Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Three centuries after the Late Bronze Age collapse of Mycenaean Greece, Greek urban poleis began to form in the 8th century BC, ushering in the Archaic period and colonization of the Mediterranean Basin; this was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedon, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the western end of the Mediterranean Sea; the Hellenistic period came to an end with the conquests and annexations of the eastern Mediterranean world by the Roman Republic, which established the Roman province of Macedonia in Roman Greece, the province of Achaea during the Roman Empire. Classical Greek culture philosophy, had a powerful influence on ancient Rome, which carried a version of it to many parts of the Mediterranean Basin and Europe.
For this reason, Classical Greece is considered to be the seminal culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization. Classical Greek culture gave great importance to knowledge. Science and religion were not separate and getting closer to the truth meant getting closer to the gods. In this context, they understood the importance of mathematics as an instrument for obtaining more reliable knowledge. Greek culture, in a few centuries and with a limited population, managed to explore and make progress in many fields of science, mathematics and knowledge in general. Classical antiquity in the Mediterranean region is considered to have begun in the 8th century BC and ended in the 6th century AD. Classical antiquity in Greece was preceded by the Greek Dark Ages, archaeologically characterised by the protogeometric and geometric styles of designs on pottery. Following the Dark Ages was the Archaic Period, beginning around the 8th century BC.
The Archaic Period saw early developments in Greek culture and society which formed the basis for the Classical Period. After the Archaic Period, the Classical Period in Greece is conventionally considered to have lasted from the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 until the death of Alexander the Great in 323; the period is characterized by a style, considered by observers to be exemplary, i.e. "classical", as shown in the Parthenon, for instance. Politically, the Classical Period was dominated by Athens and the Delian League during the 5th century, but displaced by Spartan hegemony during the early 4th century BC, before power shifted to Thebes and the Boeotian League and to the League of Corinth led by Macedon; this period saw the Greco-Persian Wars and the Rise of Macedon. Following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period, during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East; this period ends with the Roman conquest. Roman Greece is considered to be the period between Roman victory over the Corinthians at the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC and the establishment of Byzantium by Constantine as the capital of the Roman Empire in AD 330.
Late Antiquity refers to the period of Christianization during the 4th to early 6th centuries AD, sometimes taken to be complete with the closure of the Academy of Athens by Justinian I in 529. The historical period of ancient Greece is unique in world history as the first period attested directly in proper historiography, while earlier ancient history or proto-history is known by much more circumstantial evidence, such as annals or king lists, pragmatic epigraphy. Herodotus is known as the "father of history": his Histories are eponymous of the entire field. Written between the 450s and 420s BC, Herodotus' work reaches about a century into the past, discussing 6th century historical figures such as Darius I of Persia, Cambyses II and Psamtik III, alluding to some 8th century ones such as Candaules. Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides, Demosthenes and Aristotle. Most of these authors were either Athenian or pro-Athenian, why far more is known about the history and politics of Athens than those of many other cities.
Their scope is further limited by a focus on political and diplomatic history, ignoring economic and social history. In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization. Literacy had been lost and Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, modifying it to create the Greek alphabet. Objects with Phoenician writing on them may have been available in Greece from the 9th century BC, but the earliest evidence of Greek writing comes from graffiti on Greek pottery from the mid-8th century. Greece was divided into many small self-governing communities, a pattern dictated by Greek geography: every island and plain is cut off from its neighbors by the sea or mountain ranges; the Lelantine War is the earliest documented war of the ancient Greek period. It was fought between the important poleis of Chalcis and Eretria over the fertile Lelantine plain of Euboea. Both cities seem to have suffered a decline as result of the long war, though Chalcis was the nominal victor.
A mercantile class arose in the first half of the 7th century BC, shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC. This
Plastic
Plastic is material consisting of any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic compounds that are malleable and so can be molded into solid objects. Plasticity is the general property of all materials which can deform irreversibly without breaking but, in the class of moldable polymers, this occurs to such a degree that their actual name derives from this specific ability. Plastics are organic polymers of high molecular mass and contain other substances, they are synthetic, most derived from petrochemicals, however, an array of variants are made from renewable materials such as polylactic acid from corn or cellulosics from cotton linters. Due to their low cost, ease of manufacture and imperviousness to water, plastics are used in a multitude of products of different scale, including paper clips and spacecraft, they have prevailed over traditional materials, such as wood, stone and bone, metal and ceramic, in some products left to natural materials. In developed economies, about a third of plastic is used in packaging and the same in buildings in applications such as piping, plumbing or vinyl siding.
Other uses include automobiles and toys. In the developing world, the applications of plastic may differ—42% of India's consumption is used in packaging. Plastics have many uses in the medical field as well, with the introduction of polymer implants and other medical devices derived at least from plastic; the field of plastic surgery is not named for use of plastic materials, but rather the meaning of the word plasticity, with regard to the reshaping of flesh. The world's first synthetic plastic was bakelite, invented in New York in 1907 by Leo Baekeland who coined the term'plastics'. Many chemists have contributed to the materials science of plastics, including Nobel laureate Hermann Staudinger, called "the father of polymer chemistry" and Herman Mark, known as "the father of polymer physics"; the success and dominance of plastics starting in the early 20th century led to environmental concerns regarding its slow decomposition rate after being discarded as trash due to its composition of large molecules.
Toward the end of the century, one approach to this problem was met with wide efforts toward recycling. The word plastic derives from the Greek πλαστικός meaning "capable of being shaped or molded" and, in turn, from πλαστός meaning "molded"; the plasticity, or malleability, of the material during manufacture allows it to be cast, pressed, or extruded into a variety of shapes, such as: films, plates, bottles, amongst many others. The common noun plastic should not be confused with the technical adjective plastic; the adjective is applicable to any material which undergoes a plastic deformation, or permanent change of shape, when strained beyond a certain point. For example, aluminum, stamped or forged exhibits plasticity in this sense, but is not plastic in the common sense. By contrast, some plastics will, in their finished forms, break before deforming and therefore are not plastic in the technical sense. Most plastics contain organic polymers; the vast majority of these polymers are formed from chains of carbon atoms,'pure' or with the addition of: oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur.
The chains comprise many repeat units, formed from monomers. Each polymer chain will have several thousand repeating units; the backbone is the part of the chain, on the "main path", linking together a large number of repeat units. To customize the properties of a plastic, different molecular groups "hang" from this backbone; these pendant units are "hung" on the monomers, before the monomers themselves are linked together to form the polymer chain. It is the structure of these side chains; the molecular structure of the repeating unit can be fine tuned to influence specific properties in the polymer. Plastics are classified by: the chemical structure of the polymer's backbone and side chains. Plastics can be classified by: the chemical process used in their synthesis, such as: condensation and cross-linking. Plastics can be classified by: their various physical properties, such as: hardness, tensile strength, resistance to heat and glass transition temperature, by their chemical properties, such as the organic chemistry of the polymer and its resistance and reaction to various chemical products and processes, such as: organic solvents and ionizing radiation.
In particular, most plastics will melt upon heating to a few hundred degrees celsius. Other classifications are based on qualities that are relevant for product design. Examples of such qualities and classes are: thermoplastics and thermosets, conductive polymers, biodegradable plastics and engineering plastics and other plastics with particular structures, such as elastomers. One important classification of plastics is by the permanence or impermanence of their form, or whether they are: thermoplastics or thermosetting polymers. Thermoplastics are the plastics that, when heated, do not undergo chemical change in their composition and so can be molded again and again. Examples include: polyethylene, polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride. Common thermoplastics range from 20,000 to 500,000 amu, while thermosets are assumed to have infinite molecular weight. Thermosets, or thermosetting polymers, can melt and take shape only once: after they have solidified, they stay solid. In the thermosetting process, a chemical reaction occurs, irreversible.
The vulca
Jan Todd
Janice Todd is a professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education at The University of Texas at Austin. Todd is a member of the Sport Management faculty, teaches classes in sport history, sport philosophy, sport and ethics. An active lecturer, Todd was named the Seward Staley Honor Lecturer for the North American Society for Sport History in 2008. Janice Todd is best known outside the powerlifting community for being the first woman to lift the Dinnie Stones in 1979; this feat was not replicated again by Leigh Holland-Keen. Todd’s interest in the study of sport and physical culture was galvanized by her participation and success in the sport of powerlifting. During her powerlifting career, many publications—including Sports Illustrated magazine – considered her to be the strongest woman in the world; as a powerlifter, Todd set more than 60 national and world records, was included in the Guinness Book of Records for over a decade. On 2 February 1978 she appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, performing several lifts along with Johnny Carson.
Todd was the first woman inducted into the International Powerlifting Hall of Fame. She was inducted in the first class of the Women’s Powerlifting Hall of Fame, the 2009 class of the US National Fitness Hall of Fame, she received the 2008 Oscar Heidenstam Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions in the field of physical fitness. Todd serves as co-editor of Iron Game History: The Journal of Physical Culture, a scholarly journal for the history of physical culture. In addition, she has written numerous articles on topics such as sport and exercise history, anabolic steroids, strength training as well as two books: Physical Culture and the Body Beautiful: Purposive Exercise in the Lives of American Women, Lift Your Way to Youthful Fitness. With her husband, Terry Todd, Jan Todd founded the H. J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports; the Stark Center, which opened in a new facility in the fall of 2009, contains museum exhibits as well as a research library and the largest archive in the world devoted to the study of physical fitness, resistance training, alternative medicine.
H. J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports
Kettlebell
The kettlebell is a cast iron or cast steel ball with a handle attached to the top. It is used to perform many types of exercises, including ballistic exercises that combine cardiovascular and flexibility training, they are the primary equipment used in the weight lifting sport of kettlebell lifting. The Russian girya was a type of metal weight used to weigh crops in the 18th century; the use of such weights by circus strongmen is recorded for the 19th century. They began to be used for recreational and competition strength athletics in Russia and Europe in the late 19th century; the birth of competitive kettlebell lifting or girevoy sport is dated to 1885, with the founding of the "Circle for Amateur Athletics". Russian kettlebells are traditionally measured in weight by corresponding to 16.38 kilograms. The English term kettle bell has been in use since the early 20th century. Similar weights used in Classical Greece were the haltere, comparable to the modern kettlebell in terms of movements.
Another comparable instrument was used by Shaolin monks in China. Unlike traditional dumbbells, a kettlebell's center of mass is extended beyond the hand, similar to Indian clubs or ishi sashi; this facilitates swinging movements. Variants of the kettlebell include bags filled with water, or steel shot; the kettlebell allows for swing movements and release moves with added safety and added grip, wrist and core strengthening. The weight of a kettlebell is not distributed evenly. Thus, the unique shape of a kettlebell provides the "unstable force" for handling - key for the effectiveness of the kettlebell exercises; the anatomy of the kettlebell can be broken down into: handle, horn, window and base. By their nature, typical kettlebell exercises build strength and endurance in the lower back and shoulders, increase grip strength; the basic movements, such as the swing and the clean and jerk, engage the entire body at once, in a way that mimics real world activities such as shoveling or farm work.
Unlike the exercises with dumbbells or barbells, kettlebell exercises involve large numbers of repetitions in the sport, can involve large reps in normal training. Kettlebell exercises are in their nature holistic; this combination makes the exercise aerobic and more similar to high-intensity interval training rather than to traditional weight lifting. In a 2010 study, kettlebell enthusiasts performing a 20-minute snatch workout were measured to burn, on average, 13.6 calories/minute aerobically and 6.6 calories/minute anaerobically during the entire workout - "equivalent to running a 6-minute mile pace". When training with high repetitions, kettlebell progression should start out to build muscle endurance, support the joints and prevent injury. Like movements performed with any exercise tool, they can be dangerous to those who have back or shoulder problems, or a weak core, when performed without proper education and progression. However, if done properly, they are beneficial to health, they can offer improved mobility, range of motion, cardio vascular endurance, mental toughness and increased strength.
This is a list of common kettlebell exercises, most of which are uniquely suited to the kettlebell for some reason, rather than just acting as a weight that could be replaced with any other kind of weight. The following movements can be done with one or two kettlebells: Conventional swing: The kettlebell is swung from just below the groin to somewhere between the upper abdomen and shoulders, with arms straight or bent, the degree of flexion depends on the trajectory of the kettlebell. High pull: A swing variation where the kettlebell is thrusted a little higher than the Russian swing, at the apex the bell is pulled in towards the shoulder, pushed out again and back down into the swing. Sometimes the "high pull" instead refers to a deadlift that continues into a pull straight up to shoulder level. Hang clean: The kettlebell is held in the rack position, lowered to below the knees, thrust back up in to the rack. Swing clean: The kettlebell is held in the rack position, dropped into the back-swing behind the knees, back up in to the rack via the up-swing.
The clean is combined with a press or jerk to make a clean and press or a clean & jerk. This is the most common clean, hence, it's referred to as'clean' rather than'swing clean'. Dead clean: The kettlebell is pulled up dead from the ground, straight into rack position. Snatch: There are two styles of snatch, Hardstyle Snatch and Kettlebell Sport Snatch; the kettlebell is held in one hand, lowered to behind the knees via hip hinge, swung to an overhead position and held stable, before repeating the movement. The dead snatch or true snatch begins with the bell on the ground; the lunge snatch lowers into a lunge. Strict press: Also called the military press or standing press, the kettlebell is held in the rack position and pushed overhead with one arm, keeping the body rigid; the tree press, a press standing on one leg, performs a similar function. Other variations include the walking press, taking a step forward with each press alternating hands, the seated press, where the trainee sits on the ground with straight legs while pressing overhead.
Floor press: A press performed lying on the ground
National Archaeological Museum, Athens
The National Archaeological Museum in Athens houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity. It is considered one of the greatest museums in the world and contains the richest collection of artifacts from Greek antiquity worldwide, it is situated in the Exarcheia area in central Athens between Epirus Street, Bouboulinas Street and Tositsas Street while its entrance is on the Patission Street adjacent to the historical building of the Athens Polytechnic university. The first national archaeological museum in Greece was established by the governor of Greece Ioannis Kapodistrias in Aigina in 1829. Subsequently, the archaeological collection was relocated to a number of exhibition places until 1858, when an international architectural competition was announced for the location and the architectural design of the new museum; the current location was proposed and the construction of the museum's building began in 1866 and was completed in 1889 using funds from the Greek Government, the Greek Archaeological Society and the society of Mycenae.
Major benefactors were Eleni Tositsa who donated the land for the building of the museum, Demetrios and Nikolaos Vernardakis from Saint Petersburg who donated a large amount for the completion of the museum. The initial name for the museum was The Central Museum, it was renamed to its current name in 1881 by Prime Minister of Greece Charilaos Trikoupis. In 1887 the important archaeologist Valerios Stais became the museum's curator. During World War II the museum was closed and the antiquities were sealed in special protective boxes and buried, in order to avoid their destruction and looting. In 1945 exhibits were again displayed under the direction of Christos Karouzos; the south wing of the museum houses the Epigraphic Museum with the richest collection of inscriptions in the world. The inscriptions museum expanded between 1953 and 1960 with the architectural designs of Patroklos Karantinos; the museum has an imposing neo-classical design, popular in Europe at the time and is in accordance with the classical style artifacts that it houses.
The initial plan was conceived by the architect Ludwig Lange and it was modified by Panagis Kalkos, the main architect, Armodios Vlachos and Ernst Ziller. At the front of the museum there is a large neo-classic design garden, decorated with sculptures; the building has undergone many expansions. Most important were the construction of a new east wing in the early 20th century based on the plans of Anastasios Metaxas and the construction of a two-storeyed building, designed by George Nomikos, during 1932–1939; these expansions were necessary to accommodate the growing collection of artifacts. The most recent refurbishment of the museum took more than 1.5 years to complete, during which the museum remained closed. It reopened in July 2004, in time for the Athens Olympics and it included an aesthetic and technical upgrade of the building, installation of a modern air-conditioning system, reorganisation of the museum's collection and repair of the damage caused by the 1999 earthquake; the Minoan frescoes rooms opened to the public in 2005.
On May 2008 the Culture Minister Mihalis Liapis inaugurated the much anticipated collection of Egyptian antiquities and the collection of Eleni and Antonis Stathatos. Today, there is a renewed discussion regarding the need to further expand the museum to adjacent areas. A new plan has been made for a subterranean expansion at the front of the museum; the museum's collections are organised in sections: The prehistoric collection displays objects from the Neolithic era and Mid-Bronze age, objects classified as Cycladic and Mycenaean art. There are ceramic finds from various important Neolithic sites such as Dimini and Sesclo from middle Helladic ceramics from Boeotia and Phthiotis; some objects from Heinrich Schliemann excavations in Troy are on display. Cycladic collection features the famous marble figurines from the Aegean islands of Delos and Keros including the Lutist; these mysterious human representations, which resemble modern art and inspired many artists such as Henry Moore, came from the 3rd millennium BC old cemeteries of Aegean islands along with bronze tools and containers.
Mycenean civilization is represented by stone and ceramic pots, ivory and faience objects, golden seals and rings from the vaulted tombs in Mycenae and other locations in the Peloponnese. Of great interest are the two golden cups from Vafeio showing a scene of the capture of a bull. Mycenean collection includes the magnificent 19th-century finds of Heinrich Schliemann in Mycenae from the Grave Circle A and the earlier Grave Circle B. Most notable are the golden funerary masks which covered the faces of deceased Mycenean nobles. Among them, the most famous is the one, named erroneously as the mask of Agamemnon. There are finds from the citadel of Mycenae including relief stelae, golden containers, glass and amber tools and jewels. Other features include an ivory carving of two goddesses with a child, a painted limestone head of a goddess and the famous warrior's vase dating from the 12th century; the Egyptian collection dates back to the last twenty years of the 19th century. Notable is the donation of the Egyptian government which in 1893 offered nine mummies of the era of the Pharaohs.
However, the Egyptian collection is by two donors, Ioannis Dimitriou and of Alexandros Rostovic. In total the collection includes more than 6000 artifacts, 1100 of which are available presently for the public. Th
The Spectator (1711)
The Spectator was a daily publication founded by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele in England, lasting from 1711 to 1712. Each "paper", or "number", was 2,500 words long, the original run consisted of 555 numbers, beginning on 1 March 1711; these were collected into seven volumes. The paper was revived without the involvement of Steele in 1714, appearing thrice weekly for six months, these papers when collected formed the eighth volume. Eustace Budgell, a cousin of Addison's, the poet John Hughes contributed to the publication. In Number 10, Mr. Spectator states that The Spectator will aim "to enliven morality with wit, to temper wit with morality"; the journal reached an audience of thousands of people every day, because "the Spectators was something that every middle-class household with aspirations to looking like its members took literature would want to have." He hopes it will be said he has "brought philosophy out of closets and libraries and colleges, to dwell in clubs and assemblies, at tea-tables and coffee–houses".
Women were a target audience for The Spectator, because one of the aims of the periodical was to increase the number of women who were "of a more elevated life and conversation." Steele states in The Spectator, No. 10, "But there are none to whom this paper will be more useful than to the female world." He recommends that readers of the paper consider it "as a part of the tea-equipage" and set aside time to read it each morning. The Spectator sought to provide readers with topics for well-reasoned discussion, to equip them to carry on conversations and engage in social interactions in a polite manner. In keeping with the values of Enlightenment philosophies of their time, the authors of The Spectator promoted family and courtesy. Despite a modest daily circulation of 3,000 copies, The Spectator was read. Contemporary historians and literary scholars, meanwhile, do not consider this to be an unreasonable claim; these readers came from many stations in society, but the paper catered principally to the interests of England's emerging middle class—merchants and traders large and small.
The Spectator had many readers in the American colonies. In particular, James Madison read the paper avidly as a teenager, it is said to have had a big influence on his world view, lasting throughout his long life. Jürgen Habermas sees The Spectator as instrumental in the formation of the public sphere in 18th century England. Although The Spectator declares itself to be politically neutral, it was recognised as promoting Whig values and interests; the Spectator continued to be popular and read in the late 18th and 19th centuries. It was sold in eight-volume editions, its prose style, its marriage of morality and advice with entertainment, were considered exemplary. The decline in its popularity has been discussed by C. S. Lewis. In The Spectator, No.11, Steele created a frame narrative that would come to be an well known story in the eighteenth century, the story of Inkle and Yarico. Although the periodical essay was published on March 13 of 1711, the story is based on Richard Ligon's publication in 1647.
Ligon's publication, A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbadoes, reports on how the cruelties of the transatlantic slave trade contribute to slave-produced goods such as tobacco and sugarcane. Mr. Spectator goes to speak with an older woman, whom many people visit to discuss various topics; when Mr. Spectator enters the room, there is another man present speaking with Arietta, they are discussing "constancy in love," and the man uses the tale of The Ephesian Matron to support his point. Arietta is angered by the man's hypocrisy and sexism, she counters his tale with the story of Inkle and Yarico. Thomas Inkle, a twenty-year-old man from London, sailed to the West Indies to increase his wealth through trade. While on an island, he encounters a group of Indians, who kill many of his shipmates. After fleeing, Inkle hides in a cave where he discovers an Indian maiden, they become enamored with one another's clothing and physical appearances, Yarico for the next several months hides her lover from her people and provides him with food and fresh water.
A ship passes, headed for Barbadoes, Inkle and Yarico use this opportunity to leave the island. After reaching the English colony, Inkle sells Yarico to a merchant after she tells him that she is pregnant. Arietta closes the tale stating that Inkle uses Yarico's declaration to argue for a higher price when selling her. Mr. Spectator is so moved by the legend. Steele's text was so well known and influential that seven decades after his publication, George Colman modified the short story into a comic opera, showcasing three relationships between characters of varying social statuses to reach multiple audiences. Bully Dawson, mentioned in The Spectator as being kicked by "Sir Roger de Coverley" in a public coffee house The Spectator, a current weekly British conservative magazine, which borrows its name from the 1711 publication The Spectator Nos. 1, 2, 10, 1710–11. Brian McCrea and Steele are Dead: The English Department, Its Canon, the Professionalization of Literary Criticism C. S. Lewis, "Addison" in Eighteenth Century English Literature: Modern Essays in Criticism ed. James Clifford.
The standard edition of The Spectator is Donald F. Bond's edition in five volumes, published in 1965. Selections can be found
Stuart period
The Stuart period of British history lasted from 1603 to 1714 during the dynasty of the House of Stuart. The period ended with the death of Queen Anne and the accession of King George I from the German House of Hanover; the period was plagued by internal and religious strife, a large-scale civil war which resulted in the execution of King Charles I in 1649. The Interregnum under the control of Oliver Cromwell, is included here for continuity though the Stuarts were in exile; the Cromwell regime collapsed and Charles II had wide support for his taking of the throne in 1660. His brother James II was overthrown in 1689 in the Glorious Revolution, he was replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary II and her Dutch husband William III. Mary's sister Anne was the last of the line. For the next half century James II and his son James Francis Edward Stuart and grandson Charles Edward Stuart claimed that they were the true Stuart kings, but they were in exile and attempts to return with French aid were defeated.
England was ruled at the national level by royalty and nobility, at the local level by the lesser nobility and the gentry. Together they comprised about 2% of the families, owned most of the good farmland, controlled local government affairs; the aristocracy was growing in numbers and power. From 1540 to 1640, the number of peers grew from 60 families to 160, they inherited their titles through primogeniture, had a favoured position in legal matters, enjoyed the highest positions in society, held seats in the House of Lords. In 1611, the king looking for new revenue sources created the hereditary rank of baronet, with a status below that of the nobility, no seat in Lords, a price tag of about £1100; the vast land holdings seized from the monasteries under Henry VIII of England in the 1530s were sold to local gentry expanding the wealth of that class of gentlemen. The gentry tripled to 15,000 from 5000 in the century after 1540. Many families died out, others moved up, so that three-fourths of the peers in 1714 had been created by Stuart kings since 1603.
Historians engaged in a lively debate—dubbed the "Storm over the gentry"—about the theory that the rising gentry class took power away from the static nobility, reject it. Both the gentry and the nobility were gaining power, the English Civil War was not a battle between them. In terms of religious affiliation in England, the Catholics were down to about 3% of the population, but comprised about 12% of the gentry and nobility. James VI, king of Scotland became king of the separate kingdom of England when Elizabeth I of England died, he became king of Ireland, but the English were just reestablishing lost control there. The English re-conquest was completed after victory in the Nine Years' War, 1594–1603. James' appointees in Dublin as Lord Deputy of Ireland established real control over Ireland for the first time, bringing a centralised government to the entire island, disarmed the native lordships; the great majority of the Irish population remained Catholic, but James promoted heavy Protestant migration from Scotland into the Ulster region.
The new arrivals were known as Scotch-Irish. In turn many of them migrated to the new American colonies during the Stuart period. King James was failing in physical and mental strength, because of this he was mocked by his family and his own father would throw objects at him when he would try to stand up, decision-making was in the hands of Charles and George Villiers. Buckingham showed a high degree of energy and application, as well as a huge appetite for rewards and riches. By 1624 he was the ruler of England. In 1625 Charles became the king of a land involved in a European war and rent by escalating religious controversies. Buckingham and Charles developed a foreign policy based on an alliance with France against Spain. Major foreign adventures against Cádiz in 1625 and in support of French Huguenots in 1627 were total disasters. Widespread rumour shaped public opinion that blamed Buckingham, rather than the king, for the ills that beset England; when Parliament twice opened impeachment proceedings, the king prorogued the Parliament.
Buckingham was assassinated in 1628 by a dissatisfied Army officer. The assassin was executed, but he became a heroic martyr across the three kingdoms. Like his father, King Charles believed in the divine right of kings to rule, one was unable to work with Parliament. By 1628 he and Buckingham had transformed the political landscape. In 1629 the king began a period of eleven years of personal rule. English government was quite small, for the king had no standing army, no bureaucracy stationed around the country. Laws were enforced by local officials controlled by the local elites. Military operations were handled by hired mercenaries; the greatest challenge King Charles faced in ruling without a parliament was raising money. The crown was in debt nearly £1.2 million. Charles saved money by signing peace treaties with France in 1629 and Spain in 1630, avoiding involvement in the Thirty Years' War, he cut the usual budget but it was not nearly enough. He discovered a series of ingenious methods to raise money without permission of Parliament.
They had been used, but were legal. He sold monopolies, despite their unpopularity, he fined the landowners for encroaching on the royal forests. Compulsory knighthood had been established in the Middle Ages
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