1.
Chanson de geste
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The chanson de geste, /ʃɑːnˈsɔːn də ˈʒɛst/ Old French for song of heroic deeds, is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known poems of this date from the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, before the emergence of the lyric poetry of the trouvères. They reached their apogee in the period 1150–1250, composed in verse, these narrative poems of moderate length were originally sung, or recited, by minstrels or jongleurs. More than one hundred chansons de geste have survived in three hundred manuscripts that date from the 12th to the 15th century.1100. Three early theories of the origin of chansons de geste believe in the existence of epic material in these intervening two or three centuries. This theory was supported by Robert Fawtier and by Léon Gautier. At the end of the century, Pio Rajna, seeing similarities between the chansons de geste and old Germanic/Merovingian tales, posited a Germanic origin for the French poems. A different theory, introduced by the medievalist Paul Meyer, suggested the poems were based on old prose narrations of the original events, critics have also suggested that knowledge by clerics of ancient Latin epics may have played a role in their composition. Critics have discovered manuscripts, texts and other traces of the legendary heroes, the traditional subject matter of the chansons de geste became known as the Matter of France. The subject matter of the chansons evolved over time, according to public taste, alongside the great battles and scenes of historic prowess of the early chansons there began to appear other themes. Realistic elements and elements from the new court culture began to appear, other fantasy and adventure elements, derived from the romances, were gradually added, giants, magic, and monsters increasingly appear among the foes along with Muslims. The conflicts of the 14th century brought a renewed epic spirit, the poems contain an assortment of character types, the repertoire of valiant hero, brave traitor, shifty or cowardly traitor, Saracen giant, beautiful Saracen princess, and so forth. As the genre matured, fantasy elements were introduced, quite soon an element of self-parody appears, even the august Charlemagne was not above gentle mockery in the Pèlerinage de Charlemagne. These stanzas are of variable length, an example from the Chanson de Roland illustrates the technique of the ten-syllable assonanced form. The assonance in this stanza is on e, Later chansons were composed in monorhyme stanzas, Later chansons also tended to be composed using alexandrines lines, instead of ten-syllable lines. The following example of the twelve-syllable rhymed form is from the lines of Les Chétifs. The rhyme is on ie, These forms of versification were substantially different than the found in the Old French verse romances which were written in octosyllabic rhymed couplets. The public of the chansons de geste—the lay public of the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries—was largely illiterate, except for members of the great courts, thus, the chansons were primarily an oral medium
2.
Chivalric romance
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As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Popular literature also drew on themes of romance, but with ironic, satiric or burlesque intent. Still, the image of medieval is more influenced by the romance than by any other medieval genre, and the word medieval evokes knights, distressed damsels, dragons. Originally, romance literature was written in Old French, Anglo-Norman, Occitan, and Provençal, during the early 13th century, romances were increasingly written as prose. In later romances, particularly those of French origin, there is a tendency to emphasize themes of courtly love. Unlike the later form of the novel and like the chansons de geste, the earliest forms were invariably in verse, but the 15th century saw many in prose, often retelling the old, rhymed versions. Many influences are clear in the forms of chivalric romance, the epics of Charlemagne, unlike such ones as Beowulf, already had feudalism rather than the tribal loyalties, this was to continue in romances. The romance form is distinguished from the epics of the Middle Ages by the changes of the 12th century. This occurred regardless of congruity to the material, Alexander the Great featured as a fully feudal king. Chivalry was treated as continuous from Roman times, historical figures reappeared, reworked, in romance. The entire Matter of France derived from known figures, and suffered somewhat because their descendents had an interest in the tales that were told of their ancestors, unlike the Matter of Britain. Hereward the Wakes early life appeared in chronicles as the embellished, romantic adventures of an exile, complete with rescuing princess, fulk Fitzwarin, an outlaw in King Johns day, has his historical background a minor thread in the episodic stream of romantic adventures. The earliest medieval romances dealt heavily with themes from folklore, which diminished over time, morgan le Fay never loses her name, but in Le Morte dArthur, she studies magic rather than being inherently magical. Still, fairies never completely vanished from the tradition, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late tale, but the Green Knight himself is an otherworldly being. In Italy there is the story called Il Bel Gherardino and it is the most ancient prototype of an Italian singing fairy tale by an anonymous Tuscan author. It tells the story of a young Italian knight, depleted for its magnanimitas, other examples of Italian poetry tales are Antonio Puccis literature, Gismirante, Il Brutto di Bretagna or Brito di Bretagna and Madonna Lionessa. Another work of a second anonymous Italian author that is worth mentioning is Istoria di Tre Giovani Disperati e di Tre Fate, some romances, such as Apollonius of Tyre, show classical pagan origins. Tales of the Matter of Rome in particular may be derived from such works as the Alexander Romance
3.
Charlemagne
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Charlemagne or Charles the Great, numbered Charles I, was the King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774 and Emperor of the Romans from 800. He united much of Europe during the early Middle Ages and he was the first recognised emperor in western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier. The expanded Frankish state which Charlemagne founded was called the Carolingian Empire, Charlemagne was the oldest son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon. He became king in 768 following his fathers death, initially as co-ruler with his brother Carloman I, carlomans sudden death in 771 in unexplained circumstances left Charlemagne as the undisputed ruler of the Frankish Kingdom. He continued his fathers policy towards the papacy and became its protector, removing the Lombards from power in northern Italy and he campaigned against the Saxons to his east, Christianising them upon penalty of death and leading to events such as the Massacre of Verden. Charlemagne reached the height of his power in 800 when he was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day at Old St. Peters Basilica. Charlemagne has been called the Father of Europe, as he united most of Western Europe for the first time since the Roman Empire and his rule spurred the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of energetic cultural and intellectual activity within the Western Church. All Holy Roman Emperors considered their kingdoms to be descendants of Charlemagnes empire, up to the last Emperor Francis II and these and other machinations led to the eventual split of Rome and Constantinople in the Great Schism of 1054. Charlemagne died in 814, having ruled as emperor for thirteen years and he was laid to rest in his imperial capital of Aachen in what is today Germany. He married at least four times and had three sons, but only his son Louis the Pious survived to succeed him. By the 6th century, the western Germanic Franks had been Christianised, Francia, ruled by the Merovingians, was the most powerful of the kingdoms that succeeded the Western Roman Empire. Following the Battle of Tertry the Merovingians declined into powerlessness, for which they have dubbed the rois fainéants. Almost all government powers were exercised by their chief officer, the mayor of the palace, in 687, Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, ended the strife between various kings and their mayors with his victory at Tertry. He became the governor of the entire Frankish kingdom. Pepin was the grandson of two important figures of the Austrasian Kingdom, Saint Arnulf of Metz and Pepin of Landen, Pepin of Herstal was eventually succeeded by his illegitimate son Charles, later known as Charles Martel. After 737, Charles governed the Franks in lieu of a king, Charles was succeeded in 741 by his sons Carloman and Pepin the Short, the father of Charlemagne. In 743, the brothers placed Childeric III on the throne to curb separatism in the periphery and he was the last Merovingian king. Carloman resigned office in 746, preferring to enter the church as a monk, Pepin brought the question of the kingship before Pope Zachary, asking whether it was logical for a king to have no royal power
4.
Emir
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An Emir, sometimes transliterated Amir, Amier, or Ameer, is an aristocratic or noble title of high office used in a variety of places in the Arab countries and Afghanistan. It means commander, general, or prince, when translated as prince, the word emirate is analogous to a sovereign principality. Amir, meaning Lord or commander-in-chief, is derived from the Arabic root a-m-r, the word entered English in 1593, from the French émir. It was one of the titles or names of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the monarchs of UAE, Qatar and Kuwait are currently titled Emirs. All members of the House of Saud have the title of Emir, the caliphs first used the title Amir al-Muminin or Commander of the Faithful, stressing their leadership over the Islamic Empire, especially over the militia. The title has been assumed by various other Muslim rulers, including Sultans, for Shia Muslims, they still give this title to the Caliph Ali as Amir al Muminin. Note that the title was held by Christians as well, the word Emir is also used less formally for leaders in certain contexts. For example, the leader of a group of pilgrims to Mecca is called an Emir hadji, where an adjectival form is necessary, Emiral suffices. Amirzade, the son of a prince, hence the Persian princely title Mirza, the temporal leader of the Yazidi people is known as an Emir or Prince. From the start, Emir has been a military title, in certain decimally-organized Muslim armies, Amir was an officer rank. For example, in Mughal India Amirs commanded 1000 horsemen, ten of them under one Malik, Muhammad Amin Bughra, Nur Ahmad Jan Bughra, and Abdullah Bughra declared themselves Emirs of the First East Turkestan Republic. Amir is a name in the Persian language and a prefix name for many masculine names such as Amir Ali. Amir-i-Iel designates the head of an Il in imperial Persia, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the female name Emira, often interpreted as princess, is a derivative of the male name Emir. Abdul Abulbul Amir, both character and song, wat Tambor in Star Wars, Episode II – Attack of the Clones took the title of Emir. In the Star Wars universe the title may relate to Tambors military command, Emir Karim, a character in Wild At Heart, a Latin American drama. Specific emirates of note List of emirs of Harar List of emirs of Kuwait List of emirs of Qatar List of Emirs of Mosul Emirate of Afghanistan
5.
Babylon Fortress
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Babylon Fortress was an ancient fortress city or castle in the Delta of Egypt, located in the area today known as Coptic Cairo. It was situated in the Heliopolite Nome, upon the east bank of the Nile, at latitude 30°N, near the commencement of the Pharaonic Canal and it was at the boundary between Lower and Middle Egypt, where the river craft paid tolls when ascending or descending the Nile. The Romans built a new fortress with typically Roman red and white banded masonry nearer to the river, within the fortress enclosure are the Coptic Museum, a convent, and several churches, including the Church of St. George and the Hanging Church. Babylon was originally the dominant city of Mesopotamia, but another possibility links the name to the ancient Pr-Hapi-n-Iwnw that was the deity Hapis dwelling in Heliopolis city, hapi was the divinity of the Nile. Heliopolis lay northeast of Memphis, on the east bank of the Nile, at latitude 30° N and it was the boundary town between Lower and Middle Egypt, where the river craft paid tolls when ascending or descending the Nile. According to tradition, the first fort was built by the Persians in about the 6th century BC. since then, the Niles course has moved some 400 metres to the north. In the age of Augustus the Deltaic Babylon became a town of some importance, in the Notitia Imperii, Babylon is mentioned as the quarters of Legio XIII Gemina. Ruins of the town and fortress are visible a little to the north of Fostat or Old Cairo, among which are vestiges of the Great Aqueduct mentioned by Strabo. The town was the seat of a Christian bishopric, a suffragan of Leontopolis, the names of several of its bishops are recorded. After the Council of Chalcedon, some are of those who accepted the council, no longer a residential bishopric, Babylon is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see. During the Muslim conquest of Egypt the fort was surrounded for seven months before finally falling in April 641 to the Arab general Amr ibn al-As. Coptic Cairo This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, richard Talbert, Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, p.74
6.
Oberon
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Oberon is a king of the fairies in medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeares play A Midsummer Nights Dream, in which he is Consort to Titania, Oberons status as king of the fairies comes from the character of Alberich, a sorcerer in the legendary history of the Merovingian dynasty. In the legend, he is the brother of Merowech, whose name is the eponym of the Merovingians. Alberich wins for his eldest son, Walbert, the hand of a princess of Constantinople, in the Nibelungenlied, a Burgundian poem written around the turn of the 13th century, Alberich guards the treasure of the Nibelungen, but is overcome by Siegfried. Huon, son of Seguin count of Bordeaux, passed through the forest inhabited by Oberon and he was warned by a hermit not to speak to Oberon, but his courtesy had him answer Oberons greetings, and so gain his aid in his quest. Huon had killed Charlot, the Emperors son, in self-defense and he succeeds only with Oberons aid. This elf is dwarfish in height, though very handsome and he explains that, at his christening, an offended fairy cursed him to dwarfish height, but relented and gave him great beauty as compensation. Alberich features as a dwarf in the Nibelungen, the height was thus explained. The real Seguin was Count of Bordeaux under Louis the Pious in 839, Charles lEnfant, a son of Charles the Bald, died in 866 of wounds inflicted by a certain Aubouin in the circumstances of an ambush similar to the Charlot of the story. Thus, Oberon appears in a 13th-century French courtly fantasy that is based on a shred of 9th century fact and he is given some Celtic trappings, such as a magical cup that is ever full for the virtuous. The magic cup supplied their evening meal, for such was its virtue that it afforded not only wine, in this story, he is said to be the child of Morgan le Fay and Julius Caesar. Shakespeare saw or heard of the French heroic song through the c. 1540 translation of John Bourchier, Lord Berners, in Philip Henslowes diary, there is a note of a performance of a play Hewen of Burdocize on December 28,1593. Oberon is the king of all of the fairies in William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream who is feuding with his wife Titania and they are fighting over a changeling child whom Oberon wants to raise as his henchman. Titania wants to keep the child because he is the child of Titanias mortal follower who died, because Oberon and Titania are powerful fairies, their arguments affect the weather. Titania describes what happens to nature when Oberon tricks Titania into loving Bottom, the flower was accidentally struck by Cupids arrow when he attempted to shoot a young maiden in a field, instead infusing the flower with love. Oberon sends his servant, Puck, to fetch the flower, furious that Titania will not give him the child, he puts juice from a magical flower into her eyes while she is asleep. The effect of the juice will cause Titania to fall in love with the first live thing she sees. Titania awakens and finds herself madly in love with Bottom, an actor in the Mechanicals whos head was just transformed into that of a donkeys, thanks to a curse from Puck
7.
Turin
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Turin is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region and was the first capital city of Italy. The city is located mainly on the bank of the Po River, in front of Susa Valley and surrounded by the western Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 892,649 while the population of the area is estimated by Eurostat to be 1.7 million inhabitants. The Turin metropolitan area is estimated by the OECD to have a population of 2.2 million, in 1997 a part of the historical center of Torino was inscribed in the World Heritage List under the name Residences of the Royal House of Savoy. Turin is well known for its Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neo-classical, many of Turins public squares, castles, gardens and elegant palazzi such as Palazzo Madama, were built between the 16th and 18th centuries. This was after the capital of the Duchy of Savoy was moved to Turin from Chambery as part of the urban expansion, the city used to be a major European political center. Turin was Italys first capital city in 1861 and home to the House of Savoy, from 1563, it was the capital of the Duchy of Savoy, then of the Kingdom of Sardinia ruled by the Royal House of Savoy and finally the first capital of the unified Italy. Turin is sometimes called the cradle of Italian liberty for having been the birthplace and home of notable politicians and people who contributed to the Risorgimento, such as Cavour. The city currently hosts some of Italys best universities, colleges, academies, lycea and gymnasia, such as the University of Turin, founded in the 15th century, in addition, the city is home to museums such as the Museo Egizio and the Mole Antonelliana. Turins attractions make it one of the worlds top 250 tourist destinations, Turin is ranked third in Italy, after Milan and Rome, for economic strength. With a GDP of $58 billion, Turin is the worlds 78th richest city by purchasing power, as of 2010, the city has been ranked by GaWC as a Gamma World city. Turin is also home to much of the Italian automotive industry, the Taurini were an ancient Celto-Ligurian Alpine people, who occupied the upper valley of the Po River, in the center of modern Piedmont. In 218 BC, they were attacked by Hannibal as he was allied with their long-standing enemies, the Taurini chief town was captured by Hannibals forces after a three-day siege. As a people they are mentioned in history. It is believed that a Roman colony was established in 27 BC under the name of Castra Taurinorum, both Livy and Strabo mention the Taurinis country as including one of the passes of the Alps, which points to a wider use of the name in earlier times. In the 1st century BC, the Romans created a military camp, the typical Roman street grid can still be seen in the modern city, especially in the neighborhood known as the Quadrilatero Romano. Via Garibaldi traces the path of the Roman citys decumanus which began at the Porta Decumani. The Porta Palatina, on the side of the current city centre, is still preserved in a park near the Cathedral
8.
Gaston Paris
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Bruno Paulin Gaston Paris was a French writer and scholar. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901,1902 and 1903, Paris was born at Avenay, the son of Paulin Paris, an important scholar of medieval French literature. He won a European reputation as a Romance scholar and his Vie de Saint-Alexis broke new ground and provided a model for future editors of medieval texts. It included the text and the variations of it dating from the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries. He contributed largely to the Histoire littéraire de la France, and with Paul Meyer published Romania, in 1877 Gaston Paris was invited to Sweden for the 400th anniversary of the Upsala University, where he was made an honorary doctor. Before returning home he also visited Kristiania to take part in a celebration of the Norwegian philosopher Marcus Jacob Monrad, Paris died in Cannes in 1903. La Poésie du Moyen Âge Penseurs et poètes Poèmes et légendes du moyen âge François Villon, summary of medieval French literature forms a volume of the Temple Primers. Paris endeared himself to a circle of scholars outside his own country by his unfailing urbanity and generosity. In France he trained a band of disciples at the École des Chartes, attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Paris, Bruno Paulin Gaston
9.
John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners
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John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners was an English soldier, statesman and translator. John Bourchier, born about 1467, was the son of Sir Humphrey Bourchier and Elizabeth Tilney. Through his father, Bourchier was descended from King Edward III, his great-grandmother, Anne of Gloucester, was the daughter of Thomas of Woodstock, King Edwards youngest son. After the death of Sir Humphrey Bourchier, his widow, Elizabeth, married Thomas Howard, then Earl of Surrey, and later 2nd Duke of Norfolk. After his father was fighting on the Yorkist side at the Battle of Barnet in 1471, Bourchier became a ward of John Howard. As noted above, Bourchiers mother, Elizabeth, had married as her second husband Thomas Howard, in 1474 Bourchiers grandfather, John Bourchier, 1st Baron Berners, died, and Bourchier inherited the title at the age of seven. He was educated at Oxford University, Bourchier held various offices of state, including Lieutenant of Calais from 28 November 1520 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 14 July 1524 that of to King Henry VIII. Bourchier died at Calais in 1533, joan Bourchier, who married Sir Edmund Knyvet, sergeant porter to King Henry VIII, and was her fathers heir. Margaret Bourchier, who predeceased her father, Mary Bourchier, who married Alexander Unton of Wadley, but died without issue, predeceasing her father. By a mistress Bourchier had three sons and an illegitimate daughter, Humphrey Bourchier, esquire, who married Elizabeth Bacon. After Humphrey Bourchiers death his widow married George Ferrers, esquire, Sir James Bourchier, who married Mary Bannaster, daughter of Sir Humphrey Bannaster. George Bourchier Ursula Bourchier, who married Sir William Sharington, carley, James P. Bourchier, John, second Baron Berners. Magna Carta Ancestry, A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, magna Carta Ancestry, A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. ISBN1449966381 Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Berners, John Bourchier, works by John Bourchier Berners at Project Gutenberg
10.
Christoph Martin Wieland
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Christoph Martin Wieland was a German poet and writer. He is best-remembered for having written the first Bildungsroman, as well as the epic Oberon and he was born in Oberholzheim, which then belonged to the Free Imperial City of Biberach an der Riss in the south-east of the modern-day state of Baden-Württemberg. His father, who was pastor in Oberholzheim and subsequently in Biberach, from the town school of Biberach he passed on at the age of twelve to the Kloster Berge gymnasium, near Magdeburg. During the summer of 1750, he fell in love with a cousin, Sophie Gutermann, and this affair inspired him to plan his first ambitious work, Die Natur der Dinge. In 1750 he went to the University of Tübingen as a student of law, the poems he wrote at the university — Hermann, an epic, Zwölf moralische Briefe in Versen, Anti-Ovid — are pietistic in tone and dominated by the influence of Klopstock. They attracted the attention of the Swiss literary reformer, J. J. Bodmer, here he became intimate with Jean-Jacques Rousseaus friend Julie de Bondeli. In Cyrus, he had been inspired by the deeds of Frederick the Great to write a poem exhibiting the ideal of a hero, araspes und Panthea is based on an episode from the Cyropaedia of Xenophon. Wielands conversion was completed at Biberach, having returned in 1760 as director of the chancery. The monotony of his life here was relieved by the friendship of a Count Stadion, whose library in the castle of Warthausen, not far from Biberach, was stocked with French. Wieland met again his early love Sophie Gutermann, who had become the wife of Hofrat La Roche, then manager of Count Stadions estates. In Don Sylvia von Rosalva, a romance in imitation of Don Quixote, he held up to ridicule his earlier faith, more important is the novel Geschichte des Agathon, in which, under the guise of a Greek fiction, Wieland described his own spiritual and intellectual growth. This work, which Lessing recommended as a novel of classic taste, musarion advocates a rational unity of the sensual and spiritual, Amadis celebrates the triumph of intellectual over physical beauty. Wieland married Anna Dorothea von Hillenbrand on October 21,1765, Wielands daughter Sophia Catharina Susanna Wieland married philosopher Karl Leonhard Reinhold on May 18,1785. Between 1769 and 1772, Wieland was a professor of philosophy at the University of Erfurt, in his Verklagter Amor he defended amatory poetry, and in the Dialogen des Diogenes von Sinope he gave a general vindication of his philosophical views. With the exception of years spent at Ossmannstedt, where in later life he bought an estate. Turning his attention to poetry, he wrote the Wahl des Hercules. In 1773, he founded Der teutsche Merkur, which under his editorship became the most influential literary review in Germany. His views, as exhibited therein, however, showed so much of the narrow conventional spirit of French criticism and this Wieland answered with great good nature, recommending it to all who were fond of wit and sarcasm
11.
Andre Norton
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Andre Alice Norton was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy with some works of historical fiction and contemporary fiction. She wrote primarily under the pen name Andre Norton, but also under Andrew North and she was the first woman to be Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy, first to be SFWA Grand Master, and first inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Alice Mary Norton was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1912 and her parents were Adalbert Freely Norton, who owned a rug company, and Bertha Stemm Norton. She began writing at Collinwood High School in Cleveland, under the tutelage of Miss Sylvia Cochrane and she was the editor of a literary page in the schools paper called The Collinwood Spotlight for which she wrote short stories. During this time, she wrote her first book, Ralestone Luck, after graduating from high school in 1930, Norton planned to become a teacher and began studying at Flora Stone Mather College of Western Reserve University. In 1934, she changed her name to Andre Alice Norton. Her first book was published by D, during 1940–1941, she worked as a special librarian in the cataloging department of the Library of Congress. She was involved in a related to alien citizenship which was abruptly terminated upon the American entry into World War II. In 1941 she bought a bookstore called Mystery House in Mount Rainier, Maryland, the business failed, and she returned to the Cleveland Public Library until 1950 when she retired due to ill health. She began working as a reader for publisher-editor Martin Greenberg at Gnome Press and she remained until 1958, when she became a full-time professional writer—with 21 novels published. Kirkus had reviewed 16 of them and awarded four starred reviews and her first fantasy novel, Huon of the Horn, published by Harcourt Brace under her own name in 1951, adapted the 13th-century story of Huon, Duke of Bordeaux. Her first science fiction novel, Star Mans Son,2250 A. D. appeared from Harcourt in 1952 and she became a prolific novelist in the 1950s, with many of her books published for the juvenile market, at least in their original hardcover editions. She wrote more than a speculative fiction series, but her longest, and longest-running project was Witch World. The first six novels were Ace Books paperback originals published from 1963 to 1968, from the 1970s most of the series was published in hardcover editions. From the 1980s some were written by Norton and a co-author, there were dozens of books in all. Norton was twice nominated for the Hugo Award, in 1964 for the novel Witch World and she was nominated three times for the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement, winning the award in 1998. Norton won a number of other awards and regularly had works appear in the Locus annual best of year polls. Norton was the only woman among the eight members
12.
Harcourt (publisher)
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Harcourt was a United States publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. The company was last based in San Diego, California, with offices in New York City and Orlando. From 1919 to 1982, it was based in New York City, Houghton Mifflin acquired Harcourt in 2007. It incorporated the Harcourt name to form Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, as of 2012, all Harcourt books that have been re-released are under the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt name. The Harcourt Childrens Books division left the name intact on all of its books under that name as part of HMH, schools Education and Trade Publishing parts of Harcourt Education were sold by Reed Elsevier to Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group. Harcourt Assessment and Harcourt Education International were acquired by Pearson, the education and information company. The company later moved to New York City, where it became a test publisher, much of the companys success was based on the work of Arthur S. Otis. He was best known for the tests he developed for the U. S. Army. Millions of World War I draftees took Otis tests, World Book Company became the first publisher of group-administered tests measuring mental ability when it published Otiss Group Intelligence Scale in 1918. Otis became a World Book employee in 1921, by 1960, World Book had a portfolio of educational tests, including the Stanford Achievement Test, the Metropolitan Achievement Test and the Otis Mental Ability Test. Alfred Harcourt and Donald Brace were friends at Columbia College of Columbia University in New York, the two worked for Henry Holt and Company before founding their own publishing company in 1919, Harcourt, Brace & Howe, along with editor Will David Howe. After Howe left the company in 1921, the changed the name to Harcourt. The name Harcourt, Brace & World was introduced in 1931, by 1960, Harcourt Brace led the market in high school textbook publishing, but had little presence in the elementary school market. This strategic action improved the position of Harcourt Brace because World Book was an elementary textbook publisher. In 1970, the company was known as Harcourt Brace Jovanovich and that same year, the company acquired The Psychological Corporation. Under Jovanovichs leadership, the company diversified into non-publishing businesses such as insurance and it also bought several theme parks—including SeaWorld, which it acquired in 1976 for $46 million. The company divested its theme park division in 1989 for $1.1 billion, Harcourt also published mass-market paperback books with Pyramid Books, which it bought out in 1974 and renamed Jove Books. It sold this section to the Putnam Berkley Group in 1979, in 1991, General Cinema Corporation, a diversified company, acquired Harcourt Brace Jovanovich for more than $1.5 billion
13.
Charles the Child
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Charles the Child was the King of Aquitaine from October 855 until his death in 866. If his father, Charles the Bald, and great grandfather, Charlemagne, are counted as rulers of Aquitaine and he was the second son of Charles the Bald and brother of Louis the Stammerer. The younger Charles was appointed by his father, who had ruled as King of Aquitaine himself from 838. The Aquitainians had previously rebelled against Charles the Bald, requesting from Louis the German that he one of his sons to rule over them. Louis had sent his son, Louis the Younger, prompting Charles the Bald to release his rival claimant to Aquitaine. Pippin succeeded in rallying the nobles to support himself and Charles the Bald against Louis the Younger, by October, however, Pippin lost his popularity with the still-rebellious Aquitainians, prompting Charles the Bald to appoint Charles the Child as King. Charles the Child was duly anointed at Limoges, within a year, he had been replaced by the Aquitainians with Pippin II. These same then deposed Pippin and restored Charles the Child, Pippin was captured in 864 and imprisoned at Senlis, at which point he disappears from history. Unlike previous sub-kings of Aquitaine, Charles the Child had no authority at all. Before 840, the kingdom had been ruled in person by a king, Charles the Bald, however, after his accession as King of Western Francia. All the rights of the region were invested in Charles the Bald, nonetheless, as Charles grew older, he began to exercise what little personal authority he could. For example, in 862 he chose and married a wife against the will of his father, the name of his wife is unknown, although she was apparently the widow of a count named Humbert. Charles the Bald reasserted his power over his son in 863, forcing the younger Charles to put away his wife, the blow left him mentally incapacitated until his resultant death in 866. He died childless and was buried in Bourges, callahan, Daniel F. Eleanor of Aquitaine, the Coronation Rite of the Dukes of Aquitaine and the Cult of Saint Martial of Limoges. The World of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Literature and Society in Southern France between the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries, edd, warfare and Society in the Barbarian West, 450-900. McKitterick, Rosamond, The Frankish Kingdoms under the Carolingians
14.
Charles the Bald
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Charles the Bald was the King of West Francia, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor. After a series of wars during the reign of his father, Louis the Pious. He was a grandson of Charlemagne and the youngest son of Louis the Pious by his second wife and he was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder brothers were already adults and had been assigned their own regna, or subkingdoms, by their father. The attempts made by Louis the Pious to assign Charles a subkingdom, first Alemannia, at a diet in Aachen in 837, Louis the Pious bade the nobles do homage to Charles as his heir. Pepin of Aquitaine died in 838, whereupon Charles at last received that kingdom, which angered Pepins heirs, the death of the emperor in 840 led to the outbreak of war between his sons. In the following year, the two confirmed their alliance by the celebrated Oaths of Strasbourg. The war was brought to an end by the Treaty of Verdun in August 843, Louis received the eastern part of the Carolingian Empire, known then as East Francia and later as Germany. Lothair retained the title and the Kingdom of Italy. He also received the regions from Flanders through the Rhineland. The first years of Charless reign, up to the death of Lothair I in 855, were comparatively peaceful, during these years the three brothers continued the system of confraternal government, meeting repeatedly with one another, at Koblenz, at Meerssen, and at Attigny. In 858, Louis the German, invited by disaffected nobles eager to oust Charles, Charles was so unpopular that he was unable to summon an army, and he fled to Burgundy. He was saved only by the support of the bishops, who refused to crown Louis the German king, and by the fidelity of the Welfs, in 860, he in his turn tried to seize the kingdom of his nephew, Charles of Provence, but was repulsed. On the death of his nephew Lothair II in 869, Charles tried to seize Lothairs dominions, besides these family disputes, Charles had to struggle against repeated rebellions in Aquitaine and against the Bretons. Led by their chiefs Nomenoë and Erispoë, who defeated the king at the Battle of Ballon and the Battle of Jengland, the Bretons were successful in obtaining a de facto independence. Charles also fought against the Vikings, who devastated the country of the north, the valleys of the Seine and Loire, at the Vikings successful siege and sack of Paris in 845 and several times thereafter Charles was forced to purchase their retreat at a heavy price. By the same edict, he ordered fortified bridges to be put up at all rivers to block the Viking incursions, two of these bridges at Paris saved the city during its siege of 885–886. In 875, after the death of the Emperor Louis II, Charles the Bald, supported by Pope John VIII, traveled to Italy, receiving the crown at Pavia. Louis the German, also a candidate for the succession of Louis II, revenged himself by invading and devastating Charles dominions, and Charles had to return hastily to West Francia
15.
Louis the Pious
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Louis the Pious, also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, during his reign in Aquitaine, Louis was charged with the defence of the empires southwestern frontier. He conquered Barcelona from the Muslims in 801 and asserted Frankish authority over Pamplona, as emperor he included his adult sons, Lothair, Pepin, and Louis, in the government and sought to establish a suitable division of the realm among them. In the 830s his empire was torn by war between his sons, only exacerbated by Louiss attempts to include his son Charles by his second wife in the succession plans. Though his reign ended on a note, with order largely restored to his empire. Louis is generally compared unfavourably to his father, though the problems he faced were of a different sort. He was the son of Charlemagne by his wife Hildegard. His grandfather was King Pepin the Younger, Louis was crowned King of Aquitaine as a child in 781 and sent there with regents and a court. Charlemagne wanted his son Louis to grow up in the area where he was to reign, Charlemagnes intention was to see all his sons brought up as natives of their given territories, wearing the national costume of the region and ruling by the local customs. Thus were the children sent to their respective realms at so young an age, each kingdom had its importance in keeping some frontier, Louiss was the Spanish March. In 797, Barcelona, the greatest city of the Marca, fell to the Franks when Zeid, its governor, rebelled against Córdoba and, failing, the Umayyad authority recaptured it in 799. Louis campaigned in the Italian Mezzogiorno against the Beneventans at least once, Louis was one of Charlemagnes three legitimate sons to survive infancy. He had a brother, Lothair who died during infancy. According to Frankish custom, Louis had expected to share his inheritance with his brothers, Charles the Younger, King of Neustria, to Louiss kingdom of Aquitaine, he added Septimania, Provence, and part of Burgundy. However, Charlemagnes other legitimate sons died – Pepin in 810 and Charles in 811 –, on his fathers death in 814, he inherited the entire Frankish kingdom and all its possessions. While at his villa of Doué-la-Fontaine, Anjou, Louis received news of his fathers death and he rushed to Aachen and crowned himself emperor to shouts of Vivat Imperator Ludovicus by the attending nobles. From start of his reign, his coinage imitated his father Charlemagnes portrait and he quickly sent all of his unmarried sisters to nunneries, to avoid any possible entanglements from overly powerful brothers-in-laws. Sparing his illegitimate half-brothers, he forced his fathers cousins, Adalard and Wala to be tonsured, placing them in Noirmoutier and Corbie, respectively and his chief counsellors were Bernard, margrave of Septimania, and Ebbo, Archbishop of Reims
16.
Vikings
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The term is also commonly extended in modern English and other vernaculars to the inhabitants of Viking home communities during what has become known as the Viking Age. Facilitated by advanced seafaring skills, and characterised by the longship, Viking activities at times also extended into the Mediterranean littoral, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. A romanticized picture of Vikings as noble savages began to emerge in the 18th century, current popular representations of the Vikings are typically based on cultural clichés and stereotypes, complicating modern appreciation of the Viking legacy. One etymology derives víking from the feminine vík, meaning creek, inlet, various theories have been offered that the word viking may be derived from the name of the historical Norwegian district of Viken, meaning a person from Viken. According to this theory, the word simply described persons from this area, however, there are a few major problems with this theory. People from the Viken area were not called Viking in Old Norse manuscripts, in addition, that explanation could only explain the masculine and ignore the feminine, which is a serious problem because the masculine is easily derived from the feminine but hardly vice versa. The form also occurs as a name on some Swedish rune stones. There is little indication of any negative connotation in the term before the end of the Viking Age and this is found in the Proto-Nordic verb *wikan, ‘to turn’, similar to Old Icelandic víkja ‘to move, to turn’, with well-attested nautical usages. In that case, the idea behind it seems to be that the rower moves aside for the rested rower on the thwart when he relieves him. A víkingr would then originally have been a participant on a sea journey characterized by the shifting of rowers, in that case, the word Viking was not originally connected to Scandinavian seafarers but assumed this meaning when the Scandinavians begun to dominate the seas. In Old English, the word wicing appears first in the Anglo-Saxon poem, Widsith, in Old English, and in the history of the archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen written by Adam of Bremen in about 1070, the term generally referred to Scandinavian pirates or raiders. As in the Old Norse usages, the term is not employed as a name for any people or culture in general, the word does not occur in any preserved Middle English texts. The Vikings were known as Ascomanni ashmen by the Germans for the ash wood of their boats, Lochlannach by the Gaels, the modern day name for Sweden in several neighbouring countries is possibly derived from rōþs-, Ruotsi in Finnish and Rootsi in Estonian. The Slavs and the Byzantines also called them Varangians, Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard. The Franks normally called them Northmen or Danes, while for the English they were known as Danes or heathen. It is used in distinction from Anglo-Saxon, similar terms exist for other areas, such as Hiberno-Norse for Ireland and Scotland. The period from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 is commonly known as the Viking Age of Scandinavian history, Vikings used the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the south. The Normans were descended from Vikings who were given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France—the Duchy of Normandy—in the 10th century, in that respect, descendants of the Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe
17.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
18.
C. S. Lewis
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Clive Staples Lewis was a British novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, broadcaster, lecturer, and Christian apologist. He held academic positions at both Oxford University and Cambridge University, Lewis and fellow novelist J. R. R. Tolkien were close friends. They both served on the English faculty at Oxford University, and were active in the informal Oxford literary group known as the Inklings, according to Lewiss memoir Surprised by Joy, he was baptised in the Church of Ireland, but fell away from his faith during adolescence. Lewis returned to Anglicanism at the age of 32, owing to the influence of Tolkien and other friends and his faith profoundly affected his work, and his wartime radio broadcasts on the subject of Christianity brought him wide acclaim. In 1956, he married American writer Joy Davidman, she died of cancer four years later at the age of 45, Lewis died on 22 November 1963 from renal failure, one week before his 65th birthday. In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of his death, Lewis was honoured with a memorial in Poets Corner in Westminster Abbey, Lewiss works have been translated into more than 30 languages and have sold millions of copies. The books that make up The Chronicles of Narnia have sold the most and have been popularised on stage, TV, radio and his works entered the public domain in 2014 in countries where copyright expires 50 years after the death of the creator, such as Canada. Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland, on 29 November 1898 and his father was Albert James Lewis, a solicitor whose father Richard had come to Ireland from Wales during the mid-19th century. His mother was Florence Augusta Lewis, née Hamilton, known as Flora and he had an elder brother, Warren Hamilton Lewis. When he was four, his dog Jacksie was killed by a car, at first, he would answer to no other name, but later accepted Jack, the name by which he was known to friends and family for the rest of his life. When he was seven, his family moved into Little Lea, as a boy, Lewis was fascinated with anthropomorphic animals, he fell in love with Beatrix Potters stories and often wrote and illustrated his own animal stories. He and his brother Warnie created the world of Boxen, inhabited, Lewis loved to read, his fathers house was filled with books, and he felt that finding a book to read was as easy as walking into a field and finding a new blade of grass. Lewis was schooled by tutors before being sent to the Wynyard School in Watford, Hertfordshire, in 1908. Lewiss brother had enrolled there three years previously, the school was closed not long afterwards due to a lack of pupils, the headmaster Robert Oldie Capron was soon after committed to a psychiatric hospital. Lewis then attended Campbell College in the east of Belfast about a mile from his home and he was then sent to the health-resort town of Malvern, Worcestershire, where he attended the preparatory school Cherbourg House, which Lewis calls Chartres in his autobiography. It was during this time that Lewis abandoned his childhood Christian faith and became an atheist, becoming interested in mythology, in September 1913, Lewis enrolled at Malvern College, where he remained until the following June. He found the school socially competitive, after leaving Malvern, he studied privately with William T. Kirkpatrick, his fathers old tutor and former headmaster of Lurgan College. As a teenager, Lewis was wonder-struck by the songs and legends of what he called Northernness and these legends intensified an inner longing he later called joy
