1.
Glossary of vexillology
–
Flag terminology is the nomenclature, or system of terms, used in vexillology, the study of flags, to describe precisely the parts, patterns, and other attributes of flags and their display. Badge A coat of arms or simple heraldic symbol, canton Any quarter of a flag, but commonly means the upper hoist quarter, such as the field of stars in the flag of the United States or the Union Jack in the Australian Flag. Charge A figure or symbol appearing in the field of a flag, emblem A device often used as a charge on a flag. It may be heraldic in origin or modern, for example the maple leaf on the Canadian Flag, field The background of a flag, the color behind the charges. Fimbriation A narrow edging or border, often in white or gold, for example the white and gold lines of the South African Flag. Fly The half or edge of a flag farthest away from the flagpole and this term also sometimes refers to the horizontal length of a flag. Hoist The half or edge of a flag nearest to the flagpole and this term also sometimes refers to the vertical width of a flag. Length The span of a flag along the side at right angles to the flagpole, width The span of a flag down the side parallel to the flagpole. Flags often inherit traits seen in traditional European heraldry designs and as a result patterns often share names, banderole or bannerol A small flag or streamer carried on the lance of a knight, or a long narrow flag flying from the mast-head of a ship. Banner Generically, a synonym for a flag of any kind, in heraldry, a flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms, but usually in a square or rectangular shape, also known as a banner of arms. Burgee A distinguishing flag of a recreational boating organisation, Civil ensign, merchant flag or merchant ensign A version of the national flag flown by civil ships to denote nationality. Civil flag A version of the flag flown by civilians on non-government installations or craft. Colour or color The flag of a military unit, courtesy flag or courtesy ensign A flag flown by a visiting ship in foreign waters as a token of respect. Ensign The flag of a ship or military unit, may also be used generically as a synonym for a flag of any kind. Fanion A small flag used by the French military, gonfalon, gonfanon or gonfalone A type of heraldic flag suspended from a crossbar. Guidon A small flag borne by a military unit, in Scots heraldry, a smaller version of the Standard. Pennon or pennant A flag larger at the hoist than at the fly, pipe banner A decorative flag for the Scottish Highland bagpipes. Prayer flag A type of flag found strung along mountain ridges and peaks in the Himalayas, rank flag or distinguishing flag The flag flown by a superior naval officer on his flagship or headquarters
Glossary of vexillology
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Contents
2.
National flag
–
A national flag is a flag that symbolizes a country. The flag is flown by the government, but usually can also be flown by citizens of the country, historically, flags originate as military standards, used as field signs. The practice of flying flags indicating the country of origin outside of the context of warfare became common with the flag, introduced during the age of sail. Most countries of Europe adopted a flag in the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The specifications of the flag of Denmark were codified in 1748, the flag of Switzerland was introduced in 1889, also based on medieval war flags. The Netherlands introduced two national flags in 1813, the Ottoman flag was adopted in 1844. Other non-European powers followed the trend in the late 19th century, the flag of Japan being introduced in 1870, the Flag of the United States is not defined in the constitution but rather in a separate Flag Resolution passed in 1777. Minor design changes of national flags are passed on a legislative or executive level. A change in national flag is due to a change of regime. In such cases, the origins of the national flag. In such cases national flags acquire the status of a political symbol, the flag of Germany, for instance, was a tricolour of black-white-red under the German Empire, inherited from the North German Confederation. The Weimar Republic that followed adopted a black-red-gold tricolour, nazi Germany went back to black-white-red in 1933, and black-red-gold was reinstituted by the two successor states, West Germany and East Germany following World War II. Similarly the flag of Libya introduced with the creation of the Kingdom of Libya in 1951 was abandoned in 1969 with the coup led by Muammar Gaddafi. It was used again by National Transitional Council and by anti-Gaddafi forces during the Libyan Civil War in 2011 and officially adopted by the Libyan interim Constitutional Declaration. There are three types of national flag for use on land, and three for use at sea, though many countries use identical designs for several of these types of flag. On land, there is a distinction between civil flags, state flags, and war or military flags, state flags are those used officially by government agencies, whereas civil flags may be flown by anyone regardless of whether they are linked to government. War flags are used by organisations such as Armies, Marine Corps. In practice, many countries have identical flags for these three purposes, national flag is used as a vexillological term to refer to such a three-purpose flag
National flag
National flag
–
The world's third tallest
flagpole flying a 270 kg (595 lb)
Flag of North Korea. It is 160 m (525 ft) in height, over
Kijŏng-dong ("Peace village") near
Panmunjom, the border of
North Korea and
South Korea.
National flag
–
Distribution of colours in national flags
3.
Civil ensign
–
Civil ensign is the ensign used by civilian vessels to denote nationality. It can be the same or different from the state ensign and its also known as the merchant ensign or merchant flag. Some countries have civil ensigns for yachts, and even for specific yacht clubs. Most countries have one national flag and ensign for all purposes. In other countries, a distinction is made between the flag and the civil, state and naval ensigns. The civil ensigns that are different from the flag can be grouped into a number of categories. Several countries use red flags with, in most cases, either the national flag or the Union Flag in the canton. British overseas territories fly the plain Red Ensign or a Red Ensign with the colonial arms in the fly. Saudi Arabia puts its national flag in the canton of an otherwise-green flag, Ghana stopped using its Red Ensign in 2003 with the adoption of a new merchant shipping act, which made the Ghanaian flag the proper national colors for Ghana ships. Similarly, Sri Lanka stopped using its Red Ensign in 1969, several countries have civil ensigns that are very different from the national flag, for instance Malta and Luxembourg. Well-known examples are the Italian civil ensign showing the shield with the arms of the sea republics or the Polish civil ensign with the arms of Poland, most of these emblems were added to distinguish the ensign from similar flags of other countries or from other signal flags. In several countries there are two versions of the flag, a simpler one and a more elaborate one with the national arms. The simpler one is used as ensign, whereas the version with the arms is mainly used by the government. In Spain and Argentina the flag without the arms is only a variant for civil use, in El Salvador, the civil ensign also differs from the national flag in the proportions. France is a case, the overall proportion is the same. Civil and merchant ensigns Civil air ensign
Civil ensign
–
United Kingdom
4.
State ensign
–
Ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern of the ship, the naval ensign, used on warships, may be different from the civil ensign or the yacht ensign. Large versions of naval ensigns called battle ensigns are used when a warship goes into battle, the ensign differs from the jack which is flown from a jackstaff at the bow of a vessel. In its widest sense, an ensign is just a flag or other standard, the European military rank of ensign, once responsible for bearing a units standard derives from it. In contrast, the Arab rank of ensign, liwa, derives from the command of a unit or units with an ensign, not the carrier of such a units ensign, and is a general officer. In Arab armies, ensign is a title equivalent to a Western brigade. In nautical use, the ensign is flown on a ship or boat to indicate its appartenance, while this includes its nationality, it may well indicate more information rather than being the national flag itself. This is particularly common for commonwealth and European countries, ensigns are usually at the stern flagstaff when in port, and may be shifted to a gaff or mast amidships when the ship is under way, becoming known as a steaming ensign. Vexillologists distinguish three varieties of a national flag used as an ensign, A civil ensign is worn by merchant. In some countries the yacht ensign, used on boats or ships instead of merchant vessels. A state ensign or government ensign is worn by government vessels, a naval ensign is used by a countrys navy. Such ensigns are strictly regulated and indicate if the vessel is a warship, a merchant ship, several Commonwealth countries national flags had their origin in the ensigns of their original colonising power, the United Kingdom. Most notable of these flags are those of Australia, New Zealand. It is also likely that the original design from which the flag of the United States developed was strongly influenced by the British Red Ensign or the flag of the East India Company. With the creation of independent air forces and the growth in aviation in the first half of the 20th century. These may be divided into air force ensigns and civil air ensigns, in heraldry, an ensign is the ornament or sign, such as the crown, coronet, or mitre, borne above the charge or arms. Distinguishing mark Maritime flag Znamierowski, Alfred, the world encyclopedia of flags, The definitive guide to international flags, banners, standards and ensigns
State ensign
–
National civil ensign of New Zealand flown from the stern of
Hikitia
State ensign
State ensign
5.
Naval ensign
–
Naval ensign is the ensign used by Navy vessels to denote nationality. It can be the same or different from the civil ensign and its also known as the war ensign. A large version of the naval ensign which is flown on a warships mast just before going into battle is called a battle ensign, the ensign differs from the jack which is flown from a jackstaff at the bow of a vessel. Most countries have one national flag and ensign for all purposes. In other countries, a distinction is made between the flag and the civil, state and naval ensigns. Some naval ensign differ in shape from the flag, such as the Nordic naval ensigns which have tongues. Naval ensigns that are different from the ensign and the national flag
Naval ensign
–
National civil ensign of New Zealand flown from the stern of
Hikitia
Naval ensign
Naval ensign
6.
Dutch language
–
It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after English and German. Dutch is one of the closest relatives of both German and English and is said to be roughly in between them, Dutch vocabulary is mostly Germanic and incorporates more Romance loans than German but far fewer than English. In both Belgium and the Netherlands, the official name for Dutch is Nederlands, and its dialects have their own names, e. g. Hollands, West-Vlaams. The use of the word Vlaams to describe Standard Dutch for the variations prevalent in Flanders and used there, however, is common in the Netherlands, the Dutch language has been known under a variety of names. It derived from the Old Germanic word theudisk, one of the first names used for the non-Romance languages of Western Europe. It literarily means the language of the people, that is. The term was used as opposed to Latin, the language of writing. In the first text in which it is found, dating from 784, later, theudisca appeared also in the Oaths of Strasbourg to refer to the Germanic portion of the oath. This led inevitably to confusion since similar terms referred to different languages, owing to Dutch commercial and colonial rivalry in the 16th and 17th centuries, the English term came to refer exclusively to the Dutch. A notable exception is Pennsylvania Dutch, which is a West Central German variety called Deitsch by its speakers, Jersey Dutch, on the other hand, as spoken until the 1950s in New Jersey, is a Dutch-based creole. In Dutch itself, Diets went out of common use - although Platdiets is still used for the transitional Limburgish-Ripuarian Low Dietsch dialects in northeast Belgium, Nederlands, the official Dutch word for Dutch, did not become firmly established until the 19th century. This designation had been in use as far back as the end of the 15th century, one of them was it reflected a distinction with Hoogduits, High Dutch, meaning the language spoken in Germany. The Hoog was later dropped, and thus, Duits narrowed down in meaning to refer to the German language. g, in English, too, Netherlandic is regarded as a more accurate term for the Dutch language, but is hardly ever used. Old Dutch branched off more or less around the same time Old English, Old High German, Old Frisian and Old Saxon did. During that period, it forced Old Frisian back from the western coast to the north of the Low Countries, on the other hand, Dutch has been replaced in adjacent lands in nowadays France and Germany. The division in Old, Middle and Modern Dutch is mostly conventional, one of the few moments linguists can detect somewhat of a revolution is when the Dutch standard language emerged and quickly established itself. This is assumed to have taken place in approximately the mid-first millennium BCE in the pre-Roman Northern European Iron Age, the Germanic languages are traditionally divided into three groups, East, West, and North Germanic. They remained mutually intelligible throughout the Migration Period, Dutch is part of the West Germanic group, which also includes English, Scots, Frisian, Low German and High German
Dutch language
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The Utrecht baptismal vow Forsachistu diobolae...
Dutch language
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Distribution of the Dutch language and its dialects in
Western Europe
Dutch language
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Second edition of this column decorated with a title of
Charles V 's portrait, with archaic Dutch inscriptions
Dutch language
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Dutch language street sign in the Netherlands
7.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
French language
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The
"arrêt" signs (French for "stop") are used in
Canada while the international stop, which is also a valid French word, is used in France as well as other French-speaking countries and regions.
French language
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Regions where French is the main language
French language
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Town sign in
Standard Arabic and French at the entrance of
Rechmaya in
Lebanon.
French language
–
An obsolete 100
Lebanese pound note with the French language inscriptions "Banque du Liban" and "Cent livres".
8.
German language
–
German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
German language
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Old Frisian (Alt-Friesisch)
German language
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The widespread popularity of the
Bible translated into German by
Martin Luther helped establish modern German
German language
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Examples of German language in
Namibian everyday life
German language
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German-language newspapers in the U.S. in 1922
9.
Tricolour (flag)
–
A tricolour or tricolor is a type of flag or banner design with a triband design which originated in the 16th century as a symbol of republicanism, liberty or indeed revolution. One of the most famous tricolour, known as Le Tricolore, is the flag of France adopted in the French Revolution. The green-white-red tricolour remained a symbol of republicanism throughout the 19th century and was adopted as national flag by a number of following the Revolutions of 1848. It was also adopted by the Kingdom of Sardinia and this flag was a symbol of opposition against the German Kleinstaaterei and the desire for German Unification. It was at first illegal in the German Confederation, but was adopted as the flag at the Frankfurt Parliament of 1848/9. The flag of Belgium was introduced in a context, in 1831. The first national flag of the New World inspired by this symbolism was the flag of Mexico, the Pan-Arab colors adopted in Arab nationalism 1916 are a comparable concept, even though they combine four, not three, colours. The Indian independence movement in 1931 also adopted a tricolour in the symbolism of national unification and republican self-rule. In 1999, a red, green, and blue tricolour was proposed as the Flag of Mars, the design symbolizes liberty, and also the terraforming of Mars by humanity from a red planet to a green one, and eventually an Earth-like blue one. List of countries by style of national flags Fin flash on military aircraft, sometimes in a tricolor form Triband
Tricolour (flag)
–
The White flag of the
monarchy transformed into the Tricolore as a result of the
July Revolution, painting by
Léon Cogniet (1830).
Tricolour (flag)
–
Indian tricolour, Tiranga with the
Emblem of India (above the flag) and
Ashoka Chakra (centre of the flag).
Tricolour (flag)
–
Dutch tricolour, the oldest tricolour still in use
Tricolour (flag)
–
Italian tricolour, the "Tricolore"
10.
Black
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Black is the darkest color resulting from the absence or complete absorption of light. Like white and grey, it is a color, literally a color without hue. It is one of the four colors in the CMYK color model, along with cyan, yellow. Black is often used to represent darkness, it is the symbolic opposite of white, Black was one of the first colors used by artists in neolithic cave paintings. In the 14th century, it began to be worn by royalty and it became the color worn by English romantic poets, businessmen and statesmen in the 19th century, and a high fashion color in the 20th century. In the Roman Empire, it became the color of mourning, according to surveys in Europe and North America, it is the color most commonly associated with mourning, the end, secrets, magic, force, violence, evil, and elegance. More distant cognates include Latin flagrare, and Ancient Greek phlegein, the Ancient Greeks sometimes used the same word to name different colors, if they had the same intensity. Kuanos could mean both dark blue and black, the Ancient Romans had two words for black, ater was a flat, dull black, while niger was a brilliant, saturated black. Ater has vanished from the vocabulary, but niger was the source of the country name Nigeria the English word Negro, old High German also had two words for black, swartz for dull black and blach for a luminous black. These are parallelled in Middle English by the terms swart for dull black, swart still survives as the word swarthy, while blaek became the modern English black. In heraldry, the used for the black color is sable, named for the black fur of the sable. Black was one of the first colors used in art, the Lascaux Cave in France contains drawings of bulls and other animals drawn by paleolithic artists between 18,000 and 17,000 years ago. They began by using charcoal, and then made more vivid black pigments by burning bones or grinding a powder of manganese oxide, for the ancient Egyptians, black had positive associations, being the color of fertility and the rich black soil flooded by the Nile. It was the color of Anubis, the god of the underworld, who took the form of a black jackal, and offered protection against evil to the dead. For the ancient Greeks, black was also the color of the underworld, separated from the world of the living by the river Acheron and those who had committed the worst sins were sent to Tartarus, the deepest and darkest level. In the center was the palace of Hades, the king of the underworld, Black was one of the most important colors used by ancient Greek artists. In the 6th century BC, they began making pottery and later red figure pottery. In black-figure pottery, the artist would paint figures with a clay slip on a red clay pot
Black
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Outer space seen from Mars (Image taken by
NASA 's
MER Spirit rover)
Black
–
Neolithic paintings of bulls in the
Lascaux Cave, more than 17,000 years old
Black
–
Statue of Anubis, guardian of the underworld, from the tomb of
Tutankhamun.
Black
–
Greek
Black-figure pottery.
Ajax and
Achilles playing a game, about 540-530 BC. (Vatican Museums).
11.
Yellow
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Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of visible light. It is evoked by light with a predominant wavelength of roughly 570–590 nm, in traditional color theory, used in painting, and in the subtractive color system, used in color printing, yellow is a primary color. In the RGB color model, used to create colors on television and computer screens, yellow is made by combining red, the word yellow comes from the Old English geolu, geolwe, meaning yellow, yellowish, derived from the Proto-Germanic word gelwaz yellow. It has the same Indo-European base, gʰel-, as the gold and yell. In Iran it has connotations of pallor/sickness, but also wisdom and it plays an important role in Asian culture, particularly in China, where it is seen as the color of happiness, glory, wisdom, harmony, and culture. The word yellow comes from the Old English geolu, geolwe, meaning yellow, yellowish and it has the same Indo-European base, gʰel-, as the words gold and yell, gʰel- means both bright and gleaming, and to cry out. The English term is related to other Germanic words for yellow, namely Scots yella, East Frisian jeel, West Frisian giel, Dutch geel, German gelb, and Swedish and Norwegian gul. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the oldest known use of word in English is from The Epinal Glossary in 700. Yellow, in the form of yellow pigment made from clay, was one of the first colors used in prehistoric cave art. The cave of Lascaux has an image of a horse colored with yellow estimated to be 17,300 years old, in Ancient Egypt, yellow was associated with gold, which was considered to be imperishable, eternal and indestructible. The skin and bones of the gods were believed to be made of gold, the Egyptians used yellow extensively in tomb paintings, they usually used either yellow ochre or the brilliant orpiment, though it was made of arsenic and was highly toxic. A small paintbox with orpiment pigment was found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun, men were always shown with brown faces, women with yellow ochre or gold faces. The ancient Romans used yellow in their paintings to represent gold and it is found frequently in the murals of Pompeii. During the Post-Classical period, yellow became firmly established as the color of Judas Iscariot, from this connection, yellow also took on associations with envy, jealousy and duplicity. The tradition started in the Renaissance of marking non-Christian outsiders, such as Jews, in 16th century Spain, those accused of heresy and who refused to renounce their views were compelled to come before the Spanish Inquisition dressed in a yellow cape. The color yellow has been associated with moneylenders and finance. The National Pawnbrokers Associations logo depicts three golden spheres hanging from a bar, referencing the three bags of gold that the saint of pawnbroking, St. Nicholas, holds in his hands. Additionally, the symbol of three golden orbs is found in the coat of arms of the House of Medici, a fifteenth century Italian dynasty of bankers and lenders
Yellow
–
Yellow is the color of
gold,
butter, and ripe
lemons.
Yellow
–
Yellow
Yellow
–
Image of a horse colored with
yellow ochre. from
Lascaux cave.
Yellow
–
Paintings in the Tomb of Nakht in
ancient Egypt (15th century BC).
12.
Red
–
Red is the color at the longer-wavelengths end of the spectrum of visible light next to orange, at the opposite end from violet. Red color has a predominant light wavelength of roughly 620–740 nanometers, light with a longer wavelength than red but shorter than terahertz radiation and microwave is called infrared. Red is one of the secondary colors, resulting from the combination of yellow. Traditionally, it was viewed as a primary colour, along with yellow and blue, in the RYB color space and traditional color wheel formerly used by painters. Reds can vary in shade from light pink to very dark maroon or burgundy. Red is the color of cyan. In nature, the red color of blood comes from hemoglobin, the red color of the Grand Canyon and other geological features is caused by hematite or red ochre, both forms of iron oxide. It also causes the red color of the planet Mars, the color of autumn leaves is caused by pigments called anthocyanins, which are produced towards the end of summer, when the green chlorophyll is no longer produced. One to two percent of the population has red hair, the color is produced by high levels of the reddish pigment pheomelanin. Since red is the color of blood, it has historically been associated with sacrifice, danger, modern surveys in the United States and Europe show red is also the color most commonly associated with heat, activity, passion, sexuality, anger, love and joy. In China, India and many other Asian countries it is the color of symbolizing happiness, since the 19th century, red has also been associated with socialism and communism. The word red is derived from the Old English rēad, the word can be further traced to the Proto-Germanic rauthaz and the Proto-Indo European root rewdʰ-. In Sanskrit, the word means red or blood. In the Akkadian language of Ancient Mesopotamia and in the modern Inuit language of Inuit, the words for colored in Latin and Spanish both also mean red. In Portuguese the word for red is vermelho, which comes from Latin vermiculus, in the Russian language, the word for red, Кра́сный, comes from the same old Slavic root as the words for beautiful—красивый and excellent—прекрасный. Thus Red Square in Moscow, named long before the Russian Revolution, in heraldry, the word gules is used for red. Red can vary in hue from orange-red to violet-red, and for each hue there is a variety of shades and tints. Red hematite powder was found scattered around the remains at a grave site in a Zhoukoudian cave complex near Beijing
Red
–
Pure, or solid red, the color of most ripe
strawberries.
Red
–
Red
Red
–
Scarlet is one quarter of the way between the colors red and orange. It is the color worn by a
cardinal of the
Roman Catholic Church..
Red
–
The
cardinal takes its name from the color worn by Roman Catholic
cardinals.
13.
Duchy of Brabant
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The Duchy of Brabant was a State of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1183. Today all the former territories, apart from exclaves are in Belgium except for the Dutch province of North Brabant. The Duchy of Brabant was historically divided into four parts, each with its own capital, the four capitals were Leuven, Brussels, Antwerp and s-Hertogenbosch. Before s-Hertogenbosch was founded, Tienen was the fourth capital and its most important cities were Brussels, Antwerp, Leuven, Breda, s-Hertogenbosch, Lier and Mechelen. The modern flag of Belgium takes its colors from Brabants coat of arms, probably first used by Count Lambert I of Louvain, the lion is documented in a 1306 towns seal of Kerpen, together with the red lion of Limburg. Up to the present, the Brabant lion features as the charge on the coats of arms of both Flemish and Walloon Brabant, and of the Dutch province of North Brabant. The regions name is first recorded as the Carolingian shire pagus Bracbatensis, upon the 843 Treaty of Verdun it was part of Lotharingia within short-lived Middle Francia, and was ceded to East Francia according to the 880 Treaty of Ribemont. In earlier Roman times, the Nervii, a Belgic tribe and they were incorporated into the Roman province of Belgica, and considered to have both Celtic and Germanic cultural links. At the end of the Roman period the region was conquered by the Germanic Franks, in 959 the East Frankish king Otto I of Germany elevated Count Godfrey of Jülich to the rank of duke of Lower Lorraine. In 962 the duchy became a part of the Holy Roman Empire. Here, the counts of Leuven rose to power, when about 1000 Count Lambert I the Bearded married Gerberga, the daughter of Duke Charles of Lower Lorraine, and acquired the County of Brussels. About 1024 southernmost Brabant fell to Count Reginar V of Mons, in 1190, after the death of Godfrey III, Henry I also became Duke of Lower Lotharingia. By that time the title had lost most of its territorial authority, according to protocol, all his successors were thereafter called Dukes of Brabant and Lower Lotharingia. After the Battle of Worringen in 1288, the dukes of Brabant also acquired the Duchy of Limburg, in 1354 Duke John III of Brabant granted a Joyous Entry to the citizens of Brabant. In 1430 the Duchies of Lower Lotharingia, Brabant and Limburg were inherited by Philip the Good of Burgundy, in 1477 the Duchy of Brabant became part of the House of Habsburg as part of the dowry of Mary of Burgundy. At that time the Duchy extended from Luttre, south of Nivelles to s Hertogenbosch, the subsequent history of Brabant is part of the history of the Habsburg Seventeen Provinces. The Eighty Years War brought the parts under military control of the northern insurgents. The southern part remained in Spanish Habsburg hands as a part of the Southern Netherlands and it was transferred to the Austrian branch of the Habsburg monarchy in 1714
Duchy of Brabant
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Duchy of Brabant and
Prince-Bishopric of Liège (1477)
14.
Flag of France
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The national flag of France is a tricolour flag featuring three vertical bands coloured blue, white, and red. It is known to English speakers as the French Tricolour or simply the Tricolour, the royal government used many flags, the best known being a blue shield and gold fleur-de-lis on a white background, or state flag. Early in the French Revolution, the Paris militia, which played a prominent role in the storming of the Bastille, wore a cockade of blue and red, the citys traditional colours. According to Lafayette, white, the ancient French colour, was added to the militia cockade to create a tricolour, or national and this cockade became part of the uniform of the National Guard, which succeeded the militia and was commanded by Lafayette. The colours and design of the cockade are the basis of the Tricolour flag, the only difference was that the 1790 flags colours were reversed. A modified design by Jacques-Louis David was adopted in 1794, the royal white flag was used during the Bourbon restoration from 1815 to 1830, the tricolour was brought back after the July Revolution and has been used ever since 1830. The colours adopted by Valéry Giscard dEstaing, which replaced a version of the flag. Currently, the flag is one and a half times wider than its height and, initially, the three stripes of the flag were not equally wide, being in the proportions 30,33 and 37. Blue and red are the colours of Paris, used on the citys coat of arms. Blue is identified with Saint Martin, red with Saint Denis, at the storming of the Bastille in 1789, the Paris militia wore blue and red cockades on their hats. White had long featured prominently on French flags and is described as the ancient French colour by Lafayette, white was added to the revolutionary colours of the militia cockade to nationalise the design, thus creating the tricolour cockade. Although Lafayette identified the white stripe with the nation, other accounts identify it with the monarchy, Lafayette denied that the flag contains any reference to the red-and-white livery of the Duc dOrléans. Despite this, Orléanists adopted the tricolour as their own, blue and red are associated with the Virgin Mary, the patroness of France, and were the colours of the oriflamme. The colours of the French flag may represent the three main estates of the Ancien Régime. Blue, as the symbol of class, comes first and red, representing the nobility, both extreme colours are situated on each side of white referring to a superior order. Lafayettes tricolour cockade was adopted in July 1789, a moment of unity that soon faded. Royalists began wearing white cockades and flying flags, while the Jacobins. The tricolour, which combines royalist white with red, came to be seen as a symbol of moderation
Flag of France
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Multiple French flags as commonly flown from public buildings.
Flag of France
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France
Flag of France
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The White flag of the monarchy transformed into the Tricolore as a result of the
July Revolution, painting by
Léon Cogniet (1830).
Flag of France
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"Lamartine, before the
Hôtel de Ville, Paris, rejects the Red Flag," February 25, 1848. By
Henri Felix Emmanuel Philippoteaux (1815–1884).
15.
Charlemagne
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Charlemagne or Charles the Great, numbered Charles I, was the King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774 and Emperor of the Romans from 800. He united much of Europe during the early Middle Ages and he was the first recognised emperor in western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier. The expanded Frankish state which Charlemagne founded was called the Carolingian Empire, Charlemagne was the oldest son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon. He became king in 768 following his fathers death, initially as co-ruler with his brother Carloman I, carlomans sudden death in 771 in unexplained circumstances left Charlemagne as the undisputed ruler of the Frankish Kingdom. He continued his fathers policy towards the papacy and became its protector, removing the Lombards from power in northern Italy and he campaigned against the Saxons to his east, Christianising them upon penalty of death and leading to events such as the Massacre of Verden. Charlemagne reached the height of his power in 800 when he was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day at Old St. Peters Basilica. Charlemagne has been called the Father of Europe, as he united most of Western Europe for the first time since the Roman Empire and his rule spurred the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of energetic cultural and intellectual activity within the Western Church. All Holy Roman Emperors considered their kingdoms to be descendants of Charlemagnes empire, up to the last Emperor Francis II and these and other machinations led to the eventual split of Rome and Constantinople in the Great Schism of 1054. Charlemagne died in 814, having ruled as emperor for thirteen years and he was laid to rest in his imperial capital of Aachen in what is today Germany. He married at least four times and had three sons, but only his son Louis the Pious survived to succeed him. By the 6th century, the western Germanic Franks had been Christianised, Francia, ruled by the Merovingians, was the most powerful of the kingdoms that succeeded the Western Roman Empire. Following the Battle of Tertry the Merovingians declined into powerlessness, for which they have dubbed the rois fainéants. Almost all government powers were exercised by their chief officer, the mayor of the palace, in 687, Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, ended the strife between various kings and their mayors with his victory at Tertry. He became the governor of the entire Frankish kingdom. Pepin was the grandson of two important figures of the Austrasian Kingdom, Saint Arnulf of Metz and Pepin of Landen, Pepin of Herstal was eventually succeeded by his illegitimate son Charles, later known as Charles Martel. After 737, Charles governed the Franks in lieu of a king, Charles was succeeded in 741 by his sons Carloman and Pepin the Short, the father of Charlemagne. In 743, the brothers placed Childeric III on the throne to curb separatism in the periphery and he was the last Merovingian king. Carloman resigned office in 746, preferring to enter the church as a monk, Pepin brought the question of the kingship before Pope Zachary, asking whether it was logical for a king to have no royal power
Charlemagne
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A coin of Charlemagne with the inscription KAROLVS IMP AVG (Karolus Imperator Augustus)
Charlemagne
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Francia, early 8th century
Charlemagne
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External video
Charlemagne
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Moorish Hispania in 732
16.
County of Flanders
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The County of Flanders was a historic territory in the Low Countries. From 862 onwards the Counts of Flanders were one of the twelve peers of the Kingdom of France. For centuries their estates around the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Ypres formed one of the most affluent regions in Europe, up to 1477, the area under French suzerainty was located west of the Scheldt River and was called Royal Flanders. Aside from this the Counts of Flanders from the 11th century on also held land east of the river as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, an area called Imperial Flanders. Part of the Burgundian Netherlands from 1384, the county was removed from French to Imperial control after the Peace of Madrid in 1526. In 1795 the remaining territory within the Austrian Netherlands was incorporated by the French First Republic, the former County of Flanders, except for French Flanders, is the only part of the medieval French kingdom that is not part of modern-day France. Flanders and Flemish are likely derived from the Frisian *flāndra and *flāmisk, the Flemish people are first mentioned in the biography of Saint Eligius, the Vita sancti Eligii. This work was written before 684, but only known since 725 and this work mentions the Flanderenses, who lived in Flandris. The geography of the historic County of Flanders only partially overlaps with present-day region of Flanders in Belgium, though there it extends beyond West Flanders. Some of the county is now part of France and the Netherlands. The arms of the County of Flanders were allegedly created by Philip of Alsace, count of Flanders from 1168 to 1191, as a result, the arms of the county live on as arms of the Flemish Community. It is said that Philip of Alsace brought the flag with him from the Holy Land, where in 1177 he supposedly conquered it from a Saracen knight. The simple fact that the lion appeared on his personal seal since 1163, in reality Philip was following a West-European trend. In the same period also appeared in the arms of Brabant, Luxembourg, Holland, Limburg. It is curious that the lion as a symbol was mostly used in border territories. It was in all likelihood a way of showing independence from the emperor, in Europe the lion had been a well-known figure since Roman times, through works such as the fables of Aesop. The future county of Flanders had been inhabited since prehistory, during the Iron Age the Kemmelberg formed an important Celtic settlement. During the times of Julius Caesar, the inhabitants were part of the Belgae, for Flanders in specific these were the Menapii, the Morini, the Nervii and the Atrebates
County of Flanders
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Count Philip (2nd from right) as swordbearer at the coronation of King
Philip II of France. The count of Flanders was one of the 12 ancient
Peers of France or "equals" of the King of France. Panel painting by
Jean Fouquet, 1455
County of Flanders
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Flag
County of Flanders
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map of the county of Flanders from 1609 by
Matthias Quad, cartographer, and
Johannes Bussemacher, engraver and publisher, Cologne
County of Flanders
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Institution of Baldwin I, the first count of Flanders by Charles the Bald, the Frankish king.
17.
Lotharingia
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It was named after King Lothair II who received this territory after the kingdom of Middle Francia of his father Lothair I was divided among his sons in 855. Neither Lotharingia nor Middle Francia had any natural coherence, but each was conceived after territorial division of a larger realm. Conflict between East and West Francia over Lotharingia was based on the fact that these were the old Frankish homelands of Austrasia, the latter term, formed with the Germanic suffix -ing, indicating ancestral or familial relationships, gave rise to the Latin term Lotharingia in the tenth century. Later French terms like Lorraine and Lothier are derived from this Latin term, in 817 emperor Louis the Pious made plans for division of the Carolingian Empire among his three sons after his death. Unforeseen in 817 was a further heir besides Louiss three grown sons, a fourth son, Charles the Bald was born to Louiss second wife Judith of Bavaria in 823. When Louis tried in 833 to re-divide the empire for the benefit of Charles, he met with opposition of his sons, Lothair, Pepin. A decade of war and fluctuating alliances followed, punctuated by brief periods of peace. Pepin died in 838, and Louis the Pious in 840, the remaining three brothers made peace and divided Empire with the 843 Treaty of Verdun. Lothair, as the eldest, kept the title and received a long strip of territories stretching from the North Sea to southern Italy. Middle Francia thus included all the land between Aachen and Rome and it has sometimes called by historians the Lotharingian axis. In 855, when Lothair I was dying in Prüm Abbey, to the eldest son, Louis II went Italy, with the imperial title. To the youngest, Charles, still a minor, went Provence, to the middle son, Lothair II, went the remaining territories to the north of Provence, a kingdom which lacked ethnic or linguistic unity. Lothair II ruled from Aachen and did not venture outside his kingdom, when he died in 869 Lothair II left no legitimate children, but one illegitimate son - Hugh, Duke of Alsace. Thus Lotharingia, as a kingdom, ceased to exist for some years. In 876 Charles the Bald invaded eastern Lotharingia with the intent to capture it, in 879 Louiss son, king Louis the Younger was invited by a faction of the West Frankish nobility to succeed king Louis the Stammerer, Charless son, on the throne of West Francia. After a brief war, Louis the Stammerers young sons, Carloman II and Louis III, the border between the two kingdoms was established at Saint-Quentin in 880 by the Treaty of Ribemont. In November 887 Arnulf of Carinthia called a council of East Frankish nobility to depose emperor Charles the Fat, who by 884 had succeeded to thrones of all the kingdoms of the Empire. The Lotharingian aristocracy, in attempt to assert its right to elect a sovereign, joined the other East Frankish nobles in deposing Charles the Fat in 887 and elected Arnulf as their king
Lotharingia
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Threefold division of the Frankish empire by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, showing West Francia (pink), Middle Francia (green), and East Francia (yellow).
Lotharingia
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Lotharingia's division in 959 Blue: Alsace, ceded to Swabia in 925 Orange: Upper Lorraine after 928 Green: Lower Lorraine after 977
Lotharingia
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Territorial divisions from the Treaty of Verdun (843) to the Treaty of Meerssen (870).
18.
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
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Charles V was ruler of both the Spanish Empire from 1516 and the Holy Roman Empire from 1519, as well as of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1506. He voluntarily stepped down from these and other positions by a series of abdications between 1554 and 1556, through inheritance, he brought together under his rule extensive territories in western, central, and southern Europe, and the Spanish colonies in the Americas and Asia. As a result, his domains spanned nearly four square kilometers and were the first to be described as the empire on which the sun never sets. Charles was the heir of three of Europes leading dynasties, the Houses of Valois-Burgundy, Habsburg, and Trastámara and he inherited the Burgundian Netherlands and the Franche-Comté as heir of the House of Valois-Burgundy. From his own dynasty, the Habsburgs, he inherited Austria and he was also elected to succeed his Habsburg grandfather, Maximilian I, as Holy Roman Emperor, a title held by the Habsburgs since 1440. Charles was the first king to rule Castile and Aragon simultaneously in his own right, the personal union, under Charles, of the Holy Roman Empire with the Spanish Empire resulted in the closest Europe would come to a universal monarchy since the death of Louis the Pious. France recovered and the wars continued for the remainder of Charless reign, enormously expensive, they led to the development of the first modern professional army in Europe, the Tercios. The struggle with the Ottoman Empire was fought in Hungary and the Mediterranean, after seizing most of eastern and central Hungary in 1526, the Ottomans’ advance was halted at their failed Siege of Vienna in 1529. A lengthy war of attrition, conducted on his behalf by his younger brother Ferdinand, in the Mediterranean, although there were some successes, Charles was unable to prevent the Ottomans’ increasing naval dominance and the piratical activity of the Barbary Corsairs. Charles opposed the Reformation and in Germany he was in conflict with the Protestant Princes of the Schmalkaldic League who were motivated by religious and political opposition to him. Once the rebellions were quelled the essential Castilian and Burgundian territories remained mostly loyal to Charles throughout his rule, Charles’s Spanish dominions were the chief source of his power and wealth, and they became increasingly important as his reign progressed. In the Americas, Charles sanctioned the conquest by Castillian conquistadors of the Aztec, Castillian control was extended across much of South and Central America. The resulting vast expansion of territory and the flows of South American silver to Castile had profound long term effects on Spain. Charles was only 56 when he abdicated, but after 34 years of rule he was physically exhausted and sought the peace of a monastery. Upon Charles’s abdications, the Holy Roman Empire was inherited by his younger brother Ferdinand, the Spanish Empire, including the possessions in the Netherlands and Italy, was inherited by Charles’s son Philip II. The two empires would remain allies until the 18th century, Charles was born in 1500 as the eldest son of Philip the Handsome and Joanna of Castile in the Flemish city of Ghent, which was part of the Habsburg Netherlands. The culture and courtly life of the Burgundian Low Countries were an important influence in his early life and he was tutored by William de Croÿ, and also by Adrian of Utrecht. He also gained a decent command of German, though he never spoke it as well as French, a witticism sometimes attributed to Charles is, I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
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Charrles V by
Titian, 1548.
Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
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Signature
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
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Copper coin "korte" with portrait of Charles V, struck in Antwerp, 1548
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
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A young Charles V, by
Bernard van Orley,
Louvre Museum, Paris, France
19.
Cross of Burgundy flag
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The Duchy of Burgundy was inherited by the House of Habsburg on the extinction of the Valois ducal line. The Spanish monarchs continued to use it in their own arms even after they lost their Burgundian lands. From 1506 to 1701 it was used by Spain as an ensign, and up to 1843 as the land battle flag. The emblem also continues to be used in a variety of contexts in a number of European countries and in the Americas, reflecting both the extent of Valois Burgundy and the former Habsburg territories. The banner strictly speaking dates back to the early 15th century and it represents the cross on which Andrew the Apostle was crucified. The design is a red saltire resembling two crossed, roughly-pruned branches, on a white field, in heraldic language, it may be blazoned argent, a saltire ragulée gules. Pedro de Ayala, writing in the 1490s, claims it was first adopted by a previous Duke of Burgundy to honour his Scottish soldiers. This must be a reference to the Scottish soldiers recruited by John the Fearless in the first years of the century, led by the Earl of Mar. Andrew was the saint of the dukes of Burgundy The year 1506 should be considered its theoretical earliest use in Spain. Philip, after his marriage to Joanna of Castile, became the first Habsburg King of Spain and used the Cross of Burgundy as an emblem as it was the symbol of the house of his mother, Mary of Burgundy. From the time of Philip and Joannas son, Emperor Charles V, nevertheless, the official field was still white. The Spanish monarchs – the Habsburgs and their successors the House of Bourbon – continued to use the Cross of Burgundy in various forms and it also remained in use in Spains overseas empire. In the First Carlist War the Burgundian banner, however, was a banner of the Regent Queens standing Army rather than Carlist. After 1843 the red Burgundian saltire kept on appearing on the new brand red-yellow army flag under a four-quartered Castilian, eventually, under the leadership of Manuel Fal Condé, the Cross of Burgundy became the Carlist badge in 1934. Users mostly have some direct or indirect relation to the historical Burgundy, though such connection can be very vague, the flying of this flag reminds people today of the impact Spain and its military had on world history for over 400 years. It was also used by Spanish military forces, in present-day Bolivia the Cross of Burgundy is the official flag of the department of Chuquisaca. The Flag of Alabama uses a modified representation of the Spanish Cross of Burgundy, an unmodified version of the cross was used in most of Alabama until the 19th century. The colors of the Flag of New Mexico are those of the yellow, Burgundy Flag of New Mexico Saint Patricks Flag Vexillology Flags of the World GeorgiaInfo
Cross of Burgundy flag
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Jeton of the Chamber of Accounts in
Lille, 1545. Struck under Emperor
Charles V, showing a Burgundian steel superimposed on Burgundian Cross.
Cross of Burgundy flag
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Cross of Burgundy
Cross of Burgundy flag
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Cross of Burgundy alongside Puerto Rico and U.S. flags at Fort San Cristóbal
20.
Austrian Netherlands
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The Austrian Netherlands was the Southern Netherlands between 1714 and 1797. Austria, however, did not relinquish its claim over the province until 1797 in the Treaty of Campo Formio, the Austrian Netherlands was a noncontiguous territory that consisted of what is now western Belgium as well as greater Luxembourg, bisected by the Prince-Bishopric of Liège. The dominant languages were German, Dutch, and French, along with Picard, the result of the Barrier Treaty was that the Holy Roman emperor Charles VI did not have a lot to say about his Austrian Netherlands. This caused quite a lot of frustration with the Austrians, especially because the Dutch troops they had to allow were paid with money raised by the Austrian Netherlands themselves and this would last until empress Maria Theresa refused to pay for those troops any longer. The war of 1740-1748 showed that the fortifications manned with Dutch troops were not highly maintained, when Austria and France entered into an alliance in 1756, there was virtually no use for the barrier treaty anymore. In 1781 Emperor Joseph II of Austria unilaterally abolished the treaty, under the Treaty of Rastatt, following the War of the Spanish Succession, the surviving portions of the Spanish Netherlands were ceded to Austria. The Austrians were unconcerned with the upkeep of their province and the fortresses along the border were, by treaty, the area had, in fact, been given to Austria largely at British and Dutch insistence, as these powers feared potential French domination of the region. Charles VI attempted to use the Austrian Netherlands to compete with British, however, the agreement was later revoked by the Treaty of Versailles of 1758 and Austrian rule continued. However, the Emperors stance was far from militant, and he called off hostilities after the so-called Kettle War, known by that name because its only casualty was a kettle. In the 1780s, opposition emerged to the reforms of Emperor Joseph II, which were perceived as an attack on the Catholic Church. Resistance, focused in the autonomous and wealthy Estates of Brabant and Flanders, in the aftermath of rioting and disruption, known as the Small Revolution, in 1787, many of opponents took refuge in the neighboring Dutch Republic where they formed a rebel army. Soon after the outbreak of the French and Liège revolutions, the army crossed into the Austrian Netherlands. The rebels, supported by uprisings across the territory, soon took control over much of the territory, despite the tacit support of Prussia, the independent United Belgian States, established in January 1790, received no foreign recognition and soon became divided along ideological lines. The Vonckists, led by Jan Frans Vonck, advocated progressive and liberal government, whereas the Statists, led by Hendrik Van der Noot, were staunchly conservative, the Statists, who had a wider base of support, soon drove the Vonckists into exile through a terror. By mid-1790, Habsburg Austria ended its war with the Ottoman Empire, the new Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold II, was also a liberal and proposed an amnesty for the rebels. After defeating a Statist army at the Battle of Falmagne, the territory was soon overrun, the Austrian reestablishment was short-lived, however, and the territory was soon overrun by the French during the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1794, the armies of the French Revolution annexed the Austrian Netherlands and integrated them into the French Republic
Austrian Netherlands
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Flag
21.
Flag of Austria
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The flag of Austria has three equal horizontal bands of red, white, and red. The Austrian triband is based on the coat of arms of the Babenberg dynasty and it may have seen use in flags from about the 15th century, alongside the black-and-yellow colors of the House of Habsburg and other insignia of the Holy Roman Empire. It was adopted as an ensign in the 18th century. The flag traces back to the coat of arms of the medieval Babenberg dynasty, however, the Babenberg margrave Leopold III of Austria had already been depicted with a triband shield in 1105. When the last Otakar Duke Ottokar IV of Styria died in 1192, the triband is first documented in a seal on a deed issued on 30 November 1230, confirming the privileges of Lilienfeld Abbey. The medieval chronicler Jans der Enikel reports that the duke appeared in a ceremonial dress at his 1232 accolade in the Vienna Schottenstift. The Babenberg family colors developed to the coat of arms of their Austrian possessions, after the dynasty had become extinct with Fredericks death at the 1246 Battle of the Leitha River, they were adopted by his Přemyslid successor King Ottokar II of Bohemia. Upon the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld the colours were assumed by the victorious House of Habsburg, according to legend, the flag was invented by Duke Leopold V of Austria as a consequence of his fighting during the Siege of Acre. After a fierce battle, his white surcoat was completely drenched in blood, when he removed his belt, the cloth beneath remained unstained, revealing the combination of red-white-red. So taken was he by this singular sight that he adopted the colors, the incident was documented as early as 1260, though it is highly unlikely. In fact, the war flag of the Holy Roman Empire during the Crusades was a cross on a red field quite similar to the later Austrian arms. This ensign was used by the Austrian capital Vienna from the late 13th century onwards, since the days of Rudolph of Habsburg and the 1283 Treaty of Rheinfelden, the combination of red-white-red was widely considered to be the Austrian colours used by the ruling Habsburg dynasty. However, the flag of the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy, like the later Austrian Empire. These were the colours of the Imperial House of Habsburg. Beginning in the reign of Emperor Joseph II, the Austrian, later Austro-Hungarian Navy used a Naval Ensign based on the red-white-red colours, and augmented with a shield of similar colours. Both of these became obsolete with Austria-Hungarys dissolution in 1918. The Austrian flag has been the motif of many collector coins. One of the most recent examples is the 20 euro Post War Period coin, the obverse of this coin shows the Austrian coat of arms flanked by the Austrian flag and the European Union flag
Flag of Austria
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19th century draft of the seal of Duke Frederick II
Flag of Austria
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Austria
Flag of Austria
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Duke
Leopold V, kneeling, receives the red-white-red banner by Emperor
Henry VI, Babenberger Stammbaum, Klosterneuburg monastery, about 1490
Flag of Austria
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The Post-War Period Silver Coin
22.
Brussels
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Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the region of Flanders or Wallonia. The region has a population of 1.2 million and an area with a population of over 1.8 million. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, the secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are also located in Brussels. Today, it is considered an Alpha global city, historically a Dutch-speaking city, Brussels has seen a language shift to French from the late 19th century onwards. Today, the majority language is French, and the Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. All road signs, street names, and many advertisements and services are shown in both languages, Brussels is increasingly becoming multilingual with increasing numbers of migrants, expatriates and minority groups speaking their own languages. The most common theory of the origin of Brussels name is that it derives from the Old Dutch Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning marsh, Saint Vindicianus, the bishop of Cambrai made the first recorded reference to the place Brosella in 695 when it was still a hamlet. The origin of the settlement that was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580. The official founding of Brussels is usually situated around 979, when Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel, Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island. Lambert I of Leuven, Count of Leuven gained the County of Brussels around 1000 by marrying Charles daughter, as it grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. The Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant at about this time, in the 13th century, the city got its first walls. After the construction of the city walls in the early 13th century, to let the city expand, a second set of walls was erected between 1356 and 1383. Today, traces of it can still be seen, mostly because the small ring, Brabant had lost its independence, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and flourished. In 1516 Charles V, who had been heir of the Low Countries since 1506, was declared King of Spain in St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. Upon the death of his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 and it was in the Palace complex at Coudenberg that Charles V abdicated in 1555. This impressive palace, famous all over Europe, had expanded since it had first become the seat of the Dukes of Brabant. In 1695, during the Nine Years War, King Louis XIV of France sent troops to bombard Brussels with artillery, together with the resulting fire, it was the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels
Brussels
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A
collage with several views of Brussels, Top: View of the
Northern Quarter business district, 2nd left: Floral carpet event in the
Grand Place, 2nd right:
Brussels City Hall and
Mont des Arts area, 3rd:
Cinquantenaire Park, 4th left:
Manneken Pis, 4th middle:
St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral, 4th right:
Congress Column, Bottom:
Royal Palace of Brussels
Brussels
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Charles of Lorraine founded what would become Brussels c. 979
Brussels
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Grand Place after
the 1695 bombardment by the French army
Brussels
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Episode of the
Belgian Revolution of 1830,
Wappers (1834)
23.
Cockade
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A cockade is a knot of ribbons, or other circular- or oval-shaped symbol of distinctive colors which is usually worn on a hat. In the 18th and 19th centuries, coloured cockades were used in Europe to show the allegiance of their wearers to some political faction, their rank, military uniforms would use cockades as well. A cockade was pinned on the side of a mans tricorne or cocked hat, women could also wear it on their hat or in their hair. In pre-revolutionary France, the cockade of the Bourbon dynasty was all white, in the Kingdom of Great Britain supporters of a Jacobite restoration wore white cockades, while the recently established Hanoverian monarchy used a black cockade. During the 1780 Gordon Riots in London the blue became a symbol of anti-government feelings and was worn by most of the rioters. Before long however, the Continental Army reverted to wearing the black cockade they inherited from the British, the black-and-white cockade thus became known as the Union Cockade. Instead revolutionaries would wear cockades with the colours of the arms of Paris, red. Later the Bourbon white was added to this cockade - thus producing the original Tricolore cockade, later, distinctive colours and styles of cockade would indicate the wearers faction—although the meanings of the various styles were not entirely consistent, and varied somewhat by region and period. From the 15th century various European monarchy realms used cockades to denote the nationalities of their military and their origin reverts to the distinctive colored band or ribbon worn by late medieval armies or jousting knights on their arms or headgear to distinguish friend from foe in the field of battle. During the Napoleonic wars, the armies of France and Russia, had the imperial French cockade or the larger cockade of St. George pinned on the front of their shakos. The Second German Empire used two cockades on each army headgear, one for the empire, the other for one of the monarchies the empire was composed of, which had used their own colors long before. The only exceptions were the Kingdoms of Bavaria and Württemberg, having preserved the right to keep their own armed forces which were not integrated in the Imperial Army and their only cockades were either white and blue or black and yellow. The Weimar Republic removed these, as they might promote separatism which would lead to the dissolution of the German nation-state into regional countries again and these colours represented the biggest and the smallest countries of the Reich, Prussia and the Hanseatic City States of Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck. France began the first Air Service in 1909 and soon picked the traditional French cockade as the first national emblem, now termed a roundel. During World War I, other countries adopted national cockades and used these coloured emblems as roundels on their military aircraft and these designs often bear an additional central device or emblem to further identify national aircraft, those from the French navy bearing a black anchor within the French cockade. Hungarian revolutionaries wore cockades during the Hungarian revolution of 1848 and during the 1956 revolution, because of this, Hungarians traditionally wear cockades on 15 March
Cockade
–
A woman fastening a
red-and-white cockade to a Polish insurgent's square-shaped
rogatywka cap during the
January Uprising of 1863–64
Cockade
–
Hat with a white cockade (Prince
Charles Edward Stuart).
Cockade
–
John of Austria wearing as a
brassard the red cockade of the Spanish armies.
Cockade
–
A metal cockade on the swivel of a
Pickelhaube helmet.
24.
County of Hainaut
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The County of Hainaut, sometimes given the archaic spellings Hainault and Heynowes, was a historical lordship within the medieval Holy Roman Empire, with its capital at Mons. The name comes from the river Haine, besides Mons, it included the cities of Cambrai and Charleroi. It consisted of what is now the Belgian province of Hainaut, originally a gau of Lotharingia, Hainaut was briefly a part of West Francia before becoming definitively attached to Germany. The county was divided in 958 and only emerged in its more or less final form in 1071, during the High Middle Ages, Hainaut became culturally and linguistically French. In 1432, Hainaut was acquired by the House of Valois-Burgundy and in 1477 passed to the Habsburgs with the rest of the Burgundian Netherlands and it was ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1555 to 1714. In 1659 and 1678 southern Hainaut was acquired by France, and in 1797 the rest of the county was ceded to France by the Emperor Francis II, who was also count of Hainaut. In Roman imperial times, Hainaut was, at least for the most part, as the empire lost control, this entire region came under the lordship of the Salian Franks, within their Neustrian territory. By the time of Charlemagne, the Frankish empire had declared a new Holy Roman Empire. After the death of the last Carolingian king in East Francia, Louis the Child in 911, following Gilberts death in 939, his successors from the House of Reginar failed to retain the ducal title, but continued to rule over the Hainaut region. After Count Reginar III Longneck had unsuccessfully rebelled against Duke Bruno the Great, however, in 998 the Reginars regained control over the County of Mons. When the last Count, Herman, died without issue in 1051, his widow Richilde married Baldwin VI, on the death of his father in 1067, Baldwin VI became the ruler of both Hainaut and Mons. He was succeeded by his son Arnulf III, who was killed at the Battle of Cassel in 1071 in a dispute with his uncle. The victorious Robert acquired Flanders, but his sister-in-law Richilde retained the adjacent Lower Lorraine territories in the Holy Roman Empire as her dowry. Henry IV ordered the Prince-Bishop of Liège to purchase the fiefs and then return them as a county to the countess Richilde. The Counts of Hainaut had several connections with the counts of Flanders and Holland. Throughout its history, the county of Hainaut formed a union with other states. The last independent countess died early on 8 October 1436 in Teylingen Castle, near The Hague, when Charles the Bold of Burgundy was killed at the Battle of Nancy in 1477, the male line of the Burgundian dukes became extinct. In the same year, Charles daughter Mary of Burgundy married Archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg, King Louis XI of France hoped to take advantage of the death of his cousin, Charles, and sent an army to invade the Netherlands
County of Hainaut
25.
Duchy of Limburg
–
The Duchy of Limburg or Limbourg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. Its main territory including the capital Limbourg is today located within the Belgian province of Liège, with a part in the neighbouring province of Belgian Limburg. However finally, after the failed Brabant Revolution in 1789, the history was terminated with the occupation by French Revolutionary troops in 1793. These lands were reunited within modern Belgium only after World War I, the duchy was multilingual, being the place where Dutch, French, and German dialects border upon each other and coexist at their geographical extremes, both now and in medieval times. Its northern and eastern borders are the boundaries of the modern state of Belgium with the Netherlands and Germany. The eastern part, which includes Eupen, is the administrative capital, of the various places known as Limburg, it is the Duchy of Limburg which is the origin of the pungent-smelling soft cheese known as Limburger, and today made in many places. The states territory was situated in the Low Countries between the river Meuse in the west and the Imperial city of Aachen in the east and its most important cities were Limbourg, the capital, and Eupen. In the west and south, Limburg bordered on the territory of the Liège Prince-Bishops, in the north, linguistically Limburg was situated on the border of Germanic with Romance Europe. While in the northern and eastern districts Limburgish and Ripuarian dialects were spoken and they were in contact with both Gaulish and Germanic peoples. The language they spoke is not certain, and it is not certain to what extent these earlier tribes can be equated to the Tungri. By this time the area had become integrated into the Civitas Tungrorum and this was a frontier area, which took in soldiers and settlers from across the Rhine in Germany and from around the empire. The region to the north of the Duchy was dominated by Salian Franks, under the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties, Frankish rule expanded from the region around Limbourg to cover larger areas, and eventually began to replace Roman imperial rule. By the time of Charlemagne, the first Frank to be called an emperor of Rome, the Duchy of Limburg, like most of modern Belgium, was within Lower Lorraine. For a while, Lower Lorraine had its own single Duke and it is from this Duchy that the Duchy of Limbourg derived its Ducal status. The territory of the duchy of Limburg was formed in the 11th century around the town of Limbourg in present-day Wallonia, about 1020, Duke Frederick of Lower Lorraine, a descendant of Count Palatine Wigeric of Lotharingia, had Limbourg Castle built on the banks of the Vesdre river. His estates then comprised the districts of Baelen, Herve, Montzen, Walhorn, and they were inherited by Fredericks son-in-law Count Waleran of Arlon, who about 1065 began to call himself a count of Limburg. Waleran also claimed Fredericks ducal title, which was acknowledged by Emperor Henry IV in 1101 in favour of Walerans son Henry. This meant that Lower Lorraine now had two Duchies, that of Brabant, and that of Limburg, and the title of Duke of Lothier, still held by Brabant, eventually became ineffective
Duchy of Limburg
–
Basic administrative parts until the French revolution, including detached Sprimont.
Duchy of Limburg
–
Duchy of Limburg around 1350.
26.
Luxembourg (province)
–
Luxembourg is the southernmost province of Wallonia and of Belgium. It borders on the country of Luxembourg, France, and the Belgian provinces of Namur and its capital is Arlon, in the south-east of the province. It has an area of 4,443 km², making it the largest Belgian province, at around a quarter of a million residents, it is also the least populated province, making it a relatively sparsely populated province in an otherwise very densely populated country. It is significantly larger and much less populous than the neighbouring Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, about eighty percent of the province is part of the densely wooded Ardennes region. The southernmost region of the province is called Gaume or Belgian Lorraine, Luxembourg province is divided into five administrative districts containing a total of 44 municipalities
Luxembourg (province)
–
Flag
27.
Namur (province)
–
Namur is a province of Wallonia, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on the Walloon provinces of Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, Liège and Luxembourg in Belgium and its capital is the city of Namur. It has an area of 3,664 square kilometres and is divided into three administrative districts containing a total of 38 municipalities, list of rulers of Namur Province de Namurs official website Namur, one of the nine provinces of Belgium
Namur (province)
–
Flag
28.
Brabant Revolution
–
The revolution was the product of opposition which emerged to the liberal reforms of Emperor Joseph II in the 1780s. These were perceived as an attack on the Catholic Church and the institutions in the Austrian Netherlands. Resistance, focused in the autonomous and wealthy Estates of Brabant and Flanders, in the aftermath of rioting and disruption, known as the Small Revolution, in 1787, many dissidents took refuge in the neighboring Dutch Republic where they formed a rebel army. Soon after the outbreak of the French and Liège revolutions, the army crossed into the Austrian Netherlands. The rebels, supported by uprisings across the territory, soon took control over all the Southern Netherlands. Despite the tacit support of Prussia, the independent United Belgian States, established in January 1790, received no foreign recognition and the rebels soon became divided along ideological lines. The Vonckists, led by Jan Frans Vonck, advocated progressive and liberal government, whereas the Statists, led by Hendrik Van der Noot, were staunchly conservative, the Statists, who had a wider base of support, soon drove the Vonckists into exile through a terror. By mid-1790, Habsburg Austria ended its war with the Ottoman Empire, the new Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold II, was a liberal like his predecessor but proposed an amnesty for the rebels. After defeating a Statist army at the Battle of Falmagne, the territory was overrun by Holy Roman forces. The Austrian reestablishment was short-lived, however, and the territory was overrun by the French during the French Revolutionary Wars. Because of its course, the Brabant Revolution had been extensively used in historical comparisons with the French Revolution. Some historians, following Henri Pirenne, have seen it as a key moment in the formation of a Belgian nation-state, the Austrian Netherlands was a territory with its capital at Brussels which covered much of what is today Belgium and Luxembourg during the Early Modern period. In 1714, the territory, which had ruled by Spain, was ceded to Austria as part of the Treaty of Rastatt which ended the War of the Spanish Succession. In the 1580s, the Dutch Revolt had separated the independent Dutch Republic from the rest of the territory, the Austrian Netherlands were both a province of Habsburg Austria and a part of the Holy Roman Empire. Josephs mother, Maria Theresa, had appointed her daughter, Maria Christina. Both Joseph and Maria Theresa were considered reformists and were interested in the idea of enlightened absolutism. Joseph II, who was known as the philosopher-emperor, had a particular interest in Enlightenment thought and had his own ideology which has sometimes been termed Josephinism after him. Soon after taking power, in 1781, Joseph launched a tour of inspection of the Austrian Netherlands during which he concluded reform in the territory was badly needed
Brabant Revolution
–
Scenes of the popular uprising at
Ghent in support of the patriot army in November 1789
Brabant Revolution
–
Maria Christina and
Albert Casimir of Teschen, joint Governors-General of the Austrian Netherlands from 1780 to 1793
Brabant Revolution
–
Gold
medallion depicting Emperor Joseph II whose reforms sparked the revolt
Brabant Revolution
–
Portrait of
Jan Frans Vonck, who led the liberal resistance to the Austrians
29.
Belgian Revolution
–
The Belgian Revolution was the conflict which led to the secession of the southern provinces from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and established an independent Kingdom of Belgium. The people of the south were mainly Dutch-speaking Flemings and French-speaking Walloons, both peoples were traditionally Roman Catholic as contrasted with Dutch Protestants in the north. Many outspoken liberals regarded King William Is rule as despotic, there were high levels of unemployment and industrial unrest among the working classes. On 25 August 1830 riots erupted in Brussels and shops were looted, theatre goers who had just watched a nationalistic romanticist opera joined the mob. Uprisings followed elsewhere in the country, factories were occupied and machinery destroyed. Order was restored briefly after William committed troops to the Southern Provinces but rioting continued and leadership was taken up by radicals, Dutch units saw the mass desertion of recruits from the southern provinces, and pulled out. The States-General in Brussels voted in favour of secession and declared independence, in the aftermath, a National Congress was assembled. King William refrained from future military action and appealed to the Great Powers, the resulting 1830 London Conference of major European powers recognized Belgian independence. Following the installation of Leopold I as King of the Belgians in 1831, King William made a military attempt to reconquer Belgium. This Ten Days Campaign failed because of French military intervention, not until 1839 did the Dutch accept the decision of the London conference and Belgian independence by signing the Treaty of London. The Dutch overthrew Napoleonic rule in 1813 and, after the British-Dutch Treaty of 1814, symptomatic of the tenor of diplomatic bargaining at Vienna was the early proposal to reward Prussia for its staunch fight against Napoleon with the former Habsburg territory. When the British insisted on retaining the former Dutch Ceylon and the Cape Colony the new kingdom of the Netherlands was compensated with these southern provinces. The union of two areas reverted to the original cultural area of the Netherlands before the 16th century and were called the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Belgian Revolution had many causes and consequences, the causes were the domination of the Dutch over the economic, political. Catholic bishops in the south viewed the Protestant-majority north with suspicion and this rule, originated in 1815 by Maurice-Jean de Broglie, the French nobleman who was bishop of Ghent, caused an under-representation of Southerners in government apparatus and the army. The traditional economy of trade and an incipient Industrial Revolution were also centred in the present day Netherlands, furthermore, although 62% of the population lived in the South, they were assigned the same number of representatives in the States General. At the most basic level, the North was for free trade, King William I was from the North, lived in the present day Netherlands, and largely ignored the demands for greater autonomy. A linguistic reform in 1823 was intended to make Dutch the official language in the Flemish provinces and this reform met with strong opposition from the upper and middle classes who at the time were mostly French-speaking
Belgian Revolution
–
Episode of the Belgian Revolution of 1830,
Gustaf Wappers (1834), (
Museum of Fine Art, Brussels)
Belgian Revolution
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Charles Rogier leads the 250 revolutionary volunteers from Liège to Brussels (Charles Soubre, 1878)
Belgian Revolution
–
Belgian rebels on the barricade of the
Place Royale facing the
Parc de Bruxelles in Brussels (1830).
Belgian Revolution
–
Louis d'Orléans, duc de Nemours. The man who would not be king.
30.
La Monnaie
–
The Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in French, or the Koninklijke Muntschouwburg in Dutch is a theatre in Brussels, Belgium. Both of its names translate as Royal Theatre of the Coin, today the National Opera of Belgium, a federal institution, takes the name of the theatre in which it is housed. Therefore, la Monnaie or de Munt refers both to the structure as well as the opera company, as Belgiums leading opera house it is one of the few cultural institutions which receives financial support from the federal government of Belgium. Other opera houses in Belgium, such as the Vlaamse Opera, the current edifice is the third theatre on the site. The façade dates from 1818 with major alterations made in 1856 and 1986, the foyer and auditorium date from 1856, but almost every other element of the present building was extensively renovated in the 1980s. It was built on the site of a building that had served to mint coins, the name of this site la Monnaie remained attached to the theatre for the centuries to come. The construction of the theatre had been ordered by Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, the Elector had charged his trésorier, the Italian Gio-Paolo Bombarda, with the task of financing and supervising the enterprise. The date of the first performance in 1700 remains unknown, the first performance mentioned in the local newspaper was Jean-Baptiste Lullys, Atys, which was given on 19 November 1700. Until the middle of the 19th century, plays were performed along with opera, ballet, by the 18th century la Monnaie was considered the second French-speaking stage after the most prominent theatres in Paris. Under the rule of Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, who acted as a generous patron of the arts. At that time it housed a company, a ballet. The splendour of the performances diminished during the last years of the Austrian rule, after 1795, when the French revolutionary forces occupied the Belgian provinces, the theatre became a French Departmental institution. Amongst other cuts in its expenses, the theatre had to abolish its Corps de Ballet, during this period many famous French actors and singers gave regular performances in the theatre during their tour of the provinces of the Empire. Still a consul, Napoleon on his visit to Brussels judged the old theatre too dilapidated for one of the most prestigious cities of his Empire and he ordered plans to replace the old building by a new and more monumental edifice, but nothing was done during the Napoleonic rule. Finally, the plans were carried out under the auspices of the new United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the old theatre was replaced by a new Neo-classical building designed by the French architect Louis Damesme. Unlike the Bombarda building, which was situated along the street and completely surrounded by other buildings, the new auditorium was inaugurated on 25 May 1819 with the opera La Caravane du Caire by the Belgian composer André Ernest Modeste Grétry. As the most important French theatre of the newly established United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the theatre came under the supervision of the city of Brussels, which had the right to appoint a director charged with the management its management. In this period famous actors like François Joseph Talma and singers like Maria Malibran performed at la Monnaie, the Corps de Ballet was reintroduced and came under the supervision of the dancer and choreographer Jean-Antoine Petipa, father of the famous Marius Petipa
La Monnaie
–
La Monnaie as it appears today.
La Monnaie
–
La Monnaie around 1880
La Monnaie
–
Ignaz Vitzthumb, music director of la Monnaie in the 18th century
31.
Brussels town hall
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The Town Hall of the City of Brussels is a Gothic building from the Middle Ages. It is located on the famous Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium, the oldest part of the present Town Hall is its east wing. This wing, together with a belfry, was built. As a result, a second, somewhat longer wing was built on to the existing structure and this left wing was built by Guillaume de Voghel who in 1452 also built the Magna Aula at the Coudenberg. The façade is decorated with statues representing nobles, saints. The present sculptures are reproductions, the ones are in the city museum in the Kings House across the Grand Place. The 96-metre-high tower in Brabantine Gothic style emerged from the plans of Jan van Ruysbroek, by 1454 this tower replacing the older belfry was complete. Above the roof of the Town Hall, the tower body narrows to a lavishly pinnacled octagonal openwork. Atop the spire stands a 5-metre-high gilt metal statue of the archangel Michael, patron saint of Brussels, the tower, its front archway and the main building façade are conspicuously off-centre relative to one another. According to legend, the architect upon discovering this error leapt to his death from the tower, more likely, the asymmetry of the Town Hall was an accepted consequence of the scattered construction history and space constraints. After the bombardment of Brussels in 1695 by a French army under the Duke of Villeroi, the fire completely gutted the Town Hall, destroying the archives. The Gothic interior was revised by Victor Jamar in 1868 in the style of his mentor Viollet-le-Duc, the halls have been replenished with tapestries, paintings, and sculptures, largely representing subjects of importance in local and regional history. The Town Hall accommodated not only the authorities of the city. In 1830, a provisional government assembled here during the attempt of the Third French Revolution which provoked the separation of the Southern Netherlands from the Northern Netherlands, resulting in the formation of Belgium as is known presently. At the start of World War I, as refugees flooded Brussels, on August 20,1914, the occupying German army arrived at the Grand Place and hoisted a German flag at the left side of the Town Hall. Brussels Town Hall - trabel. com Town hall and belfry, Brussels - Belgiumview Guided tours in the City Hall of Brussels - brussels. be Media related to Brussels Town Hall at Wikimedia Commons
Brussels town hall
–
Town Hall Stadhuis (Dutch) Hôtel de Ville (French)
Brussels town hall
–
Brussels Town Hall - around 1880
32.
United States of Belgium
–
It existed from January to December 1790 as part of the unsuccessful revolt against the Habsburg Emperor, Joseph II. The Emperors edict of tolerance of 1781 established religious freedom, another edict in 1784 removed from the Catholic clergy responsibility for the civil registry, and civil marriage was introduced. Seigneurial jurisdictions and rights, including the corvée, were abolished, as in Hungary, Joseph II attempted to introduce German as the language of administration for the sake of efficiency. The Sovereign Congress was seated in Brussels and consisted of representatives of each of the eight provinces, the uprising started in Brabant, which in January 1789 declared that it no longer recognized the emperors rule. The leader of the Statisten faction, Hendrik Van der Noot, crossed the border into the Dutch Republic and raised an army in Breda in Staats-Brabant. In October, he invaded Brabant and captured Turnhout, defeating the Austrians in the Battle of Turnhout on 27 October, ghent was taken on 13 November, and on 17 November the governors Albert Casimir and Maria Christina fled Brussels. The remains of the forces withdrew behind the citadel walls of Luxembourg. Van der Noot now declared Brabant independent, and all the provinces of the Austrian Netherlands soon followed suit. On 11 January 1790 they signed a pact, establishing a confederation under the name Verenigde Nederlandse Staten / États-Belgiques-Unis, shortly afterwards, the Articles of Confederation served as a model for the Treaty of the United Belgian States of 11 January 1790. Independently, in 1789, a revolution had broken out in Liège, the revolutionaries established a republic which joined the United Belgian States in a semblance of an alliance. Realizing the fragility of the new state, Van der Noot approached foreign states for support and suggested a unification with the Dutch Republic, furthermore, the Statist and Vonckist factions were in constant conflict, bordering on civil war. On 27 February 1790 Joseph II died and his brother Leopold II succeeded him as emperor, Leopold II quickly moved to recapture the Austrian Netherlands. On 24 October 1790 imperial troops took the city of Namur, two days later, the province of West Flanders followed suit, and by December the entire territory was again in imperial hands. The Austrian restoration and hegemony was short-lived, however, as the region was overrun by French armies in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars, though short-lived, the United Belgian States had long-lasting repercussions. It had given the Southern Netherlands their first taste of independence, and had sparked a new political idea, in 1830, the inhabitants of the Southern Netherlands successfully revolted against the Netherlands during the Belgian Revolution, creating the modern state of Belgium. Republic of Liège Brabant Revolution Text of the Treaty of Union Text of the Treaty of Union
United States of Belgium
United States of Belgium
–
Flag
United States of Belgium
–
Battle of Turnhout, 27 October 1789.
United States of Belgium
–
Battle of Ghent, 13 November 1789.
33.
Constitution of Belgium
–
The Constitution of Belgium dates back to 1831. Since then Belgium has been a monarchy that applies the principles of ministerial responsibility for the government policy. The Constitution established Belgium as a unitary state. However, since 1970, through successive state reforms, Belgium has gradually evolved into a federal state, the last radical change of the constitution was carried out in 1993 after which it was published in a renewed version in the Belgian Official Journal. The Court therefore developed into a court and in May 2007 it was formally redesignated Constitutional Court. This court has the authority to examine whether a law or a decree is in compliance with Title II, in 1831 Belgium was a unitary state organised at three levels, the national level, provinces and municipalities. State reform in Belgium added a level to the existing structure. Since 1993, the first article of the Constitution stipulates that Belgium is a state composed of Communities. This means that there are two types of devolved entities at the level, with neither taking precedence over the other. Article 4 divides Belgium into four areas, The Dutch language area, the French language area, the bilingual area of Brussels-Capital. Each municipality of the Kingdom is part of one of four language areas only. The borders of the areas can be changed or corrected only by a law supported by specific majorities of each language group of each Chamber. Article 5 divides the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region into five provinces each, Article 6 determines that the provinces can be subdivided only by Law. The borders of the State, provinces and municipalities can be changed or corrected only by Law, the act inserting this article was published in the Belgian Official Journal on 26 April 2007. Title II of the Belgian Constitution is titled The Belgians and their rights, in this title a number of rights and freedoms are enumerated. Although the Constitution speaks of the rights of the Belgians, in principle apply to all persons on Belgian soil. In addition to the rights enumerated in Title II of the Constitution, Articles 8 and 9 determine how the Belgian nationality can be obtained. Article 10 determines that all Belgians are equal before the law, Article 11 determines that all rights and freedoms must be guaranteed without discrimination
Constitution of Belgium
–
Constitution of 1831 depicted on a Belgian coin, guarded by the
Belgian lion.
Constitution of Belgium
–
The four sitting statues on the pedestal of the
Congress Column represent the four basic freedoms enshrined in the Belgian Constitution of 1831: the freedom of religion, association, education and the press.
Constitution of Belgium
–
The Palace of the Nation in
Brussels houses the
Belgian Federal Parliament
Constitution of Belgium
–
Article 85 of the Belgian Constitution vests the King's constitutional powers in the offspring of
Leopold I.
34.
Flag terminology
–
Flag terminology is the nomenclature, or system of terms, used in vexillology, the study of flags, to describe precisely the parts, patterns, and other attributes of flags and their display. Badge A coat of arms or simple heraldic symbol, canton Any quarter of a flag, but commonly means the upper hoist quarter, such as the field of stars in the flag of the United States or the Union Jack in the Australian Flag. Charge A figure or symbol appearing in the field of a flag, emblem A device often used as a charge on a flag. It may be heraldic in origin or modern, for example the maple leaf on the Canadian Flag, field The background of a flag, the color behind the charges. Fimbriation A narrow edging or border, often in white or gold, for example the white and gold lines of the South African Flag. Fly The half or edge of a flag farthest away from the flagpole and this term also sometimes refers to the horizontal length of a flag. Hoist The half or edge of a flag nearest to the flagpole and this term also sometimes refers to the vertical width of a flag. Length The span of a flag along the side at right angles to the flagpole, width The span of a flag down the side parallel to the flagpole. Flags often inherit traits seen in traditional European heraldry designs and as a result patterns often share names, banderole or bannerol A small flag or streamer carried on the lance of a knight, or a long narrow flag flying from the mast-head of a ship. Banner Generically, a synonym for a flag of any kind, in heraldry, a flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms, but usually in a square or rectangular shape, also known as a banner of arms. Burgee A distinguishing flag of a recreational boating organisation, Civil ensign, merchant flag or merchant ensign A version of the national flag flown by civil ships to denote nationality. Civil flag A version of the flag flown by civilians on non-government installations or craft. Colour or color The flag of a military unit, courtesy flag or courtesy ensign A flag flown by a visiting ship in foreign waters as a token of respect. Ensign The flag of a ship or military unit, may also be used generically as a synonym for a flag of any kind. Fanion A small flag used by the French military, gonfalon, gonfanon or gonfalone A type of heraldic flag suspended from a crossbar. Guidon A small flag borne by a military unit, in Scots heraldry, a smaller version of the Standard. Pennon or pennant A flag larger at the hoist than at the fly, pipe banner A decorative flag for the Scottish Highland bagpipes. Prayer flag A type of flag found strung along mountain ridges and peaks in the Himalayas, rank flag or distinguishing flag The flag flown by a superior naval officer on his flagship or headquarters
Flag terminology
–
Contents
35.
Flag of Germany
–
The flag of Germany is a tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany, black, red, and gold. The flag was first adopted as the flag of modern Germany in 1919. Germany has two competing traditions of national colours, black-red-gold and black-white-red, which have played an important role in the history of Germany. The black-red-gold tricolour first appeared in the early 19th century and achieved prominence during the 1848 Revolutions, the short-lived Frankfurt Parliament of 1848–1850 proposed the tricolour as a flag for a united and democratic German state. With the formation of the Weimar Republic after World War I, following World War II, the tricolour was designated as the flag of both West and East Germany in 1949. The two flags were identical until 1959, when the East German flag was augmented with the coat of arms of East Germany, since reunification on 3 October 1990, the black-red-gold tricolour has become the flag of reunified Germany. After the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, the Prussian-dominated North German Confederation adopted a tricolour of black-white-red as its flag and this flag later became the flag of the German Empire, formed following the unification of Germany in 1871, and was used until 1918. The colours of the flag are associated with the republican democracy formed after World War I. There are many theories in regarding the origins of the colour scheme used in the 1848 flag. Another claim goes back to the uniforms of the Lützow Free Corps, comprising mostly university students, the German national flag or Bundesflagge, containing only the black-red-gold tricolour, was introduced as part of the German constitution in 1949. Following the creation of government and military flags in later years. The government flag of Germany is officially known as the Dienstflagge der Bundesbehörden or Bundesdienstflagge for short, introduced in 1950, the government flag is the civil flag defaced with the Bundesschild, which overlaps with up to one fifth of the black and gold bands. The government flag may only be used by government authorities and its use by others is an offence. However, public use of similar to the Bundesdienstflagge is tolerated. In addition to the horizontal format, many public buildings in Germany use vertical flags. Most town halls fly their town flag together with the flag in this way. The proportions of these flags are not specified. When hung like a banner or draped, the band should be on the left
Flag of Germany
–
Origin of the Black-Red-Gold:
German Revolution of 1848 (
Berlin, 19 March 1848)
Flag of Germany
–
Germany
Flag of Germany
–
The German Unity Flag is a national memorial to
German reunification that was raised on 3 October 1990. It waves in front of the
Reichstag building in
Berlin (seat of the
German parliament).
Flag of Germany
–
Bundesdienstflagge at the
German Embassy, Canberra,
Australia
36.
Pantone
–
Pantone Inc. is a corporation headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey. X-Rite Inc. a supplier of color measurement instruments and software, Pantone began in New York City in the 1950s as the commercial printing company of M & J Levine Advertising. In 1956, its founders, advertising executives brothers Mervin and Jesse Levine, for instance, a particular page might contain a number of yellows of varying tints. The idea behind the PMS is to allow designers to color match specific colors when a design enters production stage and this system has been widely adopted by graphic designers and reproduction and printing houses. Pantone recommends that PMS Color Guides be purchased annually, as their inks become yellowish over time, Color variance also occurs within editions based on the paper stock used, while interedition color variance occurs when there are changes to the specific paper stock used. The Pantone Color Matching System is largely a standardized color reproduction system, by standardizing the colors, different manufacturers in different locations can all refer to the Pantone system to make sure colors match without direct contact with one another. One such use is standardizing colors in the CMYK process, the CMYK process is a method of printing color by using four inks—cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. A majority of the printed material is produced using the CMYK process. Those that are possible to simulate through the CMYK process are labeled as such within the companys guides, however, most of the Pantone systems 1,114 spot colors cannot be simulated with CMYK but with 13 base pigments mixed in specified amounts. The Pantone system also allows for many special colors to be produced, such as metallics, while most of the Pantone system colors are beyond the printed CMYK gamut, it was only in 2001 that Pantone began providing translations of their existing system with screen-based colors. Screen-based colors use the RGB color model—red, green, blue—system to create various colors, the Goe system has RGB and LAB values with each color. Pantone colors are described by their allocated number, PMS colors are almost always used in branding and have even found their way into government legislation and military standards. In January 2003, the Scottish Parliament debated a petition to refer to the blue in the Scottish flag as Pantone 300, countries such as Canada and South Korea and organizations such as the FIA have also chosen to refer to specific Pantone colors to use when producing flags. US states including Texas have set legislated PMS colors of their flags and it has also been used in an art project by the Brazilian photographer Angelica Dass which applies Pantone to the human skin color spectrum. On September 5,2007, Pantone introduced the Goe System, Goe consisted of over 2,000 new colors in a new matching and numbering system. The Goe system was streamlined to use base colors and accommodate many technical challenges in reproducing colors on a press. The Pantone Goe system was discontinued in November 2013, in mid-2006 Pantone, partnering with Vermont-based Fine Paints of Europe, introduced a new line of interior and exterior paints. The color palette uses Pantones color research and trending and has more than 3,000 colors, in November 2015, Pantone partnered with Redland London to create a collection of bags inspired from Pantones authority on color
Pantone
–
A logo designed by the
Government of Singapore to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the nation's independence. The usage instructions for the logo described it as being in Pantone Red 032 and White.
Pantone
–
This article is about the corporation and its color space. For other uses, see
Pantone (disambiguation).
37.
CMYK
–
The CMYK color model is a subtractive color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. CMYK refers to the four used in some color printing, cyan, magenta, yellow. Though it varies by print house, press operator, press manufacturer, the K in CMYK stands for key because in four-color printing, cyan, magenta and yellow printing plates are carefully keyed, or aligned, with the key of the black key plate. Some sources suggest that the K in CMYK comes from the last letter in black and was chosen because B already means blue. Some sources claim this explanation, although useful as a mnemonic, is incorrect, the CMYK model works by partially or entirely masking colors on a lighter, usually white, background. The ink reduces the light that would otherwise be reflected, such a model is called subtractive because inks subtract brightness from white. In additive color models such as RGB, white is the combination of all primary colored lights. In the CMYK model, it is the opposite, white is the color of the paper or other background. To save cost on ink, and to produce deeper black tones, unsaturated and dark colors are produced by using black ink instead of the combination of cyan, magenta, with halftoning, a full continuous range of colors can be produced. To improve print quality and reduce moiré patterns, the screen for each color is set at a different angle. Common reasons for using black ink include, In traditional preparation of color separations, in some cases a black keyline was used when it served as both a color indicator and an outline to be printed in black. Because usually the black plate contained the keyline, the K in CMYK represents the keyline or black plate, also sometimes called the key plate. A combination of 100% cyan, magenta, and yellow inks soaks the paper with ink, making it slower to dry, causing bleeding, adding black ink absorbs more light and yields much better blacks. Using black ink is less expensive than using the corresponding amounts of colored inks. When a very dark area is desirable, a colored or gray CMY bedding is applied first, then a black layer is applied on top, making a rich, deep black. A black made with just CMY inks is sometimes called a composite black, the amount of black to use to replace amounts of the other ink is variable, and the choice depends on the technology, paper and ink in use. Processes called under color removal, under addition, and gray component replacement are used to decide on the final mix. CMYK or process color printing is contrasted with spot color printing, some printing presses are capable of printing with both four-color process inks and additional spot color inks at the same time
CMYK
–
A color photograph of the
Teton Range.
CMYK
–
Color printing typically uses ink of four colors: cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black).
CMYK
–
The image above, separated for printing with process cyan, magenta, and yellow inks.
CMYK
–
The same image, this time separated with maximum black, to minimize ink use.
38.
RGB
–
The RGB color model is an additive color model in which red, green and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three primary colors, red, green and blue. Before the electronic age, the RGB color model already had a theory behind it. Thus an RGB value does not define the same color across devices without some kind of color management, typical RGB input devices are color TV and video cameras, image scanners, video games, and digital cameras. Typical RGB output devices are TV sets of technologies, computer and mobile phone displays, video projectors, multicolor LED displays. Color printers, on the hand are not RGB devices. This article discusses concepts common to all the different color spaces that use the RGB color model, to form a color with RGB, three light beams must be superimposed. Each of the three beams is called a component of color, and each of them can have an arbitrary intensity, from fully off to fully on. The RGB color model is additive in the sense that the three beams are added together, and their light spectra add, wavelength for wavelength. This is essentially opposite to the color model that applies to paints, inks, dyes. When the intensities for all the components are the same, the result is a shade of gray, darker or lighter depending on the intensity. When the intensities are different, the result is a colorized hue, a secondary color is formed by the sum of two primary colors of equal intensity, cyan is green+blue, magenta is red+blue, and yellow is red+green. The RGB color model itself does not define what is meant by red, green and blue colorimetrically, and so the results of mixing them are not specified as absolute, but relative to the primary colors. When the exact chromaticities of the red, green and blue primaries are defined, the normal three kinds of light-sensitive photoreceptor cells in the human eye respond most to yellow, green, and violet light. As an example, suppose that light in the range of wavelengths enters the eye. Light of these wavelengths would activate both the medium and long wavelength cones of the retina, but not equally—the long-wavelength cells will respond more, the difference in the response can be detected by the brain, and this difference is the basis of our perception of orange. Thus, the appearance of an object results from light from the object entering our eye and stimulating the different cones simultaneously. The first experiments with RGB in early color photography were made in 1861 by Maxwell himself, to reproduce the color photograph, three matching projections over a screen in a dark room were necessary
RGB
–
A representation of additive color mixing. Projection of
primary color lights on a screen shows secondary colors where two overlap; the combination of all three of red, green, and blue in equal intensities makes white.
RGB
–
The first permanent color photograph, taken by
J.C. Maxwell in 1861 using three filters, specifically red, green, and violet-blue.
RGB
–
A photograph of
Mohammed Alim Khan (1880–1944),
Emir of Bukhara, taken in 1911 by
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii using three exposures with red, green, and blue filters.
RGB
–
RGB
phosphor dots in a
CRT monitor
39.
Royal Palace of Brussels
–
The Royal Palace of Brussels is the official palace of the King and Queen of the Belgians in the centre of the nations capital Brussels. However it is not used as a residence, as the king. The Palace also includes the State Rooms where large receptions are held, the palace is situated in front of Brussels Park. A long square called the Paleizenplein/Place des Palais separates the palace from the park, the middle axis of the park marks both the middle peristyle of the palace and the middle of the facing building on the other side of the park, which is the Palace of the Nation. The two facing buildings are said to symbolize Belgiums system of government, a constitutional monarchy, the first nucleus of the present-day building dates from the end of the 18th century. However, the grounds on which the stands were once part of the Coudenberg Palace a very old palatial complex that dated back to the Middle Ages. The first building on the Coudenberg hill was constructed between the half of the 11th and first half of the 12th century. At that time it looked like a fortified castle forming a part of the fortifications of the city of Brussels. It was the home of the Dukes of Brabant who also resided in the city of Leuven. The Aula Magna, or Throne Room, was built for Philip the Good in the 15th century and it was in this room that the Emperor Charles V abdicated in 1555 in favour of his son Philip II of Spain. This prestigious complex was destroyed by a fire on February 3,1731. The ruins only disappeared when the district was redeveloped after 1775, at that time the urban axes of the present-day Brussels Park were laid out. The Place Royale was built on top of the ruined palace, excavations of the site by different archeological organisations have unearthed various remains of different parts of the Palace as well as the surrounding town. The monumental vaults remaining under the square and its buildings can be visited. The Palace of Charles of Lorraine is now part of the Royal Library of Belgium, the old palace garden was redesigned as a public park. On the other side of the park the middle axis of the park continued as a street between two newly built mansions, one served as the residence of the Abbot of the nearby Coudenberg Abbey, while the other was inhabited by important government members. After the Congress of Vienna in 1814, Brussels became the joint capital of the new established United Kingdom of the Netherlands and it was under the rule of William I of the Netherlands that the street was covered and the two mansions were joined with a gallery. The street running alongside the new palace was widened and thus the Place des Palais or Paleizenplein was created, the new square was called Square of the Palaces in plural, because another palace was built on the left side of the Royal Palace
Royal Palace of Brussels
–
Main façade of the Royal Palace of Brussels (constructed 1904)
Royal Palace of Brussels
Royal Palace of Brussels
–
The Palace of Coudenberg from a 17th-century painting
Royal Palace of Brussels
–
The façade prior to the 1900 refurbishing
40.
Saltire
–
A saltire, also called Saint Andrews Cross, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross, like the shape of the letter X in Roman type. The word comes from the Middle French sautoir, possibly owing to the shape of the areas in the design. It appears in flags, including those of Scotland and Jamaica. A variant, also appearing on many past and present flags, a warning sign in the shape of a saltire is also used to indicate the point at which a railway line intersects a road at a level crossing. In Unicode, the cross is encoded at U+2613 ☓ saltire, see X mark#Unicode for similar symbols that might be more accessible. The saltire appears on vexilla that are represented consistently on coinage of Christian emperors of Rome, in the ninth and tenth century the saltire was revived in Constantinople as a symbol of Christian-imperial power. Anne Roes detected the symbol, which appears with balls in the quadrants formed by the arms of the chi-cross. She suggested that early Christians endorsed its solar symbolism as appropriate to Christ and she also wrote, although it cannot be proved. In the white saltire of St. Andrew we still have a reminiscence of the old standard of the Persepolitan kingdom, when two or more saltires appear, they are usually blazoned as cut off. A saltorel is a saltire, the term is usually defined as one-half the width of the saltire. A field per saltire is divided into four areas by a saltire-shaped cut, otherwise, each of the four divisions may be blazoned separately. Examples include, Suffolk County Council, England, The Corporation of the Municipality of Brighton, when five or more compact charges are in saltire, one is in the center and one or more lie on each arm of an invisible saltire. The Saint Andrews Cross was worn as a badge on hats in Scotland, the Cross of Burgundy, a form of the Saint Andrews Cross, is used in numerous flags across Europe and the Americas. It was first used in the 15th century as an emblem by the Valois Dukes of Burgundy, the Duchy of Burgundy, forming a large part of eastern France and the Low Countries, was inherited by the House of Habsburg on the extinction of the Valois ducal line. As a result, the Cross of Burgundy has appeared in a variety of flags connected with territories formerly part of the Burgundian or Habsburg inheritance. Examples of such diversity include the Spanish naval ensign, the flag of Carlism, the flag of the Dutch municipality of Eijsden, the naval ensign of the Imperial Russian and Russian navies is a blue saltire on a white field. Prior to the Union the Royal Scots Navy used a red ensign incorporating the St Andrews Cross, with its colours exchanged, the same design forms part of the arms and flag of Nova Scotia. The Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza also use a blue saltire on a white field, the flags of the Spanish island of Tenerife and the remote Colombian islands of San Andrés and Providencia also use a white saltire on a blue field
Saltire
–
St Andrew crucified crucified on a diagonal cross
Saltire
Saltire
–
Timber framing Saltire in Duderstadt, Germany
Saltire
–
A blue-and-white saltire used on a road sign to represent the
Flag of Scotland.
41.
Belgian Navy
–
The Belgian Navy, officially the Marine Component of the Belgian Armed Forces, formerly the Belgian Naval Force, is the naval service of Belgium. The Belgian Navy was created as the Marine Royale in 1831 and this force has operated in various forms throughout Belgian history. When after the Belgian Revolution, the country became independent in 1830, to deal with this threat the Belgian Congress ordered two brigantines to be built, which bore the names Congrès and Les Quatre Journées. After the French army, led by Marshal Count Gérard, captured the citadel of Antwerp in 1832, in 1840 the Belgian government bought the schooner Louise Marie and in 1845 the brig Duc de Brabant. Louise Marie participated in the Rio Nuñez Incident in 1849, in 1862, the Belgian government discarded its navy and pursued a minimalistic naval policy. At the outbreak of World War I, Belgium had no navy but the war caused this policy to change, the Belgian naval personnel served onboard French minesweepers and provided the artillerymen for Belgian merchant ships. The Treaty of Versailles allocated Belgium 11 torpedo boats and 26 minesweepers, for budgetary reasons, Belgium again abolished its navy in 1927. In 1939, against the threat of a new war with Germany. This new navy, consisting mostly of patrol vessels and coastal artillery units. During the 18 days campaign, the trawler A4 evacuated much of the gold reserve to Britain. During World War II many members of this corps, together with Belgian fishermen. The Royal Navy took advantage of opportunity to enlist the Belgians into separate groups of more or less entirely Belgian-manned ships. From 1940 to 1946, the Belgian Section of the British Royal Navy manned two corvettes, a squadron of MMS minesweepers and three patrol boats, in 1946, Britain donated the ships to Belgium. Along with their crews these vessels became the backbone of the new Belgian Navy, in the beginning of the nineties, the end of the Cold War caused the Belgian government to restructure the Belgian Armed Forces in order to cope with the changed threats. This led to a reduction in the size of the Armed Forces, with regards to the Belgian navy, these cutbacks meant that one Wielingen-class frigate was taken out of service and that three Tripartite-class minehunters were sold to France. In 2002, the government decided to impose a single structure on the forces in which the independent Belgian Marine Royale ceased to exist. The former Navy became the Belgian Naval Component of the Armed Forces, on 21 December 2005, the Dutch government sold Karel Doorman and Willem Van Der Zaan to Belgium. The two ships were sold for about 250 million Euros and these two M-class frigates entered service with the Belgian Navy where they were renamed Leopold I and Louise-Marie
Belgian Navy
–
Leopold I, a
Belgian Karel Doorman-class frigate Photo credit: Belgian Naval Component
Belgian Navy
–
One of the first
gunboats of the Marine Royale
Belgian Navy
–
French and Belgian warships during
Rio Nuñez Incident in West Africa (1849)
Belgian Navy
–
An officer of the Belgian Naval Component
42.
Royal Navy
–
The Royal Navy is the United Kingdoms naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the medieval period. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century, from the middle decades of the 17th century and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century it was the worlds most powerful navy until surpassed by the United States Navy during the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing the British Empire as the world power during the 19th. Due to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, following World War I, the Royal Navy was significantly reduced in size, although at the onset of the Second World War it was still the worlds largest. By the end of the war, however, the United States Navy had emerged as the worlds largest, during the Cold War, the Royal Navy transformed into a primarily anti-submarine force, hunting for Soviet submarines, mostly active in the GIUK gap. The Royal Navy is part of Her Majestys Naval Service, which includes the Royal Marines. The professional head of the Naval Service is the First Sea Lord, the Defence Council delegates management of the Naval Service to the Admiralty Board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence. The strength of the fleet of the Kingdom of England was an important element in the power in the 10th century. English naval power declined as a result of the Norman conquest. Medieval fleets, in England as elsewhere, were almost entirely composed of merchant ships enlisted into service in time of war. Englands naval organisation was haphazard and the mobilisation of fleets when war broke out was slow, early in the war French plans for an invasion of England failed when Edward III of England destroyed the French fleet in the Battle of Sluys in 1340. Major fighting was confined to French soil and Englands naval capabilities sufficed to transport armies and supplies safely to their continental destinations. Such raids halted finally only with the occupation of northern France by Henry V. Henry VII deserves a large share of credit in the establishment of a standing navy and he embarked on a program of building ships larger than heretofore. He also invested in dockyards, and commissioned the oldest surviving dry dock in 1495 at Portsmouth, a standing Navy Royal, with its own secretariat, dockyards and a permanent core of purpose-built warships, emerged during the reign of Henry VIII. Under Elizabeth I England became involved in a war with Spain, the new regimes introduction of Navigation Acts, providing that all merchant shipping to and from England or her colonies should be carried out by English ships, led to war with the Dutch Republic. In the early stages of this First Anglo-Dutch War, the superiority of the large, heavily armed English ships was offset by superior Dutch tactical organisation and the fighting was inconclusive
Royal Navy
–
Royal Navy
Royal Navy
–
The
Battle of Sluys as depicted in
Froissart's Chronicles; late 14th century
Royal Navy
–
A late 16th century painting of the
Spanish Armada in battle with English warships
Royal Navy
–
The Dutch
Raid on the Medway in 1667 during the Second Anglo–Dutch War
43.
World War II
–
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
World War II
–
Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the
Battle of Wanjialing, Australian
25-pounder guns during the
First Battle of El Alamein, German
Stuka dive bombers on the
Eastern Front in December 1943, a U.S. naval force in the
Lingayen Gulf,
Wilhelm Keitel signing the
German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the
Battle of Stalingrad
World War II
–
The
League of Nations assembly, held in
Geneva,
Switzerland, 1930
World War II
–
Adolf Hitler at a German
National Socialist political rally in
Weimar, October 1930
World War II
–
Italian soldiers recruited in 1935, on their way to fight the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
44.
White ensign
–
It consists of a red St Georges Cross on a white field with the Union Flag in the upper canton. The White Ensign is also flown by yachts of members of the Royal Yacht Squadron, yachts of the Royal Irish Yacht Club fly a white ensign with an Irish tricolour in the first quadrant and defaced by the crowned harp from the Heraldic Badge of Ireland. Later, there was usually a St Georges Cross in the upper canton and this design fell out of use after 1630, with the introduction of the Red, White and Blue ensigns. The first recognisable White Ensign appears to have been in use during the 16th century, consisting of a field with a broad St Georges cross. By 1630 the white ensign consisted of simply a field, with a small St Georges cross in the canton. In 1707, the St. Georges cross was reintroduced to the flag as a whole, though not as broad as before, and the Union Flag was placed in the canton. There was also a version of this flag without the overall St Georges cross, in 1801, after the Act of Union 1800, the flag was updated to include the new Union Flag in the canton, and so took on the form as used today. Throughout this period, the proportions of the flags changed, in 1687, the then Secretary of the Admiralty, Samuel Pepys, instructed that flags be of the ratio 11,18. In the early 18th century, the breadth of cloth had been reduced to 10 inches, in 1837, the breadth was reduced for the final time to 9 inches, giving the current ratio of 1,2. Ships flew the colour of ensign corresponding to the squadron to which they were attached, Royal Navy ships and submarines wear the White Ensign at all times when underway on the surface. The White Ensign may also be worn on a gaff, when alongside, the White Ensign is worn at the stern, with the Union Flag flown as a jack at the bow, during daylight hours. The White Ensign may also be worn by the boats of commissioned ships, yachts of the Royal Yacht Squadron and the Trinity House vessels when escorting the Sovereign are also permitted to wear the White Ensign. On land, the White Ensign is flown at all naval shore establishments, permission has been granted to some other buildings with naval connections to fly the White Ensign. This includes the St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square, London, the Ensign is also displayed on the Cenotaph alongside the Union Flag and the Royal Air Force Ensign. Special permission was granted to any individual or body to fly the White Ensign to mark Trafalgar Day in 2006, the US destroyer Winston S. Churchill is the only US warship to fly the White Ensign along with the Stars and Stripes to honour her British namesake. Brunels SS Great Britain, although a merchant ship, appears to have worn the White Ensign, apparently because its first master brought it with him. The White Ensign was historically used, in its form, by the naval forces of Australia, Canada and New Zealand. In 1965, with the adoption of the Canadian Flag, Canada stopped using the White Ensign on its vessels in favour of the new flag
White ensign
–
Striped ensigns flying on English and Spanish galleons in 1588: (enlarge image for detailed view)
White ensign
–
The White Ensign: white field
defaced with the
Cross of Saint George, the
Union Flag in the first quarter.
White ensign
–
The White Ensign flying from a Royal Navy vessel.
White ensign
–
The White Ensign flying from
St Martin-in-the-Fields church in
Trafalgar Square, London.
45.
Naval jack
–
A maritime flag is a flag designated for use on ships, boats, and other watercraft. Naval flags are considered important at sea and the rules and regulations for the flying of flags are strictly enforced, the flag flown is related to the country of registration, so much so that the word flag is often used symbolically as a synonym for country of registration. Ensigns are usually required to be flown when entering and leaving harbour, when sailing through foreign waters, and when the ship is signalled to do so by a warship. Warships usually fly their ensigns between the morning ceremony and sunset when moored or at anchor, at all times when underway. When engaged in battle a warship often flies multiple battle ensigns and this tradition dates from the era of sailing vessels. Tradition dictated that if a ship lowered its ensign it was deemed to have surrendered, masts were targets of gunfire, and the second and subsequent ensigns were flown in order to keep the ensign flying even after a mast hit. Jacks are additional national flags flown by warships at the head of the ship and these are usually flown while not underway and when the ship is dressed on special occasions. Jacks in the Royal Navy must be run up when the first line is ashore when coming alongside, although they continued to fly the same ensign as U. S. Since then, commissioned ships of NOAA, which fly the same national ensign as U. S. Navy ships, have flown the flag of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as a distinguishing mark. Similarly, all ships of the United States Lighthouse Service flew the U. S, the rank flag or distinguishing flag is the flag flown by a superior officer on his flagship or headquarters. The origins of this are from the era before radiotelegraphy and radiotelephony, the flag denotes the ship which must be watched for signals designating orders. Such flags are also flown when leaders of the government are aboard Navy ships, today, with the progress in communications, this flag indicates the obligation of the other Naval vessels to pay the relevant honours according to nautical etiquette. In a group of ships all commanded by superior officers. In the Royal Navy, admirals fly rectangular rank flags, an Admiral of the Fleet flies a Union Flag, the flags of vice-admirals and rear-admirals have one and two additional red balls respectively. Commodores fly a Broad Pennant which is a short swallow-tailed pennant based on the St Georges Cross, in the United States Navy as well as in some other countries, admirals fly rectangular flags with stars according to rank. Line officer flags are blue with stars, while staff officer flags are white with blue stars. Captains, when commanding a flotilla or squadron, fly a burgee with the colours of Hellenic Navy Jack, when a rank flag is flown the commissioning pennant is displaced downward. The pennant, historically called a pennon, is a long narrow flag, conveying different meanings depending on its design, examples, A commissioning pennant, or masthead, which a warship flies from its masthead and indicates the commission of the captain of the ship
Naval jack
–
House flags, ca. 1900
Naval jack
–
A medieval ship flag captured from a
Danish ship by
Lübeck forces in 1427 showed the arms of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Pomerania. The original flag was destroyed in World War II during a British attack on Lübeck, but a 19th-century copy remains in
Frederiksborg Palace, Denmark. The saint accompanying the Virgin Mary and infant Christ is Saint
James the Greater, identified by his
scallop shell emblem.
Naval jack
–
Burgee of Barrachois Harbour Yacht Club, Nova Scotia, Canada
Naval jack
–
Superyacht Ariane NI in Toulon harbour, flying her British ensign and a French courtesy flag
46.
Philippe of Belgium
–
Philippe is the seventh king of the Belgians, having ascended the throne on 21 July 2013, following his fathers abdication. He is the eldest child of King Albert II, whom he succeeded upon Alberts abdication for health reasons and he married Countess Mathilde dUdekem dAcoz, with whom he has four children. King Philippes elder daughter, Princess Elisabeth, is next in the line of succession, Philippe was born on 15 April 1960 during the reign of his uncle, King Baudouin of Belgium. His father, Prince Albert, Prince of Liège was the son of King Leopold III of Belgium. His mother, Paola, Princess of Liège, is a daughter of Italian aristocrat Fulco VIII, Prince Ruffo di Calabria, 6th Duke of Guardia Lombarda. His mother descends from the French House of La Fayette, and he was born at the Belvédère Castle in Laeken north of Brussels. He was baptised one month later at the church of Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg in Brussels on 17 May and his godparents were his paternal grandfather, King Leopold III, and his maternal grandmother, Donna Luisa, Princess Ruffo di Calabria. From 1978 to 1981, Philippe was educated at the Belgian Royal Military Academy in the 118th Promotion Toutes Armes, on 26 September 1980, he was appointed second lieutenant and took the officers oath. He continued his education at Trinity College, Oxford and he attended school at Stanford University, California. He obtained his pilots wings and his certificates as a parachutist. In 1989, he attended a series of sessions at the Royal Higher Defence Institute. The same year, he was promoted to Colonel, on 25 March 2001, the Prince was appointed to the rank of Major-General in the Land Component and the Air Component and to the rank of Rear-Admiral in the Naval Component. He succeeded his father, who had been Honorary Chairman of the BFTB since 1962, on 3 May 2003, Philippe was appointed Honorary chairman of the board of the Foreign Trade Agency, replacing the BFTB. In this capacity, Philippe has headed more than 60 economic missions, upon his accession as seventh King of the Belgians, this role was taken over by his sister Princess Astrid. King Albert II announced on 3 July 2013 that he would abdicate in favour of Philippe on 21 July 2013, approximately one hour after King Albert IIs abdication, Prince Philippe was sworn in as King of the Belgians. His eldest child, Princess Elisabeth became his heir apparent and is expected to become Belgiums first queen regnant,26 September 1980 –21 March 1983, Belgian Air Force, Second lieutenant. January – end March 1983, Platoon leader, 15th Comp, 3rd Parachutists Battalion of the Paracommando Regt 21 March 1983 –1 December 1989, Belgian Air Force, Captain. 1 December 1989 –5 April 2001, Belgian Air Force, Colonel Belgian Army, since 21 July 2013, Belgian Air Component, General Belgian Land Component, General Belgian Marine Component, Admiral
Philippe of Belgium
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Philippe / Filip
Philippe of Belgium
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King Philippe and
Queen Mathilde wave to the crowds in Brussels after Philippe's swearing in as new Belgian monarch.
Philippe of Belgium
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Royal Military Acad.
Philippe of Belgium
47.
Monogram
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A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, a series of uncombined initials is properly referred to as a cypher and is not a monogram. Monograms first appeared on coins, as early as 350BC, the earliest known examples are of the names of Greek cities who issued the coins, often the first two letters of the citys name. For example, the monogram of Achaea consisted of the letters alpha, a famous example of a monogram serving as an artists signature is the AD used by Albrecht Dürer. Over the centuries, monograms of the name of Jesus Christ have been used as Christian symbols, the IX monogram consists of the initial Greek letters of the name Jesus Christ, I for Ιησούς, and X for Χριστος. The IHS Christogram, denoting the first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus, is written as a cypher. Perhaps the most significant Christogram is the Chi Rho, formed from the first two letters of Χριστος, monograms of the names of monarchs are used as part of the insignia of public organizations in kingdoms, such as on police badges. This indicates a connection to the ruler, however, the royal cypher, so familiar on pillar boxes, is not technically a monogram, since the letters are not combined. Royal monograms often appear on coins, frequently surmounted by a crown, countries that have employed this device in the past include Bulgaria, Great Britain, Russia, Sweden and many German states. Today, several Danish coins carry the monogram of Margrethe II, the only countries using the Euro to have a royal monogram as their national identifying mark are Belgium and Monaco. In Thailand royal monograms appear on the flag for each major royal family member. An individuals monogram is often a very fancy piece of art used for stationery, for adorning luggage, for embroidery on clothing and these monograms may have two or three letters. Married or engaged couples may use two-letter monograms of their entwined initials, married couples may also create three-letter monograms incorporating the initial of their shared surname. For example, the monogram MJA might be used for Michael, however, monogramming etiquette for the married couple varies according to the item being monogrammed. Linens, for example, typically list the womans given initial first, followed by the shared surname initial. Monograms can often be found on dress shirts where they can be located in a number of different positions. Some companies and organizations adopt a monogram for a logo, usually with the letters of their acronym, for example, as well as having an official seal, and the Texas Longhorns logo, the University of Texas at Austin uses a UT monogram. The New York Yankees baseball team uses a monogram on their ball cap insignia
Monogram
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Monogram of the
Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie), formerly above the entrance to the
Castle of Good Hope in
South Africa.
Monogram
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The
Chi-Rho, a monogram of the first two letters of the Greek word for
Christ.
Monogram
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Speciedaler of
Denmark, bearing the double C7 monogram of
Christian VII.
Monogram
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Logo on cover of 1896 edition of
The American Claimant by
Mark Twain
48.
Royal Castle of Laeken
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The Royal Castle of Laeken is the official residence of the King of the Belgians and the royal family. It lies in the Brussels region,5 km north of the city centre in the Laeken neighbourhood and it sits in a large park called the Royal Domain of Laeken, which is off-limits to the public. Jean-Joseph Chapuis provided the royal furnitures, on 21 July 1803, Nicolas-Jean Rouppe, as commissioner of the department of the Dijle, received Napoleon at the Castle of Laeken. The palace was destroyed by fire in 1890 and was rebuilt by Alphonse Balat. The French architect Charles Girault gave it its present outline in 1902 and it has been the royal residence since the Leopold Is accession to the throne in 1831. The domain also contains the magnificent Royal Greenhouses of Laeken, a set of monumental dome-shaped constructions and they were designed as well by Alphonse Balat, with the cooperation of the young Victor Horta. Upon their accession to the throne in 1993, King Albert II and Queen Paola preferred to remain living at Belvédère, the current occupants of the Castle are King Philippe, Queen Mathilde and their four children. The royal estate is surrounded by a garden, that is protected by a stone wall of several kilometers. The gardens are designed in English style, the vast parks of the Royal Domain include lakes, during the reign of Leopold II they had their major splendor. The king planted tress and was very connected with the designs of his private gardens. In the gardens his only son, the duke of Brabant drowned in a lake, the king had trees planted for his new born children, and still stand in the park. Various pavilions like the Chinese Pavilion and the Japanese Tower, the Chinese Pavilion was commissioned by King Leopold II and now forms part of the Museums of the Far East. The rooms are designed in a chinoiserie Louis XIV and Louis XVI Style and they are decorated with Chinese motifs, chinaware and silverware. The Japanese Tower is a pagoda, originally built for the World Fair of Paris in 1900, today only the king himself and his children use this garden, generally the gardens are closed for the public. Inside the gardens we can find a collection of old plants. Not only the Greenhouses but the garden too is famous for its varieties of animals. In the gardens several living colonies of wild Canadian goose, thousands of cormorants, the gardens are home to one of the biggest colonies of Herons of the country. Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator of Zaire, built a palace in his hometown of Gbadolite modelled upon the Royal Castle of Laeken, Royal Trust List of castles in Belgium The Royal Castle of Laeken at Visit Brussels
Royal Castle of Laeken
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Main façade of the Royal Palace of Laeken
Royal Castle of Laeken
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Engraving of the Royal Palace from Pierre-Jacques Goetghebuer 's Choix des monuments (1827)
Royal Castle of Laeken
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Photograph of the
Royal Greenhouses in 2012
Royal Castle of Laeken
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view of the wing built by Leopold II
49.
Foreshortening
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Perspective in the graphic arts is an approximate representation, on a flat surface, of an image as it is seen by the eye. If viewed from the spot as the windowpane was painted. Each painted object in the scene is thus a flat, scaled down version of the object on the side of the window. All perspective drawings assume the viewer is a distance away from the drawing. Objects are scaled relative to that viewer, an object is often not scaled evenly, a circle often appears as an ellipse and a square can appear as a trapezoid. This distortion is referred to as foreshortening, Perspective drawings have a horizon line, which is often implied. This line, directly opposite the viewers eye, represents objects infinitely far away and they have shrunk, in the distance, to the infinitesimal thickness of a line. It is analogous to the Earths horizon, any perspective representation of a scene that includes parallel lines has one or more vanishing points in a perspective drawing. A one-point perspective drawing means that the drawing has a vanishing point, usually directly opposite the viewers eye. All lines parallel with the line of sight recede to the horizon towards this vanishing point. This is the standard receding railroad tracks phenomenon, a two-point drawing would have lines parallel to two different angles. Any number of vanishing points are possible in a drawing, one for each set of lines that are at an angle relative to the plane of the drawing. Perspectives consisting of parallel lines are observed most often when drawing architecture. In contrast, natural scenes often do not have any sets of parallel lines, the only method to indicate the relative position of elements in the composition was by overlapping, of which much use is made in works like the Parthenon Marbles. Chinese artists made use of perspective from the first or second century until the 18th century. It is not certain how they came to use the technique, some authorities suggest that the Chinese acquired the technique from India, oblique projection is also seen in Japanese art, such as in the Ukiyo-e paintings of Torii Kiyonaga. This was detailed within Aristotles Poetics as skenographia, using flat panels on a stage to give the illusion of depth, the philosophers Anaxagoras and Democritus worked out geometric theories of perspective for use with skenographia. Alcibiades had paintings in his house designed using skenographia, so this art was not confined merely to the stage, Euclids Optics introduced a mathematical theory of perspective, but there is some debate over the extent to which Euclids perspective coincides with the modern mathematical definition
Foreshortening
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Staircase in two-point perspective.
Foreshortening
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15th century illustration from the
Old French translation of
William of Tyre 's Histoire d'Outremer.
Foreshortening
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Geometrically incorrect attempt at perspective in a 1614 painting of
Old St Paul's Cathedral. (
Society of Antiquaries)
Foreshortening
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Codex Amiatinus (7th century). Portrait, of Ezra, from folio 5r at the start of
Old Testament
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