1.
Battle of Nancy (1944)
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The battle resulted in U. S. forces fighting their way across the Moselle and liberating Nancy. When the Third Army began its attempt to capture Nancy, it had recently recovered from a severe fuel shortage which had caused it to halt on the Meuse River for five days. During this time, German defenders in the area had reinforced their positions, while the XX Corps in the north was tasked with the capture of Metz, Nancy, the other major city in the region, was assigned to the XII Corps. This left only the U. S. 4th Armored Division, panzerkorps - General der Panzertruppe Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz 3. Panzergrenadierdivision - Generalmajor Hans Hecker 8, grenadierdivision - - Generalmajor Johannes Bruhn 1119. The 4th Armored Division would then sweep around from the northern Pont-à-Mousson to assault Nancy from the east, at Pont-à-Mousson, the American 317th Infantry dispensed with reconnaissance and preliminary artillery bombardments, hoping to use tactical surprise instead. American forces made two crossing attempts, the first in the daylight and the second at night, but both were repulsed and the assault was called off by General Eddy. Luftwaffe-Regiment around Marbache, the U. S. 318th Infantry had a fight through the woods as they tried to seize the high ground which commanded the vicinity. After a two-day battle, they managed to dislodge the German defenders and capture the hill, though the initial crossing attempts largely failed, by 7 September the situation had started to improve for the Americans. This new plan was scheduled to take place on 11 September, dieulouard, located about four miles south of Pont-à-Mousson, was chosen as the new crossing site for the northern thrust of the encircling maneuver. The new plan would have the 317th Infantry Regiment cross first and secure a foothold, then for the 318th Infantry to follow, a heavy bridge would then be laid and CCA would be able to strike and capture Château-Salins, an important rail centre in the region. Because the 319th Infantry was still engaged in combat at Toul, because of the formidable terrain held by the German forces, extra support was called in. On 10 September, the IX Bomber Command destroyed a bridge at Custines to prevent enemy reinforcements from Nancy, in order to feint the enemy, artillery and air strikes were primarily directed at Pont-à-Mousson. The infantry crossings took place on September 12 and met only weak resistance. So fast was the advance elements of CCA were able to cross on the very same day. The reason for this ease was the Americans had crossed in a region near where two separate German divisions linked up and were thinly posted, most of the reserves in the area had already been sent north to engage the U. S. XX Corps. The German assault to destroy the bridge began about 01,00 on 13 September, panzergrenadier-Regiment forced a retreat of the American infantry and pushed them almost back to the bridge itself. An American battalion commander assembled enough troops and medium tanks to stop the Germans at le Pont de Mons
2.
Burgundian Wars
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The Burgundian Wars were a conflict between the Dukes of Burgundy and the Old Swiss Confederacy and its allies. Open war broke out in 1474, and in the years the Duke of Burgundy. The dukes of Burgundy had succeeded, over a period of about 100 years and their possessions included, besides their original territories of the Franche-Comté and the Duchy of Burgundy, the economically strong regions of Flanders and Brabant as well as Luxembourg. The dukes of Burgundy generally pursued an aggressive expansionist politics, especially in Alsace and Lorraine, having already been in conflict with the French king, Charles advances along the Rhine brought him in conflict with the Habsburgs and especially emperor Frederick III. Charles expansionist strategy suffered a first setback in his politics when his attack on the Archbishopric of Cologne failed after the unsuccessful Siege of Neuss, in a second phase, Sigismund sought to achieve a peace agreement with the Swiss confederates, which eventually was concluded in Konstanz in 1474. He wanted to buy back his Alsace possessions from Charles, which the latter refused, the next year, Bernese forces conquered and ravaged Vaud, which belonged to the Duchy of Savoy, who was allied with Charles the Bold. Having rallied his army, he was dealt a blow by the confederates in the Battle of Morat. Charles the Bold raised a new army, but fell in the Battle of Nancy in 1477, with the death of Charles the Bold, the dynasty of the dukes of Burgundy died out. The duchy proper reverted to the crown of France under king Louis XI, the country cantons resented this and the Dreizehn Orte disputes almost led to war. They were settled by the Stanser Verkommnis of 1481, battles of the Burgundian Wars Cologne Diocesan Feud Vaughan, Richard, Charles the Bold, The Last Valois Duke of Burgundy, London, Longman Group, ISBN 0-582-50251-9. Franche-Comté in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
3.
Nancy, France
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Nancy is the capital of the north-eastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, and formerly the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, and then the French province of the same name. The metropolitan area of Nancy had a population of 410,509 inhabitants at the 1999 census,103,602 of whom lived in the city of Nancy proper. The motto of the city is Non inultus premor, Latin for Im not touched with impunity—a reference to the thistle, the earliest signs of human settlement in the area date back to 800 BC. Early settlers were attracted by easily mined iron ore and a ford in the Meurthe River. A small fortified town named Nanciacum was built by Gérard, Duke of Lorraine around 1050, Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy, was defeated and killed in the Battle of Nancy in 1477, René II, Duke of Lorraine became the ruler. In 1736 Emperor Charles arranged her marriage to Duke François of Lorraine, exiled Polish king Stanisław Leszczyński, father-in-law of French king Louis XV, was given the vacant duchy instead. Under his nominal rule, Nancy experienced growth and a flowering of Baroque culture and architecture, with his death in 1766, the duchy became a regular French province and Nancy lost its position as a residential capital city with its own princely court and patronage. As unrest surfaced within the French armed forces during the French Revolution, a few reliable units laid siege to the town and shot or imprisoned the mutineers. In 1871, Nancy remained French when Prussia annexed Alsace-Lorraine, the flow of refugees reaching Nancy doubled its population in three decades. Artistic, academic, financial and industrial excellence flourished, establishing what is still the Capital of Lorraines trademark to this day, Nancy was freed from Nazi Germany by the U. S. Third Army in September 1944, during the Lorraine Campaign of World War II at the Battle of Nancy ), in 1988, Pope John Paul II visited Nancy. In 2005, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Nancy is situated on the left bank of the river Meurthe, about 10 km upstream from its confluence with the Moselle. The Marne–Rhine Canal runs through the city, parallel to the Meurthe, Nancy is surrounded by hills that are about 150 m higher than the city center, which is situated at 200 m amsl. The area of Nancy proper is small,15 km2. Its built-up area is continuous with those of its adjacent suburbs, the neighboring communes of Nancy are, Jarville-la-Malgrange, Laxou, Malzéville, Maxéville, Saint-Max, Tomblaine, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy and Villers-lès-Nancy. Adjacent to its south is the quarter Charles III – Centre Ville and this quarter contains the famous Place Stanislas, the Nancy Cathedral, the Opéra national de Lorraine and the main railway station. The old city centers heritage dates from the Middle Ages to the 18th century, the cathedral of Nancy, the Triumphal Arch and the Place de la Carriere are a fine examples of 18th-century architecture. The Palace of the Dukes of Lorraine is the princely residence of the rulers
4.
Charles the Bold
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Charles the Bold, baptised Charles Martin, was Duke of Burgundy from 1467 to 1477. He was the last Duke of Burgundy from the House of Valois and is also known as Charles the Rash. His early death at the Battle of Nancy at the hands of Swiss mercenaries fighting for René II, Charles the Bold was born in Dijon, the son of Philip the Good and Isabella of Portugal. Before the death of his father in 1467, he bore the title of Count of Charolais, afterwards, he assumed all of his fathers titles, including that of Grand Duke of the West. He was also made a Knight of the Golden Fleece just twenty days after his birth, invested by Charles I, Count of Nevers, Charles was brought up under the direction of Jean dAuxy and early showed great application alike to academic studies and warlike exercises. His fathers court was the most extravagant in Europe at the time, in 1440, at the age of seven, Charles was married to Catherine, daughter of King Charles VII of France and sister of the Dauphin. She was five years older than her husband, and she died in 1446 at the age of 18, in 1454, at the age of 21, Charles married a second time. He wanted to marry a daughter of his distant cousin Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and his father chose Isabella of Bourbon, who was three years younger than he was. Isabella was the daughter of Philip the Goods sister Agnes and a distant cousin of Charles VII of France. Their daughter Mary of Burgundy was Charles only surviving child, she inherited all the Burgundian domains before her marriage to Maximilian of Hapsburg, the son of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III. Charles was on terms with his brother-in-law Louis, the Dauphin of France. For his third wife, Charles was offered the hand of Louis XIs daughter Anne, the wife he ultimately chose, however, was his second cousin Margaret of York. Upon the death of his father in 1467, Charles was no longer bound by the terms of the Treaty of Arras, and he decided to ally himself with Burgundys old ally England. Louis did his best to prevent or delay the marriage with Margaret, but in the summer of 1468, it was celebrated sumptuously at Bruges, the couple had no children, but Margaret devoted herself to her stepdaughter Mary. After Marys death many years later, she kept Marys two infant children as long as she was allowed. On 12 April 1465, Philip relinquished control of the government of his domains to Charles, who spent the next summer prosecuting the War of the Public Weal against Louis XI. Charles was left master of the field at the Battle of Montlhéry on 13 July 1465, during the negotiations for the treaty, his wife Isabella died suddenly at Les Quesnoy on 25 September, making a political marriage suddenly possible. As part of the treaty, Louis promised him the hand of his infant daughter Anne, with the territories of Champagne and Ponthieu as a dowry, in the meanwhile, Charles obtained the surrender of Ponthieu
5.
Duchy of Burgundy
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Upon the extinction of the line with the death of Duke Philip I in 1361, the duchy fell back to King John II of France and the royal House of Valois. The Burgundian duchy rose to a complex of a European scale after in 1363 King John II of France ceded the duchy to his younger son Philip of Valois. By his marriage with Countess Margaret of Flanders, he laid the foundation for a Burgundian realm further north in the Low Countries collectively known as the Burgundian Netherlands. The Burgundian sphere, in its own right, was one of the largest ducal territories that existed at the time of the emergence of Early Modern Europe. Including the thriving regions of Flanders and Brabant, it was a centre of trade. After about one hundred years of Valois-Burgundy rule, however, the last duke Charles the Bold rushed to the Burgundian Wars and was killed in the 1477 Battle of Nancy. With the abdication of the Habsburg emperor Charles V in 1556, the Burgundians settled in the area around Dijon, Chalon-sur-Saône, Mâcon, Autun and Châtillon-sur-Seine, and gave the name to the region. The Kingdom of the Burgundians was annexed by the Merovingian Kings of the Franks Childebert I in 534 following their defeat by the Franks and it was recreated, however, on several occasions when Frankish territories were redivided between the sons on the death of a Frankish king. As part of the Kingdom of the Franks, Burgundy maintained a semi-autonomous existence, with the Burgundians maintaining their own law code, however, southern Burgundy was pillaged by the Saracen invasion of the 8th century. When Charles Martel drove the invaders out, he divided Burgundy into four commands, Arles-Burgundy, Vienne-Burgundy, Alamanic Burgundy and he appointed his brother Childebrand governor of Frankish Burgundy. Under the Carolingians, Burgundian separatism lessened and Burgundy became a geographical term. As a vital military defender of the West Frankish border, Guerin was sometimes known by the Latin term for leader – Dux or Duke, by the time of Richard the Justiciar, the Duchy of Burgundy was beginning to emerge. Richard was officially recognised by the king as a duke, he stood as individual count of each county he held. As Duke of Burgundy, he was able to wield an increasing amount of power over his territory, to the collective body of his territory there came to be applied the term ducatus. Included in the ducatus of Richard were the regions of Autunais, Beaunois, Avalois, Lassois, Dijonais, Memontois, Attuyer, Oscheret, under Richard, these territories were given law and order, protected from the Normans, and served as a haven for persecuted monks. It was from his territories in Burgundy that he drew the resources needed to fight those who challenged his right to rule, under Hugh the Black came the beginning of what would be a long and troubled saga for Burgundy. His neighbours were the Robertian family, who held the title of Duke of Francia and this family, wanting to improve their standing in France and against the Carolingian kings, attempted to subject the duchy to the suzerainty of their own duchy. They failed, eventually, when they appeared close to success, they were forced to scrap the scheme, two brothers of Hugh Capet, the first Capetian King of France, took up the rule of Burgundy as duke
6.
Lorraine
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Lorraine is a cultural and historical region in north-eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Lorraines name stems from the kingdom of Lotharingia, which in turn was named for either Emperor Lothair I or King Lothair II. It became later the Duchy of Lorraine before it was annexed to France in 1766, from 1982 until January 2016, Lorraine was an administrative region of France, when it became part of the new region Grand Est. As a region in modern France, Lorraine consisted of the four departments Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, Moselle and Vosges, the regional prefecture was Metz, although the largest metropolitan area of Lorraine is Nancy. Lorraine borders Germany, Belgium, and Luxembourg and its inhabitants are called Lorrains in French and number about 2,356,000. Lorraines borders have changed often in its long history, in 840, Charlemagnes son Louis the Pious died, and the Carolingian Empire was divided among Louis three sons by the Treaty of Verdun of 843. On the death of Lothair I, Middle Francia was divided in three by the Treaty of Prüm in 855, with the northern third called Lotharingia and going to Lothair II and this allowed it to be a duchy in name but an independent kingdom in reality. In 870, it allied itself with East Francia while remaining an autonomous duchy, along with the rest of Europe, this prosperity was terminated in Lorraine in the 14th century by a series of harsh winters, bad harvests, and the Black Death. During the Renaissance, a flourishing prosperity returned to Lotharingia until the Thirty Years War, France annexed Lorraine by force in 1766, a condition that remains today. However, the population was mixed, with the north largely Germanic, speaking Lorraine Franconian, in 1871, the German Empire regained a part of Lorraine Bezirk Lothringen, corresponding to the current department of Moselle). The department formed part of the new Imperial German State of Alsace-Lorraine, however, after 1877 higher education, including state-run colleges, universities and teacher seminaries, was exclusively in German. The prevalence of German and the usage of French, though restricted, were both guaranteed by the 1911 constitution of Alsace-Lorraine. In the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, the former German Empire suffered severe territorial losses, with the exception of its de facto annexation by Nazi Germany during World War II, that area has since remained a part of France. During that war, the cross of Lorraine was a symbol of Free France, the administrative region of Lorraine is larger than the 18th century duchy of Lorraine, which gradually came under French sovereignty between 1737 and 1766. The modern region includes provinces and areas that were separate from the duchy of Lorraine proper. These are, Barrois Three Bishoprics, non-contiguous territories around Metz, Verdun, several small principalities which were still part of the Holy Roman Empire at the time of the French Revolution. Some people consider the traditional province of Lorraine as limited to the duchy of Lorraine proper, while other people consider that it includes Barrois, the problem is that this duchy of Lorraine was originally the duchy of upper Lorraine, and did not include the entire area called Lorraine. Thus the duchies of Bar and Lorraine were united in personal union under the same duke, during the French Revolution, four departments were created on the main parts of the territories of Barrois, Three Bishoprics and the Duchy of Lorraine, Meuse, Meurthe, Moselle and Vosges
7.
Duchy of Lorraine
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The Duchy of Lorraine, originally Upper Lorraine, was a duchy now included in the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France. It was founded in 959 following the division of Lotharingia into two duchies, Upper and Lower Lorraine, the westernmost parts of the Holy Roman Empire. The Lower duchy was quickly dismantled, while Upper Lorraine came to be known as simply the Duchy of Lorraine, the Duchy of Lorraine was coveted and briefly occupied by the Dukes of Burgundy and the Kings of France. When Stanisław died on 23 February 1766, Lorraine was annexed by France, lorraines predecessor, Lotharingia, was an independent Carolingian kingdom under the rule of King Lothair II. Its territory had originally been a part of Middle Francia, created in 843 by the Treaty of Verdun, Middle Francia was allotted to Emperor Lothair I, therefore called Lotharii Regnum. On his death in 855, it was divided into three parts, of which his son Lothair II took the northern one. His realm then comprised a territory stretching from the County of Burgundy in the south to the North Sea. In French, this became known as Lorraine, while in German. In the Alemannic language once spoken in Lorraine, the -ingen suffix signified a property, thus, in a figurative sense, stuck in the conflict with his rival Hugh the Great, in 942 King Louis IV of France renounced all claims to Lotharingia. In 953, the German king Otto I had appointed his brother Bruno the Great Duke of Lotharingia, in 959, Bruno divided the duchy into Upper and Lower Lorraine, this division became permanent following his death in 965. The Upper Duchy was further up the system, that is, it was inland. Upper Lorraine was first denominated as the Duchy of the Moselle, the usage of Lotharingia Superioris and Lorraine in official documents begins later, around the fifteenth century. The first duke and deputy of Bruno was Frederick I of Bar, Lower Lorraine disintegrated into several smaller territories and only the title of a Duke of Lothier remained, held by Brabant. After the duchy of the Moselle came into the possession of René of Anjou, the name Duchy of Lorraine was adopted again, only retrospectively called Upper Lorraine. At that time, several territories had already split off, such as the County of Luxembourg, the Electorate of Trier, the County of Bar, the border between the Empire and the Kingdom of France remained relatively stable throughout the Middle Ages. In 1301, Count Henry III of Bar had to receive the part of his lands as a fief by King Philip IV of France. In 1475, the Burgundian duke Charles the Bold campaigned for the Duchy of Lorraine, in the 1552 Treaty of Chambord, a number of insurgent Protestant Imperial princes around Elector Maurice of Saxony ceded the Three Bishoprics to King Henry II of France in turn for his support. In the 17th century, the French kings began to covet Lorraine, while the central Imperial authority decayed in the course of the Thirty Years War, Chief Minister Cardinal Richelieu urged the occupation of the duchy in 1641
8.
Old Swiss Confederacy
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The Old Swiss Confederacy was a precursor of the modern state of Switzerland. It was a confederation of independent small states which formed during the 14th century. From a nucleus in what is now Central Switzerland, the confederacy expanded to include the cities of Zurich and this formed a rare union of rural and urban communes, all of which enjoyed imperial immediacy in the Holy Roman Empire. Its success resulted in the addition of more confederates, increasing the number of cantons to thirteen by 1513, the confederacy pledged neutrality in 1515 and 1647, although many Swiss served privately as mercenaries in the Italian Wars and during the Early Modern period. After the Swabian War of 1499 the confederacy was a de facto independent state throughout the modern period. The Swiss Confederacy fell to invasion by the French Revolutionary Army in 1798, the adjective “old” was introduced after the Napoleonic era with Ancien Régime, retronyms distinguishing the pre-Napoleonic from the restored confederation. During its existence the confederacy was known as Eidgenossenschaft or Eydtgnoschafft, in reference to treaties among cantons, territories of the confederacy came to be known collectively as Schweiz or Schweizerland, with the English Switzerland beginning during the mid-16th century. From that time the Confederacy was seen as a single state, the foundation of the Confederacy is marked by the Rütlischwur or the 1315 Pact of Brunnen. Since 1889, the Federal Charter of 1291 among the communes of Uri, Schwyz. The initial pact was augmented by pacts with the cities of Lucerne, Zürich, in several battles with Habsburg armies, the Swiss were victorious, they conquered the rural areas of Glarus and Zug, which became members of the confederacy. From 1353 to 1481, the federation of eight cantons—known in German as the Acht Orte —consolidated its position, the members enlarged their territory at the expense of local counts—primarily by buying judicial rights, but sometimes by force. The Eidgenossenschaft, as a whole, expanded through military conquest, the Aargau was conquered in 1415, in both cases, the Swiss profited from weakness in the Habsburg dukes. In the south, Uri led a military territorial expansion that would by 1515 lead to the conquest of the Ticino, none of these territories became members of the confederacy, they had the status of condominiums. At this time, the eight cantons gradually increased their influence on neighbouring cities, individual cantons concluded pacts with Fribourg, Appenzell, Schaffhausen, the abbot and the city of St. Gallen, Biel, Rottweil, Mulhouse and others. These allies became closely associated with the confederacy, but were not accepted as full members, the Burgundy Wars prompted a further enlargement of the confederacy, Fribourg and Solothurn were accepted in 1481. In the Swabian War against Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, the Swiss were victorious, the associated cities of Basel and Schaffhausen joined the confederacy as a result of that conflict, and Appenzell followed suit in 1513 as the thirteenth member. The federation of thirteen cantons constituted the Old Swiss Confederacy until its demise in 1798, the expansion of the confederacy was stopped by the Swiss defeat in the 1515 Battle of Marignano. Only Berne and Fribourg were still able to conquer the Vaud in 1536, the Reformation in Switzerland led to doctrinal division amongst the cantons
9.
Siege of Neuss
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The Siege of Neuss, from 1474–75, was linked to the Cologne Diocesan Feud and part of the Burgundian Wars. The siege, led by Charles the Bold against the Imperial City of Neuss, was unsuccessful, Charles was compelled by the approach of a powerful Imperial army to raise the siege. Under Charless father, Philip the Good, the Duchy of Burgundy had allied itself to the cause of the newly elected Archbishop of Cologne, Ruprecht. Ruprecht proved immensely unpopular, and by 1471 several major towns in the archbishopric, Charless route towards Cologne led him past Neuss, one of the centers of resistance against Ruprecht. Fearing the threat Neuss would pose to his rear if left uninvested, Charles prepared to lay siege to the city. The Neussers, though they had had only a time to prepare. They were led by Hermann, Landgrave of Hesse, and had the support of nearby towns. Charless army set up siege lines to the North and West of the city, two large islands lay in the Rhine, however, and Charles decided to capture them, reasoning that he would then control passage along the Rhine and the water supply to the citys moat. The Burgundians were also harried by hostile peasants, in September Charless Italians and English archers launched a 3, 000-strong attack on one of Neuss gates, which was repulsed. The next night, Kölners floated a fire-boat down the Rhine to destroy Charless pontoon bridges, shortly thereafter Charless English archers, upset by the arrears of pay, began to cause trouble, and as Charles tried to calm them they opened fire. Charles was unharmed, but a spread that the English had killed him. Throughout the siege he worked tirelessly to keep up morale and to prosecute the siege, Charless men captured a German trying to swim the Rhine with a message that declared the Emperor Frederick was approaching with a huge army, and Charles redoubled his efforts, to no avail. By May, Frederick was on the move, his army slowed by drunken brawls between soldiers from different regions of the Empire and by the need to other cities from the Burgundians. But by the end of May he had arrived, and the Burgundians, after signing a provisional treaty, at first, Burgundians, Imperials, and Kölners fraternized, but soon the Germans began to harass the Burgundians, precipitating a sudden and violent assault on the unsuspecting Germans. The siege was finally terminated on 27 June 1475, the failure of the siege of Neuss was attributed by the inhabitants of the city to the intervention of their patron saint, Quirinus of Neuss. In Ash, A Secret History by Mary Gentle, the Siege of Neuss has the title characters mercenary company involved in a skirmish with Charles the Bolds forces
10.
Battle of Grandson
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The Battle of Grandson, which took place on 2 March 1476, was part of the Burgundian Wars, and resulted in a major defeat for Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, at the hands of the Swiss. In late February 1476, Charles the Bold, also called Charles the Rash, besieged the castle of Grandson, Grandson belonged to Charles ally Jacques de Savoie, and the place had been brutally taken by the Swiss the previous year. The Swiss, under pressure from the canton of Bern. A boat approached the garrison with the news that an army was coming to its relief, the men in the boat gestured to the defenders in the fortress to inform them that help was on the way, but their gestures were misunderstood, and the garrison decided to surrender. Swiss sources are unanimous in stating that the men gave up when Charles assured them they would be spared. The historian Panigarola, who was with Charles, claimed that the garrison had thrown themselves on the mercy of the duke and he ordered all 412 men of the garrison to be executed. The Swiss had no news of the fate of the garrison and this army numbered a little over 20,000 men without artillery and probably slightly outnumbered the Burgundians. On 2 March 1476 the Swiss army approached the forces of Charles near the town of Concise, the Swiss advanced in three heavy columns, echeloned to the left rear, moving directly into combat without deploying, in typical Swiss fashion. Poor reconnaissance left Charles uninformed as to the size and deployment of the Swiss, the vanguard, consisting mainly of men from Schwyz, Bern, and Solothurn, realized they would soon be in battle and knelt to pray. When they said three Our Fathers and three Hail Marys, some of the Burgundian army reportedly mistook their actions as a sign of submission, in their zeal, they rode forward shouting, You will get no mercy, you must all die. The Burgundian knights soon surrounded the Swiss vanguard, but then Charles made a serious mistake, after brief skirmishing, Charles ordered his cavalry to pull back so the artillery could reduce the Swiss forces before the attacks were renewed. At this time, the body of the Swiss emerged from a forest which had hitherto obscured their approach. The Burgundian army, already pulling back, soon became confused when the second, the speed of the Swiss advance did not give the Burgundians time to make much use of their artillery and missile units. The withdrawal soon turned into a rout when the Burgundian army broke ranks, for a time, Charles rode among them shouting orders for them to stop and hitting fleeing soldiers with the flat of his sword. But once started the rout was unstoppable, and Charles was forced to flee as well, few casualties were suffered on either side, the Swiss did not have the cavalry necessary to chase the Burgundians far. At insignificant cost to themselves, the Swiss had humiliated the greatest duke in Europe, defeated one of the most feared armies, the booty Charles carried with him was immense, and included jewellery, silver and gold plate, tapestries and much of Charles artillery. The Swiss initially had little idea of its value, after the battle, the Swiss troops came upon the bodies of their countrymen still hanging from trees. An eyewitness, Peterman Etterlin, described the scene, There were found sadly the honorable men still freshly hanging on the trees in front of the castle whom the tyrant had hanged and it was a wretched, pitiable sight
11.
Battle of Morat
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The result was a crushing defeat for the Burgundians at the hands of the Swiss. Stung by his defeat by the Swiss Confederation at Grandson in March 1476, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, reorganised his tangled and his first objective was the strategic lakeside town of Morat, set on the eastern shore of Lake Morat. On 11 June 1476, the Burgundians commenced the siege of the well-prepared town, an initial assault was repulsed by a heavy barrage of fire from light guns mounted on the walls, but two great bombards used by the Burgundians were slowly reducing the walls to rubble. By 19 June the Confederate muster was near complete at their camp behind the Sarine River, only a contingent of some 4,000 men from Zürich had yet to arrive and these were not expected until 22 June. Charles in the meantime had been reasonably well informed of the approach of the Confederate army. The terrain around the town is hilly and he had chosen to rest his left flank artillery on a steeply sloped gorge cut by the Burggraben stream. In the centre, behind a ditch and palisade entrenchment known as the Grunhag. On 21 June 1476, Charles expected the Confederation forces to attack and he arranged his army and prepared for the coming assault. However, the Swiss commanders decided to wait a day for the troops from Zürich. After about six hours of waiting Charles ordered his troops to stand down, on 22 June 1476, around mid-morning, Charles ordered his treasurer to pay the entire army, expecting the Confederate troops to continue delaying. The orderly lines of the Burgundian army dissolved into chaos as soldiers scattered throughout the camp collecting their pay, eating their midday meal and seeking shelter from the rain. The skeleton force remained at the Grunhag were surprised when the Swiss army, in battle order. The Confederate vanguard of some 6,000 skirmishers and all the 1,200 cavalry present erupted out of Birchenwald Woods to the west of Morat, behind the vanguard came the main body of pike, the gewalthut. This was some 10,000 to 12,000 strong and was formed in a wedge with the cantonial standards in the centre, flanked by halberdiers. The rearguard of 6,000 to 8,000 more closely packed pike, as the Swiss charged downhill into the Burgundian position the artillery managed to fire a few salvoes, killing or maiming several hundred of the overeager Lorrainers. The Swiss formed up quickly beyond it and advanced towards Murten, in the Burgundian camp, there was confusion after the Swiss were sighted, as men rushed to re-form ranks and prepare for battle. In the ducal tent on top of the Bois Du Domingue, but as fast as any unit was formed and moved forward against the Swiss, it was swept aside as various uncoordinated attacks were made against the still compact Confederate battle formations. Charles managed to muster enough English archers to form a last line of defence before the camp, traditionally, the Duke of Somerset is identified as the commander of the English archers
12.
Rhine
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The largest city on the river Rhine is Cologne, Germany, with a population of more than 1,050,000 people. It is the second-longest river in Central and Western Europe, at about 1,230 km, with an average discharge of about 2,900 m3/s. The Rhine and the Danube formed most of the inland frontier of the Roman Empire and, since those days. The many castles and fortifications along the Rhine testify to its importance as a waterway in the Holy Roman Empire, in the modern era, it has become a symbol of German nationalism. The variant of the name of the Rhine in modern languages are all derived from the Gaulish name Rēnos, spanish is with French in adopting the Germanic vocalism Rin-, while Italian, Occitan and Portuguese retain the Latin Ren-. The Gaulish name Rēnos belongs to a class of river names built from the PIE root *rei- to move, flow, run, the grammatical gender of the Celtic name is masculine, and the name remains masculine in German, Dutch and French. The Old English river name was variously inflected as masculine or feminine, the length of the Rhine is conventionally measured in Rhine-kilometers, a scale introduced in 1939 which runs from the Old Rhine Bridge at Constance to Hoek van Holland. The river length is shortened from the rivers natural course due to a number of canalisation projects completed in the 19th and 20th century. The total length of the Rhine, to the inclusion of Lake Constance and its course is conventionally divided as follows, The Rhine carries its name without distinctive accessories only from the confluence of the Vorderrhein and Hinterrhein near Tamins-Reichenau. Above this point is the catchment of the headwaters of the Rhine. It belongs almost exclusively to the Swiss Canton of Graubünden, ranging from Gotthard Massif in the west via one valley lying in Ticino, traditionally, Lake Toma near the Oberalp Pass in the Gotthard region is seen as the source of the Vorderrhein and the Rhine as a whole. The Hinterrhein rises in the Rheinwald valley below Mount Rheinwaldhorn, the Vorderrhein, or Anterior Rhine, springs from Lai da Tuma, near the Oberalp Pass and passes the impressive Ruinaulta formed by the largest visible rock slide in the alps, the Flims Rockslide. A multiday trekking route is signposted along the young Rhine called Senda Sursilvana, the Hinterrhein/Rein Posteriur, or Posterior Rhine, starts from the Paradies Glacier, near the Rheinwaldhorn. One of its tributaries, the Reno di Lei, drains the Valle di Lei on politically Italian territory, after three main valleys separated by the two gorges, Roflaschlucht and Viamala, it reaches Reichenau. The Vorderrhein arises from numerous source streams in the upper Surselva, one source is Lai da Tuma with the Rein da Tuma, which is usually indicated as source of the Rhine, flowing through it. Into it flow tributaries from the south, some longer, some equal in length, such as the Reno di Medel, the Rein da Maighels, and the Rein da Curnera. The Cadlimo Valley in the Canton of Ticino is drained by the Reno di Medel, all streams in the source area are partially, sometimes completely, captured and sent to storage reservoirs for the local hydro-electric power plants. In its lower course the Vorderrhein flows through a gorge named Ruinaulta through the Flims Rockslide, the whole stretch of the Vorderrhein to the Rhine confluence near Reichenau-Tamins is accompanied by a long-distance hiking trail called Senda Sursilvana
13.
Gendarme (historical)
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A gendarme was a heavy cavalryman of noble birth, primarily serving in the French army from the Late Medieval to the Early Modern periods of European history. The word gendarme derives originally from the French homme darmes, plural of which is gens darmes, the plural sense was later shortened to gendarmes and a singular made of this, gendarme. Like most fifteenth century sovereigns, the Kings of France sought to possess standing armies of professionals to fight their incessant wars and these methods, though improvements on the old annual 40-day service owed by knights, were also subject to strain over long campaigns. Men in these units signed a contract which kept them in the service of the unit for periods of one year or longer, eventually more ordinances would set the general guidelines for the organization of companies of gendarmes, the troops in which were accordingly called the gendarmes dordonnance. These later archers had armour less heavy than the gendarmes, and a light lance and this organization was provisional, however, and one of the mounted archers was commonly replaced by another non-combatant, a servant. In 1434, the pay for the members of the company was set as 120 livres for gendarmes,60 for coutilliers,48 for archers, gendarme unit organization evolved over time. By the 1550s, advances in firearm technology dictated that a body of 50 light cavalry armed with an arquebus be attached to each gendarme company, the heavy cavalrymen in these companies were almost invariably men of gentle birth, who would have served as knights in earlier feudal forces. In many ways they still closely resembled knights—wearing a complete suit of armour, they fought on horseback. A gendarme company was formed by the crown, the king appointing a magnate to raise the company and be its captain, in this way, the bonds between the crown and the magnates were maintained, as the kings patronage essentially bought the loyalty of the nobility. Likewise, appointment of individual gentlemen to a company was mostly accomplished by patronage and recommendation. Recruits preferred positions in companies stationed in their province. The total number of gendarmes in the companies varied over the decades and this was generally increased by another 1,000 lances in wartime. When conflict ended, the reduction came either in the number of companies, the gendarme companies were permanently stationed in towns in the provinces throughout France, subject to be summoned during wartime and concentrated in the Royal armies. Some became closely associated with the towns where they were stationed, if these garrison towns did not have sufficient resources to support the gendarmes present, as was often the case, individuals often found lodging in nearby areas. Men who were away for these reasons were to be back to the company by the captains when ordered to do so by the provincial governor. Long-term absence was a problem in the companies. The French ordinances established regular infantry forces as well, but these were less successful. These created twelve ordonnance companies, for a total of 1,200 gendarmes, there was a twenty-fifth lance in the escadre, that of the squadron commander
14.
Field guns
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A field gun is an artillery piece. Perhaps the most famous use of the gun in terms of advanced tactics was Napoleons use of very large wheels on the guns that allowed them to be moved quickly even during a battle. As the evolution of artillery continued, almost all guns of any size became capable of being moved at some speed, even the German super-heavy guns in World War II were rail or caterpillar-track mobile. In British use, a gun was anything up to around 4.5 inches in calibre—larger guns were medium. Their largest gun was the 5.5 inch Medium, with a range of about 15, 000\16,000 yards. Since about the start of World War II, the term has been applied to artillery pieces that fire at a relatively low angle. Field guns also lack a specialized purpose, such as anti-tank or coastal artillery, the U. S. Army tried the long-range gun again in the 1960s with the M107175 mm gun. The M107 was used extensively in the Vietnam War and proved effective in artillery duels with the North Vietnamese forces and it was considered a high-maintenance item and was removed from service with U. S. forces after a rash of cracked barrels. Today the gun finds itself in an area that seems to be gone for good, the need for a long-range weapon is filled by rocket artillery, or aircraft. Modern gun-artillery such as the L118 105mm light gun is used to fire support for infantry. Man-packed mortars lack the range or hitting power of gun-artillery, in between is the rifled towed mortar, this weapon is light enough to be towed by a Land Rover, has a range of over 6, 000m and fires a bomb comparable in weight to an artillery shell
15.
Heavy cavalry
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Heavy cavalry is a class of cavalry whose primary role was to engage in direct combat with enemy forces. Although some form of cavalry had been in use in Mesopotamia since 3000 BC, by 600 BC armoured cavalry began seeing use, though it was not until the later ancient Greek era that true heavy cavalry emerged. Iranian tribes such as the Massagetae were believed to be the originator of the class of heavy cavalry known as cataphract, by the time of Alexanders invasion cataphract units with both men and beasts being fully encased in armour were already in use by the Persians. The Celts of western and central Europe are among the first peoples in the known to have made use of heavy cavalry. It is generally accepted that the Celts were the originators of chainmail, at the Battle of Carrhae, Gallic auxiliary cavalry met with the completely armoured Parthian cataphracts. Despite being outmatched the Gauls fought fiercely and well before being annihilated in a protracted melee, for close combat the main weapon was the spear, around 7 feet in length with a leaf-bladed head, and a heavy wooden shield with an iron spindle-type boss. The most prestigious weapon was the sword, a blade ranging anywhere from 2 ft to 3 ft in length, Celtic swords were typically of good quality, with some being of such quality that archeologists have classed them as being equal to modern, high-quality steel replicas. The heavy cavalry of the Celtiberi, widely employed by the Carthaginians, known to the Romans as Lanciarii, they are represented in several Iberian carvings of the period. They may have carried the soliferrum, the all-iron javelin unique to Iberia, in addition to a spear and shield, together with the Gallic nobles, it was likely these horsemen who at Cannae charged then broke superior numbers of Roman and Italian cavalry. The ancient Greeks called armoured cavalry Kataphraktos which translated means roughly covered, protected or armoured, the term was later borrowed by the Romans and until the Middle Ages in Europe, continued to be used to designate armoured cavalry. The exception was in Northern Greece, where large areas of grassland made cavalry much more practical. Eventually, encounters with Persian cavalry led the Greeks to create their own cavalry arm, while cavalry played an increasingly greater part in Greek warfare, its roles were generally restricted to scouting, skirmishing and pursuit. Its likely that Phillip of Macedon organized his famed Companions after the Theban model, in both role and equipment, the Companions was the first cavalry force that was known to represent archetypal heavy cavalry. The Companion cavalry, or Hetairoi, were the arm of the Macedonian army. In the aftermath of the Macedonian Empire, the Diadochi, successor states created by Alexander the Greats generals, continued the usage of heavy cavalry in their own forces. Up to the 5th century, Sarmatian cavalry units were stationed in Britain as part of the Roman army, the stirrup, which gives greater stability to a rider, has been described as one of the most significant inventions in the history of warfare, prior to gunpowder. As a tool allowing expanded use of horses in warfare, the stirrup is often called the third step in equipment, after the chariot. The basic tactics of mounted warfare were significantly altered by the stirrup, a rider supported by stirrups was less likely to fall off while fighting, and could deliver a blow with a weapon that more fully employed the weight and momentum of horse and rider
16.
Halberd
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A halberd is a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the 14th and 15th centuries. The word halberd may come from the German words Halm, in modern-day German, the weapon is called a Hellebarde. In HEMA, professional halberd practitioners are referred to as halberdiers, the halberd consists of an axe blade topped with a spike mounted on a long shaft. It always has a hook or thorn on the side of the axe blade for grappling mounted combatants. It is very similar to forms of the voulge in design. The halberd was usually 1.5 to 1.8 metres long, the halberd was inexpensive to produce and very versatile in battle. A Swiss peasant used a halberd to kill Charles the Bold, researchers suspect that a halberd or a bill sliced through the back of King Richard IIIs skull at the Battle of Bosworth. The halberd was the weapon of the early Swiss armies in the 14th. The German Landsknechte, who imitated Swiss warfare methods, also used the pike, the halberd all but disappeared as a rank-and-file weapon in these formations by the middle of the sixteenth century. The halberd has been used as a court bodyguard weapon for centuries, and is still the ceremonial weapon of the Swiss Guard in the Vatican, the halberd was one of the polearms sometimes carried by lower-ranking officers in European infantry units in the 16th through 18th centuries. In the British army, sergeants continued to carry halberds until 1793, the 18th century halberd had, however, become simply a symbol of rank with no sharpened edge and insufficient strength to use as a weapon. It did, however, ensure that infantrymen drawn up in ranks stood correctly aligned with each other, bardiche, a type of two-handed battle axe known in the 16th and 17th centuries in Eastern Europe Bill, similar to a halberd but with a hooked blade form. 74–94, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, brandtherm, Dirk & OFlaherty, Ronan, Prodigal sons, two halberds in the Hunt Museum, Limerick, from Cuenca, Spain and Beyrǔt, Syria, pp. 56–60, JRSAI Vol.131. R. E. Oakeshott, European weapons and armour, From the Renaissance to the industrial revolution, 44–48
17.
Metz
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Metz is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Great East region, located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, the city forms a central place of the European Greater Region and the SaarLorLux euroregion. The city has been steeped in Romance culture, but has strongly influenced by Germanic culture due to its location. Because of its historical, cultural, and architectural background, Metz has been submitted on Frances UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, Metz is home to some world-class venues including the Arsenal Concert Hall and the Centre Pompidou-Metz museum. A basin of urban ecology, Metz gained its nickname of The Green City, as it has extensive open grounds, the historic city centre is one of the largest commercial pedestrian areas in France. A historic garrison town, Metz is the heart of the Lorraine region, specialising in information technology. In ancient times, the town was known as city of Mediomatrici, after its integration into the Roman Empire, the city was called Divodurum Mediomatricum, meaning Holy Village or Holy Fortress of the Mediomatrici, then it was known as Mediomatrix. During the 5th century AD, the name evolved to Mettis, Metz has a recorded history dating back over 3,000 years. Before the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, between the 6th and 8th centuries, the city was the residence of the Merovingian kings of Austrasia. After the Treaty of Verdun in 843, Metz became the capital of the Kingdom of Lotharingia and was integrated into the Holy Roman Empire. During the 12th century, Metz rose to the status of Republic, with the signature of the Treaty of Chambord in 1552, Metz passed to the hands of the Kings of France. Under French rule, Metz was selected as capital of the Three Bishoprics, with creation of the departments by the Estates-General of 1789, Metz was chosen as capital of the Department of Moselle. Metz remained German until the end of World War I, when it reverted to France, however, after the Battle of France during the Second World War, the city was annexed once more by the German Third Reich. In 1944, the attack on the city by the U. S, Third Army freed the city from German rule and Metz reverted one more time to France after World War II. During the 1950s, Metz was chosen to be the capital of the newly created Lorraine region, with the creation of the European Community and the later European Union, the city has become central to the Greater Region and the SaarLorLux Euroregion. Metz is located on the banks of the Moselle and the Seille rivers,43 km from the Schengen tripoint where the borders of France, Germany, and Luxembourg meet. The city was built in a place where branches of the Moselle river creates several islands. The terrain of Metz forms part of the Paris Basin and presents a plateau relief cut by river valleys presenting cuestas in the north-south direction
18.
Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
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Saint-Nicolas-de-Port is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle département in north-eastern France. The towns basilica, Saint Nicolas is a site, supposedly holding relics of Saint Nicholas brought from Italy. It is one of Frances Monuments historiques, and a basilica since 1950. The towns inhabitants are known asPortois, which in the local Lorrain dialect means, Loudmouths of St Nicks, Open your gob when Im taking a. St Nicholas-de-Port is also known for fossil remains of very early ancestral mammals, communes of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department INSEE commune file
19.
Banner
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A banner can be a flag or other piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or other message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms is called a banner of arms, also, a bar shape piece of non-cloth advertising material sporting a name, slogan, or other marketing message. Church banners commonly portray the saint to whom the church is dedicated, the word derives from French word bannière and late Latin bandum, a cloth out of which a flag is made. Banns has the same origin meaning an official proclamation, and abandon means to change loyalty or disobey orders, the vexillum was a flag-like object used as a military standard by units in the Ancient Roman army. The word vexillum is a diminutive of the Latin word, velum, meaning a sail, which confirms the historical evidence that vexilla were literally little sails i. e. flag-like standards. In the vexillum the cloth was draped from a crossbar suspended from the staff. A heraldic banner is usually square or rectangular, a distinction exists between the heraldic banner and the heraldic standard. The distinction, however, is often misunderstood or ignored, for example, the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom is in fact a banner of the royal arms. The prophet Isaiah was commanded to raise a banner and exalt his voice, habakkuk received a similar order to write a vision upon tables that could be read by one who runs past it. Banners in churches have, in the past, been used mainly for processions, however, the emphasis has, in recent years, shifted markedly towards the permanent or transient display of banners on walls or pillars of churches and other places of worship. A famous example of large banners on display is Liverpool R. C, cathedral, where the banners are designed by a resident artist. Banners are also used to communicate the testimony of Jesus Christ by evangelists, the same kind of banners are also used in many other countries. Many, but not all of them, have red as a dominant colour and these marches were one of the most prominent annual celebrations staged in Australia by any group. Most of these banners have not survived, the Labour Council of NSW has the largest surviving collection at Sydney Trades Hall Sydney Trades Hall in Sussex Street, Sydney. The Federated Society of Boilermakers, Iron & Steel Shipbuilders of Australia was formed in 1873, the reverse of the banner shows the warship Australia at sea. The banner is canvas and was painted by Sydney firm Althouse & Geiger, master painters and decorators, founded in 1875, the company is still in operation. The banner is a powerful tool in communicating the experience. For more on the design and making of these banners, see Banner-making, sports fans often buy or make banners to display in the grandstands
20.
Strasbourg
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Strasbourg is the capital and largest city of the Grand Est region of France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany in the region of Alsace. In 2014, the city proper had 276,170 inhabitants, Strasbourgs metropolitan area had a population of 773,347 in 2013, making it the ninth largest metro area in France and home to 13% of the Grand Est regions inhabitants. The transnational Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau had a population of 915,000 inhabitants in 2014, Strasbourg is the seat of several European institutions, such as the Council of Europe and the Eurocorps, as well as the European Parliament and the European Ombudsman of the European Union. The city is also the seat of the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine, Strasbourgs historic city centre, the Grande Île, was classified a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1988, the first time such an honour was placed on an entire city centre. The largest Islamic place of worship in France, the Strasbourg Grand Mosque, was inaugurated by French Interior Minister Manuel Valls on 27 September 2012. Economically, Strasbourg is an important centre of manufacturing and engineering, as well as a hub of road, rail, the port of Strasbourg is the second largest on the Rhine after Duisburg, Germany. Before the 5th century, the city was known as Argantorati, a Celtic Gaulish name Latinized first as Argentorate, after the 5h century, the city became known by a completely different name Gallicized as Strasbourg. That name is of Germanic origin and means Town of roads, Strasbourg is situated on the eastern border of France with Germany. This border is formed by the River Rhine, which forms the eastern border of the modern city. The historic core of Strasbourg however lies on the Grande Île in the River Ill, which flows parallel to, and roughly 4 kilometres from. The natural courses of the two eventually join some distance downstream of Strasbourg, although several artificial waterways now connect them within the city. This section of the Rhine valley is an axis of north-south travel, with river traffic on the Rhine itself. The city is some 400 kilometres east of Paris, in spite of its position far inland, Strasbourgs climate is classified as Oceanic, with warm, relatively sunny summers and cold, overcast winters. Precipitation is elevated from mid-spring to the end of summer, but remains largely constant throughout the year, on average, snow falls 30 days per year. The highest temperature recorded was 38.5 °C in August 2003. The lowest temperature recorded was −23.4 °C in December 1938. Nonetheless, the disappearance of heavy industry on both banks of the Rhine, as well as effective measures of traffic regulation in and around the city have reduced air pollution
21.
Auguste Feyen-Perrin
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François Nicolas Augustin Feyen, known as Auguste Feyen-Perrin was a French painter, engraver and illustrator. He added his mothers name to Feyen to help distinguish himself from his older brother, Jacques-Eugène Feyen. His father was a tax collector and he had his first art lessons with his older brother, Jacques-Eugène, then attended a drawing school in Nancy. After some private lessons with Michel Martin Drolling, he qualified to enroll at the École des Beaux-arts in 1848, specializing in portraits and genre scenes, he had his first exhibition at the Salon in 1853. He continued to exhibit there for most of his life, winning medals in 1865,1867 and 1874, once, he gave up the chance to compete for the Prix de Rome to accept a commission painting theater curtains for the Opéra-Comique. Together with his brother and his friend, Jules Breton, he spent his summers in Cancale, many of his works were acquired by public institutions. Despite this potentially compromising activity, he maintained his respectability with the Republican establishment and was decorated with the Légion dHonneur in 1878 and his tomb in Montmartre Cemetery was adorned with a monument by the sculptor, Ernest Guilbert, in 1892. Obituary and text of a speech delivered on the occasion of a monument being erected at Feyen-Perrins tomb, boucher was a Senator from Vosges. Jules Breton, Exposition des œuvres de Feyen-Perrin
22.
Peter Paul Rubens
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Sir Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish/Netherlandish draughtsman and painter. He is widely considered as the most notable artist of Flemish Baroque art school, the catalogue of his works by Michael Jaffé lists 1,403 pieces, excluding numerous copies made in his workshop. His commissioned works were mostly history paintings, which included religious and mythological subjects and he painted portraits, especially of friends, and self-portraits, and in later life painted several landscapes. Rubens designed tapestries and prints, as well as his own house and he also oversaw the ephemeral decorations of the royal entry into Antwerp by the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand in 1635. His drawings are mostly extremely forceful but not overly detailed and he also made great use of oil sketches as preparatory studies. For altarpieces he painted on slate to reduce reflection problems. Rubens was born in the city of Siegen to Jan Rubens and he was named in honour of Saint-Peter and Paul, because he was born on their solemnety. His father, a Calvinist, and mother fled Antwerp for Cologne in 1568, after increased religious turmoil and persecution of Protestants during the rule of the Spanish Netherlands by the Duke of Alba. Jan Rubens became the adviser of Anna of Saxony, the second wife of William I of Orange. Following Jan Rubens imprisonment for the affair, Peter Paul Rubens was born in 1577, the family returned to Cologne the next year. In 1589, two years after his fathers death, Rubens moved with his mother Maria Pypelincks to Antwerp, religion figured prominently in much of his work and Rubens later became one of the leading voices of the Catholic Counter-Reformation style of painting. In Antwerp, Rubens received a Renaissance humanist education, studying Latin, by fourteen he began his artistic apprenticeship with Tobias Verhaeght. Subsequently, he studied under two of the leading painters of the time, the late Mannerist artists Adam van Noort. Much of his earliest training involved copying earlier works, such as woodcuts by Hans Holbein the Younger. Rubens completed his education in 1598, at time he entered the Guild of St. Luke as an independent master. In 1600 Rubens travelled to Italy and he stopped first in Venice, where he saw paintings by Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto, before settling in Mantua at the court of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga. The colouring and compositions of Veronese and Tintoretto had an effect on Rubenss painting. With financial support from the Duke, Rubens travelled to Rome by way of Florence in 1601, there, he studied classical Greek and Roman art and copied works of the Italian masters
23.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
24.
OCLC
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The Online Computer Library Center is a US-based nonprofit cooperative organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the worlds information and reducing information costs. It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. OCLC is funded mainly by the fees that libraries have to pay for its services, the group first met on July 5,1967 on the campus of the Ohio State University to sign the articles of incorporation for the nonprofit organization. The group hired Frederick G. Kilgour, a former Yale University medical school librarian, Kilgour wished to merge the latest information storage and retrieval system of the time, the computer, with the oldest, the library. The goal of network and database was to bring libraries together to cooperatively keep track of the worlds information in order to best serve researchers and scholars. The first library to do online cataloging through OCLC was the Alden Library at Ohio University on August 26,1971 and this was the first occurrence of online cataloging by any library worldwide. Membership in OCLC is based on use of services and contribution of data, between 1967 and 1977, OCLC membership was limited to institutions in Ohio, but in 1978, a new governance structure was established that allowed institutions from other states to join. In 2002, the structure was again modified to accommodate participation from outside the United States. As OCLC expanded services in the United States outside of Ohio, it relied on establishing strategic partnerships with networks, organizations that provided training, support, by 2008, there were 15 independent United States regional service providers. OCLC networks played a key role in OCLC governance, with networks electing delegates to serve on OCLC Members Council, in early 2009, OCLC negotiated new contracts with the former networks and opened a centralized support center. OCLC provides bibliographic, abstract and full-text information to anyone, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat—the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the largest online public access catalog in the world. WorldCat has holding records from public and private libraries worldwide. org, in October 2005, the OCLC technical staff began a wiki project, WikiD, allowing readers to add commentary and structured-field information associated with any WorldCat record. The Online Computer Library Center acquired the trademark and copyrights associated with the Dewey Decimal Classification System when it bought Forest Press in 1988, a browser for books with their Dewey Decimal Classifications was available until July 2013, it was replaced by the Classify Service. S. The reference management service QuestionPoint provides libraries with tools to communicate with users and this around-the-clock reference service is provided by a cooperative of participating global libraries. OCLC has produced cards for members since 1971 with its shared online catalog. OCLC commercially sells software, e. g. CONTENTdm for managing digital collections, OCLC has been conducting research for the library community for more than 30 years. In accordance with its mission, OCLC makes its research outcomes known through various publications and these publications, including journal articles, reports, newsletters, and presentations, are available through the organizations website. The most recent publications are displayed first, and all archived resources, membership Reports – A number of significant reports on topics ranging from virtual reference in libraries to perceptions about library funding
25.
Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
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The encyclopedia is published by a foundation under the patronage of the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Swiss Historical Society and is financed by national research grants. Besides a staff of 35 at the offices, the contributors include 100 academic advisors,2500 historians and 100 translators. The encyclopedia is being edited simultaneously in three languages of Switzerland, German, French and Italian. The first of 13 volumes was published in 2002, the last volume was published in 2014. The 36,000 headings are grouped in, Biographies Articles on families and it makes accessible, for free, all articles ready for publication in print, but no illustrations. It also lists all 36,000 topics that are to be covered, lexicon Istoric Retic is a two volume version with a selection of articles published in Romansh. It includes articles not available in the other languages, the first volume was published in 2010, the second in 2012. An on-line version is also available
26.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
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