Cetiosauriscus

Cetiosauriscus ( ) is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived between 166 and 164 million years ago during the Callovian (Middle Jurassic Period) in what is now England. A herbivore, "Cetiosauriscus" had — by sauropod standards — a moderately long tail, and longer forelimbs, making them as long as its hindlimbs. It has been estimated as about long and between in weight.
The only known fossil includes most of the rear half of a skeleton as well as a hindlimb (NHMUK R3078). Found in Cambridgeshire in the 1890s, it was described by Arthur Smith Woodward in 1905 as a new specimen of the species "Cetiosaurus leedsi". This was changed in 1927, when Friedrich von Huene found NHMUK R3078 and the "C. leedsi" type specimen to be too different from "Cetiosaurus", warranting its own genus, which he named "Cetiosauriscus", meaning ""Cetiosaurus"-like". "Cetiosauriscus leedsi" was referred to the sauropod family Diplodocidae because of similarities in the tail and foot, and had the dubious or indeterminate species "Cetiosauriscus" "greppini", "C." "longus", and "C." "glymptonensis" assigned to it. In 1980, Alan Charig named a new species of "Cetiosauriscus" for NHMUK R3078 because of the lack of comparable material to the type of "C. leedsi"; this species was named Cetiosauriscus stewarti. Because of the poor state of preservation of the "Cetiosauriscus leedsi" fossil, Charig sent a petition to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to instead make "C. stewarti" the type species. "Cetiosauriscus stewarti" became the oldest confirmed diplodocid until a phylogenetic analysis published in 2003 instead found the species to belong to Mamenchisauridae, and followed by studies in 2005 and 2015 that found it outside Neosauropoda, while not a mamenchisaurid proper.
"Cetiosauriscus" was found in the marine deposits of the Oxford Clay Formation alongside many different invertebrate groups, marine ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and crocodylians, a single pterosaur, and various dinosaurs: the ankylosaur "Sarcolestes", the stegosaurs "Lexovisaurus" and "Loricatosaurus", the ornithopod "Callovosaurus", as well as some unnamed taxa. The theropods "Eustreptospondylus" and "Metriacanthosaurus" are known from the formation, although probably not from the same level as "Cetiosauriscus".
History of discovery.
Background.
The fossil later known as "Cetiosauriscus" was originally ascribed to the genus "Cetiosaurus"—one of the first sauropods to be named, in 1842 by palaeontologist Richard Owen, and one with a complicated history due to many unfounded referrals of species and specimens, involving almost all English sauropod specimens. The type species of "Cetiosaurus" has changed throughout history because of incomplete remains and the taxon's significance, and many aspects of its anatomy and relationships are still uncertain. "Cetiosaurus" was originally named to include "C. medius", "C. brevis", "C. brachyurus" and "C. longus", which span from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous of various localities across England. As none of these species are truly diagnostic, and "Cetiosaurus" is a historically and taxonomically important taxon, the more complete Middle Jurassic species "C. oxoniensis" named by geologist John Phillips in 1871 became the type species. "C. glymptonensis" was also named in the same publication by Phillips, but is less complete and of questionable validity.
Another English taxon, "Ornithopsis hulkei", was named in 1870 by palaeontologist Harry Govier Seeley for vertebrae from the Early Cretaceous Wessex Formation, younger than the existing species of "Cetiosaurus". Seeley considered "Ornithopsis" to be closely related to "Cetiosaurus", but different due to the internal bone structure. An additional species, "Ornithopsis leedsii" was named in 1887 by John Hulke for a pelvis, vertebrae and ribs collected by Alfred Nicholson Leeds, an English farmer and amateur fossil collector who throughout his life compiled numerous collections of fossils from the Oxford Clay. "O. leedsii", from the Late Jurassic, showed similarities to older "Cetiosaurus oxoniensis" as well as younger "O. hulkei". It was described in more detail by Seeley in 1889, where he considered "O. hulkei", "C. oxoniensis" and "O. leedsii" to all be in the same genus, bearing the name "Cetiosaurus". But naturalist Richard Lydekker discussed with Seeley, before the publication of Seeley's 1889 paper, that "Cetiosaurus" and "Ornithopsis" were not the same taxon. Lydekker suggested that Wealden fossils (including "O. hulkei") belonged to "Ornithopsis" and the Jurassic remains (including "O. leedsii" and "C. oxoniensis") to "Cetiosaurus". Lydekker in 1895 changed his mind and referred the species "O. leedsii" to "Pelorosaurus" (known already from the species "P. brevis", once named "Cetiosaurus brevis")—as "P. leedsi"—and referred the genus to Atlantosauridae. Lydekker's classification of the species was not supported by later authors like palaeontologist Arthur Smith Woodward in 1905, who followed Seeley's classification scheme.
Discovery and naming.
The sauropod fossil today known as "Cetiosauriscus stewarti" was discovered in May 1898 by clay workers in the area around Fletton to the south of Peterborough and east of the Great Northern Railway line. Pits in this region expose the fossil-rich sedimentary rocks of the marine Oxford Clay, which is of middle Callovian age and today regarded as one of the classic geological formations of British palaeontology. The sauropod fossil possibly stems from NPBCL pit No.1, which was the northernmost pit operated by the New Peterborough Brick Company Limited, and which produced the most vertebrate fossils. The discovery was brought to the attention of Leeds, who, after excavation, took the sauropod specimen to Eyebury, the Leeds' family home. In mid-August, after some cleaning and repairing of the specimen, geologist Henry Woodward visited Eyebury and produced a life-sized drawing of the remains for presentation at the British Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting. Following this presentation, on 17 August 1898, Henry Woodward returned with American palaeontologist Othniel Charles Marsh, who considered the sauropod to be closely related to the North American taxon "Diplodocus". Alfred Leeds offered the sauropod to the British Museum of Natural History (BMNH, now abbreviated as NHMUK) for £250, which would equate to about £30,529 in 2017. The NHMUK had earlier in 1890 and 1892 bought the First and Second Collections of Alfred Leeds, respectively. Woodward, Keeper of Geology at the NHMUK, had "great pleasure" to recommend to the Trustees of the NHMUK the fossil be purchased. The purchase was sanctioned on 25 February 1899, along with the purchase of assorted other remains for just over £357 (~£43,596 now), where the Leeds sauropod gained the accession number BMNH R3078 (now NHMUK R3078).
The amount of material made NHMUK R3078 the most complete sauropod specimen from the United Kingdom, comparable only later to the "Rutland Dinosaur" (referred to "Cetiosaurus") discovered in 1967. Known regions of the specimen include the forelimb, hindlimb and vertebral column. The forelimb lacks the manus (hand) and part of the radius and ulna, although the hindlimb lacks only a few bones in the pes (foot) and fragments of the tibia, fibula and ilium. The vertebrae known are four parts of dorsal vertebrae, the neural spines of the sacrum, multiple anterior caudal vertebrae (tail bones), and a series of 27 nearly complete vertebrae from the middle of the tail with associated or articulated chevrons (ribs along the underside of the tail), although the vertebral series is not continuous. A tail tip (NHMUK R1967) from the same locality, but a different individual was thought by palaeontologist Alan Charig in 1980 to belong to "Cetiosauriscus". The assignment of NHMUK R1967 to "Cetiosauriscus" was considered unlikely in alternate studies by palaeontologists Friedrich von Huene, Paul Upchurch and Darren Naish because of the lack of overlap and uncertain phylogenetic positions. In 1903, the skeleton was mounted as preserved in the British Museum, so it could be more easily compared with other mounted sauropods from North America. The mount of "Cetiosauriscus" was put on display just prior to the cast skeleton of "Diplodocus", and was displayed with the dorsal vertebrae NHMUK R1984 and some isolated teeth from a camarasaurid (possibly referable to "Cetiosauriscus"), making it the first sauropod skeleton mounted in the United Kingdom.
NHMUK R3078 was referred in 1905 by Arthur Woodward to the species "Cetiosaurus leedsii", as it was from the same geologic formation as other specimens that were assigned to "C. leedsii". Woodward also referred the dorsal vertebrae NHMUK R1984 and the tail tip NHMUK R1967 to the species. In 1927, Huene briefly described the anatomy of the species "C. leedsii", where he noted that it shared many similarities with "Haplocanthosaurus" and was most likely between "Cetiosaurus" proper and the former genus. For this reason, Huene proposed the new genus name "Cetiosauriscus" for the species. To the genus he referred the specimens NHMUK R1984–R1988 and NHMUK R3078.
Misassigned species.
Huene (1927) assigned ""Ornithopsis" greppini", which he had named in 1922, to the genus "Cetiosauriscus". The known material, discovered in Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) deposits in the Reuchenette Formation of Switzerland, includes dorsal and caudal vertebrae, forelimb bones, and a hindlimb and partial pes, from at least two individuals. The long humerus was built like "Cetiosauriscus stewarti" ("C. leedsi" of von Huene's 1927 usage), and the two species were originally distinguished from "Cetiosaurus" by having shorter dorsal vertebrae, a shorter forelimb, and a longer lower leg. Similarities such as the anatomy of the caudal vertebrae were suggested by Christian Meyer and Basil Thüring in 2003 to support the referral of "greppini" to "Cetiosauriscus". However, Weishampel et al. (2004) and Whitlock (2011) considered ""Cetiosauriscus" greppini" to be Eusauropoda "incertae sedis", while Hofer (2005) and Schwarz et al. (2007) concluded that ""Cetiosauriscus" greppini" represents an unnamed genus of basal eusauropod. ""Ornithopsis" greppini" was finally named as the new genus "Amanzia" in 2020.
The species "Cetiosaurus longus", named in 1842 by Owen, was referred to the genus "Cetiosauriscus" without comment by sauropod palaeontologist John Stanton McIntosh in 1990. The species was named for a dorsal and caudal vertebrae from the Portland Stone of Garsington, Oxfordshire (both now missing) and two other caudal vertebrae from the same deposit of nearby Thame. Owen also referred a single vertebra and some metatarsals originally named "Cetiosaurus epioolithicus" (an invalid "nomen nudum") to the species. One of the vertebrae (OUMNH J13871) may instead be a cervical, as it has one mildly convex and one concave articular face. Characterised as having uniquely elongate vertebral centra (body of the vertebra), "C. longus" is not a diagnostic taxon. As it lacks any diagnostic features of "Cetiosauriscus", the species should be referred to by its original designation, "Cetiosaurus longus".
"Cetiosaurus glymptonensis", named on the basis of nine middle-distal caudal centra from the Forest Marble Formation of Oxfordshire, England, was referred to "Cetiosauriscus" by McIntosh in 1990. These caudal vertebrae were considered to be more elongate than those of "Cetiosaurus oxoniensis", but caudal length proportions vary significantly throughout the tail and in different taxa, "Apatosaurus", "Diplodocus" and "Cetiosauriscus" having similarly elongate caudal vertebrae. The more anterior caudals have a large ridge two-thirds up the centrum and a smaller ridge one-third up. These ridges are similar to the middle caudals of "Cetiosauriscus". Still, they are absent in caudals of the same size and proportions, and because of this difference the species was concluded to be separate from "Cetiosauriscus" by Upchurch and Martin in 2003. "Cetiosaurus" "glymptonensis" is considered to be Eusauropoda "incertae sedis" by Upchurch and Martin (2003), Weishampel and colleagues (2004) and Whitlock (2011), and is in need of a new genus name because it has a single diagnostic feature, the lateral ridges.
In 1980, Charig described a specimen of indeterminate diplodocid from the Early Cretaceous of England, and re-examined the holotype of "Cetiosauriscus leedsii" to compare its characteristics. In this publication he confirmed that the ilium of the holotype of "C. leedsii", NHMUK R1988, was too incomplete to be compared to the also incomplete ilium of the referred specimen NHMUK R3078. Because of the lack of overlap the referral of NHMUK R3078 to "Cetiosauriscus leedsii" was no longer verifiable, so Charig named the new species "Cetiosauriscus stewarti" for NHMUK R3078. The specific name was chosen to honour Sir Ronald Stewart, the chairman of the London Brick Company that owned the clay pit the fossils had been found in. Furthermore, Charig considered "Cetiosauriscus leedsii" and "Cetiosauriscus greppini" to be dubious taxa, making "C. stewarti" the only valid species within "Cetiosauriscus". Because of the invalidity of the type species "C. leedsii", Charig made a petition to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) in 1993 to designate "Cetiosauriscus stewarti" as the type species of its genus, being the taxon containing the specimen Huene had originally named the genus for and distinguished from "Cetiosaurus", and also a taxonomically more stable name. This was accepted by the ICZN in 1995, making "Cetiosauriscus stewarti" the type species of "Cetiosauriscus". The only specimen that can confidently be assigned to "C. stewarti" is the holotype NHMUK R3078, although it is possible that isolated teeth from the Oxford Clay could be from the taxon.
Description.
"Cetiosauriscus" was a moderately sized, quadrupedal eusauropod. It had a moderately long tail, and relatively long arms making the shoulders level with the hips. "Cetiosauriscus" was approximately long based on the known skeleton, comparable to possible relatives like long "Cetiosaurus", and long "Patagosaurus". The weight of "Cetiosauriscus" is less certain, depending on its phylogenetic placement. Restored as a diplodocid, "Cetiosauriscus" was estimated by Paul (2010) as , but restored as a cetiosaur it was estimated by Paul (2016) as .
Vertebrae.
The dorsal vertebrae of NHMUK R3078 are incomplete or fragmentary. A partial anterior dorsal is known from a single centrum, which is about as long as wide, with a strong anterior articular ball (an opisthocoelous condition). On the lateral surfaces (sides) of the centrum there are deep but small pleurocoels (depressions in the sides of vertebrae for air sacs). A single middle dorsal centrum is preserved, slightly smaller than the anterior dorsal. The pleurocoel is more elongate, but like the anterior dorsal there is no ventral (underside) concavity. A posterior dorsal is also known and is probably the last dorsal before the sacrum (vertebrae between the pelves). It preserves the entire centrum and most of the neural arch, and is significantly shortened in length compared to the other dorsals, although it is about as wide across as tall. A shallow pleurocoel is also present, but is placed higher on the side of the centrum and disappears into the neural arch. Unlike the anterior dorsal, the posterior dorsal is only very slightly opisthocoelous. A tall and narrow hyposphene (thin vertical ridge below the anterior processes of the arch, providing additional vertebral articulation) is present and well expanded off the arch. A single dorsal neural spine is also preserved. It is flattened and not tall, with a narrowed tip, and the only noticeable laminae present are the spinopostzygapophyseal laminae running down the rear corners of the spine to the postzygapophyses. This is unlike most diplodocoids where there are many laminar running along the length of the spines. Four neural spines of the sacrum are preserved, three of which form a single plate and the fourth of which is separate, like in "Diplodocus".
Of the anterior four caudal vertebrae, the anteriormost two are highly incomplete. Both the short, but wider-than-tall, centra preserve traces of the sideways projections (transverse processes) found in other vertebrae, which are very low on the sides compared to following caudals. The neural spines are very thin, thinning to a single ridge in front (the prespinal lamina), but having two spinopostzygapophyseal laminae like the dorsals. The fourth caudal is the most complete anterior caudal. The centrum is concave in front, but flat behind (amphiplatyan). There are no pleurocoels unlike the dorsals, and the transverse processes begin in the top half of the centrum. The centrum is long, tall and wide, with the total vertebra being tall. Anterior caudals of the "Cetiosaurus leedsi" specimen NHMUK R1984 are very similar to those of "Cetiosauriscus", but the neural arches are not as tall in "C. leedsi", and the transverse processes lack a prominent ridge along the top of them. Middle and posterior caudals from a nearly continuous series of 27 bones are well preserved in "Cetiosauriscus". The later vertebrae are slightly more elongate than those in front, and slightly less concave in their anterior face. Moving towards the end of the tail the centra reduce in size and the transverse processes shrink until they are completely absent, with the neural spines becoming shorter, thinner, and more slanted. The seventh vertebrae of the series, at tall, is long, only one cm longer than the 21st of the same series that is tall. A distinguishing characteristic of "Cetiosauriscus" is the presence of a front-to-back concavity on the top of the anterior and middle caudal neural spines.
Appendicular skeleton.
"Cetiosauriscus" preserves a single right scapula (shoulder blade), which is elongate and slender. The scapula is long and wide at the middle, making it very narrow. The inner face is flat across, while the outer face is gently convex. There is no expansion of the far end of the blade. The bone thickens close to the humerus joint, where it also articulates with the coracoid. The coracoid is incomplete, but enough is preserved to show it is rectangular, and longer, at , than it is wide—. A long humerus is known, and complete with minimal crushing. The bone is short and stout, with a robust crest for the deltoid muscle along the upper half of the bone. The shape of the humerus is similar to the shortness of "Neuquensaurus", although overall the forelimb is long, as in "Diplodocus" and "Cetiosaurus", being 69% of the femur length. The distal end is roughened for a large cartilage cap as found in some other eusauropods like "Cetiosauriscus" "greppini". The radius and ulna are broken, but complete they would have been long.
The hindlimb of "Cetiosauriscus" is about the length of the forelimb. Both ilia are very fragmentary, but the two sides supplement each other to give a reasonable idea of the proportions of the complete bone. The ilium is long, and has a long and slender pubic peduncle. It is proportionally lower than in "Cetiosaurus", being similar in proportions to "Haplocanthosaurus" and the later "Titanosauridae". The left femur is complete, but part of the shaft is eroded away. It is very slender, being tall but only wide at the middle. This very gracile femoral morphology is shared with "Amphicoelias", "Shunosaurus", "Ligabuesaurus" and a specimen of "Diplodocus", being more gracile than "Cetiosaurus" and most other eusauropods. A prominent fourth trochanter is present, but the remaining shaft is very compressed. The tibia, fibula and pes are also preserved, but are fragmentary and disarticulated making comparisons difficult, the lower hindlimb being about upright. The foot is similar to "Diplodocus" and "Brontosaurus", where the first toes are large and clawed, and the outer ones are small and clawless. Metatarsal III is the longest, followed by metatarsal IV, II, V and I. Metatarsal I is the widest, and the width of the bones decreases numerically.
Classification.
"Cetiosauriscus" was originally classified by Huene as a genus in the family Cetiosauridae, within the subfamily Cardiodontidae. The subfamily, including the other taxa "Cetiosaurus", "Haplocanthosaurus", "Dystrophaeus", "Elosaurus" and "Rhoetosaurus", was founded upon the general basal features of elongate cervicals and shortened dorsals—both opisthocoelous, amphicoelous caudals that are rod-shaped distally, paired sternal plates, an ilium lacking the postacetabular process (region of the ilium behind the ischium joint and acetabulum), a very wide pubis, wide distal ischium, significantly shorter forelimb than hindlimb, fibula lacking the middle muscle attachment, and long metacarpals and short metatarsals. This classification was emmended in 1932 when Huene concluded "Cetiosauriscus" was closer to "Haplocanthosaurus" than "Cetiosaurus" in the family, because of forelimb and hindlimb proportions. Conversely, in 1956, Alfred Romer synonymised "Cetiosauriscus" and "Cetiosaurus", a position that has not been followed by subsequent studies on the taxon.
David S. Berman and McIntosh in 1978 referred "Cetiosauriscus" to the family Diplodocidae along with multiple other genera; "Diplodocus", "Apatosaurus", "Barosaurus", "Mamenchisaurus" "Dicraeosaurus" and "Nemegtosaurus". Like other members of the family, "Cetiosauriscus" possesses wing-like transverse processes, divided chevrons with forward and backward projections, the tail is "whiplash"-like, the humerus is 2/3 the length of the femur, the calcaneum is absent, metatarsal III and IV are the longest, and metatarsal I has a process on the bottom back corner. This referral would make "Cetiosauriscus", known from the Callovian, the oldest diplodocid, millions of years older than "Diplodocus", "Barosaurus" or "Apatosaurus". In the paper naming "Cetiosauriscus stewarti", Charig also described the chevrons of a new specimen and created the term "diplodociform" to describe them. This meant they were robust and double-beamed, as in "Diplodocus" and its relatives like "Mamenchisaurus". Because of the similarly "diplodociform" chevrons, Charig referred "Cetiosauriscus" to the Diplodocidae along with the new specimen. Elaborating upon his earlier paper, McIntosh (1990) weakly referred "Cetiosauriscus" to the subfamily Diplodocinae, characterised by more cervicals and fewer dorsals, tall sacrum neural spines, short forelimbs, no calcaneum, metatarsals III and IV being the longest, and a small process on the distal end of metatarsal I. The subfamily also included "Diplodocus", "Barosaurus" and "Apatosaurus". In 2004 this placement was followed by Weishampel "et al." without comment.
A phylogenetic analysis of "Cetiosauriscus" was conducted in 2003 by Julia Heathcote and Upchurch, based upon the two most inclusive matrices of the time, those of Jeffrey A. Wilson (2002) and Upchurch (1995), neither of which had included the taxon in the past. Added to the analysis of Upchurch, "Cetiosauriscus" placed as the sister taxon of "Tehuelchesaurus", in a group including "Mamenchisaurus", "Omeisaurus" and "Euhelopus", and a placement within a group of "Omeisaurus" and "Mamenchisaurus" was also found by using the Wilson matrix. Based on these two results, Heathcote and Upchurch concluded "Cetiosauriscus" was not a diplodocid or even within Diplodocoidea, instead being a more basal sauropod outside Neosauropoda. The phylogenetic analysis of Rauhut "et al." (2005) resolved "Cetiosauriscus" in a clade with "Omeisaurus", itself in a group with "Losillasaurus" and "Mamenchisaurus", outside of Neosauropoda. The phylogenetic relationships of "Cetiosauriscus" were also tested in 2015 by Tschopp "et al.", as a potential diplodocid. Although the genus was found to be within Diplodocimorpha with one analysis method, it was also found outside Neosauropoda. In both, "Cetiosauriscus stewarti" was found to be in a clade alone with "Barosaurus affinis", a dubious species known only from foot bones. Tschopp "et al." concluded that "Cetiosauriscus" was not a diplodocid or a diplodocoid, as forcing it to be outside Neosauropoda was more parsimonious than forcing it to be within Diplodocoidea in all analyses. As the paper was only to test relationships within Diplodocidae, more solid conclusions regarding the position of "Cetiosauriscus" could not be made. The results of the favoured cladogram of Tschopp "et al." is shown below:
Palaeobiology.
Palaeopathology.
The series of distal caudal vertebrae NHMUK R1967, once referred to "Cetiosauriscus", is similar to the caudals of "Diplodocus", with two convex ends (biconvex) and a long and thin centrum. These caudals display signs of injury at two points along the series of ten vertebrae, where there are signs of breakage that was later healed. These lesions were identified as the same form of pathologies as found on the tail of "Diplodocus". It has been suggested that the biconvex distal caudal vertebrae in sauropods were used for making whip-like cracking noise, being thin and delicate and not intended for impact, as the joints would be very vulnerable to damage rendering them useless.
Palaeoecology.
"Cetiosauriscus" lived during the Callovian, an epoch in the Middle Jurassic, about 166 to 164 mya.
The single specimen is known from the Lower Member of the Oxford Clay Formation, along with multiple other dinosaur genera and many other groups of animals, in the biozone of the index fossil "Kosmoceras jason". The Oxford Clay Formation is a marine deposit of southern and middle England, known for the high-quality preservation of some fossils and the large diversity of taxa. Sediments are generally brownish-grey mudstone, organic-rich with plentiful crushed ammonites and bivalves, at most thick. A large diversity of flora can be seen, preserved in the form of pollen and spores. Gymnosperms are present, along with pteridophytes, unidentifiable wood fragments, other intermediate pollen, and miscellaneous organic plant material.
The intermediate sauropod "Ornithopsis leedsi" is known from the same section of the formation as "Cetiosauriscus", along with the stegosaurids "Lexovisaurus durobrivensis" and "Loricatosaurus priscus" (which are possibly synonyms), the basal ankylosaur "Sarcolestes leedsi", the ornithopod "Callovosaurus leedsi", and a second unnamed ornithopod taxon. Dinosaur eggs that have not yet been assigned to a taxon are also known from the Lower Oxford Clay. The theropods "Eustreptospondylus" and possibly "Megalosaurus" are also known from the Oxford Clay Formation, but slightly younger deposits (the Middle Member). In addition, the theropod "Metriacanthosaurus" is from an unknown level and age in the formation.
Hundreds of invertebrates are known from the marine deposits, including bivalves, gastropods, scaphopods, ammonites, teuthoids, a nautiloid, foraminifera, coelenterates, bryozoans, brachiopods, annelids, crustaceans, ostracods, cirripedes and echinoderms. Fish are known from the clades Elasmobranchii, Chimaera, and Actinopterygii, and the ichthyosaur "Ophthalmosaurus", the plesiosaurs "Cryptoclidus", "Muraenosaurus", "Tricleidus", "Liopleurodon", "Peloneustes", "Pliosaurus" and "Simolestes", the crocodilians "Metriorhynchus" and "Steneosaurus", and the pterosaur "Rhamphorhynchus" were all present.


Price Commission

The Price Commission was set up in the UK under the Counter-Inflation Act 1973, alongside the Pay Board, in an attempt to control inflation. The Conservative government of Edward Heath, elected at the 1970 general election, had previously abolished the Prices and Incomes Board in November 1970, shortly after taking power, relying on competition to keep prices down. At the same time, the Industrial Relations Act 1971 was intended to rein in the trades unions.
The Conservatives' economic policy was not successful, and the government took a U-turn. A 90-day freeze of pay and prices (as well as rents and dividends) was introduced on 6 November 1972 under the Counter-Inflation (Temporary Provisions) Act 1972. This was replaced by a Price and Pay Code, which strictly limited increases, supervised by a new Price Commission and a Pay Board.
The Conservatives were unable to keep power after the inconclusive February 1974 UK general election, and the Pay Board was abolished in July 1974 by the minority Labour government led by Harold Wilson, but the Price Commission continued. The scope of its powers were amended by the Price Commission Act 1977 and the Price Commission (Amendment) Act 1979.
Controls on prices were abolished soon after the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher won the 1979 general election, and the Counter-Inflation Act 1973 was repealed by the Competition Act 1980.


The British disease

In economics, British disease was a derogatory term to describe the period of economic stagnation in the United Kingdom in the 1970s at the time the country was widely described as the "sick man of Europe". It was characterised by rates of capital investment and labour productivity which lagged behind continental Europe, as well as strained industrial relations. The term relates to a lack of social vitality during industrial disputes in the 1970s.
A lack of productivity of the UK economy was one factor behind Margaret Thatcher's economic reforms.


2000 in Germany

The following lists events that happened during 2000 in Germany.


Vyatichi

The Vyatichs or more properly Vyatichi or Viatichi () were a native tribe of Early East Slavs who inhabited the Oka river, Moskva river and Don river.
The Vyatichi had for a long time no princes, but the social structure was characterized by democracy and self-government. Like various other Slavic tribes, the Vyatichi people built kurgans on territory which belongs now to the modern Russian state. In the "Primary Chronicle", it is recorded that the Vyatichi, Radimichs and Severians "had the same customs", all lived violent lifestyles, "burned their dead and preserved the ashes in urns set upon posts beside the highways", and they did not enter monogamous marriages but practiced polygamy, specifically polygyny, instead.
The "Primary Chronicle" names a certain tribal leader Vyatko as the forefather of the tribe, who was a Lyakh brother of Radim from whom emerged the Radimichs. The Vyatichi were mainly engaged in farming and cattle-breeding. Between the 9th and 10th centuries, the Vyatichi paid tribute to the Khazars and later to Kievan princes. The tribe, however, was constantly trying to defend its own political independence until the early 12th century. By the 11th century, the Vyatichi had already populated the Moskva basin and the area of today's Moscow. In the 11th and 12th centuries, the tribe founded a number of cities due to developing handicrafts and increasing trade, including Moscow, Koltesk, Dedoslav, Nerinsk and others. In the second half of the 12th century the land of the Vyatichi was distributed among the princes of Suzdal and Chernigov. The last direct reference to the Vyatichi was made in a chronicle under the year of 1197. Indirect references, however, may be traced to the early 14th century.
Saint Kuksha of the Kiev Caves was a missionary who converted many Vyatichi to Christianity (in 1115), being beheaded by their chiefs August 27 ca. 1115.
There are numerous archeological monuments in Moscow that tell historians about the Vyatichi. Their fortified settlements of the 11th century were located in the historical center of today's Moscow, namely the Borovitsky Hill, Kolomenskoye (the spot of the former Diakovskoye village), Kuntsevo (a district of Moscow) and others. One may also find traces of Vyatich settlements in Brateyevo, Zyuzino, Alyoshkino, Matveyevskoye and other localities of Moscow. Burial mounds with cremated bodies have been found along the upper reaches of the Oka and Don.


Doros (Crimea)


Johannes Raudmets

Johannes Raudmets (also known as Ivan Ivanovich Raudmets) (January 1, 1892 – September 9, 1937) was an Estonian Soviet Komdiv (division commander). He fought in the Imperial Russian Army in World War I before going over to the Bolsheviks in the subsequent civil war. He was a recipient of the Order of the Red Banner. During the Great Purge, he was arrested on June 11, 1937 and later executed. Some sources give the date of his execution as August 25, 1937. After the death of Joseph Stalin, he was rehabilitated in 1966.


2009 in Scotland

Events from the year 2009 in Scotland


George Amyand

Sir George Amyand, 1st Baronet (26 September 1720 – 16 August 1766) was a British Whig politician, physician and merchant.
Origins.
He was the second son of Claudius Amyand, Surgeon-in-Ordinary to King George II, by his wife Mary Rabache, and was baptised at the fashionable St James's Church, Piccadilly. Claudius's father was a Huguenot who had quitted France following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.
Career.
Amyand was Army Contractor during the Seven Years' War, an assistant to the Russia Company in March 1756 and a director of the East India Company in 1760 and 1763. In that year, he bought the manor of Frilsham, Berkshire from Willoughby Bertie, 4th Earl of Abingdon.
Between 1754 and 1766, Amyand sat as Member of Parliament (MP) for Barnstaple, in North Devon. On 9 August 1764, he was created a baronet, of Moccas Court, in the County of Hereford.
Marriage and progeny.
In 1748 he married Anna Maria Korteen (d. 1767), daughter of John Abraham Korteen ("alias" Kerton), a German merchant of Hamburg, by whom he had two sons and two daughters:
Death and burial.
Amyand died on 16 August 1766, aged 45, from unknown causes, and was buried at Carshalton a week later.
Monument.
In the outer south aisle of All Saints Church, Carshalton is a white marble urn, with an inscription in his memory.
Barnstaple organ donation.
He donated the present organ in St Peter's Church, Barnstaple, one of the largest in Devon, made by John Crang in 1764. It is decorated with his armorials: "Vert, a chevron between three garbs or" with an inescutcheon of unidentified arms.


Infantes of Aragon

The Infantes of Aragon () is an appellation commonly used by Spanish historians to refer to a group of 15th-century "infantes" (princes) of the House of Trastámara, specifically the sons of King Ferdinand I of Aragon and his wife Eleanor of Alburquerque:
History.
The death of King Henry III of Castile in 1406 left the Crown of Castile in the hand of an infant son, John II of Castile. In his will, Henry III had appointed his brother Infante Ferdinand of Antequera as regent for the young king. Ferdinand used the position to secure advancement for his own children. After the death of the childless king Martin of Aragon in 1410 left the Crown of Aragon without heirs, the estates, by the Compromise of Caspe in 1412, elected the Castilian prince Ferdinand of Antequera as King Ferdinand I of Aragon, Valencia and Barcelona.
After Ferdinand's premature death in 1416, he was succeeded by his eldest son as Alfonso V of Aragon. But the ambitious younger sons, particularly the Infantes John and Henry - the 'Infantes of Aragon' - were already entrenched with vast estates in Castile and sought to dominate political life during the reign of their impressionable cousin, king John II of Castile. In July 1420, Infante Henry engineered a coup in Tordesillas, dispossessed opposing nobles and seized effective control of Castilian government. In November of that year, the Infantes arranged the marriage of their sister Maria of Aragon to John II of Castile, thus consolidating their power (they also arranged the reciprocal marriage of John II's sister Maria of Castile to their eldest brother Alfonso V).
But John II of Castile turned to Castilian grandee Álvaro de Luna, soon made Constable of Castile, to engineer a counter-coup and force Infante Henry into exile in Aragon. But by 1427, Álvaro de Luna had fallen out of the king's favor, and Infante Henry returned to Castile and recovered much of his old powers.
In 1425, Infante John married Blanche I of Navarre, and became consort-King of Navarre. Their younger sister Eleanor, was married to King Edward of Portugal in 1428. The Trastamara brood had a hand in every Iberian kingdom, in addition to their extensive estates within Castile itself.
The position of the 'Infantes of Aragon' seemed unassailable. But John II of Castile turned to the constable Álvaro de Luna once again to dislodge them. The Infantes had the support of the high Castilian nobility and (of course) Aragon and Navarre, but the Constable knit a coalition of smaller nobles and burghers against them. The protracted political and military struggles between Álvaro de Luna and the Infantes of Aragon, with its series of successes and reverses, characterized much of John II's reign.
The Infantes were finally defeated at the First Battle of Olmedo in 1445, where Infante Henry died from his wounds. Álvaro de Luna enjoyed a brief period of dominance, until 1454, when John II's second wife, Isabella of Portugal, secured his dismissal.
The eldest Trastamara brother, Alfonso V of Aragon, died in 1458, and was succeeded by his younger brother Infante John of Navarre, who ascended as King John II of Aragon.
John II (of Aragon) died in 1479. His son Ferdinand II of Aragon married John II (of Castille)'s daughter Isabella I of Castile, ushering in (with some difficulty) the reign of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain.


Sachsen 3 Pfennige red

The Sachsen 3 Pfennige red, commonly called "Sachsendreier", issued on 29 June 1850 and valid from 1 July 1850 until 31 December 1867, was the first postage stamp of the Kingdom of Saxony, making this country the second among the German States (after the Kingdom of Bavaria) to issue postage stamps.
The begin of the stamp's postal validity coincides with the inauguration of the Austro-German Postal Union which had the aim of simplifying the hitherto diverse postal system in Germany, including the payment of postage and the settlement of postal fees between the members of the union. Postage stamps had by then already proven convenient in other countries.
With its value of 3 Pfennige ( = 3/10 Neugroschen = 1/100 Thaler) the "Sachsendreier" was meant to frank printed matters, such as newspapers in wrappers. Senders often attached the stamp in such a way that half of it stuck to the wrapper, and half to its contents, such that the wrappers could not slide off. Consequently, most stamps of this issue were destroyed, and only less than 1% of the original number has been preserved.
"Sachsendreier" was printed in typography on sheets of five by four stamps. Altogether, 500,000 stamps in 25,000 sheets were printed in eight different printings which can be distinguished by the colour of the printing ink which varies from a pale brick red to carmine. 463,118 stamps of this issue were sold, the remainder was burned.
Only about 3000 – 4000 "Sachsendreier" stamps have been preserved. Most of them are cancelled by penstroke or postmark, about 10% are unused. One complete sheet has survived, but in a restored state. It had been found stuck to a wall and had been damaged upon removal. It has changed hands several times, last in 1994. A second sheet had been broken up in the 1890s. A block of six stamps is the property of "Museum für Kommunikation Berlin", the successor of "Reichspostmuseum", a block of four stamps from the lower right corner is in private hands.
Due to its rarity, the stamp has often been forged. Its popularity has made it part of the design of several commemorative stamp issues, and around 1900 the private Dresdner Verkehrs-Anstalt Hansa issued a stamp whose design strongly resembles the "Sachsendreier".


Adolf Anier

Adolf Anier (, in Tallinn – 27 March 1945) was an Estonian footballer, who played for Estonia.
International career.
Anier made his sole appearance for Estonia on 11 August 1922 in a 10–2 loss against Finland.
Personal.
Adolf Anier is buried at the Metsakalmistu cemetery in Tallinn.


Mecochirus

Mecochirus is an extinct genus of lobster-like decapod crustaceans, containing 17 species.


Aequi

The Aequi () were an Italic tribe on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains to the east of Latium in central Italy who appear in the early history of ancient Rome. After a long struggle for independence from Rome, they were defeated and substantial Roman colonies were placed on their soil. Only two inscriptions believed to be in the Aequian language remain. No more can be deduced than that the language was Italic. Otherwise, the inscriptions from the region are those of the Latin-speaking colonists in Latin. The colonial exonym documented in these inscriptions is Aequi and also Aequicoli ("colonists of Aequium"). The manuscript variants of the classical authors present Equic-, Aequic-, Aequac-. If the form without the -coli is taken as an original, it may well also be the endonym, but to date further evidence is lacking.
Historical geography.
The historians made many entries concerning the wars between the Aequi and Rome; the geographers scarcely mention them. Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy both make the same brief statement: the towns of the Aequiculi were Cliternia or Cliternum and Carsoli or Carsioli Pliny places them in Augustus' "Regio IV"; Ptolemy adds that they were to the east of the Sabini. By the time of the early Roman Empire, all vestige of the Italic Aequi was gone. The two cities mentioned had been Roman colonies. The forms mentioned in inscriptions from there are Carsioli and Cliternia.
They occupied the upper reaches of the valleys of the Aniene, Tolenus and Himella, the last two being mountain streams running northward to join the Nera river.
History.
According to Strabo, the Aequi were in existence when the city of Rome was founded. They are first mentioned by Livy as an ancient nation from which the Romans borrowed the rites of declaring war. Livy also mentions that the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, made peace with the Aequi.
They fought several wars against the Romans, among which was the Battle of Mount Algidus (458 BC). Their chief center is said to have been taken by the Romans about 484 BC. and again about 90 years later.
Records of fighting between Romans and Aequi become much sparser in the second half of the 5th century BC. Likely the Aequi had gradually become a more settled people and their raiding petered out as a result.
In 390 BC, a Gaulish war band defeated the Roman army at the Battle of Allia and then sacked Rome. The ancient writers report that, in 389 BC, the Etruscans, Volsci, and Aequi all raised armies in the hope of exploiting this blow to Roman power. According to Livy and Plutarch, the Aequi gathered their army at Bolae. However, the Roman dictator, Marcus Furius Camillus, had just inflicted a severe defeat on the Volsci. He surprised the Aequian army and captured both their camp and the town. According to Diodorus Siculus, the Aequi were actually besieging Bolae when they were attacked by Camillus. According to Livy, a Roman army ravaged Aequian territory again in 388, this time meeting no resistance. Oakley (1997) considers these notices of Roman victories against the Aequi in 389 and 388 to be historical, confirmed by the disappearance of the Aequi from the sources until 304. Owing to the dispute in the sources, however, the precise nature of the fighting around Bolae cannot be determined. Bolae was a Latin town, but it was also the scene of much fighting between Romans and Aequi, and it changed hands several times. Either an (unreported) Aequian capture followed by Roman recapture, or a failed Aequan siege, are therefore possible.
The Aequi were not finally subdued until the end of the second Samnite war, when they seem to have received a limited form of franchise.
All we know of their subsequent political condition is that after the Social War the folk of Cliternia and Nersae appear united in a "res publica Aequiculorum", which was a municipium of the ordinary type located in what is now the municipality of Pescorocchiano. The Latin colonies of Alba Fucens (304 BC) and Carsioli (298 BC) must have spread the use of Latin all over the district; through it lay the chief (and for some time the only) route (Via Valeria) to Lucera and the south.
At the end of the Republican period, the Aequi appear under the name Aequiculi or Aequicoli, organized as a municipium, the territory of which seems to have comprised the upper part of the valley of the Salto, still known as Cicolano (from Latin "Ager Aequicolanus"). It is probable, however, that they continued to live in their villages as before. Of these, Nersae (modern Civitella di Nesce) was the most considerable. Remains include large polygonal terrace walls.


Anna, Grand Duchess of Lithuania

Anna (; died on 31 July 1418 in Trakai) was Grand Duchess of Lithuania (1392–1418). She probably was the first wife of Vytautas the Great, Grand Duke of Lithuania. Anna was mother of Sophia of Lithuania, the only child of Vytautas and wife of Vasily I of Moscow. She is best remembered for helping Vytautas to escape from a prison in Kreva in 1382 and thus probably saving his life. Little is known about Anna's life and even her origins remain disputed by historians.
Life.
During the civil wars.
Likely Anna and Vytautas were married between 1368 and 1377 or around 1370. Anna first comes to light in 1382 when her husband was imprisoned in the Kreva Castle by his cousin Jogaila during the Lithuanian Civil War (1381–1384). While all accounts agree that she freed her husband, details vary from source to source. It is unclear how much freedom Anna had in Kreva and if she was guarded. It is written in the Lithuanian Chronicles that she had two maids with her. She convinced one of them to exchange clothes with Vytautas who then escaped undetected. Chronicler Wigand of Marburg claimed that Vytautas dressed in Anna's clothes rather than in one of Anna's maids. It is believed that Anna remained in Kreva and no information is available on how she escaped or was released. Historian Teodor Narbutt (1784–1864) later added many colorful details to the story, including Vytautas illness and maid Alena, who sacrificed herself to save her master.
In 1389, when her husband's coup to capture Vilnius failed, she was in Hrodna. After the failed coup Anna followed her husband to the Teutonic Knights, where Vytautas asked for an alliance against his cousins Jogaila and Skirgaila in the Lithuanian Civil War (1389–1392). For a while she was held hostage to guarantee that Vytautas would not break the alliance. After the disagreements were settled in 1392, Anna confirmed the Ostrów Agreement, the peace treaty which made Vytautas the Grand Duke of Lithuania. She signed two letters, one given to Jogaila and another to his wife Jadwiga of Poland. Anna continued to be active in political life and attended negotiations for the Treaty of Salynas (1398).
Later life.
Before 1396, she and her husband traveled to Késmárk to meet King Sigismund of Hungary to establish a friendly relationship. While they spoke for a long time, a fire broke out burning half of the city, leading the Hungarian nobles to suspect Vytautas's people. Sigismund intervened and cleared up the situation, resuming the negotiations. After the visit was finished, Vytautas and his wife Anna gave many presents to Sigismund including a coat, a hat and gloves made of sable fur and embroidered in gold. Details of all these presents "given by Vytautas's wife" were recorded in a 15th-century chronicle by , a close associate of Sigismund of Hungary.
In 1400, Anna visited the tomb of Dorothy of Montau in Marienwerder (modern Kwidzyn), and prayed in the churches of Saint Anne in Brandenburg and of Saint Barbara in Oldenburg. She was accompanied by her brother-in-law Sigismund Kęstutaitis and an escort of 400 men. Anna was greeted with expensive gifts and lavish receptions. Anna continued to maintain good relationship with the Teutonic Knights, who sent her expensive gifts, including a clavichord and portative organ in 1408 and rare wine in 1416. After her death, all churches in Prussia were ordered to hold requiem masses. Various chronicles and documents recorded much less positive interaction between Anna and Poland.
It is believed that St. Anne's Church, built in Vilnius Lower Castle before 1390, was so named in Anna's honor. It was later known as St. Barbara's Church but did not survive to the present. Flemish traveler Guillebert de Lannoy wrote favorably about the Grand Duchess.
After her death in 1418, Vytautas wanted to marry her niece Uliana Olshanska, daughter of Ivan Olshanski. Polish historian Jan Długosz asserts that Ivan of Karachev, first husband of Uliana, was murdered by Vytautas in order to marry her. The Bishop of Vilnius refused the ceremony due to their close relationship (Vytautas was Uliana's uncle-in-law) and demanded they seek approval from the pope. Eventually the Bishop of Włocławek performed the ceremony.
Family.
Origin.
There is considerable debate about who the parents of Anna were. According to the Bychowiec Chronicle, a late and unreliable source, Anna was a sister of Yuri Svyatoslavich, the last sovereign ruler of the Principality of Smolensk. For a long time this was the only theory about her origins.
In 1933, Lithuanian historian Ignas Jonynas published a study in which he attempted to debunk the Bychowiec Chronicle and demonstrate that Anna was not an Orthodox duchess from Slavic lands, but a daughter of a local Lithuanian noble. Jonynas pointed out that no other contemporary source mentions the relationship between Vytautas and Yuri even though Lithuania and Smolensk were at war several times. The First Lithuanian Chronicle, the basis for which was written while Vytautas was still alive, describes how wars against Smolensk were waged in 1386, 1395, 1401, and 1404, but mentions nothing about Vytautas and Yuri being in-laws. Jonynas argued that Anna was a sister of Sudimantas, a nobleman from Eišiškės and commander of Vytautas' army. Teutonic Chronicle mentions Sudimantas as of Vytautas. At the time meant "brother-in-law". Another document from 1416 refers to Sudimantas as , which denoted a relative, usually related by blood. Since Jonynas' study, Sudimantas has been variously presented as Anna's brother, father, or sister's husband.
In his 1995 article, Polish historian Jan Tęgowski disagreed with Jonynas and argued that the Bychowiec Chronicle was correct. He argued that Sudimantas was married to a sister of Anna. Tęgowski's main argument that Anna was from Smolensk rested on two documents from 1413 that mention a "Russian duke Basil" as Vytautas's brother-in-law. Tęgowski identified this Basil as a son of . Lithuanian historian Inga Baranauskienė refuted this identification since the only known Basil from Smolensk was a son of Ivan, Sviatoslav's brother. She also analyzed the overall relationship between Smolensk and Lithuania noting it was mostly adversary. Further, she noted that Anna had two sisters who were married to local Lithuanian nobles which would be virtually impossible if they were daughters of the Prince of Smolensk.
Sisters.
Flemish traveler Guillebert de Lannoy mentioned that he was received by two sisters of Anna when he visited Vilnius in 1413. A 1390 complaint written by Vytautas against cousins Jogaila and Skirgaila mentioned that his wife's sister was married to his close associate Ivan Olshanski. A memorial book from a monastery in Liubech recorded her name as Agrippina (these books recorded names of the deceased so that they could be remembered in prayers). Ivan and Agrippina had at least four sons and a daughter (Uliana Olshanska who married Vytautas after Anna's death). Another sister of Anna was mentioned by historian Jan Długosz (1415–1480). He recorded that Julijona, sister of Anna, was married to Narimantas who was murdered by Vytautas during an attack on Vilnius in 1390; Julijona later married Albertas Manvydas, the first Voivode of Vilnius. The Latin version of the 1390 complaint by Vytautas recorded a different version – before her marriage to Albertas Manvydas, she was married to Butrimas, a cousin of Vytautas, who was murdered in retribution for the hanging of Vaidila.


Prince Amedeo of Belgium

Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este (Amedeo Marie Joseph Carl Pierre Philippe Paola Marcus d'Aviano; born 21 February 1986) is a grandson of King Albert II of Belgium, and thus a member of the Belgian royal family. He is also heir to the headship of the House of Austria-Este, a cadet branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and is sixth in line to the throne of Belgium.
Birth and family.
Amedeo was born on 21 February 1986 at the Saint-Luc University Hospital in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Belgium, as the first child and elder son of Lorenz, Archduke of Austria-Este, and Princess Astrid of Belgium. He bears the same given name as his paternal great-grandfather, Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta. His godparents are his maternal uncle, King Philippe and grandmother, Queen Paola of Belgium.
Amedeo himself is godfather to his cousin, Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant. Amedeo has one younger brother, Joachim (b. 1991), and three younger sisters: Maria Laura (b. 1988), Luisa Maria (b. 1995) and Laetitia Maria (b. 2003).
He was baptised and married by the archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, Cardinal Danneels.
Education and career.
Amedeo undertook primary school and the greater part of his secondary education at the Jesuit school Sint-Jan Berchmanscollege (founded 1604) in Brussels, popular with Belgian aristocracy and royalty. He finished his secondary education at Sevenoaks School in Kent, England, between 2001 and 2004. He then spent a year in Belgium's Royal Military Academy. In September 2005, he began studies at the London School of Economics, where he graduated in 2008 with a BSc degree in Management, and took a sabbatical before entering professional life.
From July 2009 to June 2012, Amedeo worked for Deloitte in New York City, first as a business analyst from July 2009 to June 2011, then as a management consultant in strategy and operations from July 2011 to June 2012. He then worked as a research analyst intern at Accumulus Capital Management, LLC from August through December 2012.
During 2013 and 2014, Amedeo resumed his studies, obtaining an MBA degree at the Columbia Business School of Columbia University. He subsequently returned to Belgium, where he worked for McKinsey & Company in Brussels from September 2014 to September 2016. In January 2017, he began working at the Gutzwiller private bank in Basel, where his father is a partner.
Marriage.
On 15 February 2014, the Belgian Royal Court announced the engagement of Prince Amedeo to an Italian journalist, Nobile Elisabetta "Lili" Maria Rosboch von Wolkenstein.
Amedeo and Elisabetta both descend from Don Giuseppe Tiberio Ruffo di Calabria-Santapau, 2nd Prince of Palazzolo, Count of Sinopoli (1627–1683), while through German princely dynasties their most recent common ancestor is Franz Albrecht I, Prince of Oettingen-Spielberg (1663–1737).
The couple's wedding was celebrated on 5 July 2014 in Rome's Basilica Santa Maria in Trastevere, in the presence of the Royal Family of Belgium (with the exception of his great-aunt Queen Fabiola), as well as members of the cadet branches of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, including the bridegroom's grandmother, Margherita of Savoy, Dowager Archduchess of Austria-Este, and members of other dynasties, including Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg and her husband Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein, Princess Beatrice of York and Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon. The couple were planning to relocate in Belgium after the wedding.
Amedeo and Elisabetta have a daughter, Anna Astrid (born on 17 May 2016), and a son, Maximilian (born on 6 September 2019).
Succession rights to the Belgian throne.
In 1991, Amedeo obtained, along with his mother and younger siblings, succession rights to the Belgian throne. In 1993, his maternal grandfather acceded to the throne as King Albert II and he became third in Belgium's line of succession, following his uncle Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant, and his mother. Upon Philippe's marriage in 1999, the prospect of Amedeo inheriting the throne substantially diminished, and the birth of a daughter and dynastic heir to Philippe in 2001 dropped his place in the order of succession down to fourth and eventually to seventh, following the birth of Philippe's other children. The abdication on 21 July 2013 of his grandfather King Albert II promoted him to sixth in line to the throne.
Although an announcement of Amedeo's engagement was published on the Royal Family's website, no dynastic authorisation for his marriage was published prior to his wedding, as foreseen in Article 85 of the Belgian Constitution. Speculation in the media included a commentator on the military parade for "La Une" who, on 21 July 2014 (Belgian National Day), alleged that no royal authorisation was announced because the prince intentionally chose not to request permission to marry, and therefore Amedeo was no longer deemed in the line of succession. In November 2015, a royal decree expressing King Philippe's retroactive permission for the marriage was gazetted in the "Moniteur Belge".
Titles and styles.
All the children of Princess Astrid and Archduke Lorenz bear the title of "Prince(ss) of Belgium" by Belgian Royal Decree of 2 December 1991, which is distinct from their traditional Austro-Hungarian titles.


Castelloceras

Castelloceras is an extinct genus of actively mobile carnivorous cephalopod of the family "Baltoceratidae" that lived in what would be Europe during the Ordovician from 468—443.7 mya, existing for approximately .
Taxonomy.
"Castelloceras" was named by Evans (2005). Its type is "Castelloceras arennigense". It was assigned to "Baltoceratidae" by Evans (2005).


Sigismund I the Old

Sigismund I the Old (, ; 1 January 1467 – 1 April 1548) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until his death in 1548. Sigismund I was a member of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the son of Casimir IV and younger brother of kings John I Albert and Alexander I Jagiellon. He was nicknamed "the Old" in later historiography to distinguish him from his son and successor, Sigismund II Augustus.
Sigismund was born in the town of Kozienice in 1467 as the fifth son of Casimir IV and his wife Elizabeth of Austria. He was one of thirteen children and was not expected to assume the throne after his father. Sigismund's eldest brother and rightful heir Vladislaus II instead became the King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia as the successor to George of Poděbrady in Bohemia and then to Matthias Corvinus in Hungary, thus temporarily uniting these kingdoms. When Casimir died, the Polish-Lithuanian realm was divided between the remaining two older sons, with John Albert being crowned King of Poland, and Alexander as Grand Duke of Lithuania. Alexander inherited Poland following John Albert's sudden death in 1501. Hence, Sigismund's reign only began when he succeeded Alexander to both titles in 1506 at the age of 39.
A capable monarch and a patron of arts, Sigismund established Polish rule over Ducal Prussia and annexed the Duchy of Mazovia with Warsaw, whilst retaining the nation's wealth and prominence in the region. He assured that his nephew Albert, Duke of Prussia, and his Protestant successors will pay a feudal homage or tribute to Polish monarchs as a sign of political and diplomatic dependence. This was observed until the Treaty of Bromberg in 1657 when Prussia gained its sovereignty. Sigismund and commander Jan Amor Tarnowski also defeated Moldavia at Obertyn in 1531 and Muscovy in 1535, thereby strengthening the country's eastern borders. His 42-year reign was further marked by decisive contributions to Polish architecture, cuisine, language and customs, especially at the behest of his second wife, the Italian-born Bona Sforza. Italian styles and fashions dominated at the height of the Polish Renaissance and Polish Golden Age, which developed the Roman Catholic identity of Poland. He was commemorated on a contemporary 200-złoty banknote.
Sigismund was married twice, first to noblewoman Barbara Zápolya from Hungary and then to Bona Sforza, the daughter of Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan. Their only son and the last Jagiellon king, Sigismund Augustus, was co-crowned "vivente rege" in 1529 and formally assumed throne when Sigismund the Old died in 1548.
Early life and coronation.
The son of King Casimir IV Jagiellon and Elisabeth
Habsburg of Austria, Sigismund followed his brothers John Albert and Alexander to the Polish throne. Their eldest brother Vladislaus became king of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia. Sigismund was christened as the namesake of his Habsburg maternal great-grandfather, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund.
After his father's death, Sigismund was the only son who did not hold any land titles. In the years 1495–1496, he addressed his older brother, the Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander, and demanded the separation of a domain from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but was refused. Queen Dowager Elisabeth Habsburg also tried without success to ensure the succession of her son to the throne of Austria. And the disastrous and unsuccessful invasion of Moldavia led by his older brother King John I Albert dispelled the plans for placing Sigismund on the Moldavian throne. Eventually Sigismund came under the care of his eldest brother Vladislaus II, King of Bohemia and Hungary, from whom he received the duchies of Głogów (1499) and Opava (1501), and in 1504 became governor of Silesia and Lower Lusatia.
After the death of King Alexander I, Sigismund arrived in Vilnius, where he was elected by the Lithuanian Ducal Council on 13 September 1506 as Grand Duke of Lithuania, contrary to the Union of Mielnik (1501), which proposed a joint Polish-Lithuanian election of a monarch. On 8 December 1506, during the session of the Polish Senate in Piotrków, Sigismund was elected King of Poland. He arrived in Kraków on 20 January 1507 and was crowned four days later in Wawel Cathedral by Primate Andrzej Boryszewski.
Internal politics.
Crown of the Kingdom of Poland.
The internal situation in Poland was characterised by broad authorisation of the Chamber of Deputies, confirmed and extended in the constitution of "Nihil novi". During Alexander's reign, the law of "Nihil novi" had been instituted, which forbade kings of Poland from enacting laws without the consent of the Sejm. Sigismund had little control over the act, unlike the senators, whom he personally appointed. Eventually, during his reign, Sigismund benefited from the advice of the local nobility, competent ministers in charge of the royal judiciary system, and the wealthy influential treasurers of Kraków. Although he was reluctant to the parliamentary system and political independence of the nobility, he recognised the authority of legal norms, supported legalism and summoned annual sessions of the Sejm, usually obtaining funds on state defence. However he was unsuccessful at attempting to create a permanent fund for defence from the annual income tax. Despite this, in 1527 he established a conscript army and the bureaucracy needed to finance it. He set up the legal codes that formalised serfdom in Poland, placing the peasants into the private estates of nobles.
Likely related to tax matters was an unsuccessful attempt on the life of the king, made on 5 May 1523. The identity of the would-be assassin - who shot the ruler while he was strolling in the evening around the cloisters of the Wawel castle - and his potential supporters was never established. Unclear motives remained after the assassination attempt. Three weeks before the event, Sigismund I introduced a new edict that was very unfavourable and somewhat hostile to the high-ranking nobles and their interests.
Sigismund I achieved several economic successes, including partial debt reduction, separation of accounts of public taxation from the royal treasury, strengthening of the activities of the mint operating in Kraków, and the attempt to organise the processing of income from operating salt mines. Furthermore, he issued a statute for the Armenians (1519) and strongly intended to harmonise the judicial system across the country.
Between 1530 and 1538 the king issued two statutes defining the rules for the selection of the monarch, which permanently established the election "viritim". The laws held that all social groups, regardless of their wealth, could watch the election process ("unusquisque qui vellet"), and the election was to be free ("electio Regis libera").
Sigismund successfully organised the agricultural economy, looked after the development of the royal cities and recovered numerous goods of the treasury belonging to the crown that were under lien. During the financial activities, the King received full support of his wife, Queen Bona, who aimed to expand the royal estates by purchasing and improving economic efficiency. In 1514 he set up the Council of Four Lands and put Abraham of Bohemia in charge of it.
Chicken War Rebellion.
At the start of his reign, King Sigismund I the Old inherited a Kingdom of Poland with a century-long tradition of liberties of the nobility, confirmed in numerous privileges. A rebellion in Lwów widely known as "Chicken War" () was an anti-royalist and anti-absolutist rokosz (revolt) by the Polish nobility that occurred in 1537. The derisive name was coined by the magnates, who for the most part supported the King and claimed that the "war's" only effect was the near-extinction of the local chickens, eaten by the nobles gathered for the rebellion at Lwów in eastern part of Lesser Poland.
To strengthen his power, Sigismund initiated a set of reforms, establishing a permanent conscription army in 1527 and extending the bureaucratic apparatus necessary to govern the state and finance the army. Supported by his Italian consort Bona Sforza, he began buying up land and issue agriculture reformas to enlarge the royal treasury. He initiated a process of restitution of royal properties, previously pawned or rented to the nobles.
The nobility gathered near the city to meet to a "levée en masse" and called for a military campaign against Moldavia. However, the lesser and middle strata of the nobility organised a revolt to force the King to abandon his risky reforms. The nobles presented him with 36 demands, most notably a cessation of further land acquisitions by Queen Bona, exemption of the nobility from the tithe, confirmation and extension of privileges for nobles and adoption of a law concerning Incompatibilitas — an individual wouldn't be able to hold two or more official administrative positions in the country. The role of the Incompatibilitas was to prevent wealthy magnates from usurping too much power at the expense of lesser nobles.
However, the revolt soon transpired that the nobility's leaders were divided and that achieving a settlement was almost impossible. Too weak to start a civil war against the King, the protesters finally agreed to what was thought a compromise. Sigismund rejected most of their demands, while accepting the principle of Incompatibilitas the following year and agreeing not to force the election of the future king in "vivente rege". Thereupon, the nobility returned to their homes having achieved little.
Foreign politics.
War with Moscow.
Sigismund was intermittently at war with Vasili III of Muscovy beginning in 1507, before the Polish army was fully under his command. Further tensions escalated when Vasili also discovered that Sigismund was bribing Khan Meñli I Giray to attack the Grand Duchy of Moscow. In December 1512, Muscovite forces marched into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania seeking to capture Smolensk, a major trading center between Russia and Europe. The initial six- and four-week sieges in 1513 were a failure, but the city fell to the Muscovites in July 1514.
Russia subsequently suffered a series of disastrous defeats in the field. In 1512, Grand Hetman of Lithuania, Konstanty Ostrogski, ransacked the region of Severia and vanquished a Russian force of approximately 6,000 men. On 8 September 1514, Muscovy suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Orsha, which prevented the Russians to place all the former Kievan Rus' lands under their lordship. Poland exploited the battle for propaganda purposes with strong anti-Russian sentiment. A letter sent to Rome stated that "Muscovites are not Christians; they are cruel and barbaric; they are Asians and not Europeans; they are in league with Turks and the Tatars to destroy Christendom".
Regardless of victory, the Polish–Lithuanian troops were incapable of moving quickly enough to retake Smolensk. In 1518, Russian forces were again beaten during the siege of Polotsk, when according to legend the Lithuanian forces were inspired by the sight of their patron saint, Saint Casimir, the older brother of Sigismund. However, this was dubbed by historians as a folk tale. In 1522, a truce was signed between Lithuania and Muscovy which extended until 1534.
In 1534, when Grand Hetman Jerzy Radziwiłł and the Tatars pillaged western Russia, the Muscovites in retaliation invaded Lithuania once more. They were eventually stopped by Polish commander Jan Amor Tarnowski and allies at Starodub in 1535. Their defeat strengthened the Polish-Lithuanian union's eastern flank until the beginning of the Livonian War in 1558.
Europe.
In 1515 Sigismund entered into an alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. In return for Maximilian lending weight to the provisions of the Second Peace of Thorn (1466), Sigismund consented to the marriage of the children of Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary, his brother, to the grandchildren of Maximilian. Through this double marriage contract, Bohemia and Hungary passed to the House of Habsburg in 1526, on the death of Sigismund's nephew, Louis II, who led his forces against Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire in the disastrous Battle of Mohács.
Worried about the growing ties between the Habsburgs and Russia, in 1524 Sigismund signed a Franco-Polish alliance with King Francis I of France to avoid a possible war on two fronts. Francis I himself was looking for allies in Central Europe to curtail the increasing power of Habsburg Emperor Charles V, whose realms were labelled "the empire on which the sun never sets". Furthermore, Queen Bona was instrumental in establishing an alliance between Poland and France, with the objective of recovering Milan. The official negotiations were conducted by Antonio Rincon in 1524, who was then followed by Jerome Laski. Through the agreement, the son of Francis, Henry, Duke of Orléans, was to marry one of Sigismund's daughters, and Sigismund's eldest son was to marry a daughter of Francis I.
The negotiations came to an end and the alliance was disbanded when Francis' troops were defeated by Charles V at the Battle of Pavia in 1525. Disturbed by the failure of his campaign, Francis turned to Hungary instead and formed a Franco-Hungarian alliance with King John Zápolya in 1528.
After the death of Janusz III of Masovia in 1526, Sigismund succeeded in uniting the Duchy of Masovia and Warsaw with the Kingdom of Poland. There was speculation whether Janusz and his younger brother Stanisław were poisoned by a subject of Queen Bona. The accusations were so pervasive and rampant that Sigismund ordered an investigation, as a result of which a special edict was declared on 9 February 1528 confirming that the Masovian princes died naturally or due to related illness. According to chronicler Jan Długosz, the real cause of the death of both princes could have been inherited tuberculosis.
In other matters of policy, Sigismund sought peaceful coexistence with the Khanate of Crimea, but was unable to completely end border skirmishes.
Teutonic Knights.
Over two centuries of wars against the Teutonic Knights ended in 1525 with the Treaty of Kraków after the final Polish–Teutonic War (1519–1521). Previously, the Second Peace of Thorn (1466) placed the Teutonic Order under Polish suzerainty and interfered with German interests in Livonia, Pomerania, Warmia and Masuria. The Order attempted to avoid paying tribute to Polish monarchs which was a demonstration of weakness and dependence.
In accordance with the new Treaty of Kraków, the Order was abruptly secularized and turned de facto into a puppet state of Poland which lasted until the Treaty of Bromberg in 1655. Sigismund's nephew Albert, Duke of Prussia, converted to Lutheranism under the persuasion of Martin Luther, and paid a feudal homage to Sigismund. In return he was granted the domains of the Order as the First Duke of Prussia. This became known in Polish and Lithuanian history as the "Prussian Homage", which was often featured in arts. The Prussian Landtag and parliament assembled in Königsberg, where envoys embraced both the new Duke and the Protestant Reformation. Thereupon, the Teutonic Order lost its importance as a military order in Prussia and retreated to the Holy Roman Empire where it became secluded.
Renaissance and legacy.
Sigismund had a profound interest in Renaissance humanism and the revival of classical antiquity. His second consort Bona Sforza, daughter of Gian Galeazzo Sforza of Milan, was also instrumental in developing the Polish Renaissance and brought renowned Italian artists, architects and sculptors from her native country. It was under Sigismund's reign that Renaissance began to flourish in Poland and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Sigismund II Augustus later continued his father's legacy.
Among the illustrious figures that guested or lived in Poland at the time were Bartholommeo Berecci, Francesco Fiorentino, Santi and Mateo Gucci, Bernardo Morando, Giovanni Battista di Quadro and Hans Dürer. Most of the decorators working for the court were foreigners, especially Italians and Germans who had a profound impact on Poland's architecture as a whole. The centrepiece of their work is Wawel Castle in Kraków, the seat of Polish monarchs as well as one of the largest castles in Central Europe. Situated on a hill overlooking Old Town, the fortified residence was extensively reconstructed in the Renaissance style and to the personal needs of the royal family. The Italian cloistered courtyard in the shape of a quadrangle, corridors, archways and portals were designed by Fiorentino with the help of Benedykt from Sandomierz. A similar design was undertaken in Niepołomice Castle, the hunting retreat of the Jagiellons.
The most prominent example of Sigismund's architectural legacy is a funerary monument in the form of a chapel at Wawel Cathedral. It was constructed between 1519 and 1533 according to plans by Bartolomeo Berrecci of Florence, and serves as a mausoleum of the last Jagiellons. The exterior dome is gold-plated and interior tombs made of marble were designed by Santi Gucci. Historians, experts and architects unanimously voted the chapel as "the most beautiful example of the Tuscan Renaissance north of the Alps". The monarch also commissioned a 12.6-tonne bell which was named in his honour. The Royal Sigismund Bell was installed 13 July 1521 on Wawel Cathedral's northernmost tower. Apart from religious and national holidays, the bell rung on some of the most significant moments in Polish history and is one of Poland's national symbols.
Death and succession.
Sigismund suffered from numerous illnesses and diseases, especially towards the end of his life. Most notably, he was tormented by constant fevers since youth as well as gout and acute rheumatism in the autumn of 1528. The condition, which severely affected his joints and right leg, was repetitive and continued in 1529 and 1534. It is likely that Sigismund Augustus was co-crowned "vivente rege" in 1529 as a result of these pervasive pains and in case his father died unexpectedly. Furthermore, bad eating habits and a poor diet contributed to the king's ailing health, in particular large amounts of beer and mead. Eventually, the king's inability to walk forced him to be carried in a litter. However, despite his age, Sigismund was of sound mind throughout and remained active in politics until death. In 1543, he recovered from an influenza which spread in Kraków and in 1545 he enjoyed a last hunting excursion to Niepołomice.
Sigismund died on 1 April 1548 at the age of 81 and was buried on 7 July at Wawel Cathedral in Kraków. He was succeeded by his only legitimate son, Sigismund II Augustus, who became the last Jagiellon king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. In 1587 Sigismund the Old's grandson, Sigismund III from the House of Vasa, was elected King of Poland. He was the son of Catherine Jagiellon and her husband John III Vasa of Sweden. Hence, Sigismund III could not belong to the Jagiellonian dynasty by his mother, but the Jagiellon bloodline of Polish monarchs continued until the death of Sigismund Vasa's second son John II Casimir.
Marriages and issue.
In 1512, Sigismund married Barbara Zápolya (d. 1515), a Hungarian noblewoman, with whom he had two daughters:
In 1517, Sigismund married Bona Sforza, with whom he had two sons and four daughters:
By his mistress, Katarzyna Telniczanka (d. 1528), he also fathered three children prior to his first marriage:


Palike

Palike (; ) was an ancient city on Sicily. Its archeological site is located in Rocchicella on a spur of basalt in the valley of the Margi river. It lies at a distance of two kilometers to the west of the "comune" of Palagonia, but is part of the "comune" of Mineo, both in the province of Catania. The Sicilian Region has recently acquired the area and opened it to the public. An exhibition was created to show the materials found there during excavations.
History.
There are no certain origins to this ancient town. Diodorus Siculus writes that it was founded in 453 BCE by the native Sikel leader Ducetius. It was named after the sanctuary of the Palici nearby. The city was surrounded by strong walls and grew rapidly because of the fertility of its soil. However, it was soon destroyed and the site remained uninhabited at the time Diodorus wrote the "Bibliotheca historica", which he finished in approximately 60 BCE.
Palike's destruction most likely happened in 440 BCE, when the city of Trinakie was destroyed by Syracuse according to Diodorus Siculus. Ducetius had died of an illness earlier in the same year. Peter Green and several other historians argue that Trinakie was most likely the same city as Palike. The table of contents of the "Bibliotheca historica" refers to the Syracusan campaign as being conducted "against the Picenians", which makes no sense. If the spelling of the Ancient Greek text is slightly altered, this would read "against the men of Palici". Trinakie is an ancient indigenous name for Sicily, which would have been a suitable name for the nationalistic ambitions of the Sicels. The city might have been renamed to Trinakie or it could have been the name of its acropolis.


Salme Rootare

Salme Rootare (March 26, 1913, Tallinn – October 21, 1987) was an Estonian chess master.
She was fifteen times Estonian Champion (1945, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, and 1972).
Salme tied for 4-5th at Plovdiv 1959 (Candidates Tournament, Women's World Chess Championship). She beat Ludmilla Rudenko, the all-USSR women's champ 1950-1953, at least once, in 1956 in recorded tournament play, when Rudenko, believing she was would be mated on her next move, resigned. It wasn't until later that both players realised that Rudenko had a saving move.
Awarded the WIM (Women's International Master) title in 1957.
Salme was married to Vidrik Rootare, known as Frits, and they had a daughter, Reet.


Isabella Jagiellon

Isabella Jagiellon (; ; 18 January 1519 – 15 September 1559) was the oldest child of Polish King Sigismund I the Old, the Grand Duke of Lithuania and his Italian wife Bona Sforza. In 1539, she married John Zápolya, Voivode of Transylvania and King of Hungary, becoming Queen consort of Hungary. At the time Hungary was contested between Archduke Ferdinand of Austria who wanted to add it to the Habsburg domains (see Royal Hungary), local nobles who wanted to keep Hungary independent (see Eastern Hungarian Kingdom), and Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent who saw it as a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire (see also Little War in Hungary). While Isabella's marriage lasted only a year and a half, it did produce a male heir – John Sigismund Zápolya born just two weeks before his father's death in July 1540. She spent the rest of her life embroiled in succession disputes on behalf of her son. Her husband's death sparked renewed hostilities but Sultan Suleiman established her as a regent of the eastern regions of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary on behalf of her infant son. The region developed as a semi-independent buffer state noted for its freedom of religion. Ferdinand, however, never renounced his claims to reunite Hungary and conspired with Bishop George Martinuzzi who forced Isabella to abdicate in 1551. She returned to her native Poland to live with her family. Sultan Suleiman retaliated and threatened to invade Hungary in 1555–56 forcing nobles to invite Isabella back to Transylvania. She returned in October 1556 and ruled as her son's regent until her death in September 1559.
Biography.
Early life and marriage plans.
Born in Kraków on 18 January 1519, Isabella was the oldest child of King Sigismund I the Old and his Italian wife Bona Sforza. She spent most of her childhood at Wawel Castle in Kraków and the hunting castle in Niepołomice. She also lived in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1527–29 and 1533–36. During the latter visit her three younger sisters were left in Kraków. This episode foreshadowed future family relationships: Bona Sforza favored her oldest daughter, arranging her marriage early, while the other three daughters were neglected and married late. Isabella received a good education, including from humanist Johannes Honter, and she could speak and write four languages: Polish, Latin, German, and Italian (her mother's native language).
In March 1519, when Isabella was just a two-month-old baby, French envoys proposed to marry Isabella with a future son of Francis I of France in exchange for Sigismund's support in the upcoming elections for the Holy Roman Emperor. Sigismund supported Charles V, but Bona continued to pursue a French marriage for Isabella. She hoped that King of France would install his son and Isabella in the Duchy of Milan which Bona claimed as her inheritance. In 1524, Hieronymus Łaski negotiated an anti-Turkish alliance with the French; among the provisions was marriage of Isabella and Henry, second son of Francis I. But this alliance failed after Francis was taken prisoner in the Battle of Pavia.
Bona then pursued an Italian marriage. Isabella of Naples, Isabella's grandmother, sent envoys to Poland to propose marriage to Francesco II Sforza, newly installed Duke of Milan. However, Sigismund refused as the duchy was contested and Francesco's hold was tenuous. Bona then proposed Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, but he chose Margaret Paleologa as she brought March of Montferrat as her inheritance. Sigismund wanted a Habsburg marriage. In 1530, he proposed Maximilian, eldest son of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, but they refused as Isabella was eight years older than the groom. When Habsburgs wanted to stop the proposed marriage between Isabella and John Zápolya, they proposed Ludovico, eldest son of Charles III, Duke of Savoy, but he died in 1536.
Around 1531, a plan emerged to wed Isabella to John Zápolya, Voivode of Transylvania and King of Hungary. When Louis II of Hungary was killed in the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Hungary was divided between pro-Habsburg Royal Hungary and pro-Zápolya Eastern Hungarian Kingdom. The parties were engaged in the Little War in Hungary. Zápolya had sustained his claim only by gaining support from and becoming vassal of the Ottoman Empire. Bona Sforza, ardent opponent of the Habsburgs, supported Zápolya and tried to convince her husband Sigismund to provide military support and Isabella's hand. Sigismund, whose first wife was Zápolya's sister Barbara, refused, not wanting to upset the Habsburgs and doubting Zápolya's ability to hold onto his throne. Eventually, Sigismund relented on a condition that a peace treaty was concluded between Zápolya and the Habsburgs. The Treaty of Nagyvárad was signed in February 1538 in part due to Sigismund's requirement. Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and Zápolya agreed to divide Hungary between themselves and that Ferdinand was to inherit Zápolya's territory since at that time he was childless.
Queen of Hungary.
In April 1538, just two months after the Treaty of Nagyvárad, Bishop Stjepan Brodarić arrived to Kraków to negotiate timing and conditions for the wedding of Isabella and John Zápolya. Polish nobles considered the wedding to be ill-conceived and not beneficial, but it proceeded. On 15 January 1539, five hundred Hungarian knights arrived to Kraków. The betrothal took place on 26 January. The "per procura" wedding date is not known exactly, but it was probably between 28 January and 2 February. After the ceremony, Isabella departed towards Hungary. Her dowry was 32,000 ducats in cash plus property worth another 6,000 ducats. Through Buda she reached Székesfehérvár where she met John Zápolya for the first time on 22 February. He granted her the towns of Solymos, Lippa, Déva, Csicsó, Tokaj, parts of Debrecen and Regéc castles. The next day the wedding ceremony took place and Isabella was crowned as Queen of Hungary. The wedding feast continued for a week in Buda.
The married life was short and not happy. 20-year-old Isabella had to deal with 52-year-old husband who complained of gout and overall ill health. In spring 1540, Zápolya traveled to quell a revolt in Transylvania by . Isabella stayed in Buda as she was pregnant. Their son John Sigismund Zápolya was born on 7 July 1540. Zápolya succeeded in subduing the rebels, but he died on 22 July from cerebral hemorrhage.
Regency.
According to the Treaty of Nagyvárad, John Zápolya was to be succeeded by Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, but Hungarian nobles, particularly Bishop George Martinuzzi, refused to abide by it and in September 1540 elected the infant John Sigismund as King of Hungary and Isabella as his regent. Ferdinand invaded Hungary and besieged Buda where Isabella and her son sought shelter. The city withstood the first siege in November 1540 and the second siege in May 1541 was lifted by Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. She did not receive help from her father Sigismund I the Old. Suleiman preferred a fragmented Hungary but understood that only he could protect it from the Habsburgs. Therefore, he converted most of Hungary to pashaliks (province governed by a pasha) and only Transylvania and lands east of the Tisza River (known as Temesköz) were given to John Sigismund and Isabella as his guardian. These appointments were accepted by the Transylvanian Diet acknowledging its status as a vassal of the Ottoman Empire.
In September 1541, Isabella departed Buda and took up residence in Lippa, then in Gyál and Gyulafehérvár. She complained about ruinous state of her new domains and financial troubles. Isabella was young, noted for her beauty, and scolded for her expensive tastes. Three surviving pieces of jewelry are attributed to her: a diamond ring, a large pendant with 16 opals, and a gold necklace. She began reconstruction of the former bishop's palace in Alba Iulia in the Renaissance style according to the examples of Wawel Castle in her native Kraków and Royal Palace in Buda. She faced multiple political challenges: keeping peace with the Ottomans, containing Martinuzzi's ambitions, and blocking Ferdinand's attempts at taking over Transylvania. In December 1541, perhaps exhausted by her circumstances, Isabella signed an agreement with Archduke Ferdinand: she would abandon Transylvania and take up residence in the Szepes County. However, when Ottomans attacked again, Ferdinand did not have enough military power to defend his territories (see Siege of Esztergom (1543)) and the agreement remained forgotten. Poland proposed to solve the issue with another marriage – Isabella would marry widowed Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke Ferdinand, or his eldest son Maximilian. But Ferdinand hoped that he could acquire Transylvania by other means.
In 1548, when the Ottomans gathered all their forces for an assault against Persia in the ongoing Ottoman–Safavid War (1532–55), Ferdinand and Martinuzzi began negotiations to unite Hungary and defend it against the Ottomans. The agreement was reached on 1 August 1549 in Nyírbátor. Isabella would give up Transylvania in exchange for Opole and Racibórz in Silesia. Ferdinand was also to provide for John Sigismund, who would later marry one of his daughters. Martinuzzi was to be made Archbishop of Gran, and to receive the cardinal's hat. Isabella defended her rights and took up arms. She did not receive help from her brother Sigismund II Augustus as he concluded an alliance with Ferdinand so that he could quell opposition of Polish nobility to his marriage to Barbara Radziwiłł.
Return to Poland.
In fall 1550, Isabella's troops defended Alba Iulia, but had to agree to a truce. She gained support from nobility in the diet of Aiud, but her forces were defeated near Cenad and she was besieged in Buda. In July 1551, facing superior forces, Isabella surrendered and signed the Treaty of Weissenburg. She agreed to give up Transylvania in exchange for Opole, Racibórz, and other territories so that her annual income would be 25,000 florins. For her domains in Hungary, which were valued at 140,000 florins, Isabella was to receive Ziębice, Ząbkowice Śląskie, and 100,000 florins in cash. John Sigismund was to marry one of Ferdinand's daughters. In August, Isabella gave up the Holy Crown of Hungary. According to Marcin Bielski, the cross atop of the crown was broken off and kept by John Sigismund who hoped one day to reunite the pieces. At the same time, John Sigismund was betrothed to 4-year-old Joanna of Austria.
In September 1551, Isabella departed from Transylvania. According to a legend, when Isabella stopped to have a rest at the gates of Meszes, a border town, she cut the abbreviation of her motto into the bark of an old oak tree: SFV – "Sic fata volunt" ("It is the will of fate"). The same motto can be found on her jewelry and her coins. She reached Opole in March 1551 to find it devastated. The buildings where she was to live were unsuitable for habitation, the income was only half of what the treaty provided, and Ferdinand did not hurry to pay the agreed cash sums. Only a month later she departed Opole towards Poland where she lived with her family for the next five years. To provide her with income, her brother granted her Krzepice and Sanok, while her mother gave her Wieluń. Despite being outside the Duchy of Opole, she showed interest in its affairs. She influenced the appointment of the parish priest of the church in Prudnik and indirectly supported local Lutherans.
Return to Transylvania.
The situation in Hungary was not stable. George Martinuzzi was assassinated in December 1551, while the Ottomans captured Cenad and unsuccessfully besieged Eger. Isabella received invitations both from Sultan Suleiman, who sent an envoy to Poland, and local nobles to return to Hungary, but she delayed. Her brother King Sigismund II Augustus, afraid of a Habsburg–Russian alliance in the series of the Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars, married Catherine of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand. Isabella and her mother Bona Sforza demanded that Ferdinand fulfilled his obligations according to the Treaty of Weissenburg, but he did not have financial resources to comply and asked for concessions. Isabella decided that since he did not hold up his end of the bargain, she was not bound by the treaty and resolved to return to Hungary.
In February 1556, Isabella and her mother Bona, who was returning to her native Italy, departed Warsaw towards Silesia. She spent the summer in Lviv waiting for an opportune moment to return. Accompanied by Ottoman troops, she entered Kolozsvár in October. On 25 November 1556, the Transylvanian Diet entrusted her with a five-year regency period on behalf of her 16-year-old son. Isabella set up her Transylvanian chancellery with the help of Mihály Csáky. She minted her own gold ducats that depicted Madonna and Child on one side and composite coat of arms on the other. The coat of arms included: wolf and unicorn of the Zápolya family, Patriarchal cross and four horizontal stripes of Hungary, eagle of Poland, snake of the Sforza/Visconti families, and three panther heads of Dalmatia. In 1558, her supporter foiled a coup by the Kendi family against her. In addition to political strife, there were religious differences as well since Protestantism spread into Hungary. In 1557, Isabella signed an edict granting freedom of religion to four denominations – Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, and Unitarians. It was a pioneering move towards religious tolerance and an important step towards the Edict of Torda of 1568. Isabella is noted as the first European ruler to issue laws on religious tolerance.
Isabella died of a long illness in September 1559, just three years after her return to Transylvania.


Teresina Bontempi

Teresina Bontempi (Locarno, 1883 – Cevio, 1968) was an Italian-speaking Swiss writer and editor from Canton Ticino, Switzerland. She promoted Italian irredentism in southern Switzerland in the 1930s with her magazine "L' Adula".
Biography.
Her name is linked to the Italian irredentism of Ticino and the newspaper/magazine "The Adula" of which she was the director. It was at the centre of an ongoing controversy in Ticino and in Switzerland throughout the first half of the 20th century, particularly between 1912 and 1936.
The father, James, was Secretary of the Department of Education of the Canton Ticino and Teresina studied to become an Inspector of elementary schools of the canton.
The activity of Teresina Bontempi should be seen in relation to the severe economic and social conditions in which was the Ticino between the two world wars, and with reference to Italian culture and language with the resulting "claims" ("Rivendicazioni") submitted to federal authorities in 1924 and supported by all parties in Ticino.
Together with a friend, Rosetta Colombi, she founded the magazine "The Adula" (named from the mountain that divides the Ticino from German-speaking areas in Switzerland), printed in Bellinzona, in which she denounced in particular the alleged progressive Germanisation which was undergoing the Canton Ticino. The tone of the newspaper was sharpened under Benito Mussolini's influences in the 1930s, reaching some pro-fascist sympathies for Italian irredentism.
In this newspaper collaborated known exponents of culture, not only from Ticino, but also from the Kingdom of Italy: Giuseppe Prezzolini (which opened in 1912 on the "Voice" a discussion about the "Italian characteristics" of the Ticino in 1913 and reserved a number of the magazine on the theme involving among others Francis Church), Giovanni Papini, Giani Stuparich, Scipio Slataper and others.
She was even the favourite pupil of Maria Montessori, who introduced her teaching methods in the Canton Ticino thanks to Bontempi.
The Swiss authorities began to persecute her in 1933, then closed several times her newspaper/magazine and finally removed her from teaching. In 1935 she was convicted on charges of irredentism and spent a few months in jail, which she served in the prison of Lugano.
She retired from all activities, exiled to Italy and from 1936 to 1945 resided in Parma near her brother. Back in Switzerland, was initially relegated to her town of Menzonio and then went to the hospital of Cevio, where she died in perfect solitude and deliberately forgotten.
In the 1990s Elda Simonett-Giovanoli, another Italian speaking Swiss writer, has remembered her as a woman who nearly alone defended her opinions with courage.
Works.
In exile in Italy Bontempi wrote her "Diary of Captivity ", published successfully in the postwar period.


2009 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 2009 in the United Kingdom.
Births.
22 February Archie Yates actor


Alexey Kharuzin

Alexey Nikolayevich Kharuzin (; March 12, 1864, Reval – May 8, 1932, Moscow) was a Russian ethnographer, anthropologist, and statesman.
Kharuzin was born in Reval (present-day Tallinn, Estonia) to a Russian merchant family. Between 1873 and 1883, he attended the Reval Gymnasium. He later graduated from the Moscow State University Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. The Imperial Natural Science Lovers Society (INSLS) sent him on numerous missions to the South Caucasus, Crimea and the Aegean Sea, and Central Asia. In 1889, he became a Russian Geographical Society envoy to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Between 1889 and 1891, Kharuzin was an editor of the INSLS Department of Anthropology Journal.
In 1891, Kharuzin was appointed a special assistant to the governor of Estonia and later as a secretary for the former peasant committee, the provincial statistics committee, the provincial body for peasant affairs. In 1902, he was appointed head of the Vilno Governor General's office.
Between 1904 and 1906, Kharuzin served as a governor of Bessarabia and later as the director of the Department for Religious Affairs of Foreign Faiths. In 1911, he became Russia's Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs.
Unlike many high-ranking Russian statesmen, Kharuzin did not choose to immigrate after the October Revolution of 1917. He worked at the Shatilov agricultural base which he helped establish near Tver. In 1924, he returned to Moscow where he was hired as a gardening teacher at the Agricultural Polytechnicum.
In 1927, Kharuzin was arrested by the State Political Directorate, only to be released soon without any charges. In 1931, he was arrested for the second time together with his son Vsevolod for allegedly "spreading Anti-Soviet propaganda." On April 3, 1932, the Special Council of the NKVD found him guilty of the charge and sentenced him to three years in exile. A month later, Kharuzin died in the Butyrka prison from heart failure.


22nd European Film Awards

The 22nd European Film Awards were presented on 12 December 2009, in Bochum, Germany.
Winners and nominees.
Best Actor.
 Tahar Rahim – "A Prophet" ("Un prophète")
Best Actress.
 Kate Winslet – "The Reader"
Best Animated Film.
 "Mia and the Migou" ("Mia et le Migou") – Jacques-Rémy Girerd
Best Cinematographer.
 Anthony Dod Mantle – "Antichrist" and "Slumdog Millionaire"
Best Composer.
 Alberto Iglesias – "Broken Embraces" ("Los abrazos rotos")
Best Director.
 Michael Haneke – "The White Ribbon" ("Das weiße Band")
Best Screenwriter.
 Michael Haneke – "The White Ribbon" ("Das weiße Band")