1.
Cutlery
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Cutlery includes any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in the Western world. A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler, the city of Sheffield in England has been famous for the production of cutlery since the 17th century and a train – the Master Cutler – running from Sheffield to London was named after the industry. Cutlery is more known as silverware or flatware in the United States. Although the term silverware is used irrespective of the composition of the utensils. The major items of cutlery in the Western world are the knife, fork, in recent times, hybrid versions of cutlery have been made combining the functionality of different eating implements, including the spork, spife, and knork or the sporf which combines all three. The word cutler derives from the Middle English word cuteler and this in turn derives from Old French coutelier which comes from coutel, the words early origins can be seen in the Latin word culter. The first documented use of the term cutler in Sheffield appeared in a 1297 tax return, a Sheffield knife was listed in the Kings possession in the Tower of London fifty years later. Several knives dating from the 14th century are on display at the Cutlers Hall in Sheffield, sterling silver is the traditional material from which good quality cutlery is made. Historically, silver had the advantage over other metals of being less chemically reactive, chemical reactions between certain foods and the cutlery metal can lead to unpleasant tastes. Gold is even less reactive than silver, but the use of gold cutlery was confined to the exceptionally wealthy, even comparatively modest households might have one or two items of silver, often silver spoons. It contained, among other items, a gravy ladle, mustard spoon. Steel was always used for more utilitarian knives, and pewter was used for some cheaper items, from the nineteenth century, electroplated nickel silver was used as a cheaper substitute for sterling silver. In 1913, the British metallurgist Harry Brearley discovered stainless steel by chance, an alternative is melchior, corrosion-resistant nickel and copper alloy, which can also sometimes contain manganese and nickle-iron. Plastic cutlery is made for use, and is frequently used outdoors for camping, excursions. Plastic cutlery is also used at fast-food or take-away outlets. Wooden disposable cutlery is available as a biodegradable alternative. Cutlery has been made in many places, in Britain, the industry became concentrated by the late 16th century in and around Birmingham and Sheffield. However, the Birmingham industry increasingly concentrated on swords, made by long cutlers, at Sheffield the trade of cutler became divided, with allied trades such as razormaker, awlbladesmith, shearsmith and forkmaker emerging and becoming distinct trades by the 18th century
2.
Tine (structural)
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Tines or prongs or teeth are parallel or branching spikes forming parts of a tool or natural object. They are used to spear, hook, move or otherwise act on other objects and they may be made of metal, wood, bone or other hard, strong materials. The number of tines on tools varies widely – a pitchfork may have just two, a fork may have four, and a rake or harrow many. Tines may be blunt, such as those on a used as an eating utensil, or sharp, as on a pitchfork, or even barbed. The terms tine and prong are mostly interchangeable, a tooth of a comb is a tine. Tines and prongs occur in nature—for example, forming the branched bony antlers of deer or the horns of pronghorn antelopes. The term tine is also used for mountains, such as the fictional Silvertine in The Lord of the Rings, in chaos theory, the branches of a bifurcation diagram are called tines and subtines
3.
Knife
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A knife is a tool with a cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with most having a handle. Some types of knives are used as utensils, including knives used at the dining table, many types of knives are used as tools, such as the utility knife carried by soldiers, the pocket knife carried by hikers and the hunting knife used by hunters. Knives are also used as a traditional or religious implement, such as the kirpan, some types of knives are used as weapons, such as daggers or switchblades. Some types of knives are used as sports equipment, Knives are also used in agriculture, food harvesting etc. the sickle, the scythe and even the combine harvester are knives. Knife-like tools were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools. Originally made of rock, bone, flint, and obsidian, knives have evolved in construction as technology has, with blades being made from bronze, copper, iron, steel, ceramics, many cultures have their unique version of the knife. Due to its role as humankinds first tool, certain cultures have attached spiritual, most modern-day knives follow either a fixed-blade or a folding construction style, with blade patterns and styles as varied as their makers and countries of origin. The word knife possibly descends from an old Norse word knifr for blade, single-edged knives may have a reverse edge or false edge occupying a section of the spine. These edges are serrated and are used to further enhance function. The handle, used to grip and manipulate the blade safely, may include a tang, Knives are made with partial tangs or full tangs. The handle may include a bolster, a piece of heavy material situated at the front or rear of the handle, the bolster, as its name suggests, is used to mechanically strengthen the knife. Knife blades can be manufactured from a variety of materials, each of which has advantages and disadvantages, carbon steel, an alloy of iron and carbon, can be very sharp. It holds its edge well, and remains easy to sharpen, stainless steel is an alloy of iron, chromium, possibly nickel, and molybdenum, with only a small amount of carbon. It is not able to quite as sharp an edge as carbon steel. High carbon stainless steel is steel with a higher amount of carbon, intended to incorporate the better attributes of carbon steel. High carbon stainless steel blades do not discolor or stain, laminate blades use multiple metals to create a layered sandwich, combining the attributes of both. For example, a harder, more brittle steel may be sandwiched between a layer of softer, tougher, stainless steel to reduce vulnerability to corrosion. In this case, however, the part most affected by corrosion, pattern-welding is similar to laminate construction
4.
Pitchfork
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A pitchfork is an agricultural tool with a long handle and tynes used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw or leaves. A pitchfork is a tool with a long handle and long, thick, widely separated pointed tynes used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay. True pitchforks typically have two or three tynes, while manure forks have four or more. However, some forks with more than three tynes are also used for handling loose material such as hay or silage, other forks have up to ten tynes with different lengths and spacing depending on purpose. They are usually made of steel with a wooden handle. In some parts of England a pitchfork is known as a prong and, in parts of Ireland, the pitchfork is similar to the shorter and sturdier garden fork. Pitchforks and scythes have frequently used as weapons by those who could not afford or did not have access to more expensive weapons such as swords, or, later. As a result, pitchforks and scythes are stereotypically carried by angry mobs or gangs of enraged peasants, in Europe, the pitchfork was first used in the early Middle Ages, at about the same time as the harrow. The pitchfork was originally made entirely of wood, today, the tynes are usually made of hard metal, a notable American artistic display of a three-pronged pitchfork is in American Gothic, the painting by Grant Wood. In this painting it symbolizes hand labour, there are other paintings by various artists which depict a wide variety of pitchforks and other tools in use and at rest. The Hellenistic deity Pluto wields a bident, a two-pronged weapon strikingly similar in form to a pitchfork, trident Fork Media related to Pitchfork at Wikimedia Commons
5.
Ancient Egypt
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Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. It is one of six civilizations to arise independently, Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh Narmer. In the aftermath of Alexander the Greats death, one of his generals, Ptolemy Soter and this Greek Ptolemaic Kingdom ruled Egypt until 30 BC, when, under Cleopatra, it fell to the Roman Empire and became a Roman province. The success of ancient Egyptian civilization came partly from its ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nile River valley for agriculture, the predictable flooding and controlled irrigation of the fertile valley produced surplus crops, which supported a more dense population, and social development and culture. Its art and architecture were widely copied, and its antiquities carried off to far corners of the world and its monumental ruins have inspired the imaginations of travelers and writers for centuries. The Nile has been the lifeline of its region for much of human history, nomadic modern human hunter-gatherers began living in the Nile valley through the end of the Middle Pleistocene some 120,000 years ago. By the late Paleolithic period, the climate of Northern Africa became increasingly hot and dry. In Predynastic and Early Dynastic times, the Egyptian climate was less arid than it is today. Large regions of Egypt were covered in treed savanna and traversed by herds of grazing ungulates, foliage and fauna were far more prolific in all environs and the Nile region supported large populations of waterfowl. Hunting would have been common for Egyptians, and this is also the period when many animals were first domesticated. The largest of these cultures in upper Egypt was the Badari, which probably originated in the Western Desert, it was known for its high quality ceramics, stone tools. The Badari was followed by the Amratian and Gerzeh cultures, which brought a number of technological improvements, as early as the Naqada I Period, predynastic Egyptians imported obsidian from Ethiopia, used to shape blades and other objects from flakes. In Naqada II times, early evidence exists of contact with the Near East, particularly Canaan, establishing a power center at Hierakonpolis, and later at Abydos, Naqada III leaders expanded their control of Egypt northwards along the Nile. They also traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the desert to the west. Royal Nubian burials at Qustul produced artifacts bearing the oldest-known examples of Egyptian dynastic symbols, such as the crown of Egypt. They also developed a ceramic glaze known as faience, which was used well into the Roman Period to decorate cups, amulets, and figurines. During the last predynastic phase, the Naqada culture began using written symbols that eventually were developed into a system of hieroglyphs for writing the ancient Egyptian language. The Early Dynastic Period was approximately contemporary to the early Sumerian-Akkadian civilisation of Mesopotamia, the third-century BC Egyptian priest Manetho grouped the long line of pharaohs from Menes to his own time into 30 dynasties, a system still used today
6.
Bronze Age
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The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze, proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen. An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition, although the Iron Age generally followed the Bronze Age, in some areas, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic. Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of the first writing, according to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia and Egypt developed the earliest viable writing systems. The overall period is characterized by use of bronze, though the place and time of the introduction. Human-made tin bronze technology requires set production techniques, tin must be mined and smelted separately, then added to molten copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of use of metals. The dating of the foil has been disputed, the Bronze Age in the ancient Near East began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC. Societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy and mathematics, the usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used. Instead, a division based on art-historical and historical characteristics is more common. The cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands of people, ur in the Middle Bronze Age and Babylon in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations. The earliest mention of Babylonia appears on a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 23rd century BC, the Amorite dynasty established the city-state of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over 100 years later, it took over the other city-states. Babylonia adopted the written Semitic Akkadian language for official use, by that time, the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still in religious use. Elam was an ancient civilization located to the east of Mesopotamia, in the Old Elamite period, Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a role in the Gutian Empire and especially during the Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it
7.
Qijia culture
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The Qijia culture was an early Bronze Age culture distributed around the upper Yellow River region of Gansu and eastern Qinghai, China. It is regarded as one of the earliest bronze cultures, the Qijia Culture is named after the Qijiaping Site in Gansu Province. Prior to Qijia culture, in the area there existed Majiayao culture that was also familiar with metalwork. At the end of the third millennium B. C, Qijia culture succeeded Majiayao culture at sites in three main geographic zones, Eastern Gansu, Middle Gansu, and Western Gansu/Eastern Qinghai. Johan Gunnar Andersson discovered the site at Qijiaping in 1923. Qijia culture was a culture, based on agriculture, and breeding pigs. Archeological evidence points to early contact between the Qijia culture and Central Asia. Qijia culture produced some of the earliest bronze and copper found in China. Extensive domestication of horses are found at many Qijia sites, the archaeological sites at Lajia, Huangniangniangtai, Qinweijia, and Dahezhuang are associated with the Qijia culture. Qijia sites were found in Ningxia province and Inner Mongolia. A total of over 350 sites of the Qijia culture have been superimposed on the Majiayao culture. A large quantity of metal ware, mostly copper objects, including bronzes, have been excavated from various sites in Gansu province. 25 pieces of metalwork were analyzed for their composition and those made from copper were the most numerous, accounting for 64 per cent of the total. The rest represented various copper alloys, including tin, techniques of pottery-making are marked by a fine red ware and a coarse reddish-brown ware. There are also a few pieces of grey ware and they are handmade, there being no evidence of wheel-made ware. While the Qijia culture pottery has its own characteristics, it also shares many traits in common with the Longshan culture in Shaanxi. Some elements of the Majiayao culture are also present, Machang culture also flourished in 2500-2000 BC along the Yellow River, it was an outgrowth of the Banshan culture. Machang culture was partly contemporary with the Qijia, although they were quite different, some scholars consider Machang culture as only a phase of the larger Majiayao culture, they also say that the Qijia derived from the Machang
8.
Shang dynasty
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The Shang dynasty or Yin dynasty, according to traditional historiography, ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Zhou dynasty. The classic account of the Shang comes from such as the Book of Documents, Bamboo Annals. The Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project dated them from c.1600 to 1046 BC, the Shang dynasty is the earliest dynasty of traditional Chinese history supported by archaeological evidence. Tens of thousands of bronze, jade, stone, bone, the Anyang site has yielded the earliest known body of Chinese writing, mostly divinations inscribed on oracle bones – turtle shells, ox scapulae, or other bones. More than 20,000 were discovered in the scientific excavations during the 1920s and 1930s. The inscriptions provide critical insight into many topics from the politics, economy, many events concerning the Shang dynasty are mentioned in various Chinese classics, including the Book of Documents, the Mencius and the Zuo Zhuan. Working from all the documents, the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian assembled a sequential account of the Shang dynasty as part of his Records of the Grand Historian. His history describes some events in detail, while in other cases only the name of a king is given, a closely related, but slightly different, account is given by the Bamboo Annals. The Annals were interred in 296 BC, but the text has a complex history, the name Yīn is used by Sima Qian for the dynasty, and in the current text version of the Bamboo Annals for both the dynasty and its final capital. It has been a name for the Shang throughout history. Since the Records of Emperors and Kings by Huangfu Mi, it has often used specifically to describe the later half of the Shang dynasty. In Japan and Korea, the Shang are still referred to almost exclusively as the Yin dynasty, however it seems to have been a Zhou name for the earlier dynasty. The word does not appear in the bones, which refer to the state as Shāng. It also does not appear in securely-dated Western Zhou bronze inscriptions, xie is said to have helped Yu the Great to control the Great Flood and for his service to have been granted a place called Shang as a fief. Sima Qian relates that the dynasty itself was founded 13 generations later, when Xies descendant Tang overthrew the impious and cruel final Xia ruler in the Battle of Mingtiao. The Records recount events from the reigns of Tang, Tai Jia, Tai Wu, Pan Geng, Wu Ding, Wu Yi and the final king Di Xin. According to the Records, the Shang moved their capital five times, Di Xin, the last Shang king, is said to have committed suicide after his army was defeated by Wu of Zhou. Legends say that his army and his equipped slaves betrayed him by joining the Zhou rebels in the decisive Battle of Muye, according to the Yi Zhou Shu and Mencius the battle was very bloody
9.
Han dynasty
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The Han dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period. Spanning over four centuries, the Han period is considered an age in Chinese history. To this day, Chinas majority ethnic group refers to itself as the Han people and it was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han, and briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang. This interregnum separates the Han dynasty into two periods, the Western Han or Former Han and the Eastern Han or Later Han, the emperor was at the pinnacle of Han society. He presided over the Han government but shared power with both the nobility and appointed ministers who came largely from the gentry class. The Han Empire was divided into areas controlled by the central government using an innovation inherited from the Qin known as commanderies. These kingdoms gradually lost all vestiges of their independence, particularly following the Rebellion of the Seven States, from the reign of Emperor Wu onward, the Chinese court officially sponsored Confucianism in education and court politics, synthesized with the cosmology of later scholars such as Dong Zhongshu. This policy endured until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 AD, the Han dynasty was an age of economic prosperity and saw a significant growth of the money economy first established during the Zhou dynasty. The coinage issued by the government mint in 119 BC remained the standard coinage of China until the Tang dynasty. The period saw a number of limited institutional innovations, the Xiongnu, a nomadic steppe confederation, defeated the Han in 200 BC and forced the Han to submit as a de facto inferior partner, but continued their raids on the Han borders. Emperor Wu of Han launched several campaigns against them. The ultimate Han victory in these wars eventually forced the Xiongnu to accept vassal status as Han tributaries, the territories north of Hans borders were quickly overrun by the nomadic Xianbei confederation. Imperial authority was seriously challenged by large Daoist religious societies which instigated the Yellow Turban Rebellion. When Cao Pi, King of Wei, usurped the throne from Emperor Xian, following Liu Bangs victory in the Chu–Han Contention, the resulting Han dynasty was named after the Hanzhong fief. Chinas first imperial dynasty was the Qin dynasty, the Qin unified the Chinese Warring States by conquest, but their empire became unstable after the death of the first emperor Qin Shi Huangdi. Within four years, the authority had collapsed in the face of rebellion. Although Xiang Yu proved to be a commander, Liu Bang defeated him at Battle of Gaixia. Liu Bang assumed the title emperor at the urging of his followers and is known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu, Changan was chosen as the new capital of the reunified empire under Han
10.
Roman Empire
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Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
11.
Bronze
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These additions produce a range of alloys that may be harder than copper alone, or have other useful properties, such as stiffness, ductility, or machinability. The archeological period where bronze was the hardest metal in use is known as the Bronze Age. In the ancient Near East this began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC, with India and China starting to use bronze around the same time, everywhere it gradually spread across regions. The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age starting from about 1300 BC and reaching most of Eurasia by about 500 BC, the discovery of bronze enabled people to create metal objects which were harder and more durable than previously possible. Bronze tools, weapons, armor, and building such as decorative tiles were harder and more durable than their stone. It was only later that tin was used, becoming the major ingredient of bronze in the late 3rd millennium BC. Tin bronze was superior to arsenic bronze in that the process could be more easily controlled. Also, unlike arsenic, metallic tin and fumes from tin refining are not toxic, the earliest tin-alloy bronze dates to 4500 BCE in a Vinča culture site in Pločnik. Other early examples date to the late 4th millennium BC in Africa, Susa and some ancient sites in China, Luristan, ores of copper and the far rarer tin are not often found together, so serious bronze work has always involved trade. Tin sources and trade in ancient times had a influence on the development of cultures. In Europe, a source of tin was the British deposits of ore in Cornwall. In many parts of the world, large hoards of bronze artefacts are found, suggesting that bronze also represented a store of value, in Europe, large hoards of bronze tools, typically socketed axes, are found, which mostly show no signs of wear. With Chinese ritual bronzes, which are documented in the inscriptions they carry and from other sources and these were made in enormous quantities for elite burials, and also used by the living for ritual offerings. Pure iron is soft, and the process of beating and folding sponge iron to wrought iron removes from the metal carbon. Careful control of the alloying and tempering eventually allowed for wrought iron with properties comparable to modern steel, Bronze was still used during the Iron Age, and has continued in use for many purposes to the modern day. Among other advantages, it does not rust, the weaker wrought iron was found to be sufficiently strong for many uses. Archaeologists suspect that a disruption of the tin trade precipitated the transition. The population migrations around 1200–1100 BC reduced the shipping of tin around the Mediterranean, limiting supplies, there are many different bronze alloys, but typically modern bronze is 88% copper and 12% tin
12.
Byzantine Empire
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It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
13.
Ancient Greece
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Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th-9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and this was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the end of the Mediterranean Sea. Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a influence on ancient Rome. For this reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization. Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean region is considered to have begun in the 8th century BC. Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the Greek Dark Ages and this period is succeeded, around the 8th century BC, by the Orientalizing Period during which a strong influence of Syro-Hittite, Jewish, Assyrian, Phoenician and Egyptian cultures becomes apparent. The end of the Dark Ages is also dated to 776 BC. The Archaic period gives way to the Classical period around 500 BC, Ancient Periods Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The history of Greece during Classical Antiquity may be subdivided into five major periods. The earliest of these is the Archaic period, in which artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, the Archaic period is often taken to end with the overthrow of the last tyrant of Athens and the start of Athenian Democracy in 508 BC. It was followed by the Classical period, characterized by a style which was considered by observers to be exemplary, i. e. classical, as shown in the Parthenon. This period saw the Greco-Persian Wars and the Rise of Macedon, following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period, during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East. This period begins with the death of Alexander and ends with the Roman conquest, Herodotus is widely known as the father of history, his Histories are eponymous of the entire field. Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato, most of these authors were either Athenian or pro-Athenian, which is why far more is known about the history and politics of Athens than those of many other cities. Their scope is limited by a focus on political, military and diplomatic history, ignoring economic. In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, literacy had been lost and Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, modifying it to create the Greek alphabet. The Lelantine War is the earliest documented war of the ancient Greek period and it was fought between the important poleis of Chalcis and Eretria over the fertile Lelantine plain of Euboea. Both cities seem to have suffered a decline as result of the long war, a mercantile class arose in the first half of the 7th century BC, shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC
14.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
15.
Peter Damian
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Saint Peter Damian was a reforming Benedictine monk and cardinal in the circle of Pope Leo IX. Dante placed him in one of the highest circles of Paradiso as a predecessor of Saint Francis of Assisi. His feast day is February 21, Peter was born in Ravenna, Italy, around 1007, the youngest of a large noble, but poor family. Orphaned early, he was at first adopted by an elder brother, after some years, another brother, Damianus, who was archpriest at Ravenna, had pity on him and took him away to be educated. About 1035, however, he gave up his calling and, avoiding the compromised luxury of Cluniac monasteries, entered the isolated hermitage of Fonte Avellana. Both as novice and as monk, his fervor was remarkable but led him to extremes of self-mortification in penance that his health was affected. On his recovery, he was appointed to lecture to his fellow monks, soon after his return to Fonte Avellana he was appointed economus of the house by the prior, who designated him as his successor. In 1043 he became prior of Fonte Avellana, and remained so until his death in February 1072, subject-hermitages were founded at San Severino, Gamogna, Acerreta, Murciana, San Salvatore, Sitria and Ocri. Another innovation was that of the siesta, to make up for the fatigue of the night office. During his tenure of the priorate a cloister was built, silver chalices and a processional cross were purchased. Extending the area of his activities, he entered into communication with the Emperor Henry III, after this he returned to his hermitage. About 1050, during the pontificate of Pope Leo IX, Peter wrote a treatise on the vices of the clergy, including sexual abuse of minors. Liber Gomorrhianus was openly addressed to the pope, meanwhile, the question arose as to the validity of the ordinations of simoniacal clerics. Pope Benedict XVI described him as one of the most significant figures of the 11th century, a lover of solitude and at the same time a fearless man of the Church, committed personally to the task of reform. He claimed that the first grammarian was the Devil, who taught Adam to decline deus in the plural and he argued that monks should not have to study philosophy, because Jesus did not choose philosophers as disciples, and so philosophy is not necessary for salvation. But the idea that philosophy should serve theology as a servant serves her mistress originated with him, however, this apparent animosity may reflect his view that logic is only concerned with the validity of argument, rather than the nature of reality. Similar views are found in Al-Ghazali and Wittgenstein, Damians tract De divina omnipotentia is frequently misunderstood. Damians purpose is to defend the doctrine of omnipotence, which he defines as the ability of God to do anything that is good, toivo J. Holopainen identifies De divina omnipotentia as an interesting document related to the early developments of medieval discussion concerning modalities and divine omnipotence
16.
Theophanu
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Theophanu, also spelled Theophania, Theophana or Theophano, was the niece of the Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimiskes. By her marriage with Holy Roman Emperor Otto II, she was Empress consort of the Holy Roman Empire and her name is derived from Medieval Greek Theophaneia, appearance of God. According to the certificate issued on 14 April 972—a masterpiece of the Ottonian Renaissance—Theophanu is identified as the neptis of Emperor John I Tzimiskes who was of Armenian descent. Holy Roman Emperor Otto the Great had requested a Byzantine princess for his son, Otto II, with the ascension of John I Tzimiskes, who had not been personally referred to other than as Roman Emperor, the treaty negotiations were able to resume. However, not until a delegation led by Archbishop Gero of Cologne arrived in Constantinople, were they successfully completed. Nevertheless, when Archbishop Gero conducted her to Rome, Emperor Otto knew that he could not refuse the offer, the young princess duly arrived in grand style in 972, with a magnificent escort including Byzantine artists, architects and artisans, and bearing great treasure. Theophanu and Otto were married by Pope John XIII on April 14,972 at Saint Peters and their children were, Adelaide I, Abbess of Quedlinburg and Gandersheim, born 973/974, died 1045. Sophia I, Abbess of Gandersheim and Essen, born October 975, mathilde, born summer 978, died 1025, who married Ezzo, count palatine of Lotharingia. Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor, born end June/early July 980, a daughter, a twin to Otto, who died before October 8,980. Otto II succeeded his father on 8 May 973 and it is known that she was frequently at odds with her mother-in-law, Adelaide of Italy, which caused an estrangement between Otto II and Adelaide. According to Abbot Odilo of Cluny, Adelaide was very happy when that Greek woman died, the Benedictine chronicler Alpert of Metz describes Theophanu as being an unpleasant and talkative woman. Theophanu was also criticized for her decadence, which manifested in her once a day and introducing luxurious garments. The theologian Peter Damian even asserts that Theophanu had an affair with John Philagathos. Otto II died suddenly on 7 December 983 at the age of 28 and his three-year-old son, Otto III, had already been appointed King of the Romans during a diet held on Pentecost of that year at Verona. At Christmas, Theophanu had him crowned by the Mainz archbishop Willigis at Aachen Cathedral, upon the death of Emperor Otto II, Bishop Folcmar of Utrecht released his cousin, the Bavarian duke Henry the Quarrelsome from custody. Duke Henry allied with Archbishop Warin of Cologne and seized his nephew Otto III in spring 984, nevertheless he was forced to surrender the child to his mother, who was backed by Archbishop Willigis of Mainz and Bishop Hildebald of Worms. Theophanu officially took over regency in May 985 and reigned the Holy Roman Empire until her death in 991, including the lands of Italy and Lotharingia. By her prudent policies, she also was able to conclude peace with Duke Henrys former supporter Duke Mieszko I of Poland, however, her ability to rule was hindered by a serious and life-threatening illness in the summer of 988
17.
Holy Roman Emperor
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The Holy Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. From an autocracy in Carolingian times the title evolved into an elected monarchy chosen by the Prince-electors, until the Reformation the Emperor elect was required to be crowned by the Pope before assuming the imperial title. The title was held in conjunction with the rule of the Kingdom of Germany, in theory, the Holy Roman Emperor was primus inter pares among the other Catholic monarchs, in practice, a Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances made him. Various royal houses of Europe, at different times, effectively became hereditary holders of the title, after the Reformation many of the subject states and most of those in Germany were Protestant while the Emperor continued to be Catholic. The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved by the last Emperor as a result of the collapse of the polity during the Napoleonic wars, from the time of Constantine I the Roman emperors had, with very few exceptions, taken on a role as promoters and defenders of Christianity. In the west, the title of Emperor was revived in 800, as the power of the papacy grew during the Middle Ages, popes and emperors came into conflict over church administration. The best-known and most bitter conflict was known as the Investiture Controversy. After Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III, no pope appointed an emperor again until the coronation of Otto the Great in 962. Under Otto and his successors, much of the former Carolingian kingdom of Eastern Francia fell within the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire, the various German princes elected one of their peers as King of the Germans, after which he would be crowned as emperor by the Pope. After Charles Vs coronation, all succeeding emperors were called elected Emperor due to the lack of papal coronation, the term sacrum in connection with the medieval Roman Empire was first used in 1157 under Frederick I Barbarossa. Charles V was the last Holy Roman Emperor to be crowned by the Pope, the final Holy Roman Emperor-elect, Francis II, abdicated in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars that saw the Empires final dissolution. The standard designation of the Holy Roman Emperor was August Emperor of the Romans, the word Holy had never been used as part of that title in official documents. In German-language historiography, the term Römisch-deutscher Kaiser is used to distinguish the title from that of Roman Emperor on one hand, the English term Holy Roman Emperor is a modern shorthand for emperor of the Holy Roman Empire not corresponding to the historical style or title. Successions to the kingship were controlled by a variety of complicated factors, elections meant the kingship of Germany was only partially hereditary, unlike the kingship of France, although sovereignty frequently remained in a dynasty until there were no more male successors. The Electoral council was set at seven princes by the Golden Bull of 1356, another elector was added in 1690, and the whole college was reshuffled in 1803, a mere three years before the dissolution of the Empire. After 1438, the Kings remained in the house of Habsburg and Habsburg-Lorraine, with the exception of Charles VII. Maximilian I and his successors no longer travelled to Rome to be crowned as Emperor by the Pope, Maximilian therefore named himself Elected Roman Emperor in 1508 with papal approval. This title was in use by all his uncrowned successors, of his successors only Charles V, the immediate one, received a papal coronation
18.
Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor
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Otto II, called the Red, was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great, Otto II was made joint-ruler of Germany in 961, at an early age, and his father named him co-Emperor in 967 to secure his succession to the throne. His father also arranged for Otto II to marry the Byzantine Princess Theophanu, when his father died after a 37-year reign, the eighteen-year-old Otto II became absolute ruler of the Holy Roman Empire in a peaceful succession. Otto II spent his reign continuing his fathers policy of strengthening Imperial rule in Germany, Otto II also continued the work of Otto I in subordinating the Catholic Church to Imperial control. Early in his reign, Otto II defeated a revolt against his rule from other members of the Ottonian dynasty who claimed the throne for themselves. His victory allowed him to exclude the Bavarian line of Ottonians from the line of Imperial succession and this strengthened his authority as Emperor and secured the succession of his own son to the Imperial throne. With domestic affairs settled, Otto II would focus his attention from 980 onward to annexing the whole of Italy into the Empire and his conquests brought him into conflict with the Byzantine Empire and with the Muslims of the Fatimid Caliphate, who both held territories in southern Italy. While he was preparing to counterattack Muslim forces, an uprising by the Slavs broke out in 983. Otto II died suddenly in 983 at the age of 28 after a ten-year reign and he was succeeded as Emperor by his three-year-old son Otto III, plunging the Empire into a political crisis. Otto II was born in 955, the son of the King of Germany Otto I. By 957, Otto IIs older brothers Henry and Bruno had died, as well as Otto Is son from his first wife Eadgyth, with his older brothers dead, the two-year-old Otto IIs became the Kingdoms crown prince and Otto Is heir apparent. Otto I entrusted his son, Archbishop William of Mainz, with Otto IIs literary. Margrave Odo, commander of the Eastern March, taught the young prince the art of war. Needing to put his affairs in order prior to his descent into Italy, Otto I summoned a Diet at Worms and had Otto II elected, at the age of six, co-regent in May 961. Otto II was later crowned by his uncle Bruno the Great, Archbishop of Cologne, while Otto I had secured succession of the throne, he had violated the Kingdoms unwritten law that succession rights could only be granted to a child who has reached the age of majority. He was likely motivated by the associated with his expedition into Italy to claim the Imperial title from the Pope. Otto I crossed the Alps into Italy, while Otto II remained in Germany, after three and a half year absence in Italy, Otto I returned to Germany early in 965 as Holy Roman Emperor. In order to give the hope of dynastic continuity after his death, Otto I again confirmed Otto II as his heir on February 2,965, though Otto I was crowned Emperor in 962 and returned to Germany in 965, the political situation in Italy remained unstable
19.
Italian Peninsula
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The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula is the central and the smallest of the three large peninsulas of Southern Europe. It extends 1,000 km from the Po Valley in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south, the peninsulas shape gives it the nickname lo Stivale. Three smaller peninsulas contribute to this shape, namely Calabria, Salento. Geographically, the Italian peninsula consists of the south of a line extending from the Magra to the Rubicon rivers. It excludes the Po Valley and the slopes of the Alps. All of the lies within the territory of the Italian Republic except for the microstates of San Marino. Additionally, Sicily, Elba and other islands, such as Palagruža, are usually considered as islands off the peninsula. The peninsula lies between the Tyrrhenian Sea on the west, the Ionian Sea on the south, and the Adriatic Sea on the east, the backbone of the Italian peninsula consists of the Apennine Mountains, from which it takes one of its names. Most of its coast is lined with cliffs, the Italian Peninsulas location between the centre of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea made it the target of many conquests. The peninsula has mainly a Mediterranean climate, though in the parts the climate is much cooler. Its natural vegetation includes macchia along the coasts and deciduous and mixed coniferous forests in the interior. Political divisions of the peninsula sorted by area, Apennine Mountains Roman Republic Roman Italy Insular Italy Media related to Italian Peninsula at Wikimedia Commons
20.
Pasta
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Pasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, with the first reference dating to 1154 in Sicily. It can also be made with flour from other cereals or grains, pastas may be divided into two broad categories, dried and fresh. Most dried pasta is produced via an extrusion process although it can be produced in most homes. Both dried and fresh pasta come in a number of shapes and varieties, in Italy the names of specific pasta shapes or types often vary with locale. For example, the form cavatelli is known by 28 different names depending on region, common forms of pasta include long shapes, short shapes, tubes, flat shapes and sheets, miniature soup shapes, filled or stuffed and specialty or decorative shapes. As a category in Italian cuisine, both fresh and dried pastas are classically used in one of three kinds of prepared dishes, as pasta asciutta cooked pasta is plated and served with a complementary sauce or condiment. A second classification of pasta dishes is pasta in brodo in which the pasta is part of a soup-type dish, a third category is pasta al forno in which the pasta incorporated into a dish that is subsequently baked. Pasta is generally a dish, but comes in many varieties due to its versatility. Some pasta dishes are served as a first course in Italy because the portion sizes are small, Pasta is also prepared in light lunches, such as salads or large portion sizes for dinner. It can be prepared by hand or food processor and served hot or cold, Pasta sauces vary in taste, color and texture. When choosing which type of pasta and sauce to serve together, simple sauces like pesto are ideal for long and thin strands of pasta while tomato sauce combines well with thicker pastas. Thicker and chunkier sauces have the ability to cling onto the holes and cuts of short, tubular. The extra sauce left on the plate after all of the pasta is eaten is often mopped up with a piece of bread. First attested in English in 1874, the word comes from Italian pasta, in turn from Latin pasta dough, pastry cake. In the 1st century AD writings of Horace, lagana were fine sheets of fried dough and were an everyday foodstuff, an early 5th century cookbook describes a dish called lagana that consisted of layers of dough with meat stuffing, a possible ancestor of modern-day lasagna. The first concrete information concerning pasta products in Italy dates from the 13th or 14th century, historians have noted several lexical milestones relevant to pasta, none of which changes these basic characteristics. For example, the works of the 2nd century AD Greek physician Galen mention itrion, homogeneous compounds made of flour, the Jerusalem Talmud records that itrium, a kind of boiled dough, was common in Palestine from the 3rd to 5th centuries AD. A dictionary compiled by the 9th century Arab physician and lexicographer Isho bar Ali defines itriyya and its ever-flowing streams propel a number of mills
21.
Spoon
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A spoon is a utensil consisting of a small shallow bowl, oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery, especially as part of a place setting, Spoons are also used in food preparation to measure, mix, stir and toss ingredients. Present day spoons are made from metal, wood, porcelain or plastic, preserved examples of various forms of spoons used by the ancient Egyptians include those composed of ivory, flint, slate and wood, many of them carved with religious symbols. During the Neolithic Ozieri civilization in Sardinia, ceramic ladles and spoons were already in use, in Shang Dynasty China, spoons were made of bone. Early bronze spoons in China were designed with a sharp point, the spoons of the Greeks and Romans were chiefly made of bronze and silver and the handle usually takes the form of a spike or pointed stem. There are many examples in the British Museum from which the forms of the types can be ascertained. In the early Muslim world, spoons were used for eating soup, medieval spoons for domestic use were commonly made of cow horn or wood, but brass, pewter, and latten spoons appear to have been common in about the 15th century. The full descriptions and entries relating to silver spoons in the inventories of the royal and other point to their special value. The earliest English reference appears to be in a will of 1259, in the wardrobe accounts of Edward I for the year 1300 some gold and silver spoons marked with the fleur-de-lis, the Paris mark, are mentioned. One of the most interesting medieval spoons is the coronation spoon used in the anointing of the English sovereign. The earlier English spoon-handles terminate in an acorn, plain knob or a diamond, at the end of the 16th century, the baluster and seal ending becomes common, the bowl being fig-shaped. During The Restoration, the handle becomes broad and flat, the bowl is broad and oval and the termination is cut into the shape known as the hinds foot. In the first quarter of the 18th century, the bowl becomes narrow and elliptical, with a tongue or rats tail down the back, and the handle is turned up at the end. The modern form, with the tip of the bowl narrower than the base, in Southeast Asia, spoons are the primary utensil used for eating, forks are used to push foods such as rice onto the spoon as well as their western usage for piercing the food. Spoons are also used in cooking and serving. In baking, batter is usually enough to pour or drop from a spoon. Rolled dough dropped from a spoon to a sheet can be made into rock cakes and other cookies. A spoon is similarly useful in processing jelly, sugar and syrup, a test sample of jelly taken from a boiling mass may be allowed to slip from a spoon in a sheet, in a step called sheeting
22.
Catherine de' Medici
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Catherine de Medici, daughter of Lorenzo II de Medici and of Madeleine de La Tour dAuvergne, was an Italian noblewoman who was Queen of France from 1547 until 1559, as the wife of King Henry II. As the mother of three sons who became kings of France during her lifetime, she had extensive, if at times varying, for a time, she ruled France as its regent. In 1533, at the age of fourteen, Caterina married Henry, second son of King Francis I, under the gallicised version of her name, Catherine de Médicis, she was Queen consort of France as the wife of King Henry II of France from 1547 to 1559. Throughout his reign, Henry excluded Catherine from participating in state affairs and instead showered favours on his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. Henrys death thrust Catherine into the arena as mother of the frail fifteen-year-old King Francis II. When he died in 1560, she became regent on behalf of her ten-year-old son King Charles IX and was granted sweeping powers, after Charles died in 1574, Catherine played a key role in the reign of her third son, Henry III. He dispensed with her only in the last months of her life. Catherines three sons reigned in an age of almost constant civil and religious war in France, the problems facing the monarchy were complex and daunting but Catherine was able to keep the monarchy and the state institutions functioning even at a minimum level. At first, Catherine compromised and made concessions to the rebelling Protestants, or Huguenots and she failed, however, to grasp the theological issues that drove their movement. Later she resorted, in frustration and anger, to hard-line policies against them, some historians have excused Catherine from blame for the worst decisions of the crown, though evidence for her ruthlessness can be found in her letters. In practice, her authority was limited by the effects of the civil wars. Without Catherine, it is unlikely that her sons would have remained in power, the years in which they reigned have been called the age of Catherine de Medici. According to Mark Strage, one of her biographers, Catherine was the most powerful woman in sixteenth-century Europe. Catherine was born on 13 April 1519 in Florence, Republic of Florence, the child of Lorenzo de Medici, Duke of Urbino, and his wife, Madeleine de la Tour dAuvergne. The young couple had married the year before at Amboise as part of the alliance between King Francis I of France and Lorenzos uncle Pope Leo X against the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. According to a chronicler, when Catherine was born, her parents were as pleased as if it had been a boy. King Francis wanted Catherine to be raised at the French court, Catherine was first cared for by her paternal grandmother, Alfonsina Orsini. After Alfonsinas death in 1520, Catherine joined her cousins and was raised by her aunt, the death of Pope Leo in 1521 interrupted Medici power briefly, until Cardinal Giulio de Medici was elected Pope Clement VII in 1523
23.
Beatriz, Duchess of Viseu
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Infanta Beatriz of Portugal was a Portuguese infanta, daughter of Infante João, Lord of Reguengos and Isabella of Barcelos a daughter of Afonso I, Duke of Braganza. She was also predominant in the Order of Santiago, acting as tutor for her son Diogo, Infanta Beatrice protected and encouraged Gil Vicente, a Portuguese playwright, considered as the father of the Portuguese theatre. She founded the Religiosas da Conceição monastery, in Beja, where her husband was buried, in 1447, Beatrice married her cousin Infante Ferdinand, 2nd Duke of Viseu, son of King Edward of Portugal. From this marriage, they had ten children, Infante João, 3rd Duke of Viseu, 2nd Duke of Beja, became King of Portugal, as Manuel I, following his cousins death. Duke of Beja Duke of Viseu List of Portuguese Dukedoms ”Nobreza de Portugal e do Brasil” – Vol. I, genealogy of Infanta Beatrice, Duchess os Viseu, in Portuguese
24.
Manuel I of Portugal
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Manuel I, the Fortunate, King of Portugal and the Algarves, was the son of Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu, by his wife, the Infanta Beatrice of Portugal. His name is associated with a period of Portuguese civilization that was distinguished by significant achievements both in political affairs and the arts. Manuels mother was the granddaughter of King John I of Portugal, whereas his father was the surviving son of King Edward of Portugal. In 1495, Manuel succeeded his first cousin, King John II of Portugal, Manuel grew up amidst conspiracies of the Portuguese upper nobility against King John II. He was aware of people being killed and exiled. His older brother Diogo, Duke of Viseu, was stabbed to death in 1484 by the king himself, as a result of this stroke of luck, he was nicknamed the Fortunate. Manuel would prove a worthy successor to his cousin John II for his support of Portuguese exploration of the Atlantic Ocean, during his reign, the following achievements were realized,1498 — The discovery of a maritime route to India by Vasco da Gama. 1500 — The discovery of Brazil by Pedro Álvares Cabral,1505 — The appointment of Francisco de Almeida as the first viceroy of India. 1503–1515 — The establishment of monopolies on maritime routes to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf by Afonso de Albuquerque. All these events made Portugal wealthy from trade as it formally established a vast overseas empire. Manuel used the wealth to build a number of royal buildings, commercial treaties and diplomatic alliances were forged with China and the Persian Empire. Pope Leo X received an embassy from Portugal during his reign designed to draw attention to Portugals newly acquired riches to all of Europe. In Manuels reign, royal absolutism was the method of government, the Portuguese Cortes met only three times during his reign, always in Lisbon, the kings seat. He reformed the courts of justice and the municipal charters with the crown, modernizing taxes, during his reign, the laws in force in the kingdom of Portugal were recodified with the publication of the Manueline Ordinations. Manuel also endeavoured to promote another crusade against the Turks and his relationship with the Portuguese Jews started out well. At the outset of his reign, he released all the Jews who had been made captive during the reign of John II, unfortunately for the Jews, he decided that he wanted to marry Infanta Isabella of Aragon, then heiress of the future united crown of Spain. Ferdinand and Isabella had expelled the Jews in 1492 and would never marry their daughter to the king of a country that still tolerated their presence, in the marriage contract, Manuel I agreed to persecute the Jews of Portugal. In December 1496, it was decreed that all Jews either convert to Christianity or leave the country without their children, however, those expelled could only leave the country in ships specified by the king
25.
Southern Europe
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Southern Europe is the southern region of the European continent. Most definitions of Southern Europe, also known as Mediterranean Europe, include the countries of the Iberian peninsula, different methods can be used to define Southern Europe, including its political, economic, and cultural attributes. Southern Europe can also be defined by its natural features — its geography, climate, geographically, Southern Europe is the southern half of the landmass of Europe. This definition is relative, with no clear limits and those areas of Mediterranean climate present similar vegetations and landscapes throughout, including dry hills, small plains, pine forests and olive trees. Cooler climates can be found in parts of Southern European countries, for example within the mountain ranges of Spain. Additionally, the north coast of Spain experiences a wetter Atlantic climate, Southern Europes flora is that of the Mediterranean Region, one of the phytochoria recognized by Armen Takhtajan. The period known as classical antiquity began with the rise of the city-states of Ancient Greece, Greek influence reached its zenith under the expansive empire of Alexander the Great, spreading throughout Asia. The Roman Empire came to dominate the entire Mediterranean basin in a vast empire based on Roman law and it promoted trade, tolerance, and Greek culture. By 300 AD the Roman Empire was divided into the Western Roman Empire based in Rome, during the Middle Ages, the Eastern Roman Empire survived, though modern historians refer to this state as the Byzantine Empire. In Western Europe, Germanic peoples moved into positions of power in the remnants of the former Western Roman Empire and established kingdoms, the period known as the Crusades, a series of religiously motivated military expeditions originally intended to bring the Levant back into Christian rule, began. Several Crusader states were founded in the eastern Mediterranean, the Crusaders would have a profound impact on many parts of Europe. Their Sack of Constantinople in 1204 brought an end to the Byzantine Empire. Though it would later be re-established, it would never recover its former glory, the Crusaders would establish trade routes that would develop into the Silk Road and open the way for the merchant republics of Genoa and Venice to become major economic powers. The Reconquista, a movement, worked to reconquer Iberia for Christendom. The Late Middle Ages represented a period of upheaval in Europe, the epidemic known as the Black Death and an associated famine caused demographic catastrophe in Europe as the population plummeted. Dynastic struggles and wars of conquest kept many of the states of Europe at war for much of the period, in the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire, a Turkish state originating in Anatolia, encroached steadily on former Byzantine lands, culminating in the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. An unprecedented series of wars and political revolutions took place around Europe. Observers at the time, and many historians since, have argued that wars caused the revolutions, galileo Galilei, invented the telescope and the thermometer which allowed him to observe and describe the solar system
26.
Etiquette
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Etiquette is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group. The French word étiquette, literally signifying a tag or label, was used in a sense in English around 1750. Etiquette has changed and evolved over the years, in the 3rd millennium BC, Ptahhotep wrote The Maxims of Ptahhotep. The Maxims were conformist precepts extolling such civil virtues as truthfulness, self-control, learning by listening to everybody and knowing that human knowledge is never perfect are a leitmotif. Avoiding open conflict wherever possible should not be considered weakness, stress is placed on the pursuit of justice, although it is conceded that it is a gods command that prevails in the end. Some of the maxims refer to ones behaviour when in the presence of the great, how to choose the right master, others teach the correct way to lead through openness and kindness. Greed is the base of all evil and should be guarded against, while generosity towards family, confucius was a Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher whose philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. Baldassare Castiglione, count of Casatico, was an Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier and a prominent Renaissance author, who is probably most famous for his authorship of The Book of the Courtier. The work was an example of a book, dealing with questions of the etiquette and morality of the courtier, and was very influential in 16th century European court circles. ”During the Enlightenment era. Upwardly mobile middle class bourgeoisie increasingly tried to identify themselves with the elite through their adopted artistic preferences and their standards of behaviour. They became preoccupied with precise rules of etiquette, such as when to show emotion, influential in this new discourse was a series of essays on the nature of politeness in a commercial society, penned by the philosopher Lord Shaftesbury in the early 18th century. Its stated goal was to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality, the allied notion of civility – referring to a desired social interaction which valued sober and reasoned debate on matters of interest – also became an important quality for the polite classes. Established rules and procedures for proper behaviour as well as conventions, were outlined by gentlemens clubs. Periodicals, including The Tatler and The Spectator, infused politeness into English coffeehouse conversation, as their explicit purpose lay in the reformation of English manners and morals. It was Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield who first used the word etiquette in its meaning, in his Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World. This work comprised over 400 letters written from 1737 or 1738 and continuing until his sons death in 1768, the letters were first published by his sons widow Eugenia Stanhope in 1774. Chesterfield endeavoured to decouple the issue of manners from conventional morality, the Letters were full of elegant wisdom and perceptive observation and deduction. Frequent and loud laughter is the characteristic of folly and ill-manners, it is the manner in which the mob express their joy at silly things
27.
Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon
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Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, was a French soldier, diplomat and noted diarist. He was born in Paris at the Hôtel Selvois,6 rue Taranne, the familys ducal peerage, granted in 1635 to his father Claude de Rouvroy, served as both perspective and theme in Saint-Simons life and writings. Men of the noblest blood might not be and, in most cases were not and their legal pre-eminence derived from hereditary membership in the Parlement of Paris, the highest of Frances judicial and quasi-legislative assemblies. Strictly speaking, a French peerage was granted in favour of a designated fief rather than upon the titleholder per se, had Saint-Simon succeeded in his lifelong ideal and ambition of conversion of Frances peers into a Great Council of the Nation, history might have followed a different course. The familys principal seat, where Saint-Simons Mémoires were written, was at La Ferté-Vidame and his father, Claude, the first duke, was a tall and taciturn man who was keen on hunting. Louis de Saint-Simon was the opposite, garrulous, much shorter and his father had been a favorite hunting companion of Louis XIII. King Louis had appointed his father as Master of Wolfhounds before granting him a dukedom in 1635 at a young age. Saint-Simon ranked thirteenth in the order of precedence among Frances eighteen dukes and she was a formidable woman whose word was law in the family, and became more so in extreme old age. Her son Louis was well educated, largely by her, for whom Louis XIV, after further tuition from the Jesuits, he joined the Mousquetaires gris in 1692, serving at the Siege of Namur and at the Battle of Neerwinden. Saint-Simon fought in a more military campaigns, although not under Luxembourg. In 1695 he married Marie-Gabrielle de Durfort, daughter of Guy-Aldonce, duc de Lorges and he seems to have regarded her with a respect and affection unusual between husband and wife in that era, and she sometimes succeeded in suppressing his pompous ideals. As he did not receive further promotion in the army, he resigned his commission in 1702, Saint-Simon, for his own part, appears to have played only an intermediate role in court life. Having previously served in London, he was nominated as ambassador to Rome in 1705, at last he attached himself to Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, Louis XIVs nephew and the future regent. He also allied himself with Louis, Duke of Burgundy, the Dauphins son, Saint-Simon loathed the bastards, Louis XIVs illegitimate children, and not, apparently, entirely because they were accorded ceremonial precedence above Frances peers. The Saint-Simon that is revealed through the Mémoires had many enemies, the death of Louis XIV seemed to have given Saint-Simon a chance of realizing his hopes. The Duke of Orleans became regent and Saint-Simon was appointed to his Regency Council, but no steps were taken to carry out his preferred vision of a France ruled by the noble élite, exposing how little real influence he had with the Regent. Whilst in Spain he did, however, secure a grandeeship and, despite having caught smallpox, he was satisfied with his efforts there. After his return to France he had little to do with public affairs, but there can be little doubt that he was eclipsed, and even expelled from the château de Meudon by Cardinal Dubois
28.
James II of England
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James II and VII was King of England and Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685 until he was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. He was the last Roman Catholic monarch of England, Scotland and Ireland, the second surviving son of Charles I, he ascended the throne upon the death of his brother, Charles II. Members of Britains Protestant political elite increasingly suspected him of being pro-French and pro-Catholic and he was replaced by his eldest, Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange. James made one attempt to recover his crowns from William. After the defeat of the Jacobite forces by the Williamites at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690 and he lived out the rest of his life as a pretender at a court sponsored by his cousin and ally, King Louis XIV. James, the surviving son of King Charles I and his wife. Later that same year, he was baptised by William Laud and he was educated by private tutors, along with his brother, the future King Charles II, and the two sons of the Duke of Buckingham, George and Francis Villiers. At the age of three, James was appointed Lord High Admiral, the position was honorary, but would become a substantive office after the Restoration. He was designated Duke of York at birth, invested with the Order of the Garter in 1642, as the Kings disputes with the English Parliament grew into the English Civil War, James stayed in Oxford, a Royalist stronghold. When the city surrendered after the siege of Oxford in 1646, in 1648, he escaped from the Palace, aided by Joseph Bampfield, and from there he went to The Hague in disguise. When Charles I was executed by the rebels in 1649, monarchists proclaimed Jamess older brother as Charles II of England, Charles II was recognised as king by the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of Ireland, and was crowned King of Scotland at Scone in 1651. Although he was proclaimed King in Jersey, Charles was unable to secure the crown of England and consequently fled to France, like his brother, James sought refuge in France, serving in the French army under Turenne against the Fronde, and later against their Spanish allies. In the French army James had his first true experience of battle where, according to one observer, he ventures himself, in the meantime, Charles was attempting to reclaim his throne, but France, although hosting the exiles, had allied itself with Oliver Cromwell. In 1656, Charles turned instead to Spain – an enemy of France – for support, in consequence, James was expelled from France and forced to leave Turennes army. James quarrelled with his brother over the choice of Spain over France. In 1659, the French and Spanish made peace, James, doubtful of his brothers chances of regaining the throne, considered taking a Spanish offer to be an admiral in their navy. Ultimately, he declined the position, by the year the situation in England had changed. After Richard Cromwells resignation as Lord Protector in 1659 and the subsequent collapse of the Commonwealth in 1660, although James was the heir presumptive, it seemed unlikely that he would inherit the Crown, as Charles was still a young man capable of fathering children
29.
Louis XIV of France
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Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a country in European history. In the age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIVs France was a leader in the centralization of power. Louis began his rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief minister. By these means he became one of the most powerful French monarchs, under his rule, the Edict of Nantes, which granted rights to Huguenots, was abolished. The revocation effectively forced Huguenots to emigrate or convert in a wave of dragonnades, which managed to virtually destroy the French Protestant minority. During Louis reign, France was the leading European power, and it fought three wars, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg. There were also two lesser conflicts, the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions, warfare defined Louis XIVs foreign policies, and his personality shaped his approach. Impelled by a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique, in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French military, Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. He was named Louis Dieudonné and bore the title of French heirs apparent. At the time of his birth, his parents had married for 23 years. His mother had experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631, leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift and his birth a miracle of God. Sensing imminent death, Louis XIII decided to put his affairs in order in the spring of 1643, in defiance of custom, which would have made Queen Anne the sole Regent of France, the king decreed that a regency council would rule on his sons behalf. His lack of faith in Queen Annes political abilities was his primary rationale and he did, however, make the concession of appointing her head of the council. Louis relationship with his mother was uncommonly affectionate for the time, contemporaries and eyewitnesses claimed that the Queen would spend all her time with Louis. Both were greatly interested in food and theatre, and it is likely that Louis developed these interests through his close relationship with his mother. This long-lasting and loving relationship can be evidenced by excerpts in Louis journal entries, such as, but attachments formed later by shared qualities of the spirit are far more difficult to break than those formed merely by blood
30.
Charles Perrault
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Charles Perrault was a French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new genre, the fairy tale. The best known of his tales include Le Petit Chaperon Rouge, Cendrillon, Le Chat Botté, La Belle au bois Dormant, some of Perraults versions of old stories have influenced the German versions published by the Brothers Grimm more than 100 years later. The stories continue to be printed and have adapted to opera, ballet, theatre. Perrault was a figure in the 17th-century French literary scene, and was the leader of the Modern faction during the Quarrel of the Ancients. Perrault was born in Paris to a bourgeois family, the seventh child of Pierre Perrault. He attended very good schools and studied law before embarking on a career in government service and he took part in the creation of the Academy of Sciences as well as the restoration of the Academy of Painting. In 1654, he moved in with his brother Pierre, who had purchased a post as the tax collector of the city of Paris. When the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres was founded in 1663, Perrault was appointed its secretary and served under Jean Baptiste Colbert, Jean Chapelain, Amable de Bourzeys, and Jacques Cassagne were also appointed. His design was chosen over designs by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and François Mansart, in 1668, Perrault wrote La Peinture to honor the kings first painter, Charles Le Brun. He also wrote Courses de tetes et de bague, written to commemorate the 1662 celebrations staged by Louis for his mistress, Louise-Françoise de La Baume le Blanc, Perrault was elected to the Académie française in 1671. He married Marie Guichon, age 19, in 1672, she died in 1678, in 1669 Perrault advised Louis XIV to include thirty-nine fountains each representing one of the fables of Aesop in the labyrinth of Versailles in the gardens of Versailles. The work was carried out between 1672 and 1677, water jets spurting from the animals mouths were conceived to give the impression of speech between the creatures. There was a plaque with a caption and a written by the poet Isaac de Benserade next to each fountain. Perrault produced the guidebook for the labyrinth, Labyrinte de Versailles, printed at the press, Paris, in 1677. Philippe Quinault, a family friend of the Perraults, quickly gained a reputation as the librettist for the new musical genre known as opera. He was on the side of the Moderns and wrote Le Siècle de Louis le Grand, Le Siècle de Louis le Grand was written in celebration of Louis XIVs recovery from a life-threatening operation. Perrault argued that because of Louiss enlightened rule, the present age was superior in respect to ancient times
31.
Sleeping Beauty
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Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault, or Little Briar Rose by the Brothers Grimm, is a classic fairy tale which involves a beautiful princess, a sleeping enchantment, and a handsome prince. The version collected by the Brothers Grimm was an orally transmitted version of the originally literary tale published by Charles Perrault in Histoires ou contes du temps passé in 1697. This in turn was based on Sun, Moon, and Talia by Italian poet Giambattista Basile, the earliest known version of the story is found in the narrative Perceforest, composed between 1330 and 1344 and first printed in 1528. At the christening of a king and queens long-wished-for child, seven good fairies are invited to be godmothers to the infant princess, the fairies attend the banquet at the palace. Each fairy is presented with a plate and drinking cups adorned with jewels. Soon after, an old fairy enters the palace and is seated with a plate of fine china and this old fairy is overlooked because she has been within a tower for many years and everyone had believed her to be deceased. Six of the seven fairies then offer their gifts of beauty, wit, grace, dance, song. The evil fairy is very angry about having been forgotten, and as her gift, enchants the infant princess so that she one day prick her finger on a spindle of a spinning wheel. The seventh fairy, who hasnt yet given her gift, attempts to reverse the evil fairys curse, however, she can only do so partially. Instead of dying, the Princess will fall into a deep sleep for 100 years, the King orders that every spindle and spinning wheel in the kingdom to be destroyed, to try to save his daughter from the terrible curse. Fifteen or sixteen years pass and one day, when the king and queen are away, the princess, who has never seen anyone spin before, asks the old woman if she can try the spinning wheel. The curse is fulfilled as the princess pricks her finger on the spindle, the old woman cries for help and attempts are made to revive the princess. The king attributes this to fate and has the Princess carried to the finest room in the palace and placed upon a bed of gold, the king and queen kiss their daughter goodbye and depart, proclaiming the entrance to be forbidden. The good fairy who altered the evil prophecy is summoned, having great powers of foresight, the fairy sees that the Princess will awaken to distress when she finds herself alone, so the fairy puts everyone in the castle to sleep. The fairy also summons a forest of trees, brambles and thorns that spring up around the castle, shielding it from the outside world, a hundred years pass and a prince from another family spies the hidden castle during a hunting expedition. The prince then braves the tall trees, brambles and thorns which part at his approach and he passes the sleeping castle folk and comes across the chamber where the Princess lies asleep on the bed. Struck by the radiant beauty before him, he falls on his knees before her, the enchantment comes to an end by a kiss and the princess awakens and converses with the prince for a long time. Meanwhile, the rest of the castle awakens and go about their business, the prince and princess are later married by the chaplain in the castle chapel
32.
Thomas Coryat
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Thomas Coryat was an English traveller and writer of the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean age. He is principally remembered for two volumes of writings he left regarding his travels, often on foot, through Europe and he is often credited with introducing the table fork to England, with Furcifer becoming one of his nicknames. His description of how the Italians shielded themselves from the sun resulted in the umbrella being introduced into English. Coryat was born in Crewkerne, Somerset, and lived most of his life in the Somerset village of Odcombe and he was educated at Winchester College from 1591, and at Gloucester Hall, Oxford from 1596 to 1599. He was employed by Prince Henry, eldest son of James I as a sort of court jester from 1603 to 1607, alongside Ben Jonson, John Donne, from May to October 1608 he undertook a tour of Europe, somewhat less than half of which he walked. He travelled through France and Italy to Venice, and returned via Switzerland, Germany and he published his memoirs of the events in a volume entitled Coryats Crudities hastily gobbled up in Five Months Travels in France, Italy, &c. This volume gives a picture of life in Europe during the time. In 1611 he published a volume of travel writings, this one entitled Coryats Crambe. Coryats letters from this time refer to the famous Mermaid Tavern in London, in September 1617, at the invitation of Sir Thomas Roe, he visited the imperial court at Mandu, Madhya Pradesh. In November 1617 he left for Surat, he died of dysentery there in December of that year, though his planned account of the journey was never to be, some of his unorganized travel notes have survived and found their way back to England. Coryats writings were popular at the time. He is considered by many to have been the first Briton to do a Grand Tour of Europe, british travel writer and humorist Tim Moore retraced the steps of Coryats tour of Europe, as recounted in his book Continental Drifter. In 2008 Daniel Allen published an account of his nine-month cycle trip following Coryates journey to the East, entitled The Sky Above, lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler spoke at the Australian Festival of Travel Writing about Thomas Coryate. Wheeler traces Coryate’s journey as he observes the invention of leisure travel, http, //www. wheelercentre. com/broadcasts/tony-wheeler-thomas-coryate-the-first-tourist/ John Sandford William Stansby Adams, Percy G. Travel Literature and the Evolution of the Novel. Allen, Daniel The Sky Above, The Kingdom Below, ISBN 1-905791-30-5 Chaney, Edward, Thomas Coryate, The Grove-Macmillan Dictionary of Art. Chaney, Edward, The Evolution of the Grand Tour, 2nd ed, Routledge, ISBN 0-7146-4474-9 Moraes, Dom and Sarayu Srivatsa. The Long Strider, How Thomas Coryate Walked From England to India in the Year 1613, Moore, Tim The Grand Tour, St. Martins Press, New York,2001. Philadelphia, U of Pennsylvania P,1942, petroski, Henry, The evolution of useful things, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, ISBN 978-0-6797-4039-1 Pritchard, R. E
33.
American Revolution
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The British responded by imposing punitive laws on Massachusetts in 1774 known as the Coercive Acts, following which Patriots in the other colonies rallied behind Massachusetts. Tensions escalated to the outbreak of fighting between Patriot militia and British regulars at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the conflict then developed into a global war, during which the Patriots fought the British and Loyalists in what became known as the American Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress determined King George IIIs rule to be tyrannical and infringing the rights as Englishmen. The Patriot leadership professed the political philosophies of liberalism and republicanism to reject monarchy and aristocracy, Congress rejected British proposals requiring allegiance to the monarchy and abandonment of independence. The British were forced out of Boston in 1776, but then captured and they blockaded the ports and captured other cities for brief periods, but failed to defeat Washingtons forces. After a failed Patriot invasion of Canada, a British army was captured at the Battle of Saratoga in late 1777, a combined American–French force captured a second British army at Yorktown in 1781, effectively ending the war in the United States. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 formally ended the conflict, confirming the new nations complete separation from the British Empire. The United States took possession of all the territory east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes, with the British retaining control of Canada. Among the significant results of the revolution was the creation of a new Constitution of the United States. Historians typically begin their histories of the American Revolution with the British victory in the French and Indian War in 1763, the lands west of Quebec and west of a line running along the crest of the Allegheny mountains became Indian territory, temporarily barred to settlement. For the prior history, see Thirteen Colonies, in 1764, Parliament passed the Currency Act to restrain the use of paper money which British merchants saw as a means to evade debt payments. Parliament also passed the Sugar Act, imposing customs duties on a number of articles, none did and Parliament passed the Stamp Act in March 1765 which imposed direct taxes on the colonies for the first time. All official documents, newspapers, almanacs, and pamphlets—even decks of playing cards—were required to have the stamps, the colonists did not object that the taxes were high, but because they had no representation in the Parliament. Benjamin Franklin testified in Parliament in 1766 that Americans already contributed heavily to the defense of the Empire, stationing a standing army in Great Britain during peacetime was politically unacceptable. London had to deal with 1,500 politically well-connected British officers who became redundant, in 1765, the Sons of Liberty formed. They used public demonstrations, boycott, violence, and threats of violence to ensure that the British tax laws were unenforceable, in Boston, the Sons of Liberty burned the records of the vice admiralty court and looted the home of chief justice Thomas Hutchinson. Several legislatures called for united action, and nine colonies sent delegates to the Stamp Act Congress in New York City in October 1765, moderates led by John Dickinson drew up a Declaration of Rights and Grievances stating that taxes passed without representation violated their rights as Englishmen. Colonists emphasized their determination by boycotting imports of British merchandise, the Parliament at Westminster saw itself as the supreme lawmaking authority throughout all British possessions and thus entitled to levy any tax without colonial approval
34.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
35.
Henry III of France
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Henry III was a monarch of the House of Valois who was elected the monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1573 to 1575 and ruled as King of France from 1574 until his death. He was the last French monarch of the Valois dynasty, as the fourth son of King Henry II of France and Catherine de Medici, Henry was not expected to assume the throne of France. He was thus a candidate for the vacant Commonwealth throne. Henrys rule over Commonwealth was brief, but notable, the Henrician Articles he signed into law accepting the Commonwealth throne established Poland as an elective monarchy subject to free election by the Polish nobility. Of his three brothers, two would live long enough to ascend the French throne, but both died young and without a legitimate male heir. He abandoned Commonwealth upon receiving word that he had inherited the throne of France at the age of 22, Henry III was himself a politique, arguing that a strong and religiously tolerant monarchy would save France from collapse. Henry IIIs legitimate heir was his distant cousin Henry, King of Navarre, the Catholic League, led by Henry I, Duke of Guise, sought to exclude Protestants from the succession and championed the Catholic Charles, Cardinal of Bourbon, as Henry IIIs heir. Henry was born at the royal Château de Fontainebleau, the son of King Henry II and Catherine de Medici and grandson of Francis I of France. His older brothers were Francis II of France, Charles IX of France and he was made Duke of Angoulême and Duke of Orléans in 1560, then Duke of Anjou in 1566. He was his mothers favourite, she called him chers yeux and lavished fondness and his elder brother, Charles, grew to detest him, partially because he resented his better health. In his youth, Henry was considered the best of the sons of Catherine de Medici, unlike his father and elder brothers, he had little interest in the traditional Valois pastimes of hunting and physical exercise. Although he was fond of fencing and skilled in it, he preferred to indulge his tastes for the arts. These predilections were attributed to his Italian mother, at one point in his youth he showed a tendency towards Protestantism as a means of rebelling. At the age of nine, calling himself a little Huguenot, he refused to attend Mass, sang Protestant psalms to his sister Margaret and his mother firmly cautioned her children against such behaviour, and he would never again show any Protestant tendencies. Instead, he became nominally Roman Catholic, reports that Henry engaged in same sex relations with his court favourites, known as the mignons, date back to his own time. Certainly he enjoyed relationships with them. The scholar Louis Crompton provides substantial contemporary evidence of Henry IIIs homosexuality, and it is difficult, he writes, to reconcile the king whose use of favourites is so logically strategic with the man who goes to pieces when one of them dies. In 1570, discussions commenced to arrange for Henry to court Queen Elizabeth I of England, Elizabeth, almost 37, was expected by many parties in her country to marry and produce an heir
36.
Venice
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Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is situated across a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and these are located in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay that lies between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, the lagoon and a part of the city are listed as a World Heritage Site. In 2014,264,579 people resided in Comune di Venezia, together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, with a total population of 2.6 million. PATREVE is a metropolitan area without any degree of autonomy. The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC, the city was historically the capital of the Republic of Venice. Venice has been known as the La Dominante, Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, City of Water, City of Masks, City of Bridges, The Floating City, and City of Canals. The City State of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial center which gradually emerged from the 9th century to its peak in the 14th century and this made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. It is also known for its several important artistic movements, especially the Renaissance period, Venice has played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music, and it is the birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi. Venice has been ranked the most beautiful city in the world as of 2016, the name Venetia, however, derives from the Roman name for the people known as the Veneti, and called by the Greeks Eneti. The meaning of the word is uncertain, although there are other Indo-European tribes with similar-sounding names, such as the Celtic Veneti, Baltic Veneti, and the Slavic Wends. Linguists suggest that the name is based on an Indo-European root *wen, so that *wenetoi would mean beloved, lovable, a connection with the Latin word venetus, meaning the color sea-blue, is also possible. The alternative obsolete form is Vinegia, some late Roman sources reveal the existence of fishermen on the islands in the original marshy lagoons. They were referred to as incolae lacunae, the traditional founding is identified with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo on the islet of Rialto — said to have taken place at the stroke of noon on 25 March 421. Beginning as early as AD166 to 168, the Quadi and Marcomanni destroyed the center in the area. The Roman defences were again overthrown in the early 5th century by the Visigoths and, some 50 years later, New ports were built, including those at Malamocco and Torcello in the Venetian lagoon. The tribuni maiores, the earliest central standing governing committee of the islands in the Lagoon, the traditional first doge of Venice, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was actually Exarch Paul, and his successor, Marcello Tegalliano, was Pauls magister militum. In 726 the soldiers and citizens of the Exarchate rose in a rebellion over the controversy at the urging of Pope Gregory II
37.
Spork
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A spork or foon is a hybrid form of cutlery taking the form of a spoon-like shallow scoop with two to four fork tines. They are used by fast food restaurants, schools, prisons, the word spork combines spoon and fork. Similarly, the word foon is a blend of fork and spoon, in the US, patents for sporks and proto-sporks have been issued. A combined spoon, fork, and knife closely resembling the modern spork was invented by Samuel W. Francis, other early patents predating the modern spork include U. S. Patent 904,553, for a spoon, granted on November 24,1908 to Harry L. McCoy. Patent 1,044,869, for a spoon with a tined edge, many of these inventions predated the use of the term spork. These design patents do not prevent anyone from designing and manufacturing a different version of a spork, examples of modern US design patents for sporks include patent number D247,153 issued in February 1978 and patent D388,664 issued in January 1998. The word spork originated in the early 20th century to such devices. In 1951, Hyde W. Ballard of Westtown, Pennsylvania filed an application with the United States Patent Office to register Spork as a trademark for a combination spoon and fork made of stainless steel. The Van Brode Milling Company subsequently registered SPORK for a plastic spoon, fork and knife at the USPO on October 27,1970. The word Spork accompanied by a design is registered in the U. S. in relation to hand tools. In the UK, Plastico Limited registered Spork as a trademark in relation to cutlery with effect from September 18,1975, the registration is now in the name of another company and remains in force. The trademark is registered in the UK in relation to gardening tools in the name of the same UK based individual who owns US trademark registration no.2514381. Another British company, Lifeventure, sells titanium and plastic versions using the name Forkspoon, the fact that it is clever and the fact that the meaning of Spork could be said to be obvious once it is explained does not mean that it is obvious what it is. Indeed, I would have thought that if one asked a person in 1975 what a Spork was, if one then explained what it was and how the word came about, one might then be told that it was obvious or that it was clever. Materials such as steel, silver, aluminum, titanium. Plastic sporks are common in prisons in the United States because they are difficult to form into shiv-type weapons, prepackaged meals may come with a disposable plastic spork. Sporks are also used by backpackers and other outdoorsmen as they are a lightweight
38.
French fries
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French fries, chips, fries, finger chips, or French-fried potatoes are batonnet or allumette-cut deep-fried potatoes. Fries in America are generally salted and are almost always served with ketchup, Fries can be topped more heavily, as in the dishes of poutine and chili cheese fries. French fries can be made from potatoes instead of potatoes. A baked variant of the French fry uses less or even no oil, French fries are prepared by first peeling and cutting the potato into even strips. These are then wiped off or soaked in water to remove the surface starch. They may then be fried in one or two stages, chefs generally agree that the two-bath technique produces better results. In the two-stage or two-bath method, the first bath, sometimes called blanching, is in hot fat to cook them through and this may be done in advance. Then they are more briefly fried in hot fat to crisp the exterior. They are then placed in a colander or on a cloth to drain, salted, the exact times of the two baths depend on the size of the potatoes. For example, for 2–3mm strips, the first bath takes about 3 minutes, most French fries are produced from frozen potatoes which have been blanched or at least air-dried industrially. The usual fat for making French fries is vegetable oil, in the past, beef suet was recommended as superior, with vegetable shortening as an alternative. In fact, McDonalds used a mixture of 93% beef tallow and 7% cottonseed oil until 1990, thomas Jefferson had potatoes served in the French manner at a White House dinner in 1802. The expression French fried potatoes first occurred in print in English in the 1856 work Cookery for Maids of All Work by E. Warren, French Fried Potatoes. – Cut new potatoes in thin slices, put them in boiling fat, and it is apparent that this account refers to thin, shallow-fried slices of potato – it is not clear where or when the now familiar deep-fried batons or fingers of potato were first prepared. In the early 20th century, the term French fried was being used in the sense of deep-fried for foods like onion rings or chicken and it is unlikely that French fried refers to frenching in the sense of julienning, which is not attested until after French fried potatoes. Previously, frenching referred only to trimming meat off the shanks of chops, some claim that fries originated in Belgium, there is an ongoing dispute between the French and Belgians about where they were invented, with both countries claiming ownership. Also, given 18th century economic conditions, It is absolutely unthinkable that a peasant could have dedicated large quantities of fat for cooking potatoes, at most they were sautéed in a pan. Some people believe that the term French fries for deep fried potato batons was introduced when American soldiers arrived in Belgium during World War I
39.
Chip fork
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A chip fork is a small fork made from wood or plastic that is given away by fast food suppliers with portions of french fries, currywurst, and similar, and used when eating. Chip forks are specially designed to keep eaters fingers clean of grease, sauces, mayonnaise, thus they spare suppliers the cost and labour of collecting and cleaning traditional forks. This fits well with the image of fast food as kinds of products to be taken away, the usual design of chip forks has either two or three prongs at one end. Their length is somewhere between 7½ and 9 cm, their width between 1 and 1½ cm at the widest place, today, these forks have completely replaced an earlier version of chip forks from the BeNeLux area which had to be cleaned and reused. Whether the throw-away version was first used in Berlin, Germany, in Germany, the local name Pommesgabel, also Pommespicker is a popular alternative denomination for the mano cornuta
40.
Pastry fork
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A pastry fork, also known as a pie fork, is a fork designed for eating pastries and other desserts while holding a plate. The fork has three or four tines, the three-tine fork has a larger, flattened and beveled tine on the side while the four-tine fork has the first and second tine connected or bridged together and beveled. Pastry forks range in size from 4 inches to 7 1⁄2 inches as serving pieces in silverware place settings, in many fine place settings, the pastry fork and pie fork may be two separate forks as well. It is typically designed so that it can be used with the right hand and it therefore has the left side widened to be used like a knife to cut the food when pressed down on the plate. Left-handed pastry forks have the right side widened instead, anna M. Mangin was awarded a patent on March 1,1892, for a pastry fork for mixing pastry dough
41.
Fondue
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Fondue is a Swiss dish of melted cheese served in a communal pot over a portable stove heated with a candle or spirit lamp, and eaten by dipping bread into the cheese using long-stemmed forks. It was promoted as a Swiss national dish by the Swiss Cheese Union in the 1930s, the word fondue is the feminine passive past participle of the French verb fondre used as a noun. It is first attested in French in 1735, in Vincent la Chapelles Cuisinier moderne, the earliest known recipe for cheese fondue as we know it today comes from a 1699 book published in Zurich, under the name Käss mit Wein zu kochen, to cook cheese with wine. It calls for grated or cut-up cheese to be melted with wine, brillat-Savarin wrote in 1834 that it is nothing other than scrambled eggs with cheese. Variations included cream and truffles in addition to eggs, as well as what is now called raclette. The first known recipe for the modern cheese fondue under that name, with cheese and wine but no eggs, was published in 1875, and was already presented as a Swiss national dish. The introduction of cornstarch to Switzerland in 1905 made it easier to make a smooth and stable emulsion of the wine and cheese, Fondue was popularized as a Swiss national dish by the Swiss Cheese Union in the 1930s as a way of increasing cheese consumption. The Swiss Cheese Union also created pseudo-regional recipes as part of the defense of Switzerland. After World War II rationing ended, the Swiss Cheese Union continued its campaign, sending fondue sets to military regiments. Fondue is now a symbol of Swiss unity, Fondue was promoted to Americans at the Swiss Pavilions Alpine restaurant at the 1964 New York Worlds Fair. The extension of the name fondue to other dishes served in a hot pot dates to 1950s New York. Konrad Egli, a Swiss restaurateur, introduced fondue bourguignonne at his Chalet Suisse restaurant in 1956, in the mid 1960s, he invented chocolate fondue as part of a promotion for Toblerone chocolate. A sort of chocolate mousse or chocolate cake had also sometimes called chocolate fondue starting in the 1930s. Cheese fondue consists of a blend of cheeses, wine and seasoning, to prepare the caquelon it is first rubbed with a cut garlic clove. White wine is heated with cornstarch, and then grated cheese is added and stirred until melted. It is often topped off with a bit of kirsch, the cornstarch or other starch is added to prevent separation. The mixture is stirred continuously as it heats in the caquelon, when it is ready, diners dip cubes of bread speared on a fondue fork into the mixture. A cheese fondue mixture should be warm enough to keep the fondue smooth and liquid
42.
Knork
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Humans in different cultures use a variety of tools to eat. This is a list of eating implements, fun Dip is a type of candy in the United States, where a solid candy dipping stick is used to convey flavored sugar to the eaters mouth. The dipper is first licked to provide moisture, and then dredged through a small pouch with the flavored sugar, some single-serve ice cream is sold with a flat wooden spade, often erroneously called a spoon, to lift the product to ones mouth. Prepackaged tuna salad or cracker snacks may contain a flat plastic spade for similar purposes, drinking straw Cocktail stick Over time, these utensils were combined in various ways in attempts to make eating more convenient or to reduce the total number of utensils required. Chopfork – A utensil with a fork at one end and chopsticks/tongs at the other, chork – Pointed and slightly curved tongs, which can be used like chopsticks or as a fork. A different kind of chork is a fork with a split handle, forkchops – Used in a pair, these are basically a pair of chopsticks with a small fork and knife on the non-pointed ends. Knork – A fork with edge tines sharpened or serrated, pastry fork - A fork with a cutting edge along one of the tines. Spoon Straw – A scoop-ended drinking straw intended for slushies and milkshakes, sporf – A utensil consisting of a spoon on one end, a fork on the other, and edge tines that are sharpened or serrated. Spork – Spoon and Fork Splayd – Spoon and Fork and Knife Spife – Spoon, some utensils are useful only for specific foods
43.
Ball joint
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In an automobile, ball joints are spherical bearings that connect the control arms to the steering knuckles. They are used on virtually every automobile made and work similarly to the design of the human hip joint. A ball joint consists of a stud and socket enclosed in a casing. The bearing stud is tapered and threaded, and fits into a hole in the steering knuckle. A protective encasing prevents dirt from getting into the joint assembly, usually, this is a rubber-like boot that allows movement and expansion of lubricant. Motion-control ball joints tend to be retained with an internal spring, the offset ball joint provides means of movement in systems where thermal expansion and contraction, shock, seismic motion, and torsional motions, and forces are present. A ball joint is used for allowing free movement in two planes at the time, including rotating in those planes. Combining two such joints with control arms enables motion in all three planes, allowing the front end of an automobile to be steered and a spring and shock suspension to make the ride comfortable. Camber angle could generally be adjusted by moving both inner pivots of either the upper or lower control arm inwards or outwards by an equal amount. But compliance of the control arm inner pivots, typically due to the use of elastomeric bearings and this ability to fine-tune ball-jointed suspension allows manufacturers to make the automobile more stable and easier to steer, compared to the older kingpin style suspension. The smoother ride may also increase tire tread life, since the ball-joint suspension allows better control of suspension geometry, on modern vehicles, ball joints are the pivot between the wheels and the suspension of an automobile. Ball joints play a role in the safe operation of an automobiles steering. So, there are only two ball joints in the suspension, however there will be at least four in the steering linkage. In non-MacPherson strut automobile suspension, the two joints are called the upper ball joint and lower ball joint. Lower ball joints are sometimes larger and may wear out faster, because the fore and aft loads, also, lateral cornering loads are higher at the bottom joint. Depending on the design, the vertical load from the suspension spring may be handled entirely by the top ball joint. The damper load, is usually, but not always, taken on the ball joint as the spring load. The anti-roll bar loading is often, but not always, taken on the ball joint
44.
Sporf
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Humans in different cultures use a variety of tools to eat. This is a list of eating implements, fun Dip is a type of candy in the United States, where a solid candy dipping stick is used to convey flavored sugar to the eaters mouth. The dipper is first licked to provide moisture, and then dredged through a small pouch with the flavored sugar, some single-serve ice cream is sold with a flat wooden spade, often erroneously called a spoon, to lift the product to ones mouth. Prepackaged tuna salad or cracker snacks may contain a flat plastic spade for similar purposes, drinking straw Cocktail stick Over time, these utensils were combined in various ways in attempts to make eating more convenient or to reduce the total number of utensils required. Chopfork – A utensil with a fork at one end and chopsticks/tongs at the other, chork – Pointed and slightly curved tongs, which can be used like chopsticks or as a fork. A different kind of chork is a fork with a split handle, forkchops – Used in a pair, these are basically a pair of chopsticks with a small fork and knife on the non-pointed ends. Knork – A fork with edge tines sharpened or serrated, pastry fork - A fork with a cutting edge along one of the tines. Spoon Straw – A scoop-ended drinking straw intended for slushies and milkshakes, sporf – A utensil consisting of a spoon on one end, a fork on the other, and edge tines that are sharpened or serrated. Spork – Spoon and Fork Splayd – Spoon and Fork and Knife Spife – Spoon, some utensils are useful only for specific foods
