts of Britain and Ireland (UK, Republic of Ireland, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man), mainly but not exclusively in the service of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). More than 600 names are inscribed on the RNLI Memorial at RNLI HQ, Poole. Some losses predate the RNLI (founded in 1824).
19th century.
In the 19th century, lifeboats were almost exclusively oar and sail powered. Self-righting boats had been developed but were not yet widely adopted.
20th century.
During the 20th century many advances were made in safety and durability of lifeboats, including self-righting and motor power. Life jackets were continuously being improved.


Lappa (Crete)

Lappa (), or Lampa (Λάμπα), or Lampae or Lampai (Λάμπαι), or Lampe (Λάμπη), was an inland town of ancient Crete, with a district extending from sea to sea, and possessing the port Phoenix. Although the several forms of this city's name occur in ancient authors, yet on coins and in inscriptions the word Lappa is alone found. Stephanus of Byzantium shows plainly that the two names denote the same place, when he says that Xenion, in his "Cretica", wrote the word Lappa, and not Lampa. The same authorsays that it was founded by Agamemnon, and was called after one Lampos, a Tarrhaean; the interpretation of which seems to be that it was a colony of Tarrha.
When Lyctus had been destroyed by the Cnossians, its citizens found refuge with the people of Lappa. After the submission of Cydonia, Cnossus, Lyctus, and Eleutherna, to the arms of Metellus, the Romans advanced against Lappa, which was taken by storm, and appears to have been almost entirely destroyed. Augustus, in consideration of the aid rendered to him by the Lappaeans in his struggle with Marcus Antonius bestowed on them their freedom, and also restored their city. When Christianity was established, Lappa became an episcopal see; the name of its bishop is recorded as present at the Council of Ephesus of 431, and the Council of Chalcedon of 451, as well as on many other subsequent occasions.
Lappa was 32 M.P. from Eleutherna and 9 M.P. from Cisamus, the port of Aptera; distances which agree very well with Argyroupoli, the modern representative of this famous city, where in the 19th century, Robert Pashley found considerable remains of a massive brick edifice, with buttresses wide and of projection; a circular building, diameter, with niches round it wide; a cistern, ; a Roman brick building, and several tombs cut in the rock. One of the inscriptions relating to this city mentions a certain Marcus Aurelius Clesippus, in whose honour the Lappaeans erected a statue.
The head of its benefactor Augustus is exhibited on the coins of Lappa: one has the epigraph, ΘΕΩΚΑΙΣΑΝΙ ΣΕΒΑΣΤΩ; others of Domitian and Commodus are found. On the autonomous coins of Lappa feature maritime symbols, which are accounted for by the extension of its territory to both shores, and the possession of the port of Phoenix.
The site of Lappa is located near modern Argyroupoli.


County of Nice

The County of Nice (, , Niçard ) is a historical region of France located around the southeastern city of Nice and roughly equivalent to the modern arrondissement of Nice.
History.
Its territory lies between the Mediterranean Sea (Côte d'Azur), Var River and the southernmost crest of the Alps.
Ligurian tribes populated the County of Nice prior to its occupation by the Romans. These tribes, conquered by Augustus, had become fully Romanized (according to Theodore Mommsen) by the 4th century, when the barbarian invasions began. In those Roman centuries, the area was part of the "Regio IX Liguria" of Italy.
The Franks conquered the region after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, and the local Romance populations became integrated within the County of Provence, with a period of independence as a maritime republic (1108–1176). It was initially a semi-autonomous part of the ancient County of Provence.
Part of Savoy.
In 1388, the citizens of Nice decided to hand over the city and its surrounding areas to the count of Savoy. Within Savoy, the region was initially named "Terres neuves de Provence". The region received the name "County of Nice" around 1500, after its integration into the Piedmontese state. County is meant here as an administrative unit rather than as a medieval fief. From 1388 to 1860, the history of the County of Nice was tied to that of Savoy and then Piedmont-Sardinia. Its historical capital city is Nice.
Annexation to France.
France annexed the County in 1860, during the Italian Wars of Independence. By an 1858 secret agreement concluded at Plombières between Napoleon III of France and Sardinian Prime Minister Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, France agreed to support Piedmont in a war against Austria in order to wrest the provinces of Lombardy and Venetia from Austrian rule. In exchange for French military assistance, Piedmont was to cede Nice and Savoy to France. The annexation was temporarily put in doubt after the Italian war of 1859, during which Napoleon III concluded a separate peace with Austria before Venetia could be captured.
In March 1860, however, as Piedmont was in the process of annexing Parma, Modena and the Marches, Napoleon III agreed to sanction Piedmont's Italian acquisitions in exchange for Nice and Savoy. France annexed the provinces by the provisions of the Treaty of Turin, signed on 24 March 1860. There followed plebiscites in Nice on 15 and 16 April and in Savoy on 22 and 23 April, in which the vast majority of the inhabitants of the two territories voted to approve the treaty and join France. France took formal possession of Nice and Savoy on 12 June 1860.
Nevertheless, the Italian nationalist leader Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was born in Nice, strongly opposed the cession of his home city to France, arguing that the County of Nice was essentially Italian and should not be sold as a "ransom" to French expansionism.
Though not among the most prized territories coveted by Italian nationalists after 1860, some Italian nationalists considered the County of Nice as part of "Italia irredenta", Italy's "unredeemed territories". During World War II, when Italy occupied parts of Southeastern France, it included Nice administratively in the Kingdom of Italy.
Creation of Alpes-Maritimes.
As the county was too small to form its own department, the Government of France added it to the arrondissement of Grasse, detached from the neighbouring Var department, to create the Alpes-Maritimes department. Since 1860, the county has been largely coterminous with the arrondissement of Nice, one of two arrondissements of the Alpes-Maritimes, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Nevertheless, the term County of Nice ("Countea de Nissa" in Niçard dialect) continues in use today to identify the territory as a distinct cultural and historical region, particularly to distinguish it from neighbouring Provence.
The historical language used by inhabitants of the County of Nice was Niçard, though it has been almost entirely supplanted by French since 1860. Since 2010, the statue "Neuf Lignes Obliques" on the Promenade des Anglais commemorates the 150th year of Nice's annexation.


Lordship of Rostock

The Lordship or Principality of Rostock () was a state of the Holy Roman Empire in the 13th and early 14th centuries. It arose from the first partition of Mecklenburg after the death of Henry Borwin II in 1227. It was named after the castle and settlement of Rostock and held the territories of Kessin, Kröpelin, Doberan, Ribnitz, Marlow, Sülze and Tessin in the modern German "Bundesland" (Federal State) of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Later, in 1236 Gnoien and Kalen were added to the lordship's territory.
The first (prince) of Rostock was Henry Borwin III from the House of Mecklenburg (Obodrites); the last was his grandson Nicholas I "" (the child).
After some unsuccessful attempts by two other Mecklenburgian lordships, Werle and Mecklenburg, to take control of Rostock, Nicholas I, placed Rostock under the protection and overlordship of Eric VI, King of Denmark. However, after a successful defence Denmark became Rostock's "de facto" owner. Already by 1311 Henry II, Lord of Mecklenburg sought to take the town of Rostock once more, and succeeded on 15 December 1312. In 1314 Nicholas of Rostock died disempowered and without a male heir. In 1312 the town of Rostock already saw Henry II as a representative of the Danish King. After a further war Henry II conquered Rostock and secured peace with the Danish King Christopher II on 21 May 1323. He received the Lordships of Rostock, Gnoien and Schwaan as hereditary fiefs of Denmark and with that the Lordship of Rostock ceased to exist as an independent entity.


Otto Wilhelm Hermann von Abich

Otto Wilhelm Hermann von Abich (11 December 18061 July 1886) was a German mineralogist and geologist. Full member of St Petersburg Academy of Sciences (hon. member since 1866).
Biography.
He was born in Berlin and educated at the local university. His earliest scientific work is related to spinels and other minerals. Later he made special studies of fumaroles, of the mineral deposits around volcanic vents, and of the structure of volcanoes. In 1842 he was appointed professor of mineralogy in the university of Dorpat (Tartu), and henceforth gave attention to the geology and mineralogy of the Russian Empire. Residing for some time at Tiflis, he investigated the geology of the Armenian Highland (this term was introduced by Abich) and Caucasus. In 1844 and 1845 he ascended Ararat volcano several times, studied the geological event of 1840 that was centered on Ararat (Akori village). In 1877 he retired to Vienna, where he later died. The mineral Abichite was named after him.
Publications.
The following are listed in Chisholm (1911), p. 62:


Heinrichsberg Castle

Heinrichsberg Castle () is a ruin north of Mägdesprung in the borough of Harzgerode in central Germany. It is not far from the B 185 federal road in the district of Harz in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
History.
It is supposed to have been built to guard the nearby smelting works by the Count and later Prince of Anhalt, whose family seat was located only about 3 km away in the Selke valley. From 1307 the counts of Stolberg were described as the Anhalt vassals of the Heinrichberg castle. The original protective function of the castle changed, however, under the Stolberg's occupation, for the fortress situated at the northeastern periphery of the comital estates was later used as a base for highwaymen on the Harz Road that ran past it. According to Cyriac Spangenberg's Mansfeld Chronicle, the castle was recaptured by the counts, Dietrich and Henry of Hohnstein, and their sons in 1344, and the highwaymen living there were executed.
The Anhalt letter of enfeoffment ("Lehnsbrief") for Heinrichsberg to the counts of Stolberg was renewed in 1377 and 1381. Thereafter, for decades, there was no written evidence of the castle, which became increasingly dilapidated and, by 1491 was referred to as an abandoned castle, that was a pledge held by the Frederick of Hoym. At that time the lords of Hoym also held the Anhalt fiefs of Bärenrode, Bolkendorf and half of the village of Dankerode. They pledged these estates to the counts of Stolberg, Prince Bernard VI of Anhalt-Bernburg giving his consent as overlord in 1452. In 1461 Henry, Count of Stolberg, paid a sum of 450 gold Rhenish guilders to Frederick the Elder, Frederick the Younger and Henry of Hoym for the purchase of two abandoned villages, Olvesfelde and Mußeberg, and half of the village of Dankerode.
In 1514 the princes, Ernest and Wolfgang of Anhalt, renewed the enfeoffment of Stolberg and Heinrichsberg Castle together with its estates, the village of Breitenstein, the then already deserted village of Ammacht, the copse near Gräfen Pond ("Gräfenteich"), a field near Güntersberge and the field at Lingesbach, half the village of Dankerode and other rights. In the said letter of enfeoffment, the Stolberg claim to several estates in the Harz, in particular three abandoned settlements between Güntersberge and Harzgerode, whose vassals were the lords of Hoym at that time, are recorded and documented. Count Botho, however, was engaged in negotiations over their purchase with Lord ("Ritter") Magnus of Hoym. The Stolberg prince had become financially strong enough to create a link between the towns of Güntersberge and Harzgerode, already in his possession by acquiring land, thereby extending Stolberg's sphere of influence in the northeast. Magnus of Hoym but died before the conclusion of the contract. He left his infant son, Frederick of Hoym, whose guardian concluded the inheritance agreement with Botho, Count of Stolberg in 1518. The purchase price for these fiefs that had belonged to the Hoym family since 1430 was 1550 guilders. After reaching the age of majority, Frederick of Hoym ratified the inheritance purchase in 1530 but raised the price of 900 gold guilders, because he said that the estates had been sold below their true value.
The late-medieval deserted village of Bärenrode was made habitable again by the counts of Stolberg in the 16th century and the outwork there was turned into the administrative seat for an "Amt". The castles of Erichsberg and Heinrichsberg, just a few kilometres away, which had fallen into insignificance as a result of their increasing decline, were now managed by the "Amt" of Bärenrode. Of the estates of the two castles, only the village of Breitenstein, which had originally belonged to Heinrichsberg Castle, and its extensive areas of forest subsequently had any great importance.


St Agnes Lifeboat Station, Isles of Scilly

St Agnes' Lifeboat Station was situated in St Agnes, Isles of Scilly and provided a service for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution from 1891 to 1920. The lifeboat station and slipway still exist, and have been identified by the Isles of Scilly Council as a Building of Local Significance.
History.
The station opened in 1891 with a single slipway. A new slipway was provided in 1904 at a cost of £5,000 () to the designs of the Institution’s Architect, W.T. Douglass. From the back of the boat house to the toe of the slip it was . It was built of Jarrah wood from Western Australia, bolted to granite and concrete pillars, with the exception of a short piece at the upper end, built on the rocks. Two rails ran the entire length of the slip, on which rested the double bogey trolley that carried the boat. Rails were also laid down the old slip which could be used at high tide.
Awards.
On 13 December 1907, the Thomas W Lawson of Boston, USA, was in distress off Annet. The St Agnes Lifeboat put William Thomas Hicks on board to act as pilot. But the schooner foundered at Minmanueth and he was lost together with fifteen of the vessel’s crew. His son, Frederick Charles Hicks, put off with seven other men in the gig ‘Slippen’ which rescued the schooner’s captain and engineer form Hellweather rock.
Frederick Charles Hicks was awarded the RNLI Silver Medal for bravery, when swimming from a gig to save the captain of the Thomas W Lawson. The United States government gave him a gold watch, and gold medals to all the crewe of the gig ‘Slippen’.


Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) was the professional voice of police leadership (Chief Constables, Deputy Chief Constables and Assistant Chief Constables) in Scotland, including the Assistant Chief Constable in the British Transport Police responsible for Scotland. Some superintendents and senior support staff were also involved in its business. Along with all eight Scottish regional police forces and the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, ACPOS was merged into Police Scotland and ceased to operate on 1 April 2013.
Formerly a staff association, in 2006 it was incorporated as a private company limited by guarantee and gained charitable status in 2009. ACPOS evolved to be the strategic body which oversaw and co-ordinated all aspects of the direction and development of policing in Scotland. It commented upon police reform, published policies, campaigned on issues of importance, and worked in partnership with central and local government to set strategic objectives and deliver better integrated services for Scotland's communities.


Kings of Sliabh Lugha

The Kings of Sliabh Lugha were rulers of the district of Sliabh Lugha located in what is now County Mayo, Ireland.
The Sliabh Lugha area was originally known as Gailenga but by the 12th-century called Sliabh Lugha. Its rulers were the Ó Gadhra, whose ancestors were Kings of Luighne Connacht, an over-kingdom of which Gailenga/Sliabh Lugha was the southern part. The northern area, lying in south-west County Sligo, retained the name Luighne.
After the Anglo-Norman conquest of Connacht, it was known as the barony of Gallen, and ruled by the clan Mac Siúrtáin until the early 17th century.


Q Camp

The Q Camp was an experimental community set up at Hawkspur Green, Essex, England, towards the end of the Second World War. It was envisioned as a self-governing community populated by disturbed or delinquent city children who were not suitable for inclusion in the evacuation programme because of their behavioural problems.
Origins.
It was originally a camp set up for adults in 1936 but was closed when the war started. Arthur Barron took over as camp chief and espoused the view that children could learn discipline by taking on shared responsibilities but should not be under any compulsion to take any non-voluntary action.
Shutdown.
The community was shut down for health and safety reasons. Some suppliers and parents had raised concerns about the welfare of the children, who had continued in their antisocial behaviour by setting fires and destroying property, and they had continued to reject any of the responsibilities required for the running and maintenance of the camp.


Judicate of Gallura

The Judicate of Gallura (, , ) was one of four Sardinian judicates in the Middle Ages. These were independent states whose rulers bore the title "iudex", judge. Gallura, a name which comes from "gallus", meaning rooster (cock), was subdivided into ten governed by "curatores" under the judge. In the 13th century, the arms of Gallura contained a rooster.
Gallura is the northeast region of the island, with its main city at Olbia. The first "iudices" of Gallura only appear in the historical record late in the eleventh century, though certain rulers of earlier periods are known. Gallura, like all the other Sardinian kingdoms, initially owed allegiance to the Archdiocese of Pisa, but Gallura, unlike most of the others, remained relatively steadfast in its support of Pisa, probably due its proximity to the city of Pisa itself. For this reason, it was often in alliance with the Kingdom of Cagliari in the south.
Origins.
Gallura began as a province of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire. After the Arab conquest of Sicily in 827 AD, Sardinia was effectively cut off from regular communication with the Imperial government in Constantinople. Unable to receive instruction or support from the empire, the provincial Byzantine magistrates, the iudices ("judges," the Latin word evolved into the medieval Sardinian "Judicados"), continued to rule autonomously. Like the other Sardinian provinces, what were initially appointed, perhaps even elected, positions eventually evolved into hereditary ones.
From the mid-ninth to the early eleventh centuries, little is known at all about Gallura, but around 1050 appears a figure named Manfred who was certainly not the first independent ruler (that appears to be one Baldo). Modern theories generally assume that these early rulers were Pisan governors sent by the Republic. In a letter of Pope Gregory VII dated 1074, he refers to Constantine I of Gallura, probably a member of the Gherardeschi clan. There are legends surrounded Constantine's relationship with the powerful Corsican lords of Cinarca. Whatever his relationship to his predecessors and successors, the dynasty which was to dominate Gallura in the early twelfth century comes into view only around 1100, when the Pisans were expelled by the Thori dynasty, which sat on the throne through Torchitorio I.
Twelfth century.
The last decades of the eleventh century and the opening ones of the twelfth, were dominated in Italy and Germany by the Gregorian reforms and the Investiture Controversy, to great attempts to restructure Church-State relations. The popes, through Pisan archbishops, sought to extend their authority directly over Sardinia. In this they were aided by the various monastic movements — Benedictine, Camaldolese, Vallombrosan, Cassinese — which were supported by the "iudices". These monks introduced important economic, agricultural, technological, artistic, ecclesiastic, and social advancements, developments, and transformations.
The reign of Torgodorio's son, Saltaro, was briefly interrupted for three years by Ittocorre de Gunale, but the dynasty was restored by Constantine II, who was succeeded by Comita I. Around 1130, Comita joined Gonario II of Torres and Constantine I of Arborea in doing homage to the Pisan archdiocese. On 26 June 1132, Comita went to Ardara, the judicial palace of the Giudicato of Logudoro to do homage directly the Archbishop Roger and thus confirmed the supremacy of the Logudorese "giudicato". The ties to Pisa were reestablished and they were to endure. Comita was succeeded by Constantine III, probably a son of Ittocorre and thus the first Gallurese "iudex" of the Lacon dynasty.
Thirteenth century.
Constantine was succeeded by his son Barisone II, who left an only daughter, Elena, in 1203. This opened Gallura to succession crisis as rival faction sought the hand of Elena in marriage. William Malaspina tried to marry her, but Pope Innocent III forbade it. In 1206, William I of Cagliari invaded Gallura. Finally, in 1207, Elena married the Pisan Lamberto Visconti. Lamberto repulsed the invasion and secured Gallura in the Pisan fold.
In 1211, Comita III of Torres confirmed a treaty with the Republic of Genoa, Pisa's traditional rival for Sardinian influence, whereby the two powers — Logudoro and Genoa — would jointly conquer the entire island and put it under Genoese suzerainty with Comita as judge. They first invaded Gallura because of its strong Pisan connection. In 1212, Pisa struck back, but it was not until William of Cagliari's death in 1214, that Gallura was able to defeat Comita and Genoa and force them to terms on land. A naval war continued until Pope Honorius III forced a treaty on the parties on 1 December 1217.
After Elena's death, Lamberto continued to rule Gallura and eventually married the heiress of Cagliari, ruling both "giudicati" until his death in 1225. He was succeeded by his son Ubaldo in Gallura and by his brother Ubaldo in Cagliari. When the elder Ubaldo died, the younger tried to take over Cagliari but failed. In 1236, Logudoro was finally acquired by marriage to Adelasia. Ubaldo died in 1238 and his widow married Enzio, illegitimate son of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor. Enzio took up the royal title over all Sardinia, but Ubaldo's son John succeeded him in Gallura, passing his time back and forth between the island and Pisa. This was also the habit of his son and successor, Nino. Following the Battle of Meloria, a disaster for Pisa, in 1284, Nino tried to take power in the city, but was ousted and deposed from Gallura in 1287. This marked the end of the Visconti rule in Gallura which had begun in 1207.
Pisa annexed Gallura and held in until the Catalan conquest in 1323 – 1324. Nino's only daughter, Joanna, continued to claim her rights until her death in 1339, at which point the title to Gallura passed to the Visconti of Milan, who ceded it to the Crown of Aragon.
Historiography.
The history of Gallura is based on slender documentation, almost all of it assembled in the archives of Pisa and Genoa and viewing Arborea and the other Sardinian kingdoms through a colonial lens. The evaluation of political figures has traditionally been made on the basis of military accomplishment, whereas Nowé points out that the ecclesiastical policy of the rulers of Sardinia was just as important in determining the stability, peacefulness, and long-term success of the "judicados" in the face of colonialism.


Apostolic Nunciature to Cologne

The Apostolic Nunciature to Cologne (also , i.e. "Nunciature of Lower Germany") was an ecclesiastical office of the Roman Catholic Church established in 1584. The nuncios were accredited to the Archbishop-Electorates of Cologne, Mainz and Trier. It was a diplomatic post of the Holy See, whose representative was called the Apostolic Nuncio at Cologne, one of the states of the Holy Roman Empire. The office of the nunciature was located in Cologne until 1795, when France occupied the city. The last nuncio, officiating until 1804, resided in Augsburg, while the Archbishop-Electorate had been dissolved in 1803.
Two nuncios and one apostolic delegate at Cologne later became popes: Pope Urban VII, Pope Alexander VII and Pope Leo XII.
History.
An apostolic nuncio at Cologne was appointed in 1584 on the instigation of Emperor Rudolph II of the Holy Roman Empire. Following the Council of Trient, apostolic delegates had already been appointed at Cologne in order to contain the spreading of Protestantism in the Empire. The Archbishop-Electorate of Cologne was chosen for being a stronghold of Catholicism in the northwest of the Empire in vicinity to areas where Calvinism (Bremen, Dutch Republic, East Frisia, Lippe) and Lutheranism (elsewhere in Northern Germany) were gaining more and more support. The Rhenish Archbishop-Electorates were further important as providing already three of the then-seven votes within the election body for the imperial successors.
The political role of the apostolic nuncio at Cologne was essential for participating in some events of political life of the Empire such as the imperial diets (in 1594 and 1622) and the imperial elections in Frankfurt upon Main (in 1612 and 1658). The nuncio also participated in the negotiations of the Peace of Westphalia (1644-1648) in Münster and Osnabrück, ending the Thirty Years' War, the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668), Cologne's abandon in the Franco–Dutch War (1673-1674), and the Peace of Utrecht (1713).
Besides Cologne, Mainz, and Trier, the nuncios could wield their jurisdiction undisputedly for the prince-bishoprics of Hildesheim, Liège, Osnabrück, Paderborn, and Würzburg. In 1596, the Low Countries (Netherlands) were detached from the nunciature of Cologne, receiving their own nuncio in Brussels.
On the instigation of Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria, another nunciature was established by Pope Pius VI in Munich. This caused a conflict between the nunciature at Cologne and the Apostolic Nunciature to Bavaria as to their competences. The appointment of Giulio Cesare Zoglio as Bavarian nuncio angered the archbishop-electors of Cologne, Mainz, and Trier, who considered the nuncio to Cologne to be competent for all the Empire. Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, sided with the electors, and declared he would recognise nuncios in their "political character" only. The nunciature at Cologne ceased to exist in 1804. After the Congress of Vienna, the nunciature was not reestablished, while the Bavarian nunciature, also interrupted in 1800 during the Napoleonic Wars, resurged in 1818 and persisted until 1934. Germany as a whole concluded diplomatic ties with the Holy See on 1 May 1920, establishing the Apostolic Nunciature to Germany.