Jane Cavendish

Lady Jane Cavendish (1621–1669) was a noted poet and playwright. She was daughter of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, and later the wife of Charles Cheyne, Viscount Newhaven, Along with her literary achievements, Jane helped manage her father's properties while he spent the English Civil War in exile; she was responsible for a variety of military correspondences and for salvaging many of her family's valuable possessions. Later in life, Jane became an important community member in Chelsea. She used her money and resources to make improvements on Chelsea Church and to otherwise benefit her friends and neighbours. Marked by vitality, integrity, perseverance, and creativity, Jane's life and works tell the story of a Royalist woman's indomitable spirit during the English Civil War and Restoration in England.
Early life.
Born in 1621 to William Cavendish and his first wife, Elizabeth Basset Howard, Jane Cavendish grew up in a prosperous and loving environment. Much of the wealth that William possessed had been accumulated by his grandmother, the Renaissance property magnate Elizabeth Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury—better known as Bess of Hardwick. Bess's properties, her fortune, and her remarkable tapestries were important inheritances of William's family, and Bess herself provided a template of autonomous female behaviour for William's daughters. Throughout his life, William added to Bess's wealth and properties—in part by marrying Howard, who was a rich widowed heiress at the time of their marriage.
Adjacent to his social and monetary ambitions were William Cavendish's tremendous literary ambitions, which he aspired toward in his own writings but homed in on most thoroughly by developing relationships with a wide range of poets and playwrights including Ben Jonson, Thomas Shadwell, and John Dryden. Because of her father's literary and political connections, Jane's world was—from the start—replete in the excesses that typified Charles I's court. She had a number of elegant gowns, many made of sumptuous velvets, and a fine collection of garments and linens. More significant than these signs of her social standing, however, are some early traces of her literary development. In one of her father's manuscript books (now University of Nottingham MSS Portland Collection, Pw V 25:21–22), Jane responded to her father's couplet "Sweet Jane / I know you are a rare Inditer.— / And hath the Pen off a moste redye writer. / W.N." with the following lines: "My Lord / I know you doo but Jest with mee / & so in obdence I right this nothing / Jane Cavendysshe." It is worth noting that although William wrote similar couplets to each of his children, only Jane and one of her brothers recorded a response—and Jane's is by far the cleverer of the two. Her father's assessment of her as “a moste redye writer” carried over into her adult life, when she collaborated with her sister on some literary documents and also wrote her own poetry.
The English Civil Wars.
As for other staunch Royalists, the English Civil War was a trying time for the Cavendish family. The closing of the theatres in 1642 would have been of especial significance for them, since William had written plays that were publicly performed before the war and his daughters were familiar with the networks of theatre culture that ranged from public theatrical performances to private readings of dramas.
 Of course, the closing of the theatres was not the most traumatic event of the Civil War for the Cavendish family. Elizabeth Basset Howard died in 1643, leaving her children in possession of her money but without her guidance and compassion. Soon after his first wife's death, William was defeated in a critical battle at Marston Moor. He subsequently fled to France, leaving his daughters to maintain his property at Welbeck Abbey on their own. Welbeck Abbey was captured by Parliamentarian forces on 2 August 1644. Although Royalists briefly recaptured the home in 1645, they surrendered it in November. Amid these volatile circumstances, Jane and her sisters Elizabeth and Frances twice entertained Charles I at Welbeck in 1645. After Charles's execution in 1649, however, the sisters' world took on a grimmer tone. Their father was labelled a traitor, and they were forced to live under house arrest, where the conduct of the Parliamentarian troops was often rude at best. Jane continued to work toward preserving her family's possessions. She managed to barter with Royalist soldiers to have her father's valuable Van Dyck paintings and some tapestries moved to safety, and she and Frances sent out letters that provided information to the Royalist army about the status of Welbeck and its surroundings.
 Moreover, during this period of unrest, Jane and her sister Elizabeth began compiling a variety of manuscript writings that they probably started working on as early as 1635—although most of the contents were written during the Civil War. These works, which were copied by their father's scribe John Rollston, are now held by the Beinecke and Bodleian libraries. Beinecke Osborn MS b. 233 is a presentation copy manuscript of poetry written exclusively by Jane. Bodleian Library, MS Rawl., Poet. 16 is a larger compilation, titled "Poems Songs a Pastorall and a Play by the Right Honorable the Lady Jane Cavendish and Lady Elizabeth Brackley", comprising writings by Jane and Elizabeth. The sisters' individual contributions are noted in the margins by Rollston.
 The sisters' collaborative writings were probably interrupted when Elizabeth moved to Ashridge to live with her husband, John Egerton. Frances and Jane would eventually follow Elizabeth to Ashridge for a brief interval because of the relative stability that it offered in contrast to their own besieged home. In 1654, Jane married Charles Cheyne (who would later become Viscount Newhaven). Jane and Charles had three children: Elizabeth (born 1656), William (born 1657), and Catherine (born 1658). Even as the Civil War continued, Jane and her husband found themselves able to enjoy a degree of comfort. Charles even managed to buy the former royal palace and manor of Chelsea with his wife's dowry.
Later years.
The Restoration brought some changes into Jane's world, a major one being the return of her father to England with his second wife—Margaret Lucas Cavendish. Margaret was an unwelcome addition to the family, and Jane wrote several letters discussing the control Margaret was exercising over William's property and income with other members of the family. Some scholars have read the character of "Lady Tranquility" in Jane and Elizabeth's play The Concealed Fansyes as a satire of Margaret Lucas, but others consider this unlikely. While the fictional father's choice of an unsuitable fiancée may reflect some anxiety on his daughters' parts, there are few if any similarities to the real Margaret Lucas. Furthermore, the manuscript book which contains The Concealed Fansyes, another play and a variety of poems, was prepared as a presentation copy, a gift to William Cavendish from his daughters, intended for his pleasure and enjoyment. It seems likely that his daughters sought to emulate their playwright father, not offend him.
In 1664, Jane met with an untimely loss. Her sister Elizabeth died in childbed, which prompted Jane to write an elegy on Elizabeth. It is difficult to know how much poetry Jane wrote during these later years. The elegy for Elizabeth is the only trace of it that has yet been discovered, but Nathan Comfort Starr and others have suggested that Jane continued to write poetry throughout her life.
Regardless of whether or not she wrote poetry after leaving Welbeck in the 1650s, Jane did manage to leave her mark on the world in a highly public way: she used her own money to have Chelsea Church re-roofed in 1667. After her death in 1669 from a series of epileptic fits, Jane's impact on Chelsea was chronicled in a funeral sermon by Adam Littleton and an elegy by Thomas Lawrence. Both of these texts make mention of how Jane used her financial resources to benefit her community; the texts also imply that Jane's role as a literary author was not unknown to her friends and neighbours. First at Welbeck and later in the house she shared with her husband and in the community of Chelsea more broadly, Jane engaged in culture on her own terms.
There continues to be much that we do not know about how her works were circulated, how she developed her own political networks, and what her status was in her community, but by examining her manuscript writings within the sophisticated (and continually evolving) frameworks for approaching manuscript culture that scholars like Margaret J. M. Ezell, Harold Love, and Heidi Brayman Hackel have recently developed, we can begin to disentangle some of the complexities surrounding this amazingly resilient, creative woman's writings and her world.
Archives containing Jane Cavendish's works.
A Celebration of Women Writers (Online editions)
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, Oxford.
Jane Cavendish.
Huntington Library, San Marino, CA
University of Nottingham, Nottingham.
Bibliography.
2Elizabeth Brackley and Jane Cavendish, "The Concealed Fancies" (c. 1645)", "Renaissance Drama by Women: Texts and Documents", New York and London: Routledge, 1996


FSFO

FSFO (Fo Sostyn, Fo Ordaag ("under England, under the thumb"), sometimes interpreted as "Financial Sector (or Services) Fuck Off") was a Manx nationalist group on the Isle of Man in the 1970s and 1980s, known for graffiti campaigns and arson attacks against outsiders and tax haven seekers of the financial sector on the island.
Among the later notable individuals involved in FSFO was Phil Gawne, who later become Minister of Agriculture. Gawne was jailed for 16 months in the 1970s for attacks on homes being built for English arrivals to the island.
In 1991, FSFO issued a press release through the Manx nationalist paper "Yn Pabyr Seyr":
"The 31st of March saw the first anniversary of the F.S.F.O. campaigners' release from prison custody and although the destruction of the Manks way of life has apparently slowed down this past year, it is still continuing at an unacceptable and unnecessary rate. Since the boom began over three years ago, the Government has done nothing to protect the unique Manks lifestyle from the effects of the massive influx of new residents, and it seems that the direct message of F.S.F.O. is, unfortunately, far from being history. ... Complacency and "traa dy liooar" continue to offer the Government guarantees that it is safe for it to sell off whatever it likes and that the Manks people may be indefinitely walked over. ... In short, the aim of the campaign is to put economic power back in the hands of the Manks people, where it belongs. The time has now come to say "Enough is Enough" to the men of greed and close the door on finance sector led development."


Alfred Latham

Alfred Latham (1801–1885) was an English businessman and banker, born in Camberwell to Thomas Latham (1746–1818), a merchant and plantation owner, and his wife, Ann Jones. Inheriting wealth, Latham went into business in 1824, and went into partnership in what became the Arbuthnot Latham bank in 1833, with John Alves Arbuthnot (1802–1875).
In 1833, Latham received £3,873 (c.£370,000 in 2020 money) as compensation for giving up the ownership of 402 slaves.
Latham was Governor of the Bank of England from 1861 to 1863. He had been Deputy Governor from 1859 to 1861. He replaced Bonamy Dobrée as Governor and was succeeded by Kirkman Daniel Hodgson.
The Polish economist Louis Wolowski published an extract of letter sent he sent to Latham in his book "L'or et l'argent" (1870).
In June 2020, the Bank of England issued a public apology for the involvement of Latham, amongst other employees, in the slave trade following the investigation by the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership at UCL. According to The Art Newspaper the Bank of England will remove Lathams portrait from public view, as well as 10 more portraits of former governors, such as Benjamin Buck Greene, that are linked to slavery.


Michoel Pressburger

Rabbi Michoel Pressburger ("Michael Pressburger", , ) is a leading Austrian haredi rabbi who heads the historic Schiffschul synagogue in Vienna's second district where a sizable (Ultra-)Orthodox Jewish community once thrived in the years leading to the Holocaust. Today, the Schiffschul is a much smaller synagogue serving the local Orthodox Jewish community while also serving as a sanctuary to Jewish refugees from Iran who transit through Vienna.
Rabbi Michoel Pressburger was born in Vienna and has continued the line of succession to Bonyhád rabbis such as his grandfather, Rabbi Aaron Pressburger and his father, Rabbi Schmuel Pressburger. Aaron Pressburger was the chief Orthodox rabbi of Bonyhád until the start of the Holocaust and perished in Auschwitz in 1943. "Kehilat Bonyhád" is a reference to the Jewish tradition that originated in the Orthodox community of Bonyhád and its surrounding areas in the late 1700s.
Now in his fifties, Michoel Pressburger has been helping rescue and resettle Jewish refugee teenagers from Iran and elsewhere for almost 30 years. His contact with the post-revolution Islamic government of Iran as well as American and Austrian governments has put him in a unique position to help with this endeavor. Since the majority of the refugees go through Vienna before they receive asylum in the United States, Rabbi Pressburger and his synagogue have helped with their physical and spiritual well-being while they are in transit in Austria.
Since 1983, Pressburger has headed an international non-profit organization to help with the rescue and resettlement of Jewish refugees from Iran.
He has been credited with numerous daring missions to Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East and Europe with the aim of rescuing Iranian Jews who have been subjected to religious persecution. At least four of these rescued refugees were previously condemned to death by the Iranian government.


Economic history of Spain

This article covers the development of Spain's economy over the course of its history.
Ancient era.
Iberians, roughly located in the South and East, and Celts in the North and West of the Iberian Peninsula were the major earliest groups in what is now Spain (a third, so-called Celtiberian culture seems to have developed in the inner part of the Peninsula, where both groups were in contact).
Carthaginians and Greeks also traded with Spain and established their own colonies on the coast. Spain's mineral wealth and access to metals made it an important source of raw material during the early metal ages. Carthage conquered parts of Iberia after the First Punic War. After defeating Carthage in the Second Punic War, the Romans governed all of the Iberian Peninsula for centuries, expanding and diversifying the economy and extending Hispanic trade with the greater Republic and Empire.
Middle Ages.
While most of western Europe fell into a Dark Age after the decline of the Roman Empire, those kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula that today are known as Spain maintained their economy. First, the Visigoths replaced the Roman imperial administrators (an international class at the top echelons). They established themselves as nobility. The kingdom had some degree of centralized power at their capital, which was eventually moved to Toledo from Toulouse. The Roman municipal and provincial governorships continued but the imperial superstructure of diocese and prefecture was of course completely gone as there was no need for it: these had existed to coordinate imperial defense and provide uniform administrative oversight, and symbolized as nothing else, except the professional army, the presence of the Roman. Though it suffered some decline, most Roman law and many physical infrastructures such as roads, bridges, aqueducts, and irrigation systems, was maintained to varying degrees, unlike the complete disintegration that occurred in most other former parts of the western empire with the exception of parts of Italy. Later, when the Moors occupied large parts of the Iberian Peninsula alongside the Catholic kingdoms, they also maintained much of this Roman legacy; in fact, as time went on they had Roman infrastructure repaired and extended. Meanwhile, in the countryside, where most people had always lived, life went on much as it had in Roman times, but with improvements due to the repair and extension of irrigation systems, and the introduction of novel crops and agricultural practices from the Islamic world. While trade dwindled in most of the former Roman lands in Europe, trade survived to some degree in Visigothic Spain and flourished under the Moors through the integration of Al-Andalus (Moorish Spain) with the Mediterranean trade of the Islamic world. After 800 years of intermittent warring, the Catholic kingdoms had gradually become more powerful and sophisticated and eventually expelled all the Moors from the Peninsula.
The Crown of Castile, united with the Crown of Aragon, had merchant navies that rivaled that of the Hanseatic League and Venice. Like the rest of late medieval Europe, restrictive guilds closely regulated all aspects of the economy-production, trade, and even transport. The most powerful of these corporations, the "mesta", controlled the production of wool, Castile's chief export.
Dynastic union and exploration.
The Reconquista allowed the Catholic Monarchs to divert their attention to exploration. In 1492, Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia, a Valencian) formally approved the division of the unexplored world between kingdoms of what is today Spain and Portugal. New discoveries and conquests came in quick succession.
In 1493, when Christopher Columbus brought 1,500 colonists with him on his second voyage, a royal administrator had already been appointed for what the Catholic kingdoms referred to as the Indies. The Council of the Indies ("Consejo de Indias"), established in 1524 acted as an advisory board on colonial affairs, and the House of Trade ("Casa de Contratación") regulated trade with the colonies.
Gold and silver from the New World.
Following the discovery of America and the colonial expansion in the Caribbean and Continental America, valuable agricultural products and mineral resources were introduced into Spain through regular trade routes. New products such as potatoes, tomatoes and corn had a long-lasting impact on the Spanish economy, but more importantly on European demographics. Gold and silver bullion from American mines were used by the Spanish Crown to pay for troops in the Netherlands and Italy, to maintain the emperor's forces in Germany and ships at sea, and to satisfy increasing consumer demand at home. However, the large volumes of precious metals from America led to inflation, which had a negative effect on the poorer part of the population, as goods became overpriced. This also hampered exports, as expensive goods could not compete in international markets. Moreover, the large cash inflows from silver hindered the industrial development in Spain as entrepreneurship seems to be indispensable.
Domestic production was heavily taxed, driving up prices for Aragon and Castile-made goods, but especially in Castile where the tax burden was greater. The sale of titles to entrepreneurs who bought their way up the social ladder (a practice commonly found all over Europe), removing themselves from the productive sector of the economy, provided additional funds.
The overall effect of plague and emigration reduced peninsular Spain's population from over 8 million in the last years of the 16th century to under 7 million by the mid-17th century, with Castile the most severely affected region (85% of the Kingdom's population were in Castile), as an example, in 1500, Castile 6 million, and 1.25 million in the Crown of Aragon which included Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands.
Decline relative to Britain.
The Spanish economy diverged from the British economy in terms of GDP during the middle of the seventeenth century. The explanations for this divergence are unclear, but "the divergence comes too late to have any medieval origins, whether cultural or institutional" and "it comes too early... in order for the Napoleonic Invasions to be blamed."
Bourbon reforms.
A slow economic recovery began in the last decades of the 17th century under the Habsburgs. Under the Bourbons, government efficiency was improved, especially under Charles III's reign. The Bourbon reforms, however, resulted in no basic changes in the pattern of property holding. The nature of bourgeois class consciousness in Aragon and Castile hindered the creation of a middle-class movement. At the instance of liberal thinkers including Campomanes, various groups known as "Economic Societies of friends of the Country" were formed to promote economic development, new advances in the sciences, and Enlightenment philosophy (see "Sociedad Económica de los Amigos del País"). However, despite the development of a national bureaucracy in Madrid, the reform movement could not be sustained without the patronage of Charles III, and it did not survive him.
Jan Bergeyck (advisor to Philip V) "Disorder I have found here is beyond all imagination".
Castile's exchequer still used Roman numerals and there was no proper accounting.
Napoleon and the War of Independence.
Spain's American colonies took advantage of the postwar chaos to proclaim their independence. By 1825 only Cuba and Puerto Rico remained under the Spanish flag in the New World. When Ferdinand VII was restored to the throne in 1813 and expended wealth and manpower in a vain effort to reassert control over the colonies. The move was unpopular among liberal officers assigned to the American wars.
1822 to 1898.
The economy was heavily focused around agricultural goods. The period saw regional industrialization in Catalonia and the Basque Country and the construction of railways in the second half of the nineteenth century helped alleviate some of the isolation of the interior but generally little changed for much of the country as political instability, uprisings and unstable governments slowed or undermined economic progress.
1898 to 1920.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Spain was still mostly rural; modern industry existed only in the textile mills around Barcelona in Catalonia and in the metallurgical plants of the Basque provinces. The loss of Cuba and the Philippines benefited the Peninsula by causing capital to return and to be invested in updated domestic industries. But even with the stimulus of World War I, only in Catalonia and in two Basque provinces (Biscay and Guipuscoa) did the value of manufacturing output in 1920 exceed that of agricultural production. Agricultural productivity was generally low compared with that of other West European countries because of a number of deficiencies: backward technology, lack of large irrigation projects, inadequate rural credit facilities, outmoded landtenure practices, as well as the age old problems of difficult terrain, unreliable climate, isolation and difficult transportation in the rugged interior. Financial institutions were relatively undeveloped. The Bank of Spain ("Banco de España") was still privately owned, and its public functions were restricted to currency issuance and the provision of funds for state activities. The state largely limited itself to such traditional activities as defense and the maintenance of order and justice. Road building, education, and a few welfare activities were the only public services that had any appreciable impact on the economy.
Primo de Rivera.
A General, Miguel Primo de Rivera, was appointed prime minister by the king after a successful coup d'état and for seven years dissolved parliament and ruled through directorates and the aid of the military until 1930.
Protectionism, the Spanish neutrality during World War I (which allowed the country to trade with all belligerents) and state control of the economy led to a temporary economic recovery. The precipitous economic decline in 1930 undercut support for the government from special-interest groups. Criticism from academics mounted. Bankers expressed disappointment at the state loans that his government had tried to float. An attempt to reform the promotion system cost him the support of the army and, in turn, the support of the king. Primo de Rivera resigned and died shortly afterward in exile.
Second Republic, 1931–36.
The republican government substituted the monarchy and inherited the international economic crisis as well. Three different governments ruled during the Second Spanish Republic, failing to execute numerous reforms, including land reform. General strikes were common and the economy stagnated.
During the Spanish Civil War, the country split into two different centralized economies, and the whole economic effort was redirected to the war industry. According to recent research, growth is harmed during civil wars due to the huge contraction on private investment, and such was the case with the Spanish divided economy.
Spain emerged from the civil war with formidable economic problems. Gold and foreign exchange reserves had been virtually wiped out, the massive devastation of war had reduced the productive capacity of both industry and agriculture. To compound the difficulties, even if the wherewithal had existed to purchase imports, the outbreak of World War II rendered many needed supplies unavailable. The end of the war did not improve Spain's plight because of subsequent global shortages of raw materials, and peacetime industrial products. Spain's European neighbours faced formidable post-war reconstruction problems of their own, and, because of their awareness that the Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War had been achieved with the help of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, they had no inclination to include Spain in any multilateral recovery programs or trade. For a decade following the Civil War's end in 1939, the wrecked and isolated economy remained in a state of severe depression.
Branded an international outcast for its pro-Axis bias during World War II, Spain was not invited to join the Marshall Plan. Francisco Franco's regime sought to provide for Spain's well-being by adopting a policy of economic self-sufficiency. Autarky was not merely a reaction to international isolation; it was also rooted in more than half a century of advocacy from domestic economic pressure groups. Furthermore, from 1939 to 1945, Spain's military chiefs genuinely feared an Allied invasion of the Peninsula and, therefore, sought to avert excessive reliance on foreign armaments.
With the war devastation and trade isolation, Spain was much more economically backward in the 1940s than it had been a decade earlier. Inflation soared, economic reconstruction faltered, food was scarce, and, in some years, Spain registered negative growth rates. By the early 1950s, per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was barely 40% of the average for West European countries. Then, after a decade of economic stagnation, a tripling of prices, the growth of a black market, and widespread deprivation, gradual improvement began to take place. The regime took its first faltering steps toward abandoning its pretensions of self-sufficiency and towards a transformation of Spain's economic system. Pre-Civil War industrial production levels were regained in the early 1950s, though agricultural output remained below prewar levels until 1958.
A further impetus to economic liberalization came from the September 1953 signing of a mutual defense agreement, the Pact of Madrid, between the United States and Spain. In return for permitting the establishment of United States military bases on Spanish soil, the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower administration provided substantial economic aid to the Franco regime. More than US$1 billion in economic assistance flowed into Spain during the remainder of the decade as a result of the agreement. Between 1953 and 1958, Spain's gross national product (GNP) rose by about 5% per annum.
The years from 1951 to 1956 were marked by much economic progress, but the reforms of the period were implemented irregularly, and were poorly coordinated. One large obstacle to the reform process was the corrupt, inefficient, and bloated bureaucracy. By the mid-1950s, the inflationary spiral had resumed its upward climb, and foreign currency reserves that had stood at US$58 million in 1958 plummeted to US$6 million by mid-1959. The growing demands of the emerging middle class—and of the ever-greater number of tourists—for the amenities of life, particularly for higher nutritional standards, placed heavy demands on imported food and luxury items. At the same time, exports lagged, largely because of high domestic demand and institutional restraints on foreign trade. The peseta fell to an all-time low on the black market, and Spain's foreign currency obligations grew to almost US$60 million.
A debate took place within the regime over strategies for extricating the country from its economic impasse, and Franco finally opted in favor of a group of neoliberals. The group included bankers, industrial executives, some academic economists, and members of the Roman Catholic lay organization, Opus Dei.
During the 1957-59 period, known as the pre-stabilization years, economic planners contented themselves with piecemeal measures such as moderate anti-inflationary stopgaps and increases in Spain's links with the world economy. A combination of external developments and an increasingly aggravated domestic economic crisis, however, forced them to engage in more far-reaching changes.
As the need for a change in economic policy became manifest in the late 1950s, an overhaul of the Council of Ministers in February 1957 brought to the key ministries a group of younger men, most of whom possessed economics training and experience. This reorganization was quickly followed by the establishment of a committee on economic affairs and the Office of Economic Coordination and Planning under the prime minister.
Such administrative changes were important steps in eliminating the chronic rivalries that existed among economic ministries. Other reforms followed, the principal one being the adoption of a corporate tax system that required the confederation of each industrial sector to allocate an appropriate share of the entire industry's tax assessment to each member firm. Chronic tax evasion was consequently made more difficult, and tax collection receipts rose sharply. Together with curbs on government spending, in 1958 this reform created the first government surplus in many years.
More drastic remedies were required as Spain's isolation from the rest of Western Europe became exacerbated. Neighboring states were in the process of establishing the EC and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA—see Glossary). In the process of liberalizing trade among their members, these organizations found it difficult to establish economic relations with countries wedded to trade quotas and bilateral agreements, such as Spain.
The "Spanish Miracle".
Spanish membership in these groups was not politically possible, but Spain was invited to join a number of other international institutions. In January 1958, Spain became an associate member of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), which became the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in September 1961. In 1959 Spain joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. These bodies immediately became involved in helping Spain to abandon the autarkical trade practices that had brought its reserves to such low levels and that were isolating its economy from the rest of Europe.
In December 1958, after seven months of preparation and drafting, aided by IMF, Spain unveiled its Stabilization Plan on June 30, 1959. The plan's objectives were twofold: to take the necessary fiscal and monetary measures required to restrict demand and to contain inflation, while, at the same time, liberalizing foreign trade and encouraging foreign investment. The plan's initial effect was deflationary and recessionary, leading to a drop in real income and to a rise in unemployment during its first year. The resultant economic slump and reduced wages led approximately 500,000 Spanish workers to emigrate in search of better job opportunities in other West European countries. Nonetheless, its main goals were achieved. The plan enabled Spain to avert a possible suspension of payments abroad to foreign banks holding Spanish currency, and by the close of 1959, Spain's foreign exchange account showed a US$100-million surplus. Foreign capital investment grew sevenfold between 1958 and 1960, and the annual influx of tourists began to rise rapidly, bringing in very much needed foreign exchange along remittances from Spanish workers abroad.
As these developments steadily converted Spain's economic structure into one more closely resembling a free-market economy, the country entered the greatest cycle of industrialization and prosperity it had ever known. Foreign aid took the form of US$75 million in drawing rights from the IMF, US$100 million in OEEC credits, US$70 million in commercial credits from the Chase Manhattan Bank and the First National City Bank, US$30 million from the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and funds from United States aid programs. Total foreign backing amounted to US$420 million. The principal lubricants of the economic expansion, however, were the hard currency remittances of one million Spanish workers abroad, which are estimated to have offset 17.9% of the total trade deficit from 1962 to 1971; the gigantic increase in tourism that drew more than 20 million visitors per year by the end of the 1960s, accounting by then for 9% of GNP; a car industry that grew at a staggering compound rate of 21.7% per year from 1958 to 1972; and direct foreign investment, which between 1960 and 1974 amounted to an impressive US$7.6 billion. More than 40% of this investment came from the United States, almost 17% came from Switzerland, and the Federal Republic of Germany and France each accounted for slightly more than 10%. By 1975 foreign capital represented 12.4% of the total invested in Spain's 500 largest industrial firms. More important than the actual size of the foreign investment was the access it gave Spanish companies to up to date technology. An additional billion dollars came from foreign sources through a variety of loans and credit devices.
To help achieve rapid development, there was massive government investment through key state-owned companies like the national industrial conglomerate Instituto Nacional de Industria, the mass-market car company SEAT in Barcelona, the shipbuilder Empresa Nacional Bazán. With foreign access to the Spanish domestic market restricted by heavy tariffs and quotas, these national companies led the industrialisation of the country, restoring the prosperity of old industrial areas like Barcelona and Bilbao and creating new industrial areas, most notably around Madrid. Although there was considerable economic liberalisation in the period these enterprises remained under state control.
The success of the stabilization program was attributable to a combination of good luck and good management and the impressive development during this period was referred to as the "Spanish miracle". Between 1959 and 1974, Spain had the next fastest economic growth rate after Japan. The boom came to an end with the oil shocks of the 1970s and government instability during the transition back to democracy after Franco's death in 1975.
The Post-Franco period, 1975–1980s.
Franco's death in 1975 and the ensuing transition to democratic rule diverted Spaniards' attention from their economy. The return to democracy coincided with an explosive quadrupling of oil prices, which had an extremely serious effect on the economy because Spain imported 70% of its energy, mostly in the form of Middle Eastern oil. Nonetheless, the interim centrist government of Adolfo Suarez Gonzalez, which had been named to succeed the Franco regime by King Juan Carlos, did little to shore up the economy or even to reduce Spain's dependence on imported oil, although there was little that could be done as the country had little in the way of hydrocarbon deposits. A virtually exclusive preoccupation with the politics of democratization during the politically and socially unstable period when the new constitution was drafted and enacted, absorbed most of Spain's politics and administration at the expense of economic policy.
Because of the failure to adjust to the changed economic environment brought on by the two oil price shocks of the 1970s, Spain quickly confronted plummeting productivity, an explosive increase in wages from 1974 to 1976, a reversal of migration trends as a result of the economic slump throughout Western Europe, and the steady outflow of labor from agricultural areas despite declining job prospects in the cities. All these factors contributed to a sharp rise in the unemployment rate. Government budgetary deficits swelled, as did large social security cost overruns and the huge operating losses incurred by a number of public-sector industries. Energy consumption, meanwhile, remained high.
When the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party government headed by Felipe González took office in late 1982, inflation was running at an annual rate of 16%, the external current account was US$4 billion in arrears, public spending was large, and foreign exchange reserves had become dangerously depleted. In coping with the situation, however, the Gonzalez government had one asset that no previous post-Franco government had enjoyed, namely, a solid parliamentary majority in both houses of the Cortes (Spanish Parliament). With this majority, it was able to undertake unpopular austerity measures that earlier governments had not.
The Socialist government opted for pragmatic, orthodox monetary and fiscal policies, together with a series of vigorous retrenchment measures. In 1983 it unveiled a program that provided a more coherent and long-term approach to the country's economic ills. Renovative structural policies—such as the closing of large, unprofitable state enterprises—helped to correct the relatively poor performance of the economy. The government launched an industrial reconversion program, brought the problem-ridden social security system into better balance, and introduced a more efficient energy-use policy. Labor market flexibility was improved, and private capital investment was encouraged with incentives.
By 1985 the budgetary deficit was brought down to 5% of GNP, and it dropped to 4.5% in 1986. Real wage growth was contained, and it was generally kept below the rate of inflation. Inflation was reduced to 4.5% in 1987, and analysts believed it might decrease to the government's goal of 3% in 1988.
Efforts to modernize and to expand the economy together with a number of factors fostered strong economic growth in the 1980s. Those factors were the continuing fall in oil prices, increased tourism, and a massive upsurge in the inflow of foreign investment. Thus, despite the fact that the economy was being exposed to foreign competition in accordance with EC requirements, the Spanish economy underwent rapid expansion without experiencing balance of payments' constraints.
In the words of the OECD's 1987-88 survey of the Spanish economy, "following a protracted period of sluggish growth with slow progress in winding down inflation during the late 1970s and the first half of the 1980s, the Spanish economy has entered a phase of vigorous expansion of output and employment accompanied by a marked slowdown of inflation." In 1981 Spain's GDP growth rate had reached a nadir by registering a rate of negative 0.2%; it then gradually resumed its slow upward ascent with increases of 1.2% in 1982, 1.8% in 1983, 1.9% in 1984, and 2.1% in 1985. The following year, however, Spain's real GDP began to grow strongly, registering a growth rate of 3.3% in 1986 and 5.5% in 1987. Although these growth rates were less than those of the economic miracle years, they were among the strongest of the OECD. Analysts projected a rise of 3.8% in 1988 and of 3.5% in 1989, a slight decline but still roughly double the EC average. They expected that declining interest rates and the government's stimulative budget would help sustain economic expansion. Industrial output, which rose by 3.1% in 1986 and by 5.2% in 1987, was also expected to maintain its expansive rate, growing by 3.8% in 1988 and by 3.7% in 1989.
A prime force generating rapid economic growth was increased domestic demand, which grew by a steep 6% in 1986 and by 4.8% in 1987, in both years exceeding official projections. During 1988 and 1989, analysts expected demand to remain strong, though at slightly lower levels. Much of the large increase in demand was met in 1987 by an estimated 20% jump in real terms in imports of goods and services.
In the mid-1980s, Spain achieved a strong level of economic performance while simultaneously lowering its rate of inflation to within two points of the EC average. However, its export performance, though increasing, raised concerns over the existing imbalance between import and export growth.
European integration, 1985–2000.
After Franco's death in 1975, the country returned to democracy in the form of a constitutional monarchy in 1978, with elections being held in 1977 and with the constitution being ratified in 1978. The move to democracy saw Spain become more involved with the European integration.
Felipe Gonzalez became prime minister when his Socialist Party won the 1982 elections. He enacted a number of liberal reforms, increasing civil liberties and implementing universal free education for those 16 and younger. He also lobbied successfully for Spain to join the European Economic Community (EEC) and to remain part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The European Union at the time Spain joined, in 1986, existed primarily as a trading union - the EEC, and better trade links were vital to the fragile Spanish economy. Unemployment was high, about 18 percent, and the Spanish GDP was 71 percent of the EU average. The single market and European funding offered a chance to bring the Spanish economy up to the standards of the rest of Western Europe, along with the support of Spain's wealthier neighbors. There was the promise of lucrative deals with influential countries such as Germany, France and the UK.
Although the Spanish Miracle years (1959–1974) witnessed unprecedented improvements in infrastructure and social services, Spain still lagged behind most of Western Europe. Education was limited, women were largely excluded from the workforce, health care was largely private and unevenly distributed and the country's infrastructure was relatively poor. In 1985, Spain had only of motorways. Since the end of the economic miracle in 1974, the country's economy had been stagnant. Joining the European Economic Community was perceived by most of the population as a way to restart the process of modernization and improvement of the population's average purchasing power.
Spain joined the European Economic Community, as the European Union was then known, in January 1986 at the same time as neighbor Portugal. Membership ushered the country into opening its economy, modernizing its industrial base and revising economic legislation to open its previously protected markets to foreign competition. With help of EU funds (Structural Funds and Cohesion Funds, European Regional Development Fund, etc.) Spain greatly improved infrastructures, increased GDP growth, reduced the public debt to GDP ratio.
Spain has been a driving force in the European community ever since. The country was a leading proponent of the EU single currency, the euro, long before it had been put into circulation. Together with the other founding euro members, it adopted the new physical currency on January 1, 2002. On that date Spain terminated its historic peseta currency and replaced it with the euro, which has become its national currency shared the rest of the Eurozone. This culminated a fast process of economic modernization even though the strength of the euro since its adoption has raised concerns regarding the fact that Spanish exports outside the European Union are being priced out of the range of foreign buyers, with the country losing monetary sovereignty in favour of the European Central Bank, which must look after several different -often opposed- national interests.
In the early 1990s Spain, like most other countries, was hit by the early 1990s recession. which coincided with the end of the construction push put in place for the Barcelona Olympics.
Boom 1997–2007.
The country was confronted with very high unemployment, entrenched by its then rigid labour market. However the economy began to recover during the first José María Aznar administration (1996-2000), driven by a return of consumer confidence, increased private consumption and liberalization and deregulation reforms aiming to reduce the State's role in the market place. Unemployment at 7.6% (October 2006), represented a significant improvement from the 1980s levels and a better rate than the one of Germany or France at the time. Devaluations of the peseta during the 1990s made Spanish exports more competitive.
By the late 1990s economic growth was strong, employment grew strongly, although unemployment remained high, as people returned to the job market and confidence in the economy returned. The last years of the 1990s saw property values begin to increase.
The Spanish economy was being credited for having avoided the virtual zero growth rate of some of its largest partners in the EU (namely France, Germany and Italy) in the late 1990s and at the beginning of the 21st century. In 1995 Spain started an impressive economic cycle marked by an outstanding economic growth, with figures around 3%, often well over this rate.
Growth in the decade prior to 2008 steadily closed the economic gap between Spain and its leading partners in the EU. For a moment, the Spanish economy was regarded as one of the most dynamic within the EU, even able to replace the leading role of much larger economies like the ones of France and Germany, thus subsequently attracting significant amounts of native and foreign investment. Also, during the period spanning from the mid 1980s through the mid 2000s, Spain was second only to France in being the most successful OECD country in terms of reduced income inequality over this period. Spain also made great strides in integrating women into the workforce. From a position where the role of Spanish women in the labour market in the early 1970s was similar to that prevailing in the major European countries in the 1930s, by the 1990s Spain had achieved a modern European profile in terms of economic participation by women.
Spain joined the Eurozone in 1999. Interest rates dropped and the property boom accelerated. By 2006 property prices had doubled from a decade earlier. During this time construction of apartments and houses increased at a record rate and immigration into Spain increased into the hundreds of thousands a year as Spain created more new jobs than the rest of Eurozone combined. Along with the property boom, there was a rapid expansion of service industry jobs.
Convergence with the European Union.
Due to its own economic development and the EU enlargements up to 27 members (2007), Spain as a whole exceeded (105%) the average of the EU GDP in 2006 placing it ahead of Italy (103% for 2006). As for the extremes within Spain, three regions in 2005 were included in the leading EU group exceeding 125% of the GDP average level (Madrid, Navarre and the Basque Autonomous Community) and one was at the 85% level (Extremadura). These same regions were on the brink of full employment by then.
According to the growth rates post 2006, noticeable progress from these figures happened until early 2008, when the Spanish economy was heavily affected by the puncturing of its property bubble by the global financial crisis.
In this regard, according to Eurostat's estimates for 2007 GDP per capita for the EU-27. Spain happened to stay by that time at 107% of the level, well above Italy who was still above the average (101%), and catching up with countries like France (111%).
Economic Crisis, 2008–2013.
In 2008, the shockwaves of the global financial crisis punctured the Spanish property bubble, causing a property crash. Construction collapsed and unemployment began to rise. The property crash led to a collapse of credit as banks hit by bad debts cut back lending, causing a recession. As the economy shrank, government revenue collapsed and government debt began to climb rapidly. By the 2010 the country faced severe financial problems and got caught up in the European sovereign debt crisis. In 2012, unemployment rose to a record high of 25 percent. On 25 May 2012, Bankia, at that time the fourth largest bank of Spain with 12 million customers, requested a bailout of €19 billion, the largest bank bailout in the nation's history. The new management, led by José Ignacio Goirigolzarri reported losses before taxes of 4.3 billion euros (2.98 billion euros taking into account a fiscal credit) compared to a profit of 328 million euros reported when Rodrigo Rato was at the head of Bankia until May 9, 2012. On June 9, 2012, Spain asked Eurozone governments for a bailout worth as much as 100 billion euros ($125 billion) to rescue its banking system as the country became the biggest euro economy until that date, after Ireland, Greece and Portugal, to seek international aid due to its weaknesses amid the European sovereign debt crisis. A Eurozone official told Reuters in July 2012 that Spain conceded for the first time at a meeting between Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos and his German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble, it might need a bailout worth 300 billion euros if its borrowing costs remained unsustainably high. On August 23, 2012, Reuters reported that Spain was negotiating with euro zone partners over conditions for aid to bring down its borrowing costs.
After serious austerity measures and major reforms into the economy Spain exited recession in 2013 and its economy is growing once more at a rate of 2.5 in 2015 and it is only expected to improve over the coming years. Although jobs are starting to be created the unemployment still stands at 22.6% in April 2015.
Recovery 2014–present.
In 2014, after years of economic recession, Spain grew up a 1,4%, accelerating to 3.4% in 2015 and 3.3% in 2016 and moderating by 3.1% in 2017. Experts say that the economy will moderate in 2018 to stable growth of between 2.5% and 3%. In addition to this, the unemployment rate has been reduced during the years of recovery, standing at 16.55% in 2017.


Village otaman

A village otaman (, ; ) was the head of a village community in Ukraine from the 14th until the 20th centuries. Village otamans were elected or chosen by state authorities of some or other level.
Civil War for Democracy, 1917-1923, Ukraine.
During the Civil War on the territories of Russian Empire and especially modern Ukraine, the "village otaman" became a concept, designating commanders of small self-organized military and para-military troops, organized sometimes by people to defend their rights and liberties and sometimes having clearly expressed criminal character ("banda"). The phenomenon of village otamans existed during the Russian Civil War and some time after, until the new state system with its
police began to fully function. Vivid examples of village otamans are Chorny Voron (Chornousov Ivan Yakovych) and Green Otaman (Terpylo Danylo Ilkovych).
Name "greens" in historical science.
Alias Green Otaman used by Terpylo Danylo Ilkovych later gave one of the names to the phenomenon of "village otamans" often used in soviet books about this period of history of region - "greens", in contrast to "reds" and "whites".


Edmund Veesenmayer

Edmund Veesenmayer (12 November 1904 in Bad Kissingen – 24 December 1977 in Darmstadt) was a high-ranking German SS functionary and Holocaust perpetrator during the Nazi era. He significantly contributed to the Holocaust in Hungary and the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). Veesenmayer was a subordinate of Ernst Kaltenbrunner and Joachim von Ribbentrop, and worked with Adolf Eichmann. He was also involved in the establishment of the Ustaše-run NDH puppet state following the April 1941 invasion of Yugoslavia, and in the selection and installation of the puppet regime of Milan Nedić in the German-occupied territory of Serbia. After the war, he was tried and convicted at the Ministries Trial; he was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.
Early life.
Veesenmayer was the son of school teacher Franz Xaver Veesenmayer from Oberstaufen in Kempten (Allgäu). From 1923–1926 he studied political science in Munich, where he received a doctorate in political science in 1928. After, he taught at the Political-Economic Institute of the Technical University of Munich for four years.
Schenker AG career.
Veesenmayer served on the advisory committee of the German transportation firm Schenker AG, which played a key role in moving Nazi plunder throughout Europe in the period from 1938 to 1945.
SS career.
Veesenmayer joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in November 1932 and the SS in 1934. By 1934 he had obtained a position in Hitler's economic affairs office in Berlin. Before the July Putsch, he worked on aligning rivaling factions of the outlawed Austrian Nazi Party, forcing the resignation of Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg, and establishing key economic connections between Austria and Germany. For this effort he was promoted to SS-Standartenführer in March 1938. His next job was dismembering Czechoslovakia and making Jozef Tiso's Slovakia subservient to Nazi Germany in March 1939. In August of the same year he worked on intelligence gathering in the Free City of Danzig where he worked on various measures designed to heighten tensions between Poland and Germany. For these efforts he was awarded the Danzig Cross Second Class. He joined influential business circles, making many friends in high places. From March 1940 to July 1943 he was entrusted with planning to move the (neutral) Irish Free State against Britain.
At the beginning of 1941 he was attached to the German diplomatic staff in Zagreb. Here, he arranged (with Ustashe leader Slavko Kvaternik) the proclamation of the Independent State of Croatia, four hours before the Germans entered the city. What Ante Pavelic meant by "independence", as Veesenmeyer reported to Berlin, was firstly to obtain German recognition of Croatia; and secondly, an opportunity to thank Hitler in person and promise him "to live and die for the Führer". Veesenmayer played an important role in the persecution and murder of Croatian and Serbian Jewry. He was involved in an operation to overthrow the Hungarian government in 1944. On 15 March 1944 he was promoted to SS-Brigadeführer and became Reich plenipotentiary after the German occupation of Hungary. From March to October the same year he was involved in organising the Final Solution for Hungary's Jews.
In a telegram dated 13 June 1944 he reported to the Foreign Office: “transport Jews from Carpathian Mountains and Transylvania space … with a total of 289,357 Jews in 92 complete trains of 45 cars”. On 15 June 1944 Veesenmayer told Joachim von Ribbentrop in a telegram that some 340,000 Jews had been delivered to the Reich. He also announced that after the final settlement of the Jewish question, the number of deported Hungarian Jews would reach 900,000.
Trial and conviction.
In the Ministries Trial in 1949, Veesenmayer received a sentence of 20 years' imprisonment for crimes against humanity, slavery and membership in a criminal organization. That was reduced to 10 years in 1951. He was released on 16 December the same year, thanks to the intervention of the US High Commissioner in Germany John J. McCloy.
After his release, between 1952 and 1955, Veesenmayer worked in Tehran as a representative of Toepfer, a German commodity trading company. At the end of his life, he lived in Darmstadt, where he died in 1977.


Richardis of Schwerin, Duchess of Schleswig

Richardis of Schwerin, also called Richardis of Lauenburg or Rixa, (year unknown – before 1386), was a Duchess consort of Schleswig and possibly a Danish queen consort, married to Valdemar III of Denmark (Valdemar V, Duke of Schleswig). She was the daughter of Gunzelin VI, Count of Schwerin-Wittenburg and Richardis of Tecklenburg. She was the aunt of Richardis of Schwerin, Queen of Sweden.
The year of her marriage is unknown; her spouse was king of Denmark in 1326–29, and if she married him before 1329, she would have been queen of Denmark. They had two sons, Valdemar (1338–1360) and Henry (1342–1375), the latter, Henry, succeeded in Schleswig upon Valdemar's death. Richardis is mainly known for an incident in 1358, during the war between her spouse and king Valdemar Atterdag of Denmark. Atterdag made a siege on Sønderborg castle on Als, which was at the time the residence of Richardis. She defended the castle successfully for a long time, but when it was no longer possible, she opened the gates and walked out to the king with her daughters and all the women of the castle "in an attempt to beg the victorious master for mercy". This succeeded, and Atterdag agreed to leave her in control of the castle, on condition that she stay out of the war. In 1364, her son made peace with Atterdag. In 1373, Richardis made Atterdag the protector of her widow fiefs, including Als. This is the last time she is mentioned; in 1386, her nephew Otto VI, Count of Tecklenburg gave permission to her nephew Eric of Saxony to claim Otto's inheritance after Richardis in his name.


Sir Simon Haughton Clarke, 9th Baronet

Sir Simon Haughton Clarke, 9th Baronet (1764–1832) was a West Indies merchant, said to be the seventh richest man in England. He had a notable collection of paintings at his mansion at Oakhill. His estate, bought in 1821, ran from Chase Side, Southgate to High Road, Whetstone. After his death, his widow and sons lived at Oakhill until 1857 when the estate was broken up.
He is remembered in a monument at St Mary the Virgin churchyard in East Barnet, originally visible from Oakhill house.
Family.
Clarke had at least two sons with his wife, both of whom were baronets. They were:


2022 Bosnian general election

General elections will be held in Bosnia and Herzegovina most likely in October 2022. Voters will elect the national Presidency and House of Representatives, as well as the Presidents and legislatures of the two entities and the legislatures of the ten cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Electoral system.
The three members of the Presidency are elected by plurality. In Republika Srpska voters elect the Serb representative, whilst in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina voters elect the Bosniak and Croat members. The 42 members of the House of Representatives are elected by open list proportional representation in two constituencies, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska.


2008 Bosnian municipal elections

Municipal elections were held in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 5 October 2008. Parties and independent candidates had to register by 23 May 2008, party or coalition lists by 25 June 2008. These were the first local elections were representatives of minorities were elected to the municipal assemblies.
64 political parties and 183 independent candidates were certified to stand in the election.
Nationalist parties (the Party of Democratic Action and the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the federation and the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats in the RS) were the most successful in the election, while the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina was considered to have been the loser of the election. Turnout was 55% (an increase and more than expected), but only 40% in the cities, were the voters were the most supportive of smaller, multi-ethnic parties.


Thomas Blount (inventor)

Thomas Blount or Blunt (born ca. 1604) was a British soldier, Member of Parliament and inventor.
Life.
He was born in Wricklesmarsh, in Charlton, Kent, the second son of Edward Blount of the Middle Temple and his second wife, Fortune, daughter of Sir William Garway. Blount was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford where he matriculated in 1623. He was admitted to Grays Inn in 1624.
He was present at the meetings of Royalist country gentlemen at Maidstone, which resulted in the getting up the Kentish petition of March 1642, and turned informer, giving an account of the proceedings in evidence at the bar of the House of Commons. He was a colonel in the Parliamentary Army during the Civil War. On the Restoration of the monarchy he was imprisoned but subsequently released. He represented Kent as an MP in the Barebones Parliament of 1653.
He was a highly ingenious man and knew many of the Fellows of the Royal Society. He was himself admitted as a Fellow in February 1665 but resigned in 1668.
He constructed with his own hands a carriage with an improved action, "for the ease of both man and horse", which attracted considerable attention at the time, and is often mentioned by Samuel Pepys. Both Pepys and his contemporary diarist John Evelyn tell us of the colonel's experiments and inventions at his stately seat at Charlton: his vineyard, the wine of which was "good for little", new-invented ploughs, and subterranean warren. He was among the first to fit a way-wiser, or odometer, to a carriage.


Elections in the Roman Republic

Elections in the Roman Republic were an essential part of its governance, with participation only being afforded to Roman citizens. Upper-class interests, centered in the urban political environment of cities, often trumped the concerns of the diverse and disunified lower class; while at times, those already in power would pre-select candidates for office, further reducing the value of voters’ input. The candidates themselves at first remained distant from voters and refrained from public presentations (in fact, formal speech-making was at one point forbidden in an effort to focus on the policies rather than the charisma of the candidate), but they later more than made up for time lost with habitual bribery, coercion, and empty promises. As the practice of electoral campaigning grew in use and extent, the pool of candidates was no longer limited to a select group with riches and high birth. Instead, many more ordinary citizens had a chance to run for office, allowing for more equal representation in key government decisions.
During the Roman Republic the citizens would elect almost all officeholders annually. Popular elections for high office were largely undermined and then brought to an end by Augustus (r. 27 BC - 14 AD), the first Roman emperor (earlier known as Octavian). However, Roman elections continued at the local level.
Sources.
Elections were a central element to the history and politics of Rome for some 500 years, and the major historians such as Livy and Plutarch make frequent references to them. No comprehensive account exists on how elections worked. Historians have reconstructed details from scattered accounts from different eras, but much is still uncertain and there is scholarly debate over several elements.
Sallust gives a valuable account of Marius' campaign of 107 BCE in the "Jugurthine War." The most important sources are writings by Cicero. While his major works touch on elections, his daily life was immersed in late Republican politics, and his surviving letters and orations are the most valuable. Two important ones are "Pro Murena" and "Pro Plancio", both legal speeches to defend candidates accused of bribery.
The most comprehensive surviving source is the "Commentariolum Petitionis" ("Little Handbook on Electioneering") by Quintus Tullius Cicero. It is a how-to guide on running for consul, written by Quintus for his brother's campaign in 64 BCE. Unfortunately, there are many doubts as to its authenticity, accepted by some as authentic to the period, others date it a century later to an author who would not have direct knowledge of election realities.
Structure and process.
At the origin of the Republic, the only elected positions were the two consuls; over the course of the Republic new public offices were added, and by the end of the Republic 44 public offices were elected. All were elected annually to one-year terms except the censor, whose term covered a lustrum of five years. The only public offices which were not elected positions were the dictator and his deputy the Master of the Horse, who were appointed, but only in emergency circumstances.
The officeholders were elected by different assemblies. The Centuriate Assembly elected the highest offices of consul, praetor, and censor. This assembly divided all adult male citizens in 193 centuries. Its organization was descended from that of the early Roman Army, and the centuries were organized into tiers rank and property with cavalry equites at the top and unarmed and unpropertied at the bottom. Quaestors, and curule aediles were elected by the Tribal Assembly, while tribunes and plebeian aediles were elected by the Plebeian Council. These were divided into 35 tribes, geographical units of voters. The membership of the two is almost identical, with the only difference that patricians were excluded from the Plebeian Council.
For the Centuriate, voting was in descending order by status and wealth. The first property class would divide itself first into their 35 tribes and then split each tribe by age forming the "iuniores" (juniors) and the "seniores" (seniors). This would form 70 centuries, each with a vote. The "iuniores" would vote first, and one of them would be chosen by lot. This group, known as the "centuria praerogativa", would be the first to vote, and it would have its results announced before every other century voted. Cicero put great weight on the ability of this first announced result to sway other voters. After the "centuria praerogativa" the other 34 "iuniores" would have their results announced simultaneously. Next, the 35 seniors and the 18 equites would cast their ballots. The first property class and the equites combined for 98 votes, and if they were unanimous a candidate would be declared elected and no other centuries would vote. If no majority was reached, balloting would continue through the lower property classes until a majority was reached.
The Tribal Assembly did not have a similar order of precedence. Each of the 35 tribes voted simultaneously. The results were then counted and announced in an order determined by lot. Once a candidate had reached a majority of 18 tribes, counting would stop.
Voting itself was originally oral and initiated via a magistrate's call for a public meeting. Candidates would stand before the electorate, without having prepared any sort of formal speech, and voters would separate to different sections of the saepta (a large unroofed wooden structure with 35 divisions) according to tribe. Each division was connected to the magistrate’s tribunal by a pons (plank) over which the voters would pass to cast their ballots. Each compartment had their votes taken individually and then given to tabulators on the tribunal. Until 139 BC, citizens cast their votes verbally by stating a desired candidate’s name while "rogatores" (tabulators) marked off the votes on wax tablets.
The "lex Gabinia tabellaria" of 139 BC introduced the secret ballot, where each voter wrote the initials of the desired candidate on a small wax tablet to be placed in a box known as the "cista" at the exit of each of the "pontes." To prevent dishonesty, poll watchers guarded the ballot boxes, and the official tabulators, now called custodes, counted the votes. The process of voting itself occurred either in the capital’s forum before the temple of Castor and Pollux or before the Rostra, although limited space prevented all the tribes from voting at once.
Campaigning.
A campaign would begin when the election day was announced by the magistrate in charge of elections. In 98 BCE the "Lex Caecilia Didia" set the campaign length between 17 and 25 days.
A core campaign activity was canvassing in the Forum. The candidate would walk to the forum surrounded by a group of supporters, to meet another cluster of allies in the Forum. At the forum, the candidate would shake hands with the eligible voters. Whispering into the ear of some candidates would be a "nomenclator", a slave who had been trained to memorize the names of all the voters, so that the candidate could greet them all by name. The person running for office would wear an especially whitened toga, known as the "toga candida". It is from this term that we get the modern word candidate. Some candidates may have extended their canvassing to the rural markets around Rome, once those outside the city were allowed to vote.
Political rallies were not permitted in Roman elections. To attract voters candidates instead held banquets and gave away free tickets to the games. To pay for these either a candidate had to be wealthy, or rely on the sponsorship of wealthy friends. There are cases of people going ruinously into debt to fund their campaigns. There were no attempts to restrict who could donate or how much, but there were several laws passed attempting to limit candidate spending on banquets and games.
Development of Candidacy.
Public voting in Rome was originally a process that did not allow for a true choice from the people. After the Senate prepared a list of candidates, it was the magistrate that narrowed the list to the two candidates that could contend for the nomination. Later on in the Roman Republic a practice called "professio" was established, in which potential candidates started to “profess to the magistrate” their wish to be nominated for candidacy. This led to the nominated candidates publicly advertising their aspirations to office and even “[conducting] their own canvass,” clearly campaigning with the idea of voters’ choice in mind. Still, the people’s power could be limited, as there were a few instances in 201 BC and 169 BC when candidates suspiciously became elected just a day after they declared themselves a candidate, which would of course allow no real time for the people to be aware of, much less vote for, such last-minute choices. In the later century, however, more concrete rules were established regarding the behavior and canvassing of candidates. These laws kept people from declaring candidacy the day before an election, requiring the profession to be made before a certain set date.
Campaigning strategies.
Politicians running for a position of power in the Roman Republic followed campaigning strategies similar to those used by modern politicians. In a contemporary letter written to consul candidate Marcus Cicero by his brother, Quintus, during Marcus’ campaign, Quintus wrote on the various campaigning strategies that would help Marcus be elected. One of the most important tips Quintus emphasized was that Marcus should create friendships with men of higher status because these were the men that had the most influence. In addition to creating relationships with the wealthy, Quintus also advised Marcus to “remind everyone in your debt that they should repay you with their support.” To have a chance to be elected, politicians needed to recall any favors owed to them because they needed all the support they could receive. Furthermore, in a similar fashion to modern politics, politicians in the Roman Republic needed to please everyone, whether that meant making promises they knew they could not keep or simply being very polite. In Marcus’s response to his brother, he noted that “people would prefer you give them a gracious lie than an outright refusal.”
Thus, all that mattered was that the politician kept everyone happy, even if that meant lying to their supporters. In addition to flattery and favor-trading, politicians would even resort to ad hominem tactics; in particular, one can find inscribed on the walls of public buildings in Pompeii numerous attacks on the character or constituency of opponents running for office. Some clever candidates (or their supporters) apparently scrawled derisive messages implying that only unsavory characters such as “the sneak thieves... the whole company of late drinkers [and] late risers” supported the opposing candidate. Evidently, strategies for campaigning in republican Rome were very similar to the strategies modern-day politicians use.
Corruption.
Since most voters saw elections as irrelevant to their own lives, many candidates resorted to bribery to convince the people to cast their votes. Bribery became such a commonplace practice in the later Republic that it was seen as a normal part of the political process, and ranged anywhere from the blatant promising of money to simply hosting games and entertaining the people. Sometime during the mid-second century, Polybius noted the prohibition of bribery, but this proved to be useless as it continued to be prominent in elections and was very difficult to differentiate between bribery and the patronage system. Some evidence suggests that as the dominance of the practice grew, the number of men who gained the consulship without any consulates in his family grew as well. Political office, then, was no longer restricted to those of noble birth, and the Republic began to transition from an aristocratic government to become more oligarchic in nature. Some sources assert that the money gained from bribes actually helped common voters afford the cost of voting. In fact, the biggest target of this corruption was these poorer citizens, revealing that these voters still had considerable influence in the outcome of elections. However, the consequences of such corruption caused a lack of faith in the constitution and the political process, which led, in part, to civil war.
Corruption posed the greatest problem in the later Republic when the lucrative benefits of high office led to more competitive elections. Candidates were frequently accused of breaking the laws restricting spending, and also of directly bribing voters. Electoral crimes were known as "ambitus", and there was a long series of laws passed trying to eliminate it, seemingly to little effect. In the consular election of 59 BCE, both Julius Caesar and his rival Bibulus committed to large bribes. In the election of 54 BCE two candidates promised the vast sum of the 10 million sesterces to the "centuria praerogativa" for its vote.
Representation and electorate.
Elections in the Roman Republic were often characterized by the tension between the patricians and the plebeians and, as modern scholarship has shown, were dominated by the oligarchic elite. The Tribal Council on its surface was equitable, for example, but actually worked in favor of elites who had the resources to travel to the city to participate in the election. The Roman system clients and patronage also ensured that votes of the lower classes were tied to an elite. While voting was more open, running for office was much more restricted. Being a candidate had more stringent property tests, and required ten years of military service. Throughout the entire history of the Republic running and winning office was dominated by elite families.
The plebeian group, consisting mostly of rural farmers, gained greater political representation only slowly over time. By the middle of the 5th century BCE, the plebeians had gained enough political power that an assembly of them called the Concilium (a consolidation of a number of other disjointed plebeian assemblies) was able to elect ten tribunes, or representatives, annually. The Concilium was notable in that it was the first to represent all plebeians, not just those in the city. It was also one of few assemblies of its time to employ group voting, in which each tribe of plebeians agreed on a single vote to cast, similar to the United States electoral college and some processes of English Parliament. When it came to electing officials and magistrates higher up, though, that responsibility still lay with the Centuriate Assembly, which was for the most part controlled by patrician interests. Eventually, that too changed to include the votes of more than 35 countryside plebeian tribes. Once the lower class had greater political representation, there came a greater opportunity for them to finally ascend the political and social ladder, making the “rule by the people” a more attainable goal.
Electorate and turnout.
Voting for most offices was open to all full Roman citizens, a group that excluded women, slaves and originally those living outside of Rome. In the early Republic, the electorate would have been small, but as Rome grew it expanded. The "Lex Julia" of 90 BCE extending voting rights to citizens across Italy greatly expanded the franchise. By the final Republican census of 70 BCE, there were 910,000 possible electors.
One unknown is how the Romans kept track of who was eligible to vote. Debates over the franchise were frequent, and differentiating voters from non-voters must have been done. One possibility is that as voters gathered as a tribe the members would be well known enough to each other that an outsider could be spotted, but as populations grew this would have been difficult. Historians have proposed that a central voters list was kept or that citizens were given some form of voter identification, but no sources or archaeological evidence survives for either.
Another debated issue is turnout. No contemporary source indicates how many cast ballots in an election. One clue to an approximate number is the size of the voting area. As consul, Julius Caesar began the construction of a structure on the Campus Martius to hold the population while voting. The size of the structure, if completely filled with voters could have held between 30,000 and 70,000 people. This is almost certainly a high estimate, as open spaces for conducting polling itself would at the least have been required. Cicero mentions in one work that the voting for a single consul in 45 BCE took 5 hours, with the equites and the first and second classes voting. From what we know of how the voting was structured historians have estimated that at most between 6,000 and 16,800 could have voted in that election. With an electorate of 910,000, even the most generous guesses put voter turnout below 10%.
End of elections.
The reign of Caesar Augustus saw the final decline of democratic elections in Rome. Augustus undermined and lessened the significance of the election results, eventually eliminating elections entirely. He also diminished the importance of the offices themselves - the senate was full of his supporters, so candidacy was based on flattery and not on merit since he could nominate senators freely and essentially controlled all membership. Augustus had extensive influence over the magistrates as well; he was given the power to grant commendation to candidates for office, which became a guarantee of winning the election. He later nullified the power of the elected tribunes by assuming the powers of a tribune without actually holding the office itself, allowing him to act as one without other tribunes challenging him. This included casting down any legislation proposed by the others, significantly decreasing the power of the tribunes. Because of this, even though elections still occurred, the results mattered far less than they had under the Republic. Eventually, late in his principate, Augustus eliminated direct election entirely, establishing designation by a group of senators and equites. Citizens were still allowed to elect municipal officers, but filling higher-level posts was left entirely to those already in power.
There is evidence that elections continued at the municipal level for some time after outside of Rome. The remains of Pompeii found several graffiti inscriptions lauding one candidate or another, indicating that contested elections were still underway there in 79 CE.


Sicilian National Movement

The Sicilian National Movement (, MNS) is a separatist coalition of parties active in Sicily.
The coalition was launched in November 2016 and officially founded in January 2017. Its three founding members were: Sicily Nation (SN), the Sicilian Independence Movement (MIS; re-edition of the separatist party which was active after World War II) and the Sicilian National Front (FNS).
Since its foundation, the MNS supported Gaetano Armao, SN leader, for President of Sicily in the 2017 regional election.
In the summer of 2017 Armao, with the support of the MNS, launched a broader Union of Indignant Sicilians ("Unione dei Siciliani Indignati", USI), received the support of Silvio Berlusconi and Forza Italia (FI), and was selected as candidate for Vice President, in ticket with candidate for President Nello Musumeci, representing a broad centre-right coalition, notably including FI, Brothers of Italy, Us with Salvini, the Party of Sicilians and the Union of the Centre.
After the election, in which the MNS did not field own lists, and Musumeci's election as President, Armao was sworn in as Vice President and minister of Economy.


Hark Olufs

Hark Olufs (July 17 or 19, 1708 in Nebel – October 13, 1754) was a North Frisian sailor. He was captured by Algerian pirates and sold into slavery. By successfully working as a slave servant to the Bey of Constantine, he eventually obtained his freedom from captivity.
Life.
Hark Olufs was born as son of a nautical captain named Oluf Jensen on either July 17 or 19 in 1708 on the North Frisian island of Amrum, which then belonged to Denmark. In 1721 he became a seaman on the "Hoffnung", a ship belonging to his father.
In 1724, on a voyage from Nantes to Hamburg, Olufs’ ship was seized by Algerian pirates and he, and his two cousins, were taken hostage. Olufs' family could not afford the high price which was demanded in ransom by the Barbary slave traders for his release. Because the ship had been sailing under Hamburg colours, the family's request for a loan from the slavery fund of the Danish Kingdom was rejected.
Subsequently, Olufs was sold as a slave on Algiers' slave market. From 1724 to 1727/28 he was a slave servant of the Bey of Constantine and advanced in responsibility to become the Bey's treasurer. Between 1728 and 1732 he was made Commander of the Life Guards. In 1732 he became "Agha ed-Deira", Commander in Chief of the local cavalry. In 1735, he took part in the conquest of Tunis by the Algerian army during the disposal of Al-Husayn I ibn Ali. As a reward, Olufs was released on October 31 and was allowed to return to Amrum. In 1747 he published an autobiography in Danish, which was translated into German in 1751. Hark Olufs died on October 13, 1754, in Süddorf on Amrum. His headstone is still visible in the graveyard of Nebel.
Legacy.
Hark Oluf's life was chronicled in a biographical novel in 2010:


Court of Auditors (France)

Under the French monarchy, the Courts of Accounts (in French "Chambres des comptes") were sovereign courts specialising in financial affairs. The Court of Accounts in Paris was the oldest and the forerunner of today's French Court of Audit. They oversaw public spending, handled finances, protected crown estates, audited the accounts of crown officials, and adjudicated any related matters of law.
Court in Paris.
Early history.
To oversee the Kingdom's revenues and expenditure, the French King first relied solely on his King's Court or "Curia Regis", court officials who assisted him in governing. However, by the mid-12th century, the Crown entrusted its finances to the Knights Templar, who maintained a banking establishment in Paris. The royal Treasury was henceforth organized like a bank and salaries and revenues were transferred between accounts. Royal accounting officers in the field, who sent revenues to the Temple, were audited by the King's Court, which had special clerks assigned to work at the Temple. These financial specialists came to be called the "Curia in Compotis" and sat in special sessions of the King's Court for dealing with financial business. From 1297, accounts were audited twice yearly after Midsummer Day (June 24) and Christmas. In time, what was once a simple Exchequer of Receipts developed into a central auditing agency, branched off, and eventually specialized into a full-time court.
In 1256, Saint Louis issued a decree ordering all mayors, burghesses, and town councilmen to appear before the King's sovereign auditors of the Exchequer (French "gens des comptes") in Paris to render their final accounting. The King's Court's general secretariat had members who specialized in finance and accountancy and could receive accounts. A number of Barons ("maîtres lais") were commissioned to sit as the King's Exchequer ("comptes du Roi").
In or around 1303, the Paris Court of Accounts was established in the Palais de la Cité where it remained until the French Revolution. Its auditors were responsible for overseeing revenue from Crown estates and checking public spending. It audited the Royal Household, inspectors, royal commissioners, provosts, and lower court justices. In 1307, the Philip IV definitively removed royal funds from the Temple and placed them in the fortress of the Louvre. Thereafter, the financial specialists received accounts for audit in a room of the royal palace that became known as the "Camera compotorum" or "Chambre des comptes", and they began to be collectively identified under the same name, although still only a subcommittee within the King's Court, consisting of about sixteen people.
The Vivier-en-Brie Ordinance of 1320, issued by Philip V, required the "Chambre" to audit finances, judge cases arising from accountancy, and maintain registers of financial documents; it also laid out the basic composition of financial courts: three (later four) cleric masters of accounts ("maîtres-clercs") to act as chief auditors and three lay Barons ("maîtres-lais familiers du Roi") empowered to hear and adjudge ("oyer and terminer") audit accounts. They were assisted by eleven clerks ("petis clercs", later "clercs des comptes") who acted as auditors of the prests. This complement grew by 50% in the next two decades but was reduced to seven masters and twelve clerks in 1346. The office of churchman Chief Baron ("président") was created by the Ordinance of 1381, and a second lay Chief Baron was appointed in 1400. Clerks of court were eventually added to the Court's composition. Examiners ("correcteurs") were created to assist the Barons ("maitres"). Other court officers ("conseillers") appointed by the King were created to act alongside the puisne Barons ("maîtres ordinaires"). Lastly, the Ordinance of 26 February 1464 named the Court of Accounts as the "sovereign, primary, supreme, and sole court of last resort in all things financial".
While gaining in stability in the later 14th century, the Court lost its central role in royal finances. First, currency was moved to a separate body ("Chambre des monnaies"), then the increasingly regular "extraordinary" taxes ("aide", tallage, "gabelle") became the responsibility of the "généraux" of the Cour des aides (created in 1390). The Crown's domainal revenues, still retained by the Court of Accounts, fell in importance and value. By 1400, the Court's role had been much reduced. However, with the gradual enlargement of the Realm through conquest, the need for the Court remained secure.
In the Provinces.
The oldest provincial Court of Accounts was in Dauphiné and established in 1368. Other courts sprang up in Normandy (1465), Provence, Burgundy, Nantes in Brittany, Navarre (1527), Languedoc and Roussillon, and the cities of Nancy, Metz and Bar-le-Duc.
Decline and abolition.
Toward the end of the French monarchy and excluding the Paris Court of Accounts, out of 12 other regional courts of accounts, some (merged into the Cours des aides) continued to exercise as financial courts presiding over tax and estate cases. Some sovereign courts of account were raised from grand feudal estates also existing in certain provinces, and did not therefore form a cohesive whole. It was not until the French Revolution that the Courts of Accounts would be abolished between 17–29 September 1791.
Court Officers and Staff.
At any given time, a Court of Accounts may have included any of a number of officers:


West Calder Slave Trade Petition

The West Calder Slave Trade Petition was a 1792 petition, against the slave-trade, created in West Calder, West Lothian, Scotland.
Abolition of the Slave Trade.
The Parishioners of West Calder played a small part in the abolitionist movement of the late eighteenth century, as reported in the "Edinburghshire Log" of 1792. West Calder Parish posted a petition in advocating in the strongest terms that abolition of slavery was essential. Within 9 days of the publication of the document, 2 April 1792 William Wilberforce moved that the trade ought to be abolished; an amendment in favour of gradual abolition was carried, and it was finally resolved that the trade should cease on 1 January 1796. When a similar motion was brought forward to the House of Lords the consideration of it was postponed to the following year, in order to give time for the examination of witnesses by a committee of the House.


Sir Edward Bishopp, 2nd Baronet

Sir Edward Bishopp, 2nd Baronet (1602 – April 1649) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1626 and in 1640. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War.
Bishopp was the son of Sir Thomas Bishopp, 1st Baronet of Parham Park, Sussex, and his second wife Jane Weston, daughter of Sir Richard Weston of Sutton Surrey. He matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford on 22 October 1619, aged 18 and was a student of the Inner Temple in 1620. He was knighted at Hampton Court on 18 December 1625 and succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his father in 1626. In 1626, he was elected Member of Parliament for Steyning.
In 1627 he killed Henry Shirley the playwright when the latter called at his house to collect a £40 annual annuity that Bishopp was obliged to pay him under the terms of a bequest. After initially making his escape Bishopp was captured, charged with manslaughter and sentenced to be burnt on the hand. He was however later pardoned on condition that he paid the annuity to the victim's elder brother, which he never did. He was nevertheless pricked Sheriff of Sussex in 1636.
In April 1640, Bishopp was elected MP for Bramber in the Short Parliament. He was re-elected in the Long Parliament in November 1640 until his election was declared void in December. He supported the King in the civil war and was governor of Arundel Castle on behalf of the King in 1643 and was taken prisoner at the surrender of the castle in January 1644. His estates were sequestrated and he compounded in October 1644. He was fined £7,500 in October 1645 which was later reduced to £4,790.
In about 1626 Bishopp married Mary Tufton, daughter of Nicholas Tufton, 1st Earl of Thanet and Lady Frances Cecil. Lady Frances Cecil was the daughter of Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter and Dorothy Neville. Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter was the son of William Cecil, Lord Burghley. Subsequent Bishopp baronets carried the name Cecil in recognition of this influential ancestor. Bishopp died at the age of about 47 and was succeeded briefly in the baronetcy by his son Thomas, born 3 Dec 1627. In 1651, Thomas, his mother Mary, and sisters Frances, Diana, Christina, and Mary, successfully appealed for the portion of Sir Edward's estate that was intended for the maintenance of his widow and daughters to be released from sequestration.
Thomas he died unmarried and without issue in 1652 and was succeeded by his brother Sir Cecil Bishopp, 4th Baronet (c. 1635 – 3 June 1705).