François Pierre Guillaume Guizot was a French historian and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848. A moderate liberal who opposed the attempt by King Charles X to usurp legislative power, he worked to sustain a constitutional monarchy following the July Revolution of 1830, he served the "citizen king" Louis Philippe, as Minister of Education, 1832–37, ambassador to London, Foreign Minister 1840–1847, Prime Minister of France from 19 September 1847 to 23 February 1848. Guizot's influence was critical in expanding public education, which under his ministry saw the creation of primary schools in every French commune, but as a leader of the "Doctrinaires", committed to supporting the policies of Louis Phillipe and limitations on further expansion of the political franchise, he earned the hatred of more left-leaning liberals and republicans through his unswerving support for restricting suffrage to propertied men, advising those who wanted the vote to "enrich yourselves" through hard work and thrift.
As Prime Minister, it was Guizot's ban on the political meetings of an vigorous opposition in January 1848 that catalyzed the revolution that toppled Louis Philippe in February and saw the establishment of the French Second Republic. Guizot was born at Nîmes to a bourgeois Protestant family. On 8 April 1794, when François Guizot was 6, his father was executed on the scaffold at Nîmes during the Reign of Terror. From on, the boy's mother was responsible for his upbringing. Driven from Nîmes by the Revolution, Madame Guizot and her son went to Geneva, where he was educated. In spite of her decided Calvinistic opinions, the theories of Jean-Jacques Rousseau influenced Madame Guizot. A strong Liberal, she adopted the notion inculcated in Emile that every man ought to learn a manual trade or craft. Guizot learnt carpentry, succeeded in making a table with his own hands, still preserved. In the work which he entitled Memoirs of My Own Times Guizot omitted all personal details of his early life. In 1805 he arrived in Paris and he entered at the age eighteen as tutor into the family of M. Stapfer Swiss minister in France.
He soon began to write in a journal edited by the Publiciste. This connection introduced him to the literary society of Paris. In October 1809, aged twenty-two, he wrote a review of François-René de Chateaubriand's Martyrs, which won Chateaubriand's approbation and thanks, he continued to contribute to the periodical press. At Suard's he had made the acquaintance of a contributor to Suard's journal, her contributions were interrupted by illness, but resumed and continued by an unknown hand. It was discovered. In 1812 Mademoiselle de Meulan married Guizot, she died in 1827. In 1828 Guizot married Elisa Dillon, niece of his first wife, an author, she died in 1833, leaving two daughters, Henriette, a co-author with her father and prolific writer herself, Pauline and a son, who attained some reputation as a scholar and writer. He and historian Francois Mignet invented the concept of the bourgeois revolution. During the First French Empire, Guizot devoted to literary pursuits, published a collection of French synonyms, an essay on the fine arts, a translation of Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, with additional notes, in 1812.
These works recommended him to the notice of Louis-Marcelin de Fontanes, grand-master of the University of France, who selected Guizot for the chair of modern history at the Sorbonne in 1812. He delivered his first lecture on 11 December of that year, he omitted the customary compliment to the all-powerful emperor, in spite of the hints given him by his patron, but the course which followed marks the beginning of the great revival of historical research in France in the 19th century. He had now acquired a considerable position in Paris society, the friendship of Royer-Collard and leading members of the liberal party, including the young duc de Broglie. Absent from Paris at the moment of the fall of Napoleon in 1814, he was at once selected, on the recommendation of Royer-Collard, to serve the government of King Louis XVIII, in the capacity of secretary-general of the ministry of the interior, under the abbé de Montesquiou. Upon the return of Napoleon from Elba he resigned, on 25 March 1815, returned to his literary pursuits.
After the Hundred Days, he returned to Ghent, where he saw Louis XVIII, in the name of the liberal party pointed out that a frank adoption of a liberal policy could alone secure the duration of the restored monarchy – advice, ill-received by the king's confidential advisers. This visit to Ghent was brought up by political opponents in years as unpatriotic. "The Man of Ghent" was one of the terms of insult used against him in the days of his power. The reproach appears to be wholly unfounded, he was acting not to preserve the failing empire, but to establish a liberal monarchy and to combat the reactionary ultra-royalists. On the second restoration, Guizot was appointed secretary-general of the ministry of justice under de Barbé-Marbois, but resigned with his chief in 1816. In 1819 he was one of the founders of the Liberal journal Le Courrier français. Again in 1819 he was appointed
Brethren is a novel written by Robyn Young set in the ninth and last crusade. It was published by Hodder and Stoughton in 2006, it took her seven years to write the novel where she was "intrigued by the idea of these medieval warrior monks". The novel describes the fictional story of a young teenager by the name of William Campbell who starts out as a sergeant and is promoted to a full Knight Templar, he is tasked with the search of the Book of the Grail which, if in the wrong hands, could result in the downfall of not only the Anima Templi, but the Temple itself. However, Will finds. There are Prince Edward and The Order of the St John's or the Hospitallers who want the Book as part of their plans to bring down the Temple; the story of Will Campbell runs parallel to that of Baybars Bundukdari, a slave who rose to become Sultan of the Mamluks motivated purely by his hatred of the Franks. In the earlier parts of the story, Will does not know that his father James Campbell is part of the Anima Templi and that there is a contact deep within Baybars' circle of trusted advisors who works with the Brethren to achieve long-lasting peace in the Holy land and the reconciliation of the three dominant faiths of the West: Judaism and Islam.
The book has a sequel written by the same author. "Crusade" follows Will as he becomes further entangled in the Baybars. The following characters in the book were real historical figures: Baraka Khan: Son of Baybars. Baybars Bundukdari: Mamluk commander, sultan of Egypt and Syria from 1260 CE to 1277 CE. Edward I of England: Prince, King, of England from 1272 CE to 1307 CE. Henry III of England: King of England from 1216 CE to 1272 CE. Hugues de Pairaud: Templar. Humbert de Pairaud: Visitor of the Knights Templar in France. Kalawun Al–Alfi: Mamluk emir, high-ranking officer in Baybars' staff. In the book, he is secretly in contact with the Anima Templi, working behind Baybars' back to secure peace between the Mamluks and the Franks Khadir al-Mihrani: Baybars' soothsayer. In the book, he is former member of the Hashshashin Order of the Assassins. Kutuz: Sultan of Egypt from 1259 CE to 1260 CE. Louis IX of France: King of France from 1226 CE to 1270 CE; the book received a mixed reception from reviewers.
In a positive review, Publishers Weekly opined that the novel combines "rich historical detail, clever plotting and engaging characters" to "craft a historical thriller that will have readers turning pages and envisioning the sequel.". John Washburn, of on-line review site My Shelf praised Young's "steely depictions" of the action in the novel. Marie D. Jones, in a review for Curled Up commented that "you would think Young lived during the times she seems to grasp so well" and found the novel "an exciting read". Stephen Hubbard, writing for Book Reporter, praised Young's "perfectly crafted" characters, "the strength of her narrative" in a positive review, stating "The majesty and romanticism of that time are so beautifully painted on the page that it is difficult to separate the fact from the fiction, we as readers are dropped into the center of history to experience the events from within.". Hubbard did, comment that he felt the novel sometimes supplied an "overload of information", though "these moments are few and can be forgiven considering the strength of the remainder of the work.".
Eleanor Bukowsky of on-line reviewers Mostly Fiction, offered a more critical opinion of the novel. She states that "although she has the history part down pat, Young is less skilled in creating three-dimensional and believable characters, her villains are dastardly and her young heroes are callow and long-suffering." and felt that "the book meanders a bit and the finale takes a long time to play out.". The novel was negatively reviewed by Boomtron, with the reviewer stating that the characters "sound awfully modern" and are "too aware of their history and that of other nations", given that "studying such matters was a luxury few could afford". In addition, the reviewer criticised the novels levels of historical detail, stating that they found the "history lessons superfluous, out of character and quite annoying interruptions in the story.". The review did end on a more positive note, with the reviewer saying that "Young has written an engaging story at one level or I wouldn’t have suffered through 600 pages of it" and praising Larry Rostant's cover art.
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Marc, Baron Bossuyt is a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague and a former judge at the Belgian Constitutional Court. Bossuyt obtained a Dr.iur at the University of Ghent in 1968, a Certificate of international relations at Johns Hopkins University in Bologna in 1969, a Ph. D. in political science from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in 1975. He is professor emeritus of international law at the University of Antwerp, he was appointed to the Constitutional Court by Royal Order on 28 January 1997. From 9 October 2007 until his retirement Bossuyt was the President of the Dutch linguistic group of the Constitutional Court of Belgium, he was ennobled as a baron in the 2009 honours list. Upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70 years, Bossuyt retired from the Court and became President-Emeritus. Bossuyt was a member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. 2013: Grand Cordon in the Order of Leopold 2007: Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Crown.