History of Bauska

The history of Bauska, a city in southern Latvia, dates back to the 13th century. Its early history was driven by its location on the trade road from Zemgale to Lithuania. Over the centuries, Bauska has experienced periods of prosperity, destruction and war, followed by growth.
Prehistory.
Archaeological excavations show that in the 1st century BC an ancient Semigallian settlement existed on the hill where Bauska Castle was later built.
Emerging settlement.
At the beginning of the 13th century, the Bauska mound was part of land, the center of which was on the nearby Mežotne mound. The Lielupe-Mūša trade route to the Samogitians and Aukštaitija lands passed through it. In 1219, Upmale voluntarily accepted the protection of the Bishop of Livonia and became part of the . In 1226, it became a part of the . In 1254, the land of Upmale was divided between the Archbishopric of Riga and the Livonian Order on the left bank of the Lielupe river.
Castle.
The city of Bauska developed around Bauska Castle and the surrounding castle settlement. It is first mentioned in 1443 when Livonian Order ordered the erection of a fortress on the ancient mound, which was to defend the border with the rival Grand Duchy of Lithuania. As Bauska's region was sparsely populated at that time, the castle was built by ethnic Votes, who were prisoners of war from Novgorod. In 1495 the Bauska Fortress became the residence of the Livonian Order . In 1558, 1590 and 1601, the Kurzeme Landtag took place in Bauska Castle. The first mention of a craftsman settlement called "Schildburg" ("Vairogmiest"), where craftsmen, fishermen, merchants lived at the confluence of Mūsa and Mēmele, on the fortress of the Pumpkin Peninsula, was in 1518.
Narrow city rights were already granted to this settlement in 1511. There was a Church of St. Gertrude with a cemetery, a pastor's house, a pub, a school built in 1570, landlords' houses, and fishermen's cottages. The foundations of the church were still visible around 1870.
After the military setbacks to the Livonian Order during the Livonian War in 1559, Bauska Castle was forced to be mortgaged to the allied Lithuanians. When the Order ceased to exist after the conclusion of Treaty of Vilnius in 1561, Bauska Castle became part of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia.
Duchy of Courland and Semigallia.
On May 11, 1575, a fire broke out in a Duke-owned pub that burned down the entire castle settlement except the church. The protection of the castle and the further growth of the town were limited by its location on a narrow peninsula. In 1584, following the order of the Duke of Courland Gotthard Kettler, the castle settlement was dismantled and residents began to build a new town on the left bank of the Nemunėlis river at the location of the modern Bauska Old Town.
Establishment of the city.
Moving from the narrow castle settlement to the new city of Bauska took several years. By 1573, a wooden church was built for the Latvian congregation on the territory of the present-day garden at Trinity Lutheran Church. In 1688, the wooden church was renovated. In 1705, the church was in such a bad condition that the church services for the Latvian congregation were transferred to the German Church of the Holy Spirit. In 1726, funds were raised to repair the church. As repairs were nearing the end in 1733, a fire completely burned down the building.
Between 1591 and 1594, the city built the Church of the Holy Spirit, the first stone building in the city. From 1705 the church services were also held in Latvian.
The Duke of Bauska granted city rights in 1600. In 1609, Duke Friedrich Kettler gave Bauska a stamp with the image of a lion of Courland, now considered the year of the granting of city rights. On July 21, 1615, Bauska was also granted meadows and pastures and on December 18, 1615, the city received the right to build a town hall and shops. In 1635 the city received Procedural Rules.
According to the police regulations approved by Duke Friedrich, Bauska's town council consisted of eight people - a mayor, a captive (judge) and six city councilors. The city introduced taxes and regulated trade and pubs. Begging was permitted for registered beggars, who had to carry a certified tin plate. Lime and brick kilns were built in 1632.
In the 17th century Bauska was the third-largest city of the Duchy of Courland. It had a regular block layout consisting of two main streets parallel to Mēmele, a market square with a town hall, two Lutheran churches and one-story wooden buildings. It had city-made sidewalks and a night watch.
Goldsmiths' cunfte.
There was no shortage of wealthy people in Bauska, as evidenced by the remains of the magnificent pottery found, as well as the establishment of a goldsmiths' cunfte office in 1638. At the request of Bauska goldsmiths Heinrich Tinnes, Bertram Hilbrant, Hans Garding and Berent Boanne, the Duke of Courland issued the Bauska Goldsmiths' Statute in 1638. Four masters had to be in the Bauska goldsmiths' cunfte. The Duke had the right to include another goldsmith at his own discretion in the cunfte. It took three years for a goldsmith apprentice to acquire the position of goldsmith. Bauska goldsmiths made a variety of gold and silver items for the needs of local landlords, churches, merchants and rich farmers. Between 1686 and 1697, goldsmith Tobias Müller worked in Bauska. In 1712, Bauska goldsmith Christoffer Kölsing asked to be admitted to the Jelgava Goldsmith's Cunfte, as all Bauska goldsmiths had died in the Great Northern War plague outbreak. Christoffer Kölsing died in 1732 and was buried in Bauska. Goldsmith Friedrich Hermann Jacobi worked in Bauska from 1749 to 1796.
Wars and plague.
During the Polish-Swedish War, the Duchy of Courland had been out of production for several years in the early 1620s. Famine broke out and was followed by a plague epidemic of 1623–1625. In September 1625, the troops of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden occupied and plundered Bauska Castle and the city. By 1629, the city was under Swedish control.
During the Second Northern War, Bauska was occupied by Swedish troops, and then Polish-Lithuanian troops. Duke Jacob Kettler recovered it only in 1660 after paying the Polish-Lithuanian king 10,000 guilders. A plague epidemic broke out again in the city, killing 227 plague victims in just one month. On February 14, 1660, the Bauska City Magistrate ordered the collection of dead bodies on the streets and burial. After the war and the end of the plague, the pre-war activity of Bauska Castle and the city returned as it had survived mostly unharmed.
Shortly after the Great Northern War began in 1700, Bauska was occupied by Saxon troops. It is possible that Bauska Castle was visited by the King of Poland Augustus II the Strong and the Russian Tsar Peter I, who in the winter of 1701 held talks on further war tactics in Biržai Castle. After the victory over the Saxons at the Crossing of the Düna battle in 1701, Bauska was captured by the army of King Charles XII of Sweden and was temporarily taken away by Russian troops in 1705. In 1706, both Bauska Castle and palace were partially blown up by the retreating Russian troops. It was no longer restored and eventually fell into ruins. During the war, two-thirds of the city buildings were also destroyed. The early winter of 1708 cut short the harvest and led to a famine. At the same time, the Great Northern War plague outbreak began. On July 3, 1709, church services were banned in Bauska in order to prevent the plague from spreading, and the dead were buried outside the burial grounds of churches. After the winter of 1708/1709, only one-third of the pre-war population of Bauska had survived the plague epidemic and famine.
Bauska was ravaged by war and plague until the mid-18th century. In 1762, members of the Magistrate were appointed noblemen and were allowed to carry a sword during their duties.
Kurzeme Province of Russian Empire.
After the third partition of Poland in 1795, the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was acquired by the Russian Empire. Bauska retained its status as the administrative center. In July 1797 the Sofia Musketeer Regiment of the Russian Empire was stationed in the city. In 1806 the first school was opened. In 1799 lightning struck the tall Bauska Church of the Holy Spirit and as a "temporary" replacement, a flat roof was constructed, which has survived to this day.
French invasion.
During the War of 1812, several battles took place near Bauska, the largest of which was the Battle of Ekau. On July 17, the Commander of the Russian Empire's troops in Bauska, Lieutenant Colonel Kunicki of the Polish Uhlans Regiment, learned of an approaching Prussian intelligence unit, confronted it and launched a battle four versts, or about , from Bauska, but was defeated and forced to retreat in the direction of Iecava (). On July 18, Bauska was captured by the 27th Prussian Division of General Julius von Grawert of the Napoleonic Army Marshal Jacques MacDonald's Prussian Corps on their way toward Riga.
On August 1, Napoleon ordered the establishment of the , a council of eight people led by Count . The townspeople had to pay contributions and were obliged to feed the soldiers, who remained in Bauska until early December. The 7th French Division left the city on December 7.
Post-war development.
In 1814, when the city plan was created, the city had 108 buildings and 28 building plots. On May 1, 1815, the peak of the tall Lutheran church tower was struck by lightning repeatedly, also destroying the masonry. After the abolition of serfdom in Kurzeme in 1817, the population of the city started to increase.
Following the administrative reform of Courland Province in 1819, Bauska became the center of Bauska County. Beginning in 1820, Jews who had previously lived in a separate settlement behind the river were allowed to settle in Bauska.
In 1823, there were 120 dwellings in Bauska, of which only six were brick, so the city was often devastated by fires. The city had one Lutheran church and two synagogues.
On June 6, 1825, Russian Emperor Alexander I stayed overnight in Bauska.
From November 17, 1831, to January 24, 1832, the , which participated in the repression of the November Uprising Congress Poland, arrived for winter recreation.
By 1835 the city had a population of 2142. There were two crown schools in Bauska with 61 pupils and two private girls' schools with 18 pupils. There were 17 prisoners in the City Prison.
In 1848, farmers were allowed to settle freely throughout the territory of the Courland Governorate (including towns). Many rural craftsmen came to Bauska and it became one of the Zemgale grain, flax, linseed, and livestock trade centers. The city has traditionally hosted three major fairs: Methane, Mary and St. Franciscan days (French Market). The largest of these was the French Market, which usually took place in early October and lasted a week.
The many visitors to the market led to a large number of inns and pubs in Bauska. By order of the Governor of Kurzeme in 1858, there were 25 pubs and inns in Bauska where beverages could be sold to farmers who came to the market.
From September 17, 1855, to June 26, 1856, the was stationed in the town. The city was not only a center for agricultural commodities, but it was also where the production of goods for farmers begins to develop. Hansberg Plow Works began in 1862.
In the mid-19th century, there were 126 craftsmen in the city, including 23 shoemakers, 35 shops, 37 pubs, a wool mill, watermills, a sawmill, an agricultural tool factory, and a brick kiln. There were many orchards around the city. In 1873, was founded. In 1869, the was founded. In 1876, the city's savings bank was founded.
City life was greatly hampered by the lack of bridges over the Mūsa and Mēmele. In 1874, a raft bridge was built across the Mēmele. On July 10, 1888, The newly built Mūsa Bridge was officially opened. The construction of the stone-built bridge began on June 1, 1886, and cost 89,000 rubles. The opening was attended by the Governor of Courland, the elder of the local landlords, other noblemen and officials. The governor was welcomed at the bridge by the city board and the fire brigade.
On November 11, 1893, the first city newspaper "Bauskas Sludinājumi" (Bauskas Announcements), founded by Nahman (Nikolaj) Yankelovich, began to be published in the Latvian, Russian and German languages. It remained in a circulation of 1000–1500 copies until 1915.
In the middle of the 19th century Bauska was a multinational city, but many of the privileges inherited from earlier times have been maintained by the Baltic Germans, who controlled the entire city administration. In 1889, Bauska, along with other Latvian cities, dismantled the German magistrate that had been governing the city since 1511 and introduced a city-wide administration. The most active in trade were the Jews, who at that time accounted for more than half of the city's population, and in 1863 owned 70 of the city's 75 shops. Since the end of the 19th century Latvians had also been mentioned among the wealthiest households, craftsmen and entrepreneurs of the city.
In 1882, the area of the city of Bauska was 72 desyatina. In addition, the city still owned 269 desyatina and 406 km2 of land. Many houses had extensive orchards.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, the construction of brick buildings expanded in the city. The central part of the city was still on the left bank of Mēmele, with only the Big Street (now Riga Street) and the Market Square (now Town Hall Square), where the market was held twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays). Along Cūku Street (now Plūdoņa Street), farmers drove livestock to the market.
Lutheran residents of the city were in German and Latvian congregations, both of which used the Bauska Church of the Holy Spirit. The Jews had the Great and the Little synagogues. In 1864, a Catholic church was built. In 1881, St. George's Church was built. At the turn of the 20th century, the townhouses the Bauska County School, the Julian Beeke private girls' gymnasium, the Žibeika Commercial School, and the Jewish yeshiva were built. From April 24, 1902, until his death in 1918, ruled the city. During these years the hospital was modernized, a cattle slaughterhouse was built, a sewage system was partially built, and a city telephone exchange was opened, connecting Bauska with Jelgava and Riga.
During the revolution of 1905, a strike took place in Bauska in early 1905. On October 23, a rally took place under the red flag in the castle ruins, attended by a few thousand people. At the end of the year, a revolutionary steering committee was established to control power until the beginning of January 1906, when it was repressed in a punitive expedition. Several revolutionary activists were shot dead.
On March 17–18, 1906, there were City Council elections. Before them, a fierce struggle broke out between the German (10 seats) and the Jewish (2 seats) coalition that won the 1902 elections and the Latvian MPs (8 seats). As only those earning a certain level of income could vote, in order to reduce the number of Latvian voters, a number of Latvian homebuyers were lowered to the value of 300 rubles.
In 1909 the city had about 7,000 inhabitants. As a large shopping center, the city had 15 beer bars, 6 taverns, 4 hotel-pubs, 4 beer stores, 4 wine cellars, 2 vodka stores, a garden restaurant, and the Loding Brewery, which produces about 100,000 buckets of beer per year. There were 14 different societies and 3 credit unions operating in the city. In 1908 there were 14 theater performances in Latvian. Around 900 children were taught by eight schools, of which four were secondary and four were elementary.
World War I and Latvian War of Independence.
Before World War I 8300 people lived in Bauska. Almost half of the city's population (mostly Jews) were forced to flee by the Russian authorities before the Germans arrived in 1915.
German occupation.
During the on July 28, 1915, German Empire troops pushed the Russian Empire army up to the Lielupe. On July 31, the Germans forced the Lielupe near Bauska and around 8 pm Bauska was captured by the German Empire, receiving 1450 soldiers and war trophies. During the German occupation in 1916, a power station was built in Bauska by the .
From March to November 1918, Bauska was part of the Duchy of Courland restored by the Baltic Germans and later the United Baltic Duchy, which, on November 18, lost power to the Latvian Provisional Government led by Kārlis Ulmanis.
In November 1918, about 300 German army soldiers under the command of were in town. On November 30, the city council was formed of five people, and the first head of Bauska was lawyer Janis Klavins, and his deputies were R. Gutman, J. Viumsons, J. Israelelsons, and E. Rijkur. At the first meeting, it was decided that the meetings would be held in Latvian instead of German or Russian. On December 1, the new board decided that seven militia guards would keep order in the city.
Bolsheviks in power.
As Soviet Russia's troops approached, the last 30–40 German troops left Bauska on January 4, 1919. The Latvian Provisional Government remained in the hands of the loyal city head attorney Klavins. As he stated that the Red Riflemen were not to be feared, because they were not Bolsheviks, but good Latvians, German townspeople sought to dismiss Klavins.
On January 5, 12 Iron Division soldiers returned to Bauska to continue collecting items not collected the previous day. The militia commanded by Klavins arrested them, and at the same time arrested several German businessmen in the city. The city was in a great mood. On January 6, when a white-collar unit in Russian uniforms passed through the city, retreating from the Bolsheviks, the townspeople regarded them as Red Army men and they were invited to a ball at the Kurzeme Hotel. On January 7, a unit defeated by the Bolsheviks reached Bauska. The Landesvere send a delegation for negotiation under the command of an officer, whom Klavins ordered arrested. The Landesvere forces responded with a battle that ended with a Landesvere victory and the release of prisoners. Klavins and six other militia members were shot dead. The same day the Landeswreck left the city.
On January 9, the Soviet Latvian Army cavalry entered Bauska, followed by infantry and artillery on January 10. Regular units of the Red Army went further, but a number of Bolshevik activists remained in the city, who introduced Soviet power. The Revolutionary Tribunal and the Battle Group were led by Sparrow. The political department was headed by Namnieks. The Executive Committee was chaired by Silis. About 100 volunteers applied to join the Red Army.
House searches and seizures of property took place, and nearly all German families were stripped of their clothes, silverware, and food. On January 13, there were the first executions of the Revolutionary Tribunal. Edgar von Ulot and the pastor were shot in the mound park. Von Ulot was shot for directing the police during the oppression of the 1905 revolution, while Beelenstein was a member of the German occupation regime. During the months of Bolshevik rule, several merchants were shot, as well as Latvians and Germans accused of unauthorized speculation or cooperation with the German army.
On March 12 there was a meeting in the Church of the Holy Spirit, which was to be attended by all the inhabitants of the city. The head of the political department Namnieks strongly criticized the pastor . After the Landesvere units liberated Jelgava from the Bolsheviks, on March 19, panic broke out among the Bolsheviks and they left a number of prisoners, including Pastor Strautman, but returned on March 20. Pastor Strautmanis and other prisoners were shot in the Vecsaule Forest. On March 21, German pastor Fricis Stafenhagen hid in a neighbor's garden house to avoid becoming a victim of the Bolshevik terror. Wealthy business brothers Lodiņi spent a couple of days in their beer brewery hiding in an empty beer barrel.
Baltische Landeswehr and Bermondt-Avalov.
On March 23, at around 7:00 am, from the north and east of the city, came the military of Count York, backed by the Brandis branch. Bauska was defended by the Soviet Latvian Army 99th Regiment, supported by units of the 3rd and 8th Latvian Red Rifle Regiments. The battle resulted in 400 prisoners of war and 4 machine guns.
Distressed Bruno Lodin was appointed head of Bauska City on March 30. The front line stabilized on the cavalry from Bauska, and there were regular battles in the next few months. During April 22–24, 1919, the Baltische Landeswehr with 300 volunteer soldiers was formed under the leadership of local Latvian officers. Bauska Commander fon Betiher was appointed Battalion Commander, and Latvian officers Berzins, Krasts and Ermanis were appointed Commanders of the Battalion.
On April 26, the Bolsheviks began firing on the city's artillery. When the Bolsheviks attacked Bauska on April 28 and approached Mēmele Bridge, 50 armed Bauska battalion soldiers under the leadership of Vilis Olavs (1902–1944) broke into Derpele Manor and attacked the bomber. On May 1, the Bauska Battalion together with the Germans went on a counterattack against the attacking Lithuanian Bolshevik forces, capturing 35 soldiers and 2 machine guns. In the following week the battalion fought in Lithuania. On May 18, the last battalion attack on Ceraukste Parish was unleashed.
On May 22, 1919, the city was taken over by the government of Andrievs Niedra and commanded by Pavel Bermondt-Avalov in September 1919. During the battles of the West Russian Volunteer Army and against the Latvian Armies, Bauska was released by Valmiera and Jelgava regiments on the morning of November 17, 1919, obtaining hundreds of rifles, dozens of machine guns and two artillery-loaded wagons.
Republic of Latvia, 1920–1940.
Of the pre-war 8300 citizens, only 2900 remained in the city. During this time, there were Loding Brewery, United Mill, sawmills, 363 merchants, several credit unions and interest organizations in Bauska.
Council elections.
On January 18, 1920, the first free city council elections were held, and on January 30, Juri Vareno was elected head of the city.
The February 1928 City Council elections by the Senate of Latvia were declared unlawful by a decision of October 15, 1928, and were canceled because they involved 43 city-dependent disabled people who lived not in Bauska, but in Durban Manor of Bauska Parish.
The re-election of the City Council took place on December 15 and 16, 1928, with 2534 voters. There were 295 votes cast for the "List of Joint Housewives, Public and Liberal Workers and Officials," with Augusts Ilziņš, Fricis Grīslis and Janis Priede elected to the Council. There were 189 votes cast for List 2 of the German Group, with Bruno Lodins and Arved Steben elected to the Duma. There were 530 votes cast for List 3 of the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party and Bauska Organization, with Eduards Rijkuris, Kārlis Pumpurs, Jēkabs Lūde and Jānis Piļevskis elected to the Council. There were 273 votes cast for the "List of Bauska Industrialists and Craftsmen, Old Riflemen-Liberators, Tenants and Landlords of the City Land," with Paulis Krauze and Rudolfs Silinieks elected to the Council. There were 411 votes cast for the "Bauska City Left Workers" List No.5, with Jāzeps Leitāns, Juris Šņore and Kārlis Jānuška elected. The list of "Bauska United Jewish Bloc" list No. 6 was transferred to 287, with David Hofchowitz and Benjamin-Vole Hercenberg elected. There were 71 votes cast for List 7 of the "United Christian Workers Group", with Arvēds Karklins elected to the council. There were 172 votes cast for the "Jewish Progressive Workers, Small Producers and Tenant Candidates" list # 8, which elected councilor Aix Levenstein. There were 297 votes cast for "United Bauska Homeowners, Traders and Officials" list # 9, with Juris Varenais and Janis Viesjānis elected to the council. Nine votes were invalid. The ruling coalition council was traditionally led by Augusts Ilziņš.
New Bauska.
Former Lutheran Rectory lands (Garden, Acacia, Birch, Pilgrim, Meadow, Birzu Streets) and Orthodox Rectory lands (Uzvaras and Pilskalna Streets) were given to the city of Bauska during the Latvian Agrarian Reform in the 1920s. In 1926, construction of buildings began in the "New Bauska "area around Brivibas, Uzvaras, Skolas, Pilskalna, and Krasta streets. In 1926, the construction of the new Bauska Elementary School (now Bauska State Gymnasium) on Uzvaras Street, which cost 863 983 Ls, was commenced and completed.
On October 20, 1929, in the presence of the President Gustavs Zemgals, the was unveiled. A new reinforced concrete bridge was erected over the Memel 1928 Bauska flood bridge.
From 1923, a weekly newspaper, Bauskas Vestnesis, was published, the circulation of which increased from 400 in the late 1920s to 3,000 in the mid-1930s. From May 28, 1930, to May 4, 1934, the weekly newspaper "Bauskas Avize wa"s published, which was printed in Jelgava.
On January 18, 1931, the Latvian Red Cross Outpatient Clinic was opened at Pils (Plūdoņa) Street 24, which was free of charge for the poor.
There were 664 books in the city library in 1926, and 3,500 in 1938. The Song Festival was held in Bauska on July 7, 1937. The city maintained Latvian and Jewish elementary schools. The Latvian elementary school had 445 children and 16 teachers, while there were 100 children and 5 teachers at the Jewish school.
Latvian coup d'état of 15 May 1934.
On May 16, in Bauska, church bells were heard, state flags were being flown, and in the evening a solemn service was held at the Church of the Holy Spirit.
During the 1934 Latvian coup d'état on the morning of May 16, a was heading toward Riga. After the success of the coup, the guards expand their active ideological work by organizing courses, theater performances, and concerts. The guards created nine choirs, eight orchestras, and an extensive library, and organized and participated in public holidays.
The operation of the Bauska elected officials was suspended immediately after the coup. On May 31, the Adjutant of the Guard Regiment, Eduards Kasparsons, who had no previous work experience in the municipality, was appointed head of the city. The former city leaders Augusts Ilziņš and Juris Varenais continued to be active in the new city board; only the Social Democrats and minorities were excluded from power. On 1–4 June, the Bauska Guards Regiment was on duty again in Riga, ensuring order after the coup.
On June 1, it was announced that the newspaper "Zaļā Zemgale", which was wholly loyal to the official line of Ulmanis since autumn 1933, was merging with "Bauskas Vestnesis". As of June 8, only the "Bauska Journal" was being published in Bauska, which declared that it will "express the common sense of the leadership of the state." Publications on donations of money to the guards and on the activities of the guards' regiment began to appear regularly. The first news of the $50 and $20 administrative fines for "spreading unfounded rumors," that is, critical statements against the Ulman regime, also appeared.
The first board meeting of the new city took place on June 11, 1934. An audit commission was set up to investigate the work of the former City Council, which was more formal as the deputy mayor Ilzins had been appointed as a member of the city board and the audit commission was headed by the former city mayor and councilor Juris Varenais.
Ulmanis authoritarian regime.
On June 17, 1935, at the suggestion of Mayor Casparsons, 29 locals established the Bauska Branch of the Latvian Aeroclub. In 1935 it leased 12.2 ha of city meadows for 500 lats a year for 10 years for the construction of an airfield, which costs 2270 lats. In the spring of 1937, they built two sailplanes and later a third. There was also a hangar for aircraft storage.
In the mid-1930s, the city purchased a building on Pils Street 26, a health care center on Vienibas Street 17 and a shop building on the Market Square. As a gift, the city received the children's summer cottage "Marija" in Asari, Melitas Street 8, and a building on Uzvaras Street 4 for library and museum use.
A sewer network was constructed in Skolas, Industry, Guard and Big Baznicas streets. "New Bauska wa"s building a street cover at Skolas, Dārza, Pilskalna and Lielais Baznicas streets. In October 1938, the three-year blasting of the Mēmele dolomite from the castle mound to the mill was completed. This include a 12-meter wide and half-meter deep canal to facilitate the flow of timber rafts in a very shallow river. In 1938 construction began on the Bauska hospital; it was completed in November 1942.
On the peninsula between Bauska Castle and Ķirbaksala, the planting and establishment of a park began on 15 May 1937. In Bauska Castle, the ruins were strengthened and a viewing area was built in the tower, which was visited by Ulmanis in June 1938.
In the late 1930s, when traditional markets became less popular, the town's income was supplemented by slaughterhouse work, which was rented for $6,000 a year. In 2005, the slaughterhouse was expanded, including a cold store.
Following the coup, the Bauska Farmers' Credit Union, Bauska Latvian Credit Union and Bauska Homeowner Credit Unions were merged into the Bauska Credit Union. At the end of 1938, it had 1,200 members. In total, loans in the amount of LVL 1.69 million were issued to enterprises and residents of Bauska city and district.
The Bauska-Meitene train ran several times a day and connected the city with Jelgava and Riga. Bus service with Riga was provided by the Raimunds Liepkalns company.
Electrification.
On November 1, 1932, the city owned the Bauska power grid, but electricity production was still provided by the private company . The upgrading of power cables by 1934 cost 20,000 LVL. Switching from DC to AC costs another 12,000 LVL.
Electricity consumption in 1933 was 137,800 kWh, but in 1937 it was 180,000 kWh. The city's profit from electricity sales increased from 16,700 to 26,900 lats. Electricity was sold for 0.40 LVL per kilowatt-hour to households, 0.25 LVL to industrial companies, and 0.19 LVL per kilowatt-hour to local government. Until December 1939, electricity was sold to the city by Savienotās dzirnavas, whose generator was powered by river water. On December 5, 1939, Bauska began receiving electricity from the newly built Ķegums Hydroelectric Power Station.
World War II.
After Nazi Germany and Soviet Union entered into the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in 1939, Latvia fell into the USSR sphere of influence in accordance with the Pact's secret protocols, and was annexed by the USSR in 1940.
The departure of the Baltic Germans.
After the end of the Polish Campaign in late 1939, almost all Germans left Bauska and relocated to the newly annexed territories in Western Poland. On October 15, 1939, the last church service was held by the German congregation. About 170 people left the city on November 12, closing three stores, some workshops, and a pharmacy. One of the traditional urban populations, the Baltic Germans, disappeared. There remained some, mostly mixed, families who did not want to leave their homes. Among those who left were pastor Eckert of the Bauska German congregation, doctors Trey and Kolbe, owner of the brewery Lodin with his family, and shopkeeper Miller. German flats and shops could only be rented with the permission of the Bauska district governor.
Soviet Occupation, 1940–1941.
On June 17, 1940, the city was occupied by the Red Army. On July 10, 1940, the decision to release all former heads of Latvian municipalities was published. By order of the Minister of the Interior Vilis Lācis, Jāzeps Leitāns was appointed the elder of Bauska City.
Privately owned businesses and buildings were nationalized. The largest nationalized company was the United Mill, which employed 148 people. Apartments for ten families were furnished in four nationalized new buildings. A children's playground was planned between Sun, Kaleja and Plūdoņa Street.
On July 21, 1940, a rally was held to celebrate the "People's Saeima," and on August 6, a rally was held in honor of Latvia's "welcome" to the USSR, with approximately 5,000 people participating. On January 11, 1941, several thousand city dwellers attended a rally on the market square for the election of the USSR Supreme Council. The rally concluded with the decision to send a congratulatory telegram to Stalin.
During this Soviet occupation, about one hundred Bauska residents suffered from repression and deportation.
Nazi Occupation, 1941–1944.
 the Wehrmacht, after launching an attack from the Lithuanian city Žeimelis. The Red Army did not defend the city particularly well, and retreated to Riga. The subsequent German attack on Riga was launched from Bauska.
Bauska became part of the newly formed Reichskommissariat Ostland Latvian General Area, and the Nazi Occupation years began. By the beginning of July 1941 the Bauska Synagogue was burnt down, on July 9, a Jewish ghetto was created behind Salātu Street, and on July 15, 56 Jews were publicly castrated in Bauska Marketplace. By the end of August, some 2,000 Latvian Jews living in Bauska and the surrounding area had been killed in the city and the Vecsaule Concentration Camp. The Bauska Jewish community ceases to exist.
500th Anniversary of Bauska.
On June 20, 1943, the city celebrated its 500th anniversary, based on Bauska being founded in 1443, when the construction of the Livonian Order's new castle began. A number of German occupation authorities attended the anniversary event, including Latvian General Area Commissioner-General Drehsler, Jelgava County Commissioner von Medem, and Director-General for Home Affairs Oscar Danker. The speeches emphasized the positive role of German Militarism, as well as the unity of Germans and Latvians during the war.
The celebration on June 20 began at 8 a.m. with church services in the city, and at 9 a.m. the ceremonial act of reprivatization in the castle ruins began, during which 1000 land and house owners received property documents on the properties nationalized in 1940 by the Captain Commissioner. At 11 a.m., a solemn act began in the town hall, spoken by the town's elder J. Skalder, Otto Drehsler and Oscar Danker. A memorial plaque was unveiled on the Bauska Castle mound with the inscription: "The Germans and Latvians united under the rule of Adolf Adolf Hitler in the fight against Bolshevism celebrated the 500th anniversary of Bauska Castle. 20.6.1943." An art exhibition was opened in the city. At 5:00 p.m., the outdoor play "Wedding at John's Father's Court" began between the hospital and Corfu Garden, and was attended by about 10,000 people.
Battle for Bauska, 1944.
At the end of July 1944, Bauska fell into direct warfare for a month and a half. During the Red Army Offensive Operation Bagrations, the Red Army crossed the Latvian-Lithuanian border and approached Bauska on 29 July. The city was of strategic importance as it blocked the road to Riga.
The German Army in the city was protected from rapid capture by the Battle Battalion formed on July 29 by the Chief of Bauska County and the Commander of the 13th Bauska Guard Regiment Major Janis Uuks. The 300 battalions were made up of guards and policemen from the 13th Bauska Guards Battalion, who were also volunteers and mobilized citizens. On July 29, the Uuluk Battalion took a defensive line on the banks of the Lielupe River opposite Bornsminde and launched a battle against the attacking Red Army soldiers. The city defenders were not sufficiently armed at the start of the fighting, and much of the automatic weaponry was acquired during the battle as war trophies from Soviet soldiers killed or captured.
On July 30, the 319-F Police Battalion reached Bauska and engaged in combat on July 31. The city was also defended by the 23rd and 322nd Battalions, which were part of the German Kampfgruppe of . On August 22, the 319-F Battalion had 318 soldiers, and on September 5, the Battalion left Bauska. The 322-F Battalion was formed in Riga only on July 26, and was sent to the battles in Lithuania after which they retreated to Bauska and took defensive positions along the Bauska-Ceraukste-Brunava line, but retreated to Jaunsaule in early September. At the end of July, the 23rd Gauja Battalion, in the 215th Infantry Division, engaged in battles near Bauska, was besieged and retreated to Kegums.
After the first three days of fighting, the Ukulu Battalion was replaced by the 380th German Grenadier Regiment, who for six weeks, along with Latvian Legionnaire and Police Battalion units, defended the city under Lieutenant Colonel Herba, who was awarded the Iron Cross Knight's Cross in mid-August. The Ukulu Battalion soldiers were distributed along these units and continued their defensive struggles. In addition to the German army, for six weeks one Latvian Legion, a guard battalion, and three Latvian Police Battalions repelled Red Army attempts to capture the city.
In the area of the bridge there was a defense plateau about 4 km wide and 1 km deep. The commander of the Red Army 1st Rifle Corps, General Vasilyev, was tasked with occupying the city. On the night of August 18, the Red Army's 179th Division troops moved to Lielupe and, on the morning of August 19, the 306th Division crossed over the Dirda after heavy artillery fire. The Red Army attacked the German fortifications at the Musa Bridge platoon, destroying them and occupying the train station. The Storm Battalion crossed the bridge, invaded the city and reached its center. The German army pulled in additional troops, Ferdinand and Tiger tanks and, after several hours of fighting, brought the Red Army to the south coast of Musa. Although the Red Army blasted the bridge, the Germans managed to cross the river and return to the defense platoon. The Germans reported that 400 Red Army were killed and 150 captured in the battle.
During the six-week battle, the Red Army unsuccessfully attempted to capture Bauska by crossing by the shallows of Dirda, Vimbu Pub, Bornsminde, and Mežotne. Soviet artillery fired on the city from Caucminde.
The civilian population of Bauska was evacuated from the city at the end of July, but a volunteer fire brigade continued to operate in the city and the brewery continued to operate. Rye was harvested in August. Police in the town maintained order in the city, commanded by Lieutenant Arvids Upmals. Artillery fired at Dean Joseph Maskvitis.
On September 11, Soviet aviation bombed the city. One-third of Bauska buildings were destroyed in these attacks (100 buildings destroyed, 300 with varying degrees of damage), and the Bauska State Gymnasium burned down. On the morning of September 14, a massive attack by Soviet land and air broke out, breaking the resistance of city defenders around noon.
Postwar years.
Latvian partisans and anti-Soviet activists were active in Bauska and the region in the first post-war years, when they were attempting to resist Soviet occupation. From the autumn of 1948 until the summer of 1950 there was a Bauska Secondary School Youth National Resistance Organization led by Gunārs Zemtautis. It consisted of students in Riga and local youth. The organization issued several calls and planned attacks on Soviet officials. On September 15, 1949, members of the organization shot Zilla, the chairman of the "Code" collective farm. In the mid-1950s, the organization was destroyed and executives were sentenced to death.
On March 25, 1949 Soviet "Operation Priboi" started and 19 townspeople were deported to Siberia.
After the war, the ruins were slowly removed, the city rebuilt and it became the center of Bauska District. The present Kalna Street was called Padomju Street and in 1950 the House of Culture was opened with 600 seats. The Bauska Local History Museum was opened in the place of the former hotel. In 1951, 700 pupils began their studies at the renovated 1st high school. In 1954, the cinema "Victory" was opened and in 1959 the department store of the Bauska Consumer Society was opened. The old Market Square was transformed into October Square rallies with the Lenin Monument (1951), while the new Kolkhoz Market was created in 1950 in the place of the old town's ruined houses between Pludson and Industrial Streets. A canning-wine plant was built in place of the war-torn mill. In the former pastor's manor behind a pontoon bridge, a canning factory was established in 1946. A couple of kilometers from the town, a Bauska incubator and a poultry farm were established, starting a poultry farming industry. Sawmills continued to operate along the river. The city developed the food industry, including dairy and bakery factories and branches of the production associations "Latvijas canned" and "Latvijas Balzams", as well as the textile factory "Saule".
In 1958 the new Mūša bridge was opened, and in 1960 the Nemunėlis bridge was opened.
Bauska expanded into the former city meadows and swampy areas: apartment buildings, a second high school built in 1963, a bus station (1970), a hotel, a post office and a telephone exchange (1986). Immigrants from the USSR entered the city and the Russian-speaking population increased tenfold.
Recent history.
On October 22, 1988, the first Third Awakening rally "Against Migration" took place in Bauska. On August 23, 1989, a Baltic Way chain of people swept through the city.
In 1999, the first Bauska Country Music Festival took place. In 2000, the extension and reconstruction of the Nemunėlis Bridge were completed. In 2013, the renovation of the Town Hall was completed. In 2014, the reconstruction of Mūša Bridge was completed.


List of senators of Corsica

Following is a List of senators of Corsica, people who have represented the department of Corsica in the Senate of France. The department was divided into Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse in 1975.
Third Republic.
Senators for Corsica under the French Third Republic were:
Fourth Republic.
Senators for Corsica under the French Fourth Republic were:
Fifth Republic.
Senators for Corsica under the French Fifth Republic:


Braunlage

Braunlage is a town and health resort in the Goslar district in Lower Saxony in Germany. Situated within the Harz mountain range, south of the Brocken massif, Braunlage's main business is tourism, particularly skiing. Nearby ski resorts include the Sonnenberg and the slopes on the Wurmberg.
Geography.
Braunlage is located on the Warme Bode, a headstream of the Bode river, close to the border with Elend in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. The municipal area stretches along the southeastern rim of the Harz National Park from an elevation of up to at the Wurmberg summit. Other peaks in the vicinity include the Achtermannshöhe and the Hahnenklee Crags.
Districts.
The town consists of three districts:
Transportation.
Braunlage is situated at the "Bundesstraße" B4 running from Braunschweig to Nordhausen and B27 from Blankenburg to Göttingen.
Local buses provide service between Braunlage and the nearby communities of Bad Harzburg, Sankt Andreasberg, Schierke, Wernigerode, Hohegeiß, Bad Sachsa, Nordhausen, Bad Lauterberg, Herzberg, and Clausthal-Zellerfeld.
Braunlage used to be served by the South Harz Railway Company, providing a link to the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways via Sorge, but service was cut in 1958.
History.
First mentioned as "Brunla" in 1227, the town started out as a pit settlement in the Harz forests. It appeared as "Brunenlo" in a 1253 register of the Saxon counts of Regenstein and was revived, when their successors, the Counts of Blankenburg, established an ironworks here in 1561. With the extinction of the Blankenburg dynasty in 1599, Braunlage fell to the Dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
In the 17th century it was a small Brunswick market town located in the western part of the former Blankenburg lands. Tourism developed from the late 19th century onwards, other branches of business were forestry and a large granite quarry at the Wurmberg. Around 1910, one of the first interurban bus lines ran from Bad Harzburg up to Braunlage, served by Büssing vehicles. The Wurmberg Ski Jumps were erected in 1922 (demolished in 2014). In 1934 Braunlage received town privileges and municipal status as a health resort.
After World War II, Braunlage was located close to the fortified inner German border which ran through the Harz mountains. In 1963 it became the location of the Wurmberg Gondola Lift, today with a length of and a height difference of to the summit station the longest in Northern Germany. On 7 May 1964 Gerhard Zucker demonstrated a flight of mail rockets on the Hasselkopf hill. One of these rockets exploded, killing two spectators.
Since German reunification in 1990, Braunlage again is located in the centre of the Harz touristic region, however, it had to cope with growing competition by the neighbouring resorts in Saxony-Anhalt.
Politics.
Town council.
Seats in the town council ("Stadtrat") as of 2016 local elections:
Culture and sights.
A museum of local history covers Braunlage's tradition as a health resort and official venue of the International Ski Federation (FIS). The townscape includes extended spa gardens
Sports.
The local hockey team "Harzer Wölfe" is an important part of the northern German Ice Hockey Culture.
There were several ski jumps on the Wurmberg, which hosted international competitions such as the FIS Ski Jumping Continental Cup until 2011.
Sights.
The Silberteich and the "Hahnenkleeklippen" on the way to Sankt Andreasberg are popular tourist destinations.
The Dicke Tannen is a protected landscape of giant spruce trees near Hohegeiß.


Lihtenberk Castle

Lihtenberk Castle (, ) is a 13th-century castle ruin located in the Municipality of Šmartno pri Litiji in central Slovenia, directly adjacent to the later Bogenšperk Castle. It is best known for a minor association with the 17th-century historian Johann Weikhard von Valvasor, who owned the ruin and styled himself (among other things) "von Lichtenberg."
Architecture.
Lihtenberk was a walled castle with a three-story residential palacium, remnants of which are the only element still visible today.
History.
The castle first appears in written sources in 1223, in the form of a mention of its then-owner, Aquileian ministerialis Albert de Lihtenberca; the knights von Lichtenberg had taken the castle from the knights Andes, and they from the knights Višjegorski. In 1250, the castle is recorded as "castrum Liechtemberch", in 1288 as "castrum Leytemberch", in 1338 as "Pilgrimum de Liechtenberch", and in 1393 and 1396 simply as "Lyechtenberg". Around 1288 the castle was temporarily occupied by Count Meinhard of Tyrol, who gave it out in fief, but the Patriarchate of Aquileia soon intervened to revert the castle to its previous state of ownership.
At the end of the 15th century, the castle was received as dowry by Boltežar the noble Wagen, imperial administrator of the castles of Hošperk by Planina and Šteberk in Cerknica, as well as lord of Kostel Castle near the river Kolpa. By this time the castle was in a very poor state or repair, and the seat of the lordship was moved to the newly built Bogenšperk Castle nearby. The fate of Lihtenberk was sealed by the 1511 Idrija earthquake which badly damaged the building; in 1630 its owner Jurij Kheysell demolished what was left and used the materials for the consolidation and repair of Bogenšperk, a practice continued later in the century by Valvasor.


Back of the Wight

Back of the Wight is an area on the Isle of Wight in England. The area has a distinct historical and social background, and is geographically isolated by the chalk hills, immediately to the North, as well as poor public transport infrastructure. Primarily agricultural, the Back of the Wight is made up of small villages spread out along the coast, including Brighstone, Shorwell and Mottistone.
Geography.
The geographical boundaries of the Back of the Wight are imprecise and vary according to interpretation, however roughly speaking it comprises all the land located South of the Downs and East of Freshwater Bay until the curve in the Downs meets the sea near St. Catherine's Point. The main part of the Back of the Wight is formed of a large bay 18 miles long. The shore is edged by cliffs averaging around 300 feet high from Freshwater to Compton, broken at two points, Grange Chine and Brook Chine, which provide the only easy, natural access to the sea through steep gorges. Stretching out from this coast are three ledges of resistant rock, the Brook, Brighstone and Atherfield ledges, on which many ships have been wrecked over the years. Past Compton and Brighstone, the coast is wild and there are only four access points inland, Whale, Walpen and Ladder Chine and the greatest of them all, Blackgang Chine, which was once a home of smugglers and experienced a massive landslide during the early-20th century, leaving a much larger chine in its place. Blackgang Chine is home to a theme park of the same name, which was the first theme park to be constructed in the United Kingdom.
The most obvious natural features on land are the downs that enclose the area and cut it off from the rest of the island; parts of these are protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and large stretches owned by the National Trust. Brighstone Forest, which covers the top of Brighstone Down, is the largest on the island.
At St. Catherine's Point, the Back of the Wight ends and the Undercliff of Ventnor begins.
Geology.
Like the Geology of the Isle of Wight as a whole the geology of the area is varied; at Freshwater the Upper Cretaceous Chalk is exposed resulting in substantial cliffs until Compton, at this point other geological types begin to occur including clays, these formations are unique for the way the layers have been tilted exposing ancient, fossil bearing strata of the Vectis Formation overlaid with the Wessex Formation. These Wealden rocks date from around 120 million years ago, thus younger than similar rocks elsewhere in the UK.
Settlements.
Most of the settlements in the area are villages or hamlets that have evolved around farms or water courses. Settlement in the area has never been great and the villages are mostly old in construction. Many exist because of medieval churches and manors such as Mottistone Manor. The main settlements are:
History.
Pre-history.
There is little evidence of the region having been settled in pre-history; apart from the Longstone at Mottistone there are few artefacts. That there were once dinosaurs is proved by the numerous types of bones and fossils that have been excavated from the cliffs, including some species unique to the island. At the time the fossils were laid down, between 125 and 110 million years ago, the island was at a latitude similar to that of North Africa. There is an abundance of fossils on the island, especially of crustaceans and nautiloids such Ammonites.
Romans.
In AD 43 the Romans invaded the island, which they called Vectis. Although most of their presence was elsewhere, they did build a villa at Rock, Brighstone to make use of the clean waters of the Buddle Brook. During the 4th century the Empire broke up and the coast began to suffer from raids by Vikings and Germanic tribes, which repeatedly laid waste to the area.
Saxons.
In Saxon times the island was colonised by Jutes until the reign of King Arwald, who died in battle when the kingdom of Wessex invaded and converted the island at sword point by killing the inhabitants and re-settling it with Saxons. Saint Wilfred and the church were given large parts and converted the survivors. The island had been the last pagan part of England.
The Back of the Wight had a meagre and fragile economy at the time so this increased the hardships on the area by killing many of the population.
Middle Ages.
During medieval times the people of the Back of the Wight were very poor, particularly compared to the new prosperity of towns such as Yarmouth, Newtown and Brading. The people lived a harsh existence exposed to the elements and pirates. They scraped a livelihood from fishing, farming and salvage. Shipwrecks were a great help to these people and some say that the emphasis was on cargo not people. There has never been any proof of islanders wrecking, but given how harsh their lives were it would not be surprising. In 1313, in a famous case the "St Mary of Bayonne", from Gascony, ran ashore at Chale Bay. The lord of Chale raised some men and demanded the 53 barrels of wine the ship was carrying. When King Edward II found out, he summoned them to Southampton and had them fined. The wine was destined for a monastery and the church cried sacrilege. As a result of this incident, the first lighthouse on Wight was built at Chale, the St Catherine's Oratory, where the lord's family paid for a light and prayers for his soul. This is the oldest medieval lighthouse in England. Its ruins are now known as the Pepperpot, and a half-built later lighthouse nearby is known as the Salt Shaker. From this period onwards the area lived in fear of French invasions.
18th century and beyond.
In the 18th century there were a succession of stormy winters that increased the number of wrecks on the Back's coast. Salvage and theft were combined with thriving local smuggling. Many buildings in the area are formed of parts of these ships. The Coastguard were established on the Island at this time. They were hated because they fought the smuggling trade, although they were hardly saints; there is an interesting local tale about the commander of the Yarmouth station who "couldn't hear" the sounds of a raging gun battle going on at Alum Bay between smugglers and Coastguard. In 1859 the first lifeboats were put in place at Brighstone and Brook; they took part in many famous rescues and are commemorated in Brighstone Museum, which has many artefacts of the era.
When in 1892 the , a German liner, went aground on the Atherfield Ledge, it took "virtually the whole of the sparse human population of the 'Back of the Wight' to get them to sea".
Also in the late 19th century, the area first became popular to visit and some noted figures established homes here, like Mottistone Manor for the noted architects, the Seelys.
On 18 December 2014, A Boeing 767 carrying United Airlines Flight UA28 suffered an engine failure while travelling towards Los Angeles from London Heathrow Airport, and entered a holding pattern over the Back of the Wight for several hours while it dumped fuel, eventually returning to Heathrow some hours later.
Noted shipwrecks.
The Back of the Wight has very little in the way of suitable shelter for sailing vessels and prevailing SW storm winds often forced ships onto the coast. The three ledges of rock that extend underwater at Atherfield, Brighstone and Brooke can cause unpredictable water conditions. As a result of the high volume of shipwrecks that occurred RNLI lifeboat stations were established, one at each of these locations. Several local books include detailed accounts of the lifeboat and coastguard rescues of the sailors of the many ships that have been wrecked on the area's dangerous coast. Some of the more high-profile vessels include:
, HMS "Pomone", HMS "Assurance", .
, "Vénus", , the "Sirenia" and the "Cedrine", whose timbers form part of Mottistone church.
Today.
The area is still poorly connected, particularly as erosion threatens the A3055 Military Road ("Millie" to locals), which runs along the coast connecting them. Compton bay and beach are popular with surfers due to waves that come across the Atlantic. Recent cuts have made the bus service more infrequent.
Economy.
The economy of the area is largely agricultural and rural with farming using most of the land area. Despite the long coastline, there is little or no local fishing. Tourism provides a significant part of local income and many sites in the area are popular.
Agriculture is still the dominant economic activity of the land. Many residents of the area have Newport as their centre of commerce and culture, using the road over the down to reach it.
Today the region is popular with tourists with attractions such as Blackgang Chine, Isle of Wight Pearl and the picture-postcard villages. The area hosts several events over the year including the Brighstone Christmas Tree Festival, Brighstone Show and Chale Show.


Godfrid Haraldsson

Godfrid Haraldsson () was the son of the Danish king Harald Klak. In 826 he was baptized together with his parents in Mainz in the Frankish Empire, with crown prince Lothair standing as a godparent.
After his baptism, Godfrid stayed in Lothair's retinue, until they fell out sometime in the 840s, and Godfrid returned to Denmark. There he teamed up with Rorik, the son of his father's brother (his cousin). In 850 they united against Lothair and raided Dorestad. Rorik took possession of Frisia. Godfrid continued to plunder Flanders and Artois, and returned to Denmark for the winter. In 851 he was back, raiding in Frisia and around the Rhine, then sailed up the Scheldt to attack Ghent and the abbey of Drongen.
After another winter in Denmark, Godfred returned again in 853 to Francia. On 9 October 853 he sailed up the Seine. The fleet advanced beyond Rouen, as far as Pont-de-l'Arche, and encamped on an island near Les Andelys. Charles the Bald summoned his army as well as that of the Middle Kingdom of Lothar, Godfred's godfather. The two sides faced each other the whole winter, the Frankish land army lacking boats to attack the Vikings. The stalemate was resolved in the spring of 853 when Godfred sailed away, probably with a tribute.
In 855 Godfred and his cousin Rorik tried to gain power in Denmark after the death of king Horik I. The attempt failed, and they returned the same year, taking back Dorestad and a large part of the area of what is now The Netherlands. After this, the sources are silent about this Godfred. He probably died soon afterwards.


Sigismund von Reitzenstein

Freiherr Sigismund Karl Johann von Reitzenstein (3 February 1766 in Nemmersdorf - 5 March 1847 in Karlsruhe) was the first minister of state of the Grand Duchy of Baden.
From 1781, Reitzenstein studied law in Göttingen and Erlangen before getting a position in the Principality of Bayreuth. In 1788 he took service in the Margravate of Baden in Karlsruhe. He advanced quickly, first taking part in the secret council of the court and then advancing to chamberlain in 1790 and bailif in Lörrach in 1792.
Reitzenstein did much to bring Baden closer to its powerful neighbor France. He struck a separate peace with France in Basel in August 1796. He then worked in Paris from 1797 to 1803 as ambassador of Baden. During this period, not only did Baden become an Electorate, Reitzenstein oversaw the quadrupling of the size of the duchy. Reitzenstein resigned his post in 1803.
Reitzenstein was named cabinet minister twice in 1805/1806 and 1809/1810. In 1806 he returned to Paris to negotiate the marriage of Charles, Grand Duke of Baden to Napoleon's adopted daughter, Stéphanie de Beauharnais. In November 1809, he reorganized the state into circles along the lines of the French departments.
From 1807-1809 and again in 1810, Reitzenstein was curator of the University of Heidelberg. There he had an important role in forming the educational policy of the state.


Charles, Prince of Soubise

Charles de Rohan (16 July 17151 July 1787), duke of Rohan-Rohan, seigneur of Roberval, and marshal of France from 1758, was a military man, and a minister to the kings Louis XV and Louis XVI. The last male of his branch of the House of Rohan, he was also the great-grandfather to the duc d'Enghien, executed by Napoleon in 1804. Styled "prince d'Epinoy" at birth, he became the Prince of Soubise after 1749.
Biography.
The prince was born at Versailles on 16 July 1715, the son of Jules, Prince of Soubise, lieutenant captain of the gendarmes of the Royal Guard, and of Anne Julie Adélaïde de Melun. The eldest of five children, he was styled the Prince of Epinoy till his father's death in 1724.
His parents died in Paris of smallpox in 1724, remaining his siblings, including Marie Louise, making them orphans. His sister lost her husband to smallpox in 1743.
He was entrusted to his grandfather Hercule Mériadec, Duke of Rohan-Rohan, who raised Soubise to the court, where he became the companion of Louis XV, who was the same age as he. One of his great grandmothers was Madame de Ventadour, via his paternal grandmother Anne Geneviève de Lévis; Madame de Ventadour, who died in 1744, was close to her great grandson.
He accompanied Louis XV in the campaign of 1744-1748 and attained high military rank, which owed more to his courtiership than to his generalship.
Soon after the beginning of the Seven Years' War, through the influence of Madame de Pompadour, he was put in command of a corps of 24,000 men, and in November 1757 he sustained the crushing defeat of Rossbach. Along with the failure to hold Hanover following the Invasion of Hanover (1757) this marked a dramatic turnaround for French fortunes as just months before they had seemed on the brink of victory in Europe.
He was more fortunate, however, in his later military career, and continued in the service until the general peace of 1763, after which he lived the life of an ordinary courtier and man of fashion in Paris.
Marriages and issue.
Charles married three times. His first marriage was in 1734 to Anne Marie Louise de La Tour d'Auvergne (1722–1739), daughter of Emmanuel Théodose de La Tour d'Auvergne and a granddaughter of the famous Marie Anne Mancini; Anne Marie Louise died in 1739 giving birth to a son, who died in 1742. They had one surviving child:
In 1741, he married Princess Anna Teresa of Savoy (1717–1745), a daughter of Victor Amadeus I, Prince of Carignano, and Maria Vittoria Francesca of Savoy (who in turn was an illegitimate daughter of Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia). Anna Teresa (known as "Anne Thérèse de Savoie") gave birth to another daughter:
After Anne Thérèse died in 1745, Charles married that same year Princess Anna Viktoria of Hessen-Rheinfels-Rotenburg (1728–1792). They had no children.
Charles also notably had relationships with Madeleine Guimard and Anne Victoire Dervieux.
Legacy.
Soubise sauce, based on onion and béchamel, is said to have been named after him.


Votive Stones of Pesaro

The Ancient Votive Stones of Pesaro are 13 sandstone rocks that were unearthed in 1737 in a Pesaro, Italy farm field owned by Patrician Annibale degli Abati Olivieri. Oliverio dug up the stones at the site of his newly discovered Lucus Pisaurensis Sacred Grove on his property at "Il Pignocco" in Pesaro.
These votive stones were incised in a pre-Estrucan script, each bearing the name of an early Roman god. APOLLO, the Sun-God; MAT[ER]-MATVTA, an ancient semone divinity of "luci"; FIDE, an ancient goddess of High Divinity status, and IVNONII (Juno), a goddess of multiple origin myths, are a few of the names inscribed on the stones. They are estimated to date from c. 400 BC, a time when Pesaro was called by its Latin name of Pisaurum.
The stones are on display at the Museo Oliveriano, a Library and Museum in Pesaro housing the collections of Annibale degli Abati Olivieri, Giovanni Battista Passeri, and Giulio Perticari.
Etymology.
Pesaro ("Italian"), fr. Pisaurum ("latin"), "pis" (pi "π", plural) + ("aurum", reflecting gold).
Further reading.
Lucus Pisaurensis: "The Sacred Grove of Il Pignocco in Pesaro, Italy", discovered by Annibale degli Abati Olivieri, http://www.ilpignocco.it/en/about-us/lucus-pisaurensis/


Circle of the Rhine

The Circle of the Rhine () or Rhine Circle, sometimes the Bavarian ( or ), was the name given to the territory on the west bank of the Rhine from 1816 to 1837 which was one of 15 (later 8) administrative districts of the Kingdom of Bavaria. Before the French revolutionary wars (1792) most of the land had belonged to the Electoral Palatinate. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815 it was initially promised to the Empire of Austria after having been under a provisional joint Austro-Bavarian administration since 1814. However, in the Treaty of Munich (1816), Austria relinquished the territory to Bavaria.
In 1837, the Circle of the Rhine was renamed the Palatinate (). It was also referred to as the Rhenish Palatinate ('). The territory remained Bavarian until 30 Aug 1946, with the exception of the area detached in 1920, which roughly corresponded to the present day county of . It then became part of the newly formed federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Geography.
The Rhine Circle largely covered the same area as the present Palatinate region, which lies west of the Rhine in the south of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, but included additionally the Saarland districts of Homburg and Sankt Ingbert. These were incorporated into the Saar region after the end of the First World War and merged in 1974 into the Saarpfalz-Kreis. After the Second World War there were smaller losses of territory to the Saarland, especially in the area of Sankt Wendel. As part of the 1969 land reform the region designated as the Palatinate with Rhineland-Palatinate had its northern border changed somewhat. The Diocese of Speyer and the Evangelical Church of the Palatinate still exist today largely based on the historic boundaries of the Circle of the Rhine.
History.
The territory of the Rhine Circle, established in 1816, had been divided before 1792 into a total of 45 secular and ecclesiastical territories, some of which were very small. The largest were Electoral Palatinate, the Duchy of and the Prince-Bishopric of Speyer. Electoral Palatinate and Bavaria had had dynastic links through the family for centuries.
In 1794, the Left Bank of the Rhine, including the Palatinate, was occupied by French revolutionary troops. As a result of the Treaty of Campo Formio (1797) the First French Republic annexed the region and introduced an administrative system in 1798. The subsequent Circle of the Rhine included considerable portions of the of as well as smaller parts of the of the and .
Following the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 and the capture of the Left Bank of the Rhine by the Allies in January 1814, from 2 February 1814 the region was initially under the provisional authority of the General Government of the Middle Rhine, but, from 16 June that same year, it was placed under the administration of the Imperial-Royal Austrian and Royal Bavarian Joint Land Administration Commission ().
In the main treaty agreed at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, and dated 9 June 1815, Article 51 stated that () on the Left Bank of the Rhine the former of the and , except where stated in the same treaty, were to go "with full sovereignty" and ownership rights under the overlordship of the Emperor of Austria (). The joint Austro-Bavarian administration was initially retained, however.
On 14 April 1816, a treaty was signed between Austria and Bavaria, in which the various territorial changes were agreed. According to Article 2 of the treaty, Emperor Francis I of Austria ceded various regions to Maximilian I of Bavaria. These included, in addition to various regions east of the Rhine, the following regions west of the Rhine:
The effective date for these changes was stated as 1 May 1816.
In accordance with the prevailing Bavarian administrative structure, the region was given the name "Rhine Circle" () with Speyer as its capital. Of the former French administrative structure, the subdivision of the region into cantons, mayoralties and municipalities was retained.
As his first provincial governor, King Maximilian selected the Privy Councillor () , whose name is responsible for the popular Palatinate nickname for Bavarian officials, .


Eurwyn Wiliam

Eurwyn Wiliam is a Welsh curator and author who was Chairman of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (2009-19) and Assistant Keeper of the National Museum Wales.
Career.
A native of the Lleyn Peninsula, Wiliam studied for the postgraduate degrees of Master of Arts (MA) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the University of Wales. He was Assistant Keeper and later Director of Collections and Research and Deputy Director-General of the National Museum Wales.
Wiliam was appointed as a Commissioner of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales in 1992 and later succeeded Ralph A. Griffiths as Chairman in 2009 retiring in 2019. He was involved in establishing the register to protect Welsh placenames.
He is also Chairman of the Nantgarw China Works (Pottery) Trust. He has also been Chairman of the University of Wales Alumni Association. He was elected President of the Cambrian Archaeological Association in 2021.
An authority on the buildings of Wales and Welsh vernacular architecture, he has published several books on the subject.
Wiliam was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1988.


Heinrich Andreas Contius

Heinrich Andreas Contius, also Cuntius (1708 – 1795 in Valmiera, Livonia) is considered the most important organ builder in the Baltic States in the 18th century.
Life.
Contius was born in 1708 as the son of the organ builder Christoph Cuntzius in Halle an der Saale, Duchy of Magdeburg. In 1732 he is recorded as a journeyman of Joachim Wagner. He initially had his own workshop in Altenburg. From 1736/37, Contius worked in Halle and the surrounding area. From 1748, a letter of recommendation from Johann Sebastian Bach in his favour for the planned new organ building in the is known, then a letter to Contius himself. Den Auftrag erhielt er aber nicht.
In 1760, Contius moved to Riga in Courland, where he built an organ for the St. James's Cathedral, Riga. He then worked in Tallinn in Estonia and became the leading organ builder there. In 1771, he returned to Riga and in 1773 was commissioned to build a new building in the great Holy Trinity Cathedral, Liepāja (Libau), which was completed in 1779. In Valmiera, Contius opened a workshop together with Johann Andreas Stein (1752-1821) from Augsburg, who subsequently built further organs in Courland (1787 Cēsis, St. Johannis, 1788 Evele Wohlfahrtskirche).
Works (selection).
Contius is known to have built several new organs, as well as repairs and a maintenance contract in the Duchy of Magdeburg, Courland and Estonia. Preserved are most of the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Liepāja, as well as the casing in the St. James's Cathedral in Riga. A replica of the organ in Libau has been under construction since 2016 in Leuven, Belgium.


Paul Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen

Field Marshal Paul Sanford Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen, (1 September 1845 – 30 October 1932) was a British Army officer. He served in the Third Anglo-Ashanti War in 1873 and then in the expedition of Sir Charles Warren to Bechuanaland in the mid 1880s. He took a prominent role as General Officer Commanding the 1st Division in the Second Boer War. He suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Magersfontein, during which he failed to carry out adequate reconnaissance and accordingly his artillery bombarded the wrong place leading to the Highland Brigade taking heavy casualties. He was later captured by the Boers at Tweebosch. After the war he became General Officer Commanding-in-Chief in South Africa in 1908, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Natal in 1910 and then Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta in 1915.
Early life.
Paul Sanford Methuen was born at Corsham Court, Wiltshire, the eldest of three sons of Frederick Methuen, 2nd Baron Methuen and his wife Anna Horatia Caroline Methuen (née Sanford).
Early military career.
Educated at Eton College, Methuen served two years as a cornet in the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry and then joined the Scots Fusilier Guards as an ensign in the regiment and lieutenant in the army on 22 November 1864. He was promoted to lieutenant in the regiment and captain in the army on 25 December 1867, and became adjutant of the 1st battalion in 1868. He became brigade major, Home District in 1871 and saw active duty on the staff of Sir Garnet Wolseley at Amoaful in 1873 during the Third Anglo-Ashanti War. Promoted to captain in the regiment and lieutenant colonel in the army on 15 July 1876, he became assistant military secretary in Ireland in 1877, military attaché in Berlin in 1878 and quartermaster-general at the Home District in April 1881, before being promoted to colonel on 1 July. He was the commandant of headquarters in Egypt for three months in 1882, being present at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir. On return to the UK he became assistant-adjutant and quartermaster-general for the Home District again. He was promoted to major in the regiment on 25 October 1882.
Methuen served in the expedition of Sir Charles Warren to Bechuanaland in 1884 to 1885, where he commanded Methuen's Horse, a corps of mounted rifles. He became deputy adjutant-general, in South Africa in 1888, and having been promoted to major general on 21 May 1890, he succeeded his father as 3rd baron in 1891. He became Major-General commanding the Brigade of Guards and General Officer Commanding the Home District in April 1892 and then served as press censor at headquarters on the Tirah expedition in 1897. Promoted to lieutenant general on 1 April 1898, he was given the command of the 1st Division on the outbreak of the Second Boer War.
Second Boer War.
Methuen reached South Africa in November 1899 with orders to relieve Kimberley but initially just expelled the Boers from Belmont and Graspan. He was slightly wounded at the Battle of Modder River. He suffered both defeats and successes during the war. His greatest defeat was at the Battle of Magersfontein, during which he failed to carry out adequate reconnaissance and accordingly his artillery bombarded the wrong place leading to the Highland Brigade taking heavy casualties. The battle was regarded as one of the three British disasters in "Black Week" that led to the despatch of Lord Roberts to South Africa.
After Magersfontein, Methuen remained in the Kimberley–Boshof area trying to capture Boer General Christiaan de Wet. Methuen was himself captured by the Boers at Tweebosch on 7 March 1902. He had been wounded in the battle when he broke his leg after his horse fell on him. Boer General Koos de la Rey released him due to the severity of his injuries, providing his personal cart to take Methuen to hospital in Klerksdorp. The two allegedly became lifelong friends as a result of this action. Following the end of hostilities in early June 1902, he left Cape Town with other invalids and convalescents on board the "SS Assaye", arriving in Southampton the following month, still walking with crutches.
In his final despatch from South Africa in June 1902, Lord Kitchener, Commander-in-Chief of the forces during the latter part of the war, described the effort of his brother officer the following way:
For his war service he received the Queen's South Africa Medal with clasps and was promoted to a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 1901 South Africa Honours list (the order was dated to 29 November 1900, and he was only invested as such after his return home, by King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 24 October 1902) He was further promoted to a Knight Grand Cross in the Order (GCB) in the October 1902 South Africa Honours list.
Later military career.
Despite visible setbacks on the battlefield during the Boer War, Methuen continued to be well regarded, and was given more responsibilities. Appointed colonel of the Scots Guards on 1 May 1904 and promoted to full general on 26 May, he was given the command of the IV Army Corps in June 1904, before it was reconstituted as Eastern Command in June 1905. He was also invited to become a board member of the Royal Patriotic Fund Corporation in August 1905. He became General Officer Commanding-in-Chief in South Africa in April 1908 and Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Natal in January 1910 before being promoted to field marshal on 19 June 1911.
Methuen helped raise the standards of training of the British Expeditionary Force in 1914 and was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta in February 1915, a post he held until he retired in May 1919.
In retirement Methuen was appointed Constable of the Tower late in 1919 and deputy lieutenant of Wiltshire in 1921. He devoted himself to the interests of the Brigade of Guards and died at Corsham Court on 30 October 1932.
Family.
Lord Methuen was married twice, first to Evelyn, the eldest daughter of Sir Frederick Hervey-Bathurst, of Clarendon Park, Wiltshire. They were married in 1878 until her death in 1879. He then married in 1884, his cousin Mary Ethel, the second daughter of William Ayshford Sanford, of Nynehead Court. They had three sons and two daughters. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the painter and zoologist Paul Ayshford Methuen, 4th Baron Methuen. A portrait painting of Methuen by his son from 1920 is in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Decorations.
British
Foreign


Robert Eden, 3rd Baron Auckland

Robert John Eden, 3rd Baron Auckland (10 July 1799 – 25 April 1870), styled The Honourable Robert Eden from birth until 1849, was a British clergyman. He was Bishop of Sodor and Man from 1847 to 1854 and Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1854 to 1869.
Background and education.
Born at Eden Farm, Beckenham, Kent, he was third son of William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland and his wife Eleanor Elliot, oldest daughter of Sir Gilbert Elliot, 3rd Baronet. His older brother was George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland, his uncles were Sir Robert Eden, 1st Baronet, of Maryland and Morton Eden, 1st Baron Henley. Eden was sent to Eton in 1814 and went then to Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he proceeded Master of Arts five years later. In 1847, he received a Bachelor of Divinity and a Doctor of Divinity by the University of Cambridge. When his brother George died in 1849, he succeeded him not in the earldom, but in the barony conferred upon their father.
Career.
Eden was made deacon in 1823 by the Bishop of Norwich, ordained priest in 1824 by the Bishop of Worcester and was appointed rector of Eyam in Derbyshire in 1823. He was transferred to Hertingfordbury, near Hertford in 1825, a post he held for a decade. Subsequently, Eden served as vicar of Battersea until 1847. He was likewise nominated chaplain to King William IV in 1831 and after the latter's death in 1837 to Queen Victoria for the next ten years. On 23 May 1847, Eden was consecrated Bishop of Sodor and Man, and installed at Castletown on 29 June. He was translated to the see of Bath and Wells on 2 June 1854, which he held until his resignation on 6 September 1869.
Author.
Eden was the author of "A Churchman's Theological Dictionary" (1845),"A Reply to a Letter to the Bishop of Bath and Wells on the subject of the recent Restoration of the Parish Church of Kingsbury Episcopi, by George Parsons" (1854), "Charges of the Bishop of Bath and Wells" (3 vols. 1855, 1858, and 1861), and "The Journal and Correspondence of William, Lord Auckland, edited by the Bishop of Bath and Wells" (1860). He was moderate in his views, but inclining to the high church school.
Family.
Lord Auckland married Mary Hurt, eldest daughter of Francis Edward Hurt of Alderwasley, Derbyshire, on 15 September 1825. They had five sons and five daughters. She died on 25 November 1872. Auckland died at the Bishop's Palace, Wells on 25 April 1870, and was buried in the Palm churchyard, near Wells Cathedral, four days later. His third son Ashley Eden was a diplomat. The eldest child, Eleanor Eden, was a novelist, and editor of the letters of Emily Eden, her aunt. She was born in 1826; other daughters included: Emily Dulcibella (born 1832); Florence Selina (born 1835); and Maria Harriet (born 1836).


Maria Anna of Schwarzenberg

Princess Maria Anna von Schwarzenberg (25 December 1706 – 12 January 1755) was a Margravine consort of Baden-Baden and Princess of Schwarzenberg by birth. She was the daughter of Prince Adam Franz von Schwarzenberg and Princess Eleonore von Lobkowicz.
She married Louis George, Margrave of Baden-Baden on 18 March 1721. Her future mother-in-law travelled to Vienna in order to seek permission from Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor. Permission was granted and she married on 8 April 1721 at the Český Krumlov Castle


Perperikon

The ancient Thracian city of Perperikon (also Perpericum; , ) is located in the Eastern Rhodopes, 15 km northeast of the present-day town of Kardzhali, Bulgaria on a 470 m high rocky hill, which is thought to have been a sacred place. The village of Gorna krepost ("Upper Fortress") is located at the foot of the hill and the gold-bearing Perpereshka River flows nearby. Perperikon is the largest megalith ensemble site in the Balkans.
The name "Perperikon".
The name Perperikon dates from the Middle Ages – 11th–13th centuries. The original name Hyperperakion was shortened by scribes to Perperakion or Perperikon. There are at least two theories about the origin and meaning of the name, both associating it with gold-mining: The city may have been named after a Medieval high-temperature gold-refining process (Medieval Greek "hyperpyros"), or the resumed use of a classical-era name for the site, derived from a word for altar-fire (ancient Greek "hyperpyros").
History.
Human activity in the area dates back to 5000 BCE. The first traces of civilization on the hill date from the Bronze Age, while the ceramics found on the place date from the Early Iron Age, as well as the impressive round altar, almost 2 m in diameter, hewn out of the rocks.
It is thought that a famous Temple of Dionysus was located at Perperikon during the classical era.
Perperikon is the site from which Medokos declared himself the king of Thrace in 424 BCE, after Sitalces's death, but was overthrown.
Bulgarian archaeologist Nikolay Ovcharov started the excavation works at Perperikon in 2000, and revealed the remains of ancient architectural complex.
Archaeologists have uncovered a giant multi-story palace and an imposing fortress built around the hill, with walls as thick as 2.8 m. This dates from the time of the Roman Empire. Temples and residential quarters were also constructed in the fortress. The megalithic complex has been laid in ruins and re-erected many times throughout history.
A 2.4 million Euro visitor centre is being constructed with funds provided by the EU.
Church.
A church pulpit was found by Bulgarian archeologists at the peak of the Thracian rock sanctuary on 10 September 2005. It is thought to be the first found in Bulgaria. The pulpit was probably built at the end of the 4th century CE or the early 5th century during the reign of Byzantine Arcadius and coincided with the period of the christening of the Thracians in the Rhodopes area.
The church foundations are laid out in the form of a single nave basilica of 16.5 m length, which is the most typical form of an early Christian temple. The pulpit is exceptionally well preserved and is richly decorated with ornaments incised on the stone, including a clearly-visible eagle with outstreached wings. It also bears five inscriptions in Greek.
Other sites named Perperek.
Perperek Knoll on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after the settlement of Perperek, in connection with the Thracian holy city of Perperikon.


Emil Bretschneider

Emil Bretschneider ( in Bankaushof (now Benkavas muiža, Saldus novads, Latvia) – in Saint Petersburg) was a sinologist of Baltic German ethnicity and a correspondent member of the Académie française. He operated in the Russian Empire. He graduated from the medical school of University of Dorpat in Dorpat Estonia, and was first posted as a physician by the Russian legation to Tehran (1862–65). From 1866 to 1883 he was posted as physician by the Russian legation to Pekin.
Overview.
In 1866 the publication of book titled "Cathay and the Way Thither" by orientalist Henry Yule stirred up Bretschneider's interest in sinology. However, he felt that the extensive material contained in Chinese books was under-utilized by western sinologists because many of them did not read Chinese, and when they quoted Chinese material, they relied on secondhand sources. Emil Bretschneider while in Pekin befriended the Archimandrite Palladius Kafarov of the Russian Orthodox Church Mission to Pekin, a famous sinologist in his own right; Bretschneider also took advantage of the excellent library of the Russian Orthodox mission with an extensive collection of Chinese books on history, geography and botany, he began his own first hand research into ancient Chinese literature, particularly in botany and geography.
In 1870 he published his first article in sinology: "Fu Sang-- Who discovered America ?", followed by the publication in London of "On the Knowledge Possessed by the Chinese of the Arabs and Arabian Colonies Mentioned in Chinese Books".
In 1875, he published the article "Notes on Chinese medieval travellers to the West" in Shanghai. In 1881 he published "Early European researches into the flora of China (American Presbyterian Mission Press, Shanghai), a topic often ignored by contemporary sinologists due to their lack of training in botany. In this field Bretschneider was a pioneer.
In 1888 he published "Mediaeval Researches from Eastern Asiatic Sources", Trübner Oriental Series, London: Trübner & Co.; this book included his English translation of three important Chinese
works about the history and geography of central Asia, namely "Travel to the West" by Yelü Chucai, Genghis Khan's chief adviser; "Travels to the West" by the Taoist monk Kiu Chang Chun and "The Peregrinations of Ye-Lu Hi-Liang" (the grandson of Yelu Chucai), translated from the Annals of the Yuan dynasty.
He was a correspondent member of the Académie française.
Work in botany.
Bretschneider was less known as a botanist, having his own herbarium in the mountains close to Pekin. Starting in 1880, Bretschneider sent dried plant specimens to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Among the books he published in the field of botany are: "On the Study and Value of Chinese Botanical Works" (1870); "Early European Researches into the Flora of China" (1881); "Botanicum Sinicum" (1882); and his vast "History of European Botanical Studies in China" (1898).
The plant species "Bretschneidera sinensis" was named in Bretschneider's honor.


2003 Jersey by-elections

Senatorial by Election.
A by election for Senator took place on February 26, 2003.
Results.
Candidates (1 elected)


Tomis (castra)

Tomis was a fort in the Roman province of Moesia. According to Tabula Peutingeriana it is situated between Stratonis and Histriopolis.


Toplou Monastery

Toplou Monastery () is a 15th-century monastery located in a dry and barren area in the Lasithi regional unit, on the eastern part of the island of Crete in Greece. It is about north of the village of Palekastro and east of Agios Nikolaos. The monastery was originally called Panagia Akrotiriani (Virgin Mary of the Cape), after the nearby Sidero cape. Its current name literally means "with the cannonball", thus called by the Turks for the cannon and cannonballs () it had in its possession for defensive purposes.
History.
Toplou monastery is one of the most significant monasteries in Crete, dedicated to Panagia (Virgin Mary) and St. John the Theologian. It was founded around the mid 15th century, probably on the ruins of an earlier convent. The monastery was plundered by the knights of Malta in 1530 and shattered in 1612 by a strong earthquake. Due to its strategic position, the senate of the Republic of Venice, then ruler of Crete, decided to financially aid in rebuilding it. The monastery flourished until the surrender of eastern Crete to the Turks in 1646, after which it was abandoned for a long time. In 1704, it acquired special protection privileges from the Patriarch (i.e., stauropegic) and was re-inhabited.
After its monks were slaughtered by Turks in 1821 during the Greek Revolution of Independence, Toplou was again deserted until 1828. In 1866, during the massive Cretan revolt against the Turks, it was once again devastated. During the German occupation of 1941-44, Toplou was providing shelter to resistance fighters and housed their wireless radio. When this was discovered by the Germans, the abbot and two monks were tortured and executed.
Architecture.
Having to defend itself from pirates and invaders, Toplou monastery is heavily fortified, being laid out around a courtyard paved with sea pebbles and surrounded by strong, high square walls. In its present form it extends to about 800 square meters in three floors, divided into cells, guest houses, kitchens and warehouses. The main church (katholikon) is built as a two-nave basilica and the belltower dates back to 1558.
Current status.
Despite its turbulent history, Toplou has many works of art to its possession. Today, it hosts an interesting exhibition of Byzantine icons, books and documents, a display of ancient engravings and a collection of artefacts which reflect
its role in the historical events that influenced Crete during the last centuries. The monastery possesses a series of about 20 portraits of monks, despotes and igoumens painted by the famous portraitist Thomas Papadoperakis. Many of them have written the recent tragical history of the place. The walls of the monks' dining hall, the "trapezaria", are also adorned with remarkable fresco paintings by the icon painter Manolis Betinakis.
The Cavo Sidero dispute.
UK-based Minoan Group (formerly Loyalward Group Plc) plans a €1.2bn construction project on the Cavo Sidero peninsula that is located in the northeastern part of Crete. This land is owned by Toplou monastery and is leased for 80 years. Backed by strong political support, the so-called "Cavo Sidero" project is advertised as one of the largest tourist investments in Greece. It includes the construction of six tourist villages with 7,000 beds, three golf courses, a conference center a marina plus sport facilities. However, the Cavo Sidero peninsula is a Natura 2000 designated area of particular biodiversity and archaeological importance and home to the Vai natural palm forest, the largest of its kind in Europe. On top of that, it is one of the driest areas on Crete and the large amounts of water that would be required by
the developments when in operation will have a tremendous negative impact on the environment.
Thus, despite the investors assurances that the project has been designed to operate according to the principles of sustainable development, there has been strong opposition against it by the local population and several environmental groups, including World Wide Fund for Nature. Serious doubts about the intentions and the financial strength of the investors have also been raised.
In April 2009, the Supreme Administrative Court accepted the request of about 300 Sitia residents who sought to annul the ministerial decree of 2007, which adopted the environmental impact study for the project. According to the Court, the environmental licensing of the project was not legitimate since the land use planning foresees only a mild tourist development for the area.


Anabaptist riot

The Anabaptist riot of Amsterdam or "Wederdopersoproer" generally refers to an event on 10 May 1535 in which 40 Anabaptists occupied the city hall. The city guardsmen stormed the city hall and in the battle that ensued, the mayor Peter Colijn, 20 militiamen and 28 Anabaptists were killed. The surviving Anabaptists were executed in a particularly gruesome manner: their hearts were cut out of their breasts while still alive, their bodies were drawn and quartered, and their heads were stuck on pikes and posted at the city gates. The event was commemorated in a painting by Barend Dircksz.