Military history of Europe

The military history of Europe refers to the history of warfare on the European continent. From the beginning of the modern era to the second half of the 20th century, European militaries possessed a significant technological advantage, allowing its states to pursue policies of expansionism and colonization until the Cold War period. European militaries in between the fifteenth century and the modern period were able to conquer or subjugate almost every other nation in the world. Since the end of the Cold War, the European security environment has been characterized by structural dominance of the United States through its NATO commitments to the defense of Europe, as European states have sought to reap the 'peace dividend' occasioned by the end of the Cold War and reduce defense expenditures. European militaries now mostly undertake power projection missions outside the European continent. Recent military conflicts involving European nations include the 2001 War in Afghanistan, the 2003 War in Iraq, the 2011 NATO Campaign in Libya, and various other engagements in the Balkan and on the African continent. After 2014, the Russian annexation of Crimea and ongoing crisis in Ukraine prompted renewed scholarly interest into European military affairs.
Characteristics of regions.
Due to the numerous countries that grew out of Medieval feudalism and de-centralization from the Western Roman Empire's fall, different nations have had a power struggle. The island of the United Kingdom was more protected against land invasion from mainland Europe and as such has felt less damage from mainland Europe's struggles. In contrast, the area of Germany and its surrounding territories were at the center of many revolving conflicts. The area of Russia has been known as the 'sleeping giant' or 'great bear' due to it comparatively remaining passive militarily toward the rest of Europe prior to the 19th century and out of Western and Central Europe's affairs. The Roman Empire growing out of mainland Italy has been called 'the first super power'. France having the natural barriers of the Rhine to the east, the Pyrenees to the south, and the English channel to the north has tried to maintain these throughout its history with rivalry with Britain for centuries and then with Germany. Britain and France were the most successful in establishing a broad colonial empire spanning from Africa to Asia, with a majority of that success attributed to them being almost sealocked.
Ancient times.
The era was dominated by the Mediterranean nations, most notably Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Ancient Greece warred with its rival the Persian Empire which was the greatest danger to Europe in the Greco-Persian Wars. Ancient Rome continued the conflict with Persia in the Roman-Persian Wars. The North African city of Carthage fought three wars against Rome and lost allowing Rome to finally be master of the Mediterranean. Julius Caesar made the first Roman incursions into Britannia. Numerous civil wars plagued Ancient Rome for many centuries, but it was the eventual Barbarian incursion from Central and Eastern Europe which contributed the most to Rome's decline. Great migrations from Asia, caused a ripple effect of Eastern Europeans migrating west from barbarians, most well known of these the Huns. The Western Roman Empire fell to these barbarians helped with the fact of economic inflation and internal strife. The Eastern Roman Empire still remained untouched until the late Middle Ages.
Medieval Period.
The early parts of the medieval period known as the Dark Ages saw the first conflicts with the Eastern Roman Empire which continued to fight the Persians in the Roman-Persian Wars and against the Muslim conquests shortly after. In the Medieval period, feudalism was firmly implanted, and there existed many landlords in Europe with armored cavalry being the dominant on the battlefield. Landlords often owned castles to protect their territory. The Ottoman Empire was formed with considerable projection into the Balkan region after finally defeating the Eastern Roman Capital of Constantinople. The Holy Roman Empire was formed by Charlemagne and campaigned against Denmark and the Muslims in Spain. The Crusades were a series of military campaigns waged in the name of Christianity, the aim was to recapture Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims including crusades in Northern Europe and against Russia. The Mongolian Empire stretched into Eastern Europe with many eastern European armies falling under the horde. The Russian region known as Kievan Rus' was dominated by the Mongols with centuries of warfare. Military action died down in the early to mid 14th century considering the black death was wreaking havoc through much of Europe. The medieval ages ended with the Western European conflict of the Hundred Years' War (1337 to 1453) that was primarily between England and France ending in French victory.
The Renaissance.
Gunpowder small-arms ended cavalry superiority. The Italian Wars dominated the early part of this period. It originally started as a dynastic dispute but eventually involved all the European powers as a struggle for power and territory. The 30 Years' War from 1618 to 1648 dominated Central Europe from the participation of all the major European powers resulting in German areas' virtual economic disintegration.
Gunpowder age.
The Great Northern War (1700 to 1721) was fought between Russia, Denmark-Norway, Saxony-Poland and between Sweden and the Ottoman Empire ending in Russian victory with the end of the Swedish empire and the use of Sweden as a power satellite in the region. The Seven Years' War (1754 and 1756–1763] that enveloped both European and colonial theaters involved all the major European powers. France was at the center of attention with the Napoleonic Wars starting from the French Revolution, the combined conflicts lasting from 1792 and ending in 1815 with the defeat of Napoleon. The German states, headed by Prussia, taking a century of recovery from the devastation of the 30 Years' War, started a series of victorious wars first starting with the Danish-Prussian War (1864), Austro-Prussian War (1866), and ending in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71) that resulted in the reunification of Germany forming the German Empire.
World War I.
World War I was a global war fought chiefly in Europe from 1914 to 1918.
Interwar era.
After World War I, the major European experienced two decades of relative peace. The Russian Civil War lasted from 1917 to 1922, saw the intervention of various European powers, ending in victory for the Bolsheviks and the formation of the USSR. Simultaneously, the emerging Soviet government conducted the Polish-Soviet War that lasted from 1919 to 1921 and an ongoing conflict with Finland. The Irish War of Independence was fought from 1919-1921, a guerrilla war against the United Kingdom. It was followed by the Irish Civil War, which erupted over a disagreement between nationalist factions about the Anglo-Irish Treaty, establishing Ireland as a dominion of the British Empire.
The interwar era was characterized by a continuing disarmament and internationalist movement. Both sides of the imminent Second World War increased military production during the 1930s, but were limited by the Washington Naval Treaty. Unlike the punitive restrictions on land forces nominally imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, Nazi Germany notably complied with the naval restrictions. This resulted in crucial limitations in Germany's Kriegsmarine against the Royal Navy.
The interwar years in Europe were brought to a close by the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. This conflict was a prelude to the World War II, both in new technologies used (strategic and tactical aerial bombing, mechanized warfare, direct attacks on civilian populations, guerilla operations) and belligerents (Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany supporting the Nationalist side, Communist Russia and various European leftist groups supporting the Loyalist side).
World War II Hitler & his henchmen.
World War II was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. The war involved the mobilisation of over 100 million military personnel, making it the most widespread war in history. In a state of "total war", the major participants placed their complete economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Over 70 million people, the majority of them civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest conflict in human history.
The Cold War.
The Cold War was the state of conflict, tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s. Throughout this period, rivalry between the two superpowers was expressed through military coalitions, propaganda, espionage, weapons development, industrial advances, and competitive technological development, which included the space race. Both superpowers engaged in costly defence spending, a massive conventional and nuclear arms race, and numerous proxy wars.
Present.
After the Cold War ended, wars have only taken place in Europe during the breakup of Yugoslavia. These wars involved separatist states and the combat of terrorism in southern Yugoslavia. In 1991, separatist Croatia, Slovenia, and Macedonia split from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1992, they were followed by Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 2006, Montenegro and Serbia split resulting in the dissolution of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). The current conflict in the area of northern Macedonia and Serbian province Kosovo, where Albanian paramilitaries started guerilla war against the government forces. Kosovar Albanians want complete independence from Serbia. Serbia is only offering autonomy of its sovereign territory.
In comparison to the breakup of Yugoslavia, the breakup of the Soviet Union and the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States was peaceful.
European armies still participate in wars outside the European continent, including conflicts involving NATO members. European soldiers currently are based in Africa, the Americas (Haiti) and Asia (Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon).
European military spending is roughly half that of the United States and about a quarter of the global total.


Assassination of Alexander I of Yugoslavia


Angolan escudo

The escudo was the currency of Angola between 1914 and 1928 and again between 1958 and 1977. It was subdivided into 100 "centavos" with the "macuta" worth 5 centavos and was equivalent to the Portuguese escudo.
History.
The introduction of the escudo in Portugal's colonies took place in 1914, three years after it occurred in Portugal. The escudo replaced the "real" at a rate of 1000 réis = 1 escudo. In 1928, the "angolar" was introduced. Banknotes were exchanged at a rate of 1.25 escudos = 1 angolar, whilst centavo coins used with the escudo continued to be used with the angolar with no change in value. The angolar was pegged at parity with the Portuguese escudo, as the Angolan escudo had been before 1928. Thus, the currency reform constituted a devaluation of the escudo banknotes.
In 1953, Portugal began unifying the currencies of its colonies. This process was completed in Angola at the end of 1958, with the reintroduction of the escudo. The escudo was replaced in 1977 by the "kwanza" at par.
Coins.
In 1921, bronze 1, 2 and 5 centavo and cupro-nickel 10 and 20 centavo coins were introduced, followed the next year by nickel 50 centavos. In 1927, cupro-nickel 1, 2 and 4 macuta and 50 centavo coins were introduced. These coins continued to circulate when the angolar was introduced, with bronze 10 and 20 centavo coins introduced in 1948.
In 1952, the first escudo coins were introduced, although the escudo did not officially replace the angolar until the end of 1958. Silver 10 and 20 escudos were introduced in 1952, followed by bronze 50 centavos and 1 escudo, and cupro-nickel 2½ escudos in 1953. Cupro-nickel replaced silver in the 10 escudos in 1969, with nickel replacing silver in the 20 escudos in 1971. Cupro-nickel 5 escudos were introduced in 1972.
Banknotes.
In 1914, the "Banco Nacional Ultramarino" introduced notes in denominations of 10, 50 and 50 centavos. 5 centavo notes followed in 1918, with 50 escudos introduced in 1920. In 1921, 1, 2½, 5, 10, 20 and 100 escudo notes were added. State notes for 50 centavos were also introduced in 1921.
In 1958, notes (dated 1956) were introduced by the "Banco de Angola" in denominations of 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 escudos. These five denominations were issued until the introduction of the kwanza.


Robert Wallace (MP for Greenock)

Robert Wallace (1773–1855) was a Scottish politician. He was an electoral franchise reformer and agitator for postal service reform.
He was elected to the Westminster Parliament as the member for Greenock in the 1832 general election, sitting for that constituency until 1845.
Robert Wallace was the founder of the campaign for the Uniform Penny Post, providing cheap postage regardless of distance within the United Kingdom. He appeared in 1835 before the commission of enquiry set up to consider postal service reform.
Life.
He was the second son of John Wallace (1712–1805) of Cessnock, Glasgow and Kelly in Ayrshire, by his third wife, Janet, third daughter of Robert Colquhoun of the island of St. Christopher. His father was a West India merchant in Glasgow, who amassed a large fortune and became proprietor of some major estates. The eldest son was Sir James Maxwell Wallace. By the father's will Robert Wallace received the estate of Kelly and part of the West Indian property, and was known by the designation of Wallace of Kelly.
Robert Wallace was a strong Whig, and often spoke in public during the reform agitation before 1832. After the passing of the Reform Act 1832 he was the first member of parliament for Greenock under the act, and held that seat until 1846. In parliament his efforts were directed towards law reform, especially in the direction of having cheaper and simpler methods for the transfer of heritable property.
His name is closely associated with the reform of the postal service, and with the introduction of the penny post. After repeated applications to parliament he succeeded in having a Royal Commission appointed in 1836 to report on the state of the posting department. Reports made by the commission supported the charges brought against this department, and prepared the way for reforms. Wallace was chairman of the committee that examined Rowland Hill's penny postage scheme; and it was by his casting vote that it was decided to recommend this scheme to parliament.
In 1846 he became embarrassed financially through the depreciation in value of some of his West Indian estates, and resigned his seat in parliament. The estate of Kelly was sold, and Wallace lived in retirement at Seafield Cottage, Greenock. After his resignation a public subscription was made for him, which enabled him to live his last years in comfort. He died at Seafield on 1 April 1855.
Family.
He married Margaret, daughter of Sir William Forbes of Craigievar 5th baronet, but left no issue. His sister, Anne Wallace, died unmarried in 1873 in her hundred and second year.


Serbomans

Serbomans (; ; ; ) was a Bulgarian pejorative term used by Bulgarian nationalists for inhabitants in the region of Macedonia that claimed Serbian ethnicity (declared as Serbs) and supported Serbian national ideals until the middle of the 20th century. They explained it by imposed by the Serbian propaganda secondary identity with result that a Bulgarian population had lost its real nationality. It is also still used pejoratively by Bulgarians to refer to residents of North Macedonia who proclaimed a separate Macedonian identity and act to subdue Bulgarian nationalism in Macedonia. The term first appeared during the time of the Serbian-Bulgarian rivalry for present-day North Macedonia during the second half of the 19th century.


William Atherton (plantation owner)

William Atherton (31 May 1742-30 June 1803), was a merchant and wealthy landowner from Lancashire, England, who operated and co-owned sugar plantations in the former Colony of Jamaica. He was a slave owner, as well as an importer of slaves from Africa.
Early life.
Atherton was born in Preston, Lancashire, the fourth son of William and Lucy Atherton. He was the son of a successful and wealthy silk mercer. His father, according to the Walker Art Gallery lived between 1703 and 1745. As a Preston Alderman, his father was twice elected as the Mayor of Preston in 1732 and again in 1738. Prescot history refers to his father having been born in 1715.
Atherton traveled to Jamaica as a merchant and went on to act as the overseer of a sugar plantation. Members of his family had been involved in the Atlantic slave trade since at least 1737, and were known as Liverpool privateers.
His grandfather was John Atherton, a draper. A relative, William Atherton was the rector of St Nicholas Church, Liverpool; known as the Old Church of St Nicks, from 1688 to 1699. Walton Hall was part of this parish and the home of his slave trading guardian-uncle, John Atherton. Another ancestor, Richard Atherton, was the first modern Mayor of Liverpool, who in turn descended from the Atherton’s of Atherton Hall.
Career.
His exact date of departure from Liverpool to Jamaica is unknown. When Atherton arrived on the island, he initially established himself as a merchant in Kingston, also operating in the vicinity of Martha Brae and the town of Falmouth, then a thriving seaport. He also served as attorney for William Gale, who owned the Gale Valley Estate, and Edward Hyde, who owned the Swanswick Estate, as well as several other planter families.
At the age of 23, Atherton inherited a share of Green Park Estate from Thomas Southworth in 1765, however the exact relationship between the two has never been established by historians. It is most likely that Thomas Southworth, who was from Preston was either a relative or business associate who employed Atherton, had no immediate family. It is possible that he bequeathed to Atherton, in order to settle upon his gambling debts. Atherton’s father and elder brother Richard, a merchant banker had provided mortgages for such enterprises. Southworth may also have been a slowly dying man with long term injuries following Tacky's War, or had a degree of intimacy with Atherton. One source records a William Atherton being bequeathed the same estate 101 years prior. Most likely a researcher error, however if correct, it could justify why a share was bequeathed to him since his family already had a vested interest in this estate. Hence his decision to relocate to Jamaica, operating under the parameters set by his guardian uncle.
By the late 1760s, Atherton was now the co-owner of various sugar plantations in north western Jamaica. He owned the Green Park Estate in Trelawny Parish and Spring Vale Pen in Saint James, his summer residence. Atherton would have had many investors outside his immediate family. It has been established that he partnered with Peter Holme (1730-1779), a merchant from Liverpool, who was responsible for over 50 slave voyages (known as the Middle Passage) from 1750 onwards. They invested heavily in the Triangular trade. Holme was older than Atherton and had been in partnership with William Davenport (1716-1794) and the former owners of Green Park Estate, Thomas Southworth and John Kennion. As a merchant, Atherton would have been an active shareholder in various Liverpool shipping companies and would have been initially guided by his brothers, John and Richard. Since slave trading enterprises were often agreements limited between just a handful of individuals, Atherton may have been one of the many who financed such ventures as a sleeping partner, whilst based in Jamaica, with his uncle John Atherton, a slave trader with at least 18 voyages, or his subsequent partner, Peter Holme acting as signatories. It would have been in Atherton’s interest to partake, since the profitability of his plantation depended on the profits from Jamaican sugar and the supply of able slaves from the African Company of Merchants, and indentured servitude.
Atherton built a fortress plantation house, as his primary residence on the grounds of the Green Park Estate. Suitable defenses were a requirement mandated by the British colonial authorities, in event of a Spanish attack, or a slave revolt.
Within a short period, Atherton had established himself as one of the wealthiest sugar planters. In order to do this he imported hundreds of slaves from Africa to work in the cane fields and sugar factories of what had become the third largest estate in Trelawny Parish, out of a total of 88 estates. He would move between his estates and properties on the island during the seasons and high humidity. He also owned the Spring Vale Pen Plantation in Saint James parish. He expanded Green Park, by purchasing the adjoining plantations, such as the Bradshaw Estate in 1771. Green Park increased to over 1,315 acres. He constructed a second sugar mill in 1773, complete with a stone windmill, which was supplemented by the power of oxen. It is estimated that his operations in Jamaica continuously had close to 800 people enslaved.
The Green Park Estate expanded, and had a large slave population, operating four field gangs and the slave village numbered over 30 buildings. Atherton spent a great deal of time in England as an absentee landlord, but would visit his plantations frequently. Since the roads to the plantations were often bad, Atherton, like other local planters kept a home on Queen Street in Martha Brae, to be closer to the port and to be able to host shipmaster's and discuss incoming and outgoing cargo.
Sugar from his plantations were packed into large barrels called hogsheads and transported to the port of Falmouth for loading onto a vessel bound for England or North America. It is known that Rum had been distilled at his Spring Vale Pen plantation since at least the 1780s.
The West Indian planter class of which Atherton was part of, was entering a period of economic decline. Atherton left Jamaica for the newly independent United States in 1783, shortly after the Treaty of Paris. It is beyond a doubt that a man of his social status on the island would have departed with his own hand picked slaves for this long voyage. A man of his standing would have owned the ship, which would have been fully laden with goods and merchandise to trade, as well as a great deal of his personal wealth, in preparation for what he hoped this new country would bring even greater fortune. It is also likely that this sea voyage coincided with the trafficking of human cargo from the Caribbean, which he would have considered as part of his personal property, free to sell and trade along the route up to New England.
Atherton would have planned his departure from Falmouth, Jamaica with precision. Prior to becoming an absent landlord, he would have appointed a planting attorney, as well as a hierarchy of estate management to continue to manage his business interests as a planter, sugar merchant and as a slave owner. He retained offices in Kingston, Jamaica to oversee all his enterprises that generated wealth derived from slavery. Such vast fortune allowed him to eventually retire in comfort to his large country estate, Prescot Hall in St. Helens in 1787, after residing in the United States for just under a period of 5 years.
A particular Bristol Miscellany is insightful, since it mentions Atherton’s Trelawny business associate, John Tharp IV (1744-1804), of Good Hope and Chippenham Park, the largest land owner in Trelawny with over 3,000 slaves. Atherton had sold Tharp land in Trelawny a few years prior. When disposing of land, Atherton would have chosen whether to hold a slave auction or have his own attorney draw up contracts to dispose of any unwanted enslaved workers. This typically involved separating children from their mothers and splitting up couples. Compassion of a plantation owner was unlikely, particularly since the article refers to Atherton being childless. Other anecdotes include how Atherton could now afford to live in England comfortably on £1,000 a year. Both Tharp and Atherton eventually purchased large estates in England in their final years, extracting wealth from the island economy, with years of profit from decades of oversight of enslaved people working on his plantations. It also refers to Atherton’s exports into Bristol and mention the poor quality of his sugar and the commodities arrival onboard the vessel Good Hope.
During Atherton’s final years, between 1791 and 1800, 35 children were recorded as born into slavery in Spring Vale Pen. 48 slaves died and a further 70 were purchased. Green Park Estate had 4 times more slaves than this smaller estate. This period also coincided with the heaviest forced migrations which occurred between 1790 and 1807. The result of such slaving patterns made Jamaica the second most common destination for Igbo people arriving from the Bight of Biafra.
Personal.
In 1779 he was appointed as a guardian to the sons of Richard Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn in the event of their father’s death.
Atherton remained a bachelor until the age of 42. Not only was he focused on his own prosperity, and that of his shareholders, he was politically motivated, seeking higher office in Kingston, Jamaica. However, he was unsuccessful in the elections of 1782 and soon made plans to leave the island.
He settled in Rhode Island in 1783, where he soon married his first known wife, a widow, Sarah Brenton Wanton (1751-1787), the former wife of Joseph Wanton (1730-1780), a loyalist who served as Deputy Governor of Rhode Island in 1764. Wanton had abandoned his wife and child, after being caught up on the revolutionary war dying in Manhattan as a loyalist Colonel. Atherton would have described himself as a successful merchant; and given the era, his new wife would have not asked about the conditions of those he had enslaved back in the Caribbean, as well as those in his immediate possession. Sarah had unsuccessfully petitioned the State of Rhode Island to return of her former marital home, Hunter House, and other confiscated Wanton properties in Newport, Jamestown, Prudence Island, and Gould Island.
They had no offspring and Sarah died at the age of 36, in July 1787; likely during childbirth and was buried in Clifton Burying Ground, Newport within 3 years of their marriage. Atherton immediately disposed of all his household goods and returned to England with his young stepson, Joseph Wanton. To honour his deceased wife, he had a memorial tablet placed inside Trinity Church, Rhode Island in November 1788.
In 1789 he married Elizabeth Sephton (1755-1831), the daughter of his deceased father-in-law John Sephton, of Ormskirk in Prescot Parish Church and a relative of Henry Sephton. They had no children and it is assumed Atherton returned once again to Jamaica. It is possible that he was not captivated by the women society dictated that he marry. In 1790 and 1796 he is listed in the Jamaica Almanac as a Commissioner for taking affidavits of the Supreme Court in Kingston, Jamaica.
His stepson, Joseph Brenton Wanton was enrolled at Manchester Grammar School in 1799. His son was named Joseph Atherton Wanton, in honour of his stepfather.
Atherton’s final years were spent at Prescot Hall, where he died on the 25 June 1803 at the age of 61. He was buried in Prescot Parish Church. A marble slab by Sir Richard Westmacott is dedicated in his memory, surmounted with a family crest, with the somewhat ironic motto “clarior e tenebis” (brighter after the darkness), bearing in mind the origin of his personal wealth. It is worth emphasising that the church and those who accepted his donations at the time would be unlikely to question the origin of such wealth. He would have been considered a gentleman. Most recipients would have been thankful of this sugar planters generosity. It would have been his form of atonement, having seen and likely carried out the unspeakable. Abolitionism was a new movement and Atherton died over 30 years before the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 in the United Kingdom and its realms.
Atherton died without any known offspring. His estate was valued at £100,000 and included paintings by Gerard ter Borch and other notable artists. He bequeathed a one off payment of £5,000, and an annuity of £2,000 per annum to his second wife Elizabeth who died in 1831. His will also mentions a bequest to his stepson, the Revered Joseph Brenton Wanton (c. 1777-1853). Atherton’s married sisters, Mary, Catherine and Elizabeth also benefited. An organ was gifted to Prescot Parish Church by his widow in his memory.
Mary Southworth of Preston, of mixed black African and white European ancestry, was either a mistress or his offspring and is mentioned in his will. However, it is most likely that she was the daughter of Thomas Southworth, the original owner of the Green Park plantation and an African slave mother, or Atherton’s own child, named in the honour of his deceased friend. This was not an unusual situation for slave owners returning to their homeland. A precedent had already been set years prior within the circles of gentry. In 1765, John Lindsay returned to England with Dido Elizabeth Belle, a child he fathered on his plantation. Where similarities exist, in all such cases very little thought would have been given to physical separation of a slave child from the birth mother. None of Mary Southworth’s descendants have been traced.
His papers are held in Lancashire Archives.
Family.
His uncle, John Atherton of Hanover Street, Liverpool, purchased Walton Hall, set in 300 acres in 1746, and was built on the remains of a 14th-century moated hall. John was involved in the African slave trade relocating from Preston in 1716. At least 18 slave voyages between 1737 and 1757 are on record. John died in Gloucester in 1786. Walton Hall, was sold by his son and heir, Colonel John Joseph Atherton, in 1802 to Thomas Leyland, who was also highly involved in the African slave trade.
His brother, Henry Atherton (1740-1816), a notable barrister, helped further the career of John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon. He married Ann Byrom, the granddaughter of John Byrom. They had 2 daughters, Eleanora and Lucy who inherited and made their economic gain from the proceeds of over one hundred years of slavery. Eleanora Atherton eventually inherited her sister’s estate at Halsnead Hall in Whiston, thus increasing her share of the Jamaican estates, and was recorded as being one of the wealthiest women in England when she died in 1870.
Green Park Estate.
Atherton’s largest co-owned sugar plantation, one of the oldest plantations in Trelawny parish, dated back to shortly after 1655, with the Invasion of Jamaica by the English, when Oliver Cromwell first granted land to James Bradshaw, the son of John Bradshaw, one of the regicides who signed the death warrant of King Charles I. Adjoining lands were granted to the Barrett family by King Charles II in 1660. Over one hundred years later, Thomas Southworth, a merchant from Kingston in partnership with John Kennion, a kinsman of Edward Kennion, changed the name of the estate from Green Pond to Green Park, and started to transform it from being a cattle farm, into a large sugar plantation. He died shortly after he commenced construction of the main residence in 1764. The estate was bequeathed to Atherton, then a Kingston merchant in 1765. The estate was fully functioning producing sugar, rum and holding livestock. It was Atherton who completed the build of the main residence and subsequently enlarged what is presently known as Green Park Great House.
At the front of Green Park Great House are two marble plaques on either side of the front door. One plaque says, “Green Park Plantation Manor” and the other, “Built in 1764 by William Atherton”.
All plantations would have had a hierarchy. Robert Grant was already an overseer when Atherton took co-ownership with Peter Holme of Liverpool. Atherton did not change this immediately. He is likely to have been concerned about profits than welfare of the hundreds of slaves he now owned.
Francis Falshaw assumed the role in 1768,
and was replaced by Atherton’s appointment of Christopher Forsyth in 1779. Edmund Eccleston was overseer from 1782 to 1791, followed by William Fairclough from 1792 to 1808. Each overseer would have handed out a fair share of reprimands, ordered beatings, torture or murder. Each overseer had different traits. Some would have treated those enslaved in a more humane manner, and some would have committed great sin, be it of their own accord, or simply following orders of the plantation owner.
It was not only Atherton and his original partner, Holme and his descendants who extracted wealth from this plantation. His own brother, Richard Atherton (1738-1804), a Preston woollen draper and one of the founders of the Preston Old Bank had also invested heavily into the Green Park Estate. He married Mary Griffiths in 1776 and lived at Green Bank Farm in Kirkham and had 6 children. During this period the small town was known for the manufacture of sailcloth. Richard’s sons, John and Edward were the initial beneficiaries of Green Park Estate and nearby Spring Vale Pen.
The estate was surveyed by James Robertson in 1793. It also appears on a map of 1804 complete with windmill. In 1811 Alexander Stevenson and Nicholas Smith recorded that of the 1,315 acre estate, 400 acres were apportioned for growing sugar cane. The estate had capacity to produce around 400 hogsheads of sugar a year.
In 1816 Green Park Estate and nearby Spring Vale Pen had recorded a total of 795 chattel slaves. The Jamaican estates were then bequeathed by Edward Atherton to another member of the family. When runaways occurred and the overseer placed advertisements for their return. One such example from 1810 sought the return of “Lust”, a Portuguese slave, with his body markings clearly described. In the Jamaica Almanac of 1824 Spring Vale Pen had 571 head of cattle and 186 slaves.
Green Park Estate was eventually divided amongst the daughters of his brother, Henry Atherton (1740–1816), a barrister, and his cousin, Colonel John Joseph Atherton of Walton Hall, Liverpool, the son of John Atherton, his slave trader uncle, who died in 1786 who had become brother in law to James Alan Park.
The heirs of Eleanora Atherton retained ownership of the Green Park Estate until 1910.
Slave Compensation Act 1837.
Atherton’s nieces, Eleanora Atherton and Lucy, the wife of Richard Willis, were entitled to claim for the compensation for the freeing of 544 slaves from the Green Park Estate and 182 slaves from Spring Vale Estate. Both nieces were compensated under the Slave Compensation Act 1837.
Payments of the bonds to the descendants of creditors was only finalised in 2015 when the British Government decided to modernise the gilt portfolio. As a consequence, the UK taxpayer was effectively paying for the compensation of British slave owners, such as this particular Atherton family until 2015.


Richard Bulstrode

Sir Richard Bulstrode (1610 – 3 October 1711) was an English author, diplomat and soldier, a son of Edward Bulstrode (1588–1659).
Life and family.
Richard Bulstrode was born at Astley, Warwickshire, and educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge. After studying law in London he joined the army of Charles I on the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642. In 1673 he became a resident agent of Charles II at Brussels; in 1675 he was knighted; then following James II into exile he died at St. Germain on 3 October 1711. Bulstrode is chiefly known by his "Memoirs and Reflections upon the Reign and Government of King Charles I". He wrote the "Life of James II", and "Original Letters written to the Earl of Arlington" (1712). The latter consists principally of letters written from Brussels giving an account of the important events which took place in the Netherlands during 1674.
His second son Whitelocke Bulstrode (1650–1724), remained in England after the flight of James II; he held some official positions, and in 1717 wrote a pamphlet in support of George I and the Hanoverian succession. He published "A Discourse of Natural Philosophy", and was a prominent Protestant controversialist. He died in London on 27 November 1724.


Elections in Norway

Norway elects its legislature on a national level. The parliament, the Storting (or "Stortinget" by Norwegian grammar), has 169 members elected for a four-year term (during which it may not be dissolved) by a form of proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies.
Norway has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments or minority cabinets.
In Norway, elections are held every second year, alternating between elections for the Parliament and local elections, both of which are held every four years.
Suffrage is universal from the year a person turns 18 years old, even if the person turns 18 later in the year the election is held. Only Norwegian citizens can vote in the Parliamentary elections, but foreigners who have lived in Norway for three years continuously can vote in the local elections. Women's suffrage was adopted in 1913.
The last elections were the 2019 local elections on 9 September. The last parliamentary election was the 2017 parliamentary election, on 11 September.
Election system.
Norway uses the same system in both local and national elections when it comes to distributing mandates. This method is the modified Sainte-Laguë method and the underlying principle is that the number of seats a party gets in the Storting should be as close as possible to the relative number of votes the party got in the election.
There are some exceptions to the above-mentioned principle:
Unlike most parliaments, the Storting always serves its full four-year term; the constitution does not allow snap elections, nor does it give the monarch the right to dissolve parliament even if the government wants to do so. By-elections are not used, as the list-system means that vacant seats are merely filled by the next one on the party list (suppleants). This is also the case when candidates take temporary leave due to illness, childbirth etc.
Norway switched its parliamentary elections from single-member districts decided by two-round run-offs to multi-member districts with proportional representation in 1919.
Voting.
High voter turnout is generally seen as beneficial by all parties, and the voting process has been streamlined in order to encourage voting. Registration is automatic and based on the national registry,
Ballots.
The ballots are uniform throughout the country, with the exception of the candidate list. Each ballot will contain the name of a party, and also a list of the candidates promoted by that party in order of priority.
Voters may assign personal choices among those candidates by checking a box next to the candidates name(thus changing the priority). Voters may also write in names from other lists if they so desire.
The ballot is in the form of an A4 sheet of paper folded in two (e.g. an A5 folder). The ballots are identical for all parties/lists in a given election. The inside of the ballot has the name of the party/list and the list of candidates. The outside of the ballot has a field for the election official to stamp the ballot as correctly received immediately prior to the voter casting the ballot in the ballotbox.
The ballots are located inside each voting booth. Election officials are tasked with keeping the number of ballots in each voting booth approximately even, to reduce the possibility of influencing the voter.
In the case of national elections, there is only one group of ballots to choose from. In the case of local elections, there is two groups of ballots, one for the County-level elections, and one for the municipality-level elections.
Early voting.
Early voting can happen in any early polling place in the country, usually starting in July and ending about a week before election day. Voters wishing to vote early can search for polling places on the public website www.valglokaler.no.
Early polling places are usually at City Halls or similar public buildings. Larger cities such as Oslo also deploy mobile early polling places in places such as large public transport hubs, metro stations etc.
Voters are required to identify themselves before voting.
Voters submitting an early vote in another district/municipality than their own, will be given a ballot without a candidate list. The ballot will then be enclosed in an envelope with the name of his/her home district. The voter will then proceed to deliver the ballot to the sealed ballot box. The ballot will be mailed by to the correct district/municipality in advance of election day.
Voters may not change their ballot after submitting an early ballot.
Election day.
Election day is normally the 2nd Monday of September, but many polling places are also open the preceding sunday. Election day is not a public holiday. Voters may only vote in their own municipality on election day. Polling places are usually local schools, community centers or similar, and are normally open from 09:00 or 12:00. All polling places close at 20:00 across the country.
Parliamentary elections.
Constituencies and seat distribution.
Norway was up until 2018, divided into 19 counties, and each of the former counties is a constituency in the election. Each constituency elects a pre-calculated number of seats in the Parliament, the Storting, based on the population and geographical area of the constituency. Each inhabitant scores one point and each square kilometer scores 1.8 points. This calculation is done every eight years. This practice has been criticized because in some larger counties with sparse population a single vote counts more than in other more densely populated counties. Others claim that counties with a scattered and sparse population situated far away from the central administration should have a stronger representation in the Parliament. In recent elections a vote in the northernmost county Finnmark has counted approximately twice a vote in the capital Oslo or the surrounding county Akershus.
After the votes are counted and the members of the Parliament are designated their respective seats of their county, 19 "leveling seats", one in each county, are divided to parties who got fewer seats than their election result percentage would suggest. This practice was adopted in 1989. However, only parties with more than 4% of the votes on a national basis – the election threshold – are entitled to leveling seats.
For the elections of 2005 and 2009 the distribution of seats, including "levelling seats", is as follows:
Local elections.
The local elections are two separate elections held at the same time. The first is the county election, which elects politicians to the county council. Second is the municipality election, which elects politicians to the municipal councils.
Sámi Parliament election.
People of Sámi heritage, included in the Sámi Parliament's electoral roll, are eligible to vote to the Sami Parliament of Norway. For the election Norway is divided into 13 constituencies from which 3 representatives are elected. In addition an additional representative is elected from the four constituencies with most votes. The election is held at the same time as the elections to the Norwegian Parliament.


Corsican nationalism

Corsican nationalism is a nationalist movement in Corsica, France, active since the 1960s, that advocates more autonomy for the island, if not outright independence.
Political support.
The main separatist party, Corsica Libera, achieved 9.85% of votes in the 2010 French regional elections. However, only 19% and 42% of those who voted respectively for Gilles Simeoni's autonomist list "Femu a Corsica" and Jean-Guy Talamoni's separatist "Corsica Libera" were, according to polling, in favour of independence. By 2012, polls showed support for independence at 10-15%, while support for increased devolution within France was as high as 51% (of which two-thirds would prefer "slightly more" rather than "much more" autonomy). Among the general French population, 30% of respondents expressed a favourable view on Corsican independence. In what was viewed as a "setback" for Nicolas Sarkozy's decentralisation program, the government's proposal for increased autonomy for Corsica was turned down in a referendum in 2003 by a result of 51% negative and 49% affirmative votes expressed by the local electorate.
In 2015, Simeoni's pro-autonomy coalition "Pè a Corsica" won for the first time ever in the French regional elections, getting 35.34% of the vote and 24 out of 51 seats in the Corsican Assembly.
In the 2017 elections for the Corsican Assembly, their majority was reinforced, "Pè a Corsica" got 56.46% of the votes and 41 seats.
In 2017, in the legislative elections, three nationalists from "Pè a Corsica" were elected to the French National Assembly, out of the four members elected in Corsica: Paul-André Colombani in Southern Corsica, Michel Castellani and Jean-Félix Acquaviva in Upper Corsica.
History.
The Corsican Republic (1755–1769).
A sense of Corsican particularity can be traced back to the mid-18th century, when the island was fought over by the Genoese Republic and the Kingdom of France. Pascual Paoli led a rebellion by Corsicans against the various foreign powers contesting the island, founding a short-lived independent state governed from Corte. Inspired by the Enlightenment political ideas currently becoming fashionable in Europe, Paoli set up a liberal constitutional republic: a deliberative assembly, the Diet, was elected through universal manhood suffrage, with evidence to suggest that female suffrage also existed. Paoli's practical exercise in Enlightened constitutional government was inspired by thinkers such as Voltaire and Rousseau, but also in turn inspired them, being the sole example of their political philosophies put into practice until the American Revolution a decade later. The French conquest of 1767 put an end to the experiment (with the exception of a brief British-governed separation from France during the French Revolutionary Wars), and the island was incorporated into the Kingdom of France. The memory of the brief period of self-rule would act as an inspiration to later regionalist and nationalist movements, even as many among Corsica's educated elites accepted a place in the French state, with Napoleon Bonaparte becoming the French head of state less than thirty years after the island was conquered by France.
The Fin-de-Siècle and the Interwar (1890–1940).
As with most European national-separatist movements, the 1890s saw the first stirrings of a consciousness of a distinct regional way of life, and the first ideas that regional culture should be reflected in distinct political institutions. With Corsica in an agricultural depression, misruled by powerful local political bosses, subject to mass emigration devastating rural communities, and increasingly confronted by the culture of the French state (which was encouraging cultural assimilation and administrative centralisation, through the establishment of the countrywide laic school system), stirrings began of a movement to defend the Corsican language and way of life.
The first group to do so formed in 1896 around the newspaper "La Tramontana" ('Beyond the Mountains'), but this small group of intellectuals remained a minority within the political landscape of the time. A new generation carried the torch with the foundation of "A Cispra" newspaper in 1914, which made the first demands for a Corsican political separatism: "Corsica is not a department of France. It is a nation that has been conquered and will rise again."
It was World War One that generated an audience for these previously marginal ideas. Conscription affected agrarian communities more than industrial ones, and the death-toll for France's rural regions was consequently higher than the national average, with Corsica the department with the highest ratio of casualties per capita: the trauma of losing a dozen young men in a small village caused many Corsicans to begin to question the French state. For some this prompted a desire for greater administrative decentralisation "within" the French Republic (this was the focus of the Estates-General of Corsica, a 1934 conference held in Ajaccio); for a few, it triggered a desire to work towards an independent Corsican state; and for yet others it, along with the perception that neighbouring Italy was being regenerated under a dynamic modern regime, prompted a desire to integrate into Fascist Italy. These different ideas were centred on the Corsican nationalist newspaper "A Muvra" (The Moufflon). Hostility to the French state grew following military operations on the island in 1930 to root out the popular bandit, Spada.
1923 saw the foundation of the "Partitu Corsu d'Azione," under the leadership of Petru Rocca, an Italian irredentist who initially promoted the union of Corsica to the Kingdom of Italy, and Pierre Dominique, a prominent political journalist who soon after joined France's ruling centre-left Radical-Socialist Party. World War Two modified this sentiment, as Italian troops occupied the island: after the war the sentiment evolved in favour of promoting changed to promote Corsican decentralisation, via the new "Partitu Corsu Autonomista". Rocca in 1953 demanded from France the acceptance of the Corsican people and language and the creation of the "University of Corte".
Corsican nationalism was a minority movement during these decades, and many Corsicans participated in the French state as administrators, soldiers, policemen and several cabinet ministers; indeed during the interwar some of the most prominent political figures within France's countrywide political organizations were Corsicans (see Jean Chiappe, , François Piétri, Cesar Campinchi, Gabriel Péri). However, the work of the smaller intellectual, cultural and political groups formed the prehistory to the modern nationalist movement that would find a mass audience after the political crisis of 1958.
Corsica in the 1960s.
The end of the 1950s saw the high point of Corsica's population and economy. Since the end of the 19th Century, Corsica had continued to decrease in population, culminating in a precarious economic situation and a huge delay in the development of industry and infrastructure.
Corsican society was then further affected by two events:
Origins of the modern regionalist movement.
Many Corsicans began to become aware of the demographic decline and economic collapse of the island. The first movement appeared as the "Corsican Regional Front", a group largely formed by Corsican emigrants in Paris. This evolved into "Corsican Regionalist Action", which demanded that the French state take into account the island's economic difficulties and distinct cultural characteristics, notably linguistic, greatly endangered by the demographic decline and economic difficulty. These movements caused a major revival of the Corsican language, and an increase in work to protect and promote Corsican cultural traditions.
But these movements felt that their demands were being ignored and saw the state's treatment of the returnees as a sign of contempt. They argued against the idea that Corsica was made up of "virgin land" where there is no need to consult the local population on repatriation, and criticised the financial support and aid received by the new arrivals through the Society for Agricultural Development of Corsica (SOMIVAC), which had never been offered to the Corsicans.
The Aléria incident and the birth of the FLNC.
In a situation that many considered dire, the group Corsican Regionalist Action (ARC) decided to choose more radical methods of action.
On 21 August 1975, twenty members of the ARC, led by the group's leader Edmond Simeoni, occupied the Depeille wine cellar, in the eastern plains near Aléria. Equipped with rifles and machine guns, they wanted to bring to public attention the economic situation of the island, particularly that regarding agriculture. They denounced the takeover of lands in the east of the island by "pieds-noirs" and their families. The French Interior Minister at the time, Michel Poniatowski, sent 2,000 CRS and gendarmes backed with light armoured vehicles, and ordered an attack on the 22nd at 4pm. Two gendarmes were killed during the confrontation. A week later the cabinet ordered the dissolution of the ARC. The tension rose rapidly in Bastia and scuffles broke out in the late afternoon, which turned to riots by nightfall that included armed confrontation. One member of the ARC was killed and many were wounded.
On 4 May 1976, some months after the events in Aléria, nationalist militants founded the National Liberation Front of Corsica (FLNC), a joining of Fronte Paesanu di Liberazone di a Corsica (FPCL), responsible for the bombing of a polluting Italian boat, and Ghjustizia Paolina, reputed to be the armed wing of the ARC. The founding of this new group was marked by a series of bombings in Corsica and in mainland France. A press conference was held in Casabianca, the location of the signing of the Corsican Constitution and where Pasquale Paoli declared Corsican independence in 1755. Although claiming to be influenced by Marxist ideology, most separatist leaders have been from the nationalist right or "apolitical" backgrounds.
Themes of Corsican nationalism.
Corsican nationalism and international investment.
The Corsican coast is less developed than mainland France's Mediterranean coast, due in part to bombings attributed to the nationalist movement against a number of second homes belonging to non-natives.
U Rinnovu, a Corsican nationalist movement commonly referred to as being close to a splinter group of the FLNC known as "of 22nd October", describes the construction of second homes for the benefit of non-residents as "heresy" and "against economic sense". The slogan "Vergogna à tè chì vendi a tò terra" ("Shame on you who sell your land") is also the title of a song and nationalist anthem.
At the Matignon process under the Jospin government, Article 12 of the Matignon Accords provided for an adjustment of the coastal law making it easier to issue building permits on the Corsican coast. On the day of the discussion of this article in the Corsican Assembly, activists from the organisation A Manca Naziunale surrounded the villa of André Tarallo of the French petroleum company Elf Aquitane in Piantaredda, against the granting of contested building permits. The article was subsequently rejected.


Vasos Mavrovouniotis

Vaso Brajević (Serbian: Васо Брајевић; 1797 – 9 June 1847) also known in Greece as Vasos Mavrovouniotis (, literally "Vasos the Montenegrin") was a Montenegrin general, who played a significant role in the Greek revolution against the Ottoman Empire in 1821.
Life.
Origin and early life.
Vaso Brajević (Васо Брајевић) was born in Mojdež, in the Bay of Kotor (modern-day Montenegro). He went to the maritime school in Herceg Novi, where he excelled.
He was given the nickname "Mavrovouniotis" or "Mavrovouniota", "Montenegrin" (Васо Црногорац), in Greece.
Greek Revolution.
In 1821, he led a force of 120 Montenegrins and Greeks, and joined the early stages of the Greek revolution. His first stop was in central Greece where he met with Nikolaos Kriezotis, an old time Greek fellow warrior, leader of the Greek Revolution in Euboea, with whom he was a “Vlami” (a spiritual brother, an ancient Balkan practice of blood brotherhood). In 1822, he participated in the fight against the Turks in Athens where he showed bravery and was widely accepted as one of the best fighters of its period.
In 1824, a Greek civil war erupted and Mavrovouniotis joined forces with the government mainly composed of Greeks he knew since the early stages of the revolution. For his commitment to the side that finally won the domestic conflict he was assigned the rank of General and was given a force of 1,500 men; a considerable army at that period. In the period between 1826–27 he was one of the few guerilla fighters not to be defeated by the Egyptian forces led by Ibrahim Pasha, that nearly destroyed the Greek forces. He participated in a failed Greek expedition in Cyprus and Lebanon in March 1826 aiming at inciting a revolt in those areas.
Service in the Kingdom of Greece.
In the newly established Greek state in 1830s he became a member of the elite that surrounded the first Greek King Otto, prince of Bavaria. He was both a member of the Privy Council and adjutant to King Otto. He died on 9 June 1847 and was widely admired by the Greek people as one of the leaders of the Cause and as one of the leading figures of the independent state. During his military career he had a leading role in thirty six battles and had suffered many injuries, including a penetrating wound in his chest.
A dagger belonging to Mavrovouniotis is displayed at the National Museum of Athens. The bayonet-like object on the left (charbi, χαρμπί) was used as knife sharpener or muzzleloader. The dagger on the right bears the inscription (in Greek): "Fighting holy battles for his friend Greece. Vassos Mavrovoniotes".
Family.
Mavrovouniotis married Helena Pangalou from the well known Pangalos family, in 1826. Helena followed him throughout the harsh campaigns in the Greek mountains against the Turks. She died in 1891 and they had two sons, Alexandros and Timoleon, both of whom became generals in the Greek Army.


Isabella de Beaumont

Isabella de Beaumont (died 1334), was a prominent noblewoman allied to Isabella of France during the reign of Edward II of England.
Reign of Edward I and marriage.
Isabella de Beaumont was the daughter of Sir Louis de Brienne and Agnés de Beaumont, Vicomtesse of Beaumont, probably born during the 1260s. The de Beaumonts were a powerful noble family with French origins. Isabella herself was the granddaughter of John of Brienne, King of Jerusalem, by his third wife, Berengaria of Leon, the daughter of Berengaria of Castile. Through her Castilian great-grandmother, Isabella was a cousin of Edward I's wife, Eleanor of Castile. Isabella was therefore a particularly well-connected member of a noble family that stretched across Europe. Isabella arrived in England in either 1278 or 1279, and married John de Vesci, a prominent noble, in either 1279 or 1280, with Edward I's blessing. The marriage was an advantageous one for John de Vesci, but also strengthened Isabella's English credentials at the Plantagenet court, where John – a close associate of both Henry III and Edward I – was a central figure.
Isabella continued to enjoy royal favour; for her wedding, she was given valuable lands by the king to hold in her own right, for example. When Isabella and her husband travelled to Gascony in France in 1288, Edward arranged for them to have apartments next to his own royal lodgings and had them specially decorated for Christmas. Isabella was one of the closest friends of the Queen of England, right to Eleanor's death in 1290. Isabella de Beaumont was also made the governor of two royal castles, Scarborough Castle in Yorkshire and Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland, her main power base, subject to her remaining single and unmarried. Being granted governorships of castles close to conflict areas was unheard of for a woman of the period, and Edward probably did so on the basis of Isabella's personal loyalty to him. Nonetheless, the actual appointment to Bamburgh was not done entirely regularly – the Great Seal was not applied to the appointment – and this would cause Isabella later problems.
John de Vesci died in 1289, and after Isabella took her brother in law, William de Vesci to court over various of John's lands, she was left a major landowner in England. Isabella's lands stretched from Scotland to Kent, and after William de Vesci's disastrous fall from royal favour in Ireland, Isabella effectively became the most senior member of the Beaumont/Vescy family alliance. In 1300, Isabella's brother, Henry de Beaumont, arrived in England, where Isabella convinced the king to grant him lands formerly owned by her late husband. Isabella was also responsible for organising the marriage of her brother Henry to the niece of John Comyn, Earl of Buchan, in turn ensuring that Henry inherited the earldom and many Scottish properties. In combination, the de Beaumont family also held numerous properties in the disputed kingdom of Scotland, which would come to influence later events.
Early years under Edward II.
Isabella, together with her brother, Henry de Beaumont, in due course became important figures at the court of Edward II of England after the death of Edward in 1307. Her other immediate family included Louis de Beaumont. Isabella de Beaumont became a lady-in-waiting and close friend to the young Isabella of France when she came from France to marry Edward in 1308. The two Isabellas frequently corresponded when apart, which was quite frequent as, like other members of Queen Isabella's court, Isabella de Beaumont had feudal responsibilities elsewhere in the kingdom.
Isabella de Beaumont played a role in many key political events. Politics under the early reign of Edward II saw huge tensions between different factions within England. Edward, at this stage with the support of his young wife Queen Isabella, had formed a close attachment to his favourite and lover Piers Gaveston. Opposing Edward was a Lancastrian faction of powerful barons, as well as groupings of Marcher lords in Wales and further factions in Kent. The de Beaumonts had allied themselves to Queen Isabella, who – in the early part of Edward's reign – was perceived by the Lancastrians as an ally of Gaveston. Further more, Thomas of Lancaster himself perceived Isabella and Henry as unwelcome newcomers in the north of England – the de Vesci had a long history there, longer than Lancaster's own, but Isabella was a foreigner, come to wealth and power by royal favour. Lancaster also disliked the close friendship that had existed between Isabella and his father-in-law, Henry de Lacy. As a result, when the Lancastrians pushed through the Ordinances of 1311, which sought to circumscribe royal power, Isabella and her brother were banished from court. Isabella was accused of giving "evil council" and illegally securing writs for her clients, and returned to her home in Yorkshire for a short period.
Baronial attempts were made to remove Isabella from her governorship of Bamburgh castle; Edward II wrote to her instructing her to delay as long as possible, and Isabella hung on, eventually agreeing to surrender the castle in exchange for lands in Lincolnshire and Dorset. Even then, she handed the castle over to one of Edward's clerks, not a baron. Isabella de Beaumont soon engineered her return to court in 1313, overturning the ordinances, and in the coming years, Isabella and Henry increasingly relied upon Queen Isabella for protection and support, in return supporting her politically. The Queen sent Isabella many gifts, including brie cheese from France and wild boar meat. Isabella accompanied the King and Queen on diplomatic visits to France. Through the Queen, Isabella was instrumental in getting another of her brothers, the extravagant and illiterate Louis de Beaumont, another opponent of the Lancastrians, appointed Bishop of Durham in 1317. Louis assured the king that he would form a "stone wall" against any Scottish invasion from the north.
Opposition to the Despensers.
After 1322 and the Despenser War, Edward II had temporarily quashed the Lancastrian factions; his new favourite, Hugh Despenser the Younger had replaced the late Piers Gaveston. Edward and Queen Isabella became increasingly divided, however, with matters coming to a head after Edward's failed invasion of Scotland, which led to Queen Isabella being effectively abandoned by Edward and the Despensers, and almost captured by the Scots who pursued her across Yorkshire. Queen Isabella blamed Edward and the Despensers; the king blamed Louis de Beaumont, whose "stone wall" was clearly less robust than hoped, and Isabella de Beaumont – as Louis's sister and a close friend of Queen Isabella – lost the favour they had previously enjoyed with Edward. Indeed, both Queen Isabella and the de Beaumonts rapidly found themselves on the wrong side of the Despensers' increasingly despotic regime. Isabella has been described as a "silent partner" in Queen Isabella's increasing hostility toward the king.
By 1326 Queen Isabella had grown desperate and left for Paris, ostensibly to conduct diplomacy over the disputed province of Gascony, but in reality in an attempt to raise a rebellion against Edward and the Despensers. Isabella de Beaumont and Henry had meanwhile turned openly against Edward; royal officials were being attacked by de Vesci forces across Yorkshire. Isabella invaded England shortly afterwards, accompanied by her lover, Roger de Mortimer, deposing Edward – the de Vesci family now looked forward to enjoying the support of the court once more. One of the first acts of the new regime was to appoint the late earl of Atholl's young son to the custodianship of Isabella, who then married him to one her nieces, thereby giving her and Henry control of two out of the five Scottish earldoms.
Isabella and the fall of Queen Isabella.
One of the major political dilemmas of Queen Isabella's new regime was the problem of the Scottish wars – England could not easily afford to continue them, but any peace with the Scots could have major implications for English landowners with estates in the north. Queen Isabella and Mortimer opted for peace, with the result that families such the Beaumonts lost considerable property. This marked the end of Isabella's friendship with Queen Isabella, and Isabella and Henry broke with the new court and increasingly became part of the opposition movement.
In 1330, Edmund of Kent attempted to lead an uprising against Queen Isabella, with the aim of restoring Edward II, whom many believed still to be alive at this time. Isabella had a key part in this conspiracy, using her confessor to send messages between Edmund and William Melton, the archbishop of York. Queen Isabella and Mortimer uncovered the plot and executed Edmund, but Isabella herself escaped arrest. Edward III overthrew Mortimer later in the year, and Isabella de Beaumont therefore found herself back in royal favour for the last few years of her life, receiving additional lands in North Wales. Isabella died without issue in 1334, being buried at the Black Friars abbey at Scarborough; her brother Henry inherited her lands.


Halina Szwarc

Halina Szwarc "de domo" Kłąb (1923–2002) - was a member of the Polish resistance during the Second World War, working undercover first under the pseudonym Ryszard, then Jacek II. Postwar, she became a professor of medicine in gerontology, and in 1970/1971, the prorector of the Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw.
After the outbreak of war, at the age of 16, she joined the Związek Walki Zbronej (ZWZ), the resistance organization that eventually became the Polish Home Army. Under order, she signed the "Volksliste", basing her claim to "Volksdeutsche" status on a German grandmother. She was allowed to finish her schooling in a German language school and in 1940, travelled west into the heart of the Third Reich, ostensibly to further her education. She would, in fact, be spying for the ZWZ. She conducted operations in Vienna, Berlin, Munich, and other major German cities. Szwarc's greatest contribution to the war effect was her surveying of military installations in Hamburg, making possible their destruction by Allied bombers. Later, she took a job in the Berlin Archive of Army Medicine, where she was able to collect invaluable information concerning German troop positions on the Eastern Front.
In 1944, following her return to her home town of Łodź, she was arrested by the Gestapo. She was tortured and condemned to death by firing squad, but the sentence was not carried out.
After the war, she finished her medical studies and began to work in the clinic of the Poznan University of Medical Sciences. Like other members of the Home Army, Szwarc was viewed as a possible traitor by the new Communist regime. Despite continual persecution by the security service and other forms of repression in Stalinist Poland, she managed to advance her academic career. In 2000, she was honored with the Order of Polonia Restituta for her achievements in the medical field.


George Burdett

George Burdett (c. 1602-1671) was the second colonial governor of the Upper Plantation of New Hampshire, later to become the Province of New Hampshire, between 1637 and 1640. He returned to England and was a chaplain to Parliamentary regiments during the English Civil War. After the Restoration he served as a minister in Ireland.
Biography.
George Burditt was born in England, Burdett was a minister of the Church of England serving at Yarmouth. Under the pretence of being oppressed by a fellow bishop, but in reality because he had been suspended for disrespecting a statue of Jesus, he left his life and children and travelled to New England in 1636. Burdett spent a short time in Salem, Massachusetts before travelling to Dover, New Hampshire where his popularity led to his election as governor within a year. His ministry was characterised by the dispute between Episcopalian and Puritan settlers, resulting in "confusion and trouble."
Burdett corresponded with Archbishop William Laud, and when this was discovered by his political opponents, he was forced from office. Following an adulterous revelation, he left for Agamenticus (present-day York, Maine), however he fell into "usurpation, crime and injustice". According to State Papers from Maine, he was "indicted by the whole Bench for a man of ill name and fame." He was charged with committing adultery with two married women and ordered to pay compensation. As a result, he returned to England, where he served as chaplain to Parliamentary regiments during the English Civil War. After the Restoration he served as a minister in Ireland.


Angolan real

The real (plural "réis") was the currency of Portuguese Angola until 1914. It was equal to the Portuguese real. No subdivisions existed, but some coins were issued denominated in "macutas", worth 50 réis. The real was replaced by the escudo in 1914.
Coins.
In the mid-eighteenth century, copper coins were issued in denominations of 10, 20 and 40 réis, ¼, ½ and 1 macuta, along with silver 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 macutas. From 1814, only copper ¼, ½, 1 and 2 macutas were issued. However, after 1814, some copper coins were counterstamped with the coat of arms of Portugal to double their value. 10, 20 and 40 réis and ¼, ½, 1 and 2 macuta coins were counterstamped to produce 20, 40 and 80 réis and ½, 1, 2 and 4 macuta coins. The last coins were issued in 1860.
Banknotes.
In 1861, the "Junta da Fazenda Publica da Provincia d'Angola" introduced notes in denominations of 1000, 2000, 5000 and 20,000 réis. 10,000 real notes followed in 1877, with notes issued until 1884. The "Banco Nacional Ultramarino" began issuing notes in 1865, with notes for 5000, 10,000 and 20,000 réis. In 1876, 1000 and 2500 real notes were added, followed by 2000 réis in 1877. In 1892, a shortage of small change lead to an emergency issue of 100, 200 and 500 real notes which circulated until 1905. 50,000 real notes were introduced in 1909.


Roundhead

Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who claimed rule by absolute monarchy and the principle of the 'divine right of kings'. The goal of the Roundhead party was to give the Parliament supreme control over executive administration of the country/kingdom.
Beliefs.
Most Roundheads sought constitutional monarchy in place of the absolute monarchy sought by Charles. However, at the end of the English Civil War in 1649, public antipathy towards the king was high enough to allow republican leaders such as Oliver Cromwell to abolish the monarchy completely and establish the Commonwealth of England.
The Roundhead commander-in-chief of the first Civil War, Thomas Fairfax, remained a supporter of constitutional monarchy, as did many other Roundhead leaders such as Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester and Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex; however, this party was outmanoeuvred by the more politically adept Cromwell and his radicals, who had the backing of the New Model Army and took advantage of Charles' perceived betrayal of England by allying with the Scottish against Parliament.
England's many Puritans and Presbyterians were almost invariably Roundhead supporters, as were many smaller religious groups such as the Independents. However, many Roundheads were members of the Church of England, as were many Cavaliers.
Roundhead political factions included the proto-anarchist Diggers, the diverse group known as the Levellers and the apocalyptic Christian movement of the Fifth Monarchists.
Origins and background.
Some Puritans, but by no means all, wore their hair closely cropped round the head or flat and there was thus an obvious contrast between them and the men of courtly fashion, who wore long ringlets.
During the war and for a time afterwards, "Roundhead" was a term of derision—in the New Model Army it was a punishable offence to call a fellow soldier a Roundhead. This contrasted with the term "Cavalier" to describe supporters of the Royalist cause. "Cavalier" also started out as a pejorative term—the first proponents used it to compare members of the Royalist party with Spanish "Caballeros" who had abused Dutch Protestants during the reign of Elizabeth I—but unlike Roundhead, Cavalier was embraced by those who were the target of the epithet and used by them to describe themselves.
"Roundheads" appears to have been first used as a term of derision toward the end of 1641, when the debates in Parliament in the Clergy Act 1640 were causing riots at Westminster. The "Encyclopædia Britannica" Eleventh Edition quotes a contemporary authority's description of the crowd gathered there: "They had the hair of their heads very few of them longer than their ears, whereupon it came to pass that those who usually with their cries attended at Westminster were by a nickname called "Roundheads"". The demonstrators included London apprentices, for whom Roundhead was a term of derision, because the regulations which they had agreed to included a provision for closely cropped hair.
According to John Rushworth the word was first used on 27 December 1641 by a disbanded officer named David Hide. During a riot, Hide is reported to have drawn his sword and said he would "cut the throat of those round-headed dogs that bawled against bishops".
However, Richard Baxter ascribes the origin of the term to a remark made by Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, at the trial of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, earlier that year. Referring to John Pym, she asked who the roundheaded man was. The principal advisor to Charles II, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, remarked on the matter, "and from those contestations the two terms of "Roundhead" and "Cavalier" grew to be received in discourse, ... they who were looked upon as servants to the king being then called "Cavaliers", and the other of the rabble contemned and despised under the name of "Roundheads"."
Ironically, after Anglican Archbishop William Laud made a statute in 1636 instructing all clergy to wear short hair, many Puritans rebelled to show their contempt for his authority and began to grow their hair even longer (as can be seen on ) though they continued to be known as Roundheads. The longer hair was more common among the "Independent" and "high ranking" Puritans (which included Cromwell), especially toward the end of the Protectorate, while the "Presbyterian" (i.e., non-Independent) faction, and the military rank-and-file, continued to abhor long hair. By the end of this period some Independent Puritans were again derisively using the term Roundhead to refer to the Presbyterian Puritans.
"Roundhead" remained in use to describe those with republican tendencies up until the Exclusion Crisis of 1678–1681; the term was then superseded by "Whig", initially another term with pejorative connotations. Likewise during the Exclusion Bill crisis, the term "Cavalier" was replaced with "Tory", an Irish term introduced by their opponents, and also initially a pejorative term.


William Ashurst (Roundhead)

William Ashurst (1607–1656) of Ashurst's Hall, Dalton, Lancashire was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1649 and 1654. He fought in the Parliamentarian army in the English Civil War.
Ashurst was the son of Henry Ashurst of Ashurst's Hall, where his ancestors were seated after the Norman conquest. His brothers included Henry Ashurst, a successful London merchant and John Ashurst, a Parliamentarian lieutenant-colonel and Governor of Liverpool.
In November 1640, Ashurst was elected Member of Parliament for Newton in the Long Parliament. He was a major in the parliamentary army and a zealous puritan. In 1654 he was elected MP for Lancashire in the First Protectorate Parliament.
He married Dorothy Ellis and had a son Thomas.
References.


Vilafrancada

Vilafrancada was the name of an uprising led by prince Miguel I of Portugal in Vila Franca de Xira on 27 May 1823.
Origins.
The liberal regime established in Portugal by the Liberal Revolution of 1820 did not enjoy the confidence of more traditional elements of society, which demanded the return of absolutism. At the head of this tendency stood Queen Carlota Joaquina, wife of João VI of Portugal, who had been exiled to Queluz after refusing to swear allegiance to the Constitution of 1822 and her third son, Prince Miguel.
The uprising.
The year 1823 gave the absolutists the opportunity they sought to end the liberal regime in Portugal. In that year the Holy Alliance authorised a French invasion of Spain to bring down the liberal government in Madrid and restore Fernando VII of Spain. This encouraged an absolutist uprising by the count of Amarante in the north of Portugal and led the party of the Queen to open revolt, confident of French support. On 23 May Prince Miguel went to Vila Franca where he was joined by the 23rd Regiment of Infantry that had been sent to Almeida to reinforce the frontier town against being taken by the rebels.
With the Queen and Prince Miguel prepared to force him to abdicate if necessary, João VI eventually decided to take command of the revolt himself, encouraged by the rising of the 18th Infantry Regiment which presented itself at Bemposta Palace to acclaim him as absolute ruler. He left for Vika Franca, obliged Prince Miguel to submit, and returned to Lisbon in triumph.
The Cortes disbanded and various liberal politicians went into exile as the absolutist regime was restored. The King managed to prevent the ultra-reactionary faction from coming to power, but the Queen’s party continued its intrigues, and less than a year later a new absolutist rebellion broke out, the April Revolt, which ended with Prince Miguel going into exile.
The proclamation.
On 27 May 1823, at the beginning of the uprising, Prince Miguel issued the following proclamation from Vila Franca:
The medal of loyalty.
To commemorate the uprising a "Medal of Loyalty to King and Country" was instituted, humorously referred to by Liberals as the “medal of dust.” The medal was intended to honour those who had joined João VI at Vila Franca or Prince Miguel At Santarém, or who had joined the forces of Manuel da Silveira Pinto da Fonseca Teixeira, Count of Amarante, later made marquês de Chaves.


War of the Burgundian Succession

The War of the Burgundian Succession took place from 1477 to 1482 (or 1493 according to some historians), immediately following the Burgundian Wars. At stake was the partition of the Burgundian hereditary lands between the Kingdom of France and the House of Habsburg, after Duke Charles the Bold had perished in the Battle of Nancy on 5 January 1477.
Inheritance of Charles the Bold.
Charles the Bold had no male successor. Mary of Burgundy was the only child of the deceased duke, and many lords desired her hand in marriage to acquire the Burgundian inheritance. Amongst them was Charles, son of King Louis XI of France, who was formally the Burgundian duke's overlord. Louis sought to exploit the opportunity of Duke Charles' death, which triggered unrest and uprisings (such as the Guelderian War of Independence, 1477–1499) in the Burgundian lands, and sent his armies to occupy several territories, including the Duchy of Burgundy itself and the Free County of Burgundy (Franche-Comté), Picardy, and the County of Artois. By having Mary married to his son and heir presumptive, he could secure all Burgundian hereditary lands. However, the heiress was put under pressure by the States General to not deliver the provinces to France. To rally foreign support and calm the unrest at home, Mary granted the Great Privilege to the States General on 11 February.
Besides the French candidate, there was also the captive Guelderian duke, Adolf of Egmont, who was released by Flemish rebels in Ghent on the condition that he would liberate Tournai from the French. This way, Mary's party could strike two blows in one move: achieve peace between Burgundy and rebelling Guelders, and forge an alliance between both powers against France. The Siege of Tournai (1477), however, was a failure, which complicated the reconquest of Artois and Picardy. Moreover, Adolf was killed in action (27 June), which eliminated the Guelderian candidate, and prompted the States of Guelders to ally themselves with France instead, continuing their uprising against Burgundy.
Mary's eye was then captured by the Habsburg archduke of Austria, Maximilian I. He possessed the means necessary to repel the French armies, and the Habsburg dynastic forecasts were favourable. On 19 August 1477 the wedding took place, thereby joining the houses of Burgundy and Habsburg together.
War of succession.
Archduke Maximilian then undertook intense efforts to retain as many of the Burgundian hereditary provinces, in which he had to fight off both France in the south and Guelders in the north, and simultaneously repress internal revolts, mainly in Flanders. The perseverance of the heartland of the Burgundian empire turned out to be impossible: the States of Burgundy had already acknowledged the French annexation on 29 January.
Maximilian first turned to diplomacy, reminding French king Louis of the 1475 Peace of Soleuvre in order to retrieve all French-occupied Burgundian territories. He even managed to get his father Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor to threaten France with an Imperial war because of the occupation of Cambrésis. Louis XI relented, agreed to a ceasefire and returned some border cities including the Imperial City of Cambrai in the autumn of 1477. However, the Duchy of Burgundy and the Free County of Burgundy – the Burgundian heartland – remained in French hands for the time being. In the winter of 1477–8, Maximilian failed to procure the aid of his father Frederick III (who was at war with Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus) and of his cousin Sigismund of Tyrol (who had financial problems and depended on a French pension, so remained neutral).
In 1478, the provinces of Auxois, Charolais, and Beaune rebelled and tried to secede from the king, but they had to surrender again in 1479. Louis XI then attempted an invasion of Artois. On 7 August 1479, the French troops were defeated by an army of Flemish and Habsburg forces in the Battle of Guinegate. Thereafter, Maximilian was occupied with the Netherlands, where he fared better in combatting the Guelderians.
Peace.
Eventually, France and the Habsburgs signed the Treaty of Arras (1482). Maximilian recognised the annexation of the two Burgundies and several other territories. France retained most of its Burgundian fiefdoms except for the affluent County of Flanders, which passed to Maximilian (but soon rebelled against the archduke). With the 1493 Treaty of Senlis, Maximilian would regain the County of Burgundy, Arras and Charolais, but the Burgundian heartland and Picardy were lost definitively to France.


Henry Berkeley (MP for Ilchester)

Sir Henry Berkeley (1579–1667) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1626 and 1640. He supported the Royalist side in the English Civil War
Berkeley was the son of Sir Henry Berkeley of Bruton and his wife Margaret Lygon, daughter of William Lygon of Madresfield, Worcestershire. He matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford aged 11 on 13 February 1590 together with his brother Maurice. In 1601 he inherited the manor of Yarlington on the death of his father. He was knighted at Whitehall on 29 April 1609.
In 1626 Berkeley was elected Member of Parliament for Somerset. In 1628 he was elected MP for Ilchester and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. In April 1640, Berkeley was elected MP for Ilchester in the Short Parliament. Berkeley was a Commissioner of Array for the King during the Civil War, and was included in the surrender of Exeter on 13 April 1646.
Berkeley died between 1666 and 1667.
Berkeley married Elizabeth Nevill, daughter of Sir Henry Nevill of Billingbear House, Berkshire and his wife Ann Killigrew, daughter of Sir Henry Killigrew. His daughter Dorothy married Francis Godolphin and brought him the Yarlington estate.
References.


Worshipful Company of Vintners

The Worshipful Company of Vintners is one of the most ancient Livery Companies of the City of London, England, thought to date back to the 12th century. It is one of the "Great Twelve" livery companies of London, and its motto is "Vinum Exhilarat Animum", Latin for "Wine Cheers the Spirit". One of the more peculiar rights of the Company involves the ceremony of swan upping.
History and origins.
It probably existed as early as the twelfth century, and it received a Royal Charter in 1364. Due to the Royal Charter, the Company gained a monopoly over wine imports from Gascony. Also, it acquired the right to sell wine without a licence, and it became the most powerful company in the wine trade. However, in 1553, it lost its right to sell wine anywhere in the country.
Up to 2006, Vintners retained the right to sell wine without a licence in certain areas, such as the City of London or along the route of the old Great North Road. This right has now been abolished, but limited privileges remain.
The Vintners' Company ranks eleventh in the order of precedence of Livery Companies, making it one of the "Great Twelve Livery Companies".
Vintners' Hall is situated by Southwark Bridge, in Vintry ward. The nearby Garlickhythe was a dock where French garlic and wine were landed, from medieval times.
Swan upping.
One of the more peculiar rights of the company involves the ceremony of swan upping.
Procession of the Worshipful Company of Vintners.
The Worshipful Company of Vintners elects its new Master each year in July, and this is celebrated with a special service at the Church of St James Garlickhythe, which is just across the road from their Hall. The Procession starts at Vintners Hall with the Master and Wardens in Tudor dress carrying nosegays. Their path is swept by a wine porter using a birch broom.


National Theatre Protest in Albania

The National Theatre Protest in Albania was an ongoing protest happening in Tirana for more than two years, where artists and activists were protesting daily to protect the historic National Theatre building from being demolished.
Built in 1939, during the early years of Italian rule, Albania's National Theatre worked as a cinema until the end of the Second World War, when a stage replaced the former screen. It is considered by many a historic building.
In 2018, due to the lack of maintenance and investments over the years, the government announced a plan to demolish the National Theatre's building and send the artists into an alternative stage until the new theatre would be built in the same territory. In March 2018, Prime Minister Edi Rama revealed Bjarke Ingels's design for the new National Theater, the construction of which would be granted through a special law to a private company. This law was later criticized by the European Union as a violation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement. The government, in return, claimed it had no money for the project.
The artists started a petition, firstly signed by more than 90 artists and started to gather daily at the public square in front of the Theatre to protest the demolition. After many citizens joined the protest, it was discovered that the public property where the Theatre stands today, would be sold to a private investor, who planned at that time to build high-rise buildings together with a new theatre. The new theater would cover a much smaller part of the now public property.
The then Minister of Culture, Mirela Kumbaro, was accused of trying to destroy heritage and demolish the theatre for private interests of investors with close ties with government officials.
The Association of Albanian Architects also made a declaration opposing the demolition of the theatre, stressing the historical and aesthetic value of its Rationalist architecture.
Following student protests, PM Edi Rama decided to reshuffle his cabinet and replaced 8 ministers, including the Minister of Culture Mirela Kumbaro, a decision applauded by the artist's community.
As of January 2019, Architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group of Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, has dropped the construction project of the National Theater. The municipality opened a new tender call, but since then it hasn't made any announcement on how the procedure is going or who is applying for it.
Regardless of constant protest by Albanian artists together with the political opposition, the demolition of the National Theatre of Albania started approximately on 4:30 am of 17 May 2020. The area was overrun by the State Police as they forcibly evacuated every person in the area protesting and detained many artists and high members of the Albanian opposition. Soon after the demolition started, people started gathering in the main boulevard just before the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Theatre to protest its demolition. This protest led to numerous other detainments due to the prohibition of gatherings and protests as per COVID-19 restrictions by the Government.
The Case in the Constitutional Court.
On 24 July 2019, after two days of activists clashing with police forces who surrounded the Theatre and tried to forcibly evict the Alliance activists from the surroundings of the Theatre, the President of Albania Ilir Meta decided to file a case in the Constitutional Court to stop the attempt for the demolition of the National Theatre building. While addressing the media, he considered the special law for the destruction of the theater as "a symbol where, like never before, a national cultural constitutional crime is performed in full harmony and all this only in interest what I can call, the opposite of the rule of law, in favor of the rule of oligarchs."
On 30 December the Constitutional Court ruled to consider President Meta's request to repeal the special law and asked several institutions involved in the case to send their arguments for drafting and adopting this special law. The deadline for these institutions to respond is January 22 2020.
List of Endangered monuments.
Activists of the Alliance for the Protection of the Theatre, also applied to include the National Theatre in the list of the 7 most endangered European heritage sites for 2020 – a programme run by Europa Nostra, which is a Europe-wide heritage organization. The Theatre was shortlisted on the list of the 14 most endangered monuments in Europe, and the final results is expected to come out by March 2020.
In July 2019, Europa Nostra urged the Albanian Government to save the National Theatre from demolition, considering it as one of the most prominent cultural centers in Tirana and an important social and public space in the city.
Demolition of the National Theatre Building.
On the early morning of May 17th, Albanian authorities began demolishing the national theatre building. Hundreds of special police forces showed up before dawn and removed members of the Alliance to Protect the Theatre and activists occupying the theatre building, by using pepper spray. Diggers then began demolishing its front column, bearing the words “National Theatre”.
The Demolition, sparked protests in Tirana, with citizens gathering and confronting police officers, leading to 37 arrests, among which journalists. Many activists accused the police of unjustified violence and verbal abuse. Policemen were also breaking the law, by not wearing identifying badges on their uniforms.
This decision drew the widespread condemnation from several local activists, opposition political parties, artists and international organisations against the Municipality of Tirana and the Albanian government. Europa Nostra called the demolition of the theatre as illegal and against the rule of law. The Delegation of European Union in Albania voiced their concern regarding the lack of dialogue between the authorities and societies before the demolition took place. In neighbouring Kosovo, ten theatres cancelled their performances in protest of the demolition.


John Button (Parliamentarian)

John Button (died 1665) of Buckland, near Lymington, Hampshire was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1625 and 1648. He fought on the Parliamentary side in the English Civil War.
Button was the son of John Button of Upavon, Wiltshire. He succeeded his father in 1601, and inherited Buckland, Hampshire from his uncle Henry in 1624. He was appointed High Sheriff of Hampshire for 1636.
In 1625, he was elected Member of Parliament for Lymington. He was elected MP for Lymington again in November 1640 for the Long Parliament. Button fought in the parliamentary army and held local offices and that of Captain of Hurst Castle from 1643–45. He was secluded in 1648 under Pride's Purge.
Button married as his first wife Eleanor South, daughter of Thomas South of South Baddesley. Their son John was later MP for Lymington.


Mestnichestvo

In Russian history, Mestnichestvo (, ; from ме́сто, a position) was a feudal hierarchical system in Russia from the 15th to 17th centuries. "Mestnichestvo" was a complicated system of seniority which dictated which government posts a "boyar" could occupy. It was based on the individual's seniority within an extended Russian aristocratic family on the one hand, and on the order of precedence of the families, on the other. The hierarchy of families was calculated based on the historical records of senior appointments, going back to 1475 ("Razriady"). For example, the Odoevskys clan was ranked higher than the Buturlins, but a senior Buturlin could be appointed to a position equivalent to that occupied by a junior member of the Odoevsky family. The mestnichestvo seniority system was most visibly represented in the order of seating of the boyars at the tsar's table. The clans jealously guarded their status. This often led to bitter disputes and physical violence among nobles about their ancestry and their services to the monarch. According to eminent Russian 19th-century historian Vasily Klyuchevsky, "you could beat a boyar up, you could take away his property, you could expel him from government service, but you could never make him accept an appointment or a seat at the tsar's table lower than what he is entitled to."
Because of the "mestnichestvo", otherwise qualified people who could not boast of sufficiently extended ancestry had no hope of getting an important state post. Additionally, a "boyar" from an old and respected family could get an important promotion even if personally unqualified.
With the developing autocracy, where the core principle was the creation of a central bureaucracy reporting directly to the tsar, the role of the "mestnichestvo" was progressively reduced. Moreover, increasing defense needs required that the top military posts be occupied by capable officers, not ancestry-proud but inept "boyars". Consequently, the "mestnichestvo" was abolished in 1682 by Feodor III of Russia. The available genealogical data was made public as the so-called Velvet Book, whereas the ancient pedigree books were burnt, to the great consternation and dismay of established boyar families.
The abolition made it easier later for Peter the Great to reform and govern the state. However, one can not neglect the positive effects as ensuring elite loyalty and thus political cohesion and stability. Also, the state may have had more flexibility in appointments than critics of the system have suggested. Tsars were able to make appointments outside the mestnichestvo system which created positions as "bez mest", or "without [reserved] places".