1.
Louis de Silvestre
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Louis de Silvestre was a French portrait and history painter. He was court painter to King Augustus II of Poland, sylvestre was born in Sceaux, south of Paris, the third son of Israel Silvestre, the notable engraver and drawing-master to the Grand Dauphin himself. Louis was taught initially by his father, then trained under Charles Le Brun and Bon Boullogne, he completed his studies in Rome, after his return to Paris, Sylvester entered the Académie de peinture et de sculpture in 1702 and was appointed professor in 1706. The main works he painted at this time were The Healing of the paralytic at the door of the Temple and the portrait of Louis XV. Friedrich August II, the prince-elector of Saxony, met Silvestre when he was in France and offered him the chance to work at the court of his father Augustus II, King of Poland. The artist accepted the offer, obtained permission from Louis XV, during this period, Silvestre completed, with the help of his wife, Mary Catherine Hérault, many oil paintings and frescos, either in Dresden or in Warsaw. He painted many portraits of the King and Queen, as well as those of leading aristocrats. He was responsible for the most important works in the Palace of Dresden, notably, subjects drawn from Ovids Metamorphoses for several ceremonial bedrooms, on the death of Heinrich Christian Fehling, Silvestre was made Director of the Art Academy in Dresden. During the time he remained at the court of Dresden, Silvestre was known as much for his personality and his distinguished friends, Louis XV awarded him a pension of 1000 crowns and apartments in the Palais du Louvre itself. In 1752 he was appointed director of the Academy of Paris, Louis de Silvestre died in Paris at the Palais du Louvre on 11 April 1760. As for art, says Mariette, he was not a painter without merit, amongst Silvestres students was the painter Jean-Eleazar Schenau, who later became director of the Dresden Academy and of the Meissen porcelain factory. Portrait du comte Kosel, fils de la baronne de Hoymb, Portrait of the Countess Orzelska, Palace on the Water, Warsaw. This article incorporates text from the French Wikipedia, Louis de Silvestre Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Old Masters Picture Gallery in the Zwinger Palace, band 24, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-428-11205-0, S. 418–420. Dorota Ewa Olczak, Louis de Silvestre als Porträtmaler in Dresden, über Vorbilder und Vorlagen seiner Kunst mit kritischem Werkkatalog, -167,422 S. Berlin, Freie Univ. Media related to Louis de Silvestre at Wikimedia Commons Portrait of Louis de Silvestre by Maurice-Quentin de La Tour Louis de Silvestre le jeune
2.
Grand Duke of Lithuania
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The following is a list of rulers over Lithuania—grand dukes, kings, and presidents—the heads of authority over historical Lithuanian territory. The timeline includes Lithuania as an entity or legitimately part of a greater sovereign entity as well as Lithuania under control or occupation of an outside authority. The incumbents and office-holders are listed by names most commonly used in English language, where appropriate, the alternations in Lithuanian, Ruthenian and Polish are included. The state of Lithuania formed in 1230s, when threatened by the Livonian Order in the north and he became the only crowned king of Lithuania. His state became known as Grand Duchy of Lithuania, after Grand Duke Jogaila became also king of Poland in 1386, the two states became closer connected and since 1440 both were ruled by a common ruler. In 1569 Union of Lublin was signed and a new entity—the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth—emerged, the commonwealth was partitioned in 1795 and Lithuania became part of the Russian Empire till 16 February 1918. The Council of Lithuania was able to establish the sovereignty only in 1919, the first republic of Lithuania existed until 1940 when it was occupied by the Soviet Union. During the Soviet-German War, Lithuania was occupied by Nazi Germany, in 1944, as Germany was losing the war, Russia re-occupied Lithuania and established the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. On 11 March 1990, Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare independence, the restored Republic of Lithuania is a democratic republic, a member of both the European Union and NATO. Title, Grand Duke except for Mindaugas, who became king of Lithuania, dates are approximate because of scant written sources. The act of union with Poland was signed as early as 1385, however. The monarchs retained separate titles for both parts of the state, and their numbering was kept separately, the Jagiellon dynasty was a direct continuation of the Gediminids. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was established by Union of Lublin in 1569, the elected King of Poland was to be elected by Lithuanian noble families as a Grand Duke of Lithuania. The first ruler of the country was Sigismund II Augustus. Following the partitions in 1772,1793, and 1795, the commonwealth ceased to exist, there are some gaps in the timeline as it took a while to elect a new king. Title, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the Council of Lithuania declared independence on 16 February 1918 and invited Wilhelm of Urach to become king of Lithuania. The name of the state was the Kingdom of Lithuania, on 9 July 1918, the council declared that the Duke of Urach is to become King Mindaugas II of Lithuania. However, on 2 November, the council revoked this decision because of its unpopularity, the institution of President was created on 4 April 1919
3.
Coronations in Poland
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Coronations in Poland officially began in 1025 and continued until 1764, when the final king of an independent Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski, was crowned at St. Johns Cathedral in Warsaw. Most Polish coronations took place at the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, whenever practical, Polish coronations were conducted as close as possible as to the date of the previous sovereigns funeral. This was explained by Joachim Bielski in the century as osoba umiera, korona nie umiera, or the person dies. With the emergence of an independent, republican Poland after World War I and he then walked on foot from the royal Wawel Castle to the Basilica of St. Stanisław, patron saint of Poland. Unlike the remainder of the service, the procession was opened to the Polish masses. On the morning of the ceremony, the king was met in his bedchamber by a procession consisting of the local Metropolitan Archbishop, wearing Episcopal clothing, the monarch was blessed with holy water and incensed. Following this, king, metropolitan and the made their way in procession to the cathedral. Inside the church, the Polish regalia were laid on the high altar, the royal oath was administered, and the new monarch then knelt before the altar. Two mitred abbots next entered from a chapel, carrying a mixture of holy oils. Following this, the king was handed a sword, which he used to trace a cross in the air, next he was crowned by the Archbishop, assisted by two other bishops, following which he received his orb and scepter. The high mass continued, with the newly crowned sovereign receiving Holy Communion, then kissing a crucifix, * K indicates a king or queen regnant, Q indicates a queen consort
4.
Wawel Cathedral
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The Royal Archcathedral Basilica of Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslaus on the Wawel Hill, also known as the Wawel Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic church located on Wawel Hill in Kraków, Poland. More than 900 years old, it is the Polish national sanctuary, the construction of the current one began in the 14th century on the orders of bishop Nanker. The Cathedral comprises a nave with aisles, transepts with aisles, a choir with aisles. The main altar, located in the apse, was founded about 1650 by Bishop Piotr Gembicki, the altar painting of Crucified Christ by Marcin Blechowski is from the 17th century. Over the main altar stands a canopy of black marble supported by four pillars, designed by Giovanni Battista Trevano. Underneath the canopy is placed a silver coffin of national patron saint St. Stanislaus created between 1669-1671 after the one was stolen by the Swedes in 1655. The Wawel Cathedral has been the burial site for Polish monarchs since the 14th century. As such, it has significantly extended and altered over time as individual rulers have added multiple burial chapels. Financed by Sigismund I the Old, it was built between 1517 and 1533 by Bartolommeo Berrecci, a Florentine Renaissance architect, who spent most of his career in Poland. A square-based chapel with a dome, it houses the tombs of its founder. Notes Media related to Wawel Cathedral at Wikimedia Commons Wawel Cathedral official website
5.
Elector of Saxony
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Upon the extinction of the House of Ascania, it was enfeoffed to the Margraves of Meissen from the Wettin dynasty in 1423, who moved the residence up the Elbe river to Dresden. After the Empires dissolution in 1806, the Wettin electors raised Saxony to a kingdom, when Emperor Frederick Barbarossa deposed the Saxon duke Henry the Lion in 1180, the Wittenberg lands belonged to Alberts youngest son Count Bernhard of Anhalt, who assumed the Saxon ducal title. Bernards eldest son, Albert I, ceded Anhalt to his younger brother Henry, retained the ducal title and his sons divided the possessions into the duchies of Saxe-Wittenberg and Saxe-Lauenburg. Louis was succeeded by the Luxembourg king Charles of Bohemia, after being crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1355, Charles issued the Golden Bull of 1356, the fundamental law of the Empire settling the method of electing the German King by seven Prince-electors. In this way, the country, though small in area, the electoral dignity was connected with it the obligation of male primogeniture, that is, only the eldest son could succeed as ruler. This forbade the division of the territory among several heirs, preventing the disintegration of the country, the importance of this stipulation is shown by the history of most of the fragmented German principalities which were not electorates. Late Alberts Ascanian relative Duke Eric V of Saxe-Lauenburg protested in vain, thus, in 1423, Saxe-Wittenberg, the Margraviate of Meissen and Thuringia were united under one ruler, and the unified territory gradually received the name of Saxony. The partition decisively enfeebled the Wettin dynasty in the rivalry with the rising House of Hohenzollern, the Protestant movement of the 16th century was largely effected under the protection of the Saxon rulers. The Elector did not become at once an adherent of the new opinions, owing to his intervention, Pope Leo X decided against summoning Luther to Rome in 1518, and the Elector secured for Luther Imperial safe-conduct to the 1521 Diet of Worms. When Luther was declared to be under the ban of the empire by Emperor Charles V. Lutheran doctrines spread first in Ernestine Saxony, in 1525, Frederick died and was succeeded by his brother, John the Constant. John was followed in 1532 by his son, John Frederick the Magnanimous, in 1542, he seized the Diocese of Naumburg-Zeitz, and confiscated the secular possessions of the Dioceses of Meissen and Hildesheim. The Catholic faith was forcibly suppressed, after the outbreak of the Schmalkaldic War, Elector John Frederick was placed under the Imperial ban and finally defeated and captured by Emperor Charles V at the Battle of Mühlberg on 24 April 1547. In the Capitulation of Wittenberg of May 19, he was obliged to yield former Saxe-Wittenberg with the dignity to his Albertine cousin Duke Maurice. The Saxon Electorate after the Wittenberg Capitulation consisted of former Saxe-Wittenberg and Meissen together, Maurice secretly shared in all the princely conspiracies against the Emperor, who only escaped capture by flight. During the same year, Charles V was obliged by the Peace of Passau to grant freedom of religion to the Protestant Estates, Maurice died in 1553 at the age of 32. His brother and successor Elector Augustus seized the Catholic dioceses of Merseburg, the last Bishop of Merseburg, Michael Helding called Sidonius, died at Vienna in 1561. In the same manner after the death of Julius von Pflug, the last Catholic Bishop of Naumburg, in 1564 and those cathedral canons who were still Catholic were only permitted to exercise their religion for ten years more
6.
Augustus II the Strong
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Augustus II the Strong of the Albertine line of the House of Wettin was Elector of Saxony, Imperial Vicar and became King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. Augustus great physical strength earned him the nicknames the Strong, the Saxon Hercules, in order to be elected King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Augustus converted to Roman Catholicism. As a Catholic, he received the Order of the Golden Fleece from the Holy Roman Emperor, as Elector of Saxony, he is perhaps best remembered as a patron of the arts and architecture. He established the Saxon capital of Dresden as a cultural centre. Augustus also amassed an art collection and built lavish baroque palaces in Dresden. His reigns brought Poland some troubled times and he led the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Great Northern War, which led to the Russian Empire strengthening its influence in Europe, especially within Poland. His main pursuit was bolstering royal power in the Commonwealth, characterized by broad decentralization in comparison with other European monarchies and he tried to accomplish this goal using foreign powers and thus destabilized the state. Augustus was born in Dresden on 12 May 1670, the son of the Elector Johann Georg III. As the second son, Augustus had no expectation of inheriting the electorate, since his brother, Johann Georg IV. Augustus married Kristiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth in Bayreuth on 20 January 1693 and they had a son, Frederick Augustus II, who succeeded his father as Elector of Saxony and King of Poland as Augustus III. While cavorting during the season in Venice, his older brother. On 27 April 1694, Johann Georg died without issue and Augustus became Elector of Saxony. To be eligible for election to the throne of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1697, the Saxon dukes had traditionally been called champions of the Reformation. Saxony had been a stronghold of German Protestantism and Augustus conversion was considered shocking in Protestant Europe. Although the prince-elector guaranteed Saxonys religious status quo, Augustus conversion alienated many of his Protestant subjects, as a result of the enormous expenditure of money used to bribe the Polish nobility and clergy, Augustus contemporaries derisively referred to the Saxon dukes royal ambitions as his Polish adventure. His church policy within the Holy Roman Empire followed orthodox Lutheranism and ran counter to his new-found religious, the Protestant princes of the empire and the two remaining Protestant electors were anxious to keep Saxony well-integrated in their camp. Saxony remained Lutheran and the few Roman Catholics residing in Saxony lacked any political or civil rights. In 1717, it clear just how awkward the situation was, to realize his ambitious dynastic plans in Poland and Germany
7.
Frederick Christian, Elector of Saxony
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Frederick Christian, Elector of Saxony was the Prince-Elector of Saxony for fewer than three months in 1763. He was a member of the House of Wettin and he was the third but eldest surviving son of Frederick Augustus II, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, by his wife, Maria Josepha of Austria. A weak child since his birth, he suffered paralysis in one foot and was dependent on wheelchairs early in life. In a well-known portrait, which shows his Wettin and Wittelsbach relatives around him, today, this painting is shown in the Schloss Nymphenburg. His mother tried repeatedly to him to take monastic vows. The early deaths of his two brothers, Frederick Augustus, who was stillborn, and Joseph Augustus, made him the heir to the throne. When his father died, on 5 October 1763, Frederick Christian succeeded him as Elector, even before, Frederick Christian had written in his diary, Princes exist for their subjects, not subjects for their princes. His subjects wealth, public credit and a well-standing army make up the happiness of a prince. He was also known for his musical talent. In Munich on 13 June 1747 and again in Dresden on 20 June 1747, like him, she was exceptionally talented in music and the couple had nine children. He began to reconstruct the wrecked finances of his country through his Rétablissements, through economic reconstruction, he gave new life to the devastated and plundered land which his predecessors had left him. Also introduced were measures to pare down the expenses of the court, most members of his government, such as Thomas von Fritsch of Leipzig, Friedrich Ludwig Wurmb, and Christian Gotthelf Gutschmied had middle-class origins. After a reign of only 74 days, Frederick Christian died of smallpox and he was buried in the Hofkirche of Dresden. Because Frederick Christians eldest son was a minor, his brother Franz Xavier and the Dowager Electress Maria Antonia took the joint regency of the Electorate until the boys majority
8.
Dresden
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Dresden is the capital city and, after Leipzig, the second-largest city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the border with the Czech Republic, Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony, who for centuries furnished the city with cultural and artistic splendour. The city was known as the Jewel Box, because of its baroque, the controversial American and British bombing of Dresden in World War II towards the end of the war killed approximately 25,000, many of whom were civilians, and destroyed the entire city centre. After the war restoration work has helped to reconstruct parts of the inner city, including the Katholische Hofkirche, the Zwinger. Since German reunification in 1990 Dresden is again a cultural, educational and political centre of Germany, the Dresden University of Technology is one of the 10 largest universities in Germany and part of the German Universities Excellence Initiative. The economy of Dresden and its agglomeration is one of the most dynamic in Germany and it is dominated by high-tech branches, often called as “Silicon Saxony”. The city is one of the most visited in Germany with 4,3 million overnight stays per year. The royal buildings are among the most impressive buildings in Europe, main sights are also the nearby National Park of Saxon Switzerland, the Ore Mountains and the countryside around Elbe Valley and Moritzburg Castle. The most prominent building in the city of Dresden is the Frauenkirche, built in the 18th century, the church was destroyed during World War II. The remaining ruins were left for 50 years as a war memorial, the church was rebuilt from 1994 to 2005. Although Dresden is a relatively recent city of Germanic origin followed by settlement of Slavic people, Dresdens founding and early growth is associated with the eastward expansion of Germanic peoples, mining in the nearby Ore Mountains, and the establishment of the Margraviate of Meissen. Its name etymologically derives from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the forest, Dresden later evolved into the capital of Saxony. Around the late 12th century, a Slavic settlement called Drežďany had developed on the southern bank, another settlement existed on the northern bank, but its Slavic name is unknown. It was known as Antiqua Dresdin by 1350, and later as Altendresden, dietrich, Margrave of Meissen, chose Dresden as his interim residence in 1206, as documented in a record calling the place Civitas Dresdene. After 1270, Dresden became the capital of the margraviate and it was given to Friedrich Clem after death of Henry the Illustrious in 1288. It was taken by the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1316 and was restored to the Wettin dynasty after the death of Valdemar the Great in 1319, from 1485, it was the seat of the dukes of Saxony, and from 1547 the electors as well. The Elector and ruler of Saxony Frederick Augustus I became King Augustus II the Strong of Poland in personal union and he gathered many of the best musicians, architects and painters from all over Europe to the newly named Royal-Polish Residential City of Dresden. His reign marked the beginning of Dresdens emergence as a leading European city for technology, during the reign of Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland the Zwinger Royal Palace, the Hofkirche and the Frauenkirche were built
9.
Dresden Cathedral
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Always the most important Catholic church of the city, it was elevated to the status of cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dresden-Meissen in 1964. It is located near the Elbe River in the center of Dresden. The Hofkirche stands as one of Dresdens foremost landmarks and it was designed by architect Gaetano Chiaveri from 1738 to 1751. The church was commissioned by Augustus III, Elector of Saxony, whilst the general population was protestant its rulers were catholic. The catholic Elector built the cathedral for his own use and for the use of other high-ranking officials, the church was badly damaged in February 1945 during the bombing of Dresden in the Second World War. It was initially restored during the mid-1980s by the East German government and it was further restored in the early 21st century following reunification, including the rebuilding of the bridge to the castle. Today it is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dresden-Meissen, free entry is permitted during the daytime. The cathedral features a carefully restored organ, the last work of the organ builder Gottfried Silbermann. It also contains a Rococo pulpit by Balthasar Permoser, media related to Katholische Hofkirche, Dresden at Wikimedia Commons
10.
Maria Josepha of Austria
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Maria Josepha of Austria was born an Archduchess of Austria, and from 1711 to 1717 was heir presumptive to the Habsburg Empire. By her marriage to Augustus III of Poland she was the Electress of Saxony, Maria Josepha was born in Vienna, an Archduchess of Austria as the eldest child of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Princess Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg. A marriage between Maria Josepha and Frederick Augustus II, Elector of Saxony had been suggested by Fredericks father, August II the Strong, the fact that Maria Josepha was not allowed to marry a non-Catholic, however, prevented the marriage. When Augustus converted to Catholicism in 1712, the negotiations became serious, on 20 August 1719, Maria Josepha and Frederick Augustus married. The couples eldest surviving son, Frederick Christian, eventually succeeded his father as Elector of Saxony, in Saxony, the couple lived at Dresden Castle. The marriage has been described as happy, and Augustus was apparently never unfaithful, in 1733, Frederick Augustus was elected King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as August III the Saxon. Maria Josepha was crowned 20 January 1734, Queen Maria Josepha was described as ambitious, intelligent and religious. She founded many churches and convents and gave her support to the Polish Jesuits. As queen of Poland and electress of Saxony, she divided her time between the two nations and she learned to speak Polish, and was often present during the assemblies of the Polish parliament. She shared an interest of music, art and hunting with her spouse and she was devoted to Catholicism and especially worshipped saint Francis Xavier, and was actively involved in the building of the Catholic Hofkirche in Dresden. Her personal confessor, the Jesuit Fr, despite her personal strict moral, she was reportedly not a prude and got along quite nicely with the illegitimate half siblings of her spouse. She was rivalled in her influence over her spouse by Heinrich von Brühl, Queen Maria Josepha was politically active and, though not formally proclaimed regent during the absence of her spouse, she informally acted as his representative. It was known and acknowledged by the court that she participated in the affairs of state, and she also managed a large diplomatic correspondence. Maria Josepha was reportedly not on terms with her eldest son Frederick Christian. During the War of the Austrian Succession in 1740, she claimed the throne on behalf of her spouse and she relinquished her claim in favor of her sister, Maria Amalias spouse, and in 1742 made an alliance with Austria. During the seven years war, Maria Josepha stayed behind in Dresden with Frederick Christian and his spouse Maria Antonia and she remained in Dresden when the city was taken by the Prussian army. She, as well as Frederick Christian and his spouse Maria Antonia, were all placed under house arrest at the palace of Dresden guarded by a Prussian commandant, on 4 April 1757, her Mistress of the Chamber, Countess Ogilvy, was arrested. Her last letter of 6 September was sent to the Austrian empress through her son, in which she also mentions that this would be her last
11.
Maria Amalia of Saxony
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She was the mother of thirteen children, many of whom died in childhood. A popular consort, she oversaw the construction of the Caserta Palace outside Naples as well as other projects in her husbands domains. Moving to Spain in 1759, she set about the improvements to the Royal Palace of Madrid. Maria Amalia was politically active and openly participated in affairs in both Naples and Spain. She was born at Dresden Castle in Dresden, the daughter of Augustus III of Poland, Elector of Saxony and Maria Josepha of Austria, herself daughter of Joseph I and her mother was the first cousin of Empress Maria Theresa. The infant was baptised with the names Maria Amalia Christina Franziska Xaveria Flora Walburga and her youngest sister, Princess Kunigunde was a possible wife for the future Philippe Égalité. She grew up at the court of Dresden and was educated in French, dance and she was also an accomplished musician and sang and played the keyboard from an early age. In 1738 Maria Amalia became engaged to Charles, King of Naples and Sicily, the impenetrable secret negotiations had taken place earlier in Vienna, where the Dowager Empress Wilhelmina Amalia, grandmother of Maria Amalia, played an important part in the negotiations. The Spanish ambassador in Vienna, Count Fuenclara, acted on behalf of the courts of Madrid and Naples, in December 1737, a papal dispensation was made, and the marriage announced in the beginning 1738. On May 8,1738, Maria Amalia had a ceremony at Dresden with her brother, Frederick Christian of Saxony. Since this marriage was looked upon favorably by the papacy, it soothed the diplomatic disagreements between Charles and the Papal states, on July 4,1738, Maria Amalia arrived at Naples and to what was described as a euphoric welcome. The couple met for the first time on June 19,1738 at Portella, at court, festivities lasted till July 3 when Charles created the Royal order of San Gennaro – the most prestigious chivalric order in the kingdom. He later had the Order of Charles III created in Spain on 19 September 1771, despite being an arranged marriage, the couple became very close, it was noted and reported to her mother-in-law in Spain, that Charles seemed happy and pleased when he first met her. Maria Amalia was described as a beauty and as a skillful rider, as Queen, she exerted great influence upon politics despite her frequent illnesses, and she actively participated in state affairs. He displeasure led directly to the latter being deposed as prime minister, Maria Amalia did not need to keep her influence secret, after the birth of her first son in 1747, she was given a seat in the council of state. In 1744, however she was forced to agree to declare war and she then favored Great Britain before France and Austria. Maria Amalia was talked about because of her favorites, which were to have influence over her policy when she was ill, such as princess Anna Francesca Pinelli. In 1754, she supported the career of Bernardo Tanucci as Foreign Minister, however, they left Naples before its completion due to her declining health so they never actually lived in the palace
12.
Maria Margaretha of Saxony
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Princess Maria Margaretha of Saxony was a Princess of Poland, Lithuania and Saxony of the House of Wettin. Maria Margaretha was born at Dresden, Saxony, as the child of fourteen. Her father, Augustus III of Poland, was the Elector of Saxony and her mother Maria Josepha, born an Archduchess of Austria, was a first cousin of Empress Maria Theresa. Her sisters included Maria Amalia, Queen of Spain, Maria Josepha, Dauphine of France, Maria Anna, Electress of Bavaria and Maria Kunigunde, Abbess of Thorn and Essen. Her brothers included two electors of Saxony, Frederick Christian, Charles of Saxony, Duke of Courland, and also Prince Albert of Saxony and she died on 1 February 1734, aged 6. 13 September 1727 –1 February 1734 Her Serene Highness Princess Maria Margaretha of Saxony
13.
Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony
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Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony was a daughter of King Augustus III of Poland and his wife Maria Josepha of Austria who became Electress of Bavaria. She was married to the Bavarian Elector Maximilian III Joseph in 1747, a secret treaty with Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II had been concluded. In exchange for Lower Bavaria, Charles Theodore was to receive the Austrian Netherlands and these plans failed with the War of the Bavarian Succession in 1778, in which the Prussian king stifled the Austrian attempts to exchange the Austrian Netherlands for Bavaria. When Emperor Joseph II tried the scheme again in 1784, Frederick created the Fürstenbund
14.
Prince Francis Xavier of Saxony
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Franz Xavier of Saxony was a German prince and member of the House of Wettin. He was the fourth but second surviving son of Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony and his older brother, the Elector Frederick Christian, died on 17 December 1763 after a reign of only 74 days. As co-regent, Franz Xavier continued the reforms of his brother. This was done against the wishes of the mother, the Dowager Electress Maria Antonia. During the regency, Franz Xavier attempted to introduce a plan of army reform based upon the Prussian model of Frederick the Great. This brought him conflict with the estates of the country. According to the regulations imposed by the Golden Bull of 1356, as a result, in 1768, the Elector Frederick Augustus III was formally proclaimed an adult, and Franz Xavier ended his functions as the regent of the Electorate of Saxony. In Dresden on 9 March 1765 Franz Xavier married morganatically an Italian lady-in-waiting to his sister-in-law, the Dowager Electress, the union was keep secret until 1777 when it was formally announced and legitimized. In 1769, Franz Xavier moved his family to France, the home of his sister, the Dauphine Marie-Josèphe. He lived in France for almost twenty years under the title of Count of Lusatia. In 1774, his nephew, Louis XVI, became the king of the country, Franz Xavier and his family chose to flee France at the beginning of the French Revolution. They moved to Rome, while in Rome, the Prince sat for a bust by Domenico Cardelli, after the death of his wife in 1792, he remained in Rome for some years. Eventually, though, he returned to Saxony and settled into Schloss Zabeltitz, Franz Xavier lived there until his death, aged seventy-five. During their marriage, Franz Xavier and Maria Chiara had ten children —known as counts and countesses of Lusatia — but only six survived to adulthood, clara Maria Augusta Beatrice, twin with Ludwig. Joseph Xavier Karl Raphael Philipp Benno, called Le Chevalier de Saxe, elisabeth Ursula Anna Cordula Xaveria, called Mademoiselle de Saxe, married on 8 November 1787 to Henri de Preissac, Duc dEsclignac. Maria Anna Violente Katharina Martha Xaveria, married on 15 October 1793 to Principe Don Paluzzo Altieri, beatrix Marie Françoise Brigitte, married on 18 February 1794 to Don Raffaele Riario-Sforza, Marchese di Corleto. Kunigunde Anna Helena Maria Josepha, married on 1795 to Marchese Don Giovanni Patrizi Naro Montoro, Maria Christina Sabina, married on 24 March 1796 to Don Camillo Massimiliano Massimo, Principe di Arsoli
15.
Maria Josepha of Saxony, Dauphine of France
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Maria Josepha of Saxony was a Duchess of Saxony and the Dauphine of France. She became Dauphine at the age of fifteen through her marriage to Louis de France, Marie Josèphe was the mother of three kings of France, including Louis XVI, who died under the guillotine during the French Revolution. Her youngest daughter, Madame Élisabeth, also was beheaded during the Revolution, Maria Josepha was born on 4 November 1731 in Dresden Castle to Augustus III, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, and Maria Josepha of Austria. Maria Josepha was the eighth of fifteen children and the fourth daughter. Dauphin Louis, eldest son of King Louis XV of France, was widowed on 22 July 1746 when his wife, Maria Teresa Rafaela, died giving birth to their only child, a daughter named after herself. King Ferdinand VI of Spain, Maria Teresa Rafaelas half-brother, had offered the Dauphin another Spanish princess, instead, the King of France and his all-powerful mistress Madame de Pompadour wanted to open up diplomatic channels. The marriage between Maria Josepha and the Dauphin had first been suggested by her uncle Maurice de Saxe, Louis XV and his mistress were convinced that the marriage would be advantageous to French foreign affairs. There was one problem with the bride, Maria Josephas grandfather Augustus II of Poland had deposed Stanisław I Leszczyński from the Polish throne. Leszczyński was the father of Maria Leszczyńska, Louis XVs wife, the marriage was said to have humiliated the simple-living Queen, even though she and Maria Josepha would later get on well. Other proposals came from Savoy in the form of Eleanor or her sister Maria Luisa of Savoy, despite the disapproval of the Queen, Maria Josepha married the Dauphin on 9 February 1747. Prior to the marriage, tradition demanded that the wear a bracelet which had a picture of her father on it. The witty Maria Josepha then revealing the bracelet to the Queen showed a portrait of the Queens father, the Dauphine said that the portrait represented the fact that the Duke of Lorraine was Maria Josephas grandfather by marriage. The Queen and the court were impressed by the tact of this girl of 15 years. The Dauphine was also close to her father-in-law Louis XV. At the time of the marriage, the Dauphin was still grieving for his Spanish wife and this grief was very public on the part of the Dauphin but Maria Josepha was praised greatly for her conquering the heart of the Dauphin bit by bit. Despite Maria Josepha being the patient wife, the Dauphins grief worsened in April 1748 when his child with the Infanta died at the age of two. The Dauphin was deeply affected by the childs death, Maria Josepha later commissioned a painting of her stepdaughter to be left over her cradle. The new Dauphine was very grateful to Madame de Pompadour for helping arrange her marriage, like her husband, Maria Josepha was very devout
16.
Charles of Saxony, Duke of Courland
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Prince Karl Christian Joseph of Saxony was a German prince from the House of Wettin and Duke of Courland. Born in Dresden, he was the fifth but third surviving son of Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, and Maria Josepha of Austria. Afterwards, a plot surrounding the Grand Duchess Elisabeth Petrovna against the regent was a success, in 1741 Anna Leopoldovna, her son Ivan. To occupy the new headship of the Duchy, the local knighthood —under pressure from Saxony, the young prince had previously travelled to St. Petersburg from which came the agreement of Tsarina Elisabeth, confirming these plans from their part. Before these negotiations could come to their conclusion, his father appointed him as Duke on 10 November 1758 and formally invested him on 8 January 1759 with the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia. After the Courland Diet and the States had met, they lost their hope of wringing a statement from Karl, nevertheless, appropriately many aristocrats refused to homage the duke’s appointment on 3 November 1759 and instead waged protest in Warsaw and St. Petersburg. The Duke was fond of life and lived in a remarkably splendid household on the Schloss Mitau and he amused the aristocracy with parties and courtly hunts with which he was able to increase his supporters. Also he took over the guidance of the Freemasons medal blossoming, at time in Poland. He left domestic politics, however, in the hands of his Country Controller Otto Christoph von der Howen. She allowed the now entirely rehabilitated Biron to return from his exile, finally, a sickly Augustus III —not only for his declined health but also by the consequences of the Seven Years War— accepted the fate of his son and denied his support to him. Without any support, Karl had to renounce the Duchy in 1763 and his hopes to win back the Duchy of Courland scattered after the quick death of his father and the loss of the Polish Crown for the Saxon Electors. Thereupon Karl lived in Dresden, however, dedicated himself farther to the hunt in the Annaburger Heath, Karl died in Dresden at age sixty-two. He was buried in the Marienstern Monastery of Mühlberg, in Warsaw on 21 March 1760 Karl secretly married Franciszka Corvin-Krasińska, daughter of Count Stanislaus Corvin-Krasiński. Because Franziska did not belong to a dynasty or immediate noble family. In response to the persistence of Karl and the Saxon court, the couple had two daughters, Maria Theresia. Through his surviving daughters first marriage, Karl is an ancestor of the later Kings of Italy, heinrich Diederichs, Karl, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie,15, Leipzig, Duncker & Humblot, pp. 297–298
17.
Albert Casimir, Duke of Teschen
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Prince Albert Casimir August of Saxony, Duke of Teschen was a German prince from the House of Wettin who married into the Habsburg imperial family. He was noted as an art collector and founded the Albertina in Vienna, one of the largest and finest collections of old master prints and drawings in the world. He was a son of king Augustus III of Poland and Maria Josepha of Austria. Prince Albert of Saxony, Duke of Teschen, was one of the godparents to his namesake Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg. Young Albert was specifically chosen by Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria to be her husband and this was a special favour granted by her mother, the great empress Maria Theresa of Austria because marriages of imperial children were usually used for diplomatic purposes. From his father-in-laws estate, Albert received the territory of Teschen in Austrian Silesia and was given the title of Duke of Teschen. Since he became a member of the Habsburg-Lorraine family, the title Archduke was also given to him, Archduchess Maria Christina the daughter of Francis of Lorraine received the duchy among her dowry. Prince Albert of Saxony thus became the Duke of Teschen, the only non-Habsburg to become such after the title passed into Habsburg control, Albert was royal governor of Hungary from 1765 to 1781, with his seat at Bratislava Castle and his summer residence in Halbturn Castle at Neusiedl. He was then governor of the Austrian Netherlands, with his seat at Brussels where he built Laeken palace as his seat. In Vienna a palace adjoining the Hofburg originally designed by Emanuel Teles Silva-Tarouca was enlarged for them by architect Louis Montoyer and that palace is today called the Albertina, after Albert, and houses the collection he started. Only two-thirds of his survives, because one of the cargo ships bringing it from Brussels sank en route. After his return to Vienna, he used as an advisor Adam von Bartsch, the Curator of the Imperial prints collection and the greatest prints scholar of his age. After the early death of his wife in 1798 of typhus, he lived only for his art collection, next door to his palace, in the Augustinerkirche Albert had a famous memorial to his wife carved by Antonio Canova. Media related to Prince Albert of Saxony, Duke of Teschen at Wikimedia Commons Albertina Museum
18.
Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony
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Clemens Wenceslaus was the ninth child of the Prince-Elector Augustus III of Saxony, who was also the King of Poland. In 1760 he went to Vienna and entered the Austrian army as a field marshal and he was present at the Battle of Torgau, but he decided that warfare was not for him and instead entered the church. He took a view in spiritual affairs. He allowed the Jesuits to remain in Trier after abolishing their order, protested the reforms of his cousin, the Emperor Joseph II. Although a modest person who lived simply, he rebuilt Ehrenbreitstein into a magnificent palace and he established the theatre in Coblenz and encouraged music in the archdiocese. Clemens Wenceslaus enjoyed hunting and established a lodge at Kärlich. With the outbreak of the French Revolution at the end of the 18th Century and he ceased all reforms and began to rule strictly. He offered refuge to members of the French royal family, Clemens Wenceslaus received a pension of 100,000 guldens and retired to Augsburg, dying in the episcopal summer residence in Marktoberdorf in Allgäu in 1812. His grandniece Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria was named after him, Archduchess Maria Clementina was a daughter of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Luisa of Spain. Maria Luisa was his niece by his sister Maria Amalia of Saxony
19.
Maria Kunigunde of Saxony
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Maria Kunigunde Dorothea Hedwig Franziska Xaveria Florentina of Saxony was a German noblewoman. She was a titular Princess of Poland, Lithuania and Saxony of the Albertine branch of the House of Wettin and she was a member of the Order of the Starry Cross and a collegiate lady in the abbey at Münsterbilzen. Later, she became Princess-Abbess of Essen and Thorn and she was the 15th and youngest child of King Augustus III of Poland, who was also Elector of Saxony as Frederick August II, and his wife Maria Josepha of Austria. Her father liked hunting, often went to the opera, kept an art collection. However, he neglected his daily government duties and left them to his first ministers Count Heinrich von Brühl and her parents placed great emphasis on the education of all their children. Maria Kunigunde was taught Polish, Latin, French, English, philosophy, geography, religion, drawing, music, as a young girl, she took part in operas and Singspiele performed at court in Dresden. She sang the title rôle in the opera Leucippo by Johann Adolph Hasse, as a daughter of a ruling family, she was destined to marry a prince to strengthen the political relations of the House of Wettin. The candidate her father considered was Archduke Joseph of Austria, who later became Emperor as Joseph II and his first wife, Isabella of Bourbon-Parma had died without producing an heir and his mother, Maria Theresa pressured him to remarry and produce an heir. Joseph considered marrying Isabellas younger sister Maria Louisa, however, she was engaged to the Spanish heir apparent. Joseph asked Charles father Charles III to break off this engagement, the Empress and her chancellor then asked him to choose a princess from Bavaria or Saxony. In 1764, he left Vienna to meet potential brides, the Saxon court in Dresden favoured a marriage between Joseph and Maria Kunigunde, if only because he might help the Saxons solve their financial difficulties. A secret dinner meeting was arranged between the two at Teplice in Bohemia, however, Maria Kunigunde hardly said a word during this meal and Joseph decided she was too timid to be his bride. He married her first cousin, Maria Josepha of Bavaria, whom he considered not very pretty, Maria Josephas marriage was an unhappy one, Maria Kunigunde was spared this fate. However, the story of her secret meeting in Bohemia spread around the European courts. One of the objectives of the House of Wettin was to increase their influence in the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle in the northwestern part of the Holy Roman Empire. The court in Dresden demanded that Vienna make her princess-abbess of a prestigious ladies abbey as compensation for the marriage plans. The two courts had some problems agreeing on a suitable abbey, Vienna proposed to make Maria Kunigude coadjutor and heir designate of Hradčany Abbey, which Empress Maria Theresa had founded in the Prague Castle. However, Dresden rejected this, because the abbey was a subject of the Bohemian Crown, Dresden demanded she be given an immediate Abbey, which would make Maria Kunigunde an Imperial Princess
20.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
21.
House of Wettin
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The House of Wettin is a dynasty of German counts, dukes, prince-electors and kings that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its origins can be traced back to the town of Wettin, the Wettins gradually rose to power within the Holy Roman Empire. Members of the family became the rulers of medieval states. Other states they gained were Meissen in 1089, Thuringia in 1263, the family divided into two ruling branches in 1485 by the Treaty of Leipzig, the Ernestine and Albertine branches. The older Ernestine branch played a key role during the Protestant Reformation, many ruling monarchs outside Germany were later tied to its cadet branch, the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The Albertine branch, while less prominent, ruled most of Saxony, agnates of the House of Wettin have, at various times, ascended the thrones of Great Britain, Portugal, Bulgaria, Poland, Saxony, and Belgium. Only the British and Belgian lines retain their thrones today, the oldest member of the House of Wettin who is known for certain is Theodoric I of Wettin, also known as Dietrich, Thiedericus, and Thierry I of Liesgau. He was most probably based in the Liesgau, around 1000, the family acquired Wettin Castle, which was originally built by the local Slavic tribes, after which they named themselves. Wettin Castle is located in Wettin in the Hassegau on the Saale River, around 1030, the Wettin family received the Eastern March as a fief. The prominence of the Wettins in the Slavic Saxon Eastern March caused Emperor Henry IV to invest them with the March of Meissen as a fief in 1089. The family split into two ruling branches in 1485 when the sons of Frederick II, Elector of Saxony divided the territories hitherto ruled jointly, as Albert ruled under the title of Duke of Saxony, his possessions were also known as Ducal Saxony. The older Ernestine branch remained predominant until 1547 and played an important role in the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation, Frederick III appointed Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon to the University of Wittenberg, which he had established in 1502. The Ernestine predominance ended in the Schmalkaldic War, which pitted the Protestant Schmalkaldic League against the Emperor Charles V, although itself Lutheran, the Albertine branch rallied to the Emperors cause. Charles V had promised Moritz the rights to the electorship, after the Battle of Mühlberg, Johann Friedrich der Großmütige, had to cede territory and the electorship to his cousin Moritz. Although imprisoned, Johann Friedrich was able to plan a new university and it was established by his three sons on 19 March 1548 as the Höhere Landesschule at Jena. On 15 August 1557, Emperor Ferdinand I awarded it the status of university, the Ernestine line was thereafter restricted to Thuringia and its dynastic unity swiftly crumbled, dividing into a number of smaller states, the Ernestine duchies. In the 18th century, Karl August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, established what was to become known as Weimar Classicism at his court in Weimar, notably by bringing Johann Wolfgang von Goethe there. The Ernestine Wettins, on the hand, repeatedly subdivided their territory
22.
Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth
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Not once throughout the whole of her thirty-year queenship did she set foot in Poland, instead living in Saxony in self-imposed exile. Born a German margravine, she was called Sachsens Betsäule, Saxonys pillar of prayer, by her Protestant subjects for her refusal to convert to Catholicism and her loyalty to the Protestant faith. Despite the allegiance of Christiane Eberhardine and her mother-in-law, Anna Sophie of Denmark, to Lutheranism, her husband and son, later Augustus III, both became Catholics. She was the child of Christian Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. She was named for her father, Christian, and her mothers father, as the daughter of the Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, she was margravine by birth. She had five siblings, only two of whom survived infancy. She remained close to her relatives in Bayreuth and continued to visit them after her marriage and she married Frederick Augustus, Duke of Saxony, the younger brother of the elector, John George IV, on 20 January 1693 at age 21. The marriage was political and highly unhappy. Augustus considered her boring, while she was shocked and hurt by his constant infidelity, three years later, on 17 October 1696, their son Frederick Augustus was born in Dresden. This was the only pregnancy in their entire 34-year-long marriage and he was brought up by his paternal grandmother, Anna Sophie of Denmark. Because Christiane Eberhardine and her mother-in-law got on well, she visited her son frequently and her Protestant countrymen named her The Pillar of Saxony. Christiane Eberhardine became electress when Augustus succeeded his brother as elector in 1694, in 1696, Christiane Eberhardine gave birth to her only child, the heir to the throne, after the only pregnancy during her entire marriage. In 1697, Augustus converted to Catholicism and was elected King of Poland, apparently, he had discussed neither his conversion nor his candidacy with her. His conversion caused a scandal in Saxony, and he was forced to guarantee the freedom of Saxony. However, Christiane Eberhardine refused to attend the coronation and to set foot in Poland despite the fact that her father also united with Augustus in persuading her. According to the Pacta Conventa, which Augustus had signed after his election, he was obliged to persuade her to convert, in March 1698, Augustus invited her to come to Danzig, where there was a large Protestant minority and where her father was to meet her. Augustus further guaranteed that their son would not convert by entrusting him to the care of his Protestant mother, Dowager Electress Anna Sophie, Christiane Eberhardine did not agree with the terms and refused to follow her father to Danzig and therefrom to Warsaw. On April 1698, her spouse and father signed a document in Warsaw, promising freedom of religion for her in Danzig and Thorn and her father then returned with the document to Dresden and tried to convince her to come to Poland
23.
Roman Catholicism
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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church or the Universal Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.28 billion members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history, headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, the churchs doctrines are summarised in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Its central administration is located in Vatican City, enclaved within Rome, the Catholic Church is notable within Western Christianity for its sacred tradition and seven sacraments. It teaches that it is the one church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christs apostles. The Catholic Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it declares as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as such as mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders. Among the sacraments, the one is the Eucharist, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body, the Catholic Church practises closed communion, with only baptised members in a state of grace ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Queen of Heaven and is honoured in numerous Marian devotions. The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture, Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world, from the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines on sexuality, its refusal to ordain women and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in the letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name Catholic Church was used to distinguish it from other groups that call themselves the church. The use of the adjective Roman to describe the Church as governed especially by the Bishop of Rome became more widespread after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages. Catholic Church is the name used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, in parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both, additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services
24.
Polish language
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Polish is a West Slavic language spoken primarily in Poland and is the native language of the Poles. It belongs to the Lechitic subgroup of the West Slavic languages, Polish is the official language of Poland, but it is also used throughout the world by Polish minorities in other countries. It is one of the languages of the European Union. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet, which has 9 additions to the letters of the basic Latin script, Polish is closely related to Kashubian, Silesian, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Czech and Slovak. It is also the second most widely spoken Slavic language, after Russian, in history, Polish is known to be an important language, both diplomatically and academically in Central and Eastern Europe. Today, Polish is spoken by over 38.5 million people as their first language in Poland. It is also spoken as a language in western parts of Belarus and Ukraine, west and central Lithuania, as well as the northern parts of the Czech Republic. There are 55 million Polish language speakers around the world, Polish began to emerge as a distinct language around the 10th century, the process largely triggered by the establishment and development of the Polish state. With Christianity, Poland also adopted the Latin alphabet, which made it possible to write down Polish, the precursor to modern Polish is the Old Polish language. Ultimately, Polish is thought to descend from the unattested Proto-Slavic language, Poland is the most linguistically homogeneous European country, nearly 97% of Polands citizens declare Polish as their first language. Elsewhere, Poles constitute large minorities in Lithuania, Belarus, Polish is the most widely used minority language in Lithuanias Vilnius County and is found elsewhere in southeastern Lithuania. There are significant numbers of Polish speakers among Polish emigrants and their descendants in many other countries, in the United States, Polish Americans number more than 11 million but most of them cannot speak Polish fluently. The largest concentrations of Polish speakers reported in the census were found in three states, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. Enough people in these areas speak Polish that PNC Financial Services offer services available in Polish at all of their machines in addition to English and Spanish. According to the 2011 census there are now over 500,000 people in England, in Canada, there is a significant Polish Canadian population, There are 242,885 speakers of Polish according to the 2006 census, with a particular concentration in Toronto and Montreal. The geographical distribution of the Polish language was affected by the territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II. Poles settled in the Recovered Territories in the west and north and this tendency toward a homogeneity also stems from the vertically integrated nature of the authoritarian Polish Peoples Republic. The inhabitants of different regions of Poland still speak standard Polish somewhat differently, first-language speakers of Polish have no trouble understanding each other, and non-native speakers may have difficulty distinguishing regional variations
25.
Lithuanian language
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Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.9 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania, Lithuanian is a Baltic language, related to Latvian. It is written in a Latin alphabet, Lithuanian is often said to be the most conservative living Indo-European language, retaining many features of Proto-Indo-European now lost in other Indo-European languages. Anyone wishing to hear how Indo-Europeans spoke should come and listen to a Lithuanian peasant, among Indo-European languages, Lithuanian is extraordinarily conservative, retaining many archaic features otherwise found only in ancient languages such as Sanskrit or Ancient Greek. For this reason, it is one of the most important sources in the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European language despite its late attestation, the Proto-Balto-Slavic languages branched off directly from Proto-Indo-European, then branched into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic. Proto-Baltic branched off into Proto-West Baltic and Proto-East Baltic, according to some glottochronological speculations, the Eastern Baltic languages split from the Western Baltic ones between AD400 and AD600. The Greek geographer Ptolemy had already written of two Baltic tribe/nations by name, the Galindai and Sudinoi in the 2nd century AD, the differentiation between Lithuanian and Latvian started after AD800, for a long period, they could be considered dialects of a single language. At a minimum, transitional dialects existed until the 14th or 15th century, also, the 13th- and 14th-century occupation of the western part of the Daugava basin by the German Sword Brethren had a significant influence on the languages independent development. The earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503–1525 of the Lords Prayer, the Hail Mary, printed books existed after 1547, but the level of literacy among Lithuanians was low through the 18th century, and books were not commonly available. Brought into the country by book smugglers despite the threat of prison sentences. Jonas Jablonskis made significant contributions to the formation of the standard Lithuanian language and his proposal for Standard Lithuanian was based on his native Western Aukštaitijan dialect with some features of the eastern Prussian Lithuanians dialect spoken in Lithuania Minor. These dialects had preserved archaic phonetics mostly intact due to the influence of the neighbouring Old Prussian language, Lithuanian has been the official language of Lithuania since 1918. During the Soviet era, it was used in official discourse along with Russian, Lithuanian is one of two living Baltic languages, along with Latvian. An earlier Baltic language, Old Prussian, was extinct by the 18th century, such an opinion was first represented by the likes of August Schleicher, and to a certain extent, Antoine Meillet. Endzelīns thought that the similarity between Baltic and Slavic was explicable through language contact while Schleicher, Meillet and others argued for a kinship between the two families. An attempt to reconcile the opposing stances was made by Jan Michał Rozwadowski and he proposed that the two language groups were indeed a unity after the division of Indo-European, but also suggested that after the two had divided into separate entities, they had posterior contact. The genetic kinship view is augmented by the fact that Proto-Balto-Slavic is easily reconstructible with important proofs in historic prosody, vyacheslav Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov believed in the unity of Balto-Slavic, but not in the unity of Baltic. In the 1960s, they proposed a new division, that into East-Baltic, West-Baltic, the Ivanov–Toporov theory is gaining ground among students of comparative-historic grammar of Indo-European language, and seems to be replacing the previous two stances in most PIE textbooks
26.
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
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The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 13th century until 1795. The state was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija, the Grand Duchy later expanded to include large portions of the former Kievan Rus and other Slavic lands, including territory of present-day Belarus, parts of Ukraine, Poland and Russia. At its greatest extent in the 15th century, it was the largest state in Europe and it was a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state with great diversity in languages, religion, and cultural heritage. Consolidation of the Lithuanian lands began in the late 12th century, Mindaugas, the first ruler of the Grand Duchy, was crowned as Catholic King of Lithuania in 1253. The pagan state was targeted in the crusade by the Teutonic Knights. The multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state emerged only at the reign of Gediminas. The reign of Vytautas the Great marked both the greatest territorial expansion of the Grand Duchy and the defeat of the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 and it also marked the rise of the Lithuanian nobility. After Vytautass death, Lithuanias relationship with the Kingdom of Poland greatly deteriorated, Lithuanian noblemen, including the Radvila family, attempted to break the personal union with Poland. However, the unsuccessful Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars with the Grand Duchy of Moscow forced the union to remain intact, eventually, the Union of Lublin of 1569 created a new state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In this federation, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania maintained its political distinctiveness and had separate government, laws, army, shortly after, the unitary character of the state was confirmed by adopting the Reciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations. The newly reformed Commonwealth was invaded by Russia in 1792 and partitioned between the neighbours, with a truncated state remaining only nominally independent, after the Kościuszko Uprising, the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and Austria in 1795. The Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania name the name of the state as Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Ruthenia and Samogitia. The title of Grand Duchy was consistently applied to Lithuania from the 14th century onward, in the 12th century, Slavic chronicles refer to Lithuania as one of the areas attacked by the Rus. Pagan Lithuanians initially paid tribute to Polotsk, but they grew in strength. The sudden spark of military raids marked consolidation of the Lithuanian lands in Aukštaitija, the Livonian Order and Teutonic Knights, crusading military orders, were established in Riga in 1202 and in Prussia in 1226. The Christian orders posed a significant threat to pagan Baltic tribes, the peace treaty with Galicia–Volhynia of 1219 provides evidence of cooperation between Lithuanians and Samogitians. This treaty lists 21 Lithuanian dukes, including five senior Lithuanian dukes from Aukštaitija, although they had battled in the past, the Lithuanians and the Žemaičiai now faced a common enemy. Likely Živinbudas had the most authority and at least several dukes were from the same families, the formal acknowledgment of common interests and the establishment of a hierarchy among the signatories of the treaty foreshadowed the emergence of the state
27.
Holy Roman Empire
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The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne, some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, the office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire. In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, by the end of the 18th century, the term Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had fallen out of official use. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control, by the middle of the 8th century, however, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel’s son Pepin became King of the Franks, the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768 Pepin’s son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, on Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the west for the first time in over three centuries. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, according to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm spewed forth kinglets, and each part elected a kinglet from its own bowels. After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, the last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, autonomous stem duchies reemerged in East Francia, on his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached a truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade, Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing dynasty, would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowlers death, Otto, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936 and he overcame a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several dukes. After that, the managed to control the appointment of dukes. In 951, Otto came to the aid of Adelaide, the queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her. In 955, Otto won a victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld
28.
Maria Josepha
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Maria Josepha of Austria was born an Archduchess of Austria, and from 1711 to 1717 was heir presumptive to the Habsburg Empire. By her marriage to Augustus III of Poland she was the Electress of Saxony, Maria Josepha was born in Vienna, an Archduchess of Austria as the eldest child of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Princess Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg. A marriage between Maria Josepha and Frederick Augustus II, Elector of Saxony had been suggested by Fredericks father, August II the Strong, the fact that Maria Josepha was not allowed to marry a non-Catholic, however, prevented the marriage. When Augustus converted to Catholicism in 1712, the negotiations became serious, on 20 August 1719, Maria Josepha and Frederick Augustus married. The couples eldest surviving son, Frederick Christian, eventually succeeded his father as Elector of Saxony, in Saxony, the couple lived at Dresden Castle. The marriage has been described as happy, and Augustus was apparently never unfaithful, in 1733, Frederick Augustus was elected King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as August III the Saxon. Maria Josepha was crowned 20 January 1734, Queen Maria Josepha was described as ambitious, intelligent and religious. She founded many churches and convents and gave her support to the Polish Jesuits. As queen of Poland and electress of Saxony, she divided her time between the two nations and she learned to speak Polish, and was often present during the assemblies of the Polish parliament. She shared an interest of music, art and hunting with her spouse and she was devoted to Catholicism and especially worshipped saint Francis Xavier, and was actively involved in the building of the Catholic Hofkirche in Dresden. Her personal confessor, the Jesuit Fr, despite her personal strict moral, she was reportedly not a prude and got along quite nicely with the illegitimate half siblings of her spouse. She was rivalled in her influence over her spouse by Heinrich von Brühl, Queen Maria Josepha was politically active and, though not formally proclaimed regent during the absence of her spouse, she informally acted as his representative. It was known and acknowledged by the court that she participated in the affairs of state, and she also managed a large diplomatic correspondence. Maria Josepha was reportedly not on terms with her eldest son Frederick Christian. During the War of the Austrian Succession in 1740, she claimed the throne on behalf of her spouse and she relinquished her claim in favor of her sister, Maria Amalias spouse, and in 1742 made an alliance with Austria. During the seven years war, Maria Josepha stayed behind in Dresden with Frederick Christian and his spouse Maria Antonia and she remained in Dresden when the city was taken by the Prussian army. She, as well as Frederick Christian and his spouse Maria Antonia, were all placed under house arrest at the palace of Dresden guarded by a Prussian commandant, on 4 April 1757, her Mistress of the Chamber, Countess Ogilvy, was arrested. Her last letter of 6 September was sent to the Austrian empress through her son, in which she also mentions that this would be her last
29.
Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor
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Joseph I was Holy Roman Emperor from 1705 until his death in 1711. He was the eldest son of Emperor Leopold I from his third wife, Joseph was crowned King of Hungary at the age of nine in 1687, and King in Germany at the age of eleven in 1690. He succeeded to the throne and that of Bohemia when his father died. Joseph also had to contend with a revolt in Hungary. Neither conflict was resolved until after his death and his motto was Amore et Timore. Born in Vienna, he was educated strictly by Prince Dietrich Otto von Salm, although the first son and child born of his parents marriage, he was his fathers third son and seventh child. Previously, Leopold had been married to Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain, then, he married Claudia Felicitas of Austria, heiress of Tyrol, who gave him two short-lived daughters. In 1684, the six-year-old Archduke had his first portrait painted by Benjamin von Block, at the age of nine, on 9 December 1687, he was crowned King of Hungary, and at the age of eleven, on 23 January 1690, King of the Romans. Unlike many of his relatives, although a Roman Catholic, Joseph was not one for religion, the cause of this may be that he was spared a strict religious upbringing. He had two great enthusiasms, music and hunting, in 1702, at the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession, Joseph saw his only military service. He joined the Imperial General, Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden, prior to his ascension, Joseph had surrounded himself with reform-hungry advisors and the ‘young court’ of Vienna was ambitious in the elaboration of innovative plans. He was described as a forward-looking ruler, the large number of privy councillors was reduced and attempts were made to make the bureaucracy more efficient. Measures were taken to modernize the central bodies and a success was achieved in stabilizing the chronic Habsburg finances. Joseph also endeavoured to strengthen his position in the Holy Roman Empire – as a means of strengthening Austria’s standing as a great power. When he sought to lay claim to rights in Italy and gain territories for the Habsburgs. In Hungary, Joseph had inherited the kuruc rebellion from his father Leopold I, once again, nobles in Transylvania had risen against Habsburg rule, even advancing for a time as far as Vienna. Although Joseph was compelled to take action, he refrained – unlike his predecessors – from seeking to teach his subjects a lesson by executing the leaders. Instead, he agreed to a peace, which in the long term facilitated the integration of Hungary into the Habsburg domains
30.
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
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Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria was an Archduchess of Austria and the younger sister of Empress Maria Theresa. Maria Amalia was born at the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna and she was the last daughter of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Like her sister, Maria Anna, her birth was not well received by her father and she died at 19 April 1730, in Vienna. Maria Amalia was the last member of the Austrian Habsburgs, after the death of her father, who had no male heirs, the imperial crown passed to Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, as the husband of Maria Theresa. The Habsburg dynasty of Austria became extinct in the line with the death of Charles VI
31.
Habsburg
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The House of Habsburg, also called House of Hapsburg, or House of Austria, was one of the most influential royal houses of Europe. The throne of the Holy Roman Empire was continuously occupied by the Habsburgs between 1438 and 1740, from the sixteenth century, following the reign of Charles V, the dynasty was split between its Austrian and Spanish branches. Although they ruled distinct territories, they maintained close relations. The House takes its name from Habsburg Castle, a built in the 1020s in present-day Switzerland, in the canton of Aargau, by Count Radbot of Klettgau. His grandson Otto II was the first to take the name as his own. The House of Habsburg gathered dynastic momentum through the 11th, 12th, by 1276, Count Radbots seventh generation descendant Rudolph of Habsburg had moved the familys power base from Habsburg Castle to the Duchy of Austria. Rudolph had become King of Germany in 1273, and the dynasty of the House of Habsburg was truly entrenched in 1276 when Rudolph became ruler of Austria, which the Habsburgs ruled until 1918. A series of dynastic marriages enabled the family to expand its domains to include Burgundy, Spain and its colonial empire, Bohemia, Hungary. In the 16th century, the separated into the senior Habsburg Spain and the junior Habsburg Monarchy branches. The House of Habsburg became extinct in the 18th century, the senior Spanish branch ended upon the death of Charles II of Spain in 1700 and was replaced by the House of Bourbon. It was succeeded by the Vaudemont branch of the House of Lorraine, the new successor house styled itself formally as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, although it was often referred to as simply the House of Habsburg. His grandson Radbot, Count of Habsburg founded the Habsburg Castle, the origins of the castles name, located in what is now the Swiss canton of Aargau, are uncertain. There is disagreement on whether the name is derived from the High German Habichtsburg, or from the Middle High German word hab/hap meaning ford, the first documented use of the name by the dynasty itself has been traced to the year 1108. The Habsburg Castle was the seat in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. The Habsburgs expanded their influence through arranged marriages and by gaining political privileges, in the 13th century, the house aimed its marriage policy at families in Upper Alsace and Swabia. They were also able to high positions in the church hierarchy for their members. Territorially, they often profited from the extinction of other families such as the House of Kyburg. By the second half of the 13th century, count Rudolph IV had become one of the most influential territorial lords in the area between the Vosges Mountains and Lake Constance
32.
Anna of Russia
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Anna Ioannovna, also spelled Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, was regent of the duchy of Courland from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Anna was born in Moscow as the daughter of Tsar Ivan V by his wife Praskovia Saltykova, although Annas father was himself Tsar of Russia and co-ruler with his half-brother Peter I, he was mentally disabled and incapable of administering the country. Therefore, his younger half-brother and co-ruler was effectively the autocrat of all the Russias, Ivan V died in February 1696, when Anna was only three years old, and her uncle became the sole ruler of Russia. Although Anna was the child of her parents, she had only one surviving elder sister, Catherine. The three girls were raised in a disciplined and austere manner by their mother, a very stern lady of sterling character. Anna grew up within a milieu which cherished womanly virtue and domesticity above all else and her education consisted of French, German, religious texts and folklore, leavened with some music and dancing. As she grew older, she developed into a girl, with a mean streak. Anna was famed for her big cheek, which, as shown in her portraits, in time, her uncle Peter the Great ordered the family to move from Moscow to St. Petersburg. This meant a change of not just location but also society, and she greatly enjoyed the splendor of court and the lavishness of high society, which was very different from the austerity preferred by her mother. In 1710, Peter the Great arranged for the 17-year-old Anna to marry Frederick William, Duke of Courland and her wedding was held on a grand scale, as per her own inclinations, and her uncle gave her a fabulous dowry of 200,000 roubles. At the feast which followed the wedding, two performed a parody by jumping out of enormous pies and dancing on the tables. The newly wedded couple spent several weeks in Russia before proceeding to Courland, only twenty miles out of St. Petersburg, on the road to Courland, Duke Frederick died. The cause of death was uncertain - it has been attributed variously to a chill or to the effects of alcohol, after her husband died, Anna proceeded to Jelgava, the capital of Courland and ruled that province for almost twenty years, from 1711 to 1730. During this period, the Russian resident, Peter Bestuzhev, was her adviser and she never remarried after the death of her husband, but her enemies said she conducted a love affair with Ernst Johann von Biron, a prominent courtier, for many years. In 1730, Tsar Peter II died childless at a young age and his death rendered the main line of the Romanov dynasty extinct, which had ruled Russia for over a century, since 1613. Possible candidates for the throne were the three surviving daughters of Ivan V, namely Catherine, Anna and Praskovya, and the two surviving daughters of Peter the Great, namely Anna and Elizabeth. Ivan V had been the brother of Peter the Great and co-ruler with him. Finally, the Russian Supreme Privy Council led by Prince Dmitri Golitzyn selected Anna and she was selected in preference to her elder sister Catherine even though Catherine was at that time resident in Russia whereas Anna was not
33.
Courland
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Courland or Kurzeme is one of the historical and cultural regions of Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland as they were held by the same duke. Situated in western Latvia, Courland roughly corresponds to the former Latvian districts of Kuldīga, Liepāja, Saldus, Talsi, Tukums, when combined with Semigallia and Selonia, Courlands northeastern boundary is the river Daugava, which separates it from the regions of Latgale and Vidzeme. To the north, Courlands coast lies along the Gulf of Riga, on the west it is bordered by the Baltic Sea, and on the south by Lithuania. It lies between 55° 45′ and 57° 45′ North and 21° and 27° East, the area comprises 27,286 km², of which 262 km² is made up of lakes. The landscape generally has a low and undulating character, with flat, the interior features wooded dunes, covered with pine, spruce, birch, and oak, with swamps and lakes, and fertile patches between. Courlands elevation never rises more than 213 m above sea level, the Jelgava plain divides Courland into two parts, the western side, which is fertile and densely inhabited, except in the north, and the eastern side, less fertile and thinly inhabited. Nearly one hundred rivers drain Courland, but only three of these rivers – the Daugava, the Lielupe and the Venta – are navigable and they all flow northwestward and discharge into the Baltic Sea. Owing to its numerous lakes and marshes, Courland has a damp, often foggy, in ancient times the Curonians, a pagan tribe, inhabited Courland. The Brethren of the Sword, a German military order, subdued the Curonians, in 1237 the area passed into the rule of the Teutonic Knights owing to the amalgamation of this order with that of the Brethren of the Sword. The Livonian Confederation was a loosely organized confederation formed by the German-led Livonian Order and it existed from 1228 to the 1560s, when it was dismembered during the Livonian Wars. The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was a semi-independent duchy that existed from 1561 until 1795, encompassing the areas of Courland, although nominally a vassal state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the dukes operated autonomously. In the 18th century Russia acquired great influence over the Duchy, in 1795, the last Duke, Peter von Biron, ceded the Duchy to the Russian Empire. The former Bishopric of Courland was directly incorporated into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as the Piltyń County of the Wenden, after annexation by the Russian Empire, the territory of the former Duchy formed the Courland Governorate. From the time of the Northern Crusades in the early 13th century, in 1863, the Russian authorities issued laws to enable Latvians, who formed the bulk of the population, to acquire the farms which they held, and special banks were founded to help them. By this means, some occupants bought their farms, but the mass of the population remained landless. Agriculture was the occupation, with the principal crops being rye, barley, oats, wheat, flax. The large estates conducted agriculture with skill and scientific knowledge, excellent breeds of cattle, sheep and pigs were kept
34.
Warsaw
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Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It stands on the Vistula River in east-central Poland, roughly 260 kilometres from the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometres from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population is estimated at 1.750 million residents within a metropolitan area of 3.101 million residents. The city limits cover 516.9 square kilometres, while the area covers 6,100.43 square kilometres. Once described as Paris of the East, Warsaw was believed to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world until World War II. On 9 November 1939, the city was awarded Polands highest military decoration for heroism, Warsaw is one of Europe’s most dynamic metropolitan cities. In 2012 the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Warsaw as the 32nd most liveable city in the world, in 2017 the city came 4th in the “Business-friendly” category and 8th in the “Human capital and life style”. It was also ranked as one of the most liveable cities in Central, Warsaw is considered an Alpha– global city, a major international tourist destination and a significant cultural, political and economic hub. The city is a significant centre of research and development, BPO, ITO, the Warsaw Stock Exchange is the largest and most important in Central and Eastern Europe. Frontex, the European Union agency for external security, has its headquarters in Warsaw. Together with Frankfurt, London and Paris, Warsaw is also one of the cities with the highest number of skyscrapers in the European Union, the city is the seat of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra and the University of Warsaw. The historic city-centre of Warsaw with its picturesque Old Town in 1980 was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, buildings represent examples of nearly every European architectural style and historical period. Warsaw provides many examples of architecture from the gothic, renaissance, baroque, neoclassical and modern periods, furthermore, the city is positioning itself as Europes chic cultural capital with thriving art and club scenes and renowned restaurants. Folk etymology attributes the city name to a fisherman, Wars, according to legend, Sawa was a mermaid living in the Vistula River with whom Wars fell in love. In actuality, Warsz was a 12th/13th-century nobleman who owned a village located at the site of Mariensztat neighbourhood. See also the Vršovci family which had escaped to Poland, the official city name in full is miasto stołeczne Warszawa. A native or resident of Warsaw is known as a Varsovian – in Polish warszawiak, warszawianin, warszawianka, warszawiacy, other names for Warsaw include Varsovia and Varsóvia, Varsovie, Varsavia, Warschau, װאַרשע /Varshe, Варшава /Varšava /Varshava, Varšuva, Varsó. The first fortified settlements on the site of todays Warsaw were located in Bródno, after Jazdów was raided by nearby clans and dukes, a new similar settlement was established on the site of a small fishing village called Warszowa
35.
Austria
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Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.7 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, the territory of Austria covers 83,879 km2. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps, only 32% of the country is below 500 m. The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene. The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty, from the time of the Reformation, many northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. Following Napoleons defeat, Prussia emerged as Austrias chief competitor for rule of a greater Germany, Austrias defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany. In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary, Austria was thus the first to go to war in the July Crisis, which would ultimately escalate into World War I. The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919, in 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss. This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral, today, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna, other major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $43,724, the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro currency in 1999. The German name for Austria, Österreich, meant eastern realm in Old High German, and is cognate with the word Ostarrîchi and this word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976, the word Austria is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. Accordingly, Norig would essentially mean the same as Ostarrîchi and Österreich, the Celtic name was eventually Latinised to Noricum after the Romans conquered the area that encloses most of modern-day Austria, around 15 BC. Noricum later became a Roman province in the mid-first century AD, heers hypothesis is not accepted by linguists. Settled in ancient times, the Central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes, the Celtic kingdom of Noricum was later claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province
36.
Prussia
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Prussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg, and centred on the region of Prussia. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organised, Prussia, with its capital in Königsberg and from 1701 in Berlin, shaped the history of Germany. In 1871, German states united to create the German Empire under Prussian leadership, in November 1918, the monarchies were abolished and the nobility lost its political power during the German Revolution of 1918–19. The Kingdom of Prussia was thus abolished in favour of a republic—the Free State of Prussia, from 1933, Prussia lost its independence as a result of the Prussian coup, when the Nazi regime was successfully establishing its Gleichschaltung laws in pursuit of a unitary state. Prussia existed de jure until its liquidation by the Allied Control Council Enactment No.46 of 25 February 1947. The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians, in the 13th century, the Teutonic Knights—an organized Catholic medieval military order of German crusaders—conquered the lands inhabited by them. In 1308, the Teutonic Knights conquered the region of Pomerelia with Gdańsk and their monastic state was mostly Germanised through immigration from central and western Germany and in the south, it was Polonised by settlers from Masovia. The Second Peace of Thorn split Prussia into the western Royal Prussia, a province of Poland, and the part, from 1525 called the Duchy of Prussia. The union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, Prussia entered the ranks of the great powers shortly after becoming a kingdom, and exercised most influence in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 18th century it had a say in many international affairs under the reign of Frederick the Great. During the 19th century, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck united the German principalities into a Lesser Germany which excluded the Austrian Empire. At the Congress of Vienna, which redrew the map of Europe following Napoleons defeat, Prussia acquired a section of north western Germany. The country then grew rapidly in influence economically and politically, and became the core of the North German Confederation in 1867, and then of the German Empire in 1871. The Kingdom of Prussia was now so large and so dominant in the new Germany that Junkers and other Prussian élites identified more and more as Germans and less as Prussians. In the Weimar Republic, the state of Prussia lost nearly all of its legal and political importance following the 1932 coup led by Franz von Papen. East Prussia lost all of its German population after 1945, as Poland, the main coat of arms of Prussia, as well as the flag of Prussia, depicted a black eagle on a white background. The black and white colours were already used by the Teutonic Knights. The Teutonic Order wore a white coat embroidered with a cross with gold insert
37.
Seven Years' War
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The Seven Years War was a war fought between 1754 and 1763, the main conflict occurring in the seven-year period from 1756 to 1763. It involved every European great power of the time except the Ottoman Empire and spanned five continents, affecting Europe, the Americas, West Africa, India, and the Philippines. The conflict split Europe into two coalitions, led by the Kingdom of Great Britain on one side and the Kingdom of France on the other. Meanwhile, in India, the Mughal Empire, with the support of the French, faced with this sudden turn of events, Britain aligned herself with Prussia, in a series of political manoeuvres known as the Diplomatic Revolution. Conflict between Great Britain and France broke out in 1754–1756 when the British attacked disputed French positions in North America, meanwhile, rising power Prussia was struggling with Austria for dominance within and outside the Holy Roman Empire in central Europe. In 1756, the major powers switched partners, realizing that war was imminent, Prussia preemptively struck Saxony and quickly overran it. The result caused uproar across Europe, because of Austrias alliance with France to recapture Silesia, which had been lost in a previous war, Prussia formed an alliance with Britain. Reluctantly, by following the diet, most of the states of the empire joined Austrias cause. The Anglo-Prussian alliance was joined by smaller German states, Sweden, seeking to re-gain Pomerania joined the coalition, seeing its chance when virtually all of Europe opposed Prussia. Spain, bound by the Pacte de Famille, intervened on behalf of France, the Russian Empire was originally aligned with Austria, fearing Prussias ambition on the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, but switched sides upon the succession of Tsar Peter III in 1762. Naples, Sicily, and Savoy, although sided with the Franco-Spanish alliance, like Sweden, Russia concluded a separate peace with Prussia. The war ended with the Treaty of Paris between France, Spain and Great Britain and the Treaty of Hubertusburg between Saxony, Austria and Prussia, in 1763. The Native American tribes were excluded from the settlement, a subsequent conflict, Prussia emerged as a new European great power. Although Austria failed to retrieve the territory of Silesia from Prussia its military prowess was noted by the other powers. The involvement of Portugal, Spain and Sweden did not return them to their status as great powers. France was deprived of many of its colonies and had saddled itself with heavy war debts that its inefficient financial system could barely handle. Spain lost Florida but gained French Louisiana and regained control of its colonies, e. g. Cuba and the Philippines, France and Spain avenged their defeat in 1778 when the American Revolutionary War broke out, with hopes of destroying Britains dominance once and for all. The Seven Years War was perhaps the first true world war, having taken place almost 160 years before World War I and it was characterized in Europe by sieges and the arson of towns as well as open battles with heavy losses
38.
Czartoryski
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Czartoryski is a Polish princely family of Lithuanian-Ruthenian origin, also known as the Familia. The family, which derived their kin from the Gediminids dynasty and they used the Czartoryski coat of arms and were a noble family of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 18th century. The Czartoryski family is of Grand Ducal Lithuanian descent from Ruthenia and their ancestor was the Grand Duke of Lithuania Algirdass son, known after his baptismal name Constantine, who became a Prince of Chortoryisk in Volhynia. One of his sons Vasyli Chortoryiski was granted an estate in Volhynia in 1393, the founding members were Ruthenian and Eastern Orthodox, and then converted to Roman Catholicism during the 16th century. It was Michaels descendant Prince Kazimierz Czartoryski Duke of Klewan and Zukow, an intelligent, well educated man, he married Isabella Morsztyn daughter of the Grand Treasurer of Poland and built The Familia with their four children, Michał, August, Teodor and Konstancja. The family attained the height of its influence from the century in the court of Augustus III of Poland. The Czartoryski family is renowned for the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków. Today, the descendants of Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski are Prince Adam Karol Czartoryski. The descendants of Prince Konstanty Adam Czartoryski live to this day in Poland and have their representatives in the Confederation of the Polish Nobility, the Czartoryski family used the Czartoryski coat of arms and the motto Bądź co bądź. The familys arms were a modification of the Pogoń Litewska arms, notable members include, Wasyl Czartoryski, married Hanna Michał Czartoryski, married Maria Niemir Teodor Czartoryski, married Princes Zofia Sanguszko h. Pogoń Litewska Iwan Czartoryski, married Princess Anna Zasławska h, korybut Jerzy Czartoryski, married Princess Aleksandra Wiśniowiecka h. Hołowiński and Princess Zofia Lubomirska h, szreniawa Michał Jerzy Czartoryski, married Princess Izabella Korecka h. Pogoń Litewska Michał Jerzy Czartoryski, married Rosine Margarethe von Eckenberg, szeliga and Joanna Weronika Olędzka h. Rawa Kazimierz Czartoryski, married Countess Izabela Elżbieta Morsztyn h, leliwa Michał Fryderyk Czartoryski, married Countess Elenora Monika Waldstein August Aleksander Czartoryski married Countess Maria Zofia Sieniawska h. Leliwa Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski, married Izabela Czartoryska h, fleming Maria Anna Czartoryska, married Louis, Duke of Württemberg Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, married Princess Anna Zofia Sapieha h. Lis Izabella Elżbieta Czartoryska, married Count Jan Kanty Działyński h, ogończyk Witold Czartoryski, married Maria Cycylia Grocholska h. Ślepowron Elżbieta Czartoryska married Count Stefan Adam Zamoyski h, gozdawa Jerzy Konstanty Czartoryski, married Maria Joanna Czermak Witold Leon Czartoryski, married Countess Jadwiga Dzieduszycka h. Sas Włodzimierz Alfons Czartoryski, married Countess Zofia Tyszkiewicz h, leliwa Professor Paweł Czartoryski Beatified Jan Franciszek Czartoryski Roman Jacek Czartoryski, married Countess Teresa Janina Zamoyska h
39.
House of Poniatowski
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The House of Poniatowski is a prominent Polish family that was part of the nobility of Poland. A member of family, Stanisław Poniatowski, was elected as King of Poland. Since Polish adjectives have different forms for the genders, Poniatowska is the equivalent name for a member of this family. The Poniatowski family became most prominent in the late 18th century, in three generations, the family rose from the rank of gentry to that of senator and then to royalty. The first information about the dates back to the end of the 15th century. Their family name derives from place name. Poniatowa was the residence of several branches of the Poniatowski family, Tłuk, Jarasz, modern historians however consider this story dubious, particularly as around the 18th century it was fashionable for Polish nobility to have relatives in Italy. On September 7,1764, at Wola, the most famous member of the family, in the same year, the Coronation Sejm awarded the Poniatowski family the title of Prince of Poland. Nowadays, there are still Poniatowscy living in Poland, France, Mexico, Italy, Russia, the United States, Germany, ladislas Poniatowski, French politician Axel Poniatowski, French politician Dave Poniatowski, American valuation specialist The Poniatowski family used the Ciołek arms. Thursday Dinners No.304 Polish Bomber Squadron im
40.
Catherine the Great
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Catherine II of Russia, also known as Catherine the Great, was a Russian monarch. She was the female leader of Russia, reigning from 1762 until her death in 1796 at the age of 67. She came to following a coup détat when her husband. Russia was revitalised under her reign, growing larger and stronger than ever, in both her accession to power and in rule of her empire, Catherine often relied on her noble favourites, most notably Grigory Orlov and Grigory Potemkin. In the west, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, ruled by Catherines former lover, king Stanisław August Poniatowski, was eventually partitioned, in the east, Russia started to colonise Alaska, establishing Russian America. Catherine reformed the administration of Russian guberniyas, and many new cities, an admirer of Peter the Great, Catherine continued to modernise Russia along Western European lines. However, military conscription and the continued to depend on serfdom. This was one of the reasons behind several rebellions, including the large-scale Pugachevs Rebellion of cossacks. The period of Catherine the Greats rule, the Catherinian Era, is considered the Golden Age of the Russian Empire. The Manifesto on Freedom of the Nobility, issued during the reign of Peter III and confirmed by Catherine. Construction of many mansions of the nobility, in the classical style endorsed by the Empress and she enthusiastically supported the ideals of The Enlightenment, thus earning the status of an enlightened despot. Catherine was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia as Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, she was nicknamed Figchen. Her father, Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, belonged to the ruling German family of Anhalt, two of her first cousins became Kings of Sweden, Gustav III and Charles XIII. In accordance with the then prevailing in the ruling dynasties of Germany, she received her education chiefly from a French governess. She once wrote to her correspondent Baron Grimm, I see nothing of interest in it, although Catherine was born a princess, her family had very little money. Catherines rise to power was supported by her mothers relatives who were both wealthy nobles and royal relations. Catherine first met Peter III at the age of 10, based on her writings, she found Peter detestable upon meeting him. She disliked his pale complexion and his fondness for alcohol at such a young age, Peter also still played with toy soldiers
41.
Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
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