1.
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
2.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
3.
States of Germany
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Germany is a federal republic consisting of sixteen federal states. Since todays Germany was formed from a collection of several states, it has a federal constitution. The remaining 13 states are called Flächenländer, the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 was through the unification of the western states created in the aftermath of World War II. West Berlin, while not part of the Federal Republic, was largely integrated and considered as a de facto state. In 1952, following a referendum, Baden, Württemberg-Baden, in 1957, the Saar Protectorate rejoined the Federal Republic as the Saarland. Federalism is one of the constitutional principles of Germany. After 1945, new states were constituted in all four zones of occupation, in 1949, the states in the three western zones formed the Federal Republic of Germany. This is in contrast to the development in Austria, where the Bund was constituted first. The use of the term Länder dates back to the Weimar Constitution of 1919, before this time, the constituent states of the German Empire were called Staaten. Today, it is common to use the term Bundesland. However, this term is not used officially, neither by the constitution of 1919 nor by the Basic Law of 1949, three Länder call themselves Freistaaten, Bavaria, Saxony, and Thuringia. He summarizes the arguments for boundary reform in Germany. The German system of dual federalism requires strong Länder that have the administrative and fiscal capacity to implement legislation, too many Länder also make coordination among them and with the federation more complicated. But several proposals have failed so far, territorial reform remains a topic in German politics. Federalism has a tradition in German history. The Holy Roman Empire comprised many petty states numbering more than 300 around 1796, the number of territories was greatly reduced during the Napoleonic Wars. After the Congress of Vienna,39 states formed the German Confederation, the new German Empire included 25 states and the imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine. The empire was dominated by Prussia, which controlled 65% of the territory, after the territorial losses of the Treaty of Versailles, the remaining states continued as republics of a new German federation
4.
Lower Saxony
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Lower Saxony is a German state situated in northwestern Germany and is second in area, with 47,624 square kilometres, and fourth in population among the sixteen Länder of Germany. In rural areas Northern Low Saxon, a dialect of Low German, and Saterland Frisian, a variety of Frisian, are still spoken, but the number of speakers is declining. Lower Saxony borders on the North Sea, the states of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, and the Netherlands. Furthermore, the state of Bremen forms two enclaves within Lower Saxony, one being the city of Bremen, the other, its city of Bremerhaven. In fact, Lower Saxony borders more neighbours than any other single Bundesland, the states principal cities include the state capital Hanover, Braunschweig, Lüneburg, Osnabrück, Oldenburg, Hildesheim, Wolfenbüttel, Wolfsburg and Göttingen. The northwestern area of Lower Saxony, which lies on the coast of the North Sea, is called East Frisia, in the extreme west of Lower Saxony is the Emsland, a traditionally poor and sparsely populated area, once dominated by inaccessible swamps. The northern half of Lower Saxony, also known as the North German Plains, is almost invariably flat except for the hills around the Bremen geestland. Towards the south and southwest lie the northern parts of the German Central Uplands, the Weser Uplands, between these two lie the Lower Saxon Hills, a range of low ridges. Thus, Lower Saxony is the only Bundesland that encompasses both maritime and mountainous areas, Lower Saxonys major cities and economic centres are mainly situated in its central and southern parts, namely Hanover, Braunschweig, Osnabrück, Wolfsburg, Salzgitter, Hildesheim and Göttingen. Oldenburg, near the coastline, is another economic centre. To the north, the Elbe river separates Lower Saxony from Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the banks just south of the Elbe are known as Altes Land. Due to its local climate and fertile soil, it is the states largest area of fruit farming. Most of the territory was part of the historic Kingdom of Hanover. It was created by the merger of the State of Hanover with several states in 1946. Lower Saxony has a boundary in the north in the North Sea. The state and city of Bremen is an enclave surrounded by Lower Saxony. The Bremen/Oldenburg Metropolitan Region is a body for the enclave area. To the southeast the state border runs through the Harz, low mountains that are part of the German Central Uplands, in northeast Lower Saxony is Lüneburg Heath
5.
Districts of Germany
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A German district is an administrative subdivision known as Landkreis, except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where it is known simply as Kreis. Most major cities in Germany are not part of a rural district, in this context, those cities are referred to as Kreisfreie Stadt or Stadtkreis. Rural districts are at a level of administration between the German states and the municipal governments. They correspond to level 3 administrative units of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, previously, the similar title Reichskreis was given to groups of states in the Holy Roman Empire. The related term Landeskommissariat was used for administrative divisions in some German territories until the 19th century. The majority of German districts are rural districts of which there are 295, cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants do not usually belong to a district, but take over district responsibilities themselves, similar to the concept of independent cities. These are known as urban districts —cities which constitute a district in their own there are currently 107 of them. As of 2011, approximately 25 million people live in these 107 urban districts, in North Rhine-Westphalia, there are some cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants which are not urban districts, for example Recklinghausen, Siegen, Paderborn, Bergisch Gladbach, Neuss and Moers. Nevertheless, these cities take over many district responsibilities themselves, although they are part of a larger rural district. Midsize towns can perform particular administrative functions of the district as well, the classification as midsize town is usually based on a towns registered population, but varies from state to state. Aachen, Hanover and Göttingen retain certain rights of an urban district, urban districts have these responsibilities and also those of the municipalities. The district council is the highest institution of a district and is responsible for all fundamental guidelines of regional self-administration. This council is elected every five years, except in Bavaria where it is elected every six years. Usually the administrative seat of a district is located in one of its largest towns. However, district council and administrative seat of rural districts are not situated within the district proper. Most of those districts are named after this central city as well. Moers is the biggest city in Germany that is neither an urban district, in parts of northern Germany, Landrat is also the name of the entire district administration, which in southern Germany is known as Kreisverwaltung or Landratsamt. In urban districts similar administrative functions are performed by a mayor, rural districts in some German states have an additional administrative commission called Kreisausschuss
6.
Lord Mayor
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The lord mayor is the title of the mayor of a major city in the United Kingdom or Commonwealth realm, with special recognition bestowed by the sovereign. In Australia, Lord Mayor is a status granted by the monarch to mayors of major cities. Australian cities with lord mayors, Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Newcastle, Parramatta, Perth, Sydney, see list of cities in Australia. In Canada, the town with a lord mayor in the traditional sense is Niagara-on-the-Lake. Unusually, the council of Brantford, Ontario has taken upon itself to appoint an honorary Lord Mayor Walter Gretzky in addition to the elected mayor. This is the example of a council granting the cachet itself, rather than the cachet being granted by a higher authority. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland it is a ceremonial post conferred by letters patent. See List of lord mayoralties and lord provostships in the United Kingdom, most famously referring to the Lord Mayor of London, who only has jurisdiction over the City of London, as opposed to the modern title of Mayor of London governing Greater London. In Uganda, the jurisdiction with a lord mayor is Kampala. In the Republic of Ireland, the posts of Lord Mayor of Dublin and Lord Mayor of Cork still exist, in Denmark, as the translation of Danish Overborgmester, it is the title of the highest mayor of Denmarks capital city, Copenhagen. In Germany, it is used to translate German Oberbürgermeister. As in Austria, Germanys mayors serve as the executive leaders of their cities and are elected officials. In Romania and Moldova, the mayors of the capitals are named Primar General which means General Mayor, the name is ceremonial and it has no higher powers than mayors of other cities. In Hungary, the mayor of the capital Budapest is called főpolgármester which means chief mayor or grand mayor, only the capital has a főpolgármester. Between 1873 and 1945, the Lord Mayor of Budapest was representative of the Hungarian government at the municipal authority. In ancient China, jīng zhào yĭn was the given to the mayor of capital city. In Estonia, the mayor of the capital, was named Lord Mayor from 1938 to 1940, in Czech Republic, the mayor of the capital Prague and so-called statutory cities is called Primátor. In Sweden, the titles of mayor and lord mayor have no direct equivalent since the 1970s, the executive leader of Swedish municipalities is one of sometimes several Kommunalråd in the function of Chair of the Municipal Board
7.
Social Democratic Party of Germany
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The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany. The party, led by Chairman Martin Schulz since 2017, has one of the two major contemporary political parties in Germany, along with the Christian Democratic Union. The SPD has governed at the level in Germany as part of a grand coalition with the CDU. The SPD participates in 14 state governments, nine of them governed by SPD Minister-Presidents, the SPD is a member of the Party of European Socialists and of the Socialist International, and became a founding member of the Progressive Alliance on 22 May 2013. Established in 1863, the SPD is the oldest extant political party represented in the German Parliament and was one of the first Marxist-influenced parties in the world. The General German Workers Association, founded in 1863, and the Social Democratic Workers Party, founded in 1869, merged in 1875, under the name Socialist Workers Party of Germany. From 1878 to 1890, any grouping or meeting that aimed at spreading socialist principles was banned under the Anti-Socialist Laws, in 1890, when the ban was lifted and it could again present electoral lists, the party adopted its current name. In the years leading up to World War I, the party remained ideologically radical in official principle, by 1912, the party claimed the most votes of any German party. Despite the agreement of the Second International to oppose the First World War, after 1918 the SPD played an important role in the political system of the Weimar Republic, although it took part in coalition governments only in few years. Adolf Hitler prohibited the party in 1933 under the Enabling Act – party officials were imprisoned, killed or went into exile, in exile, the party used the name Sopade. In the Soviet Zone of Occupation, the Soviets forced the Social Democrats to form a party with the Communists. In the Western zones, the Communist Party was later banned by West Germanys Federal Constitutional Court, since 1949, in the Federal Republic of Germany, the SPD has been one of the two major parties, with the other being the Christian Democratic Union. From 1969 to 1982 and 1998 to 2005 the Chancellors of Germany were Social Democrats whereas the other years the Chancellors were Christian Democrats, the SPD was established as a Marxist party in 1875. After World War II, under the leadership of Kurt Schumacher, the SPD re-established itself as a socialist party, representing the interests of the working class and the trade unions. With the Godesberg Program of 1959, however, the party evolved from a socialist working-class party to a modern social-democratic party working within capitalism. The current party platform of the SPD espouses the goal of social democracy, according to the party platform, freedom, justice, and social solidarity, form the basis of social democracy. The coordinated social market economy should be strengthened, and its output should be distributed fairly, the party sees that economic system as necessary in order to ensure the affluence of the entire population. The SPD also tries to protect the poor with a welfare state
8.
Metropolitan area
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As social, economic and political institutions have changed, metropolitan areas have become key economic and political regions. The Greater São Paulo is a term for one of the multiple definitions the large metropolitan area located in the São Paulo state in Brazil. A metropolitan area combines an urban agglomeration with zones not necessarily urban in character and these outlying zones are sometimes known as a commuter belt, and may extend well beyond the urban zone, to other political entities. For example, El Monte, California is considered part of the Los Angeles metro area in the United States, in practice, the parameters of metropolitan areas, in both official and unofficial usage, are not consistent. Population figures given for one area can vary by millions. A polycentric metropolitan area is one not connected by continuous development or conurbation, in defining a metropolitan area, it is sufficient that a city or cities form a nucleus that other areas have a high degree of integration with. The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines statistical divisions as areas under the influence of one or more major towns or a major city. However, this definition has become obsolete with the conurbation of several statistical divisions into a larger metropolitan areas. In Brazil, metropolitan areas are called metropolitan regions, each State defines its own legislation for the creation, definition and organization of a metropolitan region. The creation of a region is not intended for any statistical purpose, although the Brazilian Institute of Geography. Their main purpose is to allow for a management of public policies of common interest to all cities involved. They dont have political, electoral or jurisdictional power whatsoever, so living in a metropolitan region do not elect representatives for them. Statistics Canada defines a metropolitan area as an area consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major urban core. To form a CMA, the area must have a population of at least 100,000. To be included in the CMA, adjacent municipalities must have a degree of integration with the core. As of the Canada 2011 Census, there were 33 CMAs in Canada, including six with a population over one million—Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton. In Denmark the only area is Greater Copenhagen, consisting of the Capital Region of Denmark along with the neighboring regions Region Zealand. Greater Copenhagen has an population of 1.25 million people
9.
Central European Summer Time
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It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
10.
List of postal codes in Germany
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Postal codes in Germany, Postleitzahl, since 1 July 1993 consist of five digits. The first two digits indicate the area, the last three digits the postal district. Before reunification, both the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic used four-digit codes. Under a transitional arrangement following reunification, between 1989 and 1993 postal codes in the west were prefixed with W, e. g. W-100030 and those in the east with O, e. g. O-1xxx Berlin. City administrations and postal customers with high volumes, or Großkunden have their own postal codes. Postal regions do not necessarily follow state boundaries, so sorting by state is not practical, the postal regions and some postal codes are, The 5-digit postal codes were established on July 1,1993. All mail from, to and within this region is handled by the distribution center in Elmshorn
11.
List of dialling codes in Germany
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Country Code, +49International Call Prefix, 00Trunk Prefix,0 Area codes in Germany have two to five digits, not counting the leading trunk access code 0. The leading 0 must be dialed when calling from within Germany, when calling via fixed networks within the same area, the area code is not required. In general, shorter area codes are assigned to larger cities, private telephone numbers are usually inversely long, those in larger cities have seven or eight digits, while those in smaller towns may have as few as three or four digits. 1 are special numbers such as phones, shared cost service. The former codes 0130 for free phone numbers and 0190 for premium-rate numbers are now moved to 0800 and 0900 to meet international standards,0700 is used for personal national phone numbers. Prefix 01 is used for numbers, and is not tied to a geographic area. After reunification, East Germany was merged into the existing German numbering plan, neugersdorf 03587035872 Neusalza-Spremberg 035873 Herrnhut 035874 Bernstadt a. d.037296 Stollberg/Erzgeb. 037297 Thum 037298 Oelsnitz 03731 Freiberg 03732037320 Mulda/Sa,037433 Gutenfürst 037434 Bobenneukirchen 037435 Reuth 037436 Weischlitz 037437 Bad Elster 037438 Bad Brambach 037439 Jocketa 03744 Auerbach/Vogtl. 03745 Falkenstein 03746037462 Rothenkirchen 037463 Bergen, Vogtlandkreis 037464 Schöneck/Vogtl,037465 Tannenbergsthal 037467 Klingenthal 037468 Treuen 0375 Zwickau 037603760037600 Neumark 037601 Mülsen St.04443 Dinklage 04444 Goldenstedt 04445 Visbek Kr. Vechta 04446 Bakum Kr. 08553 Spiegelau 08554 Schönberg 08555 Perlesreut 08556 Haidmühle 08557 Mauth 08558 Hohenau 085608561 Pfarrkirchen Niederbay,08562 Triftern 08563 Bad Birnbach Rottal 08564 Johanniskirchen 08565 Dietersburg-Baumgarten 085708571 Simbach am Inn 08572 Tann Niederbay. 08573 Ering 08574 Wittibreut 085808581 Waldkirchen Niederbay,08582 Röhrnbach 08583 Neureichenau 08584 Breitenberg 08585 Grainet 08586 Hauzenberg 085908591 Obernzell 08592 Wegscheid Niederbay. 09549 Lisberg 095509551 Burgwindheim 09552 Burghaslach 09553 Ebrach Oberfr,09704 Euerdorf 09708 Bad Bocklet 0971 Bad Kissingen 097209720 Üchtelhausen 09721 Schweinfurt 09722 Werneck 09723 Röthlein 09724 Stadtlauringen 09725 Poppenhausen Unterfr. 09726 Euerbach 09727 Schonungen-Marktsteinach 09728 Wülfershausen Unterfr,097609761 Bad Königshofen 09762 Saal a. d. Saale 09763 Sulzdorf a. d. d. Heide 09823 Leutershausen 09824 Dietenhofen 09825 Herrieden 09826 Weidenbach Mittelfr,09828 Rügland 09829 Flachslanden 098309831 Gunzenhausen 09832 Wassertrüdingen 09833 Heidenheim Mittelfr. 098609861 Rothenburg ob der Tauber 09865 Adelshofen 09867 Geslau 09868 Schillingsfürst 09869 Wettringen Mittelfr,098709871 Windsbach 09872 Heilsbronn 09873 Abenberg-Wassermungenau 09874 Neuendettelsau 09875 Wolframs-Eschenbach 09876 Rohr Mittelfr
12.
Vehicle registration plate
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A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate or a license plate, is metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric ID that uniquely identifies the owner within the issuing regions database. The first two letters indicate the state to which the vehicle is registered, the next two digit numbers are the sequential number of a district. Due to heavy volume of vehicle registration, the numbers were given to the RTO offices of registration as well, the third part indicates the year of registration of the vehicle and is a 4 digit number unique to each plate. In some countries, the identifier is unique within the entire country, whether the identifier is associated with a vehicle or a person also varies by issuing agency. In the vast majority of jurisdictions, the government holds a monopoly on the manufacturing of vehicle registration plates for that jurisdiction. Thus, it is illegal for private citizens to make and affix their own plates. Alternately, the government will merely assign plate numbers, and it is the owners responsibility to find an approved private supplier to make a plate with that number. In some jurisdictions, plates will be assigned to that particular vehicle for its lifetime. If the vehicle is destroyed or exported to a different country. Other jurisdictions follow a policy, meaning that when a vehicle is sold the seller removes the current plate from the vehicle. Buyers must either obtain new plates or attach plates they already hold, as well as register their vehicles under the buyers name, a person who sells a car and then purchases a new one can apply to have the old plates put onto the new car. One who sells a car and does not buy a new one may, depending on the laws involved, have to turn the old plates in or destroy them. Some jurisdictions permit the registration of the vehicle with personal plates, in some jurisdictions, plates require periodic replacement, often associated with a design change of the plate itself. Vehicle owners may or may not have the option to keep their original plate number, alternately, or additionally, vehicle owners have to replace a small decal on the plate or use a decal on the windshield to indicate the expiration date of the vehicle registration. Plates are usually fixed directly to a vehicle or to a frame that is fixed to the vehicle. Sometimes, the plate frames contain advertisements inserted by the service centre or the dealership from which the vehicle was purchased. Vehicle owners can also purchase customized frames to replace the original frames, in some jurisdictions licence plate frames are illegal
13.
Low German
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Low German or Low Saxon is a West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is descended from Old Saxon in its earliest form, as an Ingvaeonic language, Low German is quite distinct from the Irminonic languages like Standard German. It is closely related to Anglo-Frisian group of languages and more distantly to Dutch and this difference resulted from the High German consonant shift, with the Uerdingen and Benrath lines being two notable linguistic borders. Dialects of Low German are widely spoken in the area of the Netherlands and are written there with an orthography based on Standard Dutch orthography. Small portions of northern Hesse and northern Thuringia are traditionally Low Saxon-speaking too, historically, Low German was also spoken in formerly German parts of Poland as well as in East Prussia and the Baltic States of Estonia and Latvia. Under the name Low Saxon, there are speakers in the Dutch north-eastern provinces of Groningen, Drenthe, Stellingwerf, Overijssel, German speakers in this area fled the Red Army or were forcibly expelled after the border changes at the end of World War II. Today, there are still speakers outside Germany and the Netherlands to be found in the areas of present-day Poland. In some of these countries, the language is part of the Mennonite religion, there are Mennonite communities in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Minnesota which use Low German in their religious services and communities. The type of Low German spoken in communities and in the Midwest region of the United States has diverged since emigration. The survival of the language is tenuous in many places and has died out in places where assimilation has occurred. Mennonite colonies in Paraguay, Belize, and Chihuahua, Mexico have made Low German a co-official language of the community, in Germany, native speakers of Low German call it Platt, Plattdüütsch or Nedderdüütsch. In the Netherlands, native speakers refer to their language as dialect, plat, nedersaksies, or the name of their village, officially, Low German is called Niederdeutsch by the German authorities and Nedersaksisch by the Dutch authorities. Plattdeutsch/Niederdeutsch and Platduits/Nedersaksisch are seen in texts from the German. In Danish it is called Plattysk, Nedertysk or, rarely, Mennonite Low German is called Plautdietsch. Etymologically Platt meant clear in the sense of a language the people could understand. In Dutch, the word Plat can also mean improper, or rude, the ISO 639-2 language code for Low German has been nds since May 2000. The question of whether Low German should be considered a separate language, linguistics offers no simple, generally accepted criterion to decide this question. Scholarly arguments have been put forward in favour of classifying Low German as a German dialect, as said, these arguments are not linguistic but rather socio-political and build mainly around the fact that Low German has no official standard form or use in sophisticated media
14.
Harz
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The Harz is a Mittelgebirge that has the highest elevations in Northern Germany and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name Harz derives from the Middle High German word Hardt or Hart, the Brocken is the highest summit in the Harz with an elevation of 1,141.1 metres above sea level. The Wurmberg is the highest peak located entirely within the state of Lower Saxony, the Harz has a length of 110 kilometres, stretching from the town of Seesen in the northwest to Eisleben in the east, and a width of 35 kilometres. The following districts fall wholly or partly within the Harz, Goslar and Osterode am Harz in the west, Harz and Mansfeld-Südharz in the north and east, and Nordhausen in the south. The districts of the Upper Harz are Goslar and Osterode, whilst the Lower Harz is on the territory of Harz and Mansfeld-Südharz districts. The Upper Harz is generally higher and features fir forests, whilst the Lower Harz gradually descends into the area and has deciduous forests interspersed with meadows. The dividing line between Upper and Lower Harz follows approximately a line from Ilsenburg to Bad Lauterberg, which separates the catchment areas for the Weser. Only on the perimeter of the Upper Harz, which is also called the High Harz. Its highest peak is the Brocken, its peaks are the Heinrichshöhe to the southeast. Other prominent hills in the Harz are the Acker-Bruchberg ridge, the Achtermannshöhe, in the far east, the mountains merge into the East Harz foothills, which are dominated by the Selke Valley. Part of the south Harz lies in the Thuringian district of Nordhausen, the Harz National Park is located in the Harz, the protected area covers the Brocken and surrounding wilderness area. Approximately 600,000 people live in towns and villages of the Harz Mountains, because of the heavy rainfall in the region the rivers of the Harz Mountains were dammed from an early date. Examples of such dams are the two largest, the Oker Dam and the Rappbode Dam. The clear, cool water of the streams was also dammed by early mountain folk to form the various mountain ponds of the Upper Harz waterways. The 17 dams in the Harz block a total of twelve rivers, because the Harz is one of the regions of Germany that experiences the most rainfall, its water power was used from early times. Today the dams are used to generate electricity, to provide drinking water, to prevent flooding. Modern dam-building began in the Harz with the construction of the Söse Valley Dam, the dams of the Upper Harz lakes are some of the oldest dams in Germany that are still in operation. → See List of dams in the Harz The largest rivers in the Harz are the Innerste, the Oker and the Bode in the north, the Wipper in the east, the Innerste merges into the Leine and its tributaries are the Nette and the Grane
15.
Oker
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The Oker is a river in Lower Saxony, Germany, that has historically formed an important political boundary. It is a tributary of the River Aller,105 kilometres in length. The rivers name was recorded around 830 as Obacra and, later, the origin of the name is derived from the roots ov- and -akara meaning “upper” and “onward rushing” as distinct from its tributary, the Ecker, whose name means only “onward rushing”. The Oker rises at about 910 metres in the Harz National Park in an area on the Bruchberg in the Harz mountains of central Germany. This early section is known as the Große Oker and it is impounded below Altenau by the Oker Dam, from the dam wall to the former village of Oker, which is today part of the borough of Goslar, the Oker is on certain occasions suitable for canoeing. This section, often called the Oker Valley, includes the Romkerhall Waterfall, here the Romke stream drops about 64 metres in height over a waterfall laid out in 1863 into the Oker. Downstream in the rivers fast-flowing waters, the Verlobungsinsel is to be found, left and right of the Oker in this area are many crags that are popular with climbers. In the Goslar vicinity of Oker the river is polluted with heavy metals from the slag heaps as well as groundwater. From the village of Oker the River Oker flows away in a direction to Vienenburg. After these two confluences the river continues southeast past the Harly Forest, after which it bends north to flow through Schladen, in south Brunswick the Oker is dammed by the Eisenbüttel Weir. In the Bürgerpark shortly before Brunswicks old town the Oker divides into the western and eastern bypass channels which circumnavigate the historic city centre at a higher level. These channels were laid in the 16th century as the moats of the towns defences. The actual course of the Oker through the centre of the town was covered and, today, the water level in the city area is controlled by the St. Peters Gate Weir in the western and the Wends Weir in the eastern ditch. It then flows down to its mouth into the River Aller, north of Schladen the royal palace of Werla was established on the banks about 20 metres above the river bed. Since the Expo 2000 bridges over the Oker in Brunswick and its area were artistically designed. Heavy metal pollution of the Oker Description of white water canoe section between Kraftwerk and Nachstaubecken with many photos Oste class fleet service ship
16.
North Sea
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The North Sea is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean located between Great Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the ocean through the English Channel in the south and it is more than 970 kilometres long and 580 kilometres wide, with an area of around 570,000 square kilometres. The North Sea has long been the site of important European shipping lanes as well as a major fishery, the North Sea was the centre of the Vikings rise. Subsequently, the Hanseatic League, the Netherlands, and the British each sought to dominate the North Sea and thus the access to the markets, as Germanys only outlet to the ocean, the North Sea continued to be strategically important through both World Wars. The coast of the North Sea presents a diversity of geological and geographical features, in the north, deep fjords and sheer cliffs mark the Norwegian and Scottish coastlines, whereas in the south it consists primarily of sandy beaches and wide mudflats. Due to the population, heavy industrialization, and intense use of the sea and area surrounding it. In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean, in the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively. In the north it is bordered by the Shetland Islands, and connects with the Norwegian Sea, the North Sea is more than 970 kilometres long and 580 kilometres wide, with an area of 570,000 square kilometres and a volume of 54,000 cubic kilometres. Around the edges of the North Sea are sizeable islands and archipelagos, including Shetland, Orkney, the North Sea receives freshwater from a number of European continental watersheds, as well as the British Isles. A large part of the European drainage basin empties into the North Sea including water from the Baltic Sea, the largest and most important rivers flowing into the North Sea are the Elbe and the Rhine – Meuse watershed. Around 185 million people live in the catchment area of the rivers discharging into the North Sea encompassing some highly industrialized areas, for the most part, the sea lies on the European continental shelf with a mean depth of 90 metres. The only exception is the Norwegian trench, which extends parallel to the Norwegian shoreline from Oslo to a north of Bergen. It is between 20 and 30 kilometres wide and has a depth of 725 metres. The Dogger Bank, a vast moraine, or accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris and this feature has produced the finest fishing location of the North Sea. The Long Forties and the Broad Fourteens are large areas with uniform depth in fathoms. These great banks and others make the North Sea particularly hazardous to navigate, the Devils Hole lies 200 miles east of Dundee, Scotland. The feature is a series of trenches between 20 and 30 kilometres long,1 and 2 kilometres wide and up to 230 metres deep. Other areas which are less deep are Cleaver Bank, Fisher Bank, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the North Sea as follows, On the Southwest
17.
Aller
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The Aller is a 211-kilometre long river in the states of Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony in Germany. It is a right-hand, and hence eastern, tributary of the River Weser and is also its largest tributary and its last 117 kilometres form the Lower Aller federal waterway. The Aller was extensively straightened, widened and, in places, dyked, in a 20-kilometre long section near Gifhorn, the river meanders in its natural river bed. The name of the tree passed into Low German as Eller, Aller would therefore mean something like Erlenwasser i. e. alder water, which was probably due to the river banks being largely covered in alder trees that prefer wet locations. Similarly related would be such as the Alster, Iller. Krahes hypothesis is, however, hotly disputed in language circles, theo Vennemann used a modified version of Krahes model in his Vasconic substratum theory. The Aller rises in the state of Saxony-Anhalt in the west of the known as the Magdeburg Börde near Seehausen. It has several streams that run down the northeastern side of the Hohes Holz within the municipal boundaries of Wormsdorf, Ovelgünne. The Eggenstedt tributary is the most southerly of the source streams, the nearest large centres of population in the source region are Helmstedt, about 20 kilometres northwest, and Magdeburg around 25 kilometres east. Initially, the Aller flows rather like a canalised brook in a direction through low hills. As it does, it passes the Flechtingen Hills to the east, the river passes the villages of Eilsleben and Weferlingen. After about 60 river kilometres, it reaches Oebisfelde and the edge of the Drömling. After crossing the border between Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony, the Aller bends sharply southwest near Grafhorst. Here, the terrain is only about 55 metres above sea level. Between here and its mouth,150 kilometres away, its elevation drops by only about 40 metres, near Grafhorst, the Aller meets the Breslau-Magdeburg-Bremen glacial valley and then, for the most part, follows it. From here on, the river runs through grassland. Near Wolfsburg-Wendschott, the Aller passes under the Mittelland Canal in a culvert where there is a barrier that is impassable to fish, the Aller swings northwest again from Wolfsburg. In the area of the town it crosses the Allerpark and flows past the Allersee before flowing past the Barnbruch, south of Weyhausen, the Aller Canal branches off the Aller
18.
Weser
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The Weser is a river in Northwestern Germany. On the opposite bank is the town of Nordenham at the foot of the Butjadingen Peninsula, thus, the Weser has an overall length of 452 kilometres. Together with its Werra tributary, which originates in Thuringia, its length is 744 kilometres, the Weser river is the longest river whose course reaches the sea and lies entirely within German national territory. The upper part of its course leads through a region called the Weserbergland. Between Minden and the North Sea, humans have largely canalised the river, eight hydroelectric dams stand along its length. It is linked to the Dortmund-Ems Canal via the Coastal Canal, a large reservoir on the Eder river, the main tributary of the Fulda, is used to regulate water levels on the Weser so as to ensure adequate depth for shipping throughout the year. The dam, built in 1914, was bombed and severely damaged by British aircraft in May 1943, causing destruction and approximately 70 deaths downstream. As of 2013 the Edersee reservoir, a summer resort area. The Weser enters the North Sea in the southernmost part of the German Bight, in the North Sea, it splits up into two arms representing the ancient riverbed at the end of the last ice age. These sea-arms are called Alte Weser and Neue Weser and they represent the major waterways for ships heading for the harbors of Bremerhaven, Nordenham and Bremen. The Alte Weser lighthouse marks the northernmost point of the Weser and this lighthouse replaced the historic and famous Roter Sand lighthouse in 1964. The largest tributary of the Weser is the Aller, which south of Bremen. Dieter Berger, Geographische Namen in Deutschland, karsten Meinke, Die Entwicklung der Weser im Nordwestdeutschen Flachland während des jüngeren Pleistozäns. Ludger Feldmann und Klaus-Dieter Meyer, Quartär in Niedersachsen, exkursionsführer zur Jubiläums-Hauptversammlung der Deutschen Quartärvereinigung in Hannover. Hans Heinrich Seedorf und Hans-Heinrich Meyer, Landeskunde Niedersachsen, band 1, Historische Grundlagen und naturräumliche Ausstattung. Ludger Feldmann, Das Quartär zwischen Harz und Allertal mit einem Beitrag zur Landschaftsgeschichte im Tertiär, papierflieger, Clausthal-Zellerfeld 2002, Seite 133ff und passim. Heinz Conradis, Der Kampf um die Weservertiefung in alter Zeit, J. W. A. Hunichs, Practische Anleitung zum Deich-, Siel- und Schlengenbau. Herausgegeben von der Mittelweser AG, Carl Schünemann Verlag, Bremen 1960, kuratorium für Forschung im Küsteningenieurswesen, Die Küste
19.
Hanseatic League
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The Hanseatic League was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and their market towns. Growing from a few North German towns in the late 1100s and it stretched from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland during the Late Middle Ages and early modern period. Hanse, later spelled as Hansa, was the Middle Low German word for a convoy, the League was created to protect the guilds economic interests and diplomatic privileges in their affiliated cities and countries, as well as along the trade routes the merchants visited. The Hanseatic cities had their own system and furnished their own armies for mutual protection. The hegemony of Lübeck peaked during the 15th century, Lübeck became a base for merchants from Saxony and Westphalia trading eastward and northward. This area was a source of timber, wax, amber, resins, the towns raised their own armies, with each guild required to provide levies when needed. The Hanseatic cities came to the aid of one another, and commercial ships often had to be used to carry soldiers, Visby functioned as the leading centre in the Baltic before the Hansa. Sailing east, Visby merchants established a trading post at Novgorod called Gutagard in 1080, Merchants from northern Germany also stayed in the early period of the Gotlander settlement. Later they established their own trading station in Novgorod, known as Peterhof, in 1229, German merchants at Novgorod were granted certain privileges that made their position more secure. Hansa societies worked to remove restrictions to trade for their members, before the official foundation of the League in 1356, the word Hanse did not occur in the Baltic language. The earliest remaining documentary mention, although without a name, of a specific German commercial federation is from London 1157. That year, the merchants of the Hansa in Cologne convinced Henry II, King of England, to them from all tolls in London. The allied cities gained control over most of the trade, especially the Scania Market. In 1266, Henry III of England granted the Lübeck and Hamburg Hansa a charter for operations in England, much of the drive for this co-operation came from the fragmented nature of existing territorial government, which failed to provide security for trade. Over the next 50 years the Hansa itself emerged with formal agreements for confederation and co-operation covering the west and east trade routes. The principal city and linchpin remained Lübeck, with the first general Diet of the Hansa held there in 1356, other such alliances formed throughout the Holy Roman Empire. Yet the League never became a closely managed formal organisation, over the period, a network of alliances grew to include a flexible roster of 70 to 170 cities. The league succeeded in establishing additional Kontors in Bruges, Bergen and these trading posts became significant enclaves
20.
Duchy of Brunswick
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The Duchy of Brunswick was a historical German state. Its capital was the city of Brunswick and it was established as the successor state of the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. In the course of the 19th-century history of Germany, the duchy was part of the German Confederation and it was disestablished after the end of World War I, its territory incorporated into the Weimar Republic as the Free State of Brunswick. The title Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg was held, from 1235 on and these holdings did not have all of the formal characteristics of a modern unitary state, being neither compact nor indivisible. The unifying element of all territories was that they were ruled by male-line descendants of Duke Otto I. After several early divisions, Brunswick-Lüneburg re-unified under Duke Magnus II, following his death, his three sons jointly ruled the Duchy. After the murder of their brother Frederick I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, brothers Bernard and Henry redivided the land, received the southern half of Brunswick-Lüneburg as Prince of Wolfenbüttel while his brother John became Prince of Lüneburg. Wolfenbüttel fell to his brother Albert II, Otto the Mild 1318–1344, son of Albert II, was Prince of Wolfenbüttel and Prince of Göttingen. After his death his son Ernest became Prince of Göttingen 1344–1367, Magnus the Pious became Prince of Wolfenbüttel 1344–1369. Magnus son Magnus II with the Necklace, Prince of Wolfenbüttel 1369–1373, the War of the Lüneburg Succession continued until 1388. Frederick 1373–1400, son of Magnus II, conquered Lüneburg in 1388, succeeded by his brothers, Henry the Mild, 1400–1408 Bernard, 1409–1428. Returned control of Wolfenbüttel to his nephew, Henrys son, was deprived by his brother, Henry the Peaceful 1432–1473, moved the residence to Wolfenbüttel. William regained control of Wolfenbüttel after his brothers death, and left the Principality to his two sons, Frederick III 1482–1484, imprisoned and deprived of power by his younger brother, William IV 1484–1491. Took control of all of Wolfenbüttel, then ceded Wolfenbüttel to his sons, co-rulers, sons of William IV, Eric I 1491–1494. Divided the territory in 1494, taking Calenberg, sole ruler in Wolfenbüttel from 1494. Acquired Calenberg in 1584 on the death of his cousin Eric II, last of the male descendants of Albert the Tall. On Frederick Ulrichs death, his complex of territories passed to a line of distant cousins ruling in Lüneburg, Wolfenbüttel was eventually awarded to Augustus, son of Henry of Dannenberg. Augustus 1635–1666 Augustuss sons succeeded him, sometimes ruling together, Rudolph Augustus 1666–1704 Anthony Ulrich 1685–1702, deposed 1702–1704 for allying with France in the War of the Spanish Succession
21.
Free State of Brunswick
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The Free State of Brunswick was a state of the German Reich in the time of the Weimar Republic. It was formed after the abolition of the Duchy of Brunswick in the course of the German Revolution of 1918–19, the Duchy of Brunswick had been established after the 1814 Congress of Vienna, as a sovereign successor state of the German Confederation. The Brunswick territory was surrounded by the Prussian provinces of Hanover. From 1913 it was ruled by Duke Ernest Augustus of the House of Hanover, on November 8, Duke Ernest Augustus of Brunswick was forced to resign and went into exile. Two days later, a workers council proclaimed the Socialist Republic of Brunswick, on 22 February 1919, both parties formed a coalition government led by the USPD politician Joseph Oerter, that shifted the states constitution towards a parliamentary republic. However, the government had to deal with subsequent uprisings in the capital Braunschweig, led by the Communist Spartacus League, which on 9 April called a general strike. Four days later, the Reich government declared the state of emergency in Brunswick, the Freikorps troops left Braunschweig ten days later, and the Reich government officially lifted emergency rule on June 5. The Brunswick free state constitution was adopted on 6 January 1922, at the same time, the rising Nazi Party established first local branches in Braunschweig and Wolfenbüttel, until it was banned by the state government on 13 September 1923. Nevertheless, the party was represented in the Brunswick Landtag, when Sepp Oerter switched from left to right, the Social Democrats under Heinrich Jasper once again were able to form a government upon the 1927 elections, however, it lost its majority in the following elections of 1930. Klagges was instrumental for the dismissal of public servants and in organizing the anti-democratic Harzburg Front in October 1931. He is especially known for naturalizing the former Austrian citizen Adolf Hitler, there are no records of any activity by Hitler in this position. After his appointment as Reich Chancellor on 30 January 1933, he was officially dismissed, before and after the Nazi Machtergreifung, Communist and SPD politicians were persecuted and arrested in Brunswick. He nevertheless had to accept the power of Reichsstatthalter Wilhelm Friedrich Loeper. The last Landtag session was held on 13 June 1933, the legislature was dissolved on 14 October. On 12 April 1945, US forces took the city of Brunswick, the Brunswick territory became part of the British occupation zone, with the exception of the eastern Blankenburg and Calvörde areas, which fell to Soviet-administered Saxony-Anhalt. The Brunswick region remained a Lower Saxon Verwaltungsbezirk until its dissolution in 2004, the Brunswick state constitution of 1922 was not repealed until a 2011 resolution by the Landtag of Lower Saxony. Reinhard Bein, Braunschweig zwischen rechts und links, reinhard Bein, Im deutschen Land marschieren wir. Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Gerhard Schildt, Die Braunschweigische Landesgeschichte, appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2001, ISBN 3-930292-28-9
22.
Scientific method
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The scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry is commonly based on empirical or measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning, experiments need to be designed to test hypotheses. The most important part of the method is the experiment. The scientific method is a process, which usually begins with observations about the natural world. Human beings are naturally inquisitive, so often come up with questions about things they see or hear. The best hypotheses lead to predictions that can be tested in various ways, in general, the strongest tests of hypotheses come from carefully controlled and replicated experiments that gather empirical data. Depending on how well the tests match the predictions, the hypothesis may require refinement. If a particular hypothesis becomes very well supported a theory may be developed. Although procedures vary from one field of inquiry to another, identifiable features are shared in common between them. The overall process of the method involves making conjectures, deriving predictions from them as logical consequences. A hypothesis is a conjecture, based on knowledge obtained while formulating the question, the hypothesis might be very specific or it might be broad. Scientists then test hypotheses by conducting experiments, the purpose of an experiment is to determine whether observations agree with or conflict with the predictions derived from a hypothesis. Experiments can take anywhere from a college lab to CERNs Large Hadron Collider. There are difficulties in a statement of method, however. Though the scientific method is presented as a fixed sequence of steps. Not all steps take place in scientific inquiry, and are not always in the same order. Some philosophers and scientists have argued there is no scientific method, such as Lee Smolin. Nola and Sankey remark that For some, the idea of a theory of scientific method is yester-years debate
23.
Bruno, Duke of Saxony
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Bruno, also called Brun or Braun, a member of the Ottonian dynasty, was Duke of Saxony from 866 until his death. He is rated as an ancestor of the Brunonids, a branch of the Ottonians. Bruno was killed fighting against Norse warriors in the Battle of Luneburg Heath and is venerated as one of the Ebsdorf Martyrs and he was the eldest son of the Saxon count Liudolf and his wife, Oda of Billung. His father held large estates in Eastphalia along the Leine river, Bruno succeeded his father and is mentioned as a count in 877. Nothing is known of Brunos marriage and children and he supported his brother-in-law Louis the Younger in the fights with his uncle, Emperor Charles the Bald. As Saxon commander-in-chief during the Viking invasions, he died, along several other noblemen. The mid-winter battle was a defeat, Duke Bruno, the bishops of Minden and Hildesheim, as well as twelve Saxon counts. According to the chronicler Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg, Bruno died in a flooded river and he was succeeded by his younger brother Otto the Illustrious, whose son Henry the Fowler became King of East Francia in 919. Bruno is venerated as a saint and martyr in the Catholic Church, about 1160 his relics were translated by the Dannenberg counts to Ebstorf Abbey near Uelzen, which from the 14th century was defined as the place of the 880 battle and became a major pilgrimage site. According to tradition, Bruno is also the founder of Brunswick as well as the ancestor of the local count Brun I, consistent naming suggests a kinship, however, some mentions appear to refer to an earlier Saxon margrave called Brun the Younger, possibly Brunos grandfather. Ebstorf Map Reuter, Timothy The Annals of Fulda
24.
Saxon people
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The Saxons were a group of Germanic tribes first mentioned as living near the North Sea coast of what is now Germany, in the late Roman empire. They were soon mentioned as raiding and settling in many North Sea areas, as well as pushing south inland towards the Franks. Significant numbers settled in parts of Great Britain in the early Middle Ages. Many Saxons however remained in Germania, where they resisted the expanding Frankish Empire through the leadership of the semi-legendary Saxon hero, the Saxons earliest area of settlement is believed to have been Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein. This general area also included the probable homeland of the Angles, Saxons, along with the Angles and other continental Germanic tribes, participated in the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain during and after the 5th century. The British-Celtic inhabitants of the isles tended to refer to all of these collectively as Saxons. It is unknown how many Saxons migrated from the Continent to Britain, the Saxons may have derived their name from seax, a kind of knife for which they were known. The seax has a symbolic impact in the English counties of Essex and Middlesex. Their names, along with those of Sussex and Wessex, contain a remnant of the word Saxon. The Elizabethan era play Edmund Ironside suggests the Saxon name derives from the Latin saxa, Their names discover what their natures are, More hard than stones, in the Celtic languages, the words designating English nationality derive from the Latin word Saxones. The most prominent example, a loanword in English, is the Scottish Gaelic Sassenach and it derives from the Scottish Gaelic Sasunnach meaning, originally, Saxon, from the Latin Saxones. Scots- or Scottish English-speakers in the 21st century usually use it as a term for an English person. The Oxford English Dictionary gives 1771 as the date of the earliest written use of the word in English. Sasanach, the Irish word for an Englishman, has the same derivation, as do the words used in Welsh to describe the English people, Cornish terms the English Sawsnek, from the same derivation. In the 16th century Cornish-speakers used the phrase Meea navidna cowza sawzneck to feign ignorance of the English language, England in Scottish Gaelic is Sasainn. Other examples include the Welsh Saesneg, Irish Sasana, Breton saoz, and Cornish Sowson, Sowsnek, the label Saxons was also applied to German settlers who migrated during the 13th century to southeastern Transylvania. From Transylvania, some Saxons migrated to neighbouring Moldavia, as the name of the town, Sas-cut, sascut is located in the part of Moldavia that is today part of Romania. The Finns and Estonians have changed their usage of the term Saxony over the centuries to denote now the country of Germany
25.
Dankwarderode Castle
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Dankwarderode Castle on the Burgplatz in Braunschweig is a Saxon lowland castle. It was the residence of the Brunswick dukes for centuries and, Dankwarderode Castle was built between c.1160 and 1175 as the Pfalz of Duke Henry the Lion on an island in the river Oker. Next to the castle, construction of Brunswick Cathedral began in 1173, the castle lost its military significance as a defensive structure early, when it became surrounded completely by the growing city. During the 15th century, the dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel moved their Residenz out of the city, in 1616 the palas was remodelled in the renaissance style, while the rest of the castle was demolished or left to decay. During the 19th century, the keep served as a barrack. The present structure was rebuilt in 1887 by Ludwig Winter, based on archaeological investigations, today the ground floor of Dankwarderode Castle houses the permanent collection of medieval objects of the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum. Georg Dehio, Handbuch der deutschen Kunstdenkmäler, Bremen/Niedersachsen, Deutscher Kunstverlag,1977, richard Moderhack, Braunschweiger Stadtgeschichte, Brunswick,1997. Medieval Division of the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum Dankwarderode Castle Dankwarderode Castle
26.
Low German language
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Low German or Low Saxon is a West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is descended from Old Saxon in its earliest form, as an Ingvaeonic language, Low German is quite distinct from the Irminonic languages like Standard German. It is closely related to Anglo-Frisian group of languages and more distantly to Dutch and this difference resulted from the High German consonant shift, with the Uerdingen and Benrath lines being two notable linguistic borders. Dialects of Low German are widely spoken in the area of the Netherlands and are written there with an orthography based on Standard Dutch orthography. Small portions of northern Hesse and northern Thuringia are traditionally Low Saxon-speaking too, historically, Low German was also spoken in formerly German parts of Poland as well as in East Prussia and the Baltic States of Estonia and Latvia. Under the name Low Saxon, there are speakers in the Dutch north-eastern provinces of Groningen, Drenthe, Stellingwerf, Overijssel, German speakers in this area fled the Red Army or were forcibly expelled after the border changes at the end of World War II. Today, there are still speakers outside Germany and the Netherlands to be found in the areas of present-day Poland. In some of these countries, the language is part of the Mennonite religion, there are Mennonite communities in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Minnesota which use Low German in their religious services and communities. The type of Low German spoken in communities and in the Midwest region of the United States has diverged since emigration. The survival of the language is tenuous in many places and has died out in places where assimilation has occurred. Mennonite colonies in Paraguay, Belize, and Chihuahua, Mexico have made Low German a co-official language of the community, in Germany, native speakers of Low German call it Platt, Plattdüütsch or Nedderdüütsch. In the Netherlands, native speakers refer to their language as dialect, plat, nedersaksies, or the name of their village, officially, Low German is called Niederdeutsch by the German authorities and Nedersaksisch by the Dutch authorities. Plattdeutsch/Niederdeutsch and Platduits/Nedersaksisch are seen in texts from the German. In Danish it is called Plattysk, Nedertysk or, rarely, Mennonite Low German is called Plautdietsch. Etymologically Platt meant clear in the sense of a language the people could understand. In Dutch, the word Plat can also mean improper, or rude, the ISO 639-2 language code for Low German has been nds since May 2000. The question of whether Low German should be considered a separate language, linguistics offers no simple, generally accepted criterion to decide this question. Scholarly arguments have been put forward in favour of classifying Low German as a German dialect, as said, these arguments are not linguistic but rather socio-political and build mainly around the fact that Low German has no official standard form or use in sophisticated media
27.
Georg Braun
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From 1572 to 1617 he edited the Civitates orbis terrarum, which contains 546 prospects, birds-eye views and maps of cities from all around the world. He was the editor of the work, he acquired the tables, hired the artists. He died as an octogenarian in 1622, as the survivor of the original team to witness the publication of volume VI in 1617. Braun was born and died in Cologne and his principal profession was as a Catholic cleric, however, he spent thirty-seven years as canon and dean at the church, St. Maria ad Gradus, in Cologne. His six-volume work was inspired by Sebastian Münsters Cosmographia, in form and layout it resembles the 1570 Theatrum orbis terrarum by Abraham Ortelius, as Ortelius was interested in a complementary companion for the Theatrum. The Braun publication set new standards in cartography for over 100 years, frans Hogenberg created the tables for volumes I through IV, and Simon van den Neuwel created those for volumes V and VI. Other contributors were Joris Hoefnagel, Jacob Hoefnagel, cartographer Daniel Freese, works by Jacob van Deventer, Sebastian Münster, and Johannes Stumpf were also used. Primarily European cities are depicted in the publication, however, Casablanca, blätter / Georg Braun, Franz Hogenberg, J
28.
House of Welf
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The House of Welf was a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The House of Welf is the branch of the House of Este. The first member was Welf IV, he inherited the property of the Elder House of Welf when his maternal uncle Welf III, Duke of Carinthia and Verona, the last male Welf of the Elder House, died in 1055. Welf IV was the son of Welf IIIs sister Kunigunde of Altdorf and her husband Albert Azzo II of Este, in 1070, Welf IV became duke of Bavaria. Since the Welf dynasty sided with the Pope in this controversy, Henry the Black, duke of Bavaria from 1120–1126, was the first of the three dukes of the Welf dynasty called Henry. His wife Wulfhild was the heiress of the house of Billung, possessing the territory around Lüneburg in Lower Saxony and their son, Henry the Proud was the son-in-law and heir of Emperor Lothair of Supplinburg and became also duke of Saxony on Lothairs death. Lothair left his territory around Brunswick, inherited from his mother of the Brunonen family and her husband Henry the Proud became then the favoured candidate in the imperial election against Conrad III of the Hohenstaufen. But Henry lost the election, as the other princes feared his power and temperament, Henry the Lion recovered his fathers two duchies, Saxony in 1142, Bavaria in 1156 and thus ruled vast parts of Germany. In 1168 he married Matilda, the daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and sister of Richard Lionheart, gaining ever more influence. His first cousin, Emperor Frederick I of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, tried to get along with him, Henry made his peace with the Hohenstaufen Emperor in 1185, and returned to his much diminished lands around Brunswick without recovering his two duchies. Bavaria had been given to Otto I Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria, Henry died at Brunswick in 1195. Henrys son Otto of Brunswick was elected King of the Romans and he incurred the wrath of Pope Innocent III and was excommunicated in 1215. Otto was forced to abdicate the throne by the Hohenstaufen Frederick II. He was the only Welf to become emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Henry the Lions grandson Otto the Child became duke of a part of Saxony in 1235, the new Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and died there in 1252. The subsequent history of the dukedom and its subordinate principalities was characterized by divisions and reunifications. The subordinate states that were created, and which had the legal status of principalities within the duchy were generally named after the residences of their rulers. The estates of the different dynastic lines could be inherited by a line when a family died out. The individual subordinate principalities continued to exist until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, following the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15, the territories became part of the Kingdom of Hanover and the Duchy of Brunswick
29.
Henry the Lion
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Henry the Lion was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, the duchies of which he held until 1180. At the height of his reign, Henry ruled over a vast territory stretching from the coast of the North and Baltic Seas to the Alps, Henry achieved this great power in part by his political and military acumen and in part through the legacies of his four grandparents. Born in Ravensburg, in 1129 or 1131, he was the son of Henry the Proud, Duke of Bavaria and Saxony, who was the son of Duke Henry the Black, Henrys father died in 1139, aged 32, when Henry was still a child. King Conrad III had dispossessed Henry the Proud of his duchies in 1138 and 1139, handing Saxony to Albert the Bear and this was because Henry the Proud had been his rival for the crown in 1138. Henry III, however, did not relinquish his claims to his inheritance, a participant in the 1147 Wendish Crusade, Henry also reacquired Bavaria by a decision of the new Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1156. However, the East Mark was not returned, which became Austria, Henry is the founder of Munich and Lübeck, he also founded and developed numerous other cities in Northern Germany and Bavaria, a. o. Augsburg, Hildesheim, Stade, Kassel, Güstrow, Lüneburg, Salzwedel, Schwerin, in Brunswick, his capital, he had a bronze lion, his heraldic animal, erected in the yard of his castle Dankwarderode in 1166 — the first bronze statue north of the Alps. Later, he had Brunswick Cathedral built close to the statue, in 1147, Henry married Clementia of Zähringen, thereby gaining her hereditary territories in Swabia. In 1165, Henry married Matilda, the daughter of King Henry II of England and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, during Fredericks first invasion of northern Italy, Henry took part, among the others, in the victorious sieges of Crema and Milan. In 1172, Henry had taken a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, meeting with the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller, spending Easter of that year in Constantinople. By December 1172, he was back in Bavaria and in 1174 and he did not consider these Italian adventures worth the effort, unless Barbarossa presented Henry with the Saxon imperial city Goslar, a request Barbarossa refused. Barbarossas expedition into Lombardy ultimately ended in failure and he bitterly resented Henry for failing to support him. Declaring that Imperial law overruled traditional German law, the court had Henry stripped of his lands, Frederick then invaded Saxony with an Imperial army to bring his cousin to his knees. Henrys allies deserted him, and he finally had to submit in November 1181 at a Reichstag in Erfurt and he was exiled from Germany in 1182 for three years, stayed with his father-in-law, in Normandy before being allowed back into Germany in 1185. He was exiled again in 1188 and his wife Matilda died in 1189. When Frederick Barbarossa went on the Crusade of 1189, Henry returned to Saxony, mobilized an army of his faithful, only the churches were left standing. Henry the Lion remains a figure to this day. During World War I a nail man depicting Henry the Lion, nazi propaganda later declared Henry an antecessor of the Nazis Lebensraum policy and turned Brunswick Cathedral and Henrys tomb into a National Place of Consecration
30.
Duchy of Saxony
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Upon the 843 Treaty of Verdun, Saxony was one of the five German stem duchies of East Francia, Duke Henry the Fowler was elected German king in 919. In 1296 the remaining lands were divided between the Ascanian dukes of Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg, the obtaining the title of Electors of Saxony by the Golden Bull of 1356. In the late 12th century, Duke Henry the Lion also occupied the adjacent area of Mecklenburg, more probably, Saxon tribes from Land Hadeln under the leadership of legendary Hengist and Horsa in the late days of the Roman Empire had invaded Britannia. In 747 their rebellious brother Grifo allied with Saxon tribes and temporarily conquered the duchy of Bavaria. Pepin, Frankish king from 750, again invaded Saxony and subdued several Westphalian tribes until 758, in 772 Pepins son Charlemagne started the final conquest of the Saxon lands. Widukind finally had to pledge allegiance in 785, having himself baptised, Saxon uprisings continued until 804, when the whole stem duchy had been incorporated into the Carolingian Empire. Afterwards, Saxony was ruled by Carolingian officials, e. g, among the installed dukes were already nobles of Saxon descent, like Walas successor Count Ekbert, husband of Saint Ida of Herzfeld, a close relative of Charlemagne. Subdued only a few decades earlier, the Saxons rose to one of the tribes in East Francia, it is however uncertain. Liudolfs elder son Bruno, progenitor of the Brunswick cadet branch of the Brunonen, was killed in a battle with invading Vikings under Godfrid in 880. He was succeeded by his younger brother Otto the Illustrious, mentioned as dux in the annals of Hersfeld Abbey. His position was enough to wed Hedwiga of Babenberg, daughter of mighty Duke Henry of Franconia. One year later, Ottos son Henry the Fowler succeeded his father as Duke of Saxony, Henrys eastern campaigns to Brandenburg and Meissen, the establishment of Saxon marches as well as the surrender of Duke Wenceslaus of Bohemia marked the beginning of the German eastward expansion. Upon Henrys death in 936 at Memleben, his son Otto I succeeded him, according to Widukind, he was crowned king at Aachen Cathedral, with the other German dukes Gilbert of Lorraine, Eberhard of Franconia, Arnulf of Bavaria and Herman of Swabia paying homage to him. He thereby disregarded the claims of Hermans elder brother Wichmann, who in turn joined the revolt by Ottos half-brother Thankmar. In 953 and again in 961 King Otto elevated Hermann Billung to a viceduke in Saxony,973, Otto I dies in Memleben, Otto II becomes Emperor. Hermann Billung dies in Quedlinburg, Bernhard I Billung becomes duke of Saxony,1002, The death of Otto III marks the end of the Saxon emperors. 1011, Duke Bernhard I Billung dies, his son Bernhard II becomes duke,1042, Ordulf Billung, son of Bernhard II, marries Wulfhild, the half-sister of King Magnus of Denmark and Norway. Danes and Saxons fight against the Wends,1059, Ordulf Billung becomes Duke after the death of his father
31.
Duchy of Bavaria
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The Duchy of Bavaria was, from the sixth through the eighth century, a frontier region in the southeastern part of the Merovingian kingdom and was ruled by dukes under Frankish lordship. In the late ninth century a new duchy was created from this area and it was one of the stem duchies of the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire. Between 1070 and 1180 the Emperor was opposed by Bavaria, especially by the House of Welf, in the final conflict between the Duke Henry the Lion and the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick I, Frederick I triumphed and deprived Henry of his fiefs. Bavaria then passed over to the House of Wittelsbach, which held it until 1918, the origins of the older Bavarian duchy can be traced to the year 551/555. In his Getica, the chronicler Jordanes writes, That area of the Swabians has the Bavarii in the east, until the end of the first duchy, all rulers descended from the family of the Agilolfings. The first documented duke was Garibald I, a scion of the Frankish Agilolfings, at around 743, the Bavarian duke Odilo vassalised the Slavic princes of Carantania, who had asked him for protection against the invading Avars. The residence of the largely independent Agilolfing dukes was then Regensburg, in the adjacent Alamannic lands west of the Lech river, Augsburg was a bishops seat. When Boniface established the Diocese of Passau in 739, he could build on local Early Christian traditions. In the south, Saint Rupert had founded in 696 the Diocese of Salzburg, probably after he had baptized Duke Theodo of Bavaria at his court in Regensburg, becoming the Apostle of Bavaria. In 798 Pope Leo III created the Bavarian ecclesiastical province with Salzburg as metropolitan seat and Regensburg, Passau, Freising, in the west, the Carolingian mayor of the palace Carloman had suppressed the last Alamannic revolt at the 746 Blood court at Cannstatt. The last tribal stem duchy to be incorporated was Bavaria in 788, the conquest of the Lombard Kingdom by Charlemagne entailed the fall of Tassilo, who was deposed in 788. Bavaria was then administrated by Frankish prefects, from 825 Louis the German styled himself King of Bavaria in the territory that was to become the centre of his power. Carlomans natural son Arnulf of Carinthia, raised in the former Carantanian lands, secured possession of the March of Carinthia upon his fathers death in 880, Carinthia and Bavaria were the bases of his power, with Regensburg as the seat of his government. Due mainly to the support of the Bavarians, Arnulf could take the field against Charles in 887, in 899 Bavaria passed to Louis the Child, during whose reign continuous Hungarian ravages occurred. During the reign of Louis the Child, Luitpold, Count of Scheyern, the German king Conrad I unsuccessfully attacked Arnulf when the latter refused to acknowledge his royal supremacy. The Carolingian reign in East Francia ended in 911 when Arnulfs son, King Louis the Child, the discontinuation of the central authority led to a new strengthening of the German stem duchies. At the same time, East Francia was exposed to the threat from Hungarian invasions. In 907 the army of Luitpold, Margrave of Bavaria suffered a defeat at the Battle of Pressburg
32.
Kaiserpfalz
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The term was also used more rarely for a bishop who, as a territorial lord, had to provide the king and his entourage with board and lodging, a duty referred to as Gastungspflicht. Kaiserpfalz is a German word that is a combination of Kaiser, meaning emperor, which is derived from caesar, and Pfalz, meaning palace, likewise Königspfalz is a combination of König, king, and Pfalz, meaning royal palace. This was so-called itinerant kingship, a sort of travelling kingdom, because pfalzen were built and used by the king as a ruler within the Holy Roman Empire, the correct historical term is Königspfalz or royal palace. The term Kaiserpfalz is a 19th-century appellation that overlooks the fact that the king did not bear the title of the Roman Emperor until after his imperial coronation. Moreover, they were not always grand palaces in the sense, some were small castles or fortified hunting lodges. In Latin, such a royal manor was known as a villa regia or curtis regia and they were located either near the bishops residences, near important abbeys, near towns the king held or in the countryside in the middle of royal estates. Pfalzen were generally built at intervals of 30 kilometres, which represented a journey by horse at that time. At a minimum, a pfalz consisted of a palas with its Great Hall or Aula Regia, an imperial chapel and it was here that kings and emperors carried out the business of state, held their imperial court sessions and celebrated important church festivals. Each was administered by a count palatine, who executed jurisdiction in the emperors stead, one of the most important of them would eventually rise to the title of Prince-elector. The pfalzen that the rulers visited varied depending on their function, especially important were those palaces in which the kings spent the winter, and the festival palaces, Easter being the most important and celebrated at Easter palaces. The larger palaces were often in towns that had special rights, in the Hohenstaufen era of the Roman-German kingdom, important imperial princes began to demonstrate their claims to power by building their own pfalzen. Important examples of these include Henry the Lions Dankwarderode Castle in Brunswick, both buildings followed the basic design of Hohenstaufen pfalzen and also had the same dimensions. Examples of surviving imperial palaces may be found in the town of Goslar, palace Palas Imperial castle Adolf Eggers, Der königliche Grundbesitz im 10. Jahrhundert, Veröffentlicht von H. Darmstadt,1996, ISBN 3-534-12548-7, alexander Thon, Barbarossaburg, Kaiserpfalz, Königspfalz oder Casimirschloss. Studien zu Relevanz und Gültigkeit des Begriffes „Pfalz“ im Hochmittelalter anhand des Beispiels Lautern, in, Kaiserslauterer Jahrbuch für pfälzische Geschichte und Volkskunde. Kaiserslautern,1.2001, ISSN 1619-7283, pp. 109–144, alexander Thon. ut nostrum regale palatium infra civitatem vel in burgo eorum non hedificent. Studies of relevance and validity to do with the term Pfalz for the research of castles of the 12th and 13th centuries in, pub. by the Wartburg-Gesellschaft for the research of castles and palaces in Verb. with the Germanic National Museum. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich,2002, ISBN 3-422-06361-7, pp. 45–72
33.
Brunswick Cathedral
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Brunswick Cathedral is a large Lutheran church in the City of Braunschweig, Germany. It is currently owned and used by a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Brunswick, henry the Lion established the original foundation as a collegiate church, built between 1173 and 1195. The limestone statues of them on their tomb in the nave are a representation made a generation after their death. The cathedral was consecrated on December 29,1226, dedicated to Saints Blaise, John the Baptist, the cathedral is also the burial place of Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Caroline of Brunswick, Queen Consort of George IV of the United Kingdom
34.
Brunswick Lion
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The Brunswick Lion is a monument and the best-known landmark in the German city of Braunschweig. It is located on the Burgplatz square in front of Dankwarderode Castle, within Brunswick it is thus commonly known as the Castle Lion. The medieval chronicler Abbot Albert of Stade mentioned 1166 as the year of origin, newly-married with the English princess Matilda, he had Dankwarderode Castle built in the style of a Kaiserpfalz, rivalling with the nearby Imperial Palace of Goslar. The Brunswick Lion was the first large detached sculpture of the Middle Ages north of the Alps and the first large hollow casting of a figure since antiquity. The bronze casting by an unknown artist, probably from Brunswick, weighs 880 kilogrammes, has a height of 1.78 metres, a length of 2.79 m and a maximum thickness of 12 millimetres. The Lions design apparently is modelled on Italian art of sculpture, such as the Capitoline Wolf, Henry may have been inspired during the Italian campaigns he undertook together with Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. The elaborate artistic achievement and naturalistic design of the sculpture indicate the work of a goldsmith or bell founder. The Lion soon became the heraldic animal of Braunschweig, it appeared in the citys seal, the sculpture and its pedestal were extensively restored in 1616, under the rule of Duke Frederick Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, after long quarrels with the Braunschweig citizens were settled. During the Napoleonic Wars, it was rescued from melting down when the Westphalian government prepared for the 1812 Russian Campaign. Another restoration was carried out by the sculptor Georg Ferdinand Howaldt in 1858, the Braunschweig Büssing automotive company established in 1903 adopted the Lion as a logo mounted on its busses and trucks. Taken over by MAN SE in 1972, the Büssing signet still adorns MAN commercial vehicles, the threat by strategic bombing during World War II prompted the city administration to replace the original sculpture by a copy already cast in 1937. Kept safe at the Rammelsberg mines in the Harz mountains, the statue was brought back to Braunschweig by the British occupation forces after the war. Finally in 1980, the statue was removed inside Dankwarderode Castle to protect it from further damages caused by air pollution. A specially manufactured replica has been set up at the original site, shortly after the death of Henry the Lion in 1195, the duke became the subject of a folktale, the so-called Heinrichssage. The tale was also turned into the opera Enrico Leone by Italian composer Agostino Steffani. The Heinrichssage details an account of Henrys pilgrimage to the Holy Land. A popular part of the deals with the Brunswick Lion. According to legend, Henry witnessed the fight between a lion and a dragon while on pilgrimage and he joins the lion in its fight and they slay the dragon
35.
Frederick I Barbarossa
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Frederick I, also known as Frederick Barbarossa, was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and he became King of Italy in 1155 and was crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV on 18 June 1155. Two years later, the term sacrum first appeared in a document in connection with his Empire and he was later formally crowned King of Burgundy, at Arles on 30 June 1178. He was named Barbarossa by the northern Italian cities which he attempted to rule, Barbarossa means red beard in Italian, in German, he was known as Kaiser Rotbart, before his imperial election, Frederick was by inheritance Duke of Swabia. He was the son of Duke Frederick II of the Hohenstaufen dynasty and Judith, daughter of Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria, Frederick therefore descended from the two leading families in Germany, making him an acceptable choice for the Empires prince-electors. Historians consider him among the Holy Roman Empires greatest medieval emperors, in 1147 he became Duke of the southern German region of Swabia, and shortly afterwards made his first trip to the East, accompanied by his uncle, the German king Conrad III, on the Second Crusade. The expedition proved to be a disaster, but Frederick distinguished himself, when Conrad died in February 1152, only Frederick and the prince-bishop of Bamberg were at his deathbed. Frederick energetically pursued the crown and at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 the kingdoms princely electors designated him as the next German king and he was crowned King of the Romans at Aachen several days later, on 9 March 1152. Fredericks father was from the Hohenstaufen family, and his mother was from the Welf family, the Hohenstaufens were often called Ghibellines, which derives from the Italianized name for Waiblingen castle, the family seat in Swabia, the Welfs, in a similar Italianization, were called Guelfs. The reigns of Henry IV and Henry V left the status of the German empire in disarray, for a quarter of a century following the death of Henry V in 1125, the German monarchy was largely a nominal title with no real power. The king was chosen by the princes, was given no resources outside those of his own duchy, the royal title was furthermore passed from one family to another to preclude the development of any dynastic interest in the German crown. When Frederick I of Hohenstaufen was chosen as king in 1152, royal power had been in abeyance for over twenty-five years. The only real claim to lay in the rich cities of northern Italy. The Salian line had died out with the death of Henry V in 1125, one of the Hohenstaufens gained the throne as Conrad III of Germany. When Frederick Barbarossa succeeded his uncle in 1152, there seemed to be excellent prospects for ending the feud, the Welf duke of Saxony, Henry the Lion, would not be appeased, however, remaining an implacable enemy of the Hohenstaufen monarchy. Barbarossa had the duchies of Swabia and Franconia, the force of his own personality, the Germany that Frederick tried to unite was a patchwork of more than 1600 individual states, each with its own prince. A few of these, such as Bavaria and Saxony, were large, many were too small to pinpoint on a map. The titles afforded to the German king were Caesar, Augustus, by the time Frederick would assume these, they were little more than propaganda slogans with little other meaning
36.
Henry II of England
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Henry was the son of Geoffrey of Anjou and Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England. He became actively involved by the age of 14 in his mothers efforts to claim the throne of England, then occupied by Stephen of Blois and he inherited Anjou in 1151 and shortly afterwards married Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose marriage to Louis VII of France had recently been annulled. Stephen agreed to a treaty after Henrys military expedition to England in 1153. Henry was an energetic and sometimes ruthless ruler, driven by a desire to restore the lands and privileges of his royal grandfather, Henrys desire to reform the relationship with the Church led to conflict with his former friend Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury. This controversy lasted for much of the 1160s and resulted in Beckets murder in 1170, Henry soon came into conflict with Louis VII and the two rulers fought what has been termed a cold war over several decades. By 1172, he controlled England, large parts of Wales, the half of Ireland and the western half of France. Henry and Eleanor had eight children, as they grew up, tensions over the future inheritance of the empire began to emerge, encouraged by Louis and his son King Philip II. In 1173 Henrys heir apparent, Young Henry, rebelled in protest, he was joined by his brothers Richard and Geoffrey and by their mother, France, Scotland, Flanders, and Boulogne allied themselves with the rebels. The Great Revolt was only defeated by Henrys vigorous military action and talented local commanders, many of them new men appointed for their loyalty, Young Henry and Geoffrey revolted again in 1183, resulting in Young Henrys death. The Norman invasion of Ireland provided lands for his youngest son John, Philip successfully played on Richards fears that Henry would make John king, and a final rebellion broke out in 1189. Decisively defeated by Philip and Richard and suffering from an ulcer, Henry retreated to Chinon in Anjou. Henrys empire quickly collapsed during the reign of his youngest son John, many of the changes Henry introduced during his long rule, however, had long-term consequences. Historical interpretations of Henrys reign have changed considerably over time, in the 18th century, scholars argued that Henry was a driving force in the creation of a genuinely English monarchy and, ultimately, a unified Britain. Late-20th-century historians have combined British and French historical accounts of Henry, Henry was born in France at Le Mans on 5 March 1133 as the eldest child of the Empress Matilda and her second husband, Geoffrey the Fair, Count of Anjou. In theory, the county answered to the French king, but royal power over Anjou weakened during the 11th century, Henrys mother, firstly married to the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, was the eldest daughter of Henry I, King of England and Duke of Normandy. She was born into a ruling class of Normans, who traditionally owned extensive estates in both England and Normandy. Geoffrey took advantage of the confusion to attack the Duchy of Normandy but played no role in the English conflict, leaving this to Matilda and her half-brother. The war, termed the Anarchy by Victorian historians, dragged on, Henry probably spent some of his earliest years in his mothers household, and accompanied Matilda to Normandy in the late 1130s
37.
Matilda of England, Duchess of Saxony
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Matilda of England was the eldest daughter of Henry II, King of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Through her marriage with Henry the Lion, she was Duchess of Saxony, in 1165 Rainald of Dassel, Archbishop of Cologne, arrived at the court of King Henry II at Rouen, to negotiate a German match for Matilda. The original plan to match a daughter of Henry II with a son of Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, was abandoned and she married Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, on 1 February 1168 at Minden Cathedral. They had four sons and one daughter, Matilda of Saxony, married Geoffrey III Count of Perche and Enguerrand III, Lord of Coucy Henry V, otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Duke of Swabia. Matilda governed her husbands vast estates during his absence in the Holy Land from 1172 to 1173. In 1174, Henry the Lion became involved in a conflict with the Emperor Frederick, Matilda, her husband, and their family remained in Normandy under the protection and support of King Henry until 1185, when they were allowed to return to Saxony. Early in 1189 the Emperor again ordered Henry the Lion to go into exile and this time Matilda remained at Brunswick to defend the interests of her husband but died just three months later. Ralph of Diceto Robert of Torigny Wheeler, Bonnie, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Lord and Lady,2002 Diggelmann, Lindsay. Exile and the Poetic Standpoint of the Troubadour Bertran de Born,2005 Betran de Born, Casutz sui de mal en pena Bertran de Born, Ges de disnar non foroimais maitis
38.
Richard I of England
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Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes and he was the third of five sons of King Henry II of England and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was known as Richard Cœur de Lion or Richard the Lionheart because of his reputation as a military leader. He was also known in Occitan as Oc e No, because of his reputation for terseness, by the age of 16, Richard had taken command of his own army, putting down rebellions in Poitou against his father. Richard spoke both French and Occitan and he was born in England, where he spent his childhood, before becoming king, however, he lived most of his adult life in the Duchy of Aquitaine, in the southwest of France. Following his accession, he spent very little time, perhaps as little as six months, most of his life as king was spent on Crusade, in captivity, or actively defending his lands in France. Rather than regarding his kingdom as a responsibility requiring his presence as ruler, nevertheless, he was seen as a pious hero by his subjects. He remains one of the few kings of England remembered by his epithet, rather than regnal number, Richard was born on 8 September 1157, probably at Beaumont Palace, in Oxford, England, son of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was a brother of Count William IX of Poitiers, Henry the Young King. As the third son of King Henry II, he was not expected to ascend the throne. He was also a brother of Duke Geoffrey II of Brittany, Queen Eleanor of Castile, Queen Joan of Sicily, and Count John of Mortain. Richard was the younger maternal half-brother of Countess Marie of Champagne, the eldest son of Henry II and Eleanor, William, died in 1156, before Richards birth. Richard is often depicted as having been the son of his mother. His father was Angevin-Norman and great-grandson of William the Conqueror, contemporary historian Ralph of Diceto traced his familys lineage through Matilda of Scotland to the Anglo-Saxon kings of England and Alfred the Great, and from there linked them to Noah and Woden. According to Angevin legend, there was even infernal blood in the family, while his father visited his lands from Scotland to France, Richard probably spent his childhood in England. His first recorded visit to the European continent was in May 1165 and his wet nurse was Hodierna of St Albans, whom he gave a generous pension after he became king. Little is known about Richards education, during his captivity, English prejudice against foreigners was used in a calculated way by his brother John to help destroy the authority of Richards chancellor, William Longchamp, who was a Norman. One of the charges laid against Longchamp, by Johns supporter Hugh
39.
Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor
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Otto IV was one of two rival kings of Germany from 1198 on, sole king from 1208 on, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1209 until he was forced to abdicate in 1215. The only German king of the Welf dynasty, he incurred the wrath of Pope Innocent III and was excommunicated in 1210, Otto was the third son of Henry the Lion, Duke of Bavaria and Saxony, and Matilda of England. His exact birthplace is not given by any original source and he grew up in England in the care of his grandfather King Henry II. Otto was fluent in French as well as German and he became the foster son of his maternal uncle, Richard I of England. In 1190, after he left England to join the Third Crusade, the authenticity of this grant was doubted by the vassals of Yorkshire, who prevented Otto taking possession of his earldom. Still, he probably visited Yorkshire in 1191, and he continued to claim the revenues of the earldom after becoming king of Germany, neither did he succeed in getting the 25,000 silver marks willed to him by his uncle in 1199. In 1195, Richard began negotiations to marry Otto to Margaret, daughter, lothian, as Margarets dowry, would be handed over to Richard for safekeeping and the counties of Northumberland and Cumberland would be granted to Otto and turned over to the king of Scotland. The negotiations dragged on until August 1198, when the birth of a son to William rendered them unnecessary. Having failed in his efforts to secure Otto an English earldom or else a Scottish kingdom, in September 1196 Richard, as duke of Aquitaine, there is some disagreement over whether Otto received Poitou in exchange for or in addition to the earldom of York. Otto was in Poitou from September 1196 until mid-1197, when he joined Richard in Normandy to confer over the appointment of bishops to the vacant sees of Poitiers, Limoges and he then participated in the war against Philip II of France on the side of Richard. In October he returned to Poitou, the German historian Jens Ahlers, taking into account Ottos life prior to 1198, considers that he might have been the first foreign king of Germany. Those princes opposed to the Staufen dynasty also decided, on the initiative of Richard of England, Ottos elder brother, Henry, was on a crusade at the time, and so the choice fell to Otto. Otto, soon recognized throughout the northwest and the lower Rhine region, was elected king by his partisans in Cologne on June 9,1198. Otto took control of Aachen, the place of coronation, and was crowned by Adolf, Archbishop of Cologne and this was of great symbolic importance, since the Archbishop of Cologne alone could crown the King of the Romans. Nevertheless, the coronation was done with fake regalia, because the materials were in the hands of the Staufen. Ottos election pulled the empire into the conflict between England and France, Philip had allied himself with the French king, Philip II, while Otto was supported at first by Richard I, and after his death in 1199 by his brother John. The papacy meanwhile, under Innocent III, determined to prevent the unification of Sicily. Therefore, Innocent III favoured Otto, whose family had always opposed to the house of Hohenstaufen
40.
Holy Roman Emperor
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The Holy Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. From an autocracy in Carolingian times the title evolved into an elected monarchy chosen by the Prince-electors, until the Reformation the Emperor elect was required to be crowned by the Pope before assuming the imperial title. The title was held in conjunction with the rule of the Kingdom of Germany, in theory, the Holy Roman Emperor was primus inter pares among the other Catholic monarchs, in practice, a Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances made him. Various royal houses of Europe, at different times, effectively became hereditary holders of the title, after the Reformation many of the subject states and most of those in Germany were Protestant while the Emperor continued to be Catholic. The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved by the last Emperor as a result of the collapse of the polity during the Napoleonic wars, from the time of Constantine I the Roman emperors had, with very few exceptions, taken on a role as promoters and defenders of Christianity. In the west, the title of Emperor was revived in 800, as the power of the papacy grew during the Middle Ages, popes and emperors came into conflict over church administration. The best-known and most bitter conflict was known as the Investiture Controversy. After Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III, no pope appointed an emperor again until the coronation of Otto the Great in 962. Under Otto and his successors, much of the former Carolingian kingdom of Eastern Francia fell within the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire, the various German princes elected one of their peers as King of the Germans, after which he would be crowned as emperor by the Pope. After Charles Vs coronation, all succeeding emperors were called elected Emperor due to the lack of papal coronation, the term sacrum in connection with the medieval Roman Empire was first used in 1157 under Frederick I Barbarossa. Charles V was the last Holy Roman Emperor to be crowned by the Pope, the final Holy Roman Emperor-elect, Francis II, abdicated in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars that saw the Empires final dissolution. The standard designation of the Holy Roman Emperor was August Emperor of the Romans, the word Holy had never been used as part of that title in official documents. In German-language historiography, the term Römisch-deutscher Kaiser is used to distinguish the title from that of Roman Emperor on one hand, the English term Holy Roman Emperor is a modern shorthand for emperor of the Holy Roman Empire not corresponding to the historical style or title. Successions to the kingship were controlled by a variety of complicated factors, elections meant the kingship of Germany was only partially hereditary, unlike the kingship of France, although sovereignty frequently remained in a dynasty until there were no more male successors. The Electoral council was set at seven princes by the Golden Bull of 1356, another elector was added in 1690, and the whole college was reshuffled in 1803, a mere three years before the dissolution of the Empire. After 1438, the Kings remained in the house of Habsburg and Habsburg-Lorraine, with the exception of Charles VII. Maximilian I and his successors no longer travelled to Rome to be crowned as Emperor by the Pope, Maximilian therefore named himself Elected Roman Emperor in 1508 with papal approval. This title was in use by all his uncrowned successors, of his successors only Charles V, the immediate one, received a papal coronation
41.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
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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
listen); Low German: Brunswiek [ˈbrɔˑnsviːk]), also called Brunswick in English,[3] is a city of 252,768 people (as of 31 December 2015),[4] located in the state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated north of the Harz mountains at the furthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser.
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Braunschweig
Urban and rural districts in the state of Lower Saxony in Germany
