Oberhof Ballenstedt

The Oberhof Ballenstedt is a stately home next to the town hall in Ballenstedt in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt.
Today it is a "schloss", but originally the Oberhof was a fortified town castle ("Stadtburg"), that had been enfeoffed to the family of its builders, the lords of Stammern since its construction in the 16th century. The gravestones and epitaphs of the family from the 16th century are now in Ballenstedt's St. Nicholas' Church.
In the interior of the Late Gothic, three-winged building the groin vaults on the ground floor, dating to the time of the original construction, have been preserved. The connecting wing between the west and east wings was added in the 19th century.
In 1869, Armgard of Alvensleben from the House of Neugattersleben purchased the property, laid out the castle grounds covering 15,000 m² and bequeathed the Oberhof in 1920 to the Alvensleben Family Foundation.
Since 1948 a children's day care centre has been housed in the former castle. Today it is once again owned by the von Alvensleben family.
The illustration is a 1937 wash drawing by the Dutch artist, Anco Wigboldus, who portrays the condition of the Oberhof and its surroundings after the First World War in an idealised way.


Farrugia

Farrugia is a family name with a theoretical etymology based in both Latin "fellus" and Semitic "faruj", first found in Malta, Calabria and Sicily. In the Maltese language the word "farruġ" refers to a cockerel (a young rooster). It has been exported by immigration to places including the United States, United Kingdom (specifically Wales and England), Australia, Canada, France and Russia. In some cases the family name is Jewish in origin.
Spelling variations of this family name include "Farruggia", "Farruġa", "Ferrugia," "Ferruggia" "and Farruj".
Origin.
Early in the Middle Ages, individuals with this family name (or some variant) moved to the island of Malta from neighbouring Sicily. Many settlers were recorded from the end of the 19th century in the great migration from Italy to the New World. Usually arriving at Ellis Island they settled in the eastern seaboard.
People named Farrugia include:


Friska

Friska (from , fresh, pronounced "frish") is the fast section of the csárdás, a Hungarian folk dance, or of most of (all except for 3, 5 and 17) Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsodies", which take their form from this dance. The friska is generally either turbulent or jubilant in tone. The Friska of Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 is also the most well-known of the Hungarian Rhapsodies.


Electricity Association

The Electricity Association (EA) was an association of major electricity companies in the United Kingdom.
It closed on 30 September 2003, and its services were replaced by three other industry bodies:


Anhalt-Zerbst

Anhalt-Zerbst was a district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts Potsdam-Mittelmark (Brandenburg) and Wittenberg, the city of Dessau and the districts of Köthen, Schönebeck and Jerichower Land.
History.
While Zerbst is a small town today, it once was together with Dessau one of the two central cities of Anhalt. When the state of Anhalt was dissolved in 1603, one of the successor states was the principality of Anhalt-Zerbst. It was a small state with almost no political power. In 1793 the line of the princes became extinct, and Anhalt-Zerbst was annexed by the neighbouring principality of Anhalt-Dessau.
The present district was established in 1994 by merging the former districts of Zerbst and Roßlau with parts of the former district of Gräfenhainichen. Its borders are roughly identical with the ancient principality.
The district of Anhalt-Zerbst was dissolved in 2007 and divided into the new districts of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Jerichower Land and Wittenberg.
Catherine II of Russia was by birth a princess of Anhalt-Zerbst.
Geography.
Anhalt-Zerbst comprises plain countryside north of the Elbe River. The Elbe enters the district in the east, runs through the southeastern part and then forms the southern and western border of Anhalt-Zerbst. The Elbe banks within the district are part of the Biosphere Reserve Middle Elbe. The north is occupied by the southern portions of the Fläming plateau.


Bled Castle

Bled Castle (, ) is a medieval castle built on a precipice above the city of Bled in Slovenia, overlooking Lake Bled. According to written sources, it is the oldest Slovenian castle and is currently one of the most visited tourist attractions in Slovenia. Nowadays, the castle is employed as a historical museum with a collection that represents the lake's history.
History and structures.
The castle was first mentioned in a 22 May 1011 deed of donation issued by Emperor Henry II in favour of the Bishops of Brixen, and it was their residence for eight centuries. Then located in the March of Carniola, it passed to the Austrian House of Habsburg in 1278.
The oldest part of the castle is the Romanesque tower. In the Middle Ages more towers were built and the fortifications were improved. Other buildings were constructed in the Renaissance style. The buildings are arranged around two courtyards, which are connected with a staircase. There is a chapel in the upper courtyard, which was built in the 16th century and renovated around 1700, when it was also painted with illusionist frescoes. The castle also has a drawbridge over a moat.


Council of National Defense (Poland)

The Council of National Defense () was an extraordinary temporary governmental body created by a decree of the Sejm of the Second Polish Republic, of 1 July 1920.
Poland was then facing defeat by Bolshevik Red Armies that were approaching Warsaw. The Council was a body that was intended to make decisions more expeditiously than the Sejm. It was fully authorized to take decisions regarding the conduct and conclusion of the war.
The Council comprised:
The Chief of State was empowered to call Council meetings, chair them and set the agenda.
The Council enjoyed very broad powers, in order to be able to exercise far-reaching autonomy and reduce bureaucratic obstacles. Its decisions were to be implemented at once.


Barony of Westerwald

The Barony of Westerwald () was a "Vogtei" created in the 15th century from the royal estate ("Königshof") of in the German hill region of the High Westerwald.
History.
The region, which lay west of Königshof Herborn, had originally been settled from the Chattian (Hessian) area. The barony covered the church parishes and their associated local magistracies ("Zentgerichte") of Marienberg, Neukirch and Emmerichenhain. These three parishes in the High Westerwald first appear in a document dating to the year 1048.
Originally the "Herrschaft zum Westerwald", which lay within the "Herboremarca" (March of Herborn), belonged to the counts of Gleiberg; but at the end of the 12th century it went to the counts of Nassau. As a fief of the Electorate of Cologne, the latter had the long-term possession of the "Herrschaft zum Westerwald", exercising criminal jurisdiction ("Gerichtsbarkeit") and territorial lordship rights. The parish of Marienberg had been emancipated by 1231 from Herborn. In a document of the regional magistracy ("Landgericht") at Emmerichenhain in 1524, the appointment of a court with jurors from the three local jurisdictions ("Gerichte", then the administrative units) of Marienberg, Emmerichenhain and Neukirch was decreed by the regional magistrate ("Zentgraf"). Instead of a count of Nassau-Beilstein, an "Amtmann" presided over the court. It was publicly declared that the Count of Nassau was not to be paid the Vogtland tax in the form of 'cow money' ("Kuhgeld").
The border of the barony was protected in the north and northeast by a thick, impenetrable hedge ("Heeg" or "Landheeg"), and, in many places, also by a wide ditch and bank known as a "Landwehr (border)". In some places, gaps were made which had portcullises. One such passageway was supposed to have been on the border at the "Großer Wolfstein" west of Obermarienberg. In a protocol it said:
In the many settlements in the south of the Barony along the river Nister, such special defensive measures were not needed. The occupants of the Westerwald marches, as free "vogts", had the same status as nobility. Duties and service were rendered to the territorial overlords; but the "vogts" dealt with their own affairs independently at the regional magistracy of Emmerichenhain and at the individual magistracies ("Zentgerichte"), so their overlords, the princes, were not involved in the administration of justice ("Rechtspflege"). Each parish had free rein over the village land (the "Dorfmark") and looked after its own defences; forest and pasture were commonly owned by all members of the Barony.
From the 15th century, however, even in the marches of Westerwald, the princes began to intervene in the management of the march and, for example, issue decrees about the use of the forests, using the pretext that there had been abuses. Nevertheless, the Westerwald "vogts" continued to enjoy freedom in disposing of their own property and person; they could leave the Westerwald without the consent of the lords and only paid for the protection they had enjoyed so far, the so-called "holiday bounty" ("Urlaubsschatz"). Even forms of serfdom - such as "Besthaupt" and "Buwetheil" - did not exist.
The "Bosem" (or "Busen"), the 'right of serfdom' ("Leibeigenschaftsrecht"), also did not exist in the Westerwald. Ordinarily this meant that children of a marriage between a free man and woman in serfdom had to accept the feudal obligations of the mother; but in the Westerwald even these children were free "Vogtleute". Even the so-called "Wiltfang" was only exercised in a restricted way; whoever entered the Westerwald, usually became a free "Vogtmann" and enjoyed all the rights of the villagers in whose village he settled, as long as no-one protested against his settlement there within a year.
Nevertheless, there were forms of serfdom, because the so-called "five free hands" ("fünf Freihänden"), the Count of Diez, the Count of Wied, and the Lords of Weidenhahn, Schönhals and Greifenstein had the right of settlement ("Einzugsrecht"). That meant that they could settle a certain number of their own people in the baronial territory and impose taxes and service on them. Because there was no "Wiltfang" and "Busen", these serfs became fewer and fewer. In 1567 Count John did away with the rights of serfdom entirely. In a report by the "Amtmann" in Beilstein there were three groups of people were listed in the Westerwald:
The oldest document, in which the rights of the Barony are described, dates to 1396. This records a treaty between Henry, Count of Nassau-Beilstein and Reynard, Count of Westerburg. In this treaty, Nassau is allocated water and pasture, "Gebot und Verbot" or the actual suzerainty with the church parishes of Marienberg, Neukirch and Emmerichenhain; Westerburg and Runkel retain eight marks a year of weregild ("Manngelder") and rights over the mills, hunting and fishing; serfs ("Wiltfänge") were divided. Other documents record, according to Heyn "that they enjoyed a high degree of independence through their own regional court, something that was not very common in German-speaking lands at that time." The main duty to the overlords was the "Bede"; this was based on the yield and nature of the farmland, depending on how much was arable land or was ploughed by oxen or horses. In addition to the fixed estate duties the Westerwald also had unusual taxes, which the overlords could exact under certain circumstances. In addition, the Westerwald folk had to do some service, like that of serfs, but only where it was considered appropriate.
All this was laid down in edicts ("Gebote") which, for example, regulated that the Westerwald peoples had to transport grain and, every eight days, a wine shipment from the Rhine to the castles of Dillenburg, Herborn, Beilstein or Liebenscheid. Other services included escort duties or the taking of messages or documents as well as military service. Further services were the transport of dung, firewood and lumber, the building of hedges and "Landwehren" and ditches with gates to secure the country and the lord's castle ("Landesburg").
The Salzburger Kopf, one of the highest points in the Westerwald, was the location of jurisdiction for the three courts of Marienberg, Emmerichenhain and Neukirch even in 1788.
Territory.
The "territory" of the Barony covered three church parishes which were simultaneously tithe districts or "Zentbezirke". The list on which the following is based, dating from 1799, also lists the associated towns and villages, some of which had already disappeared in the Middle Ages, as well as old town names:


Jersey livre

The livre was currency of Jersey until 1834. It consisted entirely of French coins.
Until the 1720s, the currency used was the French livre, subdivided into 20 "sous", each of 12 "deniers". The commonest coin in circulation was the "liard" (3 deniers or ¼ of a sou). However, the copper coinage had devalued against silver and by the 1720s liards were being exchanged in St Malo at a rate of 6 to the sou. The consequent cross-border financial speculation caused by the discrepancy in coinage values was threatening economic stability. The States of Jersey therefore resolved to devalue the liard to 6 to the sou. The legislation to that effect implemented in 1729 caused popular riots that shook the establishment. The devaluation was therefore cancelled and the liard remained officially at 4 to the sou until 1834 (and "liard" remains the Jèrriais word for a farthing).
The Code des Lois of 1771 codified the value of the livre against sterling in order to regulate the exchange of sterling paid to the British garrison and the currency used by the population. The exchange rate was set at 24 livres = 1 pound, making the 2 sous coin equal to a British penny. However, in the early 19th century, an exchange rate of 26 livres = 1 pound was established.
In the French Revolutionary period, the livre was replaced by the franc. The last coins and notes of the livre currency system were issued in France in the Year II of the Republic (1794).
By the 1830s, the surviving livre coinage was in very short supply in Jersey and so worn as to be unusable. The States passed a law on 18 September 1834 that sterling would be sole legal tender as from 1 October 1834 (this law was confirmed by Order in Council on 24 June 1835). However, although sterling was henceforth the sole legal tender, French coinage continued to circulate in Jersey. In 1840, a new copper coinage was introduced for Jersey, based on a penny worth of a shilling, the equivalent of 2 sous.
Nonetheless, some French coins continued to circulate (increasingly French francs). On 7 February 1923 the States passed a law to ban the import of foreign copper coinage in sums exceeding 20 sous. This law was confirmed by Order in Council on 12 March 1923 and registered in the Royal Court on 7 April 1923. The States then proceeded to take steps to remove French copper coinage from circulation.
On 2 August 1923 the States authorised the Finance Committee to exchange French copper coins for Jersey copper coins. Between 27 August and 8 September the Treasury carried out at their office the exchange of 1 and 2 sous French coins for Jersey coins and placed advertisements in the press to that effect, with an additional reminder that French coinage was still not legal tender.


John Gordon (soldier)

John Gordon (1776 – 16 July 1858) was a Scottish soldier and Tory politician.
Gordon was the son of Charles Gordon of Braid and Cluny, Aberdeenshire, and his wife Johanna Trotter. Gordon became 2nd lieutenant in the Royal Aberdeenshire Light Infantry on 2 December 1800. He was then lieutenant in the 7th Company of the 55th Aberdeenshire Militia on 25 April 1804. In 1804 Gordon made a grand tour of Egypt, carving his name on many ancient monuments. He returned home via Gibraltar where he boarded HMS Victory, which also brought home the mortal remains of Admiral Horatio Nelson. He arrived back in England in December 1805.
Gordon became major on 11 August 1808 and lieutenant-colonel on 6 June 1820.
On the death of his father in 1814, Gordon inherited his estates including Cluny Castle; he was already a wealthy man as he also succeeded to his uncle's estate, who had been a merchant in West India. He purchased further properties, including North and South Uist, Benbecula and Barra. He was described by architectural historian H. Gordon Slade as a "model landlord" to tenants on his Aberdeenshire properties, although he was responsible for the expelling of tenants in the Highland Clearances from the islands. Tenants from his estates on the Outer Hebrides (around 3000 people) were made to emigrate to Canada in 1851. After the British government introduced the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 Gordon received a compensation payment from it of £24,964. His six plantations in the Caribbean island of Tobago had 1383 slaves.
Gordon was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis from 1826 to 1832.
He became an Honorary Colonel in 1836.
Gordon died a bachelor without legal issue in 1858; of his illegitimate children, John Gordon of Cluny, his eldest son, was the only one to outlive him. The Cluny estate passed to Lady Emily Gordon Cathcart who continued sending the evictees to Saskatchewan.
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Odenthal

Odenthal is a municipality in the Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography.
Odenthal is situated approximately 5 km north of Bergisch Gladbach and 15 km north-east of Cologne.
Neighbouring places.
Nearby cities are Leverkusen, Burscheid, Wermelskirchen, and Bergisch Gladbach. Neighboring municipalities include Kürten.
Division of the town.
The municipality includes 32 districts ("Ortsteile"):
Altehufe - Altenberg - Blecher - Busch - Bülsberg - Bömberg - Bömerich - Eikamp - Erberich - Feld - Glöbusch - Grimberg - Großgrimberg - Hahnenberg - Holz - Höffe - Hüttchen - Klasmühle - Küchenberg - Kümps - Landwehr - Menrath - Neschen - Oberscheid - Osenau - Pistershausen - Schallemich - Scheuren - Schmeisig - Schwarzbroich - Selbach - Voiswinkel.


Eric Gordon (bishop)

George Eric Gordon (29 July 1905– 6 June 1992) was an Anglican bishop in the 20th century.
He was born on 29 July 1905 and educated at St Olave's Grammar School and the St Catharine's College, Cambridge. Ordained in 1929 he began his career with a curacy at Holy Trinity, Leicester, after which he was Vice-Principal of Bishop Wilson College, Isle of Man. In 1935 he became Chaplain to William Stanton Jones, Bishop of Sodor and Man. In 1942 he became Rector of Kersal then Rural Dean of Middleton. From 1951 to 1966 he was Provost of Chelmsford Cathedral and Rector of Chelmsford when he was ordained to the episcopate as the Bishop of Sodor and Man, a post he held for eight years.
In 1974 he retired to Eynsham in Oxfordshire. He died on 6 June 1992.


Leopold Teller

Leopold Teller (April 3, 1844, Budapest - 1908) was a Hungarian actor.
For a time he studied medicine at the University of Vienna, but in 1862 he went to Ljubljana, where he joined a theatrical company. During the following ten years he played at small theaters in Jihlava, Klagenfurt, Opava, Budapest, Leipzig, and Liebenstein; from 1874 to 1890 he was a member of the "Meininger", and appeared in such roles as Shylock, Iago, Gessler, Franz Moor, and Marinelli. On leaving the "Meininger" he secured an engagement at the Stadttheater in Hamburg, where his principal roles were Graf Trast, Doctor Crusius, and Graf Menges. In 1899 he retired from the stage, and settled as teacher of elocution in Hamburg. He has written a play entitled "Wintersonnenwende", which had considerable success.


First Battle of the Jiu Valley

The First Battle of the Jiu Valley was a military engagement during World War I fought between Romanian forces on one side and Central Powers forces (Germany and Austria-Hungary) on the other. The German offensive, although initially successful, was checked within days and subsequently repulsed by a Romanian counterattack. This was the most conspicuous Romanian victory during the 1916 campaign, given that it was achieved against forces which were superior in artillery and - initially - in numbers as well.
Background.
Romania joined the First World War on 27 August 1916, after signing the 1916 Treaty of Bucharest. After a failed Romanian offensive into Transylvania, the Central Powers began attempting to force the mountain passes in the Carpathians. With no prospect of success in the passes around Brassó (Brașov), Erich von Falkenhayn was able to dispatch General Eberhard Graf von Schmettow with his Cavalry Corps, the 11th Bavarian Infantry Division, an Austro-Hungarian brigade and the Württemberg Mountain Battalion to the Jiu Valley. Overall command of this group was under General Paul von Kneußl. Opposed to this German-led and mostly-German force was the Romanian of the 1st Romanian Army, the main Romanian formation in the Jiu Valley.
Battle.
Kneußl launched his offensive in the early hours of 23 October 1916, before all his troops had assembled. He rapidly overcame the first line of resistance. Aiding the German troops was the 144th Austrian Infantry Brigade, under Colonel Stavinsky. The Romanian forces in the area were elements of the First Army, initially commanded by General Ioan Culcer. However, Culcer's suggestions of retreat led to his replacement by General Ion Dragalina on 24 October. Dragalina was wounded the next day during a reconnaissance mission, being succeeded by General , leader of the . On 25 October, the Germans and Austrians reached Dobrița and Stănești. General Dragalina, in his one day of command, successfully shifted several battalions to the region. This gave the Romanian 1st Army a local superiority against the Central Powers, and General Petala planned to strike. The Germans reached the outskirts of Frâncești on the 26th, but during that night the weather took a turn for the worse. On 27 October, Schmettow's cavalry was ordered forward to exploit what appeared to be an imminent breakthrough into Wallachia, but Kneußl's leading elements had overreached themselves. With little overall supervision, the local Romanian commanders launched a series of energetic counterattacks, which first halted the Germans and then drove them back in increasing disarray. At 10 a.m. on the 27th, the Romanians counterattacked from south and east, along a front stretching from Sâmbotin to Birnici (now Mierea). Further Romanian attacks took place at noon, between Dobrița and Stănești. The extra incentive of 1,000 lei offered by Petala to anyone who captured an enemy artillery piece proved effective. Romanian troops made several breakthroughs into the German lines, capturing two guns and pushing the infantry back into the mountains. With German supply lines severed by accidents and bad weather, a general retreat commenced on 28 October. Falkenhayn's staff recognized that the Romanian counterattack marked the end of von Kneußl's operation. Although the mountain passes remained in his possession, a decisive breakthrough had eluded Kneußl.
On 27 October, the Romanians counterattacked at the village of Arsuri, where they captured two 4-inch howitzer batteries which were subsequently used against the Germans, rendering excellent service. At Turcinești, fighting raged between 7 am and 5 pm. The Romanians threw back the Germans and inflicted considerable losses. At Rasovița, the battle remained undecided until 1:30 pm. Romanian reinforcements joined the battle and by 2 pm the Germans had been defeated, losing 400 prisoners and 12 machine guns. On the extreme left flank, the Romanians could make no gains, being only able to contain the Germans. On the next day - 28 October - the Romanian advance continued along the entire front. At the hill south of Horezu, the most violent fighting of the day took place, the Romanians driving back the Bavarians and capturing 2 machine guns and 17 guns, 9 of which were Romanian guns captured by the Germans on 24 October. The Romanian offensive continued on 29 October and lasted until 1 November.
Among the German officers involved in the battle was Erwin Rommel, at that time serving as an "Oberleutnant" in command of a company within the Württemberg Mountain Battalion. Rommel and his soldiers advanced with no pack animals or winter clothing. Rommel's forces soon met a few men with an officer who had been in combat on the other side of the mountain in a Bavarian formation. The Bavarians told Rommel that most of their comrades were overwhelmed in close-quarter combat by the Romanians. Survivors described the Romanians as "very wild and dangerous opponents". Rommel and his troops faced rain and freezing weather during their first night in the mountains, but were forbidden to fall back to a sheltered position. The second night in the mountains had drained Rommel's men of their last strength, but despite numerous cases of fever, the sector commander continued to refuse a withdrawal. At daybreak, the doctor had to send 40 men to the field hospital. After Rommel himself visited the sector commander and personally described the situation, he was finally allowed to withdraw. By then, 90% of his men were under medical care due to cold and illness.
Battle of Târgu Jiu.
On 27 October (Old style: 14 October), German units reached the outskirts of Târgu Jiu and attempted to cross the bridge into the town. They were repulsed by troops aided by the local population, and during this engagement the would-be Second Lieutenant Ecaterina Teodoroiu would make her first contribution to the Romanian Campaign. On 27 October, a German unit had succeeded in breaking through the center of the Romanian lines and reached the bridge which approached Târgu Jiu from the west. A battalion of militia from Gorj was taken by surprise, but - supported by a scratch force from Târgu Jiu itself - managed to hold out until 4:30 pm, when Romanian reinforcements enabled the defenders to prevail. The Germans had to retire, leaving prisoners in the hands of the Romanians. The Germans had been ordered to take Târgu Jiu at 2 pm on the 27th.
Aftermath.
During the initial stages of the German advance (23-26 October), the Central Powers occupied a front along the Northern outskirts of Frâncești, Turcinești, Sâmbotin and Bumbești. In the aftermath of the Romanian counterattack (27-28 October), the Romanians re-occupied the villages of Stănești, Rugi, Vălari, Schela and Birnici and retook the hills of Leșului and Seniuleului as well as the Gruba Mare massif. Almost the entire Western half of the salient created by the offensive of the Central Powers was pushed back towards the Romanian border, save for Arcanului Hill. On the Eastern half of the salient, the Central Powers managed to hold on to the mountain passes (Surduc and Vulcan), Mare Hill and the settlements of Lainici and Buliga, this sector of the front running just north of Muncelu and Moldavisu. Overall, about half of the gains made by the Central Powers were rolled back by the Romanians.
Total Central Powers casualties amounted to 3,210 killed, wounded and missing (including 53 officers). On 27 October alone, the Romanians captured 450 prisoners. The casualties were entirely of two categories: killed or captured. The total number of Central Powers dead buried by the Romanians exceeded 1,500, while the number of prisoners likewise exceeded 1,600. Material losses amounted to two howitzer batteries, 8 other guns and 14 machine guns. By 8 November, hundreds of crosses marked the graves of the fallen Bavarians.
Falkenhayn planned a new offensive in the region on 5 November, but the "significant setback" inflicted by the Romanians forced him to postpone the starting date of the renewed assault until 11 November. August von Mackensen's crossing of the Danube was also delayed by over two weeks. He intended to cross the river on 7 November. Mackensen crossed the Danube on 23 November.
Although he was in command for only one day, it is General Ioan Dragalina who is credited with this Romanian success, the most conspicuous Romanian victory of the 1916 campaign, given that it was achieved against forces superior in both numbers and artillery. Dragalina had inferior numbers and no reserves, but addressed the issue of his numerically inferior forces by borrowing detachments from two nearby groups. Although he was wounded in action and replaced as commander of the 1st Army on 25 October, his dispositions - made with great tactical skill - ensured the success of the Romanian counterattack which began on 27 October, and lasted as late as 1 November. Dragalina died of his wounds on 9 November.


Henry Pigot

General Sir Henry Pigot GCMG (1750 – 7 June 1840) was a British Army officer.
Military career.
Born the son of Admiral Hugh Pigot, Pigot was commissioned as a cornet in 1769. He served in the Netherlands in 1793 and, following the Siege of Malta, accepted the surrender of Valletta from the French forces under General Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois in September 1800. He went on to be Civil Commissioner of Malta in February 1801. As civil commissioner, he accepted the demolition of the majority of the fortifications of Valletta, but this act was never done and the city walls survive largely intact to this day.
Pigot was colonel of the 82nd Regiment of Foot (1798–1836) and then of the 38th Regiment of Foot (1836–1840). He was promoted full general on 1 January 1812 and appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1837.


Krumperk Castle

Krumperk Castle (, ) is a castle or manor located in Gorjuša near the town of Domžale in central Slovenia.
History.
According to Valvasor, the castle was built in the late 13th century by the noble Rabensbergs from Koprivnik. The predecessor of the current castle was first mentioned in 1338 as a possession of Herkules of Krumperk, of the noble house of Kreutberg. By the 15th century, it belonged to the house of Rusbach, which sold it to Engelhand Zellenperger in 1410 under the name "Turn Chraw-perg". Valvasor notes that it had once been called either "Thurn unter Kreutberg" or "Thurn zu Kreutberg", although there is confusion as to which of these names referred to Krumperk Castle and which to the ruin of Koprivnik (Rabensberg) Castle near Moravče.
At the end of the 16th century, the male Zellenperger line became extinct, and the castle passed by inheritance accord to the older branch of the house of Rauber, one of the most prominent noble families in 15th and 16th century Carniola, who were later elevated to barons. The best-known member of the family was Adam von Rauber, who participated in the Battle of Sisak. At its height, the Krumperk lordship contained the settlements of Dob, Ihan, Krtina, Brezovica, and Studenec.
The Raubers replaced the old castle with the current building in 1580. Their line eventually became extinct; the daughter of the last Baron Rauber was the mother of the historian Johann Weikhard von Valvasor. The next owners, in 1631, were the Rasp family, followed by the counts Thurn und Valsássina, then in 1840 the barons Rechbach, who in 1928 moved to Austria after selling the estate to its final private owner, Stanka Pogačnik, a landowner from Ruše near Maribor.
After World War II, the castle was nationalized and stripped of its furnishings. The communist authorities converted the structure into a sanatorium for wounded military officers; in 1953, it was given to the Municipality of Domžale, which subdivided it into apartment housing. In 1985, the Krumperk holdings were partitioned; the castle went to Agrokombinat and the estate was taken over by Biotechnical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana, which established an equestrian center.
Today, the castle is the subject of a denationalization proceeding and is in a fairly poor state of repair. The Spelunkers' Club () is located nearby, as are two karst caves: Iron Cave () and Hag's Cave (). The castle meadow hosts the Krumperk Equestrian Club, sponsored by the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Ljubljana.
Tales of the castle's past are collected in the book "Jutro ob kresu" (Morning Beside the Bonfire) by Ivan Sivec.


7th Panzer Division (Bundeswehr)

The 7th Panzer Division or Westphalian Panzer Division ( or "Westfälische Panzerdivision") was a major formation in the German Army ("Heer") within the German Armed Forces or "Bundeswehr" whose headquarters was for many years in Lippstadt und Unna and, finally in Düsseldorf. Until its dissolution in 2006 it was seen as the "backbone of the Army" or the "spearhead of the German Army". The majority of new weapon systems were introduced by this formation. Many Inspectors of the Army ("Inspekteur des Heeres") were once divisional commanders of the 7th Armoured Division. Its last commander was Wolf-Joachim Clauß.
It was the only division in the Northern Army Group without a forward defence sector in line against a projected Warsaw Pact attack. It was the only immediately available reserve division.


The Dead at Clonmacnoise

The Dead at Clonmacnoise is a 14th-century poem by Aongus Ó Giolláin. It commemorates the many royal kings and princes of Ireland that were buried there.


Pyotr Saltykov

Count Pyotr Semyonovich Saltykov () (11 December 1697/1698/1700 - 26 December 1772) was a Russian statesman and a military officer, promoted to the rank of Field marshal on 18 August 1759.
Family.
Saltykov was born in Russia in the village of Nikolskoye, southwest to the Lake Nero, the son of Semyon/Semjon Andreievich Saltykov (10 April 1672 - 1 October 1742), a landowner of an ancient Boyar family which rivalled the Romanovs in nobility and was descended from a sister of the first Romanov Tsar, and wife Fekla Jakowlevna Wolynskaya. He had a younger brother, Count Vladimir Semyonovich Saltykov (6 August 1705 - 5 January 1751). He was a distant cousin of Sergei Vasilievich Saltykov, first lover of Catherine the Great, and was also related to Praskovia Fyodorovna Saltykova.
Life.
However, the year of his birth is uncertain. It is estimated as between 1697 and 1700, as in 1714 he was sent by Peter the Great to France to master the science of navigation. He remained there for much of the twenty years that followed.
In 1729, Saltykov bought the estate of Marfino, and in 1731 he married Princess Praskovia Yuriyevna Trubetskaya (1704 - 1767), a daughter of Prince Yuri Yuriyevich Troubetzkoy by his first wife Princess Yelena Grigoriyevna Cherkasskaya, and on 19 January 1732 or 1733 his father was created a Count.
In 1759, during the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian army and would soon win a victory at Palzig (Battle of Kay) and Kunersdorf.
In 1763, Saltykov became commander-in-chief of Moscow and was put in charge of the Moscow Senate Office. During Saltykov's time in office, he established a number of new post offices, restored Golovinsky and Kolomensky Palaces, and a number of city gates. They also repaired most of the worn-out bridges across the Moscow River and continued dismantling the walls of the White City (fortification belt around Moscow) in order to provide building material for the construction of the Orphanage ordered by Catherine the Great and the restoration of the Arsenal. In April 1764, Saltykov reported to Saint Petersburg on the opening of the Moscow Orphanage. With the purpose of providing Muscovites with food, Saltykov banned the removal of imported bread from the city and arranged for wholesale purchases of bread from landowners. He also secured regular wine deliveries to Moscow, the need for which had been estimated at 575,000 vedros. Saltykov was also fighting against gambling.
In 1765, he took part in burning of books "harmful to the society" at the order of Catherine the Great. During the plague outbreak in 1771, which caused mass departure of landowners, city officials, and rich merchants from Moscow, Pyotr Saltykov asked Catherine the Great for permission to leave the city. Without waiting for her reply, he left for his Marfino estate on the outskirts of Moscow. After a plague riot had broken out in Moscow on 16 September, Saltykov returned to the city. However, Catherine the Great relieved him of his post on 13 November 1771. A year later, he died on his estate at Marfino.
Family.
By his wife Princess Praskovia Yuriyevna Trubetskaya, Saltykov had:


Erftstadt

Erftstadt is a town located about 20 km south-west of Cologne in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis, state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The name of the town derives from the river which flows through it, the Erft. Carl Schurz, a German revolutionary, American statesman and reformer, and Union Army General in the American Civil War was born in Erftstadt-Liblar on March 2, 1829, as was Joseph Kentenich, a Catholic Priest of the Pallottine order and founder of the Schoenstatt Movement, on 16 November 1885. He is also remembered as a thinker, theologian, and educationalist. Nice to visit is the castle "Schloss Gracht". It was build by Graf von Metternich. He also build the church St. Alban. In Erftstadt are four further schools: two Gymnasiums and two Realschulen. The biggest gymnasium is the Ville-Gymnasium-Erftstadt, also known as VGE. Erftstadt is next to a forest called Ville. The neighbour towns are: Brühl, Kerpen, Zülpich and Weilerswist.
Twin towns – sister cities.
Erftstadt is twinned with:


Nymphaion (Crimea)

Nýmphaion (, , , ), also known as Nymphaion on the Pontus (), was a significant centre of the Bosporan Kingdom, situated on the Crimean shore of the Cimmerian Bosporus. Today it is located near the resort town Heroivske/Geroevskoye. It lies at a distance of about 14 kilometers south of Kerch, which was the site of ancient Panticapaeum.
Geography.
The ruins of Nymphaion stand on a rocky cape approximately 200 meters west of the shoreline. Centuries of coastal erosion caused the shoreline to recede. The ancient shoreline would have been some 300 meters further east.
Today the ruins are bordered by the Čurubaš Lake to the north and the Tobečik Lake to the south. In ancient times both of these lakes were ravines with sea gulfs at their mouths in the east. These ravines were situated 7 kilometers apart. They enclosed a territory of more than 40 square kilometers further west, where a rocky ridge of steep hills bordered the area on the west.
These natural borders made the territory of Nymphaion more easily defendable. In addition, it is well suited to agriculture thanks to its fertile chernozem soil. It also receives 100 millimeters more rainfall than surrounding land.
History.
The city was founded by Greek colonists from Samos between 580 and 560 BC. There is no archaeological evidence for the presence of Scythians in the area before the city's founding. The town issued its own coins and generally prospered in the period of classical antiquity, when its citizens controlled cereal trade, which was vital for the well-being of mainland Greece. Athens chose it as its principal military base in the region ca. 444 BC and Gylon, the grandfather of Demosthenes, suffered banishment from Athens on charges that he had betrayed Nymphaeum during the Peloponnesian War. It was annexed to the Bosporan Kingdom by the end of the century.
During the Mithridatic Wars, the town allied with the Roman Republic and withstood a siege by the army of Pharnaces II of Pontus. It was at Phanagoria that the insurrection broke out against Mithridates VI of Pontus, shortly before his death; and his sons, who held the citadel, were obliged to surrender to the insurgents. An inscription found during excavations testifies that queen Dynamis honored Augustus as "the emperor, Caesar, son of god, the god Augustus, the overseer of every land and sea". The loyalty to Rome allowed Phanagoria to maintain a dominant position in the region until the 4th century, when it was sacked and destroyed by the invading Huns.
The site occupied a small hill by the sea. The acropolis contained the temples of Aphrodite (with several rooms) and of the Cabeiri. The lower terrace by the sea centred on the sanctuary of Demeter, first erected in the 6th century BC and several times rebuilt. Other ruins indicate that the town's architecture was unusually refined, perhaps the most sophisticated in the Bosporan Kingdom. One structure has no parallels in the Hellenistic world: it goes back to the 3rd century BC and is built of rose marl. The site also yielded a number of terracotta figurines, winemaking facilities (the oldest along the northern shore of the Black Sea) and several horse burials, associated with the Sarmatians.


Army of Mainz

The Army of Mainz or Army of Mayence ("Armée de Mayence") was a French Revolutionary Army set up on 9 December 1797 by splitting the Army of Germany into the Army of Mayence and the Army of the Rhine. Part of it split off on 4 February 1799 to form the Army of Observation, though part of that army then re-merged as the Army of Mayence on 28 March that year. The remainder formed the Army of the Danube. In 1793, the French soldiers captured in the Siege of Mainz were paroled by the Prussians with the promise not to fight against the First Coalition for one year. As their parole conditions did not prohibit them from fighting French rebels in the interior, the troops were sent to fight in the War in the Vendée under the unofficial name "Army of Mayence". This body was absorbed into the Army of the West on 6 October 1793.
Army of Mayence 1793.
Army of Mayence (or Mainz) was also the unofficial title of the 16,000-man garrison that surrendered on 23 July 1793 at the conclusion of the Siege of Mainz. They were paroled by the Prussian army on condition that they not fight against the First Coalition for one year. Army of the Rhine commander Alexandre de Beauharnais pointed out that the terms did not exclude them from fighting against French rebels inside France. Therefore, 14,000 troops from the garrison were sent to the War in the Vendée under Jean-Baptiste Annibal Aubert du Bayet where they proved to be better soldiers than the poorly-trained armies fighting there. The superiority of the Mainz corps was so evident that it provoked jealousy and in November 1793 the force was broken up.


Province of Hanover

The Province of Hanover () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946.
During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position, along with some other member states of the German Confederation. After Hanover voted in favour of mobilising confederation troops against Prussia on 14 June 1866, Prussia saw this as a just cause for declaring war; the Kingdom of Hanover was soon dissolved and annexed by Prussia. The private wealth of the dethroned House of Hanover was then used by Otto von Bismarck to finance his continuing efforts against Ludwig II of Bavaria.
In 1946, the British military administration recreated the State of Hanover based on the former Kingdom of Hanover; but within the year, at the instigation of the German leadership, it was merged into the new state () of Lower Saxony—along with the states of Oldenburg, Brunswick, and Schaumburg-Lippe—with the city of Hanover as the capital of this new state.
Hanoverian regions.
Hanover was subdivided into six regions first called "Landdrostei[en]" (High-Bailiwick[s]), which were reorganised into Prussian standard Regierungsbezirke (governorates) on 1 April 1885.
Administrative divisions from 1885.
On 1 April 1885 the six "Landdrosteien" were turned into regional administrative districts called "Regierungsbezirke":
The "Regierungsbezirke" were subdivided into new urban and rural counties ("Stadtkreise" and "Landkreise"), the old "Amt" structure being disbanded. Where the name of the county town differs from that of the county, it is shown in brackets:
Presidents of the Province of Hanover.
The heads of the provinces, appointed by the central Prussian government, were called Oberpräsident (Upper President). The provincial executive, the Landesdirektor (provincial director), was elected by the provincial parliament (Provinziallandtag).


USS Defiance (PG-95)

USS "Defiance" (PGM-95/PG-95) was a gunboat in the United States Navy and later transferred to Turkey. She was an , and the third ship to be named Defiance, in honor of the city of Defiance, Ohio.
Design and construction.
"Defiance" was long, wide, and displaced . She had a crew of three officers, and 21 crewmembers. She had a top speed of , and was propelled by two shafts, which were powered by a combined diesel or gas system of two diesel engines, and a gas turbine. This system allowed for them to cruise at economical oil use levels, by only using the diesel engines, but also sail quickly when needed, by using the gas turbine. The ship was armed with one 3"/50 caliber gun, one Bofors 40 mm gun, and two twin .50 caliber machine guns. "Defiance" was laid down by Peterson Builders, in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, on 3 October 1967. She was launched on 24 August 1968, and commissioned on 24 September 1969. Her identifying symbol was of a clenched fist holding three lightning bolts, with the motto "With Knowledge and Confidence to Defy".
Service history.
Defiance was decommissioned on 11 June 1973, in Izmir, Turkey, and immediately after she was transferred to the Turkish Navy, renamed as "Yildirim" (P-338). She was destroyed by an explosion, and the ensuing fire, on 11 April 1985, off the coast of the Greek island of Mitylene, in the Aegean Sea. She was struck from the Turkish navy register on 6 July 1987.
References.
External links.


Ruard Manor

The Bucellini–Ruard Manor, commonly referred to as the Ruard Manor (), is a 16th-century manor house located in the Sava neighbourhood of the town of Jesenice in northwestern Slovenia, at the street address of "45 France Prešeren Street" (). It is one of four so-called "ironworks castles" built in the area during the 16th and early 17th centuries by the owners of iron-mining and -processing facilities, in what were then the clustered settlements of Plavž, Sava, Murova and Javornik, amalgamated into the town of Jesenice in 1929. The Kos Manor in Murova also survives; the Plavž and Javornik manors were demolished.
The Ruard Manor was built in 1538 by the Italian businessman Bernardo Bucellini, who had recently relocated to Sava from Bergamo and whose family would come to dominate the iron mining and processing industry of the entire upper Sava valley. Unlike the Kos manor, Bucelenni chose to locate this residence close to the ironworks themselves. The Bucellinis were very successful for a time, and were ennobled during the 17th century, taking the name "von Reichenberg" after the German name of their ore mines at Savske Jame. In 1686 the family was elevated to counthoood.
The manor gained the second half of its current name in 1766, when Valentin Ruard, a Belgian entrepreneur, bought the entire estate and restored the failing ironworks surrounding it. Leopold Ruard, his son, was mayor of Jesenice under the brief period of French rule. In 1831, the manor was expanded and reconstructed in the Neoclassical style. In the next generation, it passed out of Ruard hands, as Viktor Ruard was unable to obtain capital for the modernization of the family ironworks, and was forced to sell both them and the manor to the KID company in 1871, which converted it into clerks' housing (much like the nearby Workers' Barracks).
Since 1954, the manor has served as a museum, and later became the seat of the Upper Sava Museum. It hosts several permanent exhibits:


Battle of San Marino

The Battle of San Marino was an engagement on 17–20 September 1944 during the Italian Campaign of the Second World War, in which German Army forces occupied the neutral Republic of San Marino, and were then attacked by Allied forces. It is also sometimes known as the Battle of Monte Pulito.
San Marino had declared its neutrality earlier in the war, and had remained broadly unaffected by events in Europe until 1943, when Allied forces had advanced a sizable distance up the Italian Peninsula. A major German defensive position, the Gothic Line, ran across the peninsula a short distance south of the Sammarinese border, and in late June, the country was bombed by the Royal Air Force, killing 35 people, in the belief that the German Army had taken up positions on its territory. In Operation Olive, launched in late August, a strong Allied force attacked at the very eastern end of the line, aiming to pass through Rimini—just east of San Marino—and break out onto the plains north of the city. Whilst San Marino was southwest of Rimini, the plan was for it to be bypassed entirely. In response to the Allied movements, the Germans sent a small force into San Marino to guard their lines of communication and act as artillery observers.
After a few days, the main thrust of the offensive was halted south of Rimini by strong resistance and severe weather, and the British and Indian flanking forces began to push westwards, taking the frontline towards San Marino. On 17 September the 4th Indian Infantry Division attacked forces of the 278. "Infanterie-Division" holding two hills just across the Sammarinese border; after heavy fighting to gain control of the hills, the situation stabilised on the 19th, and Allied forces began to push into the city of San Marino itself. The city was captured by the afternoon of 20 September, and the 4th Indian Division left the country on the 21st, leaving it under the control of the local defence forces.
Background.
The microstate of San Marino, in the northern Italian Peninsula and fully surrounded by Italy, had played little role throughout the Second World War. It had a fascist government, closely aligned with Benito Mussolini's regime, but remained neutral. It was reported to have declared war against the United Kingdom in September 1940, though the Sammarinese government later transmitted a message to the British government stating that it had not. In early 1942, the Sammarinese government reiterated it was not at war with the United States, a position that was confirmed by the US State Department. The British Foreign Office noted more equivocally in 1943 that Britain had never declared war, but also had never formally recognised San Marino's neutrality, and that it felt that military action on Sammarinese territory would be justified if it were being used by Axis forces.
The country was bombed by the Allies on 27 June 1943, killing at least 35. The Sammarinese government declared the same day that no military installations or equipment were located on its territory, and that no belligerent forces had been allowed to enter. In early July, it announced that prominent signs had been put up at the border crossings by the German command, to instruct German units not to enter the territory, and again reiterated its complete neutrality.
Prelude.
Assault on the Gothic Line.
By the late summer of 1944, German forces in Italy had withdrawn toward the Gothic Line, a chain of defended positions stretching across the Italian peninsula. The Allies formulated a plan to break through the defences, pushing north toward Rimini and the plains of Northern Italy. This would involve a strong thrust up the eastern seaboard by the British Eighth Army, codenamed Operation Olive; 11 divisions would attack along a narrow front, converging on the "Rimini Gap", an stretch of plain along the coast around the city, and then moving northward. Once through the Gap, the force would deploy outward onto the Romagna Plain, and move westward toward Bologna. Meanwhile, the American Fifth Army would push north along the centre of the peninsula, hopefully converging on Bologna and trapping a large German force in a pincer movement.
The main Allied assault began on 25 August, reaching the Foglia valley—the Gothic Line proper—on 29 August. It was quickly breached, and the German command attempted to assemble a second defensive line on the Coriano ridge, a hilly spur to the north of the Conca river, and the last major geographic obstacle south of Rimini. The Allied offensive reached the river on 3 September, but ground to a halt due to mechanical difficulties with its tanks, strengthening German resistance, and heavy rain. The Allied forces halted, and brought up reinforcements whilst waiting for a chance to resume the offensive along the coast. On the left flank of the assault, the attack had been halted in the Battle of Gemmano, to the south of the Conca river.
At this point, the forces on the Allied left wing were strung out in a line running due south from the Coriano ridge, facing westward toward San Marino, a few miles distant. The 56th (London) Infantry Division was opposite Croce, with the 46th Infantry Division opposite the heavily defended position at Gemmano. The 4th Indian Infantry Division was to the south of the 46th, forming the very left wing of the offensive. When the assault on Coriano was resumed on the 12th, led by two armoured divisions with heavy artillery support, these forces pushed westwards; their goal was to pass through towards the town of Montescudo, about two miles from the Sammarinese border. The main assault successfully pushed onto the ridge, and the 56th Division advanced about past Croce, before digging in on the evening of the 13th; that night, the 4th Indian Division gained a foothold south of Gemmano. It was finally captured by the 46th and 4th Indian Divisions on the morning of the 15th, and the British forces prepared to move toward Montescudo and exploit the German confusion.
Battle.
Entry into San Marino.
The 46th Division took Montescudo on the 15th, and on the next day the 56th Division entered the town of Mulazzano, directly north of Montescudo and equally close to the border. The fighting pressed westward from here, with the 56th Division on the northern flank and the 46th on the south; both were held back by strong German resistance.
In early September, the German Army had sent a strong force into San Marino to defend it against the Allies; this would also give them control of one of the major roads in the area, and allow artillery observers to occupy the mountain peaks. The defending force was drawn from the 278. "Infanterie-Division", whilst the 4th Indian Division was assigned to attack it on the 17th.
The leading elements of the division—the 3rd/10th Baluch Regiment—crossed the Marano River on the eastern border on the night of the 17th, with the 1st/9th Gurkha Rifles moving through them to attack Points 343 and 366 near Faetano. These small hills—just behind the river—were held by two battalions of the 993rd Grenadier Regiment. The first—Point 343—was taken at 05:00, but the force occupying Point 366 had to fall back after running low on ammunition. Rifleman Sher Bahadur Thapa was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for holding the crest of the hill single-handed for two hours, allowing two companies to withdraw in safety, before being killed whilst trying to rescue another wounded Gurkha.
Point 343 was held through the 18th, however, though with the loss of 63 men; by the evening, a force of tanks had managed to come up and stabilise the position with the aid of artillery support. The 4th/11th Sikh Regiment moved around the Gurkhas to the north, covering the northern flank of the San Marino heights, and the division's 11th Brigade passed through them to help encircle the city. On the evening of the 19th, the 2nd Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of 11th Indian Infantry Brigade began to push into the outskirts of the city from the north, but early on the morning of the 20th were held back by defensive positions in the north-west of the city, where the road to the upper part of the city, situated higher on the mountain, began. Tanks moved into the suburbs, whilst a company of the Camerons moved uphill toward the summit in heavy rain. The city was secured by the early afternoon, with only 24 casualties among the attackers, and 54 prisoners taken.
On the 21st, the local defence forces were enlisted to help mop up straggling German troops, and the 4th Indian Division pressed onward through a heavy gale and passed out of the country.
Aftermath.
Allied forces remained in occupation of San Marino for a short period following the German surrender. In October 1945, after the end of the war, the Sammarinese government submitted a claim for 732 million "lira" to the British government for wartime compensation, of which 500 million "lira" were given as the related costs of the fighting in September and 20 million "lira" as the costs of the occupation. The British government rejected this claim, arguing that as Germany had breached the Sammarinese neutrality before Allied troops had entered the country, it was not liable; it did, however, offer an "ex gratia" payment of £26,000 in regard to the June bombing, later increased to £80,000 (equivalent of 32 million lira).
The battle honour "San Marino" was awarded to three British Army units — the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment, the York and Lancaster Regiment, and the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders — and two Indian Army units, the 1st/9th Gurkha Rifles and the 4th/11th Sikh Regiment. The latter three of these had fought as part of 4th Indian Division in the main attack, whilst the first two had had battalions in the 138th Infantry Brigade of 46th Division.


Tarrha

Tarrha or Tarra (), also Tarrhus or Tarros (Τάρρος), was a "polis" (city-state) in the southwestern part of ancient Crete, near the Samaria Gorge, at the village of Agia Roumeli. It is situated near the sea, on the hill.
History.
Tarrha was probably established in the Classical period and was a very important religious centre; it was one of the earliest sites of worship of Apollo. Anciently, it was known on the southern coast between Phoenix and Poecilassus. The city flourished in the Greco-Roman period. The city was home to the cult of Apollo Tarrhaios, where parts of his temple have been found. Tarrha is frequently cited in the ancient sources such as Pausanias, Stephanus of Byzantium, and the "Stadiasmus Maris Magni". Tarrha is one of the cities that signed an agreement with Eumenes II in 170 BCE.
In the Middle Ages, Tarrha was known for its glass workshops. In 1415, Buondelmonti detected in the ruins of the Temple of Apollo, an inscription in Greek which said: “Peel your shoes, cover your head and come in.” A similar inscription was found at the Temple at Matala. The custom of entering the temple without shoes is ancient. According to Greek mythology, Apollo, after murdering Python, went to Tarrha to be cleansed through purgatorial rituals ministered by the temple priest, Carmanor.
Tarrha minted its own coins. The coins have the head of a Cretan wild goat, an arrow, and a bee. Tarrha had monetary union with Elyros, Yrtakina, and Lissos. The coins belong to the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, when Tarrha became a member of the Republic of Cretans. The city had established a colony of the same name in the Caucasus. It is also believed that Tarra of south Italy was another colony of the city. It probably founded Lampa, also found on Crete, as well.
It was the birthplace of the author Lucillus of Tarrha (or "Loukillos"). He commented on the "Argonauts" of Apollonius of Rhodes. In mythology, Chrysothemis, a poet and the son of Carmanor, was from Tarrha as well. He was a victor at the Pythian Games at Delphi.
Robert Pashley was the first modern archaeologist to find the location of the city and investigate it. The area held scattered stone stele which are inscribed with a double axe symbol. One is exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Chania.


2003 Liechtenstein constitutional referendum

A constitutional referendum regarding the Prince’s powers was held in Liechtenstein on 14 March 2003. The referendum had two questions; a "Princely Initiative" and a "Constitution Peace Initiative". The first question passed with 64.32% in favour and the second question was rejected by 83.44% of voters.
The Princely Initiative asked voters whether to approve an extension of the power of the Prince to dismiss the government, nominate judges and veto legislation.
The Constitution Peace Initiative asked voters whether to approve or disapprove of constitutional modifications, including modifications which would have restricted the Prince’s powers. The BBC stated that the referendum in effect made Liechtenstein into an "absolute monarchy". In December 2012 the Venice commission of the Council of Europe published a comprehensive report analysing the amendments, opining that they were not compatible with the European standard of democracy. Prince Hans-Adam II had threatened to leave the country and live in exile in Vienna, Austria if the voters had chosen to restrict his powers.


C. R. H. Kindersley

Claude Richard Henry Kindersley (11 December 1911 – 31 March 1993) was a British soldier.
Kindersley was the son of Lt-Col Archibald Ogilvie Lyttelton Kindersley CMG, and his wife Edith Mary Kindersley (née Craven). He was educated at Wellington College and Trinity College, Cambridge.
He was commissioned into the Highland Light Infantry in 1933. He served with the 2nd Battalion of the HLI at the North-West Frontier, and in Palestine and the Middle East from 1936 to 1943. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1943. He continued his career with the 1st Battalion in France and Germany, 1944–45, where he was awarded the DSO. He commanded the 1st Battalion in 1945.
After the war, he was a Deputy Lieutenant for Hampshire from 1962 to 1974 and for the Isle of Wight from 1974, after the island became a separate county from Hants. He was the first High Sheriff of the Isle of Wight, 1974–75.
In 1938 he married Vivien Mary, daughter of the late Charles John Wharton Darwin of Elston Hall, Nottinghamshire; they had three daughters.


Torra di Caldarellu

The Tower of Caldarellu or the Tower of Figari () is a Genoese tower located in the commune of Pianotolli-Caldarello (Corse-du-Sud) on the southwest coast of the Corsica. The tower sits at an elevation of on the north shore of the Baie de Figari.
The tower was built sometime between 1586 and 1617. It was one of a series of coastal defences built by the Republic of Genoa between 1530 and 1620 to stem the attacks by Barbary pirates. In 1995 the tower was listed as one of the official historical monuments of France.


Government of Northern Ireland

The government of Northern Ireland is, generally speaking, whatever political body exercises political authority over Northern Ireland. A number of separate systems of government exist or have existed in Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland was recognised as a separate territory within the authority of the British Crown on 3 May 1921, under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The new autonomous Northern Ireland was formed from six of the nine counties of Ulster, being four counties with unionist majorities (Antrim, Armagh, Down and Derry), and Fermanagh and Tyrone two of the five Ulster counties which had nationalist majorities. In large part unionists, at least in the north east region, supported its creation while nationalists were opposed. Subsequently, on 6 December 1922, the island of Ireland became an independent dominion known as the Irish Free State but Northern Ireland immediately exercised its right to "opt out" of the new Dominion.
The first government of Northern Ireland was the Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland, which exercised such authority from 1922 to 1972. A Northern Ireland Executive was created following the signing of the Sunningdale Agreement in 1974, while the current Northern Ireland Executive under the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, was created in the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, and has intermittently been in existence from 1999 to the present. Northern Ireland has also been governed by ministers under the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland during periods of Direct Rule.


Elections in Sark

Since 2008, Elections in Sark take place every two years to elect 14 members (called Conseillers) of the Chief Pleas, the parliament of Sark, to serve a four-year term in a rolling election cycle.
The 2008 constitutional arrangement replaced the previous arrangement which was set up in 1922. The first elections to Chief Pleas took place in 1922 when 12 Deputies of the people were added to the property-owning Tenants. Both men and women were enfranchised in the 1922 reform, although equalisation of voting age and the granting of full rights to married women occurred later.
On 16 January and 21 February 2008, the Chief Pleas approved a law which introduced a 30-member chamber, with 28 elected members, and two unelected leaders, the Seigneur and the Seneschal. As a transitional measure, all 28 Conseillers were elected at the 2008 election; and after the results were declared, another ballot was held among the 28 successful Conseillers to determine who would serve a two-year term, and who a four-year term.
Voters are eligible to be enrolled on the electoral roll of Sark if they are:
Latest election.
Chief Pleas.
Results from the second count were:
After the results of the ballot were declared, a separate ballot was held among the 28 successful Conseillers to determine which would serve a two-year term, and which a four-year term, which is indicated by the figure after the number of votes. After the initial period, Conseillers will serve four-year terms with half elected every two years.


Danube Banovina

Danube Banovina or Danube Banate ( / Дунавска бановина), was a banovina (or province) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. This province consisted of the geographical regions of Syrmia, Bačka, Banat, Baranya, Šumadija, and Braničevo. The capital city of the Danube Banovina was Novi Sad. The province was named after the Danube River.
Population.
According to the 1931 census, the Danube Banovina had 2,387,495 inhabitants. The population of this region was composed of:
Borders.
According to the 1931 Constitution of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia,
History.
In 1931, Mitrovica and Šid districts were transferred from Drina Banovina to Danube Banovina.
In 1939, when the new Banovina of Croatia was formed, Šid and Ilok districts were transferred from the Danube Banovina to that of Croatia.
In 1941, the World War II Axis Powers occupied the Danube Banovina. Bačka and Baranja regions were attached to Hungary, while Syrmia was attached to the Independent State of Croatia. The remainder of the former Danube Banovina (including Banat, Šumadija, and Braničevo) were part of the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia. However, Banat had autonomy as a region ruled by its ethnic German minority.
In 1945 the region was restored as a province of Serbia within a federal Socialist Yugoslavia. The province was officially renamed as "Vojvodina", its historical name, with the capital at the city of Novi Sad. The new province consisted of Syrmia, Banat and Bačka regions. Baranja was included in the People's Republic of Croatia, while Šumadija and Braničevo were included in Serbia Proper.
Cities.
Some large cities of the Danube Banovina were:


Zaprice Castle

Zaprice Castle (, ) is a castle in Zaprice, now part of the town of Kamnik, Slovenia.
The castle was first indirectly mentioned in 1306, was originally built in the 14th century by the Dienger von Apecz family. It was rebuilt in the early 16th century by Jurij Lamberg, who gave it corner oriel windows and surrounded it with a wall with two towers, and gave it a German name: "Steinbüchel". The castle is subsequently remembered as a meeting place for Kamnik's Lutherans. During the 17th and 18th century the castle was rebuilt in Baroque style and enlarged into a more comfortable residential building. Today, the castle serves as a museum and a venue for cultural and educational events.
Background.
The castle has repeatedly changed owners; the last private proprietors were the Rechbachs until 1945, when it was nationalised and transformed into multi-residential building. Soon after, the castle became the museum's headquarters and it was renovated in the following years.
The castle is surrounded by a terraced park and a wall, a dairy farm at the entrance of the complex, two pavilions, a late Gothic sign, and an open-air museum of granaries from the Tuhinj Valley. There is also an archaeological site on the east side of the castle, where the foundation of an apsidal wall, a bronze fibula, and a few fragments of an ancient glass were found.
Museum collections.
The Kamnik Intermunicipal Museum was opened in the castle in 1961. The castle's salon was renovated in 1997 and serves as a venue for openings, lectures, concerts, and symposia. As of 2011, the museum had five main collections:
Notable exhibitions in the main castle building include a display of Thonet bentwood furniture, a display about the 19th-century middle classes of Kamnik, a display of the pastoral heritage of the Big Pasture Plateau (), and a lapidary collection. An object of special interest is a Baroque portative organ built by Marko Göbl and Johann Georg Eisl, both from Ljubljana, in 1743.


Quarr Abbey (Cistercian)


Yarmouth (Isle of Wight) (UK Parliament constituency)

Yarmouth was a borough constituency of the House of Commons of England then of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two members of parliament (MPs), elected by the bloc vote system.
The constituency was abolished by the Reform Act 1832, and from the 1832 general election its territory was included in the new county constituency of Isle of Wight.
Boundaries.
The constituency was a Parliamentary borough on the Isle of Wight, part of the historic county of Hampshire. Its boundaries were coterminous with the parish of Yarmouth. At the time that it was disfranchised, there were 114 houses in the borough and town, and a population of only 586.
Members of Parliament.
MPs 1640–1832.
Notes


SS Thames

The steamship, SS "Thames", was built in 1827 by Fletcher's in Limehouse, London, and belonged to the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company. She was commanded by Captain James Grey and wrecked on the Cribewidden Rock in the Isles of Scilly early on the morning of 4 January 1841 on her way from Dublin to London.
Wreck.
According to "The Times" (1841), the weather was "exceedingly boisterous, with showers of hail and snow." She "shipped a heavy sea, which extinguished her fires." Then, mistaking St Agnes Lighthouse for Longships Lighthouse, they ran onto the Cribewidden Rock at around 5 am.
Of the sixty-five passengers, there were only four survivors: a "young lady passenger" named Morris, two female attendants and a seaman who was rescued the following day. A boat crew from St Agnes set off as soon as the wreck was discovered by locals and rescued the three women. A fourth woman who survived the initial sinking refused to leave with rescuers because she could not find her child. Local pilots were unable to offer any further assistance because it was low tide and the pilot boats were aground. By 11 am, "Thames" was lost to the sea.
The only other survivor was the seaman who had made his way to Rosevear on a piece of driftwood. He survived on the exposed island for 24 hours before being discovered by boatmen. A porter cask had found its way to the rock from the wreck. The seaman took a drink before emptying it to use as an overnight shelter.
Ten bodies were found, including that of the woman who refused to leave her child. The casualties were buried on the island of St Mary's.
The figurehead from the ship was salvaged and is now on display at Tresco Abbey Gardens.


Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Baden-Durlach

Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Baden-Durlach (7 October 1703 – 26 March 1732) was a German hereditary prince of the Margraviate of Baden-Durlach.
Frederick was the son of Charles III William, Margrave of Baden-Durlach, and Magdalena Wilhelmine of Württemberg (7 November 1677 - 30 October 1742), the daughter of William Louis, Duke of Württemberg.
He became heir apparent when his elder brother Charles Magnus died in 1712.
However, he died before his father did and therefore never came to government in Durlach.
He served in the imperial army. In 1724, he was appointed colonel, in 1728, he was promoted to major general.
Marriage and descendants.
On 3 July 1727, Frederick married Amalia of Nassau-Dietz (born 13 October 1710, died 17 September 1777), the daughter of John William Friso, Prince of Orange. They had the following children:


Prince Maurizio, Duke of Montferrat

Maurizio of Savoy ("Maurizio Giuseppe Maria"; 13 December 1762 – 1 September 1799) was a prince of Savoy and styled the Duke of Montferrat.
Biography.
Prince Maurizio was born at the Royal Palace of Turin in 1762. He was the ninth child but the fourth son of King Victor Amadeus of Savoy (then styled the "Duke of Savoy") and Queen Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain. He was styled the "Duke of Montferrat" from birth. The capital of Montferrat, "Casale Monferrato", was the scene of great celebration at his birth in his honour. As a royal prince, he received an appanage of 20 Million Piedmont scudo.
To escape the threat of Napoleon I, the duke of Montferrat fled to Sardinia with his brothers Victor Emmanuel and Charles Felix where the trio lived in the "Palazzo Carcassona".
His oldest brother Charles Emmanuel fled to Rome. In June 1799 his brother Charles Emmanuel created him Governor of the province of Sassari. Montferrat died on the island in 1799. He died of malaria and was buried at the Cathedral of Alghero. His younger brother Giuseppe, Count of Asti also died of malaria in 1802.


Vella (surname)

Vella is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:


Duchy of Podolia

Duchy of Podolia (, ) was a historical state that previously was a part of Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia. The principality of Southwest Galicia–Volhynia, which was formed as a result of the struggle for the legacy of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia. Founded by Knyaz George Koriatovich from the Karijotas house.
Following the 14th century partition of the Kingdom between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the Galicia–Volhynia Wars, in 1366 Yuriy Koriatovich of Gediminids along with his brother succeeded in unknown way over the duchy as vassal of the Polish crown. In 1377 the duchy became a fiefdom after the King of Hungary Louis I of Hungary conducted a military raid on Ruthenian lands. After the death of King Louis, the Koriatovich brothers took active participation in electing Jogaila as King of Poland, yet kept their fief loyalty to the King of Hungary.
After a conquest of Podolie by Grand Duke of Vytautas in 1394, the Duchy of Podolia was granted on ducal rights (ius ducalis) to the Voivode of Krakow Spytko II of Melsztyn. Following the death of the last at the battle of Vorskla in 1399, King of Poland Jogaila granted the land to his brother Knyaz Svitrigaila. In 1401 Svitrigaila ran away to the Teutonic Order. In 1403 Koriatovich brother completely surrendered any claims for the duchy.
In 1434, the duchy was transformed into the Podolian Voivodeship of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland.
Territory.
Podolia (outdated — the lower reaches) was divided into Western — Dniester and East — Father. Podilsky land (mostly lands inhabited by schools) belonged to the Galician principality and the Grand Duchy of Kyiv. The rulers belonged to the dynasty of Rurikovich. During the invasion of the Golden Horde in 1238, the main part of Podolia was tapped. In 1257, A campaign of the troops of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia in Boheshkov land, which was an attempt to restore control over Podolia.
The territory of the principality covered the land from intermittent of Strypa and Zolota in the west to the Dnieper in the east, in the south — east, the natural line was the Dniester River. In the south, the border was the limit of the steppe zone, controlled by the Golden Horde. In the north, leashed with Volyn and Kyiv lands.
According to Oleksander Guagnini, Podilsky Region is very wide: from the West goes from the Muntenia and Volos border and extends to the Don River. Here was the Podilsky Ulus of the Golden Horde. And P. Knyazss occupied its own land of small Podolia.
History.
The last Galicia–Volhynia monarch was Yuri II Boleslav — the son of the daughter of Yuri I of Galicia Mary and Mazovian Knyaz Troiden I. He settled relations with the Golden Horde. In 1337, he made joint with the Ordin troops campaign to Poland, trying to return captured by Poles in 1303 to Lublin lands. Supporting peace with Lithuania and the Teutonic Order, Yuri II was in a bad relationship with Poland and Hungary who prepared a joint attack on the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia. After his poisoning in 1340, the struggle for the Earth of the Galician — Vladimir state was dispersed between the Grand Duke Volynsky, Liubartas and the Polish King Casimir III the Great. 1349 King Casimir III captured Galician land. In April 1350, the Louis I of Hungary concluded with Kazimir III, by which Hungary "retreated its hereditary rights" to the Galicia–Volhynia Kingdom is lifelong with Casimir III.
Karijotas.
Karijotas began to master the Podolia after the division of the Galicia–Volhynia Kingdom. In 1362, Four Brothers of Koriyovichiv: Oleksander, Yuriy, Konstantin and Fedor participated in the troops of Stryka (Uncle Father) — Grand Duke Algirdas — in the Battle of Blue Waters. For this 1363, according to his brothers, their possessions on Podillia and the Podilsky principality were formed. Brothers were the co — rulers of this principality: Yuri kept Kamyanets, and Konstantin — Smotrych. Fedor at this time was in Hungary. In 1371, Olexander Koriyovich returned to Podolia. The first rulers were Knyazs Yuriy and Oleksander Karijotas, who until 1366 performed on the side of Gediminids. Also known are the other brothers of Coria: Boris, Vasil (Semen Yuriyovich, as the probable son of Yuriy Koryatovych, appears once among the witnesses of the document issued by representatives of the older generation). In documents they protrude either a couple or alone. In general, this way of government is not something extraordinary for that time.
In 1366, the Podilsky principality fell into vassal dependence on the Polish kingdom, the rulers of Oleksander Koriatovich I Yuri paid tribute to the King of Kazimir III. Since then, the ruler of the Podilsky principality is a couple — the eldest and next by the Knyaz (Dumvirat).
In 1372, Knyaz Yuriy invited to take the throne in the neighboring Principality of Moldavia, he was up to 1377, when he was poisoned in contemporary local boyars (buried in the monastery near the city of Birlad). In 1374, he suffered the capital of Podillya from Smotrych to Kamyanets and built a city — fortress city with a castle and city fortifications. At the same time Kamyanets received from the Knyazs of Yuriy and Oleksandr Magdeburg rights. His successor became Brother Oleksander, who had previously owned Volodymyr and Krimets.
After death in the 1370th Casimir III, his sister son Louis I of Hungary became King of Galicia–Volhynia after Congress of Visegrád (1339). In 1372, he handed power over Galicia to his governor — Silesian Knyaz Vladislaus II of Opole (1372 — 1379, 1385 — 1387).
1377 — Knyaz Oleksander and Boris, as a result of the military campaign of the Hungarian King Louis on the Galicia–Volhynia lands, recognized the volatile dependence on him, evidence of which is found a coin of Podilsky half — money depicted with a picture on the reverse of the Anjou coat of arms, a coin in Smotrych, the first capital of the Podilsky principality. The "duets" of the senior coriatiches were several: Yuri and Oleksander, Oleksander and Boris, Boris and Constantine, Constantine and Fedor, Fedor and Vasyl. With this tradition, the fact that coins that have recently attributed to the Coriatovy are not recently attributed to coriaticals, only one of them — Konstantin. Such coins have only a few. On the one hand, it is depicted, on the one hand, Yuri Sorry, from the second — coat of arms Charl I Robert — on the left of white and red stripes of arpades, the right — yellow lilies on the blue shield of the Anjuly Sycolian dynasty; The two — way inscription is read by specialists as "Knyaz Konstantin coin, a smotful mastery. The coins were patterned according to "Galicia–Volhynia money", which were malled in Lviv, and had the name of "Podilsky half — seals".
Another known coin is P.K. — Podilsky Denarium of Knyaz Fedor Koriatovich, ruled in 1388 — 1393. The coin has a size of 12x13.5 mm, mass 0.30 g, 0.600 silver sample.
With the death of Louis Hungarian his elder daughter Maria became the titular queen of Hungary (1382 — 1395), Galicia and Vladimiria (1382 — 1387). The younger daughter of Yadviga received Poland, where the rules in 1384 — 1399. After the death of King Louis and Hungarian (1382) Knyazs Boris and Konstantin — Jr. took effective participation in the election of Jagayl to the Royal Prestol and his marriage with the 12 — year — old Queen Jadwiga of Poland.
About 1389 Fedir Koriyatovich inherited Podillya by the death of older brothers. In 1392, he entered the Union with Svidrigail — at that time Knyaz Vitebsk, which was also opposed to the policy of Yagaila, aimed at full subordination of the Undyl Principities up to their elimination.