Child abandonment
Child abandonment is the practice of relinquishing interests and claims over one's offspring in an extralegal way with the intent of never again resuming or reasserting guardianship over them. The phrase is used to describe the physical abandoning of a child, but it can include severe cases of neglect and emotional abandonment, such as in the case of a parent who fails to offer financial and emotional support for his or her child over a long period of time. An abandoned child is referred to as a foundling. Baby dumping refers to parents leaving a child younger than 12 months in a public or private place with the intent of terminating their care for the child, it is known as rehoming, in cases where adoptive parents use illegal means, such as the internet, to find a new home for their child. In most cases, child abandonment is classified under a subsection of child abuse statutes and is punishable with a felony. Following felonious charges, one or both guardians give up their parental rights over the child thus severing their relationship with the child.
Some states allow for a reinstatement of parental rights, in which case the parent or parents can have a relationship with the child again. However, it is unlikely that the parents can regain custody; the perpetrator can additionally be charged with reckless abandonment if the victim dies as a result of his or her actions or neglect. Poverty and homelessness are causes of child abandonment. People living in countries with poor social welfare systems and who are not financially capable of taking care of a child are more to abandon their children because of a lack of resources. In some cases the parents have a child or children, but are unable to take care of another child at that time. In societies where women are looked down upon for being teenage or single mothers, child abandonment is more common. Children born out of the confines of marriage may be abandoned in a family's attempt to prevent being shamed by their community. Physical disability, mental illness, substance abuse problems that parents are facing can cause them to abandon their children.
Children who are born with congenital disorders or other health complications may be abandoned if their parents feel unequipped to provide them with the level of care that their condition requires. In cultures where the sex of the child is of utmost importance, parents are more to abandon a baby of the undesired sex. People may choose to pursue the controversial, option of sex-selective abortion. Political conditions, such as war and displacement of a family, are cause for parents to abandon their children. Additionally, a parent being incarcerated or deported can result in the involuntary abandonment of a child if the parent did not voluntarily relinquish their parental role. Disownment of a child is a form of abandonment which entails ending contact with, support for, one's dependent. Disownment tends to occur in a child's life due to a conflict between the parent and the child, but can occur when children are still young. Reasons include: divorce of parents, discovering the true paternity of a child, a child's actions bringing shame to a family.
Possibility of experiencing abuse and neglect in institutionalized care Low self-esteem stemming from feelings of guilt about being at fault for being abandoned Separation anxiety: feelings of anxiety about being separated from parents or caregivers Attachment issues: difficulty becoming attached to and trusting other people caregivers Abandonment issues, characteristic of abandoned child syndrome, including: social alienation, anxiety, clinginess and nightmares, eating disorders, anger issues, substance abuse, traumatic reenactment through romantic relationships Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, referred to as posttraumatic stress disorder of abandonment. Depending upon the severity of their symptoms, children who have developed certain maladjusted tendencies in social interaction may be diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder or disinhibited social engagement disorder. For children who are abandoned in dangerous places, such as dumpsters and other public areas, exposure to the elements and physical injury are distinct possibilities.
In 2015, it cost the United States' government over $9 billion to support 427,910 children who were in foster care. Child abandonment is illegal in the United States, but some states consider it to be a felony offense, while others categorize it as a misdemeanor, so punishments range from a $2,000 fine to up to five years in prison and a $125,000 penalty. Providing access to sex education and to family planning resources, like contraception, abortion can help prevent people who cannot take care of, or do not want to raise, children from becoming pregnant in the first place. Evidence has shown that, when bans on abortion are lifted, the number of abandoned and neglected children goes down in response. However, access is an issue. In the United States, 87% of all counties, 97% of all rural counties, do not have any access to abortion services. Governmental assistance can be provided in the form of parental counseling, post-natal services, mental health services, other community support services for parents who are at a higher risk of abandoning their children because of age, physical ability, mental illness, or poverty.
Many cultures practiced abandonment of infants called "infant exposure." Children were left on hillsides, in the wilderness, near churches, in other public places. If taken
Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena
Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena was a Spanish medieval writer, nephew of Alfonso X of Castile, son of Manuel of Castile and Beatrice of Savoy. He inherited from his father the great Seigneury of Villena, receiving the titles of Lord and lastly Prince of Villena, he married three times, choosing his wives for political and economic convenience, worked to match his children with partners associated with royalty. Juan Manuel became one of the richest and most powerful men of his time, coining his own currency as the kings did. During his life, he was criticised for choosing literature as his vocation, an activity thought inferior for a nobleman of such prestige. Juan Manuel was born in what is now the province of Toledo, he was a son of his second wife Beatrice of Savoy. His father died in 1284, Juan was educated at the court of his cousin, Sancho IV, with whom his abilities made him a favourite. With the death of his mother in 1292, Juan Manuel became duke of Peñafiel. Juan Manuel was trained in arts such as equestrianism and fencing, in addition learned Latin, history and theology.
At the age of twelve, he fought to repel the attack of the Moors from Granada to Murcia. In 1304 he was entrusted by the queen mother, Doña María de Molina, to conduct political negotiations with James II of Aragon on behalf of her son, Ferdinand IV under age; the diplomacy was successful and Ferdinand's marriage to James II's daughter, added to Juan Manuel's prestige. Juan Manuel had constant confrontations with his king. At the time, the throne of Castile was occupied by two monarchs, Ferdinand IV and Alfonso XI. Juan Manuel's loyalty was to whom Juan Manuel gave the hand of his daughter Constanza; the wedding was postponed several times, until Alfonso XI jailed Constanza in the Castle of Toro for unclear reasons. This incident angered Juan Manuel, he declared war on Alfonso. On the death of his wife Constantina in 1327, Don Juan Manuel strengthened his position by marrying Doña Blanca de La Cerda y Lara; this formidable coalition compelled Alphonso XI to sue for terms, which he accepted in 1328 without any serious intention of complying with them.
War speedily broke out anew, lasted till 1331 when Alphonso invited Juan Manuel and Juan Nuñez to a banquet at Villahumbrales with the intention, it was believed, of assassinating them. He was besieged by Alphonso at Garci-Nuñez, whence he escaped on 30 July 1336, fled into exile, kept the rebellion alive till 1338; the Pope brought about reconciliation between Juan Manuel and Alfonso XI. This reconciliation was not complete until 1340, when Juan Manuel and Alfonso allied against the Muslims in the Battle of Río Salado, taking the city of Algeciras. After these events, Juan Manuel left political life and retired to Murcia, where he spent his last years focused on literature. Proud of his works, he decided to compile them all in a single volume; this compilation was destroyed with no known copy preserved. Juan Manuel died at Peñafiel in the age of sixty-six. Throughout his life, he wrote thirteen books, of which only eight are preserved today; these works are predominantly didactic. Following the path of his uncle, Alfonso X of Castile, Juan Manuel wrote in Castilian, a peculiarity in times when Latin was the official language for educated writing.
He wrote in the vernacular to facilitate access to literature for a greater number of Castilian readers. While his writings were directed to a literate class, it was nonetheless his assumption that they would be read aloud, as was common during the Middle Ages, he is conscious of propriety, speaks both because of his elevated rank, in case women or children should hear what he has written. His works reflect his character and beliefs, so that in many ways they are a mirror of his time and circumstances. Juan Manuel's work is marked by a great preoccupation both with the practical and the spiritual life, is directed not only to the nobility, but to lower estates, since much of his work speaks not only of the duties of lords, but of their vassals as well. While his work is classified under the general Medieval rubric of "the education of princes" it begins to approach the Machiavellianism, more characteristic of the Renaissance, by virtue of its dedication to the astute art of governing. Of Juan Manuel's surviving writings: Crónica abreviada was compiled between 1319 and 1325.
The Libro de la caza was written between 1320 and 1329. The Libro del Caballero et del escudero was finished before the end of 1326, it is striking for its curious and varied erudition of the turbulent prince who weaves his personal experiences with historical or legendary incidents, with reminiscences of Aesop and Phaedrus, with the Disciplina clericalis, with Kalilah and Dimnah, with various Oriental traditions, with the material of anecdotic literature which he embodies in the Libro de patronio, best known by the title of El Conde Lucanor. The Cento novelle antiche are anonymous tales, derived from popular stor
Don Quixote
The Ingenious Gentleman Sir Quixote of La Mancha, or just Don Quixote, is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote is the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon; as a founding work of modern Western literature, it appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction published, such as the Bokklubben World Library collection that cites Don Quixote as the authors' choice for the "best literary work written". The story follows the adventures of a noble named Alonso Quixano who reads so many chivalric romances that he loses his sanity and decides to become a knight-errant, reviving chivalry and serving his country, under the name Don Quixote de la Mancha, he recruits a simple farmer, Sancho Panza, as his squire, who employs a unique, earthy wit in dealing with Don Quixote's rhetorical orations on antiquated knighthood. Don Quixote, in the first part of the book, does not see the world for what it is and prefers to imagine that he is living out a knightly story.
Throughout the novel, Cervantes uses such literary techniques as realism and intertextuality. The book had a major influence on the literary community, as evidenced by direct references in Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers, Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, as well as the word quixotic and the epithet Lothario; the 19th-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer cited Don Quixote as one of the four greatest novels written, along with Tristram Shandy, La Nouvelle Héloïse, Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. When first published, Don Quixote was interpreted as a comic novel. After the French Revolution, it was better known for its central ethic that individuals can be right while society is quite wrong and seen as disenchanting. In the 19th century, it was seen as a social commentary, but no one could tell "whose side Cervantes was on". Many critics came to view the work as a tragedy in which Don Quixote's idealism and nobility are viewed by the post-chivalric world as insane, are defeated and rendered useless by common reality.
By the 20th century, the novel had come to occupy a canonical space as one of the foundations of modern literature. Cervantes wrote that the first chapters were taken from "the archives of La Mancha", the rest were translated from an Arabic text by the Moorish author Cide Hamete Benengeli; this metafictional trick appears to give a greater credibility to the text, implying that Don Quixote is a real character and that the events related occurred several decades prior to the recording of this account. However, it was common practice in that era for fictional works to make some pretense of being factual, such as the common opening line of fairy tales "Once upon a time in a land far away...". In the course of their travels, the protagonists meet innkeepers, goat-herders, priests, escaped convicts and scorned lovers; the aforementioned characters sometimes tell tales that incorporate events from the real world, like the conquest of the Kingdom of Maynila or battles in the Eighty Years' War. Their encounters are magnified by Don Quixote's imagination into chivalrous quests.
Don Quixote's tendency to intervene violently in matters irrelevant to himself, his habit of not paying debts, result in privations and humiliations. Don Quixote is persuaded to return to his home village; the narrator says that records of it have been lost. Alonso Quixano, the protagonist of the novel, is a Hidalgo, nearing 50 years of age, living in an unnamed section of La Mancha with his niece and housekeeper, as well as a boy, never heard of again after the first chapter. Although Quixano is a rational man, in keeping with the humoral physiology theory of the time, not sleeping adequately—because he was reading—has caused his brain to dry; as a result, he is given to anger and believes every word of these fictional books of chivalry to be true. Imitating the protagonists of these books, he decides to become a knight-errant in search of adventure. To these ends, he dons an old suit of armour, renames himself "Don Quixote", names his exhausted horse "Rocinante", designates Aldonza Lorenzo, a neighboring farm girl, as his lady love, renaming her Dulcinea del Toboso, while she knows nothing of this.
Expecting to become famous he arrives at an inn, which he believes to be a castle. He spends the night holding vigil over his armor and becomes involved in a fight with muleteers who try to remove his armor from the horse trough so that they can water their mules. In a pretended ceremony, the innkeeper sends him on his way. Don Quixote next "frees" a young boy named Andres, tied to a tree and beaten by his master, makes his master swear to treat the boy fairly. Don Quixote encounters traders from Toledo, who "insult" the imaginary Dulcinea, he attacks them, only to be
Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retain the name Bancroft Library in perpetuity; the collection at that time consisted of 50,000 volumes of materials on the history of California and the North American West. It is the largest such collection in the world; the building the library is located in, the Doe Annex, was completed in 1950. The Bancroft Library's inception dates back to 1859, when William H. Knight, in Bancroft's service as editor of statistical works relative to the Pacific coast, was requested to clear the shelves around Bancroft's desk to receive every book in the store having reference to this country. Looking through his stock he was agreeably surprised to find some 75 volumes. There was no fixed purpose at this time to collect a library. Noticing accidentally some old pamphlets in an antiquarian book-store, he thought to add these to his nucleus.
During his next visit to the eastern states, without special pains or search, he secured whatever fell under his observation in second-hand stores of New York and Philadelphia. He had begun to feel satisfied. "When, however, I visited London and Paris, rummaged the enormous stocks of second-hand books in the hundreds of stores of that class, my eyes began to open.... And so it was, when the collection had reached one thousand volumes, I fancied. Special journeys were made to all parts of Europe, as well as the Americas, in the interest of his collection. "And not only was every nook and corner of the world thus ramsacked, but whole libraries were purchased as opportunity offered." While his vague ideas of materials for writing a history assumed more definite form, Bancroft had as yet no idea of writing a history himself. As the collecting proceeded his subject enlarged, until the territory covered was the entire western part of North America from Panama to Alaska, including the Rocky Mountain region, all Central America and Mexico, or about one-twelfth of the earth's entire surface.
The bibliophile reached the settled determination to make his collection as complete as it was possible to make it. Neither time, nor money, nor personal attention would be spared. Agents were appointed in all the leading book marts of the world. By buying up at auction in European cities' individual collections, libraries, the Bancroft Library was enriched beyond measure. In 1869, it is reported that Bancroft held, including about 16,000 volumes; these were lodged on the fifth floor of the Market Street building, the original home of the library having been a corner of the second story of the building on Merchant Street. Bancroft now decided to begin literary work, but the collecting went forward without interruption. Trembling for the safety of the library through fear of fire, he lent a willing ear to his nephew's proposal to absorb the fifth floor for the purposes of the manufacturing department, of which he had charge, he would erect on some convenient spot a fireproof library building. Among the places considered were Oakland, San Rafael, San Mateo, Menlo Park.
The library was moved to the building October 9, 1881. There the library stood for years; when the question of State purchase was taken up, the Bancroft Library was said to contain from 50,000 to 60,000 volumes of books, pamphlets and manuscripts. Prof. Joseph Cummings Rowell, Librarian of the State University, after careful personal examination, estimated the number at 40,000 as a total. For many years, the collection had been offered for sale, Bancroft holding it at US$250,000, but a fractional part of the original cost and yet doubtless above the market price, which Rowell estimated at about $140,000, if the complete subject index be included. In 1887, a bill was presented in the State Legislature to purchase the library for the State for $250,000, but the proposition was defeated; some years the University of Chicago considered buying it. In 1905, Reuben Gold Thwaites, Librarian of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, one of the foremost book experts in America, was invited to examine the Bancroft Library, "with a view to ascertaining its condition and, so far as may be, its marketable value."
In his report, Thwaites characterized the collection of documents, books and other materials, estimating the total value at upwards of $300,000. The report itself was published November 1905, as a 20-page pamphlet; the Report of the Secretary to the Regents of the University of California, year ending June 30, 1906 noted, "The Bancroft Library, incomparably superior to any other existing collection as a mine of primary historical material for all western America, a collection which could not remotely be imitated, at no matter what cost, was acquired by the University on November 24, 1905, at a cost of $250,000. Of this amount Mr. H. H. Bancroft, whose ingenuity and skill created this collection, donated $100,000. Of th
Conquistador
Conquistador is a term used to refer to the knights and explorers of the Spanish Empire and the Portuguese Empire. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, Oceania and Asia, conquering territory and opening trade routes, they colonized much of the world for Spain and Portugal in the 16th, 17th, 18th centuries. After Columbus's discovery of the West Indies in 1492, the Spanish conquistadors, who were poor nobles from the impoverished west and south of Spain, began building up an American empire in the Caribbean, using islands such as Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola as bases. Florida fell to Juan Ponce de León after 1513. From 1519 to 1521, Hernán Cortés waged a campaign against the Aztec Empire, ruled by Moctezuma II. From the territories of the Aztec Empire conquistadors expanded Spanish rule to northern Central America and parts of what is now southern and western United States. Other conquistadors took over the Inca Empire after crossing the Isthmus of Panama and sailing the Pacific to northern Peru.
As Francisco Pizarro subdued the empire in a manner similar to Cortés other conquistadores used Peru as base for conquering much of Ecuador and Chile. In Colombia and Argentina conquistadors from Peru linked up with other conquistadors arriving more directly from the Caribbean and Río de la Plata-Paraguay respectively. Conquistadors founded numerous cities many of them on locations with pre-existing pre-colonial settlements including the capitals of most Latin American countries. Besides conquests, Spanish conquistadors made significant explorations into the Amazon Jungle, the interior of North America, the Pacific Ocean. Portugal established a route to China in the early 16th century, sending ships via the southern coast of Africa and founding numerous coastal enclaves along the route. Following the discovery in 1492 by Spaniards of the New World with Christopher Columbus's first voyage there and the first circumnavigation of the world by Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano in 1521, expeditions led by conquistadors in the 16th century established trading routes linking Europe with all these areas.
Human infections gained worldwide transmission vectors for the first time: from Africa and Eurasia to the Americas and vice versa. The spread of old-world diseases, including smallpox and typhus, led to the deaths of many indigenous inhabitants of the New World. In the 16th century 240,000 Europeans entered American ports. By the late 16th century gold and silver imports from America provided one-fifth of Spain's total budget; the conquistadors were professional warriors, using European tactics and cavalry. Their units would specialize in forms of combat that required long periods of training that were too costly for informal groups, their armies were composed of Iberian and other European soldiers. Native allied troops were infantry equipped with armament and armour that varied geographically; some groups consisted of young men without military experience, Catholic clergy which helped with administrative duties, soldiers with military training. These native forces included African slaves and Native Americans.
They not only fought in the battlefield but served as interpreters, servants, teachers and scribes. India Catalina and Malintzin were Native American women slaves. Castilian law prohibited non-Catholics from settling in the New World. However, not all conquistadors were Castilian. Many foreigners Hispanicised their names and/or converted to Catholicism to serve the Castilian Crown. For example, Ioánnis Fokás was a Castilian of Greek origin who discovered the strait that bears his name between Vancouver Island and Washington State in 1592. German-born Nikolaus Federmann, Hispanicised as Nicolás de Federmán, was a conquistador in Venezuela and Colombia; the Venetian Sebastiano Caboto was Sebastián Caboto, Georg von Speyer Hispanicised as Jorge de la Espira, Eusebio Francesco Chini Hispanicised as Eusebio Kino, Wenceslaus Linck was Wenceslao Linck, Ferdinand Konščak, was Fernando Consag, Amerigo Vespucci was Américo Vespucio, the Portuguese Aleixo Garcia was known as Alejo García in the Castilian army.
The origin of many people in mixed expeditions was not always distinguished. Various occupations, such as sailors, fishermen and nobles employed different languages, so that crew and settlers of Iberian empires recorded as Galicians from Spain were using Portuguese, Catalan and Languedoc languages, which were wrongly identified. Castilian law banned Spanish women from travelling to America unless they were married and accompanied by a husband. Women who travelled thus include María de Escobar, María Estrada, Marina Vélez de Ortega, Marina de la Caballería, Francisca de Valenzuela, Catalina de Salazar; some conquistadors had illegitimate children. European young men enlisted in the army. Catholic priests instructed the soldiers in mathematics, theology, Latin and history, wrote letters and official documents for them. King's army officers taught military arts. An uneducated young recruit could become a military leader, elected by their fellow professional soldiers based on merit. Others were born into hidalgo families, as such they were members of the Spanish nobility with some studies but without economic resources.
Some rich nobility families' members became soldiers or missionaries, but not the fi
Chancellor
Chancellor is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the audience. A chancellor's office is called a chancery; the word is now used in the titles of many various officers in all kinds of settings. Nowadays the term is most used to describe: The head of the government A person in charge of foreign affairs A person with duties related to justice A person in charge of financial and economic issues The head of a university The Chancellor of Austria, denominated Bundeskanzler for males and Bundeskanzlerin for females, is the title of the head of the Government of Austria. Sebastian Kurz is the incumbent Bundeskanzler of Austria. Chancellor or Grand Chancellor is the common translation of the Chinese title chengxiang or zaixiang, which in imperial China was the head of the government serving under the emperor.
The Chancellor of Germany or Bundeskanzler, is the title for the head of government in Germany. Bundeskanzlerin is the feminine form. In German politics, the Bundeskanzler position is equivalent to that of a prime minister and is elected by the Bundestag, every four years on the beginning of the electoral period after general elections. Between general elections, the Federal Chancellor can only be removed from office by a konstruktives Misstrauensvotum which consists in the candidacy of an opposition candidate for the office of Chancellor in the Bundestag. If this candidate gets a majority of the entire membership of the Bundestag, he or she will be sworn in as new Federal Chancellor; the current German Bundeskanzlerin is Angela Merkel of the CDU. The former German Empire, the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany had the equivalent position of Reichskanzler, as the head of the executive. Between 1871 and 1918 the Chancellor was appointed by the German Emperor. During the Weimar Republic, the Chancellor was chosen by the Reichspräsident and stood under his authority.
This continued during the first two years of the Nazi regime until the death of President Paul von Hindenburg in 1934. Between 1934 and 1945 Adolf Hitler, the dictatorial head of state and government of Nazi Germany was called "Führer und Reichskanzler". In Switzerland, the Federal Chancellor is not the political head of government, but rather its administrative head as the Chief of Staff of the Swiss Federal Government, he or she is elected by the Swiss Federal Assembly to head the Federal Chancellery — the general staff of the seven-member executive Federal Council, the Swiss federal government. The Chancellor participates in the meetings of the seven Federal Councilors with a consultative vote and prepares the reports on policy and activities of the council to parliament; the chancellery is responsible for the publication of all federal laws. In most Swiss Cantons there is a State Chancellor who heads the central administrative unit of the cantonal government. In the Canton of Geneva, the first documents attesting to the existence of a Chancellor go back to the 12th century.
In the 16th century the Chancery is described as the permanent secretariat of the executive and legislature. The first of these functions still constitutes an important part of its activities in Geneva and other cantons. In the Canton of Berne, the Chancellor is elected by the Grand Council and has the task of supporting the Grand Council and the Executive Council in carrying out their tasks; the Chancellor directs the staff of the Executive Council, supports the President of the Government and the Executive Council in the performance of their duties, participates as an advisor to the President of the Grand Council in Grand Council sessions. In Latin America, the equivalents to "chancellor" are used to refer to the post of foreign minister, it is used as a synonym to the full titles of the ministers of foreign affairs, notably in Mexico it relates to the position of head of the ministry of foreign affairs. The ministry of foreign affairs in Spanish-speaking countries in the Americas is referred to as the Cancillería or in Portuguese-speaking Brazil as Chancelaria.
However, in Spain the term canciller refers to a civil servant in the Spanish diplomatic service responsible for technical issues relating to foreign affairs. As to the German foreign service the term Kanzler refers to the administrative head of a diplomatic mission. In Finland the Chancellor of Justice supervises the legality of actions taken by the government and monitors the implementation of basic civil liberties. In this special function the chancellor sits in the Finnish Cabinet, the Finnish Council of State. In Sweden the Chancellor of Justice or Justitiekanslern acts as the Solicitor General for the Swedish Government; the office was introduced by Charles XII of Sweden in 1713. There was a Lord High Chancellor or Rikskansler as the most senior member of the Privy Council of Sweden. Ther
Star-crossed
"Star-crossed" or "star-crossed lovers" is a phrase describing a pair of lovers whose relationship is thwarted by outside forces. The term encompasses other meanings, but means the pairing is being "thwarted by a malign star" or that the stars are working against the relationship. Astrological in origin, the phrase stems from the belief that the positions of the stars ruled over people's fates, is best known from the play Romeo and Juliet by the Elizabethan playwright William Shakespeare; such pairings are said to be doomed from the start. The phrase was coined in the prologue of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life, it refers to destiny and the inevitability of the two characters' paths crossing. It but not always refers to unlucky outcomes, since Romeo and Juliet's affair ended tragically. Further, it connotes that the lovers entered into their union without sufficient forethought or preparation. Examples of famous star-crossed lovers vary in written work.
Pyramus and Thisbe are regarded as the source for Romeo and Juliet, is featured in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Wuthering Heights, considered to be one of the greatest love stories in literary works, is a tale of all-encompassing and passionate, yet thwarted, love between the star-crossed Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, how this unresolved passion destroys them and many around them. Lancelot, a trusted knight of King Arthur's Round Table, Guinevere, the queen of Camelot and wife of Arthur, were involved in a star-crossed affair. In some versions of the tale, she is smitten, when they consummate their adulterous passion, it is an act which paves the way for the fall of Camelot and Arthur's death; the legend of Tristan and Iseult is an influential romance and tragedy, retold in numerous sources with as many variations. The tragic story is of the adulterous love between the lovers; the narrative predates and most influenced the Arthurian romance of Lancelot and Guinevere, has had a substantial impact on Western art and literature since it first appeared in the 12th century.
While the details of the story differ from one author to another, the overall plot structure remains much the same. Pedro of Portugal and Inês de Castro shared a tragic love in the Portuguese 14th century; the dramatic circumstances of their relationship, forbidden by Peter's father, King Afonso IV, Inês' murder at the orders of Afonso, Peter's bloody revenge on her killers and the legend of the coronation of her exhumed corpse by Peter, have turned their story into a frequent subject of art and drama through the ages. Hero and Leander is a Greek myth, relating the story of Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite who dwelt in a tower in Sestos, at the edge of the Hellespont, Leander, a young man from Abydos on the other side of the strait. Leander would swim every night across the Hellespont to be with her. Hero would light a lamp at the top of her tower to guide his way. Pelléas and Mélisande is a Symbolist play by Maurice Maeterlinck about the forbidden, doomed love of the title characters. A classical myth, was a common subject for art during the Baroque eras.
Troilus and Cressida is a tragedy by Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1602. The play is not a conventional tragedy; the play ends instead on a bleak note with the death of the noble Trojan Hector and destruction of the love between Troilus and Cressida. Venus and Adonis is a classical myth during the Renaissance. Heer Ranjha is one of the four popular tragic romances of the Punjab. Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl refers to a number of mythical and folkloric explanations of the origins of the volcanoes Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl which overlook the Valley of Mexico. Layla and Majnun is a classical Arabian love story, it is based on the real story of a young man called Qays ibn al-Mulawwah from the northern Arabian Peninsula, in the Umayyad era during the 7th century. There were two Arabic versions of the story at the time. In one version, he spent his youth together with Layla. In the other version, upon seeing Layla he fell passionately in love with her. In both versions, however, he went mad.
To him were attributed a variety of passionate romantic Arabic poems, considered among the foremost examples of the Udhari school. The Butterfly Lovers is a Chinese legend about the tragic romance between two lovers, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai; the legend is sometimes regarded as the Chinese equivalent to Juliet. Other classic star-crossed lovers include Devdas and Paro in Devdas, Paris of Troy and Helen of Sparta in The Iliad and Jocasta in Oedipus Rex, Mark Antony and Cleopatra during the time of the Roman Empire and Shirin during the time of Sassanid Persia and Peter Abelard during the Middle Ages, Emperor Jahangir and Anarkali and Roxane in Cyrano de Bergerac and Signy and Maratha Peshwa Bajirao and
Amadis of Gaul public domain audiobook at LibriVox