1.
Lilium
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Lilium is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world, most species are native to the temperate northern hemisphere, though their range extends into the northern subtropics. Many other plants have lily in their name but are not related to true lilies. Lilies are tall perennials ranging in height from 2–6 ft and they form naked or tunicless scaly underground bulbs which are their overwintering organs. In some North American species the base of the bulb develops into rhizomes, most bulbs are deeply buried, but a few species form bulbs near the soil surface. With these, the bulb grows naturally at some depth in the soil and these roots are in addition to the basal roots that develop at the base of the bulb. The flowers are large, often fragrant, and come in a range of colours including whites, yellows, oranges, pinks, reds, markings include spots and brush strokes. The plants are late spring- or summer-flowering, flowers are borne in racemes or umbels at the tip of the stem, with six tepals spreading or reflexed, to give flowers varying from funnel shape to a Turks cap. The tepals are free from other, and bear a nectary at the base of each flower. The ovary is superior, borne above the point of attachment of the anthers, the fruit is a three-celled capsule. They exhibit varying and sometimes complex patterns, many adapted to cool temperate climates. Naturally most cool temperate species are deciduous and dormant in winter in their native environment, the basic chromosome number is twelve. 2007, the taxonomy of Chinese species follows the Flora of China and these genera include Cardiocrinum, Notholirion, Nomocharis and Fritillaria. The botanic name Lilium is the Latin form and is a Linnaean name, the Latin name is derived from the Greek λείριον, leírion, generally assumed to refer to true, white lilies as exemplified by the Madonna lily. The word was borrowed from Coptic hleri, from standard hreri, from Demotic hrry, meillet maintains that both the Egyptian and the Greek word are possible loans from an extinct, substratum language of the Eastern Mediterranean. The Greeks also used the word κρῖνον, krīnon, albeit for non-white lilies, all English translations of the Bible render the Hebrew shūshan, shōshan, shōshannā as lily, but the lily among the thorns of Song of Solomon, for instance, may be the honeysuckle. For a list of species described as lilies, see Lily. The range of lilies in the Old World extends across much of Europe, across most of Asia to Japan, south to India, and east to Indochina, in the New World they extend from southern Canada through much of the United States
2.
Motif (textile arts)
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In the textile arts, a motif is a smaller element in a much larger work. In knitting and crochet, motifs are made one at a time, an example of a motif is the granny square. Motifs may be varied or rotated for contrast and variety, or to new shapes, as with quilt blocks in quilts. Motifs can be any size, but usually all the motifs in any given work are the same size, motifs may commemorate events or convey information or political slogans. For example, the blocks of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, the possible Quilts of the Underground Railroad
3.
Saint Joseph
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Christian tradition places Joseph as Jesus foster father. Some historians state that Joseph was Jesus father, some differing views are due to theological interpretations versus historical views. In both Catholic and Protestant traditions, Joseph is regarded as the saint of workers and is associated with various feast days. In popular piety, Joseph is regarded as a model for fathers and has also become patron of various dioceses and places, several notable images of Saint Joseph have been granted a Canonical coronation by a Pope. In popular religious iconography he is associated with lilies or a spikenard, with the present-day growth of Mariology, the theological field of Josephology has also grown and since the 1950s centers for studying it have been formed. According to the New Testament, Joseph was the father of James, Joses, Judas, Simon, the Pauline epistles make no reference to Jesus father, nor does the Gospel of Mark. The first appearance of Joseph is in the gospels of Matthew, consequently, all the names between David and Joseph are different. Some scholars, such as Harry A. Ironside reconcile the genealogies by viewing the Solomonic lineage in Matthew as Josephs major royal line, the epistles of Paul are generally regarded as the oldest extant Christian writings. These mention Jesus mother, but do not refer to his father, the Book of Mark, the first gospel to be written, with a date about two decades after Paul, also does not mention Jesus father. Joseph first appears in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, both dating from around 80-90 AD, the issue of reconciling the two accounts has been the subject of debate. In Matthew, Joseph obeys the direction of an angel to marry Mary, once Herod has died, an angel tells Joseph to return, but to avoid Herods son he takes his wife and the child to Nazareth in Galilee and settles there. In Luke, Joseph already lives in Nazareth, and Jesus is born in Bethlehem because Joseph, lukes account makes no mention of angels and dreams, the Massacre of the Innocents, or of a visit to Egypt. The last time Joseph appears in person in any Gospel is in the story of the Passover visit to the Temple in Jerusalem when Jesus is 12 years old, no mention is made of him thereafter. The story emphasizes Jesus awareness of his mission, here Jesus speaks to his parents of my father, meaning God. Christian tradition represents Mary as a widow during the ministry of her son. Joseph is not mentioned as being present at the Wedding at Cana at the beginning of Jesus mission, nor at the Passion at the end. If he had been present at the Crucifixion, he would under Jewish custom have been expected to charge of Jesus body. Nor would Jesus have entrusted his mother to the care of John the Apostle if her husband had been alive, in Mark 6,3, they call Jesus Marys son instead of naming his father
4.
Catholic
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The use of terms catholicism and catholicity is closely related to the use of term Catholic Church. The earliest evidence of the use of term is the Letter to the Smyrnaeans that Ignatius of Antioch wrote in about 108 to Christians in Smyrna. In 380, Emperor Theodosius I limited use of the term Catholic Christian exclusively to those who followed the faith as Pope Damasus I of Rome. Numerous other early writers including Cyril of Jerusalem, Augustine of Hippo further developed the use of the term catholic in relation to Christianity. In Christian theology, and specially in ecclesiology, terms Catholicism, when used with small c, terms catholicism and catholicity generally designate theological doctrine of the catholicity of the Church without denominational connotations. A common belief in Catholicism is institutional continuity with the early Christian church founded by Jesus Christ, many churches or communions of churches identify singularly or collectively as the authentic church. The Bishop of Rome was also considered to have the right to convene ecumenical councils, when the Imperial capital moved to Constantinople, Romes influence was sometimes challenged. The first great rupture in the Church followed this Council and they are often called Ancient Oriental Churches. The next major break was after the Council of Chalcedon and this Council repudiated Eutychian Monophysitism which stated that the divine nature completely subsumed the human nature in Christ. This Council declared that Christ, though one person, exhibited two natures without confusion, without change, without division, without separation and thus is both fully God and fully human, the next great rift within Christianity was in the 11th century. This division between the Western Church and the Eastern Church is called the East–West Schism, several eastern churches reunited, constituting some of the Eastern Catholic Churches. Liturgical and canonical practices vary between all these particular Churches constituting the Roman and Eastern Catholic Churches, in all these cases the beliefs and practices of Catholicism would be identical with the beliefs and practices of the Church in question. However, in Roman Catholicism, the term catholic is understood as to cover those who recognize and are in standing with the Magisterium. The sense given to the word by those who use it to distinguish their position from a Calvinistic or Puritan form of Protestantism. It is then meaningful to attempt to draw up a list of common characteristic beliefs, the Roman Catholic Church includes the 23 rites who recognize the Magisterium. Belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the belief that Christ is made manifest in the elements of Holy Communion, possession of the threefold ordained ministry of Bishops, Priests and Deacons. Belief that the Church is the vessel and deposit of the fullness of the teachings of Jesus and this teaching is preserved in both written scripture and in unwritten tradition, neither being independent of the other. A belief in the necessity and efficacy of sacraments, liturgical and personal use of the Sign of the Cross The use of sacred images, candles, vestments and music, and often incense and water, in worship
5.
French heraldry
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French heraldry is the use of heraldic symbols in France. Although it had a history, existing from the 11th century, such formality has largely died out in France. Civic heraldry on the hand remains a visible part of daily life. The role of the herald in France declined in the 17th century, today the law recognises both assumed and inherited arms, considering them under law to be equivalent to a visual representation of a name, and given the same protections. However, there is no central registry of arms, in case of dispute, many of the terms in international heraldry come from French. Like the British system of heraldry, the French follow the Rule of Tinctures and this states that there are two types of Tinctures, the colors Sable, Gules, Vert and Azure and metals Or and Argent. Arms that do not follow the Rule of Tinctures are referred to as Armes pour enquérir, French heraldry has a set system of crown and coronets. Supporters are not linked with any rank or title, unlike the coronets, even the Royal Arms angelic supporters are not shown in most depictions. Crests are rare in modern depictions, again in contrast to England, the current emblem of France has been a symbol of France since 1953, although it does not have any legal status as an official coat of arms. In 1953, France received a request from the United Nations for a copy of the coat of arms to be displayed alongside the coats of arms of other member states in its assembly chamber. An interministerial commission requested Robert Louis, heraldic artist, to produce a version of the Chaplain design and this did not, however, constitute an adoption of an official coat of arms by the Republic. Technically speaking, it is a rather than a coat of arms, since it does not respect heraldic rules—heraldry being seen as an aristocratic art. The emblem consists of, A wide shield with lion-head terminal bears a monogram RF standing for République Française, a laurel branch symbolises victory of the Republic. An oak branch symbolises perennity or wisdom, the fasces is a symbol associated with justice. It is a symbol of France that appears on French postage stamps but has not been adopted officially by any of the French republics. All cities within France have coats of arms, these are intertwined with local traditions over history. Each region of France has its own coat of arms, although usage varies, there may be substantial disagreements with this table
6.
Unicode
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Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the worlds writing systems. As of June 2016, the most recent version is Unicode 9.0, the standard is maintained by the Unicode Consortium. Unicodes success at unifying character sets has led to its widespread, the standard has been implemented in many recent technologies, including modern operating systems, XML, Java, and the. NET Framework. Unicode can be implemented by different character encodings, the most commonly used encodings are UTF-8, UTF-16 and the now-obsolete UCS-2. UTF-8 uses one byte for any ASCII character, all of which have the same values in both UTF-8 and ASCII encoding, and up to four bytes for other characters. UCS-2 uses a 16-bit code unit for each character but cannot encode every character in the current Unicode standard, UTF-16 extends UCS-2, using one 16-bit unit for the characters that were representable in UCS-2 and two 16-bit units to handle each of the additional characters. Many traditional character encodings share a common problem in that they allow bilingual computer processing, Unicode, in intent, encodes the underlying characters—graphemes and grapheme-like units—rather than the variant glyphs for such characters. In the case of Chinese characters, this leads to controversies over distinguishing the underlying character from its variant glyphs. In text processing, Unicode takes the role of providing a unique code point—a number, in other words, Unicode represents a character in an abstract way and leaves the visual rendering to other software, such as a web browser or word processor. This simple aim becomes complicated, however, because of concessions made by Unicodes designers in the hope of encouraging a more rapid adoption of Unicode, the first 256 code points were made identical to the content of ISO-8859-1 so as to make it trivial to convert existing western text. For other examples, see duplicate characters in Unicode and he explained that he name Unicode is intended to suggest a unique, unified, universal encoding. In this document, entitled Unicode 88, Becker outlined a 16-bit character model, Unicode could be roughly described as wide-body ASCII that has been stretched to 16 bits to encompass the characters of all the worlds living languages. In a properly engineered design,16 bits per character are more than sufficient for this purpose, Unicode aims in the first instance at the characters published in modern text, whose number is undoubtedly far below 214 =16,384. By the end of 1990, most of the work on mapping existing character encoding standards had been completed, the Unicode Consortium was incorporated in California on January 3,1991, and in October 1991, the first volume of the Unicode standard was published. The second volume, covering Han ideographs, was published in June 1992, in 1996, a surrogate character mechanism was implemented in Unicode 2.0, so that Unicode was no longer restricted to 16 bits. The Microsoft TrueType specification version 1.0 from 1992 used the name Apple Unicode instead of Unicode for the Platform ID in the naming table, Unicode defines a codespace of 1,114,112 code points in the range 0hex to 10FFFFhex. Normally a Unicode code point is referred to by writing U+ followed by its hexadecimal number, for code points in the Basic Multilingual Plane, four digits are used, for code points outside the BMP, five or six digits are used, as required. Code points in Planes 1 through 16 are accessed as surrogate pairs in UTF-16, within each plane, characters are allocated within named blocks of related characters
7.
National emblem of France
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The French Republic currently uses two emblems. One has been a symbol of France since 1912, although it not have any legal status as an official coat of arms. In 1953, France received a request from the United Nations for a copy of a coat of arms to be displayed alongside the coats of arms of other member states in its assembly chamber. An interministerial commission requested Robert Louis, heraldic artist, to produce a version of the Chaplain design and this did not, however, constitute an adoption of an official coat of arms by the Republic. It consists of, A wide shield with, on the one end a lion-head and on the other an eagle-head, an oak branch symbolises perennity or wisdom. The fasces, an associated with the exercise of justice. This use of the fasces predates the adoption of this symbol by Benito Mussolini as the emblem of Italian Fascism, the historical coat of arms of France were the golden fleurs-de-lys on a blue field, used continuously for nearly six centuries. They were first shown as semé, that is to say without any number and staggered. With this decision, King Charles V intended to place the kingdom under the invocation of the Virgin. The traditional supporters of the French royal arms are two angels, sometimes wearing a heraldic dalmatic, great Seal of France Media related to Coats of arms of France at Wikimedia Commons
8.
Coat of arms
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A coat of arms is an heraldic visual design on an escutcheon, surcoat, or tabard. The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the heraldic achievement which in its whole consists of shield, supporters, crest. A coat of arms is traditionally unique to a person, family, state. The ancient Romans used similar insignia on their shields, but these identified military units rather than individuals, the first evidence of medieval coats of arms has been attributed to the 11th century Bayeux Tapestry in which some of the combatants carry shields painted with crosses. However, that heraldic interpretation remains controversial, coats of arms came into general use by feudal lords and knights in battle in the 12th century. By the 13th century, arms had spread beyond their initial battlefield use to become a flag or emblem for families in the social classes of Europe. Exactly who had a right to use arms, by law or social convention, in the German-speaking regions both the aristocracy and burghers used arms, while in most of the rest of Europe they were limited to the aristocracy. The use of spread to the clergy, to towns as civic identifiers. Flags developed from coats of arms, and the arts of vexillology, the coats of arms granted to commercial companies are a major source of the modern logo. Despite no widespread regulation, heraldry has remained consistent across Europe, some nations, like England and Scotland, still maintain the same heraldic authorities which have traditionally granted and regulated arms for centuries and continue to do so in the present day. In England, for example, the granting of arms is and has controlled by the College of Arms. Unlike seals and other emblems, heraldic achievements have a formal description called a blazon. Many societies exist that also aid in the design and registration of personal arms, in the heraldic traditions of England and Scotland, an individual, rather than a family, had a coat of arms. In those traditions coats of arms are legal property transmitted from father to son, wives, undifferenced arms are used only by one person at any given time. Other descendants of the bearer could bear the ancestral arms only with some difference. One such charge is the label, which in British usage is now always the mark of an apparent or an heir presumptive. Because of their importance in identification, particularly in seals on legal documents and this has been carried out by heralds and the study of coats of arms is therefore called heraldry. In time, the use of arms spread from military entities to educational institutes, the author Helen Stuart argues that some coats of arms were a form of corporate logo
9.
French monarchy
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The monarchs of the Kingdom of France and its predecessors ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of the Franks in 486 till the fall of the Second French Empire in 1870. Sometimes included as kings of France are the kings of the Franks of the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled from 486 until 751, and of the Carolingians, who ruled until 987. The Capetian dynasty, the descendants of Hugh Capet, included the first rulers to adopt the title of king of France for the first time with Philip II. The Capetians ruled continuously from 987 to 1792 and again from 1814 to 1848, the branches of the dynasty which ruled after 1328, however, are generally given the specific branch names of Valois and Bourbon. During the brief period when the French Constitution of 1791 was in effect and after the July Revolution in 1830 and it was a constitutional innovation known as popular monarchy which linked the monarchs title to the French people rather than to the possession of the territory of France. With the House of Bonaparte Emperors of the French ruled in 19th century France and it was used on coins up to the eighteenth century. During the brief period when the French Constitution of 1791 was in effect and after the July Revolution in 1830 and it was a constitutional innovation known as popular monarchy which linked the monarchs title to the French people rather than to the possession of the territory of France. They used the title Emperor of the French and this article lists all rulers to have held the title King of the Franks, King of France, King of the French or Emperor of the French. For other Frankish monarchs, see List of Frankish kings, in addition to the monarchs listed below, the Kings of England and Great Britain from 1340–60, 1369-1420, and 1422–1801 also claimed the title of King of France. For a short time, this had some basis in fact – under the terms of the 1420 Treaty of Troyes, Charles VI had recognized his son-in-law Henry V of England as regent and heir. Henry V predeceased Charles VI and so Henry Vs son, Henry VI, most of Northern France was under English control until 1435, but by 1453, the English had been expelled from all of France save Calais, and Calais itself fell in 1558. Nevertheless, English and then British monarchs continued to claim the title for themselves until the creation of the United Kingdom in 1801. The Merovingians were a Salian Frankish dynasty that ruled the Franks for nearly 300 years in a known as Francia in Latin. Their territory largely corresponded to ancient Gaul as well as the Roman provinces of Raetia, Germania Superior, the Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. In 751, a Carolingian, Pepin the Younger, dethroned the Merovingians and with the consent of the Papacy, the Robertians were Frankish noblemen owing fealty to the Carolingians, and ancestors of the subsequent Capetian dynasty. Odo, Count of Paris, was chosen by the western Franks to be their king following the removal of emperor Charles the Fat, the Bosonids were a noble family descended from Boso the Elder, their member, Rudolph, was elected King of the Franks in 923. After the death of Louis V, the son of Hugh the Great and grandson of Robert I, the Capetian Dynasty, the male-line descendants of Hugh Capet, ruled France continuously from 987 to 1792 and again from 1814 to 1848. They were direct descendants of the Robertian kings, the cadet branches of the dynasty which ruled after 1328, however, are generally given the specific branch names of Valois and Bourbon
10.
Monarchy of Spain
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The Monarchy of Spain, constitutionally referred to as the Crown, is a constitutional institution and historic office of Spain. It used to be called the Hispanic Monarchy. The monarchy comprises the monarch, his or her family. The Spanish monarchy is represented by King Felipe VI, his wife Queen Letizia, and their daughters Leonor, Princess of Asturias, the Spanish Constitution of 1978 reestablished a constitutional monarchy as the form of government for Spain. The 1978 constitution affirmed the role of the King of Spain as the personification and embodiment of the Spanish State, constitutionally, the king is the head-of-state and commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed Forces. According to the constitution, the monarch is also instrumental in promoting relations with the nations of its historical community, the King of Spain serves as the president of the Ibero-American States Organization, purportedly representing over 700,000,000 people in twenty-four member nations worldwide. In 2008, Juan Carlos I was considered the most popular leader in all Ibero-America, a dynastic marriage between Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon united Spain in the 15th century. The last pretender of the Crown of the Byzantine Empire, Andreas Palaiologos, sold his title to Ferdinand II of Aragon. However, there is no evidence that any Spanish monarch has used the Byzantine imperial titles, the Spanish Empire became one of the first global powers as Isabella and Ferdinand funded Christopher Columbuss exploratory voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. This led to the discovery of America, which became the focus of Spanish colonization, in 2010, the budget for the Spanish monarchy was 7.4 million euros, one of the lowest public expenditures for the institution of monarchy in Europe. One of the earliest influential dynasties was the House of Jiménez which united much of Christian Iberia under its leadership in the 11th century. From Sancho III of Navarre until Urraca of León and Castile, the Jiménez rulers sought to bring their kingdoms into the European mainstream and often engaged in cross-Pyrenees alliances and marriages, and became patrons to Cluniac Reforms. Urracas son and heir Alfonso VII of León and Castile, the first of the Spanish branch of the Burgundy Family, was the last to claim the title of Spain. The Castilian Civil War ended with the death of King Peter at the hands of his illegitimate half-brother Henry, Henry II became the first of the House of Trastámara to rule over a Spanish kingdom. King Peters heiress, his granddaughter Catherine of Lancaster, married Henry III, reuniting the dynasties in the person of their son, each kingdom retained its basic structure. In 1492 the Catholic Monarchs conquered the Kingdom of Granada in southern Spain and this date marks the unification of Spain. The territories of the Spanish empire overseas were dependencies of the crown of Castile, in the early 16th century, the Spanish monarchy controlled several territories in Europe under the Habsburg King Charles I, son of Queen Joanna of Castile. His reign ushered in the Spanish Golden Age a period of colonial expansion
11.
House of Bourbon
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The House of Bourbon is a European royal house of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century, by the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma. Spain and Luxembourg currently have Bourbon monarchs, the royal Bourbons originated in 1268, when the heiress of the lordship of Bourbon married a younger son of King Louis IX. The house continued for three centuries as a branch, while more senior Capetians ruled France, until Henry IV became the first Bourbon king of France in 1589. Restored briefly in 1814 and definitively in 1815 after the fall of the First French Empire, a cadet Bourbon branch, the House of Orléans, then ruled for 18 years, until it too was overthrown. The Princes de Condé were a branch of the Bourbons descended from an uncle of Henry IV. Both houses were prominent in French affairs, even during exile in the French Revolution, until their respective extinctions in 1830 and 1814. When the Bourbons inherited the strongest claim to the Spanish throne, the claim was passed to a cadet Bourbon prince, a grandson of Louis XIV of France, who became Philip V of Spain. The Spanish House of Bourbon has been overthrown and restored several times, reigning 1700–1808, 1813–1868, 1875–1931, Bourbons ruled in Naples from 1734–1806 and in Sicily from 1734–1816, and in a unified Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 1816–1860. They also ruled in Parma from 1731–1735, 1748–1802 and 1847–1859, all legitimate, living members of the House of Bourbon, including its cadet branches, are direct agnatic descendants of Henry IV. The term House of Bourbon is sometimes used to refer to this first house and the House of Bourbon-Dampierre, the second family to rule the seigneury. In 1268, Robert, Count of Clermont, sixth son of King Louis IX of France, married Beatrix of Bourbon, heiress to the lordship of Bourbon and their son Louis was made Duke of Bourbon in 1327. His descendant, the Constable of France Charles de Bourbon, was the last of the senior Bourbon line when he died in 1527. Because he chose to fight under the banner of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and lived in exile from France, the remaining line of Bourbons henceforth descended from James I, Count of La Marche, the younger son of Louis I, Duke of Bourbon. With the death of his grandson James II, Count of La Marche in 1438, all future Bourbons would descend from James IIs younger brother, Louis, who became the Count of Vendôme through his mothers inheritance. In 1514, Charles, Count of Vendôme had his title raised to Duke of Vendôme and his son Antoine became King of Navarre, on the northern side of the Pyrenees, by marriage in 1555. Two of Antoines younger brothers were Cardinal Archbishop Charles de Bourbon, Louis male-line, the Princes de Condé, survived until 1830. Finally, in 1589, the House of Valois died out and he was born on 13 December 1553 in the Kingdom of Navarre
12.
Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg
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The Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg constitutes the House of Luxembourg-Nassau, headed by the sovereign Grand Duke, and in which the throne of the grand duchy is hereditary. In 1443 the last member of the branch of the House of Luxemburg, Duchess Elisabeth, sold the Duchy of Luxembourg to Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy. In 1477 the duchy passed by marriage of Philips granddaughter, Mary of Burgundy, Luxembourgs territories, centering on the ancestral castle, were taken from occupying French forces in the first stages of the fall of Napoleon. Thus William I of the Netherlands ascended the ducal throne as the first Grand Duke of Luxemburg. His son, Guillaume IV, left no sons and was succeeded by his daughters, Marie-Adélaïde and her descendants comprise the Grand Ducal House in the 21st century. The monarch bears the style of Royal Highness, to which the heir apparent is also entitled, the other male-line descendants of Grand Duke Adolphe held the titles Prince/Princess of Luxembourg and Prince/Princess of Nassau, with the style of Grand Ducal Highness. Male line descendants of Grand Duchess Charlotte who are not the children of a Grand Duke or Hereditary Grand Duke are Prince/Princess of Nassau with the style of His/Her Royal Highness, a grand ducal decree in 2012 further defined the rules of titles borne. The wives, children and male-line descendants of a prince of the dynasty whose marriage has not received grand ducal consent are Count/Countess de Nassau, Grand Dukes Adolphe and William IV were Evangelical Christians. William married the Roman Catholic Marie Anne of Portugal, believing that a country in which the majority of people were Roman Catholic should also have a Roman Catholic monarch. HRH Grand Duke Henri Albert Gabriel Félix Marie Guillaume of Luxembourg is the current Grand Duke of Luxembourg and he was born on April 16,1955. He was married on February 14,1981 to Maria Teresa Mestre and became Grand Duke when his father, Jean and their children are, Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, the Grand Dukes eldest son, born on November 11,1981. He is the Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Hereditary Prince of Nassau and he was married on October 20,2012 to Countess Stephanie de Lannoy. Prince Félix of Luxembourg, Prince of Nassau, born on June 3,1984 and he is Prince of Luxembourg and Prince of Nassau. He was married on September 21,2013 to Claire Margareta Lademacher and they have a daughter and a son together, Princess Amalia Gabriela Maria Teresa of Nassau was born on June 15,2014 at the Grand Duchess Charlotte Maternity Hospital in Luxembourg City. Prince Liam Henri Hartmut of Nassau was born on 28 November 2016 at the Geneva, Prince Louis of Luxembourg, born on August 3,1986. He is Prince of Luxembourg and Prince of Nassau and he was married on September 29,2006 to Tessy Antony. Upon marrying, Prince Louis renounced his right of prior to his marriage. Prince Louis and Antony divorced in 2017 Prince Gabriel Michael Louis Ronny of Nassau was born out of wedlock in Switzerland on March 12,2006
13.
Estates of the realm
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The estates of the realm were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom from the medieval period to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and evolved over time, the best known system is the French Ancien Régime, a three-estate system used until the French Revolution. Monarchy was for the king and the queen and this system was made up of clergy, nobles, furthermore, the non-landowning poor could be left outside the estates, leaving them without political rights. In England, a system evolved that combined nobility and bishops into one lordly estate with commons as the second estate. This system produced the two houses of parliament, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, in southern Germany, a three-estate system of nobility, ritters, and burghers was used. Today the term Fourth Estate usually refers to forces outside the power structure. Historically, in Northern and Eastern Europe, the Fourth Estate meant rural commoners, during the Middle Ages individuals were born into their class and change in social position was difficult. The medieval Church was the institution where social mobility was most likely up to a certain level, typically, however, only nobility were appointed to the highest church positions, although low nobility could aspire to the highest church positions. Another possible way to rise in position was due to exceptional military or commercial success. Such families were rare and their rise to nobility required royal patronage at some point, medieval political speculation is imbued to the marrow with the idea of a structure of society based upon distinct orders, Johan Huizinga observes. There are, first of all, the estates of the realm, but there are also the trades, the state of matrimony and that of virginity, at court there are the four estates of the body and mouth, bread-masters, cup-bearers, carvers, and cooks. In the Church there are orders and monastic orders. Finally there are the different orders of chivalry and this static view of society was predicated on inherited positions. Commoners were universally considered the lowest order, a persons estate and position within it were usually inherited from the father and his occupation, similar to a caste within that system. In many regions and realms there also existed population groups born outside these specifically defined resident estates, legislative bodies or advisory bodies to a monarch were traditionally grouped along lines of these estates, with the monarch above all three estates. Meetings of the estates of the realm became early legislative and judicial parliaments, monarchs often sought to legitimize their power by requiring oaths of fealty from the estates. Today, in most countries, the estates have lost all their legal privileges, one of the earliest political pamphlets to address these ideas was called What Is the Third Estate. It was written by Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès in January 1789, the struggle over investiture and the reform movement also legitimized all secular authorities, partly on the grounds of their obligation to enforce discipline
14.
Departments of France
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In the administrative divisions of France, the department is one of the three levels of government below the national level, between the administrative regions and the commune. There are 96 departments in metropolitan France and 5 overseas departments, each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council. From 1800 to April 2015, they were called general councils, the departments were created in 1791 as a rational replacement of Ancien Régime provinces with a view to strengthen national unity, the title department is used to mean a part of a larger whole. Almost all of them were named after geographical features rather than after historical or cultural territories which could have their own loyalties. The earliest known suggestion of it is from 1764 in the writings of dArgenson and they have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies. Most French departments are assigned a number, the Official Geographical Code. Some overseas departments have a three-digit number, the number is used, for example, in the postal code, and was until recently used for all vehicle registration plates. For example, inhabitants of Loiret might refer to their department as the 45 and this reform project has since been abandoned. The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 by Marc-René dArgenson to serve as administrative areas purely for the Ponts et Chaussées infrastructure administration, before the French Revolution, France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of independent entities. By the close of the Ancien Régime, it was organised into provinces, during the period of the Revolution, these were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. Their boundaries served two purposes, Boundaries were chosen to break up Frances historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural differences, Boundaries were set so that every settlement in the country was within a days ride of the capital of the department. This was a security measure, intended to keep the national territory under close control. This measure was directly inspired by the Great Terror, during which the government had lost control of rural areas far from any centre of government. The old nomenclature was carefully avoided in naming the new departments, most were named after an areas principal river or other physical features. Even Paris was in the department of Seine, the number of departments, initially 83, was increased to 130 by 1809 with the territorial gains of the Republic and of the First French Empire. Following Napoleons defeats in 1814-1815, the Congress of Vienna returned France to its pre-war size, in 1860, France acquired the County of Nice and Savoy, which led to the creation of three new departments. Two were added from the new Savoyard territory, while the department of Alpes-Maritimes was created from Nice, the 89 departments were given numbers based on their alphabetical order. The department of Bas-Rhin and parts of Meurthe, Moselle, Vosges and Haut-Rhin were ceded to the German Empire in 1871, following Frances defeat in the Franco-Prussian War
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Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
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Florence
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Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the Metropolitan City of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants, Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time. It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has called the Athens of the Middle Ages. A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, from 1865 to 1871 the city was the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy. The Historic Centre of Florence attracts 13 million tourists each year and it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. The city is noted for its culture, Renaissance art and architecture, the city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pitti, and still exerts an influence in the fields of art, culture and politics. Due to Florences artistic and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, in 2008, the city had the 17th highest average income in Italy. Florence originated as a Roman city, and later, after a period as a flourishing trading and banking medieval commune. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, it was politically, economically, and culturally one of the most important cities in Europe, the language spoken in the city during the 14th century was, and still is, accepted as the Italian language. Starting from the late Middle Ages, Florentine money—in the form of the gold florin—financed the development of all over Europe, from Britain to Bruges, to Lyon. Florentine bankers financed the English kings during the Hundred Years War and they similarly financed the papacy, including the construction of their provisional capital of Avignon and, after their return to Rome, the reconstruction and Renaissance embellishment of Rome. Florence was home to the Medici, one of European historys most important noble families, Lorenzo de Medici was considered a political and cultural mastermind of Italy in the late 15th century. Two members of the family were popes in the early 16th century, Leo X, catherine de Medici married king Henry II of France and, after his death in 1559, reigned as regent in France. Marie de Medici married Henry IV of France and gave birth to the future king Louis XIII, the Medici reigned as Grand Dukes of Tuscany, starting with Cosimo I de Medici in 1569 and ending with the death of Gian Gastone de Medici in 1737. The Etruscans initially formed in 200 BC the small settlement of Fiesole and it was built in the style of an army camp with the main streets, the cardo and the decumanus, intersecting at the present Piazza della Repubblica. Situated along the Via Cassia, the route between Rome and the north, and within the fertile valley of the Arno, the settlement quickly became an important commercial centre. Peace returned under Lombard rule in the 6th century, Florence was conquered by Charlemagne in 774 and became part of the Duchy of Tuscany, with Lucca as capital. The population began to again and commerce prospered
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Stamen
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The stamen is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium, a stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament and an anther which contains microsporangia. Most commonly anthers are two-lobed and are attached to the filament either at the base or in the area of the anther. The sterile tissue between the lobes is called the connective, a pollen grain develops from a microspore in the microsporangium and contains the male gametophyte. The stamens in a flower are called the androecium. The androecium can consist of as few a one-half stamen as in Canna species or as many as 3,482 stamens which have been counted in Carnegiea gigantea, the androecium in various species of plants forms a great variety of patterns, some of them highly complex. It surrounds the gynoecium and is surrounded by the perianth, a few members of the family Triuridaceae, particularly Lacandonia schismatica, are exceptional in that their gynoecia surround their androecia. Stamen is the Latin word meaning thread, depending on the species of plant, some or all of the stamens in a flower may be attached to the petals or to the floral axis. They also may be free-standing or fused to one another in different ways, including fusion of some. The filaments may be fused and the free, or the filaments free. Rather than there being two locules, one locule of a stamen may fail to develop, or alternatively the two locules may merge late in development to give a single locule, a typical anther contains four microsporangia. The microsporangia form sacs or pockets in the anther, the two separate locules on each side of an anther may fuse into a single locule. Each microsporangium is lined with a tissue layer called the tapetum. These undergo meiosis to form haploid spores, the spores may remain attached to each other in a tetrad or separate after meiosis. Each microspore then divides mitotically to form an immature microgametophyte called a pollen grain, the pollen is eventually released when the anther forms openings. These may consist of longitudinal slits, pores, as in the family, or by valves. More commonly, mature pollen grains separate and are dispensed by wind or water, pollinating insects, pollen of angiosperms must be transported to the stigma, the receptive surface of the carpel, of a compatible flower, for successful pollination to occur. After arriving, the pollen grain typically completes its development and it may grow a pollen tube and undergoing mitosis to produce two sperm nuclei
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Petal
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Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators, together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals, the calyx and the corolla together make up the perianth. When the petals and sepals of a flower are difficult to distinguish, examples of plants in which the term tepal is appropriate include genera such as Aloe and Tulipa. Conversely, genera such as Rosa and Phaseolus have well-distinguished sepals and petals, when the undifferentiated tepals resemble petals, they are referred to as petaloid, as in petaloid monocots, orders of monocots with brightly coloured tepals. Since they include Liliales, a name is lilioid monocots. Although petals are usually the most conspicuous parts of animal-pollinated flowers, wind-pollinated species, such as the grasses, the role of the corolla in plant evolution has been studied extensively since Charles Darwin postulated a theory of the origin of elongated corollae and corolla tubes. If the petals are free from one another in the corolla, the corolla in some plants forms a tube. Petals can differ dramatically in different species, the number of petals in a flower may hold clues to a plants classification. For example, flowers on eudicots most frequently have four or five petals while flowers on monocots have three or six petals, although there are exceptions to this rule. The petal whorl or corolla may be radially or bilaterally symmetrical. If all of the petals are essentially identical in size and shape, many flowers are symmetrical in only one plane and are termed irregular or zygomorphic. In irregular flowers, other parts may be modified from the regular form. Examples of zygomorphic flowers may be seen in orchids and members of the pea family, in many plants of the aster family such as the sunflower, Helianthus annuus, the circumference of the flower head is composed of ray florets. Each ray floret is anatomically an individual flower with a large petal. Florets in the centre of the disc typically have no or very reduced petals, in some plants such as Narcissus the lower part of the petals or tepals are fused to form a floral cup above the ovary, and from which the petals proper extend. Petal often consists of two parts, the upper, broad part, similar to leaf blade, called the limb, claws are developed in petals of some flowers of the family Brassicaceae, such as Erysimum cheiri. The inception and further development of shows a great variety of patterns
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Argent
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In heraldry, argent /ˈɑːrdʒənt/ is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures, called metals. It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it, in engravings and line drawings, regions to be tinctured argent are either left blank or indicated with the abbreviation ar. in them. The name derives from Latin argentum, translated as silver or white metal, the word argent had the same meaning in Old French blazon, from which it passed into the English language. In some historical depictions of coats of arms, a kind of leaf was applied to those parts of the device that were argent. Over time, the content of these depictions has tarnished and darkened. As a result, it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish regions that were intended as argent from those that were sable. This leaves an impression that the rule of tincture has been violated in cases where. He bases this in part on the labels used to difference the arms of members of the British Royal Family. However, it has argued that these could be regarded as white labels proper. Sometimes, the different tinctures are said to be connected with special meanings or virtues, even if this is an idea mostly disregarded by serious heraldists throughout the centuries, it may be of anecdotal interest to see what they are, since the information is so often sought after. Many sources give different meanings, but argent is often said to represent the following, Of jewels, the pearl Of heavenly bodies, the Moon Of metals, silver
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Gules
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In heraldry, gules is the tincture with the colour red, and belongs to the class of dark tinctures called colours. In engraving, it is depicted as a region of vertical lines or else marked with gu. as an abbreviation. In Polish heraldry, gules is the most common tincture of the field, through the sixteenth century, nearly half of all noble coats of arms in Poland had a field gules with one or more argent charges on them. The original coat of arms of the family was plain gules. Sometimes, the different tinctures are said to be connected with special meanings or virtues, even if this is an idea mostly disregarded by serious heraldists throughout the centuries, it may be of anecdotal interest to see what they are, since people often ask for this information. Many sources give different meanings, but the gules tincture is said to represent the following, of jewels. The term gules derives from the Old French word goules, literally meaning throats, for many decades, heraldic authors have believed that the term may have arisen from the Persian word گل, but according to Brault there is no evidence to support this derivation
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Guelphs and Ghibellines
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The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively, in the Italian city-states of central and northern Italy. During the 12th and 13th centuries, rivalry between two parties formed a particularly important aspect of the internal politics of medieval Italy. The struggle for power between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire had arisen with the Investiture Controversy, which began in 1075, the division between the Guelphs and Ghibellines in Italy, however, persisted until the 15th century. Guelph is an Italian form of the name of the House of Welf, the names were likely introduced to Italy during the reign of Frederick Barbarossa. When Frederick conducted military campaigns in Italy to expand imperial power there, the Lombard League and its allies were defending the liberties of the urban communes against the Emperors encroachments and became known as Guelphs. The Ghibellines were thus the party, while the Guelphs supported the Pope. Broadly speaking, Guelphs tended to come from wealthy mercantile families, the Lombard League defeated Frederick at the Battle of Legnano in 1176. Frederick recognized the autonomy of the cities of the Lombard league under his nominal suzerainty. The division developed its own dynamic in the politics of medieval Italy, smaller cities tended to be Ghibelline if the larger city nearby was Guelph, as Guelph Republic of Florence and Ghibelline Republic of Siena faced off at the Battle of Montaperti,1260. Pisa maintained a staunch Ghibelline stance against her fiercest rivals, the Guelph Republic of Genoa, adherence to one of the parties could therefore be motivated by local or regional political reasons. Within cities, party allegiances differed from guild to guild, rione to rione, moreover, sometimes traditionally Ghibelline cities allied with the Papacy, while Guelph cities were even punished with interdict. Contemporaries did not use the terms Guelph and Ghibellines much until about 1250, at the beginning of the 13th century, Philip of Swabia, a Hohenstaufen, and his son-in-law Otto of Brunswick, a Welf, were rivals for the imperial throne. Philip was supported by the Ghibellines as a relative of Frederick I, Frederick II also introduced this division to the Crusader states in the Levant during the Sixth Crusade. After the death of Frederick II in 1250 the Ghibellines were supported by Conrad IV of Germany and later Manfred, King of Sicily, the Sienese Ghibellines inflicted a noteworthy defeat on Florentine Guelphs at the Battle of Montaperti. In that period the stronghold of Italian Ghibellines was the city of Forlì and that city remained with the Ghibelline factions, partly as a means of preserving its independence, rather than out of loyalty to the temporal power, as Forlì was nominally in the Papal States. Over the centuries, the papacy tried several times to control of Forlì. Essentially the two sides were now fighting either against German influence, or against the power of the Pope. In Florence and elsewhere the Guelphs usually included merchants and burghers and they also adopted peculiar customs such as wearing a feather on a particular side of their hats, or cutting fruit a particular way, according to their affiliation
22.
Zenobius of Florence
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Saint Zenobius is venerated as the first bishop of Florence. His feast day is celebrated on May 25, born of a Florentine noble family, he was educated by his pagan parents. He came under the early of the bishop Theodore, was baptized by him. His deacons are venerated as St. Eugene and St. Crescentius and he evangelized Florence and its outskirts completely and combated Arianism. His body was first buried in the Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze, in the back of the middle of the three apses is the altar of Saint Zenobius. Its bronze shrine, designed around 1440, a masterpiece of Ghiberti, the central relief shows us one of his miracles, the reviving of a dead child. Above this shrine is the painting Last Supper by Giovanni Balducci, there was also a glass-paste mosaic panel The Bust of Saint Zanobius by the 16th century miniaturist Monte di Giovanni, but it is now on display in the Museo dellOpera del Duomo. Extraordinary miracles, including instances of the restoration of the dead to life, are attributed to him. Zenobius is said to have resurrected several dead people and it is also said that after his death, a dead elm burst into life after his body touched it while being borne to the cathedral for burial. A legend states that a child was run over by a cart while playing. His mother, a widow, wailed as she brought the child to Zenobius deacon. By means of a prayer, St. Zenobius revived the child, Zenobius is often depicted with a dead child or man in his arms, or a flowering elm, both in reference to his miracles. Sandro Botticelli depicted the life and work of St. Zenobius on four paintings, in the first scene, St Zenobius is shown twice, he rejects the bride that his parents intended him to take in marriage and walks thoughtfully away. The other episodes show the baptism of the young Zenobius and his mother, on the wall of the Palazzo Vecchio are frescoes by Domenico Ghirlandaio, painted in 1482. The apotheosis of St. Zenobius was painted with an illusion of the background. Ferguson, George Signs and Symbols in Christian Art,147 and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Hunter-Blair, D. O. Zenobius, Saint. Saints of May 25, Zenobius of Florence Santi e beati, San Zanobi Zenobius Xavierus of Poland
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John the Baptist
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John the Baptist, also known as John the Baptizer, was a Jewish itinerant preacher in the early first century AD. John is revered as a religious figure in Christianity, Islam, the Baháí Faith. He is called a prophet by all of these traditions, and is honoured as a saint in many Christian traditions, John used baptism as the central symbol or sacrament of his messianic movement. Most scholars agree that John baptized Jesus, scholars generally believe Jesus was a follower or disciple of John and several New Testament accounts report that some of Jesus early followers had previously been followers of John. John the Baptist is also mentioned by the Jewish historian Josephus, according to the New Testament, John anticipated a messianic figure greater than himself. Christians commonly refer to John as the precursor or forerunner of Jesus, John is also identified with the prophet Elijah. John the Baptist is mentioned in all four canonical Gospels and the non-canonical Gospel of the Nazarenes, the Synoptic Gospels describe John baptising Jesus, in the Gospel of John it is implied in John 1, 32-34. The Gospel of Mark introduces John as a fulfilment of a prophecy from the Book of Isaiah about a messenger being sent ahead, John is described as wearing clothes of camels hair, living on locusts and wild honey. John proclaims baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin, and says another will come after him who will not baptize with water, Jesus comes to John, and is baptized by him in the river Jordan. The account describes how, as he emerges from the water, the heavens open, a voice from heaven then says, You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased. Later in the gospel there is an account of Johns death and it is introduced by an incident where the Tetrarch Herod Antipas, hearing stories about Jesus, imagines that this is John the Baptist raised from the dead. It then explains that John had rebuked Herod for marrying Herodias, Herodias demands his execution, but Herod, who liked to listen to John, is reluctant to do so because he fears him, knowing he is a righteous and holy man. The account then describes how Herods daughter Herodias dances before Herod, when the girl asks her mother what she should request, she is told to demand the head of John the Baptist. Reluctantly, Herod orders the beheading of John, and his head is delivered to her, at her request, Johns disciples take the body away and bury it in a tomb. There are a number of difficulties with this passage, the Gospel wrongly identifies Antipas as King and the ex-husband of Herodias is named as Philip, but he is known to have been called Herod. Although the wording clearly implies the girl was the daughter of Herodias, many texts describe her as Herods daughter, Herodias. Since these texts are early and significant and the reading is difficult, many see this as the original version, corrected in later versions and in Matthew. Josephus says that Herodias had a daughter by the name of Salome, scholars have speculated about the origins of the story
24.
Florin (Italian coin)
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The Florentine florin was a coin struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 72 grains of pure or fine gold worth approximately 140 modern US dollars. The fiorino doro of the Republic of Florence was the first European gold coin struck in sufficient quantities to play a significant commercial role since the seventh century, in the fourteenth century, a hundred and fifty European states and local coin-issuing authorities made their own copies of the florin. The most important of these was the Hungarian forint, because the Kingdom of Hungary was a source of European gold. The design of the original Florentine florins was the distinctive fleur-de-lis badge of the city on one side, on other countries florins, the inscriptions were changed, and local heraldic devices were substituted for the fleur-de-lis. Later, other figures were often substituted for St. John, on the Hungarian forints, St. John was re-labelled St. Ladislaus, an early Christian king and patron saint of Hungary, and a battle axe substituted for the originals sceptre. Gradually the image became more regal looking, the weight of the original fiorino doro of Florence was chosen to equal the value of one lira in the local money of account in 1252. However, the content of the florin did not change while the money of account continued to inflate, by 1500. The values of other countries money continually varied against each other, Lira History of coins in Italy Soldo Venetian grosso Venetian lira Denaro Lira http, //www. gmmnut. com/gmm/sca/florin. html - See Discussion Philip Grierson. Money and its use in medieval Europe, richard A. Goldthwaite http, //www3. telus. net/Quattrocento_Florence/economy. html BROKEN as of Feb 2011 Money museum, Fiorino dOro
25.
Liljendal
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Liljendal is a former municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and was part of the Eastern Uusimaa region, the municipality had a population of 1,472 and covered an area of 119.64 square kilometres of which 5.97 km2 is water. The population density was 12.95 inhabitants per square kilometre, the municipality was bilingual, with majority being Swedish and minority Finnish speakers. The municipality has also been known as Liljentaali in Finnish documents. Liljendal was consolidated to Loviisa, together with Pernå and Ruotsinpyhtää, media related to Liljendal at Wikimedia Commons Municipality of Liljendal – Official website
26.
Lelystad
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Lelystad is a municipality and a city in the centre of the Netherlands, and it is the capital of the province of Flevoland. The city, built on reclaimed land, was founded in 1967 and was named after Cornelis Lely, Lelystad is approximately 3 metres below sea level. Lelystad is built on the seabed of the former Zuiderzee, about 6500 years ago this wetland was above high tide level and inhabited, the Netherlands have steadily subsided since. Near Lelystad at Swifterbant, the oldest human skeletons in Western Europe were discovered, due to rising water levels and storms, the peatlands were washed away, and the Lacus Flevo grew to be the Almere and became the Zuiderzee. The Zuiderzee was the transport route from Amsterdam to the North Sea. Due to the shipwrecks in Flevoland, Lelystad now houses the National Centre for Maritime History, with a museum. After the Second World War the Zuiderzee Works continued, constructing the polder of Eastern Flevoland, in 1950 work commenced on several construction islands in the middle of the IJsselmeer. Lelystad-Haven was the largest island, and its wooden barracks housed a community of dyke-builders, in 1955 they reached the mainland, which made it possible to drive to Lelystad by car. One of the three pumping stations, which drained the polder in June 1957, was the diesel-powered Wortman in Lelystad-Haven, until 1967 the only inhabitants of Lelystad were technical engineers and laborers and superintendents, living on the former construction island. Lelystad is the largest municipality in the Netherlands in area, but a part of that area is water, Markermeer and IJsselmeer. Another major area is the famous nature park of Oostvaardersplassen. Lelystad is also surrounded by a square of woodlands and parks, the importance of the landscape and sky is emphasized by several pieces of land art, engineers work and works such as the Observatorium by Robert Morris. Lelystad has several tourist attractions, including, The replica of the 17th-century ship Batavia at the Batavia Shipyard, on the Midland Circuit many motor, kart and stock car racing events and several autoclub meetings are held. On the coast there are several marinas, Lelystad can be reached by air, water, and land. Air, Lelystad Airport is a satellite of the national airport Schiphol. Although no regular flights between Schiphol and Lelystad Airport exist, in 2018 all holiday flights will leave/arrive from/on Lelystad Airport. Water, Lelystad has its own port, several marinas. Rail, the Weesp–Lelystad railway connects the city with Almere and Amsterdam, the Lelystad–Zwolle railway connects Lelystad with Dronten, Kampen and Zwolle
27.
Canting arms
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Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearers name in a visual pun or rebus. The term cant came into the English language from Anglo-Norman cant, meaning song or singing, from Latin cantāre, french heralds used the term Armes Parlantes, as they would sound out the name of the armiger. Many armorial allusions require research for elucidation because of changes in language, canting arms – some in the form of rebuses – are quite common in German civic heraldry. They have also increasingly used in the 20th century among the British royal family. When the visual representation is not straightforward but as complex as a rebus, an in-joke among Society for Creative Anachronism heralds is the pun, Heralds dont pun, they cant. A famous example of canting arms are those of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and her arms contain in sinister the bows and blue lions that make up the arms of the Bowes and Lyon families. Municipal coats of arms which interpret the name in rebus form are also called canting
28.
Lincoln, England
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Lincoln is a cathedral city and the county town of Lincolnshire, within the East Midlands of England. The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a 2012 population of 94,600, the 2011 census gave the entire urban area of Lincoln a population of 130,200. Lincoln developed from the Roman town of Lindum Colonia, which developed from an Iron Age settlement, Lincolns major landmarks are Lincoln Cathedral, a famous example of English Gothic architecture, and Lincoln Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle. The city is home to the University of Lincoln and Bishop Grosseteste University. See Lincoln City F. C. for Lincoln City Football Club, the earliest origins of Lincoln can be traced to the remains of an Iron Age settlement of round wooden dwellings that have been dated to the 1st century BC. This settlement was built by a pool in the River Witham at the foot of a large hill. The extent of original settlement is unknown as its remains are now buried deep beneath the later Roman and medieval ruins. The Celtic name Lindon was subsequently Latinised to Lindum and given the title Colonia when it was converted into a settlement for army veterans, the conversion to a colonia was made when the legion moved on to York in AD71. It became a flourishing settlement, accessible from the sea both through the River Trent and through the River Witham. Subsequently, however, the town and its waterways fell into decline, by the close of the 5th century the city was largely deserted, although some occupation continued under a Praefectus Civitatis, for Saint Paulinus visited a man of this office in Lincoln in AD629. During this period the Latin name Lindum Colonia was shortened in Old English to become first Lindocolina, after the first destructive Viking raids, the city once again rose to some importance, with overseas trading connections. After the establishment of the Danelaw in 886, Lincoln became one of the Five Boroughs in the East Midlands, excavations at Flaxengate reveal that this area, deserted since Roman times, received new timber-framed buildings fronting a new street system in about 900. Lincoln experienced an explosion in its economy with the settlement of the Danes. By 950, however, the banks of the Witham were newly developed with the Lower City being resettled and the suburb of Wigford quickly emerging as a major trading centre. In 1068, two years after the Norman conquest, William I ordered Lincoln Castle to be built on the site of the former Roman settlement, for the strategic reasons. The rebuilt Lincoln Minster, enlarged to the east at each rebuilding, was on a magnificent scale, its crossing tower crowned by a spire reputed to have been 525 ft high, the highest in Europe. When completed the central of the three spires is widely accepted to have succeeded the Great Pyramids of Egypt as the tallest man-made structure in the world, when Magna Carta was drawn up in 1215, one of the witnesses was Hugh of Wells, Bishop of Lincoln. One of only four surviving originals of the document is preserved in Lincoln Castle, theologian William de Montibus was the head of the cathedral school and chancellor until his death in 1213
29.
Wiesbaden
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Wiesbaden is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. In July 2016, it had about 288,000 inhabitants, the Wiesbaden urban area is home to approx. The city, together with nearby Frankfurt am Main, Darmstadt and Mainz, is part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region, Wiesbaden is one of the oldest spa towns in Europe. Its name translates to meadow baths, making reference to the hot springs and it is internationally famous for its architecture, climate, and its hot springs. At one time, Wiesbaden boasted 26 hot springs, fourteen of the springs are still flowing today. In 1970, the hosted the tenth Hessentag state festival. The city is considered the tenth richest in Germany with 113. 3% of gross domestic product, every citizen has an average annual buying power of €24,798. Wiesbaden is situated on the bank of the Rhine River, below the confluence of the Main. The city is across the Rhine from Mainz, the capital of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Frankfurt am Main is located about 38 kilometres east, to the north of the city are the Taunus Mountains, which trend in a northeasterly direction. The city center, the Stadtmitte, is located in the north-easternmost part of the Upper Rhine Valley at the spurs of the Taunus mountains, about 5 kilometres from the Rhine. The downtown is drained only by the valley of the Salzbach. The citys main line and the Mainz road follow this valley. Above the city center, the Salzbach is better known as the Rambach, the highest point of the Wiesbaden municipality is located northwest of the city center near the summit of the Hohe Wurzel, with an elevation of 608 metres above sea level. The lowest point is the entrance of Schierstein at 83 metres above sea level. The central square is at an elevation of 115 metres, Wiesbaden covers an area of 204 km2. It is 17.6 kilometres from north to south and 19.7 kilometres from west to east, in the north are vast forest areas, which cover 27. 4% of the urban area. In the west and east are vineyards and agricultural land, which cover 31. 1% of the area, of the municipalitys 79 kilometres -long border, the Rhine makes up 10.3 kilometres
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Skierniewice
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Skierniewice is a town in central Poland with 49,132 inhabitants, situated in the Łódź Voivodship, previously capital of Skierniewice Voivodship. It is the capital of Skierniewice County, the town is situated almost exactly halfway between Łódź and Warsaw. Skierniewice gained municipal rights in 1457 and it has a famous railway station that was once part of the historic Warsaw-Vienna Railway. On September 15,1884 it was the setting for the meeting of the Three Emperors League
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Jurbarkas
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Jurbarkas is a city in Tauragė County, Lithuania. It is on the shore of the Nemunas River at its confluence with the tributaries Mituva. The town became an important road junction after a bridge was built over the Neman in 1978, the name Jurbarkas is derived from the Ordensburg castle, Georgenburg, built in the 13th century. Jurbarkas has also known by many derivate spellings in various languages throughout its history. The most notable names for the city include, in Samogitian Jorbarks, in German Georgenburg, Jurgenburg, and Eurburg, in Polish, Jurbork. Although Jurbarkas is said to have been a seat of Lithuanian princes from the Palemonids legend and this castle was constructed 3 km west of the current town on a hill now known as Bispiliukai, while the Lithuanians built a castle on Bispulis hill by the Imsre. Although the German crusaders were often at war with the Lithuanians, Mindaugas, King of Lithuania, the castle of Georgenburg was abandoned by the Teutonic Knights after their defeat in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410. In 1586 famous chronicler Maciej Stryjkowski became a church provost in Jurbarkas, King Sigismund III Vasa granted Jurbarkas its Magdeburg rights in 1611. In 1795 Jurbarkas was annexed by the Russian Empire during the partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and was part of Vilna Governorate. Its growth stagnated during the 19th century as traffic on the Neman decreased because of the rise of railways, the town was briefly liberated from the occupying Russian forces by the insurgents during the November Uprising in 1831. Because of its location, Jubarkas often suffered from floods. 120 houses burned down from a fire in 1906, Jurbarkas was for centuries a multi-ethnic community. During the 17th century some of the towns Jewish population were employed as tax collectors for the Lithuanian government, by 1714 Jubarkas had 2,333 Jews. By 1790 the town had a Jewish cemetery and a Wooden synagogue, in 1862 there were 2,550 Jews. In 1843 Emperor Nicholas I ordered that Jews living within 50 km of the Empires western border should relocate eastward, the Jewish Enlightenment prospered in Jurbarkas. Many of the towns citizens left during World War I, although some returned and it became part of Raseiniai County in the independent Lithuania created after the war. The population decreased from 7,391 in 1897 to 4,409 in 1923, the Jewish population decreased over the same period from 2,350 to 1,887, though that represented an increase from 32% to 43%. A government census in Jurbarkas in 1931 indicated that Jews owned 69 of 75 business and 18 of 19 light industries, the Soviet Union occupied the town in 1940 during World War II and nationalized many of the Jewish-owned companies
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Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’
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Schlieren, Switzerland
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Schlieren is a municipality in the district of Dietikon in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. The oldest artifact discovered in the Canton of Zürich is a Stone Age Neanderthal hand axe which was found in Schlieren, until 1415, Schlieren belonged to Habsburg. After the conquest of Aargau by the Swiss Confederates it was a component of the county of Baden, in 1803 Schlieren was assigned to the Canton of Zürich. In 1777 the minister Heinrich Keller created here the first deaf-mute school in Switzerland, thanks to the proximity to the city of Zürich and the good traffic facilities, Schlieren showed a population growth of 10,000 since the 1930s. Schlieren was considered for inclusion of the expansion of Zurichs city limits, Schlieren has an area of 6.6 km2. Of this area,19. 5% is used for agricultural purposes, of the rest of the land,50. 7% is settled and the remainder is non-productive. In 1996 housing and buildings made up 36. 6% of the total area, of the total unproductive area, water made up 1. 8% of the area. As of 200743. 5% of the municipal area was undergoing some type of construction. Schlieren lies to the south of the river Limmat in the Limmat Valley and it is part of the Zurich metropolitan area. Schlieren has a population of 13,860, of which 42. 5% are foreign nationals, as of 2008 the gender distribution of the population was 50. 6% male and 49. 4% female. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 10. 2%, most of the population speaks German, with Italian being second most common and Serbian being third. In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 40. 8% of the vote, the next three most popular parties were the SPS, the FDP and the CVP. The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers make up 20. 1% of the population, while adults make up 64. 2%, in Schlieren about 58. 8% of the population have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education. There are 6262 households in Schlieren, Schlieren has an unemployment rate of 4. 23%. As of 2005, there were 62 people employed in the economic sector. 2796 people are employed in the sector and there are 189 businesses in this sector. 8688 people are employed in the sector, with 659 businesses in this sector. As of 200739. 1% of the population were employed full-time
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Estonia
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Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia, across the Baltic Sea lies Sweden in the west and Finland in the north. The territory of Estonia consists of a mainland and 2,222 islands and islets in the Baltic Sea, covering 45,339 km2 of land and water, and is influenced by a humid continental climate. The territory of Estonia has been inhabited since at least 6500 BC, in 1988, during the Singing Revolution, the Estonian Supreme Soviet issued the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration in defiance of Soviet rule, and independence was restored on 20 August 1991. Estonia is a parliamentary republic divided into fifteen counties. Its capital and largest city is Tallinn, with a population of 1.3 million, it is one of the least-populous member states of the European Union, Eurozone, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, OECD and Schengen Area. Estonia is a country with an advanced, high-income economy that is among the fastest growing in the EU. Its Human Development Index ranks very highly, and it performs favourably in measurements of economic freedom, civil liberties, the 2015 PISA test places Estonian high school students 3rd in the world, behind Singapore and Japan. Citizens of Estonia are provided with health care, free education. Since independence the country has developed its IT sector, becoming one of the worlds most digitally advanced societies. In 2005 Estonia became the first nation to hold elections over the Internet, in the Estonian language, the oldest known endonym of the Estonians was maarahvas, meaning country people or people of the land. The land inhabited by Estonians was called Maavald meaning Country Parish or Land Parish, one hypothesis regarding the modern name of Estonia is that it originated from the Aesti, a people described by the Roman historian Tacitus in his Germania. The historic Aesti were allegedly Baltic people, whereas the modern Estonians are Finno-Ugric, the geographical areas between Aesti and Estonia do not match, with Aesti being further down south. Ancient Scandinavian sagas refer to a land called Eistland, as the country is called in Icelandic. Early Latin and other ancient versions of the name are Estia and Hestia, esthonia was a common alternative English spelling prior to 1921. Human settlement in Estonia became possible 13,000 to 11,000 years ago, the oldest known settlement in Estonia is the Pulli settlement, which was on the banks of the river Pärnu, near the town of Sindi, in south-western Estonia. According to radiocarbon dating it was settled around 11,000 years ago, the earliest human inhabitation during the Mesolithic period is connected to Kunda culture, which is named after the town of Kunda in northern Estonia. At that time the country was covered with forests, and people lived in communities near bodies of water
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Santa Venera
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Santa Venera is a town in the Central Region of Malta, with a population of around 6,932. It is located between the towns of Birkirkara and Ħamrun, and it also borders Qormi and Msida, the football team of St. Venera is the St. Venera Lightnings F. C. which bears the colours of the town, yellow and blue. The first Church of St Venera was built in 1473, and it was enlarged in 1500 and this church remained as the parish church until 1990. A new church was blessed in 2005, the Aqueduct was finished in 1615, and an ornamental gateway was built where it crossed the road between what is now Fleur-de-Lys and Santa Venera. The arches stopped at a known as it-Turretta also known as Tower Guard. From this tower, water continued its journey to Ħamrun, Blata l-Bajda, Floriana, casa Leoni, also known as Palazzo Manoel, was built around 1730 during the reign of António Manoel de Vilhena. Its design is attributed to Charles François de Mondion, the French military engineer who also designed Mdina Gate and it now houses the Ministry for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change. The palace has a garden behind it, part of which was opened to the public in 1977 as Romeo Romano Gardens. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the town of Santa Venera saw more development, the town was considered as part of Birkirkara until 1912, and it became a separate parish six years later in 1918. A7 Up factory was located at Santa Venera until it was closed in 2002, the factory was demolished to make way for flats but the façades of the buildings were retained. In 1990, a church began to be built in Santa Venera. Although it is unfinished as the belfries have not yet been built. The flag was introduced when Maltas local councils were created in 1993, in 2013, there was a proposal for a new flag with the colours of the town blue and yellow however this was not adopted. Santa Venera has several schools, Saint Elias College a Catholic secondary school run by the Carmelite Friars and its mission statement is to form a learning community where each individual is considered to be a child of God. Within a family framework, each individual has a value, irrespective of ones capabilities. In this manner, each individual can attain full growth through experiences which are academic, athletic, religious, creative, St Michaels College a Catholic secondary school run by the Society of Christian Doctrine. Vincenzo Bugeja Conservatory Dun Xand Cortis St. Venera Band Club Kummissjoni Zghazagh Palmisti Santa Venera V. M
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Wignacourt Aqueduct
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The Wignacourt Aqueduct is a 17th-century aqueduct in Malta, which was built by the Order of Saint John to carry water from springs in Dingli and Rabat to the newly-built capital city Valletta. The aqueduct was carried through underground pipes and over arched viaducts across depressions in the ground, the first attempts to build the aqueduct were made by Grand Master Martin Garzez in 1596, but construction was suspended before being continued in 1610. The watercourse was inaugurated five years later on 21 April 1615, several engineers took part in the project, including Bontadino de Bontadini, Giovanni Attard and Natale Tomasucci. The aqueduct was named after Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt, who financed its construction. The aqueduct remained in use until the 20th century, most of its arches still survive today, and can still be seen in the localities of Attard, Balzan, Birkirkara, Fleur-de-Lys and Santa Venera. Other remains of the aqueduct include water towers at Santa Venera, Ħamrun and Floriana, in 1566, the capital city of Valletta was founded on the Sciberras Peninsula, which did not have a good water supply. Rainwater collected within the city was not enough to meet the needs of its population, Water had to be carted from springs to the city, but this became difficult by the end of the 16th century, when the city had become the largest settlement in Malta. At the time, there were fears of an Ottoman attack on Malta. The order to build an aqueduct to carry water from springs in Dingli and that year, Grand Master Grand Master Martin Garzez brought in the Jesuit Padre Giacomo to design the watercourse. His design was accepted and work was begun, but construction was suspended soon afterwards due to financial reasons, on 9 January 1610, works on the aqueduct continued under the direction of another Jesuit called Padre Natale Tomasucci. By this time, Garzez had died and was succeeded as Grand Master by Alof de Wignacourt, in July 1612, the Bolognese hydraulic expert Bontadino de Bontadini took over the project, probably on the recommendation of Inquisitor Evangelista Carbonesi. Bontadini designed a new watercourse with water being carried through underwater pipes, Bontadini was assisted by a Maltese capomastro Giovanni Attard and several other engineers. 600 local workers were employed in the construction of the aqueduct, the aqueduct cost a total of 434,605 scudi, most of which were paid by Grand Master Wignacourt. The aqueduct was named in his honour. Upon its completion, the aqueduct supplied 1,400 m3 of water every day to around 30,000 people, the constant supply of water brought about a rise in the populations of Valletta, Floriana and other towns and villages along the route of the aqueduct. The aqueduct was improved by Grand Master Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc in 1780, on 4 September 1798, in the early stages of the Maltese uprising against the French, insurgents ambushed French soldiers near the aqueduct at Mrieħel, in the limits of Birkirkara. In 1907, there was a proposal to construct buildings on top of the aqueduct, the Office of the Public Works drew up plans for these buildings, but eventually nothing materialized. The aqueduct remained in use until the early 20th century, between 2004 and 2005, the aqueducts surviving arches were restored and a lighting system was installed, at a total cost of Lm 140,000
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Alof de Wignacourt
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Fra Alof de Wignacourt was a French nobleman who was the 54th Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem from 10 February 1601 to his death in 1622. Unlike a number of the other Grand Masters, he was popular with the Maltese people, Wignacourt is mostly remembered for the construction of the Wignacourt Aqueduct as well as a series of coastal towers which also bear his name. Wignacourt joined the Order in 1564, aged seventeen, and distinguished himself at the Great Siege of Malta a year later and he was elected Grand Master in 1601. He was patron of Caravaggio following the arrival in Malta in 1607 until his arrest. His reign was notable for the construction of a number of coastal fortifications, and of the Wignacourt Aqueduct that brought water from the plateau above Rabat to Valletta. The Wignacourt Arch was built as a part of the aqueduct between Birkirkara and Santa Venera, and it had his coat of arms with three fleur-de-lys on it, giving it the name of the Fleur-de-Lys Gate. A settlement which developed around this area is now known as Fleur-de-Lys, during his reign, in 1614 the Ottomans made their final attempt to conquer Malta. Six thousand men landed at Marsascala Bay, and raided the village of Żejtun, the Orders cavalry and Maltese civilians, however, managed to overcome the Turks who retreated, without a single Christian dead. His parade armour survives and is one of the treasures of the armoury of the Grandmasters Palace in Valletta, Alof de Wignacourt died of apoplexy while he was out shooting on 14 September 1622 at the age of 75. Wignacourt towers Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt and his Page Coins of Grandmaster Alof de Wignacourt
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Fleur-de-Lys, Malta
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Fleur-de-Lys is a suburb that forms part of Birkirkara, and it is also considered a suburb of Santa Venera and Qormi. It lies approximately 5 kilometers away from Maltas capital, Valletta, the population of Fleur-de-Lys is about 2000 people and the area is very small. Fleur-de-Lys origins date back to the early 17th century, in 1610, Grandmaster Alof de Wignacourt financed the building of the Wignacourt Aqueduct to transport water from springs in Rabat and Dingli to the capital Valletta. The Aqueduct was finished in 1615, and a gateway known as the Wignacourt Arch was built where it crossed the road. This had three sculpted fleurs-de-lis on top, as they were the symbols of Wignacourt. The suburb was named after these heraldic symbols on the arch. During the Second World War, the archway was severely damaged when it was hit by an RAF lorry in 1943, the ruined archway was demolished and the stones were stored and numbered at the Public Works Department. A roundabout was built in its place. Plans for reconstructing the arch were made a number of times, the arch was rebuilt between 2014 and 2015, and it was inaugurated on 28 April 2016. After the building of the Aqueduct, a number of farmers settled in the area, for many years the only buildings were a few farmhouses surrounded by a lot of fields. In 1928, Farsons Brewery was opened in Mrieħel, a close to Fleur-de-Lys. Fleur-de-Lys only began to develop in the Second World War, many refugees from the Grand Harbour area fled to rural areas including Fleur-de-Lys after the Harbour area was devastated by bombs. By 1941 the British had built Fleur de Lys Battery in the area armed with anti-aircraft artillery, various government offices were transferred to Fleur-de-Lys in the 1940s as well. After the war the area grew into a small suburb, in 1946, the church dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel was inaugurated. It became autonomous from Santa Venera in 1949 and became a parish in 1975, other chapels were later built in Fleur-de-Lys, including those in the Sisters of the Sacred Heart Convent and the one in the private school of St Monica. Nowadays the suburb contains many shops, a small parish church. The main road, Fleur-de-Lys Road, is now a major artery to Maltas local traffic system, the Fleur-de-Lys Administrative Committee was created in December 1999 by an amendment to the Local Councils Act of 1993
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Serbia
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Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Relative to its territory, it is a diverse country distinguished by a transitional character, situated along cultural, geographic, climatic. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents, and its capital, Belgrade, following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans from the 6th century onwards, Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages. The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and the Byzantine Empire in 1217, in the early 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the regions first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia formed a union with Montenegro which dissolved peacefully in 2006, in 2008 the parliament of the province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, with mixed responses from the international community. Serbia is a member of organizations such as the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC. An EU membership candidate since 2012, Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014, the country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state. Serbia is an income economy with dominant service sector, followed by the industrial sector. The country ranks high on the Social Progress Index as well as the Global Peace Index, relatively high on the Human Development Index, located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe, Serbia is found in the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain. Serbia lies between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country covers a total of 88,361 km2, which places it at 113th place in the world, with Kosovo excluded, the area is 77,474 km2. Its total border length amounts to 2,027 km, all of Kosovos border with Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are under control of the Kosovo border police. The Pannonian Plain covers the third of the country while the easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The terrain of the part of the country, with the region of Šumadija at its heart. Mountains dominate the third of Serbia. Dinaric Alps stretch in the west and the southwest, following the flow of the rivers Drina, the Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in a north–south direction in eastern Serbia. Ancient mountains in the southeast corner of the country belong to the Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system, elevation ranges from the Midžor peak of the Balkan Mountains at 2,169 metres to the lowest point of just 17 metres near the Danube river at Prahovo. The largest lake is Đerdap Lake and the longest river passing through Serbia is the Danube, the climate of Serbia is under the influences of the landmass of Eurasia and the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
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Tvrtko I of Bosnia
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Stephen Tvrtko I was the first King of Bosnia, and is widely considered one of the countrys greatest medieval rulers. A member of the House of Kotromanić, Tvrtko succeeded his uncle Stephen II as Ban of Bosnia in 1353, as he was a minor at the time, his father, Vladislav, briefly ruled as regent, followed by his mother, Jelena. Early in his personal rule Tvrtko quarreled with Roman Catholic clergy, after initial difficulties – the loss of large parts of Bosnia to his overlord, King Louis I of Hungary, and a brief deposition by magnates – Tvrtkos power grew considerably. He conquered some remnants of the neighbouring Serbian Empire in 1373, after the death of its last ruler and his distant relative, in 1377 he had himself crowned King of Bosnia and of Serbia, claiming to be the heir of the extinct Serbian Nemanjić dynasty. The expansion of the Kingdom of Bosnia continued, with the King focusing on the coast, the death of King Louis and accession of Queen Mary in 1382 allowed Tvrtko to take advantage of the ensuing succession crisis in Hungary and Croatia. After bitter fighting from 1385 to 1390, Tvrtko succeeded in conquering large parts of Slavonia, Dalmatia and Croatia proper. Following the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, his tenuous claim to Serbia became a mere fiction, the Ottoman Turks also launched their first attacks on Bosnia during Tvrtko Is reign, but his army was able to repel them. Tvrtkos sudden death in 1391 prevented him from solidifying the Kotromanić hold on Croatian lands, Tvrtko I extended medieval Bosnias borders to their farthest limits, left a strong economy and improved the living standards of his subjects. He was survived by at least one son, Tvrtko II, Tvrtko was the elder son of Vladislav Kotromanić and Jelena Šubić, likely born within a year of their marriage, which was celerated in 1337. The couple were the brother of the Bosnian ban Stephen II, Tvrtko was most likely raised as a Roman Catholic, his mother belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, and his uncle Stephen joined it shortly after Tvrtkos birth. Stephen died in September 1353, leaving no sons. Although Vladislav was still alive, Stephens title passed directly to Tvrtko, Tvrtko, however, was only about fifteen years old at the time, so his father assumed the government as regent. Soon after his accession, Tvrtko was taken by his father through the realm to settle relations with his vassals, Jelena replaced Vladislav as regent upon his death in 1354. She immediately traveled to Hungary to obtain consent to Tvrtkos accession from King Louis I, his overlord. Following her return, Jelena held an assembly in Mile, with mother and son confirming the possessions and privileges of the noblemen of all of Bosnia, Donji Kraji, Zagorje and the Hum land. The death of Tvrtkos maternal uncle, Mladen III Šubić, in 1348 led to a decline of the noble family. In May 1355, Jelena and Tvrtko marched with an army to Duvno in order to claim his share of his uncles patrimony, the state assembled by Tvrtkos uncle Stephen broke apart on Tvrtkos accession, much to the satisfaction of his overlord Louis. The Hungarians were keen to encourage Stephens vassals to act independently from Tvrtko, Louis posed a more direct threat as well, he was determined to enlarge the royal domain and throughout his realm he ardently reclaimed all lands that once belonged to the monarch
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Kingdom of Bosnia
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The Kingdom of Bosnia was a medieval kingdom that evolved from the Banate of Bosnia. Bosnia enjoyed de facto independence in the 13th and 14th centuries despite being a part of the Hungarian Crown Lands and its difficult terrain and remoteness enabled the Bosnians to maneuver between their two powerful neighbors, Hungary and Serbia, usually managing to avoid subordination to either. Several capable rulers allowed Bosnia briefly to play the role of a power in the 14th century. After 1290, Bosnia enjoyed virtual independence from Hungary and gained significant territory in Dalmatia at Serbias expense, however, feudal fragmentation remained strong in Bosnia, and after his death the country lost its importance. The Ottoman Empire annexed portions of eastern Bosnia in the 1440s and 1450s, the Banate of Bosnia was a medieval state comprising at its peak most of what is today Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as parts of Dalmatia, Serbia and Montenegro. Although nominally in vassalage to the Kingdom of Hungary, Bosnia was a de facto independent state, the Banate of Bosnia existed until 1377, when it was elevated into a kingdom with the coronation of Tvrtko I. By the mid-14th century, Bosnia reached its peak under Ban Tvrtko I of the House of Kotromanić, by having done so, he became a ruler of the newly proclaimed Kingdom of Bosnia, a state that followed the Banate of Bosnia. At its peak the Kingdom became one of the most influential, throughout the Middle Ages, Herzegovina was made up of several smaller polities, Zahumlje, centered around the town of Blagaj, and Travunia, centered on the town of Trebinje. These statelets were in periods ruled by semi-independent princes, mostly under suzerainty of the Serbian medieval monarchy and their territories included modern Herzegovina and parts of Montenegro and southern Dalmatia. The name Herzegovina was adopted when Stjepan Vukčić Kosača, the Duke of St. Sava asserted its independence in 1435–48, the assembly of these noblemen was called stanak and was quite influential. Bosnia reached its peak under Ban Tvrtko I, a member of the Kotromanić dynasty, in 1372, Tvrtko formed an alliance with Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, one of the regional lords in the territory of the disintegrated Serbian Empire. The next year, Tvrtko and Lazar attacked the domain of Nikola Altomanović, after defeating Altomanović, they divided his lands, except for his littoral districts of Dračevica, Konavle, and Trebinje, which were seized by Đurađ I Balšić, the Lord of Zeta. Tvrtko received parts of Zahumlje, the reaches of the Drina and Lim rivers, as well as the districts of Onogošt. This acquisition included the important Serbian Orthodox monastery of Mileševa, in 1377, Tvrtko took the littoral districts from Balšić. That year, on 26 October, he was crowned King of Serbia, Bosnia, the Primorje, and this was made possible by the royal Nemanjić line having died out with Uroš in 1371. The crown was sent to him by Hungarian king Louis of Anjou, in contrast, some earlier historiographers, mostly represented by scholars from Serbia, consider that he was crowned in the Orthodox Monastery of Mileševa, by the Metropolitan of Mileševa. However, after the defeat of Nikola Altomanović, Prince Lazar had emerged as the most powerful lord on the territory of the former Serbian Empire and he wanted to reunite the Serbian state, and the Serbian Orthodox Church saw him as most fitted to succeed the Nemanjić dynasty. The Church, which was the strongest cohesive force among the Serbs at the time, by 1390, Tvrtko I expanded his realm to include a part of Croatia and Dalmatia, and expanded his title to King of Rascia, Bosnia, Dalmatia, Croatia and the Littoral
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