Viscount
A viscount or viscountess is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial position, did not develop into an hereditary title until much later. In the case of French viscounts, it is customary to leave the title untranslated as vicomte and vicomtesse; the word viscount comes from Old French visconte, itself from Medieval Latin vicecomitem, accusative of vicecomes, from Late Latin vice- "deputy" + Latin comes. During the Carolingian Empire, the kings appointed counts to administer provinces and other smaller regions, as governors and military commanders. Viscounts were appointed to assist the counts in their running of the province, took on judicial responsibility; the kings prevented the offices of their counts and viscounts from becoming hereditary, in order to consolidate their position and limit chance of rebellion. The title was in use in Normandy by at least the early 11th century.
Similar to the Carolingian use of the title, the Norman viscounts were local administrators, working on behalf of the Duke. Their role was to administer justice and to collect taxes and revenues being castellan of the local castle. Under the Normans, the position developed into a hereditary one, an example of such being the viscounts in Bessin; the viscount was replaced by bailiffs, provosts. As a rank in British peerage, it was first recorded in 1440, when John Beaumont was created Viscount Beaumont by King Henry VI; the word viscount corresponds in the UK to the Anglo-Saxon shire reeve. Thus early viscounts were normally given their titles by the monarch, not hereditarily, they were a late introduction to the British peerage, on the evening of the Coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838, the Prime Minister Lord Melbourne explained to her why: I spoke to Ld M. about the numbers of Peers present at the Coronation, & he said it was quite unprecedented. I observed that there were few Viscounts, to which he replied "There are few Viscounts," that they were an old sort of title & not English.
In Belgium a few families are recognised as Viscounts: Viscount of Audenaerde Viscount of Hombeke Viscount de Spoelberch Viscount Eyskens Viscount Frimout Viscount Poullet A viscount is the fourth rank in the British peerage system, standing directly below an earl and above a baron. There are 270 viscountcies extant in the peerages of the British Isles, though most are secondary titles. In British practice, the title of a viscount may be either a place name, a surname, or a combination thereof: examples include the Viscount Falmouth, the Viscount Hardinge and the Viscount Colville of Culross, respectively. An exception exists for Viscounts in the peerage of Scotland, who were traditionally styled "The Viscount of ", such as the Viscount of Arbuthnott. In practice, however few maintain this style, instead using the more common version "The Viscount " in general parlance, for example Viscount of Falkland, referred to as Viscount Falkland. A British viscount is addressed in speech as Lord, while his wife is Lady, he is formally styled "The Right Honourable The Viscount ".
The children of a viscount are known as The Honourable. The title of viscount was introduced to the Peerage of Ireland in 1478 with the creation of the title of Viscount Gormanston, the senior viscountcy of Britain and Ireland, held today by Jenico Preston, 17th Viscount Gormanston. Other early Irish viscountcies were Viscount Baltinglass, Viscount Clontarf, Viscount Mountgarret and Viscount Decies. A British custom is the use of viscount as a courtesy title for the heir of an earl or marquess; the peer's heir apparent will sometimes be referred to as a viscount, if the second most senior title held by the head of the family is a viscountcy. For example, the eldest son of the Earl Howe is Viscount Curzon, because this is the second most senior title held by the Earl. However, the son of a marquess or an earl can be referred to as a viscount when the title of viscount is not the second most senior if those above it share their name with the substantive title. For example, the second most senior title of the Marquess of Salisbury is the Earl of Salisbury, so his heir uses the lower title of Viscount Cranborne.
Sometimes the son of a peer can be referred to as a viscount when he could use a more senior courtesy title which differs in name from the substantive title. Family tradition plays a role in this. For example, the eldest son of the Marquess of Londonderry is Viscount Castlereagh though the Marquess is the Earl Vane. A viscount's coronet of rank bears 16 silver balls around the rim. Like all heraldic coronets, it is worn at the coronation of a sovereign, but a viscount has the right to bear his coronet of rank on his coat of arms, above the shield. In this guise, the coronet is shown featuring 9 silver balls; the island of Jersey still retains an officer whose function is purely to administer orders of the island's judiciary, whose position remains non-hereditary. The role of the Viscount of Jersey (French: V
Creuse (river)
The Creuse is a 264-kilometre long river in western France, a tributary of the Vienne. Its source is in a north-western extension of the Massif Central; the Creuse flows northwest through the following departments and towns: Creuse department: Aubusson. Indre department: Argenton-sur-Creuse, Le Blanc. Indre-et-Loire department: Yzeures-sur-Creuse, Descartes Vienne department: La Roche-PosayThe Creuse flows into the Vienne about 20 kilometres north of Châtellerault. A tributary of the Creuse is the Gartempe; the Creuse valley is the setting for paintings by the so-called Crozant School, including works by Armand Guillaumin and a series of vivid landscapes by the Bordeaux artist Alfred Smith. There are six hydroelectric dams on the river. Three are in the Creuse département with one at Chambon-Sainte-Croix above Anzeme, one at Les Chezelles near Le Bourg-d'Hem and one at L'Âge upstream of La Celle-Dunoise; the remaining three are in the Indre including the Éguzon dam, opened in 1926 and was, at the time, the largest dam in Europe.
The lakes created by the dams are popular tourist destinations and several have artificial beaches and leisure facilities. Http://www.geoportail.fr The Creuse at the Sandre database Media related to Creuse river at Wikimedia Commons
Vallon-Pont-d'Arc
Vallon-Pont-d'Arc is a commune in the Ardèche department, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southern France. Vallon-Pont-d'Arc is a capital of cultural tourism; this small village, peaceful in wintertime, sees its population expand ten-fold in summer. Its tourist importance comes from the fact that it is the departure point for the river descent of the Gorges de l'Ardèche. Vallon-Pont-d'Arc is situated at the threshold of one of the most beautiful tourist sites of France: "les gorges de l'Ardèche"; the famous Pont d'Arc, a natural arch of more than 30 metres height, carved out by the Ardèche and classified as a Great Site of France, gave it its name. 1.8 km southeast of the village, the River Ibie flows into the Ardèche, which forms all of the commune's southwestern border. 1801: Saint-Martin-d'Arc renamed to Chames 1825: Chames renamed to Vallon 1948: Vallon becomes Vallon-Pont-d'Arc (25 September The Pont d'Arc The Chauvet Cave is not open to the public. An exposition site, copied from the cave, is open to the public so they can discover the oldest paleolithic paintings - 32.000 B.
C. - and the lifestyle of the Cro-Magnon man. The museum of the Chauvet Cave The town hall houses seven tapestries from Aubusson, showing the crusades, exhibited in the Hall of Honour The Gorges de l'Ardèche The Gorges de l'Archèche National Park Android tourism guide Domaine de Segries (the PGL camp base for the Ardeche The village is lively in summer, with in its centre numerous shops and a market on Thursday and on Tuesday evening, known for its large success; every summer, many events are organized: the lavender feast and the olive feast, prehistoric days with expositions, ateliers and presentations lasting for over a week after August 15. Deceased in 1971 the painter René Aberlenc Communes of the Ardèche department INSEE
Jules Sandeau
Léonard Sylvain Julien Sandeau was a French novelist. Sandeau was born at Aubusson, was sent to Paris to study law, but spent much of his time in unruly behaviour with other students, he met George Sand Madame Dudevant, at Le Coudray in the house of a friend, when she came to Paris in 1831 they had a relationship. The intimacy did not last long, but it produced Rose et Blanche, a novel written together under the pseudonym J. Sand, from which George Sand took her famous pseudonym. Sandeau continued to produce plays for nearly fifty years, his major works are: Marianna, in which he draws a portrait of George Sand Le Docteur Herbeau Catherine Mademoiselle de la Seiglière, a successful picture of society under Louis Philippe, dramatized in 1851 Madeleine La Chasse au roman Sacs et parchemins La Maison de Penarvan La Roche aux mouettes The famous play, Le Gendre de M. Poirier, is one of several which he wrote in collaboration with Émile Augier—the novelist contributing the story and the dramatist the theatrical form.
Sandeau's novels were less popular than his plays. Sandeau had been made conservateur of the Mazarin library in 1853, elected to the Académie française in 1858, appointed librarian of St Cloud in 1859. At the suppression of this latter office, after the fall of the Second French Empire, he was pensioned. Jules Sandeau was buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse; this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. "Sandeau, Léonard Sylvain Julien". Encyclopædia Britannica. 24. Cambridge University Press. P. 137. Works by Jules Sandeau at Project Gutenberg Works by Jules Sandeau at Faded Page Works by or about Jules Sandeau at Internet Archive La Chasse au roman
Académie française
The Académie française is the pre-eminent French council for matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution, it was restored as a division of the Institut de France in 1803 by Napoleon Bonaparte, it is the oldest of the five académies of the institute. The Académie consists of forty members, known informally as les immortels. New members are elected by the members of the Académie itself. Academicians hold office for life. Philippe Pétain, named Marshal of France after the victory of Verdun of World War I, was elected to the Academy in 1931 and, after his governorship of Vichy France in World War II, was forced to resign his seat in 1945; the body has the task of acting as an official authority on the language. Its rulings, are only advisory, not binding on either the public or the government; the Académie had its origins in an informal literary group deriving from the salons held at the Hôtel de Rambouillet during the late 1620s and early 1630s.
The group began meeting at Valentin Conrart's house. There were nine members. Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister of France, made himself protector of the group, in anticipation of the formal creation of the academy, new members were appointed in 1634. On 22 February 1635, at Richelieu's urging, King Louis XIII granted letters patent formally establishing the council; the Académie française has remained responsible for the regulation of French grammar and literature. Richelieu's model, the first academy devoted to eliminating the "impurities" of a language, was the Accademia della Crusca, founded in Florence in 1582, which formalized the dominant position of the Tuscan dialect of Florence as the model for Italian. During the French Revolution, the National Convention suppressed all royal academies, including the Académie française. In 1792, the election of new members to replace those who died was prohibited, they were all replaced in 1795 by a single body called the Institut de France, or Institute of France.
Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul, decided to restore the former academies, but only as "classes" or divisions of the Institut de France. The second class of the Institut was responsible for the French language, corresponded to the former Académie française; when King Louis XVIII came to the throne in 1816, each class regained the title of "Académie". Since 1816, the existence of the Académie française has been uninterrupted; the President of France is patron of the Académie. Cardinal Richelieu adopted this role. King Louis XIV adopted the function when Séguier died in 1672. From 1672 to 1805, the official meetings of the Académie were in the Louvre; the remaining academies of the Institut de France meet in the Palais de l'Institut. The Académie française has forty seats, each of, assigned a separate number. Candidates make their applications for a specific seat, not to the Académie in general: if several seats are vacant, a candidate may apply separately for each. Since a newly elected member is required to eulogize his or her predecessor in the installation ceremony, it is not uncommon that potential candidates refuse to apply for particular seats because they dislike the predecessors.
Members are known as les Immortels because of the motto, À l'immortalité, on the official seal of the charter granted by Cardinal Richelieu. One of the Immortels is chosen by her colleagues to be the Académie's Perpetual Secretary; the Secretary is called "Perpetual" because the holder serves for life, although he or she may resign, may thereafter be styled as Honorary Perpetual Secretary. The Perpetual Secretary acts as a chief representative of the Académie; the two other officers, a Director and a Chancellor, are elected for three-month terms. The most senior member, by date of election, is the Dean of the Académie. New members are elected by the Académie itself; when a seat becomes vacant, a person may apply to the Secretary if she or he wishes to become a candidate. Alternatively, existing members may nominate other candidates. A candidate is elected by a majority of votes from voting members. A quorum is twenty members. If no candidate receives an absolute majority, another election must be performed at a date.
The election is valid only if the protector of the Académie, the President of France, grants his approval. The President's approbation, however, is only a formality. (There was a controversy about the candidacy of Paul Morand, whom Charles de Gaulle opposed in 1958. Morand was elected ten years and he was received without the customary visit, at the time of inve
Musée Nissim de Camondo
The Musée Nissim de Camondo is an elegant house museum of French decorative arts located in the Hôtel Camondo, 63, rue de Monceau, at the edge of the Parc Monceau, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. The nearest Paris Métro stops are Villiers or Monceau on Line 2; the mansion was built in 1911 by the Comte Moïse de Camondo, a banker, with architect René Sergent, to set off his collection of eighteenth-century French furniture and art objects. Its design was patterned upon the Petit Trianon at Versailles, though with modern conveniences. Both house and collections were bequeathed to Les Arts Décoratifs in honour of his son, Nissim de Camondo, killed in World War I, opened as a museum in 1936. More tragedy followed a few years when Moise’s daughter and her family were deported to Auschwitz, where they died. Today, the house is maintained as if it were still a private home preserved in its original condition. Three floors are open to visitors: the lower ground floor, upper ground floor, first floor, gardens.
The house's furnishings include needlepoint chairs and work by artisans of the Garde Meuble Royal such as Jean-François Oeben, Jean Henri Riesener, Georges Jacob. Floors are furnished with Savonnerie carpets woven in 1678 for the Grande Galerie in the Louvre, walls accented with tapestries, paintings including portraits by Élisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun, landscapes by Guardi and Hubert Robert and hunting scenes by Jean-Baptiste Oudry. Table setting are of particular interest the Orloff silver dinner service commissioned by Catherine II of Russia from silversmith Jacques-Nicolas Roettiers in 1770, the Buffon porcelain services made at Sèvres in the 1780s with a bird theme. Other notable objects include a bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon, bas-reliefs, Chinese vases, crystal chandeliers. List of museums in Paris The Nissim de Camondo Museum, by Sylvie Legrand-Rossi, Paris:Les Arts Décoratifs, 2009; the Camondo Legacy. The passions of a Paris Collector, directed by Marie-Noël de Gary, photographs by Jean-Marie del Moral, London:Thames & Hudson, 2008.
The Nissim de Camondo Museum, by Nadine Gasc, Gérard Mabille, Paris: Musées et Monuments de France: Albin Michel, 1997. Musée Nissim de Camondo: catalogue des collections, by Jean Messelet, Bertrand Rondot, Xavier Salmon, Béatrice Quette, Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux: Union centrale des arts décoratifs, 1998. ISBN 2-7118-3559-6. Musée Nissim de Camondo Musée Nissim de Camondo
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages. Since the word troubadour is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is called a trobairitz; the troubadour school or tradition began in the late 11th century in Occitania, but it subsequently spread to Italy and Spain. Under the influence of the troubadours, related movements sprang up throughout Europe: the Minnesang in Germany, trovadorismo in Galicia and Portugal, that of the trouvères in northern France. Dante Alighieri in his De vulgari eloquentia defined the troubadour lyric as fictio rethorica musicaque poita: rhetorical and poetical fiction. After the "classical" period around the turn of the 13th century and a mid-century resurgence, the art of the troubadours declined in the 14th century and around the time of the Black Death it died out; the texts of troubadour songs deal with themes of chivalry and courtly love. Most were metaphysical and formulaic. Many were humorous or vulgar satires.
Works can be grouped into three styles: the trobar leu, trobar ric, trobar clus. There were many genres, the most popular being the canso, but sirventes and tensos were popular in the post-classical period; the oldest mention of the word troubadour as trobadors is found in a 12th-century Occitan text by Cercamon. The English word troubadour is an exact rendition from a French word first recorded in 1575 in an historical context to mean "langue d'oc poet at the court in the 12th and 13th century"; the French word is borrowed itself from the Occitan word trobador. It is the oblique case of the nominative trobaire “composer", related to trobar “to compose, to discuss, to invent" It may come from the hypothetical Late Latin *tropāre “to compose, to invent a poem" by regular phonetic change; this recreated form is deduced from the Latin root tropus, meaning a trope and the various meanings of the Old Occitan related words. In turn, the Latin word derives from Greek τρόπος, meaning "turn, manner". B Intervocal Latin shifted to in Occitan.
The Latin suffix -ātor, -atōris explains the Occitan suffix, according to its declension and accentuation: Gallo-Romance *TROPĀTOR > Occitan trobaire and *TROPATŌRE > Occitan trobador « troubadour ». There is an alternative theory to explain the meaning of trobar as “to compose, to discuss, to invent", it has the support of some historians, specialists of literature and musicologists to justify of the troubadours' origins in Arabic Andalusian musical practices. According to them, the Arabic word ṭaraba “song" could be the etymon of the verb trobar. Another Arabic root had been proposed before: Ḍ-R-B “strike", by extension “play a musical instrument", they entertain the possibility that the nearly homophonous Ḍ-R-B root may have contributed to the sense of the newly coined Romance verb trobar. Some proponents of this theory argue, only on cultural grounds, that both etymologies may well be correct, that there may have been a conscious poetic exploitation of the phonological coincidence between trobar and the triliteral Arabic root Ṭ-R-B when Sufi Islamic musical forms with a love theme first spread from Al-Andalus to southern France.
It has been pointed out that the concepts of "finding", "music", "love", "ardour" — the precise semantic field attached to the word troubadour — are allied in Arabic under a single root W-J-D that plays a major role in Sufic discussions of music, that the word troubadour may in part reflect this. The linguistic facts do not support a hypothetical theory: the word trover is mentioned in French as soon as the 10th century before trobar in Occitan and the word trovere > trouvère appears simultaneously in French as trobador in Occitan. In archaic and classical troubadour poetry, the word is only used in a mocking sense, having more or less the meaning of "somebody who makes things up". Cercamon writes: Ist trobador, entre ver e mentir, Afollon drutz e molhers et espos, E van dizen qu'Amors vay en biays. Peire d'Alvernha begins his famous mockery of contemporary authors cantarai d'aquest trobadors, after which he proceeds to explain why none of them is worth anything; when referring to themselves troubadours invariably use the word "chantaire".
The early study of the troubadours focused intensely on their origins. No academic consensus was achieved in the area. Today, one can distinguish at least eleven competing theories: Arabic The sixteenth century Italian historian Giammaria Barbieri was the first to suggest Arabian influences on the music of the troubadours. Scholars like J. B. Trend have asserted that the poetry of troubadours is connected to Arabic poetry written in Spain, while others have attempted to find direct evidence of this influence. In examining the works of William IX of Aquitaine, Évariste Lévi-Provençal and other scholars found three lines that they believed were in some form of Arabic, indicating a potential Andalusian origin for his works; the scholar
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Eguisheim, France
Baynes, T.S., ed. (1878). . Encyclopædia Britannica. 3 (9th ed.). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 67.
Baynes, T.S., ed. (1878). 
