Estonia under Swedish rule

Estonia under Swedish rule signifies the time between 1561 and 1710, when parts of present-day Estonia (and after 1645 all of the present-day country) were under Swedish rule. In the wake of the breakup of the State of the Teutonic Order, the Baltic German local aristocracy in the areas of Harrien (Harjumaa) and Wierland (Virumaa), as well as the city of Reval (Tallinn) in June 1561 (and somewhat later Jerwen (Järvamaa)) asked for and were granted protection by the Swedish king Eric XIV, leading to Swedish involvement in the Livonian War. At the conclusion of hostilities in 1583, Sweden was in control of the northern parts of modern Estonia and Hiiumaa island; this territory was created the Duchy of Estonia. Following renewed wars between Poland and Sweden, the southern parts of present-day Estonia (then Livonia) were incorporated into Sweden by the Treaty of Altmark in 1629. In 1645, Denmark also ceded the island of Ösel (Saaremaa) to Sweden, and the latter was in control of all of present-day Estonia.
The time of Swedish rule came to an effective end in 1710, when all the Swedish Baltic provinces capitulated to Russian troops during the end-stages of the Great Northern War. Russian hegemony was formalized in 1721.
The reasons for Swedish involvement in Estonia were economic as well as political and military. The Swedish Crown was not least interested in getting a share of the profits from the rich trade with Russia. At the same time, assertions in Estonia can also been seen as a way of preventing Russia and Denmark from gaining potentially dangerous footholds close to Swedish-controlled Finland.
The time of Swedish rule is sometimes colloquially referred to as the "good old Swedish times" (). However, it remains unclear whether the contemporaneous Estonian-speaking population generally used that expression or whether it considered the time of Swedish rule to be significantly better than that of earlier foreign rulers. Especially during the later part of the Swedish rule of Estonia, Swedish authorities, however, enact a number of reforms, which were aimed at lessening the influence of the local German-speaking aristocracy to the benefit of the local Estonian-speaking peasantry. In the light of that, some evidence suggests that the Estonian-speaking population considered Swedish rule as characterised by the rule of law, and the lower classes were later recorded to have expressed a wish for a return to Swedish rule.
Swedish reforms, some of with lasting influence, also included the establishment of the University of Tartu (as well as other educational institutions such as the Gustav Adolf Grammar School), staunchly promoting Lutheranism and providing translations of the Bible into Estonian and creating a court of appeal in Tartu.
Earliest years.
At least since the Viking Age there have been contacts between the inhabitants of present-day Sweden and Estonia. For example, a runestone in Roslags-Bro Church in Sweden commemorates a man who was killed in Estonia during the 11th century. There has been a Swedish minority in Estonia at least since the Middle Ages. During the Northern Crusades, Swedish crusaders made a failed attempt to conquer Estonia. Instead, mainly German crusading knights conquered the area and established the State of the Teutonic Order there and in most parts of the Baltic states. With the decline of the Teutonic Order and its state, Swedish political ambitions returned to Estonia. The future King John III had already as Grand Duke of Finland in the 1550s ambitions to establish Swedish rule in Estonia, but was held back by his father, Gustav Vasa. It was not until 1561 that the local nobility asked the new king, Eric XIV, to intervene in the ongoing Livonian War and protect the lands of Harjumaa, Virumaa and the city of Tallinn in exchange for overlord-ship. The Livonian War, in which Sweden now became involved, would last to 1583 (concluded by the Treaty of Plussa). For Sweden, it resulted in Sweden keeping the territory that had in 1561 sought Swedish protection, and additionally in the capture of the city of Narva.
The name of Livonia, formerly denoting all of present-day Estonia and Latvia, was now applied to Polish-controlled south Estonia and Latvia; while "Estonia" began to denote the Swedish controlled areas of north and west Estonia. It was not until the early 20th century that the term "Estonia" began to be used to signify all the lands where Estonian-speaking people lived.
Sweden started to reorganise the government in the new duchy only after the conclusion of the peace treaty with Russia in 1583. Like the Livonian estates, Estonian aristocracy and towns had surrendered on condition that their privileges be retained. Unlike in Livonia, where Poland soon violated the agreement, Swedish kings kept their promises to the city of Tallinn and the local nobility.
The landlords of north and west Estonia who formed the Estonian nobility were represented by its general assembly, convened regularly every third year ("Landtag"), and its executive body — the college of magistrates ("Landratscollegium"). The Swedish monarchy was represented by the lord lieutenant, later governor, and the area was governed with the help of the nobility. Crown properties consisted of the lands formerly owned by the Livonian Order, monasteries and bishops, and deserted manorial estates; part of the lands that had been deserted in the war came under the control of the local aristocracy. For administration, these lands were divided into fiefdoms, subdivided into crown manors headed by bailiffs. The Swedish kings generously gave lands into private possession — in reward both for merit and for service.
For that reason most of Estonian lands were in private ownership by the end of the 16th century, and the owners were mostly Baltic Germans. The Baltic German nobility gained extensive power in both the economic and political spheres, and later attempts of the crown to curb this power met with strong resistance. That central authority complied for such a long time was due to the continuous wars, which made it important to preserve the loyalty of the local aristocracy.
Expansion.
The conquest of the Duchy of Estonia was the starting point of a policy of expansion for Sweden, which would lead to the period in its history sometimes referred to as the Swedish Empire. During the 17th century, Sweden attained large areas around the Baltic Sea. In 1629, Polish-controlled Livonia, including the southern parts of present-day Estonia, was conquered by Swedish forces, and in 1645 the island of Saaremaa (Ösel) was ceded by Denmark to Sweden as a part of the Peace Treaty of Brömsebro.
While the surrender of northern Estonia to Sweden was seen as voluntary, Livonia was regarded as an occupied territory. King Gustavus II Adolphus (1611–1632) consequently only partly restored the privileges of the Livonian aristocracy, lost during the Polish years. Led by the governor-general, a strong central authority was developed and Swedish laws instituted. Much of the local aristocracy had also fled during the war, and instead members of the Swedish nobility moved to seize possession of many of the Livonian estates.
The Swedish authorities exercised a strict control over religious and intellectual life, arranging regular inspections, the so-called visitations, from the end of the 16th century and throughout the 17th century. The higher clergy — bishops or superintendents — visited congregation after congregation to inspect the religious beliefs of peasants and to root out the remnants of paganism or Catholicism. The first large scale visitation was carried out by Johannes Rudbeckius. Gustavus II Adolphus also, through the aid of governor Johan Skytte, instituted the court of appeal in Tartu and the University of Tartu.
However, the successors to Gustavus II Adolphus ceded more rights to the Livonian aristocracy. This was partly caused by the fact that the state had surrendered its economic and political power by transferring most crown properties to private hands (mostly Swedish high aristocracy for their merits). The Livonian nobility had won recognition by 1647: it too was now represented in a regional "Landtag" and an executive "Landratscollegium". The Landtag was convened every three years and the policies discussed with the central authority. The aristocracy of Estonia, Livonia and Ösel (Saaremaa) had no representation in the Swedish Diet "(Riksdag)".
During Charles XI.
The reign of King Charles XI (1672–1697) brought drastic changes to Sweden’s policy in its overseas provinces. As a result of the continuous warfare and the transfer of the crown properties into private possession, the revenues of the Swedish state had diminished. To increase its revenues, the so-called reduction of the possessions of the nobility was carried out. The reduction of manorial lands was linked to another radical change — the formation of absolutist monarchy under Charles XI, which sought to strengthen central authority in all parts of the empire and promoted strong links between the mainland and the overseas provinces.
In 1680, the Swedish "Riksdag" declared the so-called Great Reduction. While former reductions had not spread to Estonia and Livonia, this decision extended to these areas as well. All holdings which had gone into private possession since the beginning of Swedish rule were to be reduced. This requirement met with fierce opposition from the local nobility. The local upper classes saw this decision by the Swedish "Riksdag" — taken without the approval of the local "Landtags" — as a violation of their rights, as the dual government of state and aristocracy which had functioned so far; in the understanding of the Livonian nobility the overseas provinces were linked to Sweden through a union. In the Duchy of Estonia, where land ownership was more clearly determined and there were more manors passed on according to an ancient inheritance law, the 1680 reduction went quite peacefully.
The reduction was also followed by other reforms. The tenants of manors were no longer allowed to beat farmers; peasants could sue the tenants, even appeal to the king himself. It was forbidden to sell peasants without land, to send them away from their lands or to take over their lands. The status of Estonian peasants on crown manors was not yet comparable to free peasants in Sweden, but it was much better than the status of peasants on private lands. Charles XI announced his intention to abolish serfdom in Estonian crown manors when the reduction started, as serfdom was peculiar to the Baltic provinces.
Great Northern War and the end of Swedish rule in Estonia.
The reforms carried out in Estonia under Charles XI did not have a long-lasting effect; in reality only Swedish church law was put into practice. In 1697 Charles XI died of cancer and his son Charles XII acceded to the throne and in 1700 the Great Northern War broke out. By 1699 an anti-Swedish alliance had been formed by Poland, Denmark and Russia. The war, which lasted to 1721 and in which one of the major Swedish victories was fought in Estonia, the Battle of Narva, ultimately proved disastrous to Sweden. In 1709, Russian forces had begun to lay siege to Riga, the centre of Livonia; after the capture of Riga in 1710 the Livonian and Estonian cities surrendered one after another. The war on Estonian territory ended with the capitulation of Tallinn in September 1710. As Russia considered the support of the local nobility to be essential in consolidating its power, the towns and the aristocrats achieved favourable terms of capitulation. The incorporation of Estonia and Livonia into Russia was stated in the Peace of Nystad in 1721, ending the warfare which had continued for ten more years outside Estonia.


Reorganization of occupied dioceses during World War II

The reorganization of occupied dioceses during World War II was an issue faced by Pope Pius XII of whether to extend the apostolic authority of Catholic bishops from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy to German-occupied Europe during World War II.
Although such reorganization was often refused, the decision of Pius XII to appoint German apostolic administrators to occupied Poland was "one of his most controversial decisions". These actions were the primary justification given by the Soviet-backed Polish Provisional Government (which replaced the pro-Catholic Polish government-in-exile), for declaring the Concordat of 1925 null and void in 1945, an act that had tremendous consequences for post-war Polish-Holy See relations. There was no Apostolic Nuncio to Poland between 1947 and 1989.
History.
A note from Reich ambassador to the Holy See, Diego von Bergen, dated August 29, 1941 demanded that "all ecclesiastical appointments to important posts in annexed or occupied regions be first communicated to Berlin". The note was meant to apply to all "residential bishops, coadjutors with the right of succession, "prelati nullius", apostolic administrators, capitular vicars, and all having equivalent functions in the government of a diocese". Explicitly included in this demand were Alsace, Lorraine, Luxembourg, lower Styria, Carinthia, and Carniole, as Germany viewed the right of consultation on appointments granted by the "Reichskonkordat" as extending to occupied territory.
The Holy See explicitly refused this demand on January 18. Tardini wrote in August 1940:
The present historical moment is very serious from this point of view: Hitler, the persecutor of the Church and the master of much of Europe, wishes in one way or another to impose the appointment of German bishops within non-German territories, and he wants to exercise and influence on the appointments, more so than previously agreed to... What can the Holy See do? It can do what it has always done: reaffirm and defend its liberty, firmly maintain its rights against government coercion when such pressure is detrimental to the good of souls. The people will joyfully greet such apostolic firmness on the part of the Holy See and will stand close around it as the sole herald of divine truth and the sole protector of human dignity.
Albania.
Mussolini invaded Albania on Good Friday 1939. By the end of the war, most of the surviving Catholic priests in Albania were of Italian origin, having been used by the fascist regime for the expansion of Italian culture and influence. Following the Italian invasion, "the Catholic Church enjoyed a position of favour and influence throughout the Second World War". Anton Harapi, a Catholic priest, was made regent, and Maliq Bushati, a Catholic, was made prime minister. According to Kent, "in Albania, more than in any other country, the Catholic Church had been an antinational force in the service of the national enemy".
Belgium.
The deaneries of Eupen, Malmedy, and Moresnet, all Diocese of Liège, but annexed to Nazi Germany, were subordinated to an Apostolic Administrator, first (1941–1943) Hermann Joseph Sträter, diocesan administrator of Aachen, and then (1943–1945) Johannes Joseph van der Velden, Bishop of Aachen.
Czechoslovakia (western part).
The heartland of Western Czechoslovakia became the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia of the Reich in 1939. In October 1938, the western border regions of Czechoslovakia had been dissected and annexed mostly by Nazi Germany (Sudetenland) and, to a small extent, by the Second Polish Republic (Zaolžje, an area of Czechoslovak Silesia). These annexations had only partially been internationally recognised at the time and were reversed after World War II. Most of the people in the Budejovice diocese were of Czech ethnicity (with a small German minority). A. Eltschkner was appointed bishop and the German government was notified even before an announcement appeared in "L'Osservatore Romano". On July 24, von Bergen demanded a bishop of German ethnicity or nationality for Budejovice (hinting his favor for J. Remiger), referencing the appointment of French bishops to Metz and Strasbourg in 1919. An investigation was conducted by the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, which concluded that the original appointment should be followed through.
After the Polish takeover of Zaolžje, never internationally recognised, the Polish government had requested the Holy See to disentangle the parishes there from either the Archdiocese of Breslau (northerly Zaolžje) or the Archdiocese of Olomouc (southerly Zaolžje), respectively, both traditionally comprising cross-border diocesan territories in Czechoslovakia and Germany. The Holy See complied and Pope Pius XI then subjected the Catholic parishes in Zaolžje to an apostolic administration under Stanisław Adamski, Bishop of Katowice, who held that position until 31 December 1939. On 23 December 1939 Orsenigo appointed – with effect of 1 January 1940 – Breslau's Archbishop Adolf Bertram and Olomouc' Archbishop Leopold Prečan as apostolic administrators for exactly those Catholic parishes of Zaolžje, where Pius XI had deposed them in 1938.
Estonia.
Eduard Profittlich, S.J., the apostolic administrator of Estonia, was one of many Catholic clergy victims of the Soviet deportations from Estonia in 1941. The Occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany actively prevented the Catholic hierarchy from reconstituting itself although Jesuit Henri Werling was permitted to assume the duties of Msgr. Profittlich.
France.
Charles Ruch, Bishop of Strasbourg was expelled after the German annexation and could return only in 1945.
After a francophile manifestation on the occasion of the feast of the Assumption of Mary (15 August) in 1940, the Nazi occupants expelled Joseph-Jean Heintz, Bishop of Metz and he could return only in the autumn of 1944.
Hungary.
Hungary obtained some territory of former Romania on August 29, 1940, and in turn, it demanded ecclesiastical reorganisation. That was denied by the Holy See.
Lithuania.
An agreement between Lithuania and the Soviet Union brought the city of Wilno and the Wilno Region under the jurisdiction of still-independent Lithuania on October 10, 1939. The Lithuanian government requested to have Archbishop Romuald Jałbrzykowski removed from the see. The reply of Cardinal Secretary of State Luigi Maglione was that "the government of Kaunas should appreciate that the Holy See cannot run behind armies and change bishops as combat troops occupy new territory belonging to countries other than their own". Jałbrzykowski was expelled by the Germans in 1942. When auxiliary bishop Mečislovas Reinys took over Jałbrzykowski, further tension was sparked between the Poles and Lithuanians.
Poland.
Following the occupation of Poland (1939–1945), the government of dioceses was "one of the first questions the Holy See had to face". Many of the main sees were vacant prior to the war, including Warsaw, where Cardinal Aleksander Kakowski had died in December 1938. In Krakow, elderly Archbishop Adam Stefan Sapieha had sent his letter of resignation to the pope.
Cardinal August Hlond, the primate of Poland, was unable to return to his Archdioceses of Poznań-Gniezno, having accompanied the Polish government-in-exile to Romania and then continued to Rome. However, he had appointed vicars general to represent him, Cathedral Capitular Eduard van Blericq for Gniezno and Auxiliary Bishop Walenty Dymek for Poznań.
Other bishops had been forced out of their dioceses in the first days of the war such as Stanisław Okoniewski, the bishop of Chełmno-Pelplin, and Karol Mieczysław Radoński, the bishop of Włocławek. Archbishop Antoni Julian Nowowiejski of Płock diocese was killed at Soldau Concentration Kamp i Działdów. Okoniewski's auxiliary bishop Konstantyn Dominik was interned by the end of 1939. Furthermore, Radoński's auxiliary bishop Michał Kozal was arrested by the end of 1939 and eventually died in Dachau concentration camp; the auxiliary of Lublin, Bishop Władysław Goral was similarly arrested and killed in Oranienburg-Sachsenhausen as was Bishop Leon Wetmanski, the auxiliary of Płock, at Auschwitz. Indeed, the German occupants undertook a systematic policy of forcing bishops from their dioceses, interning and arresting them.
Approximately 2,600, or 20% of all, Polish clergy members were killed by the Nazis, including five of the six bishops of the Reichsgau Wartheland; priests were targeted for their resistance activities and cultural importance. Along the Nazi-Soviet demarcation line, established by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, rather than appointing new bishops in the newly dissected dioceses, the bishops of neighboring diocese were made to serve as apostolic administrators. The apostolic administrators, in turn, were to designate two priests who could replace them in the event of their death or arrest.
Almost immediately, the Reich's ambassador to the Holy See, Diego von Bergen, made it clear that Nazi Germany would like to see German prelates made temporary administrators of the sees whose bishops had been deposed. Prelate Franz Hartz, German Territorial Prelature of Schneidemühl, was suggested by the ambassador as administrator for Gniezno-Poznań, Danzig's Bishop Carl Maria Splett for Chełmno-Pelplin, and Breslau's Archbishop Adolf Bertram for Katowice, which had been disentangled from his see in 1922. According to Monsignore Domenico Tardini, Pius XII "acknowledging the soundness of this proposal, has decided to postpone it". Except for Splett, the Holy See did not take up any of the proposals.
As the nuncio to Warsaw, Filippo Cortesi, had fled with the government-in-exile, Pius XII extended the jurisdiction of Cesare Orsenigo, the nuncio to Germany, to Poland on November 1. Nazi Germany strictly opposed Orsenigo's competence for Poland because the Holy See did not recognise the German annexations of Polish territory and Danzig, but it upheld its diplomatic ties with the Polish government-in-exile.
By November 29, Pius XII reversed his stance against appointing foreigners to sees in occupied Poland. Orsenigo suggested to Pius XII it would be "opportune to appoint" Splett as apostolic administrator to Chełmno-Pelplin. Splett was bishop of then exempt Danzig diocese which belonged to the nunciature to Poland, and he was a Danziger so he was not German until the annexation of his home country only weeks before his appointment. So Pius XII agreed that Orsenigo designated Splett the apostolic administrator to Chełmno-Pelplin with effect of 5 December 1939. The government-in-exile, now in London, saw this as a betrayal of the 1925 concordat between the Holy See and Poland, which prohibited placing any Polish territory under the jurisdiction of a bishop outside Poland. It was very unusual that not the Consistorial Congregation or the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, respectively, in the papal name, but Orsenigo, using special papal plenipotentiary powers, appointed Splett, a peculiarity repeating with each appointment of foreign apostolic administrators in German annexed and occupied Poland.
 On 23 December 1939 Orsenigo appointed Bertram and Leopold Prečan, Archbishop of Olomouc, as apostolic administrators for the Catholic parishes in Zaolzie with effect of 1 January 1940. Zaolzie was actually a Czechoslovak area, which Poland had annexed on 2 October 1938 on the grounds that most Czechoslovaks there were of Polish ethnicity. The parishes there actually had belonged either to the Archdiocese of Breslau or to the Archdiocese of Olomouc, respectively, both traditionally comprising crossborder diocesan territories in Czechoslovakia and Germany.
When the Polish government demanded after the Polish takeover of Zaolzie, still lacking international recognition, that the parishes there be disentangled from these two archdioceses, the Holy See complied. Pope Pius XI then subjected the Catholic parishes in Zaolzie to an apostolic administration under Stanisław Adamski, Bishop of Katowice. In Zaolzie Bertram and Prečan replaced Adamski in 1940, who again had replaced them there in 1938. It is wrong, however, that Bertram, as apostolic administrator, replaced Adamski as bishop of Katowice.
On 22 June 1940, Orsenigo informed Splett that he would appoint him also apostolic administrator for the diocesan territories of Płock (Lipno county) and of Włocławek (Rypin county) within Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, if the respective bishops would consent. Bishop Antoni Julian Nowowiejski of Płock agreed. After Nowowiejski's murder in Soldau concentration camp on 28 May 1941 the Holy See invested his vicar general Stanisław Figielski as apostolic administrator on 6 March 1942. On 7 January 1941 the Holy See appointed Bolesław Gumowski for the German annexed Suwałki Region within the Diocese of Łomża.
In early 1941, Bertram, Metropolitan bishop of the Eastern German Ecclesiastical Province and speaker of the Fulda Conference of Bishops, rejected the request to admit the Danzig diocese as member in his ecclesiastical province and at the conference. Any arguments that Free City of Danzig had been annexed to Nazi Germany did not impress since Danzig's annexation lacked international recognition.
Bishop Adamski of Katowice, whom German occupants prevented from carrying out his duties since 1940, had appointed Franz Stryż as vicar general. In early 1941, Adamski was expelled from Katowice diocese, which made Stryż appeal at Orsenigo in March the same year to invest Heinrich Wienken as apostolic administrator. However, the Holy See refused. After Stryż's death, the exiled Adamski secretly invested as new vicar general Franz Wosnitza (1902–1979) on 3 June 1942. Having grown up in Königshütte (Chorzów), Wosnitza had been studying Catholic theology in Breslau when his hometown turned Polish in 1922. He then decided to move back home to become bilingual and to live as German expatriate in the Polish Katowice diocese, where its Bishop Hlond consecrated him priest on 20 June 1926. He started a career as priest also serving the minority of Poles of with German as anative language. The Consistorial Congregation, pretending the late Stryż had chosen Wosnitza, confirmed the latter as vicar general, an act not required by canon law for a vicar general appointed by his bishop, to help Adamski conceal that he was still acting in secret as bishop of Katowice. Wosnitza's appointment silenced the claims of the German occupants to invest an apostolic administrator of their choice.
On 18 October 1941, Orsenigo appointed Joseph Paech (1880–1942), Capitular vicar of Poznań-Gniezno, as apostolic administrator for the Catholics among the German minority in Poland within Reichsgau Wartheland. For the Catholic parishioners of Polish language in Wartheland, Orsenigo appointed Auxiliary Bishop Dymek as apostolic administrator on 9 April 1942, but in August of the same year, he declared his resignation because of German obstruction and violence.
After Paech's resignation through ill health, Nazi Germany requested for Pius XII to appoint a German apostolic administrator. On 2 May 1942, Orsenigo then made Father Hilarius Breitinger, since 1934 serving as German expatriate at Poznań's Franciscan Church of St. Anthony of Padua, the apostolic administrator to the Reichsgau Wartheland for the Catholic parishioners of German language. The Polish government-in-exile protested the appointments of Breitinger and Splett as violations of the concordat. On November 12, the government-in-exile issued a statement from London stating that "Pius XII's decision is tantamount to the acceptance of illegal German demands and comprises an unfriendly act towards the Polish people". Relations between the Holy See and the government-in-exile appreciably worsened, and the Holy See countered that the government-in-exile itself had abrogated the concordat by not ensuring communication between the Vatican and the Polish clergy. According to Phayer, "betrayal was exactly what Poles felt when Pius appointed the German Franciscan Breitinger the apostolic administrator to the Wartheland in May 1942".
However, Pius XII appointed foreigners Splett and Breitinger to fill the Polish bishoprics in parallel with the Polish incumbents, complying with German demands, originating from Wartheland's Reichsstatthalter Arthur Greiser, that only German clergy could fulfill the spiritual needs of ethnic Germans.
While the bishops living under German occupation, like Adamski, Teodor Kubina (1880–1951; Częstochowa), Nowowiejski, and Sapieha considered their agreement to and the appointments of administrators for (parts of) their dioceses as the only way to maintain some precarious, though, modus vivendi for the Catholic Church under the anti-Christian and anti-Polish ideology of Nazism, bishops in exile like Hlond and Radoński were more concerned about these emergency measurements because Polish Catholics could resent them as additional humiliation, and Nazi Germany could gain from them a propagandist benefit, misinterpreting them as complaisances by the Holy See.
Postwar legacy.
On September 12, 1945, the Provisional Government of Poland declared the Concordat of 1925 null and void as a result of the "unilateral violation by the Holy See stemming from illegal conduct repudiating its principles during the occupation", primarily as a result of the appointment of German apostolic administrators in violation of article 9.
German prelates in Poland after the war were viewed as collaborators with the occupation. Carl Maria Splett, the bishop of Danzig and administrator of Chełmno, was tried for collaboration in January 1946. He was accused of aiding the persecution by suppressing the Polish language within his diocese and barring the return of Polish prelates even after they were released from the Nazi concentration camps. When he defended himself by claiming he was following the orders of the Gestapo, the prosecution retorted that he just as easily could say he was following the orders of the pope. On February 2, 1946, the special tribunal in Gdansk sentenced Splett to eight years in prison, denial of civil rights for five years and confiscation of property. The trial of Splett galvanised widespread anti-Vatican and anti Romam/Italian Curial sentiment among Polish Catholics.


Battle of Monte la Difensa

The Battle for Monte La Difensa, which took place between 3 December and 9 December 1943, occurred during "Operation Raincoat", part of the Battle for the Bernhardt Line during the Italian Campaign in World War II.
Background.
Monte La Difensa (also known as Hill 960) was one of the peaks forming the Camino hill mass which formed the left-hand "gatepost" dominating the Mignano Gap, key to the U.S. Fifth Army's route to Cassino and the Liri valley and thence to Rome. The mountain itself had become a stalemate for American and British troops because of the defenses employed by the German troops, part of the Bernhardt Line.
The battle.
The action was the first combat in the Italian theatre for the US-Canadian commando unit 1st Special Service Force. They were attached to the U.S. 36th Infantry Division. The 1st SSF used the special training that they had received in winter and mountain warfare to scale the mountain and overcome the Germans atop the stronghold. The cost for both sides was high though. The 1st Special Service Forces suffered a 77% casualty rate, but distinguished themselves by doing the seemingly impossible.
With the rest of 36th Division on 1st SSF's right attacking Monte Maggiore and British 56th Infantry Division (attacking Monte Camino) and British 46th Infantry Division on their left, it took 5 days heavy fighting for the Camino hill mass to be cleared. Casualties were high. After a pause to regroup the U.S. Fifth Army renewed its offensive but it took until mid-January to advance the to Cassino at the mouth of the Liri valley and the formidable Gustav Line defenses, where the Allies were halted by stubborn German defense until May 1944.


County of Salona


Passion Play of Stora Bjurum

The Passionsspelen på Stora Bjurum (The Passion Plays at Stora Bjurum) is a name for a famous incident in Sweden in 1738-1741, when the manor Bjurum in Västergötland became the center of a religious dissident sect. The dissident group was given support of the owner of the manor, countess Eva Margareta Stenbock. The movement excluded themselves from the church and practiced a form of socialism. In 1738, they were subjected to an investigation on behalf of the church, and the name of the incident refers to the passion play in which the female preacher Dordi Olofsdotter acted in the part of Christ. The movement was suppressed after Eva Margareta Stenbock subjected to reuniting with the church in 1741.
Movement.
The origin of the incident at Stora Bjurum was a movement founded in Vänersborg by a priest by the name of Lenberg some years before. The movement disliked the church and focused on a personal, internal religious service and interpretation of the bible. This teleology reached the parish of Bjurum with to female preachers from Främmestad: Kerstin Andersdotter and Dordi Olofsdotter. The Stora Bjurum was at the time owned by major count Erik Fredrik Stenbock (1686-1739), though the actual manager of the estate was his spouse, Eva Margareta Clerck (d. 1743). Eva Margareta Clerck became a follower of the movement, and gave its congregation refuge at the estate, which made Stora Bjurum the center of the cult. Among the members of the movement who came to Bjurum because of this were the dissident priests Nils Nabbelius and Sven Hulthén, the last of whom also opened a school there. Eva Margareta Clerck also encouraged the population in the surrounding countryside to join the movement with all sorts of privileges.
Investigation.
These activities were in fact illegal according to the then exciting law, konventikelplakatet, which banned private sermons. On 28 February 1738, Stora Bjurum was investigated by the authorities and a delegation from the consistory led by the vicar Sven Holmvall, who filed a report to the authorities.
According to the report, the members of the congregation lived in Stora Bjurum manor house. Many of them was reportedly sick and bedridden upon his arrival, but while he was there, the sick were miraculously cured by the dissident vicar Nils Nabbelius. Some of the sick reacted by convulsions, Religious ecstasy and condemnations of the clergy. It was pointed out, that siblings of opposite gender shared beds, and implied that the members of the congratulation participated in extramarital sex. Some of the members had vandalized the local church in Mårby, and one of them, Alita Sundberg, a female relative and ladies companion of the countess, had performed a sexual act by the church altar. Holmvall also witnessed a Passion Play, were a female, the female preacher Dordi Olofsdotter, acted in the part of Jesus Christ.
The end of the Passionsspelen på Stora Bjurum.
By the report, Stora Bjurum were classified as a place of dissident activity against the church. Countess Stenbock, Eva Margareta Clerck, were scandalized and banned from church. Upon the death of her spouse in 1739, she had him buried in Skara cathedral outside of the ceremonies of the church.
The authorities finally acted, however. The leading members of the movement, among them the preachers Kerstin Andersdotter and Dordi Olofsdotter, and the dissident priest Nils Nabbelius, were exiled from the parish - Nabbelius evidently married Kerstin. By Christmans 1740, most of the members had returned to the church: on 22 September, Eva Margareta Clerck herself also declared before the authorities that she herself was reunited with the church. In reality, however, she had been converted to the Moravian Church by one of its main missionaries in Sweden, Elias Östergren. She benefited the Moravian movement in Sweden until her death, and are regarded as one of three most notable converts which contributed to the rapid spread of the Moravian Church in Sweden in the mid 18th-century.


Ercavica

Ercavica (or Arcavica) was an important Roman City whose remains are visible today at the archaeological site.
It is situated on the hill of Santaver near Cañaveruelas in Spain.
History.
The site of the Roman city of Ercávica is located on a promontory near the river Guadiela. The Celtiberian city stood a few kilometres away on the opposite bank of the river, and was a military camp during the Sertorian war.
Ercávica is mentioned for the first time in connection with the campaign of 179 BC of Tiberius Gracchus on the lands of Celtiberians. Livy recounts how the powerful and famous city of Ercávica, scared by the disasters suffered by neighbours, decided to open its doors to the Romans.
The Roman city was developed from the 2nd century BC with regular street plan, a city wall and public and private buildings. The Augustan period saw the transformation of Ercávica with the construction of sophisticated buildings such as a forum, basilica and temple(s), and the grant of status of municipium as shown by coins issued by its mint. It reached its apogee of prosperity during the first and second centuries AD. From the 3rd century the city began a slow decline that led to the abandonment of the site between the fourth century and the fifth century. Then the site appears to be reoccupied again, but under the name of Arcávica mentioned in the Councils of Toledo as an episcopal see, before it was moved to Cuenca.
The Site.
The Forum, as the public and civic centre, is composed of a set of monumental buildings. The square is rectangular, paved with large stone slabs surrounded by arcades, and on its southern side the basilica for judicial functions. On the western side is a group of small houses or shops, open to the main road (cardo maximus) that ran from north to south. A monumental base and an extension of the forum on the eastern side stand over a two-storey cryptoporticus.
The town's houses in insulae are defined by cobbled streets and arcaded main roads perpendicular to the axis. The best known is the so-called Medical House, its rooms surrounding the atrium with impluvium with four columns.


Les Raboses

The archaeological site of Les Raboses is located on the mountain with the same name in the municipality of Albalat dels Tarongers (Baix Palancia). This deposit is framed chronologically in the Bronze Age.
History.
The site was found by the prospecting works carried out in the 1940s, by Andrés Monzo Nogues. The materials found in these surveys are being investigated and preserved by the "Servicio de Investigación Prehistórica" (SIP) de Valencia. The site was prospected and excavated again in 1987-89 by Eva Ripollés.
Location and environment.
The site of Les Raboses is inside the Camp de Morvedre region. Its location, on a hilltop is characteristic of the Bronze Age culture. Its environment is hilly and also frames the Palancia river basin, which has served as a communication hub between the interior and the coast since ancient times. It is delimited by the Garbí on the west and the mountains of Sant Esperit on the east. Their lithologies are formed by limestone materials and red sandstones, which are dominant. The top is elongated, and the site is very close to Barranco de Segart, which is a natural step between the Valle del Turia and Palancia.
Geomorphologically it belongs to structural domain of the Iberian System. The landscape is characterized by an abrupt relief, with heights below 600 meters, which corresponds to a mid-mountain environment. The Palancia river is the real structural axis of the region. Its rain regime is irregular, with large swings between summer and winter months.
Climatology and vegetation.
Orographic characteristics lead to different microclimates: thermomediterranean in the plains, mesomediterranean, with more rainfall, in shady areas and in the mountains . During the Sub-Boreal, humidity had been higher than it is today, so the species characteristics of a thermomediterranean / mesomediterranean floor (Quercus faginea, Pinus sylvestris, Quercus suber), growing at lower altitudes because of it.
Chronology.
The start of the use of the site of Les Raboses would be at some point during the Early and Middle Bronze Age, and it would not reach the Final Bronze.
Interpretation.
The extension excavated in Les Raboses is about 90 m2. The potential of the site is large and it is estimated that its surface may be 2500 m2. The available space was modified by building structures, based on four terracing walls, which would create the space used for the construction of rooms and entries or passageways. The upper platform of the site was occupied by a room structure, which used the face of the first terracing wall as an internal wall. The lower zone would consist of a solid trapezoidal structure, with a possible controlling or defensive function. The materials used in construction are local rodeno slabs, limestone blocks of the very top, land, clays and plant cover elements, which are reflected in the imprints.
In some nearby sites of the Bronze Age, as the Puntal de Cambra (Villar del Arzobispo), the Lloma de Betxí (Paterna), Muntanya Assolada (Alzira) or Mola de Agres, the presence of important buildings that required a huge collective effort is noticed, so it may be guessed that certain hierarchical elements that coordinate these efforts had existed.


List of ancient peoples of Portugal

In what is today's mainland Portugal territory, before the rule of the Roman Empire, several peoples and tribes were living there for many centuries and they had their own culture, language and political organization (tribal chiefdoms, tribal confederations and early forms of kingdoms and states), these peoples and tribes were in the Iron Age.
Nearly all or maybe all of these peoples and tribes were Celtic Indo-Europeans (Hispano-Celtic/Iberian Celts), Pre-Celtic Indo-Europeans or heavily celticized peoples.
Although there is today a strong identification of the Lusitanians with the territory of modern Portugal, not all the territory were dwelt by the Lusitanians, they were themselves a tribal confederation (they dwelt mainly between the rivers Tagus and Douro in central Portugal, Beira and Estremadura, and parts of the Spanish western Extremadura), other peoples and tribes speaking other languages and with distinct cultures (although related to some point) also lived in the centre, south and north of the modern Portuguese territory. It was the number and predominance of the Lusitanians regarding other peoples and tribes that caused this identification.
With the Roman conquest, the modern territory of Portugal south of the Douro river belonged to the Hispania Ulterior province. After that, in 27 BC, it was created the province of Lusitania (by Augustus) that initially covered the entire western side of the Iberian peninsula including Gallaecia and Asturias, but soon after, these later territories, north of the Douro river, were incorporated in the Hispania Tarraconensis province, an administrative division that lasted until the end of the Roman Empire. The province of Lusitania corresponded roughly with the territories of the Lusitanians (Lusitani), the Turduli Oppidani, the Vettones, the Celtici and the Cynetes and also of the Gallaeci and the Astures for a short period of time.
After the fall of the West Roman Empire, the name Lusitania continued to be used for administrative purposes but in the 9th century CE the name Portugal (a place name that started to be used in the territories north of the Douro river in south Gallaecia) started to be applied to the name of a county, the County of Portucale, and then, after independence from the Kingdom of León, to the all the country, replacing the name Lusitania by the name Portugal.
Peoples and tribes that lived in the territory of modern Portugal.
Tribes, often known by their Latin names, living in the area of modern Portugal, prior to Roman rule:


Ladies Merit Cross

The Ladies Merit Cross ("Frauenverdienstkreuz") was founded on 22 October 1907 by King William II of Prussia as a two-class Ladies Order and to reward women and young women, who worked in the field of charity, or in a religious or social field, who rendered outstanding had personal self-sacrificing service. The award was ranked just behind the Order of Louise. To be awarded the first class, a member must have held the second class for ten years. In exceptional cases, this requirement could be waived. The insignia were returnable upon death.
Description of the award.
The badge is made of gold in the first class and of silver for the second class medallion. In the center is a cross fleury with stylized cornflowers between the arms of the cross. The medallion is framed by a string of pearls and is surmounted by a crown. On the edge of the medallion is the blue enameled inscription FÜR VERDIENSTE (For Merit). On the lower half of the edge are laurel branches flanking the intertwined letters AV (Augusta Victoria). The insignia of the order was worn on a white bow on the left chest.


The Nation (Irish newspaper)

The Nation was an Irish nationalist weekly newspaper, published in the 19th century. "The Nation" was printed first at 12 Trinity Street, Dublin from 15 October 1842 until 6 January 1844. The paper was afterwards published at 4 D'Olier Street from 13 July 1844, to 28 July 1848, when the issue for the following day was seized and the paper suppressed. It was published again in Middle Abbey Street on its revival in September 1849.
Background.
The founders of "The Nation" were three young men – two Catholics and one Protestant – who, according to the historian of the newspaper T. F. O'Sullivan, were all "free from the slightest taint of bigotry, and were anxious to unite all creeds and classes for the country's welfare.". They were Charles Gavan Duffy, its first editor; Thomas Davis, and John Blake Dillon. All three were members of Daniel O'Connell's Repeal Association, which sought repeal of the 1800 Act of Union between Ireland and Britain; this association would later be known as Young Ireland.The name suggested by Duffy for the paper was "The National", but Davis disagreed, suggesting "that the use of an adjective for such a purpose was contrary to the analogies of the English language". He suggested "The Nation", which was assented to by all three. "We desired to make Ireland a nation", Duffy wrote, "and the name would be a fitting prelude to the attempt.". In due course and after many other consultations between the founders, the following announcement was made as to the date of publication, the name of the journal, and the contributors:.
On the first Saturday in October will be published the first number of a;
DUBLIN WEEKLY JOURNAL
TO BE CALLED
"THE NATION",
for which the services of the most eminent political writers in the country have been secured.
It will be edited by
Charles Gavan Duffy, Editor of "The Vindicator (Ulster Newspaper)", aided by the, following distinguished contributors:—
JOHN O'CONNELL, ESQ., M.P.;
Thomas Osborne Davis, Esq., Barrister-at-Law;
W. J. O'Neill Daunt, Esq., Author of "The Green Book",
John B. Dillon, Esq., Barrister-at-Law
Clarence Mangan, Esq., Author of "Anthologia Germanica" and "Litterae Orientales";
The Late Editor of the "London Magazine" and "Charivari,"
J. C. Fitzgerald, Editor of "The True Sun",
And others whose names we are not at liberty
to publish.
The paper was first published on Saturday 15 October 1842.
The Prospectus of "The Nation".
In the Prospectus, which was written by Davis with the exception of one sentence, it was stated,
The projectors of the "NATION" have been told that there is no room in Ireland for another Liberal Journal; but they think differently. They believe that since the success of the long and gallant struggle which our fathers maintained against sectarian ascendancy, a NEW MIND has grown up amongst us, which longs to redress other wrongs and achieve other victories; and that this mind has found no adequate expression in the press.
The Liberal Journals of Ireland were perhaps never more ably conducted than at this moment; but their tone and spirit are not of the present but the past;—their energies are shackled by old habits, old prejudices, and old divisions; and they do not and cannot keep in the van of the advancing people.
The necessities of the country seem to demand a Journal able to aid and organise the new movements going on amongst us—to make their growth deeper, and their fruit 'more racy of the soil'— and, above all, to direct the popular mind and the sympathies of educated men of all parties to the great end of nationality. Such a Journal should be free from the quarrels, the interests, the wrongs, and even the gratitude of the past. It should be free to apply its strength where it deems best— free to praise—free to censure; unshackled by sect or party; able, Irish, and independent.
Holding these views, the projectors of the "Nation" cannot think that a Journal, prepared to undertake this work, will be deemed superfluous; and as they labour, not for themselves but for their country, they are prepared, if they do not find a way open, to try if they cannot make one.
Nationality is their first object—a nationality which will not only raise our people from their poverty, by securing to them the blessings of a domestic legislature, but inflame and purify them with a lofty and heroic love of country—a nationality of the spirit as well as the letter—a nationality which may come to be stamped upon our manners, our literature, and our deeds—a nationality which may embrace Protestant, Catholic, and Dissenter, Milesian and Cromwellian, the Irishman of a hundred generations, and the stranger who is within our gates; not a nationality which would preclude civil war, but which would establish internal union and external independence—a nationality which would be recognised by the world, and sanctified by wisdom, virtue, and time.
As could be seen from the prospectus, as political objectives went, the programme was certain to be of immense assistance to Daniel O'Connell in his efforts to revive the agitation for Repeal, but O'Connell also knew and felt that he was receiving, for the present, a powerful support from them; but he knew also, that they were outside of his influence, and did not implicitly believe that Repeal would be yielded to "agitation"; that they were continually seeking, by their writings, to arouse a military spirit among the people; showing plainly, that while they helped the Repeal Association, they fully expected that the liberties of the country must be fought for in the end: it was in appearance only that they worked in harmony.
John Mitchel joined the staff of "The Nation" in the autumn of 1845. On Mitchel's frequent trips from Banbridge, Co Down to Dublin, he had come in contact with the Repeal members who gathered about "The Nation" office and in the spring of 1843 he became a member of the Repeal Association. For the next two years Mitchel wrote political and historical articles and reviews for "The Nation". He covered a wide range of subjects, including the Great Famine, on which he contributed some influential articles which attracted significant attention.
Mitchel resigned his position as leader writer on "The Nation", he himself wrote years afterwards, because he came to regard as "absolutely necessary a more vigorous policy against the English Government than that which William Smith O'Brien, Charles Gavan Duffy and other Young Ireland leaders were willing to pursue". In 1847, when he severed his connection with "The Nation", he wrote, "I had watched the progress of the famine policy of the Government, and could see nothing in it but a machinery, deliberately devised, and skillfully worked, for the entire subjugation of the island—the slaughter of portion of the people, and the pauperization of the rest", and he had therefore "come to the conclusion that the whole system ought to be met with resistance at every point, and the means for this would be extremely simple, namely, a combination among the people to obstruct and render impossible the transport and shipment of Irish provisions; to refuse all aid to its removal; to destroy the highways; to prevent everyone, by intimidation, from daring to bid for grain and cattle if brought to auction under 'distress' (a method of obstruction which put an end to Church tithes before); in short, to offer a passive resistance universally; but occasionally, when opportunity served, to try the steel." To recommend such a course would be extremely hazardous, and was besides in advance of the revolutionary progress made up to that time by Mr. Duffy, the proprietor of "The Nation", Mitchel therefore resigned from the journal, and started his own paper, "The United Irishman".
Women wrote for the paper, and published under pseudonyms such as Mary (Ellen Mary Patrick Dowling); Speranza (Jane Elgee, Lady Wilde, Oscar Wilde's mother), known universally as "Speranza" of "The Nation"; and Eva (Mary Eva Kelly, who would marry Kevin Izod O'Doherty). These three were known as the "Three Graces" of "The Nation." Eithne (Marie Thompson), Finola (Elizabeth Willoughby Treacy), Ruby (Rose Kavanagh) and Thomasine (Olivia Knight) were others. In July 1848 Jane Wilde and Margaret Callan assumed editorial control of "The Nation" during Gavan Duffy's imprisonment in Newgate.
The role played by some of its key figures in the paper in the ill-fated Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848 cemented the paper's reputation as the voice of Irish radicalism. Dillon was a central figure in the revolt and was sentenced to death, the sentence later commuted. He fled Ireland, escaping first to France and, eventually, to the United States, where he served the New York Bar.
Its triumvirate of founders followed differing paths. Davis died, aged 30, in 1845. Both Dillon and Duffy became MPs in the British House of Commons. Duffy emigrated to Australia where he became premier of the state of Victoria, later being knighted as a Knight Commander of St Michael and St George (KCMG). Dillon died in 1866. His son, John Dillon became leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party and his grandson, James Dillon, leader of Fine Gael.
"The Nation" continued to be published until 1900, when it merged with the "Irish Weekly Independent". Later political figures associated with the paper included TD Sullivan and JJ Clancy.


Ancient history of Switzerland


Hassegau

The Hassegau was a medieval shire ("Gau") in the Eastphalia region of the Duchy of Saxony. It was located in the duchy's southeastern corner; confined by the Saale river to the east and its Unstrut and Wipper tributaries to the south and north. Its most important town was Merseburg. In present-day borders, it is in the southeastern part of Saxony-Anhalt.
The Hassegau was bordered by the Saxon shires of Schwabengau ("Suavia") in the north and Friesenfeld in the west. The Friesenfeld is considered a distinct shire by some sources, but in other sources it is considered part of the Hassegau. In the southwest, it bordered on the Engilin shire of Thuringia. The lands beyond the Saale river in the east were settled by Polabian Slavs (Wends); they were incorporated into the Saxon Eastern March from the early 10th century onwards and divided into the adjacent "Gaue" of Nudzici (including the burgward of Wettin), Chutizi (later merged into the March of Merseburg) and Weitaha.
The meaning of the name Hassegau is unclear; but it may be derived from the Hesse region in the Duchy of Franconia, since several nearby shires have names that are clearly derived from other distant Germanic tribes (Schwabengau, Friesenfeld, Engilin). Possibly, these names signify the tribes that colonized the areas and most estates in the Hassegau were tributary to Hersfeld Abbey in Hesse.
In the mid 10th century, King Otto I established the County Palatine of Saxony in parts of the Hassegau. In 968, he founded the Bishopric of Merseburg, which had as temporal property inside the Hassegau only the town of Merseburg itself, where Merseburg Cathedral was erected from 1015 onwards. In the northern part of the shire, the comital House of Mansfeld established itself in the 11th century. By the year 1200, the shire had completely disintegrated, and apart from the Merseburg bishopric and the County of Mansfeld, parts of it belonged to the Archbishopric of Magdeburg (Halle) and the Lordship of Querfurt.
One Dedi ("Theti") is mentioned as Count in the Hassegau in a 949 deed issued by King Otto I. His successors included members of the noble houses of Wettin and Mansfeld, among others. In 1017 the Wettin count Theodoric II received the Hassegau from the hands of Emperor Henry II for his support in the German–Polish. In 1029 Margrave Herman I of Meissen was appointed count in the Hassegau and the adjacent Chutizi territory by Emperor Conrad II. In 1069, King Henry IV ceded large parts of the territory to Count Hoyer of Mansfeld.


2005 in Poland

Events during the year 2005 in Poland.


33rd European Film Awards

The 33rd European Film Awards was scheduled to be presented in Reykjavík, Iceland on December 12, 2020. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic the Awards took place as a virtual ceremony without an audience, broadcast and streamed from the European Film Academy’s seat, Berlin, on Saturday, 12 December 2020. The European Film Academy (EFA), the Mayor of Reykjavik and the Icelandic Minister of Education, Science and Culture decided to cancel the event in the Icelandic capital in December 2020 and announced that instead the 35th European Film Awards Ceremony will be presented in Reykjavik in December 2022.
Selection.
Feature.
The list of feature-length fiction films recommended for a nomination for the 2020 European Film Awards.
Short Film.
The European Short Film 2020 is presented in co-operation with the following 24 European film festivals. At each of the festivals, the jury of the international competition appointed by the festival chooses a single candidate (there shall be no ex-aequo candidates). Then the participating festivals nominate five short films from the list of 24 candidates.
Awards voted by EFA Members.
Nomination has been announced on November 10th, 2020.
Feature.
European Comedy.
The nominees were announced on 27 October 2020. The nominations were determined by a committee consisting of EFA Board Members Katriel Schory (Israel) and Angela Bosch Ríus (Spain), director/screenwriter Paddy Breathnach (Ireland), festival programmer Markus Duffner (Germany/Italy) and distributor/festival programmer Selma Mehadžić (Croatia).
Animated Feature.
The nominations were determined by a committee consisting of EFA Board Member EFA Board Member Béatrice Thiriet (France), director Anca Damian (Romania), producer Antonio Saura (Spain) and, representing CARTOON, the European Association of Animation Film, Diogo Carvalho (producer, Portugal), Camilla Deakin (producer, UK) and Norbert Laporte (institutional, Luxembourg).
Critics Award.
European Discovery - Prix FIPRESCI.
The nominees were announced on 8 October 2020. The nominations were determined by a committee composed of EFA Board Members Valérie Delpierre (Spain) and Anita Juka (Croatia), curator Giona A. Nazzaro (Italy) as well as film critics Marta Balaga (Finland/Poland), Andrei Plakhov (Russia) and Frédéric Ponsard (France), all three as representatives of FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics.
Audience awards.
University Award.
The European Film Academy and Filmfest Hamburg have announced five following movies as a European University Film Award (EUFA) nominee.
Technical awards.
The winners for the Excellence Awards were presented on December 9, 2020.


Neman culture

The archaeological Neman culture (or German Memel-Kultur) existed from the 7th to 3rd millennium BC, starting in the Mesolithic and continued into the middle Neolithic. It was located in the upper basin of the Neman River (present-day northern Poland, southern Lithuania, western Belarus and Kaliningrad Oblast). In the north, the Neman culture bordered the Kunda culture during the Mesolithic and the Narva culture during the Neolithic.
Mesolithic.
During the Atlantic period, the climate warmed and broad-leaved tree forests covered much of the territory. The migrating reindeer, mainstay of the Paleolithic hunters, retreated to the North and were followed by forest animals. The people adapted to the changed environment. They were still nomadic, but traveled shorter distances and stayed in the same place for longer periods. The archaeologists found small camps used just once and larger camps to which hunters returned repeatedly. These camps were usually located near lakes or rivers. The people used to hunt with arrows and spears and fish with harpoons. The flint tools of Mesolithic Neman culture were influenced both by microliths from southeastern Europe and macroliths from northern Europe (Maglemosian culture). Therefore, the culture was initially called Microlithic–Macrolithic culture to avoid confusion with the already established Neolithic Neman culture. Despite variety of influences, the culture was rather stable for 2500–3000 years indicating no significant migrations. Therefore, the artifacts are rather unvaried stock of arrowheads, trapezoid blades, oval axes.
Neolithic.
The Neolithic began with the appearance of pottery in mid 5th millennium BC. The Semi-Neolithic Neman culture was a successor of the Mesolithic Neman culture. Most of flint tools are very similar between both cultures. A new widespread development was knives with sharpened and flared point. Pottery of the Neman culture had pointed bottoms and was made of clay mixed with organic matter or crushed quartzite. Some latter examples have flat bottoms. The vessels were a bit narrower and curvier than of the Narva culture. They were decorated with a thin layer of white clay and rows of small imprints around the rim. The rest of the vessel had diagonal stripes forming a pattern of a fishnet or more rows of small imprints. Some pottery found in settlements of the Neman culture was made by Narva culture. Such phenomenon is explained by trade of flint, which Narva culture in the north did not have. Towards the end of the Neman culture, the pottery became more varied and exhibits influence of the Rzucewo culture: imprints made by a cord or resembling a fir. Eventually, the culture was overtaken by the Corded Ware culture and the Globular Amphora culture.


Drengot family

The Drengots were a Norman family of mercenaries, one of the first to head to the Mezzogiorno of Italy to fight in the service of the Lombards. They became the most prominent family after the Hautevilles.
Origins.
The family came from Carreaux, near Avesnes-en-Bray, east of Rouen. From "Quarrelis" or "Quadrellis", the Latin for Carreaux, the family gets its alternate name of "de Quarrel."
The first members of the family known are five brothers. Four of these accompanied their one exiled brother, Osmond, who had murdered one of Duke Richard I of Normandy's hunting companions. Sources diverge as to just who among the brothers was leader on the trip to the south. Orderic Vitalis and William of Jumièges name Osmond. Ralph Glaber names Rudolph. Leo of Ostia, Amatus of Montecassino, and Adhemar of Chabannes name Gilbert Buatère. According to most south Italian sources, this last was designated leader for the Battle of Cannae in 1018. The remaining brothers were Asclettin and Ranulf, probably the younger sons. Some sources, like Glaber, claim that the band of 250 Norman warriors stopped in Rome to meet Pope Benedict VIII. They then moved on to one of the Lombard capitals: Salerno or Capua. From there they joined with Melus of Bari, the leader of the Lombard rebels in Apulia.
Rise.
The Drengot Normans were successful with Melus until their defeat at Cannae in 1018. After that the Emperor Henry II came down in 1022 and pacified the region, maintaining the "status quo ante" between Greek and Lombard, he donated to a nephew of Melus some land in the county of Comino, in the valley of the Garigliano. This nephew of Melus brought with him many of the Norman mercenaries, including the Drengots, excepting Rudolph, who returned with some men to Normandy.
The Drengots did not rise to great heights under the elder sons, Gilbert dying at Cannae and Rudolph returning to France. It was the young, but ruthless, Ranulf who brought them to great heights. He happily employed his men in support of the ousted duke of Naples, Sergius IV, in 1029. When Sergius returned to power, he gave Ranulf not only his sister in marriage, but also the town and environs of Aversa. Ranulf immediately took to fortifying the hilltop town and the first Norman state in Italy was born.
In 1042, Asclettin, who had thrown his lot in with the Hautevilles, was granted Acerenza in a twelvefold division of the conquest in Apulia.
Rule in Capua.
By far the most significant event in the familial history of the Drengot clan was the conquest of the principality of Capua in 1058. In 1057, Pandulf VI died and Richard, the son of Asclettin, immediately besieged the city of Capua. It surrendered the next year, but Richard, though he took the princely title, left the city in the hands of its rightful prince, Landulf VIII, until 1062.
Richard also established his suzerainty over Gaeta in 1058 and sent his son, Jordan, to take possession of the city in 1062, though this wasn't accomplished until 1064. Richard and Jordan worked to expand Drengot power to the north, in Latium and the Abruzzi. They formed the only counter to the power of the Hauteville, then conquering Calabria and Sicily. The papacy thus turned to the princes of Capua to defend them and Richard and Jordan became popemakers: they imposed, by military force, the papal candidates of Hildebrand and the Reformers. In 1077, Richard, then the equal of Robert Guiscard, began to besiege Naples, but died in 1078. Jordan did not continue the siege, but during his reign, the Drengot influence declined in proportion to that of the Hautevilles, who finished their conquests in Sicily and the expulsion of the Greeks from the peninsula.
From 1092 to 1098, the Drengots were expelled from Capua by the Lombard citizenry. After their reinstallation, the dynasty declined more and more in relative power. They still attempted to defend the papacy, but to little success. They were forced to make submission to the duke of Apulia and then the king of Sicily. Robert II of Capua revolted against the latter and spent his life trying, with the aid of Emperor and Pope, to retake his principality, but to no avail. He died in 1156 and the Drengot power was completely broken.
Genealogy.
The five known brothers and their descendants:
Ranulf Trincanocte, count of Aversa, was a son of a sibling of Asclettin of Acerenza. Whether this sibling was one of his known four brothers or another brother or a sister is unknown. He had a son Herman who was also count of Aversa.


Giacomo Vuxani

Giacomo Vuxani (Arbanasi, July 20, 1886 – Trieste, April 7, 1964) was an Italian politician and patriot born in the Arbanasi village of Borgo Erizzo (now Arbanasi), a suburb of Zadar.
After attending classical grammar school, he enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the University of Graz in 1910, and from 1916 to 1918 he was assigned to the command of operations of the Austro-Hungarian army in Albania where he performed the functions of interpreter. In May 1919, he took up service in the Prefecture of Zadar and in that same year he participated in "Impresa di Fiume" as a volunteer. In 1937 he was awarded the title of Cavaliere dell'Ordine della Corona d'Italia.
The Italian government sent him to Albania in 1940 on an organizational mission and in 1942 he took on the duties of Permanent Councilor at the "Ministero delle Terre Liberate", governed by Eqrem Vlora. On April 16, 1943, he resumed service at the Prefecture of Zadar. When the Anglo-American air bombings of December 16 and December 30 1943 razed a large part of the city to the ground, Vuxani remained in his place as Prefectural Commissioner to the Municipality and took care of the population.
On October 28, 1944, Prefect Coceani from the Trieste commune sent a telegram to Zadar, in which the Ministry of the Interior of Salò ordered the Head of the Province Serrentino to abandon the city. Vuxani remained the last Italian authority in Zadar when it was occupied by the Yugoslav troops on 31 October 1944. Arrested the next day on 1 November, he was put to trial several times and sentenced to death, but in the end the partisans decided to free him by delivering him on Christmas Eve to his son-in-law Giovanni Minak.
After being freed, against all caution, he continued to care for the Italian population and, following his courageous interventions, repatriated about 950 Italians from Zadar from January - June 1947. In 1948 he obtained the decree of Italian citizenship and, following the options provided by the Treaty of Peace, he returned to Italy bringing with him the "Gonfalone di Zara". After a brief period in the refugee camp of Massa, he resumed service at the Prefecture of Ferrara, and later at the Prefecture of Trieste until 1955.


Valkininkai

Valkininkai () is a historic town in (Valkininkai) eldership, Varėna district municipality, Alytus County, Lithuania, located about northeast from Varėna and about southwest from Vilnius. At the 2001 census its population was 238 and at the 2011 census it was 229.
The town is situated on the confluence of Merkys River with its tributaries Šalčia and Geluža. About east of Valkininkai there is Valkininkų Geležinkelio Stotis, a settlement that grew around a train station on the Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway and now has more residents.
History.
It is believed that Valkininkai was first mentioned in a letter from Grand Duke Jogaila to his brother Skirgaila in 1387. The settlement developed on a large island (since then disappeared) in Merkys River. Situated near the Hrodna–Varėna–Vilnius route, the settlement had a royal estate that Grand Dukes used as a hunting lodge. The route further grew in importance after the 1385 Union of Krewo as it connected the Lithuanian capital in Vilnius with the Polish capital in Kraków. In 1418, Grand Duke Vytautas the Great gifted the estate to his wife Juliana Olshanska. In 1503, the town was mentioned as a seat of a volost. In 1516, King Sigismund I the Old accepted envoys of Charles, King of Spain and future Holy Roman Emperor in Valkininkai.
A royal cannon foundry, established in 1551 and powered by a watermill, is credited for the growth of the town. Needed iron ore was collected in local swamps and imported from abroad. During the Wallach reform, craftsmen were given land and relocated from the town to nearby villages, which were often named after their craft. Such villages included Čebatoriai (shoemakers), Puodžiai (kettle makers), Kaniūkai (hostlers), Juodieji Kalviai (blacksmiths), Strielčiai (bowmen). In 1571, Valkininkai was granted city rights under Magdeburg law (the privilege was later renewed in 1723 and 1792). According to 1601 register, the town had 150 families (900–1050 people), 19 butchers, 89 pubs, and 157 craftsmen. The town grew as a trade and craft center and attracted the first Jewish settlers.
Valkininkai suffered from a series of wars. The town was devastated during the Second Northern War (1655–1660) and lost 75–80% of the population. The royal cannon foundry was looted and closed. In 1701, during the Lithuanian Civil War between Sapieha family and other magnates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a major battle was fought near the town. The town somewhat recovered, and its population reached about 800 residents in 1749 and 949 residents (including 273 Jews) in 1790. Within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Valkininkai was part of Trakai Voivodeship. In 1795, Valkininkai was annexed by the Russian Empire in the course of the Third Partition of Poland. In 1812, the town was ravaged by Napoleon I armies during the French invasion of Russia. Instances of famine, caused by the war, were recorded as late as 1822. Completion of the Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway in 1862 and increased demand for local timber helped the town to recover and grow: the population increased from 1516 in 1841 to 2619 (including 1126 Jews) in 1897. However, industrialization was slow: a large paper and cardboard factory, employing some 100 people, was established in the last decade of the 19th century and a turpentine factory (10–14 employees) was established in 1923. The population decreased to 1244 in 1919. Around 400 Jews from Valkininkai were executed in Eišiškės in September 1941 by Rollkommando Hamann and only five Jews (four of them hidden by friendly Lithuanians) survived World War II. After the war the population decreased to 769 in 1959, 410 in 1970, and 277 in 1987.
Religion.
The first church was built in the early 16th century. In 1581, Queen Bona Sforza built a new Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and established a parish with the seat in Valkininkai. The wooden church burned down in 1655 and 1772, and was wrecked by a storm in 1818. The present-day brick and stone church was built in 1823–1837 in Neoclassical style. In 1896–1898, the length of the church increased twofold when a transept and apse were added, giving the church traditional cross-shaped floor plan. The central nave has a cylindrical vault; the original construction plan envisioned a small dome, but it was never built. From 1910 to 1916, Vladas Mironas, future Prime Minister of Lithuania, was the pastor at Valkininkai church. The church displays sacred relics of Boniface of Tarsus, a 4th-century martyr, whose body was excavated from Roman catacombs and transported to Lithuania in 1765.
In 1635 or 1636, Franciscan friars established a monastery, which became the most prominent structure in the town. It was closed in 1832 after the failed November Uprising against the Russian Empire and turned into military barracks. After the January Uprising of 1863, the former monastery church was turned into a parish church of the Eastern Orthodox, even the new parish had only 75 Orthodox believers, mostly Russian officials. Such decision was part of wider Russification campaign, that included the Lithuanian press ban. In 1883, the Orthodox church was reconstructed and acquired features of Byzantine Revival. During World War I most of the Orthodox community evacuated to Russia and the church was abandoned. However, it was not returned to the Catholics – the church was transformed into a hall for dances, concerts, and plays. During World War II, Germans used the former monastery as a camp for war prisoners. In 1944, the monastery and its church were burned down and demolished.
The Jewish community built a wooden synagogue in Valkininkai at the end of the 18th century. It was rebuilt in 1801. According to a legend, Napoleon stopped in the town during his invasion of Russia and was greeted by the Jewish community. Impressed with the hospitality Napoleon gifted his red velvet saddle pad, richly decorated and bearing his initials. The gift was prominently displayed in the synagogue. In 1880, a smaller synagogue was built nearby. The synagogues were burned during the first days of the occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany.
Architecture.
The urban layout, which formed in the 16th century and is preserved to this day, was declared an urban monument and is protected by the state. Most valuable monuments are the street grid and main market square. The market square formed at the crossing of four main roads. It is long (its length is 8 times its width) and irregularly triangle.
Coat of arms.
Valkininkai together with 73 other towns was granted city rights and coat of arms in 1792 by King Stanisław August Poniatowski during the Four-Year Sejm. The arms depicted a golden lion with silver tongue, teeth, and nails. The shield was surrounded by two laurel branches with red berries. The arms and city rights were abolished the same year after the Second Partition of Poland–Lithuania. The coat of arms were modernized by artist Taida Balčiūnaitė and reinstated by a presidential decree in February 1993.


Galabri

The Galabrii (Ancient Greek: Γαλάβριοι) were a Romanized Thraco-Illyrian tribe of Dardania alongside the Thunatae. They held a region in what is now eastern Kosovo, southern Serbia and northern Macedonia, the towns of "Vendenae", between "Ad Fines" (Kuršumlija) and "Viminacium" (Kostolac), "Vicinianum" between "Vendenae" and "Theranda", "Tranupara" between "Astibus" (Štip) and "Scupi" (Skopje)
Strabo writes that they are a "people of the Dardaniatae, in whose land is an ancient city."
The tribe has been connected to Calabria in southern Italy.


Macedonian refugees in Atalanti

The Macedonian refugees in Atalanti were a compact population from the Macedonia region, settled in the town of Atalanti after the establishment of the independent Kingdom of Greece.
On November 5, 1826, at the port of Atalanti, arrived the "Thessalomacedonians" (Θεσσαλομακεδόνες) refugees, led by Angelis Gatsos (Angel Gatzo) and Anastasios Karatasos, organized with the aid of Ioannis Kolettis. In 1829, 545 Macedonian families or 2,436 people were accommodated in Skopelos.
Between February and March 1831, 150 captains with their men fled from Thessaloniki to southern parts of Greece and the government of Ioannis Kapodistrias received and accommodated them in Atalanti.
A royal decree of March 20, 1835, affirmed that 370 Macedonian refugees were granted the right to settle in Atalanti, freeing up of state land for cultivation and food. Subsequently, other Macedonian refugees settled in Atalanti, and all of them were granted state-owned timber for the construction of houses.
By royal decree of April 25, old style, or May 7, 1837, Macedonians were granted the right of self-government - in this case, against the existing local Greek community. This provoked protest by the mayor and as a result the formation of two parallel self-governing communities, with no analogue in the territory of the Kingdom of Greece. Immediately after the royal decree, philanthropist Konstantinos Bellios donated 2000 books to the local "Macedonian library".
The district in Atalanti for the Macedonian Greeks was the former "Turkish neighborhood" (Τουρκομαχαλάς), officially renamed to Pella or "Nea Pella/i". In 1859 Simon Sinas was declared also honorable citizen of Nea Pelli.


Ivan Gannibal

Ivan Abramovich Gannibal (; June 5, 1735 – October 12, 1801) was an eminent Russian military leader. He was the son of military commander, general and engineer Abram Petrovich Gannibal, as well as the great-uncle of Russia's most famous poet, Alexander Pushkin.
Gannibal led a detachment of the Imperial Black Sea Fleet, which besieged and captured the Turkish fortress of Navarin during the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774), and took part in the founding of the city of Kherson. Gannibal's ultimate military rank was Général en Chef.
Early life.
Gannibal was the oldest of 10 children born to Abram Gannibal and his Swedish-German wife Christina Regina Siöberg in Karjaküla, Reval Governorate, Russian Empire (presently in Estonia). Gannibal was destined for a military career from an early age, entering the Naval Artillery School in the imperial capital at the age of 9. He would eventually graduate from the Naval Academy and join the Imperial Russian Navy as an officer.
Russo-Turkish War.
At the height of the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774, the 34-year-old Gannibal, in the rank of Brigadier, took a leading role in the siege and capture of the Ottoman fortress of Navarino in the Peloponnese.
The Russian Mediterranean Expeditionary Force under the command of Count Alexey Grigoryevich Orlov sent a squadron of ships toward Navarino in April 1770. Three of the vessels were sent toward shore with a forward force of 300 men and a number of artillery pieces, under Gannibal's command. The forward force commenced an artillery barrage on the fortress, eventually forcing its surrender on 10 April 1770 after several days of bombardment. The Russians would use Navarino as a temporary naval base for the following months. Gannibal was awarded the Order of St. George, third degree, for his actions in the siege of Navarino.
Gannibal also took part in the Battle of Chesma (near Chios) in July 1770. During the battle he was aboard the battleship "St. Eustathius" (), which exploded and sank as a result of the intense action. Gannibal had to be rescued from the water after the explosion.
Later military career.
In 1772 Gannibal was promoted to Major-General, and in 1776 he was given in the command of the entire naval artillery in the Imperial Navy. The following year, 1777, he was appointed by Empress Catherine II to a seat in the Russian Admiralty, the supreme governing body of the Imperial Navy.
Kherson.
In 1778 Gannibal was appointed commander of the Kherson fortress, which he was tasked with building along with the surrounding city, on the order of Catherine II. He took to the task with zeal, erecting a functioning fortress and port within a relatively short period of time. For his efforts in the founding and building of Kherson, the Empress bestowed upon Gannibal the Order of St. Vladimir, first class (1780), the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky (1781), a jewel-encrusted snuff box decorated with a portrait of the Empress herself, and a 20,000-desiatina estate southwest of Kherson, now within the town of Bilozerka.
Gannibal is considered to be one of the founders of the city of Kherson. One of the squares of Kherson bears his name.
End of life.
Gannibal retired from the army in 1784, having fallen out with Prince Grigory Potyomkin. His ultimate rank was Général en Chef, the same rank as his father two decades before.
Gannibal retired to his father's estate (and final resting place) in the village of Suyda near the capital city. There he died, childless and a lifelong bachelor, in 1801. He was buried in the Lazarevskoe Cemetery in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
Decorations.
Gannibal received the following decorations from the Crown:
Gannibal in literature.
Gannibal's great-nephew Alexander Pushkin devoted to his great-uncle a paragraph in his partial autobiography (1834) and a quatrain in his poem, "My Genealogy" (1830):


Order of the Crown (Prussia)

The Royal Order of the Crown () was a Prussian order of chivalry. Instituted in 1861 as an honour equal in rank to the Order of the Red Eagle, membership could only be conferred upon commissioned officers (or civilians of approximately equivalent status), but there was a medal associated with the order which could be earned by non-commissioned officers and enlisted men.
Officially the Order of the Red Eagle and the Order of the Crown were equal. Most officials did however prefer to be appointed in the older Order of the Red Eagle. The Order of the Crown was often used as an award for someone who had to be rewarded while the Prussian government did not want to use the Order of the Red Eagle.
The Order had six classes:
Insignia.
The "badge" of the Order for the 1st to 4th classes was a gilt cross pattée, with white enamel (except for the 4th Class, which was plain). The obverse gilt central disc bore the crown of Prussia, surrounded by a blue enamel ring bearing the motto of the German Empire "Gott Mit Uns" (God With Us). The reverse gilt disc has the Prussian royal monogram, surrounded by a blue enamel ring with the date 18 October 1861.
The "star" of the Order was (for Grand Cross) a gilt eight-pointed star, (for 1st Class) a silver eight-pointed star, or (for 2nd Class) a silver four-pointed star, all with straight rays. The gilt central disc again bore the crown of Prussia, surrounded by a blue enamel ring bearing the motto "Gott Mit Uns".
The "ribbon" of the Order was blue.
The insignias of the order could be awarded in dozens of variations. For example with superimposed Cross of Geneva (Red Cross - normally given to doctors for meritorious service), with swords and with oak leaves.
List of Knights.
The following lists show a fair cross section of individuals who were known to be conferred membership of the Order in its several classes, in order of precedence. (The following is only a partial list and may expand over time, with further research.)


Stefan Radoslav

Stefan Radoslav (; 1192 – after 1235), also known as Stephanos Doukas (), was the King of Serbia, from 1228 to 1233.
Family.
Stefan was the eldest son of Stefan Nemanjić (r. 1196–1228), by his first wife Eudokia Angelina, daughter of Byzantine Emperor Alexios III Angelos (r. 1195–1203) and Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamaterina. He reportedly had two unnamed sisters, the first of whom married first the Albanian prince Dhimitër Progoni, and secondly the Greco-Albanian lord Gregorios Kamonas, while the second married the "sebastokrator" Alexander Asen, whom George Acropolites identifies as a son of Tsar Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria (r. 1189–96). It is uncertain if his mother was Maria or Helena, respectively the first and second wife of Ivan Asen I. Alexander was the father of Kaliman II of Bulgaria (r. 1256).
According to the historian John Van Antwerp Fine, Jr., Eudokia was repudiated on grounds of adultery in 1200–01. Fine summarizes a passage of Niketas Choniates to state "She left on foot with only the clothes on her back". Eudokia sought refuge with her brother-in-law Vukan Nemanjić, Prince of Zeta. Vukan provided her with hospitality for a while and then arranged for her transportation to Durrës, where she boarded a Byzantine ship heading for Constantinople and returned safely to her father. This indicates Stefan Radoslav was born either in the 1190s or the early 1200s (decade).
Fine considers the treatment of Eudokia to be an indication of a decline in the prestige the Byzantine Empire held at the time. The senior Stefan was evidently unafraid of a military confrontation with his former father-in-law which could have occurred in retaliation for his actions. The alliance with the Empire had apparently outlived its use to the Serbian rulers. Stefan Nemanjić had ongoing border disputes with both Vukan Nemanjić and Emeric of Hungary, though outright war had not started yet. The Byzantines had failed to provide him with any military support and Stefan had apparently despaired of any help arriving from that direction. At the same time the senior Stefan was negotiating submitting himself and his subjects to the Roman Catholic Church in exchange for Pope Innocent III declaring him a King. He had reasons to distance himself from the Byzantines and the Eastern Orthodox Church associated with them.
His father was later remarried to Anna Dandolo, a daughter of Ranier Dandolo and granddaughter of Enrico Dandolo, Doge of Venice. Stefan Radoslav had three paternal half-brothers from this marriage. They were Serbian Archbishop Saint Sava II, Stefan Vladislav and Stefan Uroš I. His mother would proceed to marry secondly to Alexios V Doukas and thirdly to Leo Sgouros, ruler of Nafplion. However, there were no known children by either marriage, thus Stefan Radoslav consequently had no maternal half-siblings.
Ruler of Zachlumia.
According to "The Realm of the Slavs" (1601) by Mavro Orbin, Stefan Radoslav served as ruler of Zachlumia during the reign of his father. However the sources Orbin used for his history of Zachlumia are not identified by name. They are considered lost and Orbin remains our earliest extant source for several of the events mentioned. According to it Miroslav, the Great was succeeded by his son Andrew (Andrija), only ten-years-old. Missing from the text is Toljen, a son of Miroslav who was mentioned as heir apparent in other sources. With Andrew being underage, the local nobility proceeded to depose him. They offered the crown to Peter (Petar), whose relation to his predecessors is not mentioned by Orbin. Fine notes that later scholars tend to assume Peter was another son of Miroslav and brother or half-brother to Andrew. Some time later, the cause of the exiled Andrew was taken up by Stefan Nemanjić who invated Zachlumia. Peter was forced to retreat to the areas west and north of the river Neretva. The rest of Zachlumia fell into the control of Nemanjić. Fine points that the areas supposedly held by Peter would not be uncontested. They are known from other sources to have been claimed by Andrew, Duke of Croatia and Dalmatia since 1198. Orbin next claims that Nemanjić divided Zachlumia between his cousin Andrew, son of Miroslav and his own son, Radolslav. Andrew was given control of Popovo and coastal Hum. The mainland was granted to Radoslav. Orbin then claims that Radoslav died and Nemanjić granted his area to Andrew. Fine points that Radoslav could not have predeceased his father. We know from other sources that he went on to succeed him. Nemanjić could have simply removed him for his position of authority for reasons lost to us. Orbin continues his account but Radoslav is not mentioned again.
Fine points that the reliability of the above account is at times difficult to determine because the lack of further sources. There are some obvious inaccuracies at times but the basics of the story could be true. A succession crisis in Zachlumia with the existence of rival heirs would be quite plausible. Nemanjić would have reason to get involved. His ongoing rivalry with his brother in the late 1190s would require him to secure control over Zachlumia, in order to prevent Vukan from claiming control for himself. However his activities in the area are otherwise unrecorded. His motivation for backing Andrew against Peter is also unclear. Either of the two could serve as rulers of a puppet state. Installing Radoslav as ruler of eastern Zachlumia would be a way to secure tighter control of the region.
Orbin does not actually provide dates for the events of his account. Fine proceeds to estimate them, based on sources recording other events in the wider region. He estimates the death of Miroslav to 1198. Explaining why Andrew of Croatia and Dalmatia chose that year to attack. He acquired control over areas of Zachlumia northwest of the Neretva. By 1203, this Andrew was involved in conflict with his own brother, Emeric of Hungary. The ongoing conflict would allow Peter to claim the areas northwest of the Neretva for himself. He could have either taken advantage of Andrew's troops already withdrawing or using his own forces to drive them out. Either way, Andrew could probably not afford maintaining two fronts of war at the same time. Securing the area as his powerbase, Peter could then drive his brother from eastern Zachlumia. The amount of time between the time Andrew of Zachlumia went into exile and the decision of Nemanjić to intervene is left unclear in the account by Orbin. Fine suggests it could have been more than a decade. He suggests it could be as late as 1216, just a year before Nemanjić was declared a King by Pope Honorius III. Nemanjić could by then devote his forces to securing eastern Zachlumia for Andrew, his intended puppet ruler. He could then attempt to secure even tighter control by appointing Radoslav in the areas directly bordering Raška. The area could have stayed under his control for longer than Orbin indicates. Fine points that Andrew seems to have "disappeared from the scene" by 1218 when Peter is recorded to have taken over the coastal areas. There seems to be no indication of Peter extending his control to the areas supposedly ruled by Radoslav.
Reign and deposition.
Fine mentions Radoslav acting as governor of the Principality of Zeta for part the reign of his father. In a charter variously dated to 1222 or 1228, Radoslav appears as co-founder of the monastery of Žiča with his father. King Stefan the First-Crowned, who had become ill, took monastic vows and died in 1227. Radoslav who was the eldest son succeeded as King, crowned at Žiča by Archbishop Sava, his uncle and the first Archbishop (since 1219) of the autocephalous Serbian Orthodox Church. The younger sons, Vladislav and Uroš I, received appanages. The youngest of the brothers, Sava II, was appointed Bishop of Hum shortly thereafter, later serving as Archbishop of Serbia (1263-1270). The Church and state were thus dominated by the same family and the ties between the two as well as the family's role within the Church continued.
According to biographer and monk Theodosius, Radoslav was a good ruler at first, but then fell under the influence of his wife, who was the daughter of the ruler of Epirus and Thessalonica, Theodore Komnenos Doukas (r. 1215–1230). Radoslav was most likely not beloved by the Serbian nobility due to this Greek influence. Radoslav used his Greek name, Stephanos Doukas, on his coinage, in several Greek documents and even once in his signature.
Radoslav was probably safe from domestic rebellion as long as his father-in-law Theodore remained strong. In 1230, however, Theodore was defeated and captured by Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Asen II, after which Radoslav's position seems to have weakened; some of his nobility revolted in autumn 1233. Serbian medieval biographers noted that the nobility had left the support of Radoslav and stood itself behind the younger Vladislav. Radoslav fled the country between 1 September 1233 and 4 February 1234, and was unable to regain the kingdom, but eventually returned as a monk. Radoslav fled to Dubrovnik (1233) with his wife, and there are indications that Radoslav had organized some actions against Vladislav and that he thought that he would manage to return to the throne - this is evident from an dated 4 February 1234, regarding a promise to Ragusan trading privileges once he had returned to Serbia. Because of this, Vladislav began threatening Ragusa, which then had to turn to Bosnian Ban Ninoslav for help, and as the action against Vladislav was unsuccessful, Radoslav found refuge with the Epirote ruler Michael II Komnenos Doukas in Dyrrhachium.
According to Theodosius, Radoslav's wife Anna had left him for a commander of the fortress, a Frank. However, this account has been proven to be false, as there was no Frankish commander in Dyrrachium in Radoslav's time. After some time, Radoslav and his wife returned together to Serbia and took monastic vows.
Vladislav was crowned King upon Radoslav's flight. Vladislav married the daughter of Ivan Asen II, much thanks to Sava. Sava then abdicated in favour of his apprentice Arsenije in the end of 1233. Sava died while heading home from a Holy Land trip, while visiting the Bulgarian court in 1235, and was respectfully buried at the Holy Forty Martyrs Church in Tarnovo. Sava's body was returned to Serbia after a series of requests, and was then buried in the Mileševa monastery, built by Vladislav in 1234. Sava was canonized and his relics were miraculous; his cult remained important throughout the Middle Ages and the Ottoman occupation.
According to Fine both Radoslav and Anna retired into monastic life following their deposition. His monastic name was Jovan. The time and circumstances of his death are unknown. The relations between Vladislav and Radoslav after he had returned and became a monk are not fully known, but he did not disturb his brother. There is a hypothesis that Radoslav even received a part of Serbian land to administrate. In any case, Radoslav continued the rest of his life in peace.
The "Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten" (1978) by Detlev Schwennicke, reports Radoslav betrothed to Theodora Komnene c. 1217. She was a daughter of Michael I Komnenos Doukas, ruler of Epirus. Both of his wives were members of the Melissenos family. Uncertain which of the two was her mother. Fine indicates Radoslav would instead marry her first cousin Anna Doukaina Angelina in 1219/1220. She was a daughter of Theodore Komnenos Doukas and Maria Petraliphaina. The "Europäische Stammtafeln" reports the marriage resulting in the birth of a single child. The name is not listed and Charles Cawley, a modern genealogist, has been unable to find primary sources on the existence of the child.


Filip Shiroka

Filip Shiroka (1859–1935) was a classical Rilindja () poet.
Life.
He was born and raised in Shkodër and educated there by the Franciscans. Among his teachers was poet Leonardo De Martino (1830-1923), whose influence is omnipresent in Shiroka's verse. In 1880 he participated as an irregular in the Battle of Ulcinj (1880). His earliest verse publication, "All'Albania, all'armi, all'armi!" ("To Albania, to arms, to arms!"), was a nationalist poem on the defense of Ulcinj, which was written in Italian and printed in the Osservatore Cattolico ("Catholic Observer") of Milan in 1880. After the defeat of the League of Prizren, he emigrated to the Middle East, and settled in Egypt and, later, in Lebanon where, helped by then Governor Pashko Vasa, he worked as an engineer in railway construction. Shiroka became a member of a society named "Vëllazëria Shqiptare" (Albanian brotherhood) that was founded in Cairo during 1894 by Albanian expatriates.
Writing.
Shiroka's nationalist, satirical and meditative verse in Albanian was written mostly from 1896 to 1903. It appeared in journals such as Faik Konitza's "Albania", the Albanian periodicals published in Egypt, and the Shkodër religious monthly "Elçija i Zemers t'Jezu Krisctit" ("The Messenger of the Sacred Heart"). Shiroka, who also used the pseudonyms Gegë Postripa and Ulqinaku, is the author of at least sixty poems, three short stories, articles and several translations, in particular of religious works for Catholic liturgy. His verse collection, "Zâni i zêmrës", Tirana, 1933, ("The voice of the heart"), which was composed at the turn of the century, was published by Ndoc Nikaj two years before Shiroka's death in Beirut.
Writing style.
Shiroka's verse, inspired by early-19th-century French and Italian romantic poets such as Alfred de Musset (1810-1857), Alfonse de Lamartine (1790-1869), and Tommaso Grossi (1790-1853), whom he had read as a young man in Shkodër, does not cover any unusual thematic or lexical range, nor is it all of literary quality, though the latter assertion is no doubt valid for most Rilindja poets. Shiroka is remembered as a deeply emotional lyricist, and as one of linguistic purity, who was obsessed with his own fate and that of his distant homeland. Recurrent in his work, there is the theme of nostalgia for the country of his birth.
Be off, swallow
Farewell, for spring has come,
Be off, swallow, on your flight,
From Egypt to other lands,
Searching over hill and plain
Be off to Albania on your flight,
Off to Shkodër, my native town!
Convey my greetings
To the old house where I was born,
And greet the lands around it
Where I spent my early years;
Be off thither on your flight,
And greet my native town!
And when you come to Fush' e Rmajit,
Swallow, stop there and take your rest;
In that land of sorrow are the graves
Of the mother and father who raised me;
Weep in your exquisite voice
And lament them with your song!
For ages I have not been to Albania
To attend those graves;
You, swallow, robed in black,
Weep there on my behalf,
With that exquisite voice of yours
Lament them with your song!


Cloughton Formation

The Cloughton Formation is a geologic formation in England. It preserves fossils dating back to the Jurassic period.