1.
Franz Xaver Winterhalter
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Franz Xaver Winterhalter was a German painter and lithographer, known for his portraits of royalty in the mid-nineteenth century. His name has become associated with fashionable court portraiture, among his best known works are Empress Eugénie Surrounded by her Ladies in Waiting and the portraits he made of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. Franz Xaver Winterhalter was born in the village of Menzenschwand, Germanys Black Forest, in the Electorate of Baden. He was the child of Fidel Winterhalter, a farmer and resin producer in the village, and his wife Eva Meyer. His father was of peasant stock and was an influence in his life. Of the eight brothers and sisters, only four survived infancy, throughout his life, Franz Xaver remained very close to his family in particular to his brother Hermann, who was also a painter. After attending school at a Benedictine monastery in St. Blasien and he trained as a draughtsman and lithographer in the workshop of Karl Ludwig Schüler in Freiburg. In 1823, at the age of eighteen, he went to Munich, Winterhalter found a more congenial mentor in the fashionable portraitist Joseph Stieler. During this time, he supported himself working as lithographer, Winterhalter entered court circles when in 1828 he became drawing master to Sophie Margravine of Baden, at Karlsruhe. His opportunity to establish himself beyond southern Germany came in 1832 when he was able to travel to Italy, 1833–1834, with the support of Grand Duke Leopold of Baden. In Rome he composed romantic genre scenes in the manner of Louis Léopold Robert and attached himself to the circle of the director of the French Academy, Horace Vernet. On his return to Karlsruhe, he painted the portraits of the Grand Duke Leopold of Baden and his wife, nevertheless, he left Baden to move to France where his Italian genre scene Il dolce Farniente attracted notice at the Salon of 1836. Il Decameron a year later was also praised, both paintings are academic compositions in the style of Raphael, in the Salon of 1838 he exhibited a portrait of the Prince of Wagram with his young daughter. His career as a painter was soon secured when in the same year he painted Louise Marie of Orleans, Queen of the Belgians. It was probably through this painting that Winterhalter came to the notice of Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies, Queen of the French, in Paris, Winterhalter quickly became fashionable. He was appointed court painter of Louis-Philippe, the king of the French, Winterhalter would execute more than thirty commissions for him. This success earned the painter the reputation of a specialist in dynastic and aristocratic portraiture, skilled in combining likeness with flattery, however, Winterhalters reputation in artistic circles suffered. The critics, who had praised his debut in the salon of 1836 and this attitude persisted throughout Winterhalters career, condemning his work to a category of his own in the hierarchy of painting
2.
Empress consort of the French
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This is a list of the women who have been queens consort or empresses consort of the French monarchy. All monarchs of France were male, although some women have governed France as regents,53 women were married to French monarchs,49 queens and three empresses. Ingeborg of Denmark and Anne of Brittany were each more than once. Marie Josephine Louise of Savoy was queen de jure during the Republican and Imperial periods, thus, the wives of these three kings were queens consort of Navarre, as well as France. With the death of Charles IV, however, Navarre passed out of the hands of the French kings until 1589, upon Henrys succession, his wife, Margaret of France, who was already queen consort of Navarre, also became queen consort of France. The title King of Navarre was reassumed with the Restoration of 1814–15, and dropped with the Revolution of 1830, many French consorts acted as regents for their husbands or children, during their minorities. Joan the Lame, who governed for her husband Philip VI whilst he was fighting. Isabeau of Bavaria, during the insanity of her husband Charles VI, during which she vied for power with her husbands uncles, owing to the inequality of social status, she and the King did not marry openly. No written proof of the marriage is extant, but that it took place is nevertheless certain and it is important to remember that Madame de Maintenon was never queen of France, simply a royal consort. Some sources refer to Margaret of Anjou as Queen of France and she was briefly recognized only in English-controlled territories of France. Kings of France family tree List of French monarchs Joy Law, Fleur de lys, The kings, ISBN 978-0-07-036695-4 Rene de La Croix, duc de Castries, The Lives of the Kings & Queens of France. ISBN 0-394-50734-7 Elsie Thornton-Cook, Royal Line of France, The Story of the Kings and Queens of France
3.
Granada
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Granada is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of four rivers, the Beiro, the Darro, the Genil and the Monachil. It sits at an elevation of 738 m above sea level, yet is only one hour by car from the Mediterranean coast. Nearby is the Sierra Nevada Ski Station, where the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1996 were held, about 3. 3% of the population did not hold Spanish citizenship, the largest number of these people coming from South America. Its nearest airport is Federico García Lorca Granada-Jaén Airport, the Alhambra, a Moorish citadel and palace, is in Granada. It is the most renowned building of the Andalusian Islamic historical legacy with its cultural attractions that make Granada a popular destination among the touristic cities of Spain. The Almohad influence on architecture is preserved in the Granada neighborhood called the Albaicín with its fine examples of Moorish. Granada is also well-known within Spain for the University of Granada which has about 80,000 students spread over five different campuses in the city, the pomegranate is the heraldic device of Granada. The region surrounding what today is Granada has been populated since at least 5500 BC and experienced Roman, the most ancient ruins found in the city belongs to an Iberian oppidum called Ilturir, in the region known as Bastetania. This oppidum eventually changed its name to Iliberri, and after the Roman conquest of Iberia, the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, starting in AD711, brought large parts of the Iberian Peninsula under Moorish control and established Al-Andalus. In the early 11th century, after a war that ended the Caliphate, the Berber, Zawi ben Ziri, established an independent kingdom for himself. Jewish people were established in another close to Illiberis, called Gárnata or Gárnata al-Yahūd. Granadas historical name in the Arabic language was غرناطة, the word Gárnata possibly means hill of strangers. Because the city was situated on a low plain and, as a result, difficult to protect from attacks, in a short time this town was transformed into one of the most important cities of Al-Andalus. By the end of the 11th century, the city had spread across the Darro to reach the hill of the future Alhambra, the Almoravids ruled Granada from 1090 and the Almohad dynasty from 1166. With the Reconquista in full swing after the conquest of Córdoba in 1236, according to some historians, Granada was a tributary state to the Kingdom of Castile since that year. It provided connections with Muslim and Arab trade centers, particularly for gold from sub-Saharan Africa and the Maghreb, the Nasrids also supplied troops from the Emirate and mercenaries from North Africa for service to Castile. Ibn Battuta, a traveler and an authentic historian, visited the Kingdom of Granada in 1350
4.
Madrid
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Madrid is the capital city of the Kingdom of Spain and the largest municipality in both the Community of Madrid and Spain as a whole. The city has a population of almost 3.2 million with an area population of approximately 6.5 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union after London and Berlin, the municipality itself covers an area of 604.3 km2. Madrid lies on the River Manzanares in the centre of both the country and the Community of Madrid, this community is bordered by the communities of Castile and León. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political, economic, the current mayor is Manuela Carmena from Ahora Madrid. Madrid is home to two football clubs, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid. Madrid is the 17th most liveable city in the according to Monocle magazine. Madrid organises fairs such as FITUR, ARCO, SIMO TCI, while Madrid possesses modern infrastructure, it has preserved the look and feel of many of its historic neighbourhoods and streets. Cibeles Palace and Fountain have become one of the monument symbols of the city, the first documented reference of the city originates in Andalusan times as the Arabic مجريط Majrīṭ, which was retained in Medieval Spanish as Magerit. A wider number of theories have been formulated on possible earlier origins, according to legend, Madrid was founded by Ocno Bianor and was named Metragirta or Mantua Carpetana. The most ancient recorded name of the city Magerit comes from the name of a built on the Manzanares River in the 9th century AD. Nevertheless, it is speculated that the origin of the current name of the city comes from the 2nd century BC. The Roman Empire established a settlement on the banks of the Manzanares river, the name of this first village was Matrice. In the 8th century, the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula saw the changed to Mayrit, from the Arabic term ميرا Mayra. The modern Madrid evolved from the Mozarabic Matrit, which is still in the Madrilenian gentilic, after the disintegration of the Caliphate of Córdoba, Madrid was integrated in the Taifa of Toledo. With the surrender of Toledo to Alfonso VI of León and Castile, the city was conquered by Christians in 1085, Christians replaced Muslims in the occupation of the centre of the city, while Muslims and Jews settled in the suburbs. The city was thriving and was given the title of Villa, since 1188, Madrid won the right to be a city with representation in the courts of Castile. In 1202, King Alfonso VIII of Castile gave Madrid its first charter to regulate the municipal council, which was expanded in 1222 by Ferdinand III of Castile
5.
Restoration (Spain)
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After almost a whole century of political instability and many civil wars, the aim of the Restoration was to create a new political system, which ensured stability by the practice of turnismo. This was the rotation of the Liberal and Conservative parties in the government, so no sector of the bourgeoisie felt isolated. This was achieved by electoral fraud, opposition to the system came from republicans, socialists, anarchists, Basque and Catalan nationalists, and Carlists. The pronunciamiento by Martinez Campos established Alfonso XII as king, marking the end of the First Spanish Republic, after this, the Constitution of 1876 was written and enforced during the whole restoration. This constitution established Spain as a monarchy with a bicameral legislature, consisting of an upper house. This constitution gave the King the power to name Senators and to revoke laws if he wanted to and these years were marked by economic prosperity. Spains economy had fallen behind those of the other European countries, on most fronts production was increased, supported by extreme protectionist measures. The two parties alternated in the government in a process known as el turno pacífico, the Liberal Party was led by Sagasta. In 1898, Spain lost its last major overseas colonies in the Spanish–American War and this was the start of the systems decline, giving energy to all manner of conflicting opposition movements at a local and national level. The government declared a state of war and sent the army to crush the revolt, causing over a hundred deaths, the problems in Morocco worsened as an army of natives attacked the Spanish army. They achieved surprise and, due to the skill of the Moroccan chieftain, Abd-Al-Krim, virtually annihilated the Spanish army, advancing almost as far as Melilla in the Battle of Annual. The military discontent, the fear of anarchist terrorism or a revolution, and the rise of nationalist movements ultimately caused great agitation amongst the civilians. On 13 September 1923, Miguel Primo de Rivera, Captain General of Catalonia, orchestrated a coup détat, Alfonso XIII backed the General and named him Prime Minister. Primo de Rivera proceeded to suspend the Constitution and assume absolute powers as a dictator and he created the Unión Patriótica Española, which was meant to be the sole legal party, abolishing all other parties. During this time, he increased government spending on business and public services. He lost the support of the military and faced serious health problems, opposition to his regime was so great that Alfonso XIII stopped supporting him and forced him to resign in January 1930. Alfonso XIII, in an attempt to gradually to the previous system and restore his prestige. This failed utterly, as the King was considered a supporter of the dictatorship, Berenguer resigned and the King gave the government to Admiral Juan Bautista Aznar
6.
St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough
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Saint Michaels Abbey is a Benedictine abbey in Farnborough, Hampshire, England. The small community is known for the quality of its liturgy, which is sung in Latin and Gregorian Chant, its pipe organ and it is also the national shrine of St Joseph. Public tours of the Abbey take place every Saturday at 3pm, with the tour comprising a tour of the church, organ recitals are held on the first Sunday afternoon of the month between May and October at 3pm. He was originally buried at St Marys Catholic Church, Chislehurst, but, following the death of the Prince Imperial in 1879, the grief-stricken Eugénie set about building a monument to her family. She founded the abbey in 1881 as a mausoleum for her husband and son, wishing that the place should be a place of prayer. The Abbey included an Imperial Crypt, modelled on the altar of St Louis in France, where Eugénie was later buried alongside her husband and son. All three rest in granite sarcophagi provided by Queen Victoria, after the church and monastery were founded, they were initially administered by Premonstratensian Canons. In 1895, the Empress replaced them with French Benedictine monks from St Peters Abbey, the churchs present two-manual organ was installed in 1905, built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll & Company. The instruments origins are shrouded in mystery, the medieval scholar Dom André Wilmart was a liturgist at the abbey. The last French monk, Dom Zerr, died in 1956, in 2006 the community elected the first English Abbot of Farnborough—the Right Reverend Dom Cuthbert Brogan. The Catholic Central Library was set up by the Catholic Truth Society after the First World War and it was maintained for many years by the Graymoor Friars in Westminster until they were obliged to withdraw. It moved into the care of St Michaels Abbey in 2007 for a probationary period pending a decision on its future. In 2007 it was renamed the Catholic National Library, and is one of the finest collections of Catholic books in England, in 2015 the collection was relocated to Durham University Library. Official website Website about the famous Cavaillé-Coll organ in Farnborough Abbey St Michaels Abbey
7.
Farnborough, Hampshire
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Farnborough is a town in north east Hampshire, England, part of the borough of Rushmoor and the Farnborough/Aldershot Built-up Area. Farnborough was founded in Saxon times and is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, the name is formed from Ferneberga which means fern hill. The town is probably best known for its association with aviation – Farnborough Airshow, Farnborough Aerodrome, Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough is situated in northeast Hampshire near the boundary with Surrey. The River Blackwater forms part of the boundary and it is located 34 miles southwest of London and 16 miles east of Basingstoke, directly to the south of junction 4 of the M3 motorway. The town lies at the centre of the Blackwater Valley conurbation, Farnborough has incorporated several sizeable villages as it has expanded, including North Camp to the south, Cove and Southwood, which are now considered suburbs. It is contiguous with the town of Aldershot to the south and with Frimley to the north. The council of the government district of Rushmoor is based in the town. The district has borough status and also covers nearby Aldershot, within Farnborough the only naturally occurring significant flowing water is Cove Brook. Farnboroughs lowest temperature was recorded on 20 December 2010, Farnboroughs highest temperature was recorded on 10 August 2003. Name changes, Ferneberga, Farnburghe, Farenberg, Farnborowe, Fremborough, Farneborough, Tower Hill, Cove, There is substantial evidence that many years ago a large accumulation of Sarsen stones existed upon what later came to be known as Tower Hill. The town is the home of St. Michaels Abbey, the Imperial Crypt there is the resting place of Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, and his wife, Eugénie de Montijo, and their son, Napoléon, Prince Imperial. The Abbey was the home of the Catholic National Library from 2007 until it was relocated to Durham University Library in 2015, the River Blackwater on the Hampshire/Surrey border was the location of the first international prize fight between Tom Sayers and John C. Heenan, which took place near the location of the Ship Inn pub, closely associated with Farnborough Airfield, situated between Farnborough and Fleet, is Samuel Franklin Cody. Cody, or Colonel Sam Cody as he was known, was one of the pioneers of aviation. He died when he crashed his plane on Ball Hill, a site which is now within Qinetiqs Technology Park, a statue was unveiled on the 100th anniversary of his death,7 August 2013. The statue is sited outside the FAST museum, home of the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust, Farnborough Airfield is the site of the historic Royal Aircraft Establishment. Part of the old RAE, Farnboroughs historic wind tunnels are now listed buildings, the first built in 1917 and the other, much larger, in 1935. The latter was used extensively for research into Concorde aerodynamics, Formula 1 cars until its closure in the early 1990s, the tunnels were open to the public during June and July 2014 until the end of the Farnborough International Airshow
8.
Hampshire
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Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, the capital city of England. The larger South Hampshire metropolitan area has a population of 1,547,000, Hampshire is notable for housing the birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force. It is bordered by Dorset to the west, Wiltshire to the north-west, Berkshire to the north, Surrey to the north-east, the southern boundary is the coastline of the English Channel and the Solent, facing the Isle of Wight. At its greatest size in 1890, Hampshire was the fifth largest county in England and it now has an overall area of 3,700 square kilometres, and measures about 86 kilometres east–west and 76 kilometres north–south. Hampshires tourist attractions include many seaside resorts and two parks, the New Forest and the South Downs. Hampshire has a maritime history and two of Europes largest ports, Portsmouth and Southampton, lie on its coast. The county is famed as home of writers Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, Hampshire takes its name from the settlement that is now the city of Southampton. Southampton was known in Old English as Hamtun, roughly meaning village-town, the old name was recorded in the Domesday book as Hantescire, and it is from this spelling that the modern abbreviation Hants derives. From 1889 until 1959, the county was named the County of Southampton and has also been known as Southamptonshire. The region is believed to have continuously occupied since the end of the last Ice Age about 12,000 BCE. At this time Britain was still attached to the European continent and was covered with deciduous woodland. The first inhabitants came overland from Europe, these were anatomically and behaviourally modern humans, notable sites from this period include Bouldnor Cliff. Agriculture had arrived in southern Britain by 4000 BCE, and with it a neolithic culture, some deforestation took place at that time, although it was during the Bronze Age, beginning in 2200 BCE, that this became more widespread and systematic. Hampshire has few monuments to show from early periods, although nearby Stonehenge was built in several phases at some time between 3100 BCE and 2200 BCE. It is maintained that by this period the people of Britain predominantly spoke a Celtic language, hillforts largely declined in importance in the second half of the second century BCE, with many being abandoned. Julius Caesar invaded southeastern England briefly in 55 and again in 54 BCE, notable sites from this period include Hengistbury Head, which was a major port. There is a Museum of the Iron Age in Andover, the Romans invaded Britain again in 43 CE, and Hampshire was incorporated into the Roman province of Britannia very quickly
9.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
10.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
11.
Napoleon III
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Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the only President of the French Second Republic and, as Napoleon III, the Emperor of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I and he was the first President of France to be elected by a direct popular vote. He remains the longest-serving French head of state since the French Revolution, during the first years of the Empire, Napoleons government imposed censorship and harsh repressive measures against his opponents. Some six thousand were imprisoned or sent to penal colonies until 1859, thousands more went into voluntary exile abroad, including Victor Hugo. From 1862 onwards, he relaxed government censorship, and his came to be known as the Liberal Empire. Many of his opponents returned to France and became members of the National Assembly, Napoleon III is best known today for his grand reconstruction of Paris, carried out by his prefect of the Seine, Baron Haussmann. He launched similar public works projects in Marseille, Lyon, Napoleon III modernized the French banking system, greatly expanded and consolidated the French railway system, and made the French merchant marine the second largest in the world. He promoted the building of the Suez Canal and established modern agriculture, Napoleon III negotiated the 1860 Cobden–Chevalier free trade agreement with Britain and similar agreements with Frances other European trading partners. Social reforms included giving French workers the right to strike and the right to organize, womens education greatly expanded, as did the list of required subjects in public schools. In foreign policy, Napoleon III aimed to reassert French influence in Europe and he was a supporter of popular sovereignty and of nationalism. In Europe, he allied with Britain and defeated Russia in the Crimean War and his regime assisted Italian unification and, in doing so, annexed Savoy and the County of Nice to France, at the same time, his forces defended the Papal States against annexation by Italy. Napoleon doubled the area of the French overseas empire in Asia, the Pacific, on the other hand, his armys intervention in Mexico which aimed to create a Second Mexican Empire under French protection ended in failure. Beginning in 1866, Napoleon had to face the power of Prussia. In July 1870, Napoleon entered the Franco-Prussian War without allies, the French army was rapidly defeated and Napoleon III was captured at the Battle of Sedan. The French Third Republic was proclaimed in Paris, and Napoleon went into exile in England, charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, later known as Louis Napoleon and then Napoleon III, was born in Paris on the night of 20–21 April 1808. His presumed father was Louis Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. His mother was Hortense de Beauharnais, the daughter by the first marriage of Napoleons wife Joséphine de Beauharnais, as empress, Joséphine proposed the marriage as a way to produce an heir for the Emperor, who agreed, as Joséphine was by then infertile. Louis married Hortense when he was twenty-four and she was nineteen and they had a difficult relationship, and only lived together for brief periods
12.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
13.
House of Bonaparte
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Napoleon turned the Grande Armée against every major European power and dominated continental Europe through a series of military victories during the Napoleonic Wars. He installed members of his family on the thrones of client states, the House of Bonaparte formed the Imperial House of France during the French Empire, together with some non-Bonaparte family members. The dynasty held power for around a decade until the Napoleonic Wars began to take their toll, between the years 1852 and 1870 there was a Second French Empire, when a member of the Bonaparte dynasty again ruled France, Napoleon III, the son of Louis Bonaparte. However, during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 the dynasty was ousted from the Imperial Throne. Since that time there has been a series of pretenders, supporters of the Bonaparte familys claim to the throne of France are known as Bonapartists. Current head Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon, has a Bourbon mother, the Bonaparte family were from minor Italian nobility who held most of their property in the hill town of San Miniato near Florence, Italy. The name derives from Italian, buona, good and parte, after settling in Florence the family enjoyed a relationship with the then ruling Medici family. Jacopo Buonaparte was a friend and advisor to Medici Pope Clement VII, jacopo was also a witness to and wrote an account of the sack of Rome, which is one of the most important historical documents recounting that event. Jacopos brother Benedetto Buonaparte maintained political neutrality, the family later separated into two branches, One stayed in San Miniato, and the other moved to Sarzana. Buonaparte-Sarzana, Nobili di Sarzana had been compelled to leave Florence due to the defeat of the Ghibellines, a member of the Sarzana branch and ancestor to Napoleon, Francesco Buonaparte came to Corsica in 16th century when the island was in Genoese possession. The Buonaparte tomb lies in the Church of San Francesco in San Miniato, the last member of the Italian branches was a canon named Gregorio Bonaparte, who died in 1803 leaving Napoleon as heir. Napoleon is the most prominent name associated with the Bonaparte family because he conquered much of the Western world during the part of the 19th century. He was elected as First Consul of France on 10 November 1799 with the help of his brother, Lucien Bonaparte and he was crowned Emperor of the French and ruled from 1804–1814,1815. Napoleons son Napoléon François Charles Joseph was created King of Rome and was later styled Napoléon II by loyalists of the dynasty, with his death, the family lost much of its remaining political appeal, though claimants continue to assert their right to the imperial title. A political movement for Corsican independence surfaced in the 1990s which included a Bonapartist restoration in its programme and he was a minor official in the local courts. Prince Napoléon Lucien Charles Murat, married Caroline Georgina Fraser, Prince Louis Napoléon Murat, married in Odessa, Eudoxia Mikhailovna Somova, had issue now extinct in male line. S. In 1804 Napoleon I changed the arms to Azure an imperial eagle or, the change applied to all members of his family except for his brother Lucien and his nephew, the son from Jeromes first marriage. According to a studies by G. Lucotte and his coauthors based on DNA research since 2011 and this haplogroup, rare in Europe, has its highest concentration in Ethiopia and in the Near East
14.
Roman Catholicism
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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church or the Universal Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.28 billion members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history, headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, the churchs doctrines are summarised in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Its central administration is located in Vatican City, enclaved within Rome, the Catholic Church is notable within Western Christianity for its sacred tradition and seven sacraments. It teaches that it is the one church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christs apostles. The Catholic Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it declares as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as such as mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders. Among the sacraments, the one is the Eucharist, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body, the Catholic Church practises closed communion, with only baptised members in a state of grace ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Queen of Heaven and is honoured in numerous Marian devotions. The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture, Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world, from the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines on sexuality, its refusal to ordain women and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in the letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name Catholic Church was used to distinguish it from other groups that call themselves the church. The use of the adjective Roman to describe the Church as governed especially by the Bishop of Rome became more widespread after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages. Catholic Church is the name used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, in parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both, additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services
15.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
16.
Grandee
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Grandee is an official aristocratic title conferred on some Spanish nobility, as well as Portuguese nobility and Brazilian nobility. Holders of this dignity enjoyed similar privileges to those of the peerage of France during the Ancien Régime, the term can refer to other people of a somewhat comparable, exalted position, roughly synonymous with magnate, formerly a rank of high nobility. By extension, the term can refer informally to any important person of status, particularly wealthy. The term is used in the United Kingdom to refer to influential long-standing members of the Conservative Party, Labour Party. Most Spanish noble titles are granted as títulos del Reino, many of which predate the modern Spanish monarchy, the Kings of Spain re-established in 1520 the ancient dignity of Grande to confer as an additional rank of honour. The dignity of Grandee began to be assumed by Spains leading noblemen in the Middle Ages to distinguish them as a Grand señor, from lesser ricoshombres, the conferral of grandeeships initially conveyed only ceremonial privileges, such as remaining covered or seated in the presence of royalty. Over time grandees received more rights, eg. freedom from taxation, immunity from arrest, save at the Kings command. These rights later became open to abuse with some Grandees renouncing their allegiance to the monarchy to wage war on the King, in the late 1470s, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I were the first to clamp down on grandee powers assumed by the medieval territorial nobles. In the 16th century, limitations on the number of grandees were introduced by King Charles I, all grandees traditionally have been addressed by the king as mi Primo, whereas ordinary nobles are formally styled as mi Pariente. The dignity of grandee was abolished by the Napoleonic King Joseph Bonaparte, nowadays, all grandees are deemed to be of the first class, and is an honorific dignity conferring neither power or legal privilege. A Grandeza de España is separate legal entity from a title of nobility, although grandezas are normally, since the 20th century invariably the King of Spain has conferred a Grandeza de España upon any newly created duke. A grandee of any noble rank is higher in precedence than a non-grandee, thus, a baron-grandee would outrank a non-grandee marquess, thus rendering the dignity of grandeza an hereditary rank of precedence rather than a title of nobility. Grandees and their consorts are entitled to the prefix of the Most Excellent Lord/Lady or His/Her Most Excellency. Both Portuguese and Brazilian nobility formerly used the term Grande, to designate a higher rank of noblemen, the Brazilian system, for instance, automatically deemed dukes, marquises and counts Grandes do Império. Viscounts and barons could also be ennobled with or without grandeza, viscounts ennobled with grandeeship displayed an counts coronet on their coat of arms, and Barons ennobled with grandeeship bore a coat of arms surmounted by a viscounts coronet. Brazilian grandeeships, like its nobility, were not hereditary titles, the abolition of the monarchies in Portugal and Brazil extinguished the formal use of such titles, although their use continues among some of the Portuguese aristocracy. During the English Civil War, senior officers from the landed gentry serving in the New Model Army, opposing the Levellers. The disagreements were aired publicly at the Putney Debates, which started in late October 1647, Grandes de España Fidalgo Flaith Grandee -1911 Encyclopedia
17.
Ardales
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Ardales is a town and municipality in the province of Málaga, part of the autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. The municipality is situated approximately 62.5 kilometres from Málaga, on the hill above the town is the historic church and higher still are the ruins of the Ardales castle. At the peak of the hill is the hermitage Ermita del Calvario, the infamous Caminito del Rey is nearby. Ardales, Andalusia, Spain Motion Views photographs of Ardales
18.
Scottish people
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The Scottish people, or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, who founded the Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century, and are thought to have been ethnolinguistically Celts. Later, the neighbouring Cumbrian Britons, who spoke a Celtic language, as well as Germanic-speaking Anglo-Saxons. In modern usage, Scottish people or Scots is used to refer to anyone whose linguistic, cultural, the Latin word Scotti, originally the word referred specifically to the Gaels, but came to describe all inhabitants of Scotland. Considered archaic or pejorative, the term Scotch has also used for Scottish people. John Kenneth Galbraith in his book The Scotch documents the descendants of 19th-century Scottish pioneers who settled in Southwestern Ontario and he states the book was meant to give a true picture of life in the community in the early decades of the 20th century. People of Scottish descent live in countries other than Scotland. Scottish emigrants took with them their Scottish languages and culture, large populations of Scottish people settled the new-world lands of North and South America, Australia and New Zealand. Canada has the highest level of Scottish descendants per capita in the world, Scotland has seen migration and settlement of many peoples at different periods in its history. The Gaels, the Picts and the Britons have their origin myths. The Venerable Bede tells of the Scotti coming from Spain via Ireland, Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxons, arrived beginning in the 7th century, while the Norse invaded and colonized parts of Scotland from the 8th century onwards. In the High Middle Ages, from the reign of David I of Scotland, there was emigration from France, England. Some famous Scottish family names, including bearing the names which became Bruce, Balliol, Murray. Today Scotland is one of the countries of the United Kingdom, culturally, these peoples are grouped according to language. Most of Scotland until the 13th century spoke Celtic languages and these included, at least initially, the Britons, as well as the Gaels and the Picts. Germanic peoples included the Angles of Northumbria, who settled in south-eastern Scotland in the region between the Firth of Forth to the north and the River Tweed to the south. They also occupied the south-west of Scotland up to and including the Plain of Kyle and their language, south-east of the Firth of Forth, then in Lothian and the Borders, a northern variety of Old English, also known as Early Scots, was spoken. The Northern Isles and some parts of Caithness were Norn-speaking, from 1500 on, Scotland was commonly divided by language into two groups of people, Gaelic-speaking Highlanders and the Inglis-speaking Lowlanders
19.
French Community of Belgium
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In Belgium, the French Community refers to one of the three constituent constitutional linguistic communities. The name French Community refers to Francophone Belgians, and not to French people residing in Belgium, as such, the French Community of Belgium is sometimes rendered in English as the French-speaking Community of Belgium for clarity. The Community has its own parliament, government, and administration and its official flag is identical to the Walloon Flag, which is also the official flag of the Walloons of Wallonia. Wallonia is home to 80% of all Francophone Belgians, with the remaining 20% residing in Brussels, the French Community of Belgium includes 4.5 million people, of whom,3.6 million live in the Walloon Region,900,000 living in the Brussels-Capital Region. French speakers who live in the Flemish Region are not included in the numbers for the French-speaking Community. Their number is unknown, given the absence of sub-nationality status, estimates of the French-speaking population of Flanders vary from 120,000, around 200,000, to around 300,000. The French Community of Belgium makes up about 41% of the population of Belgium, 58% of the population belongs to the Flemish Community. For years there have been hints that the Community wanted to demonstrate the link between Wallonia and Brussels, the two main territories where the French speakers are in the majority. The independent/private media uses both the alternative and the original designation, in September 2011, the Community adopted a new logo that incorporates its new name. The French Community of Belgium is governed by the Parliament of the French Community, which selects the executive branch, the Parliament of the French Community is the legislative assembly of the French Community of Belgium based in the Quartier Royal. These members are elected for a term of five years, the current President of the Parliament of the French Community is Philippe Courard. Note, Government coalition parties are denoted with bullets The Cabinet of the French Community of Belgium is the branch of the French Community. It consists of a number of ministers chosen by the parliament and is headed by a Minister-President, following the 25 May 2014 election, the PS and CDH parties formed a coalition. A few days later, Milquet was replaced by Marie-Martine Schyns, Schyns took over the Compulsory Education portfolio, which she was already in charge of during the previous legislature. Greoli took over Culture and Child Care from Milquet and also received the Sports portfolio from René Collin, Brussels-Capital Region Commission communautaire française Communities and regions of Belgium Wallonia French Community of Belgium, official website. Parliament of the French Community of Belgium, official website
20.
Spaniards
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Within Spain there are a number of nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the countrys complex history and diverse culture. There are several commonly spoken languages, most notably Basque. There are many populations outside Spain with ancestors who emigrated from Spain, the Roman Republic conquered Iberia during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. As a result of Roman colonization, the majority of languages, with the exception of Basque. The Germanic Vandals and Suebi, with part of the Iranian Alans under King Respendial conquered the peninsula in 409 AD. The Iberian Peninsula was conquered and brought under the rule of the Arab Umayyads in 711 and by the Berber North African dynasties the Almohads, in the early 16th century the Kingdom of Navarre was also conquered. In parallel, a wave of emigration began to the Americas began with over 16 million people emigrating to the Americas during the colonial period. In the post-colonial period, a further 3.5 million Spanish left for the Americas, particularly Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, as a result, Spanish-descendants in Latin America number in the hundreds of millions. Spain is home to one of the largest communities of Romani people, the Spanish Roma, which belong to the Iberian Kale subgroup, are a formerly-nomadic community, which spread across Western Asia, North Africa, and Europe, first reaching Spain in the 15th century. The population of Spain is became increasingly diverse due to recent immigration, the earliest modern humans inhabiting Spain are believed to have been Neolithic peoples who may have arrived in the Iberian Peninsula as early as 35, 000–40,000 years ago. In more recent times the Iberians are believed to have arrived or developed in the region between the 4th millennium BC and the 3rd millennium BC, initially settling along the Mediterranean coast, celts settled in Spain during the Iron Age. Some of those tribes in North-central Spain, which had contact with the Iberians, are called Celtiberians. In addition, a known as the Tartessians and later Turdetanians inhabited southwestern Spain. The seafaring Phoenicians, Greeks, and Carthaginians successively founded trading colonies along the Mediterranean coast over a period of several centuries, the Second Punic War between the Carthaginians and Romans was fought mainly in what is now Spain and Portugal. The Roman Republic conquered Iberia during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC transformed most of the region into a series of Latin-speaking provinces, hispania emerged as an important part of the Roman Empire and produced notable historical figures such as Trajan, Hadrian, Seneca and Quintilian. The Germanic Vandals and Suebi, with part of the Iranian Alans under King Respendial, the Suebi became the first Germanic kingdom to convert officially to Roman Catholicism in 447 AD. under king Rechiar. After two centuries of domination by the Visigothic Kingdom, the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by a Muslim force under Tariq Bin Ziyad in 711 and this army consisted mainly ethnic Berbers from the Ghomara tribe, which were reinforced by Arabs from Syria once the conquest was complete. Muslim Iberia became part of the Umayyad Caliphate and would be known as Al-Andalus, the Berbers of Al Andalus revolted as early as 740 AD, halting Arab expansion across the Pyrenees into France
21.
Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
22.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
23.
Consul
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Consul was the title of one of the chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently a somewhat significant title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other city states and also revived in modern states. The relating adjective is consular, from the consularis, in modern terminology, a consul is a type of diplomat. The American Heritage Dictionary defines consul as an appointed by a government to reside in a foreign country. Throughout most of southern France, a consul was an equivalent to the échevins of the north. The most prominent were those of Bordeaux and Toulouse, which came to be known as jurats and capitouls, the capitouls of Toulouse were granted transmittable nobility. In many other towns the first consul, was the equivalent of a mayor today, assisted by a variable number of secondary consuls. His main task was to levy and collect tax, the Dukes of Gaeta often used also the title of consul in its Greek form Hypatos. The city-state of Genoa, unlike ancient Rome, bestowed the title of consul on various state officials, among these were Genoese officials stationed in various Mediterranean ports, whose role included helping Genoese merchants and sailors in difficulties with the local authorities. This institution, with its name, was emulated by other powers and is reflected in the modern usage of the word. In reality, the first consul, Bonaparte, dominated his two colleagues and held power, soon making himself consul for life and eventually, in 1804. Chief magistrate, an office held for four months by one of the consuls. As noted above, Bologna already had consuls at some parts of its Medieval history, while many cities had a double-headed chief magistracy, often another title was used, such as Duumvir or native styles such as Meddix, but consul was used in some. It was not uncommon for an organization under Roman private law to copy the terminology of state, the founding statute, or contract, of such an organisation was called lex, law. The people elected each year were patricians, members of the upper class. org, see each present country
24.
Almanach de Gotha
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The Almanach de Gotha was a directory of Europes royalty and higher nobility, also including the major governmental, military and diplomatic corps, as well as statistical data by country. First published in 1763 by C. W and it was published from 1785 annually by Justus Perthes Publishing House in Gotha, until 1944 when the Soviets destroyed the Almanach de Gothas archives. In 1998, a London-based publisher acquired the rights for use of the title of Almanach de Gotha from Justus Perthes Verlag Gotha GmbH, Perthes regard the resultant volumes as new works, and not as a continuation of the editions which Perthes had published from 1785 to 1944. It also named the highest incumbent officers of state, members of the diplomatic corps, although always published in French, other almanacs in French and English were more widely sold internationally. The almanacs structure changed and its scope expanded over the years, the second portion, called the Annuaire diplomatique et statistique, provided demographic and governmental information by nation, similar to other almanacs. The first section always listed Europes sovereign houses, whether they ruled as emperor, king, grand duke, duke, in 1812, these entries began to be listed in groups. First were German sovereigns who held the rank of duke or prince elector. Listed next were Germanys reigning ducal and princely dynasties under the heading College of Princes, e. g. Hohenzollern, Isenburg, Leyen, Liechtenstein and they were followed by heads of non-German monarchies, i. e. Austria, Brazil, Great Britain, etc. Fourthly were listed non-reigning dukes and princes, whether mediatized or not, including Arenberg, Croy, Furstenberg alongside Batthyany, Jablonowski, Sulkowski, Porcia, in 1841 a third group was added to those of the sovereign dynasties and the non-reigning princely and ducal families. The almanac added a third section consisting exclusively of mediatized families of comital rank, in 1877, the mediatized comital families were moved from section III to section II A, where they joined the princely mediatized families. No other families whose highest title was count were admitted to any section of the almanac, moreover, other deposed European dynasties did not benefit vis-a-vis the almanac from a similar interpretation of their historical status. Even in the early 19th century the almanacs retention of deposed dynasties evoked objections, the elected Emperor Napoleon protested in writing to his foreign minister, Champagny, Monsieur de Champagny, this years Almanach de Gotha is badly done. First comes the Comte de Lille, followed by all the princes of the Confederation as if no change has made in the constitution of Germany. Summon the Minister of Gotha, who is to be made to understand that in the next Almanach all of this is to be changed and you are to insist that the article be transmitted to you prior to publication. In 1887 the Almanach began to include non-European dynasties in its first section, when Soviet troops entered Gotha in 1945, they systematically destroyed all archives of the Almanach de Gotha. In 1951 a different publisher, C. A, starke, began publication of a multi-volume German-language publication entitled the Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels. However, no single volume of the Fürstliche Häuser includes all the families included in the Hofkalender or Almanach de Gotha and it is necessary to use multiple volumes to trace the majority of European royal families. In 1989 the family of Justus Perthes re-established its right to the use of the name Almanach de Gotha, the family then sold these rights in 1995 to a new company, Almanach de Gotha Limited, formed in London
25.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
26.
First Carlist War
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The First Carlist War was a civil war in Spain from 1833 to 1839, fought between factions over the succession to the throne and the nature of the Spanish monarchy. It was fought between supporters of the regent, Maria Christina, acting for Isabella II of Spain, the Carlists supported return to an absolute monarchy. At the beginning of the 19th century, the situation in Spain was extremely problematic. During the Peninsula War, the Cortes met in Cádiz and elaborated the Spanish Constitution of 1812, at that point possibly the most modern and most liberal in the world. The 1805 Battle of Trafalgar had all but shattered the Spanish navy, with the Peninsular War leaving the Spanish society overwhelmed by continuous warfare and badly damaged by looting. While the Spanish Empire collapsed, the maritime trade trickled to the Americas and Philippines, the customary overseas revenue to the metropolis was at a historic low, the royal coffers were empty. Financing and recruitment to the military became a concern for the Spanish Crown, with the governments under King Ferdinand VII failing to provide new solutions. During the Trienio Liberal, the progressive liberals decided to resort to the money lenders to revert the economic meltdown Spain was facing. They turned to Paris, and particularly London, where liberals had fled on Ferdinand VIIs comeback. In London and Paris, the liberals ruling Spain engaged in negotiations with the financiers Nathan Rothschild, for more than a decade, the pending liberal debt became for Ferdinand VIIs negotiators a persistent sticking point with these financiers during talks for new loan requests. Against a backdrop of on-off bankruptcy and solvency issues, towards the end of his life, Ferdinand VII of Spain had no male descendant, but two daughters, Isabella and Luisa Fernanda. So he promulgated the above Pragmatic Sanction, to allow Isabella to become Queen after his death, without the above Pragmática Sanción, Carlos de Borbón, the kings brother, would have normally become king. He and his followers, such as Secretary of Justice Francisco Tadeo Calomarde, but the agonizing Ferdinand kept his decision and when he died on 29 September 1833, Isabella became the legitimate queen. As she was only a child, a regent was needed, a strong absolutist party did not want to lose its position. Cea Bermudezs centrist government inaugurated a period of opening and return to Spain of many exiles in London and Paris, however, with state coffers yet again empty, the impending war, and the Trienio Liberal loan issue with the Rothschilds still not settled, Cea Bermudezs government fell. Brother against brother – father against son – best friend turned to bitterest foe – priests against their flocks – kindred against kindred, the autonomy of Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia had been abolished in the 18th century by the Nueva Planta Decrees that created a centralised Spanish state. The resentment against the intervention of Madrid and the loss of autonomy was considerably strong. Meanwhile, the Spanish courtiers wanted to suppress the Basque fueros, the newly appointed Spanish courtiers supported some of the great powers against the Basques at least since the abolition of the Jesuit order and the Godoy regime
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France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
28.
Royal York Crescent
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Royal York Crescent is a major residential street in Clifton, Bristol. It overlooks much of the docks, and much of the city can be seen from it and it also joins Clifton Village at one end. It is one of the most expensive streets in the city, nos. 1–46 form a crescent which is a Grade II* listed building. Their construction started in 1791 but was not completed until 1820, nos. 47–50, attached to the eastern end of the main crescent, are Grade II listed. The raised pavement built over vaulted cellars in front of the entire terrace, Royal York Crescent was reputed to be the longest terrace in Europe. Nos. 1–3 were used until 1855 as a school for girls, run by Mrs Rogers. In 1837 the school was attended by Eugénie de Montijo, the future Empress of France, and her sister Paca, the crescent is part of the Clifton conservation area. About Bristol Suburbs, Clifton, Royal York Crescent
29.
Clifton, Bristol
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Clifton is both a suburb of Bristol, England, and the name of one of the citys thirty-five council wards. The Clifton ward also includes the areas of Cliftonwood and Hotwells, other parts of the suburb lie within the ward of Clifton East. Notable places in Clifton include Clifton Suspension Bridge, Clifton Cathedral, Clifton College, The Clifton Club, Bristol Zoo, Goldney Hall, Clifton is an inner suburb of the English port city of Bristol. Clifton was recorded in the Domesday book as Clistone, the name of the village denoting a hillside settlement, until 1898 Clifton St Andrew was a separate civil parish within the Municipal Borough of Bristol. Various sub-districts of Clifton exist, including Whiteladies Road, an important shopping district to the east, and Clifton Village and this area corresponds roughly with the city wards of Clifton and Clifton East, although the former also includes the river side suburb of Hotwells. Clifton is one of the oldest and most affluent areas of the city, much of it having been built with profits from tobacco, grand houses that required many servants were built in the area. Although some were detached or semi-detached properties, the bulk were built as terraces, one famous terrace is the majestic Royal York Crescent, visible from the Avon Gorge below and looking across the Bristol docks. Berkeley Square which was built around 1790 is an example of Georgian architecture, secluded squares include the triangular Canynge Square. The Whiteladies Picture House on Whiteladies Road was converted into offices, Clifton Lido was built in 1850 but closed to the public in 1990, it was redeveloped and opened again to the public in November 2008. Parts of Clifton itself are now in the process of being pedestrianised, Clifton ward, which includes Hotwells, has a population of 10,452 in 5,007 households, according to adjusted figures for the 2001 census. On the same basis, Clifton East ward has a population of 9,538 in 4,741 households, in Clifton ward, 27% of the adult population is in full-time education. Immediately north of Clifton is Durdham Down, a flat and open area. On the western edge of Clifton is Clifton Down, a less open/more wooded area, Clifton is served by Clifton Down railway station on the local Severn Beach railway line, and by frequent bus services from central Bristol. It has road links to the city centre and outer western suburbs, between 1893 and 1934, it was connected to Hotwells by the Clifton Rocks Railway. G. Grace - cricketer and surgeon Francis Greenway - renowned Australian architect and designer of The Clifton Club John Grimshaw - founder of Sustrans, the song Clifton in the Rain by Al Stewart appears on his first album Bed-Sitter Images. The song 32 West Mall, which appeared on the 1971 album Stackridge was named after the flat that the band shared as their headquarters at 32 West Mall in 1970. The 1978 childrens paranormal drama The Clifton House Mystery – produced by HTV, was set in the Clifton area, the plot revolved around a family moving into an old house, and subsequently finding a skeleton of a long-dead person in a hidden room. After some unexplained incidents, they convinced that a ghost connected in some way with the Bristol Riots of 1831 is haunting the house
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India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
31.
Stendhal
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Marie-Henri Beyle, better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century French writer. Born in Grenoble, Isère, he was a child, disliking his unimaginative father and mourning his mother, whom he passionately loved. He spent the happiest years of his life at the Beyle country house in Claix near Grenoble and his closest friend was his younger sister, Pauline, with whom he maintained a steady correspondence throughout the first decade of the 19th century. The military and theatrical worlds of the First French Empire were a revelation to Beyle and he was named an auditor with the Conseil dÉtat on 3 August 1810, and thereafter took part in the French administration and in the Napoleonic wars in Italy. He travelled extensively in Germany and was part of Napoleons army in the 1812 invasion of Russia, Stendhal witnessed the burning of Moscow from just outside the city. Stendhal was appointed Commissioner of War Supplies and sent to Smolensk to prepare provisions for the returning army and he crossed the Berezina River by finding a usable ford rather than the overwhelmed pontoon bridge, which probably saved his life and those of his companions. Stendhal arrived in Paris in 1813, largely unaware of the fiasco that the retreat had become. Stendhal became known, during the Russian campaign, for keeping his wits about him and he also maintained his daily routine, shaving each day during the retreat from Moscow. After the 1814 Treaty of Fontainebleau, he left for Italy and he formed a particular attachment to Italy, where he spent much of the remainder of his career, serving as French consul at Trieste and Civitavecchia. His novel The Charterhouse of Parma, written in 52 days, is set in Italy, Stendhal was a dandy and wit about town in Paris, as well as an inveterate womaniser who was obsessed with his sexual conquests. His genuine empathy towards women is evident in his books, Simone de Beauvoir spoke highly of him in The Second Sex. One of his works is On Love, a rational analysis of romantic passion that was based on his unrequited love for Mathilde, Countess Dembowska. This fusion of, and tension between, clear-headed analysis and romantic feeling is typical of Stendhals great novels, he could be considered a Romantic realist, Stendhal suffered miserable physical disabilities in his final years as he continued to produce some of his most famous work. Modern medicine has shown that his problems were more attributable to his treatment than to his syphilis. Stendhal died on 23 March 1842, a few hours after collapsing with a seizure on the streets of Paris and he is interred in the Cimetière de Montmartre. Before settling on the pen name Stendhal, he published under pen names, including Louis Alexandre Bombet. The only book that Stendhal published under his own name was The History of Painting, from the publication of Rome, Naples, Florence onwards, he published his works under the pseudonym M. de Stendhal, officier de cavalerie. He borrowed this nom de plume from the German city of Stendal, birthplace of Johann Joachim Winckelmann, in 1807 Stendhal stayed near Stendal, where he fell in love with a woman named Wilhelmine, whom he called Minette, and for whose sake he remained in the city
32.
Bonapartiste
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A Bonapartiste was a person who either actively participated in, or advocated conservative, monarchist and imperial political faction in nineteenth century France. The Bonapartistes desired an Empire under the House of Bonaparte, the Corsican family of Napoleon Bonaparte, Bonapartism had its followers, from 1815 forward, among those who never accepted the defeat of Napoleon and France at Waterloo or the Congress of Vienna. With Napoleon Is death in exile on Saint Helena in 1821, after the death of Napoleons son, the Duke of Reichstadt, Bonapartist hopes were distributed among several different members of the family. The disturbances of 1848 encouraged this group, Bonapartists played an essential role in the election of Napoleon Is nephew, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, as President of the Second Republic. They gave him the political support when he discarded the constitution in 1852. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte assumed the title Napoleon III, thereby acknowledging the brief reign of Napoleons son Napoleon II in 1815 at the end of the Hundred Days, in 1870, Napoleon III led France to a disastrous defeat by Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War, and he subsequently abdicated. Afterwards, Bonapartists continued to agitate for another member of the family to be placed on the throne of France, the three monarchist factions combined were likely stronger than the Republicans of the era, but they could never unite on supporting one candidate as monarch. Monarchist fervor eventually waned and the French Republic became accepted as part of French life, gradually Bonapartism became a kind of civic faith of a few romantics rather than any sort of practical political philosophy. When Eugene Bonaparte, the son of Napoleon III, was killed in action while serving as a British Army officer in Zululand in 1879. The current head of the family is Prince Napoleon, great-great-grandson of Napoleon Is brother Jérôme Bonaparte by his second marriage and he has a son Jean and a brother, Jérôme Bonaparte, unmarried. There are no remaining descendants in the line from any other of Napoleons brothers. No serious political movement exists with the goal of restoring any of these men to the throne of France. At that time, he had no sons and it seemed unlikely he would have any. His other brothers, Lucien and Jerome, and their descendants, were omitted from the succession because they had opposed the Emperor or because he disapproved of their marriages. Napoleon had one son with Marie Louise, in whose favour he abdicated after his defeat in 1815. Although the Bonapartes were now deposed and the old Bourbon monarchy was restored, however, he was sickly, virtually imprisoned in Austria, and died young and unmarried, so there were no further direct descendants of Napoleon I. When the Bonaparte Empire was restored to power in France in 1852, in 1852, Napoleon III, having restored the Bonapartes to power in France, enacted a new decree on the succession. The claim first went to his own male legitimate descendants in the male line, the only remaining Bonapartist claimants since 1879 have been the descendants of Jerome and Catherine of Württemberg in the male line
33.
Mistress (lover)
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A mistress is a relatively long-term female lover and companion who is not married to her partner, especially when her partner is married. Generally, the relationship is stable and at least semi-permanent, but the couple does not live together openly and the relationship is usually, but not always, secret. There is often also the implication that the mistress is kept – i. e. that her lover is paying for some of her living expenses, the term mistress was originally used as a neutral feminine counterpart to mister or master. Historically the term has denoted a kept woman, who was maintained in a lifestyle by a wealthy man so that she would be available for his sexual pleasure. Such a woman could move between the roles of a mistress and a courtesan depending on her situation and environment, historically, a man kept a mistress. As the term implies, he was responsible for her debts and provided for her in much the way as he did his wife. In more recent times, it is likely that the mistress has a job of her own. There is usually an emotional and possibly social relationship between a man and his mistress, whereas the relationship to a prostitute is predominantly sexual. The keeping of a mistress in Europe was not confined to royalty and nobility, any man who could afford a mistress could have one, regardless of social position. A wealthy merchant or a noble might have a kept woman. Being a mistress was typically an occupation for a woman who, if she were fortunate. The ballad The Three Ravens extolls the loyal mistress of a slain knight and it is noteworthy that the ballad-maker assigned this role to the knights mistress rather than to his wife. In the courts of Europe, particularly Versailles and Whitehall in the 17th and 18th centuries, a king might have numerous mistresses, but have a single favourite mistress or official mistress, as with Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour. The mistresses of both Louis XV and Charles II were often considered to exert influence over their lovers. Other than wealthy merchants and kings, Alexander VI is but one example of a Pope who kept mistresses, while the extremely wealthy might keep a mistress for life, such was not the case for most kept women. Occasionally the mistress is in a position both financially and socially to her lover. In literature, D. H. Lawrences work Lady Chatterleys Lover portrays a situation where a woman becomes the mistress of her husbands gamekeeper, until recently, a womans taking a socially inferior lover was considered much more shocking than the reverse situation. As divorce became more acceptable, it was easier for men to divorce their wives and marry the women who, in earlier years
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Media related to Eugénie de Montijo at Wikimedia Commons