Armijska Ratna Komanda D-0

The Armijska Ratna Komanda ARK D-0, "(full civil designation Vojni objekat Armijska Ratna Komanda ARK D-0)", (Cyrillic: Армијска Ратна Команда; ), also known as the Ark, ARK/D-0, Atomska Ratna Komanda, and nicknamed Tito's bunker, is a Cold War era nuclear bunker and military command center located near the town of Konjic in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Built to protect Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito and up to 350 members of his inner circle in the event of an atomic conflict, the structure is made up of residential areas, conference rooms, offices, strategic planning rooms, and other areas. The bunker remained a state secret until after the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
History.
In 1953, as the Cold War was heating up, President Tito directed the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) to begin work on the ARK bunker. In the event of nuclear war, the complex was designed to function as a center of military operations and a shelter for both the Supreme Command staff and Tito, along with his family and close associates. Its construction and existence were among the most closely guarded Yugoslav military secrets of the time and remained so until the 1990s, when the ARK was revealed to the public.
In 1979, when work was completed after 26 years and $4.6 billion in construction costs (equal to $26 billion in today's currency), the facility was handed over to a JNA detachment of 16 military personnel (by ethnicity: 9 Serbs, 4 Bosniaks, and 3 Croats) tasked with maintaining the structure, should the need ever arise.
After Tito's death in 1980, the complex was mothballed but kept ready in case of war. In March 1992, during the breakup of Yugoslavia, the JNA ordered its demolition to deny it to the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As with the nearby Željava Air Base, it was prepped for destruction with explosives, but the military detachment refused to carry out the order and instead surrendered the structure to the Bosnian government. It was subsequently used as a supply base by Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War, as medical supplies and equipment were in short supply.
Construction.
Built between 1953 and 1979 inside the Zlatar hill at the southern foothill of the Bjelašnica Mountain, the ARK is the largest nuclear shelter, and one of the largest underground facilities, ever built in the former Yugoslavia. For over a decade after its completion, it was the most secret military installation in the country. All construction workers were carefully selected and vetted, signing a contract of silence, and all staff members held the highest security clearance.
Visible from the outside of the complex are three nondescript houses, not marked on any map, surrounded by natural settings and located along the Neretva River. For nearly 50 years, the houses concealed entrances to the third largest military facility in Yugoslavia (after the underground Željava Air Base near Bihać and the Lora naval facility in Split, Croatia). The houses consist of a control residence, a building containing secure communication links, and the facility where technical support personnel would be located. Along a corridor located in the first house, three 1.20 meter-thick metal doors protect a tunnel leading to the heart of the shelter, which is 280 meters deep and 202 meters long.
The underground horseshoe-shaped structure, built to withstand a 20-kiloton nuclear blast, is divided into interconnected 12 blocks, the most important being Blocks 6 (communication), 8 (Tito's block), 9 (air filtration), 10 (fuel storage), and 11 (water storage). Designed to protect and accommodate up to 350 people for up to six months, the bunker covers an area of 6,854 m² and contains over 100 rooms, including dormitories, two large conference rooms, five operation centers with direct phone links to the Presidency, two kitchens, five large toilets, a cryptography center, cable television access, and a fully equipped hospital operating room. President Tito's residence consists of five rooms: one for his secretary and party leaders, Tito's office, his bedroom, from which one could enter the room of Yugoslav First Lady Jovanka Broz, and a relaxation room.
Within the structure are 21 large systems and maintenance rooms with containers capable of holding 50 tons of oil, climate control systems, 170 cubic-meter water tanks, and running water drawn from natural wells located within the mountain. Each system was equipped with a back-up in case the primary failed. The temperature in the bunker is between 21 and 23 degrees Celsius, with humidity between 60% and 70%, representing near-optimal subterranean living conditions. The complex is lit by approximately 6,000 neon bulbs.
Present.
Today the facility is under the authority of the Bosnian Ministry of Defense and is managed by the country's military, guarded by a five-soldier detachment, and preserved intact with all its symbols of the social, economical, political and ideological system of Socialist Yugoslavia. During the wars of the 1990s, many monuments in the former Yugoslavia were destroyed, particularly those in Bosnia and Herzegovina. ARK is therefore a unique exhibition space, a nontraditional artistic setting from both a psychological and intellectual point of view.
ARK D-0 Underground Contemporary Art Biennial Project.
Tito's bunker now serves as a meeting point for artists from across the region, Europe, and the world. The goal of the Project Biennial of Contemporary Art is to transform a site still officially under military control into a prestigious regional cultural institution at the forefront of emerging artistic trends. The project seeks to preserve cultural heritage and a historic structure as well as to create artistic value and reestablish broken connections between artists and creative people in the region.
The Council of Europe in 2011 named the project a Cultural Event of Europe, and it also enjoys strong UNESCO support. A first edition of the Biennial of Contemporary Art in 2011 brought together 44 artists from 18 countries and over 15,000 visitors. Following a second edition in 2013, the opening of the third took place on 26 April 2015, when 35 artists from 19 countries presented their exhibits. Over fifty works of art have remained on-site as permanent exhibits. The project has received financial support from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey.


Caufield

Caufield is an Irish surname, a variation to the name Caulfield. Notable people with the surname include:


Armorial of the House of Bonaparte

History.
The House of Bonaparte was a royal dynasty started by Napoleon I, son of Carlo Bonaparte. The family formed the Imperial House of France during the first French Empire. The house ruled until 1871, when they were ultimately ousted due to the effects of the Franco-Prussian War. Here are their individual seals:


Neshama Carlebach

Neshama Carlebach (born October 9, 1974 in New York) () is a teacher, entertainer, singer, and the protégé of her late father, Shlomo Carlebach. Her career as a recording artist and as an occasional essayist has reached interfaith communities and has addressed social issues in America, Israel and Jewish communities spanning the world. While her spiritual origins were within the Orthodox Jewish community, she has also found a community in the Reform Jewish movement and beyond.
Biography.
Born Esther Neshama Tehora Shlucha Carlebach (her given names interpreted as 'a pure soul that descended to this world'), she began training as a singer and actress at the age five and began singing with her father, Shlomo Carlebach, at 15. She began her professional career soon after her father's death in 1994. Carlebach has performed and taught in cities worldwide, has sung on the Broadway stage, has sold more than one million records, has sparked public conversation about the place of women in Judaism, the importance of religious pluralism, and her own experiences as a woman. She was a six-time entrant in the 2011 Grammy Awards. Carlebach was also one of the creators of the Broadway play "Soul Doctor".
In November 2016, Carlebach was inducted into the Brooklyn Hall of Fame, where she received a Certificate of Congressional Recognition for her work.
Carlebach performs at concert halls, interfaith celebrations, community centers, synagogues, churches, and summer camps worldwide. She also collaborates with the Glory to God Singers, performing her own original music as well as her father's repertoire.
Carlebach married noted social activist and author Rabbi Menachem Creditor in 2018.


Tihamiyya Arabic

Tihāmiyyah (Arabic: تهامية Tihāmiyyah; also known as Tihamiyya, Tihami) is the variety of Arabic originally spoken by the tribes, that belongs to the historic region of Yemeni Tihamah (Yemeni part only), although the term Tihamah refers to the Red Sea coastal plain of Arabia from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Bab el Mandeb Strait, including the Saudi (Hejazi) Coast.
Pronunciation.
The Tihami Arabic or Tihamiyya dialect has many aspects which differentiate it from all other dialects in the Arab world. Phonologically Tihami is similar to the majority of Yemeni dialects, pronouncing the ' () as and the ' () as a velar plosive (the ' pronunciation is also shared with Egyptian Arabic) unlike San'ani and Hadhrami Arabic which pronounce the ' () as . Grammatically all Tihami dialects also share the unusual feature of replacing the definite article ("al-") with the prefix ("am-"). The future tense, much like the dialects surrounding Sanaa, is indicated with the prefix ("š-"), for all persons, e.g. "ša-būk am-sūq" "I will go to the Souq". Some Tihami dialects, such as that spoken in Al-Hodeida, are otherwise fairly similar to other Yemeni dialects in grammar and syntax, differing mainly in vocabulary, while others can be so far from any other Arabic dialect that they are practically incomprehensible even to other Yemenis.


Ferriter

Ferriter is a surname of Irish origin. People with that name include:


A Dainty Politician

A Dainty Politician is a 1910 American silent short drama produced by the Thanhouser Company. The film focuses on corruption political activity during a political convention in which a corrupt politician is running for re-election to the United States Congress. The votes are tallied and the challenger ties with the corrupt Congressman Casey, but a third candidate holds the balance of power. Casey bribes the third candidate to retire in his favor, but the plot is uncovered and the two are ejected from the convention by a reporter who falls in love with challenger's daughter. The film was released on August 23, 1910, and saw a wide national release. Little is known of the actual production, but it received mixed reaction for the plausibility of its plot. The film is presumed lost.
Plot.
Though the film is presumed lost, a synopsis survives in "The Moving Picture World" from August 27, 1910. It states: "Congressman Casey is a type of the ward politician who is now, fortunately, being rapidly eliminated from politics. He is planning his re-election to Congress. The decent movement in the community has been aroused and a movement is on foot to nominate Professor Blake, a citizen of high standing and character. John Willette, a reporter for the "Daily Globe", calls on Professor Blake to inform him that he will be requested to run for the nomination and shows an article on the subject that has appeared in the Daily Globe. Professor Blake receives him cordially and he meets Professor Blake's daughter, Marie; the young people proceed to fall in love. The time for the convention arrives. As the convention is assembling and before they proceed to business, a band of suffragettes headed by Miss Croup gain admission and attempt to get a plank introduced in the platform favoring 'votes for women.' The convention turns them down and they are ejected from the floor."
"Nominations are then made for candidates, and after a vote has been taken it is found that ballots for Casey and Professor Blake are very evenly divided in that a candidate named Jennings, who is receiving the fewest votes, holds the balance of power. The convention takes a recess and Casey endeavors to bribe Jennings to retire in his favor and throw all his votes to Casey. Willett overhears enough of the bargain to make him suspicious, and communicates his beliefs to Marie. Between them they contrive to so fix the connection of the telephone in Casey's room that they can overhear the completion of the bribery plot. They succeed in this, and hear Jennings agree to the bargain for the consideration of a large-size check which Casey hands to him. The convention reconvenes, and John Willette appears and makes the charge publicly that Casey has bribed Jennings to throw his votes. Casey and Jennings indignantly deny this, and Marie comes forward as a witness; whereupon Jennings and Casey try to leave the convention. Delegates grab Jennings; search him and find the check given him by Casey. The two are ejected from the convention, which at once nominates Professor Blake and acclaims the two lovers who made the nomination possible."
Production.
The writer of the scenario is unknown, but it was most likely Lloyd Lonergan. He was an experienced newspaperman employed by "The New York Evening World" while writing scripts for the Thanhouser productions. One advertisement claimed, likely in error, that this film was based on the play "The Man of the Hour". Written by George Broadhurst, the play focused on political corruption in the form of graft, but the play itself was apparently inspired by politicians of New York. The plot of the film includes a nod to the Women's suffrage movement, but it would be a decade before the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibited any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. The character, Congressman Casey, would later be seen again in "Orator, Knight and Cow Charmer". The film director is unknown, but it may have been Barry O'Neil. Film historian Q. David Bowers does not attribute a cameraman for this production, but at least two possible candidates exist. Blair Smith was the first cameraman of the Thanhouser company, but he was soon joined by Carl Louis Gregory who had years of experience as a still and motion picture photographer. The role of the cameraman was uncredited in 1910 productions. There are no known credits for the cast, but Anna Rosemond and Frank H. Crane are two possible actors that were prominent players in 1910. Credits may have included Anna Rosemond, one of two leading ladies of the Thanhouser company in this era. Frank H. Crane was a leading male actor of the company and also involved since the very beginnings of the Thanhouser Company. Bowers states that most of the credits are fragmentary for 1910 Thanhouser productions. A surviving film still leaves open the possibility of identifying two characters.
Release and reception.
The one reel drama, approximately 960 feet long, was released on August 23, 1910. The film had a wide national release, theater advertisements are known in Kansas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Washington, Indiana, New Hampshire, Arizona, Texas, Ohio, and Illinois. One of the last known advertisements for the film was in Bryan, Texas on March 6, 1912.
The film was reviewed positively in "The Moving Picture World" which stated, "Apparently someone connected with the Thanhouser Company has learned something of ward politics, and the methods of controlling a convention are very clearly and bluntly stated. It isn't always possible to expose plots such as this one was exposed, but it would have been a good thing if it could be done... The situations are dramatically worked out and the interest never flags from the beginning to the end. A love story adds a certain degree of interest to the picture, and the development of the plot is strengthened by the young people's lovemaking." "The New York Dramatic Mirror" disagreed with the plausibility of the depicted political manipulation, but found the picture to be interesting and the acting to be adequate. Later publications would also reference the film for its content, like "The Columbia Companion to American History on Film" which cites it as an example of a political machine based on graft and deceit. Neither graft nor deceit is actually in play with the production, for pure bribery is the method upon which the politician uses to gain political power. Kay Sloan, author of "The Loud Silents: Origins of the Social Problem Film", states that the film explored the problem of political corruption and critics approved because they saw was a realistic portrayal. Another release dealing with political corruption was "The Girl Reporter", released by Thanhouser on August 16, 1910.


Wittus Witt

Wittus Witt (born 1949) is a German magician, author and publisher.
Biography.
Witt went to the State Art Academy in Dusseldorf to study an art teacher. Afterwards, he moved to the College of Design in Dusseldorf in 1976 and earned his degree as a designer.
From 1993 to 1995 he appeared regularly on the radio and has performed over two hundred times on television. From 1994 to 1997 he had his own television series: "Tele-spell with Wittus Witt" in which he performed interactive magic tricks every second week live with a spectator.
Witt is one of the founding members of the association of full-time magicians "The Professionals", which met for the first time in autumn 1989.
Since 1977 Witt has published the well-known magic directory "International Magic Yellow Pages" which appear in a 3-years cycle. The publication contains currently more than 1,300 names from all over the world. Since 2006 it is also available as an E-book version.
In 2000 he took over Germany's magic magazine "Magische Welt", in which he previously published articles and a column. He has also developed the German language version of Magicpedia.
In 2011 Witt founded the annual Hamburg magic nights, in which several magicians show their full evening shows during one weekend.
In 2012 he opened Germany’s first art gallery dedicated to the art of magic and visual art connected with magic.


List of Yiddish abbreviations

This is a list of Yiddish Abbreviations.
Sorting Order.
The entries are sorted according to the Hebrew alphabet. Prefixes indicating prepositions and articles (such as ב, ד, ה, ש, כ) have generally been removed, with the following exceptions:
For ease of searching and sorting, double letters (ײ and װ) have been treated as if they were two separate letters.
Numeronyms and other abbreviations with numerical elements.
Some abbreviations included here are actually gematria (Hebrew numeronyms), but the number is so closely associated with some noun that it is grammatically used as a noun and is synonymous with it, for example ל"ו, "lamed vov".
Other abbreviations contain a variable gematria component alongside other words, like the chapter references פי"א perek yud-alef (chapter 11) or פ"ט perek tet (chapter 9). Rather than list separate entries for every possible gematria, or use only one example number, the gematria component is replaced with [x] to produce (for example) [x]"פ.
Abbreviations from other Hebraic languages.
Some Hebrew and Aramaic abbreviations may not be included here; more may be found in the List of Hebrew abbreviations and the List of Aramaic abbreviations, respectively.
Many of the abbreviations here may be similar or identical to those in the other lists of acronyms. In fact, a work written in Yiddish may have Hebrew and Aramaic abbreviations interspersed throughout, much as an Aramaic work may borrow from Hebrew (ex. Talmud, Midrash, Zohar) and Hebrew from Aramaic (ex. Shulchan Aruch, Mishneh Torah). Although somewhat less common than Hebrew abbreviations, some Yiddish material contains Aramaic abbreviations too (for example, Chassidic responsa, commentaries, and other material).


Svafrlami

Svafrlami was in the "H" and "U" version of the Hervarar saga the son of Sigrlami, who was the son of Odin. In the "R" version, Svafrlami is called Sigrlami and his parentage is not given. Svafrlami was the king of Gardariki and the first owner of the magic sword Tyrfing.
One day, he was hunting on his horse and discovered two dwarves near a large stone. He bound them by swinging his sword above them so they could not disappear. The dwarves, who were named Dvalinn and Durin, asked if they could buy themselves free and undertook to make a magic sword. The sword would neither break nor rust and it would cut through iron and stone as easily as through cloth and would always give victory.
When Svafrlami acquired the sword, he saw that it was an exquisite and beautiful weapon and it was named "Tyrfing". However, before disappearing into the rock, the dwarves cursed the weapon so that it would never be unsheathed without killing a man, would be the undoing of Svafrlami and cause three evil deeds.
One day, Svafrlami met the Berserker Arngrim. According to the "H" and "U" versions, they started to fight. Tyrfing cut through Arngrim's shield and down into the soil, whereupon Arngrim cut off Svafrlami's hand, took Tyrfing and slew him. Arngrim then forced Svafrlami's daughter Eyfura to marry him.
According to the "R" version, Arngrim became the war-chief of the aged king and was given both Tyrfing and Eyfura as rewards.
For the continued legend of the sword Tyrfing, see Arngrim.


Commendation for Brave Conduct

The Commendation for Brave Conduct is a bravery decoration awarded to Australians. It is awarded for an act of bravery that is worthy of recognition. The Commendation for Brave Conduct was created in February 1975. The decorations recognise acts of bravery by members of the community who selflessly put themselves in jeopardy to protect the lives or property of others. It is ranked fourth in the Australian bravery decoration in the Australian Honours System.
Description.
The Commendation for Brave Conduct is a silver gilt sprig of mimosa mounted on a blood-red backing ribbon.


Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly

Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly was a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones, with music by Alfonso Ferrabosco. It was performed on 3 February 1611 at Whitehall Palace, and published in 1616.
"Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly" proved to be the last masque in which Anne of Denmark, King James I's Queen, performed.
Background.
During the previous six years, the English Court of King James I had established a pattern of staging a major (and expensive) masque in the Christmas season, often on Twelfth Night. James's queen, Anne of Denmark, was a prime mover is these entertainments, and repeatedly performed in them herself, as in the masques of "Blackness" (1605), "Beauty" (1608), and "Queens" (1609). 1611 saw a divergence from this pattern: the major masque of that season was "Oberon, the Faery Prince," which starred Anne's and James's eldest son Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales. Anne got a masque of her own a month later, though it was a more modest affair than previous events; while the bills for earlier masques regularly ran into the thousands of pounds, the total for "Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly" was only £719. (Anne's masque had originally been scheduled for December 1610, and then for Twelfth Night, 6 January 1611; it was postponed twice because of delays in the arrival of the French ambassador, in the wake of the assassination of Henri IV.)
The show.
The masque featured a dozen primary masquers: Anne's ladies in waiting as Daughters of the Morn, with Anne herself as the Queen of the Orient. The anti-masque correspondingly featured twelve Follies or "she-fools." The masque begins with a long conversation between Cupid and a Sphinx; the conceit is that the Sphinx has captured "Love," who must in turn be liberated from this captivity — hence the title. (Cupid's nakedness was simulated with a flesh-colored satin costume.) Cupid is freed by the priests of the Muses, who clue the god to the correct answers to the Sphinx's riddles (which are "Britain" and "King James"). The Queen and Daughters of the Morn also must be released from the Sphinx's imprisonment. Once they are released they appear in a cloud in the sky above their former prison.
Fees.
Both Jonson and Jones received their standard fee of £40 for the masque, though a "dancing master" Nicholas Confesse who taught the ladies their choreography was paid £50, and his assistant Jacques Bochan got £20. Ferrabosco received £20, and musical assistants Robert Johnson and Thomas Lupo earned £5 for arranging the songs for lutes and violins. The five boys who played the Sphinx, Cupid, and the Graces got £2 apiece, but the twelve actors (male) who played the she-fools got only £1 each.
Publication.
The text was published in the first folio collection of Jonson's works in 1616, and was reprinted in the second folio of 1640 and in subsequent Jonson collections.


Bowell

Bowell is an English and Irish surname of Norman origin. Notable people with the surname include:


The Baby Cyclone

The Baby Cyclone is a lost 1928 American comedy silent film directed by A. Edward Sutherland and based upon the 1927 play by George M. Cohan, adapted for the screen by F. Hugh Herbert and Robert E. Hopkins. The film stars Lew Cody, Aileen Pringle, Robert Armstrong, Gwen Lee and Nora Cecil. The film was released on September 27, 1928, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Plot.
Jessie Hurley (Gwen Lee) becomes infatuated with her new Pekingese. This makes her husband Gene Hurley (Robert Armstrong) jealous. While out walking the dog, he sells it to society girl Lydia Webster (Aileen Pringle). He tells Jessie the dog got lost, but Jessie learns the truth and takes it back. Lydia and her fiancé, Joe Meadows (Lew Cody), try to regain custody. Eventually, all four humans are arrested on charges of dog stealing and inciting a riot. The film featured "a near deadly duel with an electric light bulb and a bottle of catsup as the main constituents."


Pibroch

Pibroch, piobaireachd or ceòl mòr is an art music genre associated primarily with the Scottish Highlands that is characterised by extended compositions with a melodic theme and elaborate formal variations. Strictly meaning "piping" in Scottish Gaelic, "piobaireachd" has for some four centuries been music of the Great Highland Bagpipe. Music of a similar nature, pre-dating the adoption of the Highland pipes, has historically been played on the wire-strung Gaelic harp (clarsach) and later on the Scottish fiddle, and this form is undergoing a revival.
A more general term is "ceol mor" ( (reformed spelling); "ceòl mór" (unreformed spelling)), meaning the "great music", to distinguish this complex extended art-music from the more popular Scottish music such as dances, reels, marches and strathspeys, which are called ceòl beag or "little music".
Etymology.
The Gaelic word piobaireachd literally means "piping" or "act of piping". The word is derived from "pìob" ("pipes") via "pìobaire" ("piper") plus the abstract forming suffix "-eachd". In Gaelic, "pìobaireachd" literally refers to any pipe music, not merely "ceòl mór" (lit. "big music"). "Pibroch" is a spelling variant first attested in Lowland Scots in 1719.
Bagpipe societies, such as the Glasgow-based "Piobaireachd Society", have commonly employed the term "piobaireachd" as a synonym for "ceol mor" played on the Great Highland Bagpipes. The term "piobaireachd" or "pibroch" is also historically employed to describe "ceol mor" related repertoire played on instruments other than bagpipes, particularly the Scottish fiddle.
Notation.
Pibroch is properly expressed by minute and often subtle variations in note duration and tempo. Traditionally, the music was taught using a system of unique chanted vocables referred to as Canntaireachd, an effective method of denoting the various movements in pibroch music, and assisting the learner in proper expression and memorization of the tune. The predominant vocable system used today is the Nether Lorn canntaireachd sourced from the Campbell Canntaireachd manuscripts (1797 & 1814) and used in the subsequent Piobaireachd Society books.
Multiple written manuscripts of pibroch in staff notation have been published, including Angus MacKay's book "A Collection of Ancient Pìobaireachd" (1845), Archibald Campbell's "The Kilberry Book of Ceòl Mór" (1969), and "The Pìobaireachd Society Books"
The staff notation in Angus MacKay's book and subsequent Pìobaireachd Society sanctioned publications is characterised by a simplification and standardisation of the ornamental and rhythmic complexities of many pibroch compositions when compared with earlier unpublished manuscript sources. A number of the earliest manuscripts such as the Campbell Canntaireachd MS that predate the standard edited published collections have been made available by the Alt Pibroch Club website as a publicly accessible comparative resource.
Pibroch is difficult to document accurately using traditional musical notation, and early attempts suffered from conventions which do not accurately convey tune expression. More contemporary pibroch notation has attempted to address these issues, and has produced notation much closer to true expression of the tunes.
Pibroch does not follow a strict metre but it does have a rhythmic flow or pulse; it does not follow a strict beat or tempo although it does have pacing. The written notation of pibroch serves mainly as a rough guide for the piper. The expression of the rhythms and tempos of the pibroch tune are primarily acquired from an experienced teacher and applied through interpretive performance practice.
Structure.
Related ceòl mór genres were historically also played on the fiddle and on the wire-strung Gaelic harp or clarsach. The clarsach ceòl mór is likely to have predated and influenced the later pipe and fiddle music. However, pibroch in its current form was developed on the Great Highland Bagpipe, with most of the extant pibroch tunes being adapted to or written specifically for the GHB, and as a result the musical form is influenced by features and limitations of that instrument.
In musical structure, pibroch is a theme with variations. The theme is usually a very simple melody, though few if any pibroch contain the theme in its simplest form. The theme is first stated in a slow movement called the ground or in Gaelic the ùrlar. This is usually a fairly stylised version of the theme, and usually includes numerous added embellishments and connecting notes.
The subsequent variations can number from one up to about twenty, although there are a few fragmentary tunes for which only a ground is known. In most cases the variations following the ground involve the use of a number of different musical embellishments, usually starting very simply and progressing through successively more complex movements before returning again to the ground.
Variations after the ùrlar or ground usually include a siubhal ("passing" or "traversing") or dithis ("two" or "a pair") or both. The siubhal comprises theme notes each coupled with a single note of higher or lower pitch that usually precedes the theme note. The theme note is held and its paired single note cut. The timing given to the theme notes is of critical importance in displaying the virtuosity of the master piper. If the theme and single note are repeated or played in pairs, it is referred to as a doubling, otherwise a siubhal singling.
The dithis is similar. The theme note is accented and followed by a cut note of lower pitch, usually alternating, for example, between an A and a G. If the coupled pairs are played in a repeating pattern, it too is called a dithis doubling.
Following the siubhal or dithis variation are other more complex embellishments. The Gaelic names of these type movements are: leumluath, taorluath, and crùnluath. In almost all pibroch in which these later movements are found, the variations are played first as a singling and then as a doubling and with a slightly increased tempo. However, not all pibrochs will include all or even any of these movements but instead use variations that are deemed to be irregular.
In addition the theme will usually have one of several internal structures for the ordering of its musical phrases. These are usually classified as follows:
Few pibrochs are pure examples of any of these structures though most can be fit into one of the first three with a slight modification of one or two of the phrases in one or more lines.
A compilation of the structure of many pibroch tunes, including related historical essays, was written by A. J. Haddow.
There is evidence from early treatises (e.g. Joseph MacDonald) that the structure was originally counted in 4, so a Primary form would be
Similarly, Secondary form can be read as
Titles and subjects.
The Gaelic titles of pibroch compositions have been categorised by Roderick Cannon into four broad groupings. These include:
Pibroch in the functional category were most commonly written for or have come to be associated with specific events, personages or situations:
The different categories of pibroch do not have consistent distinctive musical patterns that are characteristic of the category. The role of the pibroch may inform the performers interpretative expression of rhythm and tempo.
Many pibroch tunes have intriguing names such as "Too Long in This Condition", "The Piper's Warning to His Master", "Scarce of Fishing", "The Unjust Incarceration" and "The Big Spree" which suggest specific narrative events or possible song lyric sources.
The oral transmission of the repertoire has led to diverse and divergent accounts of the names for tunes, and many tunes have a number of names. Mis-translation of Gaelic names with non-standard phonetic spelling adds to the confusion.
In some cases the name and subject matter of pibroch tunes appears to have been reassigned by-19th century editors such as Angus MacKay, whose book "A Collection of Ancient Piobaireachd or Highland Pipe Music" (1838) included historically fanciful and romantic pibroch source stories by antiquarian James Logan. A number of pibroch collected by MacKay have very different titles in earlier manuscript sources. MacKay's translated English titles became the commonly accepted modern pibroch names, sanctioned by subsequent Piobaireachd Society editors.
Roderick Cannon has compiled a dictionary of the Gaelic names of pibroch from early manuscripts and printed sources, detailing inconsistencies, difficulties in translation, variant names, accurate translations and verifiable historically documented attributions and dates in the few cases where this is possible.
History.
In the absence of concrete documentary evidence, the origins of pibroch have taken on a quasi-mythic status. The earliest commonly recognised figures in the history of bagpipe pibroch are the MacCrimmon family of pipers, particularly Donald Mor MacCrimmon (c. 1570–1640), who is reputed to have left a group of highly developed tunes, and Patrick Mor MacCrimmon (c. 1595–1670), one of the hereditary pipers to the Chief of MacLeods of Dunvegan on the isle of Skye.
There is some controversy over the attribution of authorship of key pibroch tunes to the MacCrimmons by Walter Scott, Angus Mackay and others who published on the topic in the 19th century. The "Campbell Canntaireachd", written in 1797, is a two-volume manuscript with chanted vocable transcriptions of pibroch music that predates the 19th-century attributions. It contains no references to the MacCrimmons and has different names for numerous tunes that were subsequently associated with them.
The pibroch "Cha till mi tuill" in the "Campbell Canntaireachd" manuscript, which translates as "I shall return no more", is related to a tune associated with victims of the clearances emigrating to the new world. Walter Scott wrote new romantic verses to this tune in 1818 with the title "Lament – (Cha till suin tuille)" which translates as "We shall return no more", later republished as "Mackrimmon's Lament. Air – Cha till mi tuille." In Angus MacKay's book "A Collection of Ancient Piobaireachd or Highland Pipe Music", 1838, the pibroch "Cha till mi tuill" is subsequently published with the title "MacCrummen will never return".
The pibroch "Couloddins Lament" in the "Campbell Canntaireachd" manuscript appears in MacKay's book with the title "Lament for Patrick Og MacCrimmon". This pattern has led critics of the orthodox accounts of pibroch history such as Alistair Campsie to conclude that the authorship and origins of the pibroch repertoire were reframed for political and Hanoverian motivations that can be traced back to anxieties over Scottish nationalism.
While the conventional accounts of the origins of pibroch are largely characterised by an aggrandising romanticism common to antiquarian appropriations of remnant historical traditions in the late 18th century and early 19th century, there are substantial surviving authentic musical documents that concur with a living tradition of performed repertoire, providing a grounding for any debate over authoritative accounts of the tradition.
Harp precedents for pibroch.
Most pibroch are commonly assumed to have been written during the 16th to 18th centuries. The entire repertoire comprises approximately 300 tunes. In many cases the composer is unknown, however pibroch continues to be composed up to the present day. Recent research suggests that the style of ornamentation in pibroch points to earlier origins in wire-strung Gaelic harp music, in particular the use of rapid descending arpeggios as gracenotes.
The wire-strung clarsach was traditionally the primary high status aristocratic instrument in Gaelic Scotland and Ireland. The art music performed on the wire-strung harp was passed down through oral transmission and much of the repertoire is likely to have been lost. A diverse range of historical manuscripts nevertheless provide a resource for the reconstruction of key aspects of this musical culture. A significant body of wire-strung harp compositions and related performance practices were notated from the last of the Irish wire-strung harpists by Edward Bunting in the late 18th century. Documentation of the Scottish wire-strung harp repertoire can be found through tunes that were transcribed to other instruments such as the "Port" genre transcribed in Scottish lute manuscripts and other collections, fiddle pibrochs published by Walter McFarlan, and Daniel Dow, and possibly some of the early bagpipe pibrochs. Probable wire-strung harp repertoire can also be found in a number of collections of Irish and Scottish songs and tunes, often published in arrangements for violin, flute and other modern instruments.
"Caoineadh Rìoghail/The Royal Lament" (ca 1649) is a harp tune similar in structure to pibroch with an introductory theme and formal variations. It is reputed to have been composed by the aristocratic wire-strung harper John Garbh MacLean, Laird of Coll, on the execution of Charles the First. The tune was documented and transcribed for the piano by Simon Fraser from repertoire that had survived in his family.
A pibroch that is considered to be one of the oldest in the repertoire appears in the Campbell Canntaireachd with the title "Chumbh Craoibh Na Teidbh" which translates as "Lament for the Tree of Strings", a possible poetic reference to the wire-strung harp.
Another better known pibroch published by Angus MacKay with the Gaelic title "Cumhadh Craobh nan teud" is translated as "Lament for the Harp Tree." In MacKay's book James Logan notes: "This piobaireachd, so unlike all others, is evidently from its style, of very high antiquity. We have not been able to procure any satisfactory account of Cumhadh Craobh nan teud, which is usually translated, "Lament for the Harp Tree", i.e. the tree of strings. It strikes us that this is a bardic expression for the instrument itself, as we should say "the Bag of Pipes." This pibroch appears in the Campbell Canntaireachd MS. as "MacLeod's Lament."
A related tune was published by Angus Fraser in 1816 with the title "Cumha Craobh nan teud/Lament for the Harp Tree". William Matheson argues that the title is a corruption of "Cumha crann nan teud" or "Lament for the Harp Key". He identifies the pibroch composition with the song "Feill nan Crann" attributed to one of the last Scottish wire-strung harper poets Rory Dall Morison (c. 1656-c. 1714), also known as Ruaidhri Dall Mac Mhuirich, written in his later years as a satirical lament to his declining sexual potency.
As Scottish Gaelic aristocratic patronage and traditions began to break down through political and cultural changes and the ever-increasing influences of European and English cultural values and mores, the role of the wire-strung clarsach harp went into a decline. The patronage of high prestige professional hereditary harpers was largely gone by the mid-17th century, although there are records of harpers such as Rory Dall Morison who were still being maintained by leading families up until the early 18th century.
Fiddle pibroch.
Ceòl mór repertoire is likely to have transferred from the harp to the newly developed Italian violin in the late 16th century as fiddlers began to receive aristocratic patronage and supplement the role of the harpers. Evidence of concurrent patronage can be found in a notary report sent to the Laird of Grant in 1638 detailing that his fiddler John Hay and his harper had injured each other in a fight. The heightened social and cultural status for fiddlers was consolidated by Clan Cummings of Freuchie who became the hereditary fiddlers and subsequently also pipers to the Laird of Grant from the early 17th century until the late 18th century.
A distinctive body of ceòl mór known as fiddle pibroch developed in this period with melodic themes and formal variations that are similar to, but not necessarily derived from or imitative of concurrent bagpipe pibroch, as the name "fiddle pibroch" might suggest. The two forms are likely to have developed in parallel from a common shared source in earlier harp music and Gaelic song.
Fiddle pibroch performance techniques included double-stops, different bowing patterns, complex ornamentation and expressive rubato rhythmic freedom. Pibroch fiddlers employed alternative scordatura tunings to play this repertoire, such as the "A E a e" tuning recommended by violinist/composer James Oswald. Around seventeen fiddle pibroch compositions survive in various 18th- and 19th-century manuscripts and publications, collected by Walter McFarlan, Daniel Dow, James Oswald and others. Notable fiddle pibrochs include compositions likely to have been transcribed from the wire-strung harp repertoire such as "Cumha Iarla Wigton/Lament for the Earl of Wigton," and "Cumh Easpuic Earra-ghaoidheal/Lament for the Bishop of Argyll," and compositions for the violin within the pibroch form such as "Marsail Lochinalie" and "Mackintosh's Lament." This musical lineage had gone into decline around the time the fiddle pibroch repertoire was documented in the late 18th-century manuscripts, culminating in the laments by and for the Scottish fiddler and composer Niel Gow (1727–1807).
Emergence of bagpipe pibroch.
Aristocratic Scottish Gaelic ceòl mór harp repertoire and practices are assumed to have begun to transfer across from the harp to the bagpipes in the 16th century. A North Uist tradition identifies the first MacCrimmon as a harper. The MacCrimmons asserted that they received their first training in a school in Ireland. Alexander Nicholson (b. 1844) in his book "History of Skye" originally published in 1930, recounts a tradition that the MacCrimmons were "skilful players of the harp, and may have been composers of its music, before they began to cultivate the other and more romantic instrument."
There were a number of musicians across the period from the 17th to the 18th centuries who were noted multi-instrumentalists and potentially formed a bridge from the harp to the fiddle and bagpipe repertoire. Ronald MacDonald of Morar (1662–1741), known in Gaelic as Raghnall MacAilein Òig, was an aristocratic wire-strung clarsach harpist, fiddler, piper and composer, celebrated in the pibroch "The Lament for Ronald MacDonald of Morar." He is the reputed composer of a number of highly regarded pibrochs including "An Tarbh BreacDearg/The Red Speckled Bull", "A Bhoalaich/An Intended Lament," also published in Angus MacKay's book as "A Bhoilich/The Vaunting", and "Glas Mheur" which MacKay translates as "The Finger Lock." This pibroch is entitled "Glass Mhoier" in the Campbell Canntaireachd.
There are two other pibrochs in the Campbell Canntaireachd MS. with the related titles "A Glase", and "A Glass". "Glas" is also a key term found in the Irish wire-harp tradition, as noted down by Edward Bunting from harpers such as Denis O'Hampsey who was one of the last musicians still playing the traditional Gaelic repertoire in the late 18th century. Bunting uses "glass" as a variant of "gléis" in relation to tuning. He also lists the term "glas" as a specific fingering technique, which he translates as "a joining", a simile for lock. He describes this as "double notes, chords etc" for the left treble hand and right bass hand.
William McMurchy (c. 1700-c. 1778) from Kintyre, was a noted poet, wire-strung harper and piper, reportedly attached to MacDonald of Largie in 1745. In correspondence regarding McMurchy's collection of Gaelic poetry that was passed to the Highland Society, Duncan Stewart of Glenbuckie, Argyle's Chamberlain in Kintyre, commented that "The eldest of them (the McMurchy brothers) William who was a great genius put all the pibroch and many highland airs to music." McMurchy may well then have been one of the key transcribers of pibroch.
Cultural ascendancy of bagpipe pibroch.
The rise of the bagpipe and the corresponding shift away from the harp and its associated traditions of bardic poetry is documented with a confronting disdain in the satirical dispraising song "Seanchas Sloinnidh na Piob o thùs/A History of the Pipes from the Beginning" (c. 1600) by Niall Mòr MacMhuirich (c. 1550–1630), poet to the MacDonalds of Clanranald:
"John MacArthur's screeching bagpipes, is like a diseased heron, full of spittle, long limbed and noisy, with an infected chest like that of a grey curlew. Of the world's music Donald's pipe, is a broken down outfit, offensive to a multitude, sending forth its slaver through its rotten bag, it was a most disgusting filthy deluge..."
This can be contrasted with the celebration of the heroic warrior associations of bagpipe pibroch at the expense of the harp and fiddle by later Clanranald poet Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair (c. 1695–1770) in the song "Moladh air Piob-Mhor Mhic Cruimein/In Praise of MacCrimmons Pipes":
"Thy chanter's shout gives pleasure, Sighing thy bold variations. Through every lively measure; The war note intent on rending, White fingers deft are pounding, To hack both marrow and muscles, With thy shrill cry resounding... You shamed the harp, Like untuned fiddle's tone, Dull strains for maids, And men grown old and done: Better thy shrill blast, From gamut brave and gay, Rousing up men to the destructive fray..."
Bardic verses traditionally celebrated the clarsach harp and made no mention of bagpipes. Hugh Cheape argues that the bagpipes gained popularity and prominence through the need for a martial instrument in a period of increasing military engagements. Bagpipes were grafted on to existing structures of aristocratic cultural patronage and aesthetic appreciation in the mid-17th century and became the primary ceòl mór instrument, appropriating and supplanting the high cultural and musical role of the harp.
This is reflected in the patronage offered to a succession of hereditary poets, harpers and subsequently pipers who were retained by leading Clan families, including pibroch dynasties such as the MacCrimmons, pipers to the MacLeods of Dunvegan, and the MacArthurs, pipers to the MacDonalds of Sleat. Cheape identifies accounts of a MacArthur college of piping instruction in ceòl mór as a continuation of a pre-existing Irish bardic model.
Modern bagpipe pibroch (early 19th century – present).
Bagpipe pibroch survival and revival.
In the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden in 1746, the old Gaelic cultural order underwent a near total collapse. Pibroch continued to be played by bagpipers, but with diminished patronage and status, and was perceived to have gone into a decline. The modern revival of pibroch was initiated by the newly founded Highland Society of London. They funded annual competitions, with the first being held at the Falkirk Masonic Lodge in 1781. Over the course of the 19th century, with the opening up of communications within the Highlands, in particular, the railways, a competing circuit emerged with the two most pre-eminent competitions being held at Inverness and Oban, the former descended directly from the first Falkirk competition.
The orally transmitted pibroch repertoire was collected and documented in a diverse range of manuscripts mostly dating from the early 19th century. The first comprehensive collections were the canntaireachd notations in the "Campbell Canntaireachd MS" (1797 & 1814) and the "Neil MacLeod Gesto Canntaireachd MS" (1828) collected from John MacCrimmon prior to his death in 1822. A series of manuscripts in the early 19th century documented pibroch in staff notation, including the "Hannay – MacAuslan MS" (c. 1815), a primary source for the "Donald MacDonald MS" (1820) the "John MacGregor/Angus MacArthur MS" (1820), the "Donald MacDonald Jnr. MS" (1826), and the "John MacKay MS" (1840).
Angus MacKay's book "A Collection of Ancient Piobaireachd or Highland Pipe Music", published in 1838, documented and presented the pibroch repertoire in staff notation with supplementary commentary by antiquarian James Logan. MacKay simplified many of the pibroch compositions, editing out complex ornamentation and asymmetries that were evident in documentation of the same compositions published in earlier manuscripts such as the "Campbell Canntaireachd MS". He also specified regular time signatures that standardised and regulated a music that was traditionally performed with expressive rubato rhythmic interpretation of the musical phrasing and dynamics. MacKay's staff notated edited version of pibroch became the authoritative reference for the 19th- and 20th-century revival of pibroch, and greatly influenced subsequent modern pibroch performance.
In 1903, The Pìobaireachd Society was founded with the aim of recording the corpus of existing pibroch tunes, collating the various versions, and publishing an authoritative edition. Those normative tune settings have been the basis on which ceòl mór competitors at the various Highland Games have been judged ever since, with the piping judges themselves being appointed by the Society.
Pipers and researchers such as Allan MacDonald, Barnaby Brown and William Donaldson have questioned the editing of the tunes that went in the Pìobaireach Society books. Many compositions appear to have been edited and distorted to make them conform unnecessarily to particular recognised tune structures. The standardisation of the notated pibroch tunes has made the judging of competitions easier at the expense of the ornate complexity and musicality of an art-music that had passed down from teacher to pupil through the oral transmission of repertoire and technique.
Independent documentation of this tradition of oral transmission can be found in canntaireachd manuscripts, chanted vocable transcriptions of the music that predate the normative musical scores authorised by the Pìobaireachd Society and enforced through prescriptive competition judging criteria. The Alt Pibroch Club website has made a range of these Canntaireachd manuscripts available online as a comparative resource.
There was reportedly a third lost volume of the Campbell canntaireachd manuscripts dating from the late 18th century. The first two volumes were also lost in 1816 but rediscovered in 1907 in the possession of Anne Campbell, a descendant of Colin Campbell. Roderick Cannon and Peter McCalister have recently initiated a public campaign to track down any living relatives of Campbell or other parties who might have acquired the document without realising its historical and musical significance.
Performance lineages.
The oral transmission of pibroch also survives as a living tradition through diverse lineages of teachers and pupils, traceable back to the earliest accounts of the form. Distinctive approaches to performance technique and interpretation developed through different lineages of pibroch playing and instruction, with two of the most influential coming to be known as the Cameron style, which is more rounded, and the MacPherson style, which is more clipped.
Recordings by acclaimed practitioners such as Robert Reid, a leading proponent of the Cameron style, and Donald MacPherson offer exemplary documentation of these performance traditions.
Alternative lineages have also survived in unlikely settings. Simon Fraser (1845–1934), whose family emigrated to Melbourne, Australia in the 19th century, passed down a distinct body of pibroch repertoire via canntaireachd, staff notation and through the training of students. These ornate and highly musical pibrochs predate the standardisation of the music by the Pìobaireachd Society. Melbourne-based piper Dr Barrie Orme, who was trained in a lineage traceable back to Simon Fraser, has documented this parallel body of around 140 pibroch through tutor publications, a six volume series of archival recordings of the Simon Fraser pibroch repertoire, and a DVD video demonstrating the performance techniques passed down to Orme by his teacher Hugh Fraser, Simon Fraser's son.
J.D. Ross Watt was a Scottish-born, South African-based piper who also published a further small number of distinctive pibroch sourced from Simon Fraser. Watt's own bagpipe compositions are influenced by Simon Fraser's pibroch style.
Contemporary ceòl mór revival.
Performance-based pibroch research.
An emerging model of historically informed practice-based research into pibroch is being conducted by innovative piper/scholars such as Barnaby Brown and Allan MacDonald. Brown has researched pibroch documented in historical manuscripts, focusing particularly on the "Campbell Canntaireachd MS". He has revived and recorded lesser known pibroch such as "Hioemtra Haentra" and "Hihorodo Hiharara" from the "Campbell Canntaireachd MS" that have not been publicly performed for hundreds of years and plays them on replica early bagpipes from the period. He has made his analysis of pibroch canntaireachd, ornamentation and performance techniques available as an online resource with recorded audio demonstrations. Brown is composing and recording new works of pibroch and related musical traditions informed by this research. Barnaby Brown has collaborated with harper Bill Taylor and violinist Clare Salaman on the recording of bagpipe pibroch arranged for the Clarsach wire harp, lyre, hardanger fiddle, hurdy-gurdy, vielle, bone flute, bagpipes and canntaireachd vocals, released in 2016.
Allan MacDonald is a competition winning piper who has been investigating the relationship between Gaelic song and the melodic theme or urlar ground of pibroch as a means to inform the rubato rhythmic and musical interpretation of the performance of this pipe repertoire. He has researched and recorded pibroch and chanted canntaireachd on the recent album "Dastirum" that restores and interprets repertoire that was "tidied up" and edited out by Angus MacKay and subsequent PS editors. His performances on this recording draw on early manuscript sources such as the Colin Campbell Canntaireachd (1797 & 1814) that pre-date MacKay's standardised versions.
Allan MacDonald is a noted composer of new pibroch works such as 'Na-h-Eilthirich,' a wrenching lament for those who suffered ethnic cleansing in the 18th and 19th centuries, commissioned for the BBC series of the same title. He has also extemporised pibroch variations to the early Scottish song "Dol Dhan Taigh Bhuan Leat (Going to the Eternal Dwelling with You)" reviving a lost compositional practice described in early accounts. His recordings include collaborations with musicians outside the piping fraternity who are researching and playing ceòl mór and related musical traditions on other instruments, notably acclaimed pibroch fiddler Bonnie Rideout, Gaelic singer Margaret Stewart and wire-strung Gaelic harp player Javier Sainz.
A variety of new pibroch recital performance events have been initiated recently as an alternative format to the more conservative and insular competition circuit. Breton piper Patrick Molard organised the first pibroch recitals in Brest and Paris in 1992. The newly founded Glasgow Piping Centre hosted a series of pibroch concert recitals in 1996–1998 documented in a series of live recordings.
Allan MacDonald and Iain MacInnes curated the first dedicated pibroch recitals at the Edinburgh Arts Festival in 1999 as a series of nine concerts including performances by Allan MacDonald, William McCallum, Roderick MacLeod, Robert Wallace and Barnaby Brown, who premiered the public performance of two Campbell Canntaireachd pibrochs. A live CD "Ceol Na Pioba (Music Of The Pipes) – A Concert Of Piobaireachd" documented these performances. At the Edinburgh Festival in 2004 MacDonald arranged the "From Battle Lines to Bar Lines" series of battle pibroch performances on cello (Neil Johnstone), viola, flute, fiddle, wire-strung clarsach (Karen Marshalsay), piano (James Ross), small pipes and big pipes with associated Gaelic songs.
Matthew Welch and Robinson McClellan are emerging composers who offered a recital at Yale in 2007 of 17th-century pibroch performed on bagpipes by Welch and new works informed by pibroch for string quartet and organ, composed by Welch and McClellan respectively.
Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA) created the first degree in bagpiping, a BFA in Music Performance (Bagpipe). The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama started a similar music degree program in partnership with the National Piping Centre. They host a series of concerts that featured Barnaby Brown in 2010 performing the pibroch "Desperate Battle" arranged for the triple-pipe or "cuisle".
The Alt-Pibroch website has recently been founded to support the revival of historically informed pibroch performance through the sharing of scholarship and practice based research. The site makes freely available a comprehensive resource of largely unpublished early manuscripts of pibroch notation and canntaireachd from the late 18th and early 19th century.
Harp ceòl mór revival.
A parallel body of practice-based research is being undertaken by wire-strung Gaelic harp players who are transcribing the ceòl mór repertoire back to its reputed harp origins via pibroch compositions from early manuscripts sources, particularly the Campbell Canntaireachd MS. and from fiddle pibroch compositions documented by Daniel Dow and others.
Manx harper Charles Guard was the first to record arrangements of bagpipe pibrochs performed on the wire strung clarsach harp in 1977. Scottish Harper Alison Kinnaird recorded revived pibroch related ceòl mór repertoire on the harp along with other early Scottish harp music genres such as ports the following year. In her early recordings she played this music on a modern lever harp, She has recorded ceòl mór related compositions with Ann Heymann who plays a replica early Irish clairseach wire-strung harp. Kinnaird has recently also performed and recorded revived ceòl mór on a replica early Scottish wire-strung clarsach harp.
Veteran Breton harper Alan Stivell began performing and recording on the revived wire harp with bronze strings in the early 1960s. His recordings have included arrangements of three Bagpipe Pibroch urlar performed on wire harp, released in 1985.
There is a growing community of harpers performing early Scottish and Irish music on replica early clàrsach harps, strung with brass, bronze and silver wire, and increasingly with precious gold bass strings, based on historical and applied research by Ann and Charlie Heymann and Simon Chadwick.
Heymann has led the revival of sharpened fingernail-based techniques of playing the wire-strung harp documented by Edward Bunting in the late 18th century from the playing of Denis O'Hampsey, one of the last traditional Irish wire-strung harp players. The sustained resonance of the wire-strung clàrsach harp allows for intricate ornamental effects through various striking and dampening techniques.
Heymann has recorded pibroch transcribed from early manuscripts such as the Campbell Canntaireachd MS, in arrangements that employ a mobility of drone effects on the resonant wire strings, reverse engineering the shift to fixed drones that would have occurred in an appropriation of harp music by the bagpipes.
Violaine Mayor is a Breton wire-strung harper who has mastered canntaireachd chanting. She has recorded transcribed pibroch together with revived Breton harp repertoire such as medieval bardic lays.
Karen Marshalsay is a Scottish harper who performed with Allan MacDonald in his 2004 Edinburgh International Festival series of pibroch concerts From Battle Lines to Bar Lines, performing The Battle of The Bridge of Perth and other pibrochs on wire-strung clarsach. She also performed pibroch on wire-strung clarsach and music from the Robert ap Huw ms on bray harp at the National Piping Centre’s 2013 Ceòl na Pìoba concert. She later recorded The Battle of the Bridge of Perth in a 2019 released solo CD.
Simon Chadwick is a harper and scholar who founded the Early Gaelic Harp Info website, which is a comprehensive online resource on the revival of wire-strung clarsach harp repertoire and playing techniques. He has recorded transcribed pibroch, fiddle pibroch and medieval Irish harp ceòl mór, played on a replica early Scottish Queen Mary wire-strung clarsach with brass, silver and gold strings. He has recorded a dedicated album of pibroch attributed to the composer Raghnall Mac Ailein Òig (1662–1741) performed on the wire harp, released in 2013. He has also made a body of live performances of pibroch and early Irish ceol mor on the wire harp available online on video via YouTube. Simon Chadwick gave a presentation on Harp Ceol Mor at the Piobaireachd Society Conference in 2016 which included performances of Burns March, Caniad San Silin and his arrangement for Clarsach wire harp of the bagpipe pibroch A Bhòilich/The Vaunting composed by Raghnall Mac Ailein Òig.
Chris Caswell is a multi-instrumentalist wire-strung harp player and maker, flautist and piper who studied harp with Alison Kinnaird and bagpipes with Donald MacPherson and Donald Shaw Ramsay. He began playing pibroch on the harp in 1973 and has transcribed and recorded the pibroch Catriona's (Catherine's) Lament played on a bronze-strung harp.
Brendan Ring is a multi-instrumentalist all Ireland champion piper, pipemaker, low-whistle player and wire harper. He has recorded pibroch transcribed to the wire harp alongside revived Irish harp repertoire and original compositions, performed on a replica of the Trinity College clairseach harp with brass, silver and gold strings, released in 2014. He has made live performances of pibroch and early Irish music on the wire harp available online on video via YouTube. A promising emerging generation of wire-strung harpers and scholars are also disseminating transcriptions of pibroch performed on the harp via YouTube.
Bill Taylor is a Scottish and Welsh early harp scholar and performer who has collaborated with pibroch piper Barnaby Brown and violinist Clare Salaman on the recording of bagpipe pibroch arranged for the Clarsach wire harp, lyre, hardanger fiddle, hurdy-gurdy, vielle, bone flute, bagpipes and canntaireachd vocals, released in 2016. Taylor and Brown have made available documentation of their collaborative research on the arrangements of bagpipe pibroch for wire strung Clarsach via the alt-pibroch website.
Fiddle pibroch revival.
Virtuoso violinist and Scottish fiddler Edna Arthur was one of the first musicians to revive fiddle pibroch in performances and recordings with cellist David Johnson in the McGibbon Ensemble. Violinists such as Rachel Barton Pine and Bonnie Rideout are continuing this revival of the performance of fiddle pibroch repertoire on the violin, viola and cello with outcomes that are notable for their expressive musicality. Pine is a classically trained violinist who has recorded music by late 19th-century composers such as Max Bruch and Alexander "Pibroch" MacKenzie that incorporated Scottish fiddle repertoire into extended classical works. Granville Bantock is another classical composer who drew on pibroch, reworking "MacIntosh's Lament" for the composition "Pibroch, a Highland Lament for cello and harp" (1917). Pine's live repertoire includes revived fiddle pibroch compositions such as "MacIntosh's Lament" and "Pibroch."
Bonnie Rideout is an award-winning fiddler who has researched and revived fiddle pibroch repertoire and performance techniques. A number of her recordings feature extended fiddle pibrochs such as "MacIntosh's Lament" and "Marsail Lochinalie." Rideout and early Gaelic and Welsh harper and scholar Bill Taylor have recorded an arrangement of the early Scottish air "Minstrel of MacDonald" with newly composed pibroch variations. Rideout was commissioned to compose and record a new extended work in the fiddle pibroch form entitled "Kindred Spirits." Scottish violinist Ian Hardie was also commissioned to compose and record the new extended fiddle pibroch "The Highlands of Nairnshire."
Rideout has begun the release of a series of dedicated recordings of fiddle pibroch produced by her mentor John Purser. "Scotland's Fiddle Piobaireachd Volume 1" features collaborations with pibroch bagpiper and scholar Allan MacDonald, Alan Jackson on gut-string harp and Chris Norman on baroque flute.
Rideout performs the early harp and fiddle pibroch "The Battle of Harlaw" and the related bagpipe pibroch "The Battle of the Birds" on the John Purser produced album "Harlaw 1411–2011". Rideout first performed "The Battle of Harlaw" on the BBC radio series "Scotland's Music" hosted by John Purser, along with the harp and fiddle pibroch "Cumh Ioarla Wigton (Lament for the Earl of Wigtown)" The "Harlaw" CD features key ceòl mór revivalists including pibroch bagpipers Allan MacDonald and Barnaby Brown, early Scottish luter Ron MacFarlane, flautist Chris Norman and early Gaelic and Welsh harper Bill Taylor.
Bonnie Rideout's CD Scotland's Fiddle Piobaireachd Volume 2, produced by John Purser was released in 2012. It features Rideout on fiddle and viola, Allan MacDonald on Highland bagpipes, small pipes, and voice, Barnaby Brown on revived triple pipes, William Jackson on clarsach harp and Matthew Bell on bodhran. It includes arrangements of traditional fiddle pibrochs and two new compositions in the fiddle pibroch form by Rideout.
Scottish Fiddler and composer Paul Anderson incorporates revived fiddle pibrochs and transcribed bagpipe pibrochs in his live repertoire, documented on YouTube, and has composed the new work "Lament for the Gordons of Knock" in the fiddle pibroch form.
Multi-instrumental violinist Clare Salaman has collaborated with harper Bill Taylor and pibroch piper Barnaby Brown on the recording of bagpipe pibroch arranged for the hardanger fiddle, hurdy-gurdy and vielle, released in 2016.
Related musical forms.
Welsh Medieval cerdd dant.
Ceòl mór is being situated within a broader medieval cultural milieu in the British Isles through the revival of early Welsh cerdd dant ("string music"). This genre of Irish influenced medieval Welsh music offers a precedent for Scottish pibroch as an aristocratic extended art music played on the harp with a repeated melodic theme or ground and elaborate formal variations. Welsh Cerdd Dant repertoire from the late-Middle Ages was documented in the "ap Huw" manuscripts in the 17th century by Robert ap Huw as a binary system of tabulature notation.
Bill Taylor is an early Scottish and Welsh harper who is researching, reconstructing and recording definitive performances of early Cerdd Dant music on replica historical gut-strung Romanesque harps and late-medieval bray harps. Taylor has published extensive online resources outlining this applied performance-based research. Taylor and Irish wire-strung harpist Paul Dooley discuss and perform demonstrations of the ap Huw music in the recent BBC documentary "History of the Harp".
There is debate over the interpretation of references in Welsh manuscripts to the role of gut-strung and horse hair-strung bray harps in the late-Middle Ages. Taylor considers these to be the authentic instruments for the performance of Cerdd Dant. Heymann and Chadwick are contributing to a research project to reconstruct an early Welsh horse hair-strung bray harp, testing this theory through application.
Peter Greenhill's reading of the manuscripts has led him to conclude that the pieces were played on a wire strung harp and that they were instrumental pieces, though he theorises that the Clymau Cytgerdd section may have been used for poetical accompaniment. He argues that instrumental early Cerdd Dant music was originally played on the highly resonant wire-strung harp using similar sharpened nail-based string striking and dampening techniques and ornamentation employed in Irish and Scottish ceòl mór harp music.
Paul Dooley has researched and recorded a dedicated album of ap Huw compositions played on a replica early Irish wire-strung clairseach harp. Ann Heymann has researched the ap Huw manuscript with a particular focus on the interpretation of the notation of playing techniques that are comparable to the Irish wire-strung harp techniques noted down by Edward Bunting in the late 18th century. She has recorded "Kaniad San Silin", one of the oldest compositions in the Cerdd Dant repertoire on a replica early Irish wire-strung clairseach harp. Simon Chadwick also includes this piece in his live repertoire, played on a replica early Scottish Queen Mary wire-strung clarsach harp.
Barnaby Brown has identified characteristics of the Welsh and by extension Irish medieval harp tunings recorded in the ap Huw manuscript that are also present in Scottish bagpipe tuning. The common source of influence for these shared musical practices is likely to be found in the formal conventions of medieval aristocratic and religious Irish Gaelic wire-strung harp music.
Irish ceòl mór.
Further clues to the broader cultural context of bagpipe pibroch can be found in the small body of compositions that have an Irish association. The pibroch "Cumha a Chleirich" which translates as "The Cleric's Lament" and is commonly known as "The Bard's Lament" is entitled "one of the Irish piobarich" in the "Campbell Canntaireachd" manuscript. This canntaireachd provides possible surviving documentation of an Irish harp ceòl mór repertoire. Ann Heymann has recently transcribed, performed and recorded this pibroch played on a replica early Irish wire-strung Clairseach harp.
At the Highland Society of London pibroch competition in Edinburgh in 1785, John MacPherson is listed as having played "Piobrachd Ereanach an Irish Pibrach." A pibroch in the Angus MacKay MS Vol 1 entitled "Spiocaireachd Iasgaich/Scarce of Fishing" appears in the earlier Donald MacDonald Jnr. MS. (1826) with the very Irish title of "O’Kelly's Lament."
The Irish wire-strung harp standard "Brian Boru's March" appears with pibroch variations and a range of titles in the Scottish bagpipe repertoire: Angus MacKay and General C.S. Thomason both give two titles "Taom-boileinn na Coinneamh//The Frenzy of Meeting" and "Lament for Brian O'Duff", which concurs with the "Campbell Canntaireachd" title "Brian O’Duff's Lament"; Simon Fraser lists the tune as "A Lament for King Brian of Old"; and the Niel MacLeod of Gesto book of Canntaireachd gives the title "Tumilin O'Counichan an Irish Tune".
At the William Kennedy International Piping Festival (2009), held in Armagh, Barnaby Brown conducted workshops on the chanting of Irish associated pibroch canntaireachd from the Campbell Canntaireachd manuscript. These Irish ceòl mór workshops focused particularly on the canntaireachd transcriptions of "One of the Irish Piobarich" also known as "The Bard's Lament", the "Brian Boru's March" pibroch variant "Brian O'Duff's Lament/An Irish Lively Tune" also known as "Taom-boileinn na Coinneamh/The Frenzy of the Meeting", and "Ceann na Drochaide Bige/The End of the Little Bridge," a battle pibroch associated with an expedition to Ireland in 1594 by an army of Scottish Isleman to support Red Hugh O'Donnell's rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I. The pibrochs "Hugh's Lament," "Samuel's Black Dog" or "Lament for Samuel", and "Lament for the Earl of Antrim" also have an association with this Irish conflict. Frank Timoney argues that "Lament for the Earl of Antrim" is another possible Irish wire-strung harp composition.
The bagpipe pibroch "Duncan MacRae Of Kintail's Lament" is a variant of the Irish harp tune "Ruairidhe Va Mordha/Rory O Moor, King of Leix's March" notated by Edward Bunting from the repertoire of Irish wire-strung harpists in the late 18th century. Allan MacDonald has played and recorded these two closely related compositions as a bagpipe medley, with the harp tune informing his revisions of the standard pibroch settings. He has also performed an arrangement of this medley with an ensemble of Irish musicians on modern instruments for the BBC documentary "The Highland Sessions".
The only composition in the Irish wire-strung harp repertoire similar in structure to ceòl mór that is documented with intact formal variations is "Burns March", notated by Bunting and revived on the wire-strung harp in recordings by Charles Guard, Gráinne Yeats and more recently by Simon Chadwick. This medieval composition survived in the repertoire as a training tune for wire-strung harp students that provided a vehicle for the mastery of characteristic ornamental performance techniques.


Bogusz coat of arms

Bogusz is a Polish surname that emerged in the thirteenth century.
The Bogusz coat of arms is composed of red, which symbolizes courage, with a horse head of pages, which is an emblem of nobility, courage and loyalty. The red color of the shell indicates the virtues and qualities of its bearer, refers to minerals, to plants, the chronology and the planetary system, the basic dictates of the Code of the former Cavalry.


Paprzyca coat of arms

Paprzyca - is a Polish coat of arms. It was used by several szlachta families in the times of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
History.
Herb
Paprzyca (Bychawa, Kuczawa, Ruchaba, Ruczaba, Paprzyca, Rakwicz) – coat of arms, with the clan's battle cry of Iwiczna and Kuszaba.
"From the Czech, this coat of arms was to be brought to Poland by Bolesław the Chaste, and this is how it was to be acquired: “ A lady was told that a maid had bore three sons, and she not only had her suspected of adultery on this occasion (understanding that with one husband so many children can not be), but also punished her severely.
It came about thanks to the Divine cause, who defends the innocent, that the same lady gave birth to nine sons in a short time. Whether then, whether ashamed or afraid of some sort of bad disagreement with her husband, she ordered a serving woman to have eight sons in a near river drowned, one of them only left to raise. At that time, her husband was not at home, but for the preparation of God, he came just when the serving woman was carrying the children to their sad fate. He asked her: what are you carrying? She answered - I am carrying pups to drown. The husband looked inside out of curiosity if there was not one fit for game hunting; then he saw the children, and learned everything that was happening. Secretly he ordered the miller to raise the sons. When they grew up, he invited guests and neighbors to a feast, and after feeding them he asked them as to what that a mother deserved who would kill her own children, All judged her death worthy; Only then the father says: let my puppies stand here: they bring eight boys, all in the same coloring, vividness and complexity, almost all equal height. He explained to all those who have been invited what happened to them, and turning to his wife he says - for this sin, you worthy of punishment much greater, only God has kept you from a sin through me; for this, thank him for his holy providence. Is it then for the sons in remembrance of this revolution, or the miller who raised them as a reward, the shape of the coat of arms, the authors disagree. "
Blazon.
Description of the coat of arms
In the silver field, a black millstone with a middle silver rynd. In the jewel, eight silver puppies heads in two rows; two at the top looking right, two left, one at the bottom looking right and three turned left.
The description of the coat of arms Kuszaba appears already in Jewels of Jan Długosz: as Kuszaba. "Cuius insignia lapis molaris griseus cum ferrea paprzicza in or campo." What in Translation means: Kuszaba. Which sign a millstone gray with iron debris in a white field.
According to Niesiecki (...) there should be a millstone upright, gray in color, with a cast iron in the middle, as in the field, in the field with white, on the helmet with eight puppies.
Szymański claims that "(...) in a silver field, a millstone (black) with silver papy".
By the act of the Harold Union, the coat of arms was transferred to Lithuania (the Lithuanian boyar Manstold adopted the boyar, he adopted Marmicz from Iwiczny Iwicki, the Łęczyca bailiff).
Earliest references
Coat of arms from the Piast dynasty. Year of creation 1249-1296 (XIII century).
Notable bearers.
Notable bearers of this coat of arms include:
Dąbrowski, Grodziński, Iwicki, Jarzyczewski, Książyk, Kussowski, Lubowiecki, Niewiński, Niwiński, Śnieżawski, Warszewicki, Zgliński


Lex van Delden

Lex van Delden, born Alexander Zwaap (10 September 1919 – 1 July 1988) was a Dutch composer, and the father of actor Lex van Delden.
Early life and education.
Born Alexander Zwaap in Amsterdam, the only child of Wolf Zwaap, a school-teacher, and his wife Sara Olivier, Lex van Delden took piano-lessons from an early age—first with Martha Zwaga, and later with Cor de Groot. He started composing at the age of eleven, when he set poems by Guido Gezelle to music since a long illness prevented him from playing the piano. He remained self-taught as a composer.
Despite his artistic promise and interests (by the age of fourteen, for instance, he was accompanying the famous German Expressionist dancer/choreographer, Gertrud Leistikow, and he also moved in the circle of one of Holland's foremost composers of the time, Sem Dresden) he enrolled at the University of Amsterdam in 1938 to study medicine and remained self-taught in music. Still a student, he made his début as a composer in 1940 with the song cycle "L'amour" (1939; for soprano, flute, clarinet and string trio), written at the request of the young composer/conductor Nico Richter, who was in charge of the students' orchestra.
World War II.
In 1940, the Germans invaded the Netherlands and in 1942, being a Jew, he was forced to interrupt his studies —irrevocably, as it turned out, because his hopes of becoming a neurosurgeon were dashed during World War II due to an exploding carbide lamp, which virtually blinded him in his left eye while in hiding. Van Delden soon joined the underground students' resistance movement and after the war was commended for his bravery by both the President of the United States of America and the Supreme Command of the Allied Forces. In 1953, the name he had assumed since the Liberation in 1945 (Lex van Delden—a derivation from the name he used in the resistance, W. A. van Dael) was officially approved.
By the time the war was over, Van Delden had lost nearly his entire family in the Holocaust. He almost immediately found his way into Dutch cultural life, partially through contacts he had made as a member of the resistance movement—initially as the resident composer/musical director of the first post-war Dutch ballet group, Op Vrije Voeten (On Liberated Feet), which later evolved into the Scapino Ballet Company, and, from 1947, as the music editor of the daily, originally underground, newspaper "Het Parool".
Musical career.
The first of his works to attract wide attention was "Rubáiyát" (nine quatrains by Omar Khayyám in Edward FitzGerald's English translation, 1948; for chorus with soprano and tenor solos, 2 pianos and percussion), awarded the prestigious Music Prize of the City of Amsterdam in 1948. This unexpected success was soon to be confirmed by two First Prizes, awarded by the Northern California Harpists' Association, in 1953 for his Harp Concerto (1951/52), and in 1956 for "Impromptu" for harp solo (1955).
Van Delden was committed to the musical community, borne out by his readiness to hold several administrative posts, including the presidency of the Society of Dutch Composers (GeNeCo) and the chairmanship of the Dutch Performing Right Organisation (Buma/Stemra). He sat on the Board of the International Society for Contemporary Music (I.S.C.M.) and was a member of the Dutch Committee of the International Music Council.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, van Delden became one of the most widely heard Dutch composers of his generation, and a large number of his pieces were commissioned (by the Dutch government, the City of Amsterdam, Dutch radio and others) and enjoyed acclaimed performances by the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra under such renowned conductors as George Szell, Charles Münch, Eduard van Beinum, Eugen Jochum, Willem van Otterloo, and Bernard Haitink, and by numerous other prominent ensembles and soloists.
He was made a Knight of the Royal Order of Oranje-Nassau (1972), and received the Freedom of the City of Amsterdam (1982), where he died on 1 July 1988. He is buried at Zorgvlied cemetery. A new bridge in the Amsterdam Zuidas quarter (designed by architect Liesbeth van der Pol) was named after him; the bridge was officially opened on 15 October 2013.
Themes.
Many of Van Delden's compositions form an expression of his deeply felt social concern, such as the orchestral work "In Memoriam" (1953), which was written in the aftermath of the great flood disaster of 1953 in the Netherlands, Belgium and England, the oratorio "The Bird of Freedom" (1955), which is an emotional cry against slavery, the radiophonic oratorio "Icarus" (1962), which questions the usefulness of space travel, or "Canto della guerra" (after Erasmus, 1967; for chorus and orchestra), which is a strong condemnation of war. A few of his works have biblical themes, notably "Judith" (1950; a dance score for flute, clarinet, piano and string trio) and "Adonijah's Death" (1986; for male chorus and symphonic wind band).
Lex van Delden loved working closely with performers, too, utilising to the full the peculiarities and possibilities specific to the instruments as well as meeting the wishes and demands of the players. If he felt at all consciously influenced by any predecessors, it was perhaps by such old Dutch Masters as Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, whose solid constructivism certainly contributed to his own highly developed grasp of form.


Flag of Stellaland

The flag of Stellaland was the official flag of the short-lived southern African Republic of Stellaland, which existed from 1883 to 1885.
History.
Stellaland arose from a war in Bechuanaland in 1881–82. It was established by a group of mercenaries who had fought in the war. The territory was self-governing from January 1883, and a self-proclaimed 'republic' from August 1883. Independence was short-lived, though, as Stellaland was occupied by British forces in March 1885, and was later incorporated into British Bechuanaland.
Description.
Although the Republic of Stellaland existed for only eighteen months, its flag history is as complicated as its politics, and some uncertainty exists.
During the period from January to August 1883, i.e. before the proclamation of the republic, the flag is reported to have been a red star on a blue background.
As a republic, Stellaland had two flags :
There is also a third historical flag – green and red, displaying a white star – which various writers since 1952 have attributed to the republic, but its provenance is unclear and it may very well date from after 1885.
Green flag displaying a white star.
This appears to have been the official flag. An official document issued in 1884 depicts the Stellaland coat of arms flanked by flags, including a green flag with a white 5-pointed star. Three of the original Stellalanders later confirmed that this was the Stellaland flag. 'Groot' Adriaan de la Rey, who had been a member of the Bestuur, stated in 1898 that the flag had been "a green cloth with a star on it". Mrs Christina Doms, whose late husband had also been a member of the Bestuur, stated in 1924 that the flag was "a white star stitched onto a green field". Charles Dennison referred in 1928 to "the Stellaland flag of green base and white star", and depicted it on the cover of his book.
G.W. Haws, who lived in Vryburg in the early 1930s and researched the Stellaland flag and coat of arms, reported in 1933 that Dennison had told him that "a green flag with a star on it was the common flag of Stellaland."
Had Stellaland and Goshen gone ahead and formed a united state, a second star was to have been added to the flag.
Some reference books give alternate versions of this flag, e.g. green with a white 6- or 8-pointed star, or green with a yellow star. None of the writers, however, cite any sources for their information.
Green flag displaying the Stellaland coat of arms.
This flag, measuring 1.4 metres (wide) by 2.3 metres, was used by the government. It was known as the 'standard'. According to G.W. Haws, Dennison told him that "the standard with arms was only flown on the 'government' quarters, the site of the flagstaff being next the Landdrost's office, now covered by the cinema (Plaza) at a spot by the main entrance."
On 21 August 1885, after the British occupation, the Bestuur resolved to send the standard to Queen Victoria, "praying that she may be pleased to keep us under her protection". This was duly done, and the standard hung in Windsor Castle until 1934, when King George V returned it to South Africa. It was placed in the Vryburg town hall in 1935.
Green and red flag displaying a white star.
This flag is divided vertically into green and red, and has a white 8-pointed star in the middle. According to Gerard's "Flags Over South Africa" (1952), "this flag was returned from England in 1934 to General Smuts and his widow presented it to the Transvaal Museum".
The provenance of the flag is unclear. It is possible that it came from Stellaland as a region, but was not an official flag of the Republic of Stellaland. It may date from after 1885.


Sweyn Asleifsson

Sweyn Asleifsson or Sveinn Ásleifarson ( 1115 – 1171) was a twelfth-century Viking who appears in the "Orkneyinga Saga".
Early career.
Sweyn was born in Caithness in the early twelfth century, to Olaf Hrolfsson and his wife Åsleik. According to the "Orkneyinga Saga", he came to prominence when he murdered Earl Paul of Orkney's cup-bearer c. 1134 in a quarrel over a drinking game, and fled to Tiree to take refuge with Holdbodi Hundason.
In 1140, Holdbodi called on Sweyn to join him raiding the coast of Wales, but they were beaten off, Holdbodi withdrawing to the Isle of Man and Sweyn to Lewis. In the early summer of 1141, Sweyn arrived in Man to join Holdbodi, but the Hebridean had been persuaded to join forces with the Norman-Welsh lord Robert who had defeated them in the previous year, and attacked Sweyn. This created a feud between the former friends.
Quarrels and feuds.
Some years later, after falling out with his own captains (led by his brother-in-law Thorbjorn Thorsteinsson), Sweyn was driven out of Orkney by Rognvald Kali Kolsson, but King David I persuaded them to make peace.
Olvir Rosta killed Sweyn's father; later Sweyn attacked Olvir, killed his grandmother, and Olvir fled to the Hebrides.
In 1153, there was a falling-out between the three Earls of Orkney (Rognvald Kali Kolsson, Erlend Haraldsson and Harald Maddadsson). Sweyn, backed by the new King, Malcolm IV, threw in his lot with Erlend, attacking the shipping of the other two Earls and raiding the east coast of Scotland in his company.
The "Orkneyinga saga" records a raid on the Isle of May, by Sweyn Asleifsson and Margad Grimsson, after they had been expelled from Orkney by Earl Rögnvald, that they went raiding on the eastern seaboard of Scotland,
After Erlend's death in 1154, Harald drove Sweyn into hiding for a while, but he soon regained his power – the saga claims that he raided as far as the Isles of Scilly. By the time Rognvald died in 1158, Harald and Sweyn were reconciled: and Sweyn even became foster-father to Harald's son Hakon.
Death.
The circumstances of Sweyn's death are confused. It is clear that the events described in the saga are those of the brief recapture of Dublin from the Normans by its last Scandinavian king, Ascall mac Ragnaill, in 1171: but there are many discrepancies between the Orcadian and Anglo-Norman accounts. It is possible that the warlord referred to by Giraldus Cambrensis as "John the Furious" was none other than Sweyn. Be that as it may, when the Normans retook Dublin, both Sweyn and Hakon were killed.
Significance.
The "Orkneying Saga", also known as "Jarla Sǫgur Orkneyja", was written by an unknown Icelandic scribe c. 1200. Much of the material describes events that are up to three centuries earlier than this date and its historical accuracy is dubious. However, as the document was written only a few decades after Ásleifarson's death it is reasonable to suppose the later chapters may more accurately reflect the events they describe. In fact, Ásleifarson's activities take up fully one quarter of the saga and the oldest version ends with his death.
He is depicted as the quintessential Viking, a freebooter whose activities include drunkenness, murder and plundering and whose support is crucial to the politics of the Orkney earldom. His tale is closely bound up with that of Earl Rögnvald, a more rounded character who is also a troubadour and ultimately a saint, and it may be that the saga writers were seeking to portray them as exemplars of the Viking lifestyle. However, there may also be a more complex moral to the story. Although Ásleifarson's dying words are "Be it known to all men... that I belong to the bodyguard of Saint Rögnvald the Earl", he also blackmailed Rögnvald and caused him a great deal of trouble. It is possible that the saga intends to cast Rögnvald as a weak leader who was unable control his nobles.
Another interpretation of the narrative is that rather than seeing these two men as protagonist and antagonist that together they live in a golden age where the earl is a cultured ruler and "primus inter pares" but who owes his position in part to his band of "worthy warriors" and is by no means a despot who rules by divine right. In this case the whole story may be seen as a reaction to the Norwegian royal propaganda of the age that sought to promote the central authority of the crown.