The Imperial Regalia Imperial Insignia, are regalia of the Holy Roman Emperor. The most important parts are the Holy Lance and the Imperial Sword. Today they are kept at the Imperial Treasury in the Hofburg palace in Austria; the Imperial Regalia are the only preserved regalia from the Middle Ages. During the late Middle Ages, the word Imperial Regalia had many variations in the Latin language; the regalia were named in Latin: insignia imperialia, regalia insignia, insignia imperalis capellae quae regalia dicuntur and other similar words. The regalia is composed of two different parts; the greater group are the so-called Nürnberger Kleinodien, named after the town of Nuremberg, where the regalia were kept from 1424 to 1796. This part comprised the Imperial Crown, parts of the coronation vestments, the Imperial Orb, the Imperial Sceptre, the Imperial Sword, the Ceremonial Sword, the Imperial Cross, the Holy Lance, all other reliquaries except St. Stephen's Purse. St. Stephen's Purse, the Imperial Bible, the so-called Sabre of Charlemagne were kept in Aachen until 1794, which gave them the name Aachener Kleinodien.

It is not known how long they have been considered among the Imperial Regalia, nor how long they had been in Aachen. The inventory of the regalia during the late Middle Ages consisted only of five to six items. Goffredo da Viterbo counted following items: the Imperial Cross, the Holy Lance, the crown, the sceptre, the orb, the sword. On other lists, the sword is not mentioned. Whether the medieval chronicles do refer to the same regalia which are kept in Vienna today depends on a variety of factors. Descriptions of the emperors only spoke of them being “clothed in imperial regalia” without describing which items they were; the crown can only be dated back to the 13th century. The poem speaks of the Waise stone, a big and prominent jewel on the front of the crown a white opal with an exceptionally brilliant red fire and has since been replaced by a triangular blue sapphire; the first definite pictorial image of the crown can only be found in a mural in the Karlstein Castle close to Prague. It is difficult to define for how long the Imperial and Ceremonial Swords have belonged to the regalia.

Until the 15th century the Imperial Regalia had no firm depository and sometimes accompanied the ruler on his trips through the empire. Above all with conflicts around the legality of the rule it was important to own the insignia; as depositories during this time some imperial castles or seats of reliable ministerialises are known: Limburg Abbey near Dürkheim Harzburg Imperial Palace of Goslar Castle Hammerstein at Rhine Trifels Castle near Annweiler Imperial chapel of Haguenau Waldburg Castle near Ravensburg Krautheim Castle on the river Jagst Kyburg Palace, today Canton of Zurich in Switzerland Castle Stein, municipality of Rheinfelden in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland Alter Hof in Munich St. Vitus Cathedral and Karlstein Castle in Bohemia Plintenburg and Ofen in Hungary Emperor Sigismund transferred the Imperial Regalia "to everlasting preservation" to the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg with a dated document on 29 September 1423, they arrived there on 22 March in the next year from Plintenburg coming and were kept in the Heilig-Geist-Spital.

They left this place for the Heiltumsweisungen and for coronations. Since the Age of Enlightenment at least, the imperial regalia had no constitutive or confirming character for the imperial function any more, it served as an adornment for the coronation of the emperors, who all belonged to the House of Habsburg and since the early 16th century had ceased to be crowned by the pope. Johann Wolfgang Goethe on 3 April 1764, was an eyewitness in Frankfurt during the coronation of the 18-year-old Joseph, Duke of Lorraine to King in Germany, he wrote dismissively about the event in his autobiography Dichtung und Wahrheit:The young king, on the contrary, in his monstrous articles of dress, with the crown-jewels of Charlemagne, dragged himself along as if he had been in a disguise. The crown, which it had been necessary to line a great deal, stood out from his head like an overhanging roof; the dalmatica, the stole, well as they had been fitted and taken in by sewing, presented by no means an advantageous appearance.

The sceptre and imperial orb excited some admiration. While French troops were advancing in 1794 in the direction of Aachen, the pieces located there were spent in the Capuchin's monastery to Paderborn. In July 1796 French troops shortly after reached Franconia. On 23 July a part of the Imperial Regalia were transported by Nuremberg colonel Johann Georg Haller von Hallerstein from Nuremberg to Regensburg, where they arrived on the next day. On 28 September the remaining parts of the jewels were delivered to Regensburg. Since this elopement part

John Ranelagh is a television executive and producer, an author of history and of current politics. He was created a Knight First Class by King Harald V of Norway in 2013 in the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit, for outstanding service in the interest of Norway, he read Modern History at Christ Church and went on to take a Ph. D. at Eliot College, University of Kent. He was Campaign Director for "Outset", a charity for the single homeless person, where he pioneered the concept of charity auctions. From 1974-79 he was at the Conservative Research Department where he first had responsibility for Education policy, for Foreign policy, he started his career in television with the British Broadcasting Corporation, first for BBC News and Current Affairs on Midweek. As Associate Producer he was a key member of the BBC/RTE Ireland: A Television History 13-part documentary series. A member of the team that started Channel 4, he conceived the Equinox program, developed the "commissioning system", served as Board Secretary.

He was the first television professional appointed to the Independent Television Commission, a government agency which licensed and regulated commercial television in Britain from 1991 to 2003. Ranelagh relocated to Scandinavia where he continued in television broadcasting. There he has been with various companies: as Executive Chairman for NordicWorld. Ranelagh worked at TV2 Norway as Director of Acquisition, at Vizrt as deputy Chairman and Chairman. Ranelagh stood as Conservative candidate in Caerphilly in the 1979 general election. Ranelagh has written several books: "The I. R. B. from the Treaty to 1924," in Irish Historical Studies, Vol. 20, No. 77. "Science and Education," CRD, 1977. "Human Rights and Foreign Policy," with Richard Luce, CPC, 1978. Ireland. An illustrated history; the rise and decline of the CIA. Julia Neuberger, 1987. "The Irish Republican Brotherhood in the revolutionary period, 1879-1923," in The Revolution in Ireland, 1879-1923, ed. D. G. Boyce, 1988. Den Anden Kanal, Tiderne Skifter, 1989.

Thatcher's People. An insider's account of the power and the personalities. Encyclopaedia Brittanica, "Ireland," 1993- "Through the Looking Glass: A comparison of United States and United Kingdom Intelligence cultures," in In the Name of Intelligence, eds. Hayden B. Peake and Samuel Halpern, 1998. "Channel 4: A view from within," in The making of Channel 4, ed. Peter Catterall, 1998. John Ranelagh's Irish father was James O'Beirne Ranelagh, in the IRA in 1916 and fighting on the Republican side in the 1922-24 Civil War, his mother was Elaine. She had been a young American folklorist with her own WNYC radio program, thereafter became the noted author, E. L. Ranelagh. A native New Yorker, she had moved to rural Ireland following her 1946 marriage to James, their son John Ranelagh, who has three younger sisters, Bawn and Fionn, was born in 1947. His wife is author of Managing Grass for Horses. Hawthorne is the daughter of the late Sir William Hawthorne. Channel 4 Equinox TV2 Norway Exclusive Interview with John O'Beirne Ranelagh Video Snack with John Ranelagh, TV2 Norway

The Women's World Chess Championship 2012 was a knockout tournament, to decide the women's world champion. The title was won by Anna Ushenina of Ukraine for the first time. Defending champion Hou Yifan went out in the second round; the tournament was played as a 64-player knockout type in Khanty Mansiysk, from 10 November to 1 December 2012. Each pairing consisted of two games, tie-breaks at faster time controls, if necessary. After only two wins by lower rated players in the first round, the second round saw the top three seeds all going out to players rated 150 Elo points below them, of those third seed Anna Muzychuk lost to the eventual world champion; the fourth seed went out in the quarter-final. The final consisted of four games followed by tie-break games; the unexpected final of two lower seeded players raised questions, if a single match knock-out system is the best way to determine the world champion. Ushenina lost her title in the Women's World Chess Championship 2013, after game seven of a ten-game match against Hou Yifan, winner of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2011–2012.

Players qualified to the tournament through the previous world championship, the FIDE rating list, continental championships and two FIDE president nominees. Players were seeded by their Elo ratings, except that defending champion Hou Yifan was the no. 1 seed. The number one woman in the world, Judit Polgár, has never competed for the women's title and did not enter this time either. Other notable absentees were: women's number six Nana Dzagnidze, 2010 finalist Ruan Lufei, ex-champion Maia Chiburdanidze; each pairing consisted of two games played over one with white and one with black. The time controls in the classical games were 90 minutes for the first 40 moves with a 30-minute addition on move 41. In case of a tie, tiebreaks were played the next day; the format for the tie breaks was as follows: Two rapid games were played. If the score was still tied, two rapid games were played. If the match is tied after these two games, the opponents played two blitz games. If the score was still tied after pair of blitz games, a single Armageddon game would be played.

White had 5 minutes, black had 4 minutes, both players had three-second increments beginning with move 61. The championship had a prize-pool of 450,000 US-Dollar. Prizes were $5,500 for the second round, 8,000 for the third. Losing quarter-finalists picked up $12,000, the semi-finalists $20,000. Stefanova got $30,000 for finishing runner-up to Ushenina, who got $60,000 prize money, it was the same distribution as in the 2010 knock-out championship. The tournament was streamed on the tournament website each day in full length. Live coverage was interrupted only for advertising breaks; the videostream was playable on demand until the next day started. Coverage was provided in low and high definition with Grand Master commentary in three languages: English and for the first time Chinese. In the final days the broadcast was watched by several hundred thousand live viewers; the final match was decided after four matches at two rapid tie-breaks. Anna Ushenina won the title. Stefanova was the reigning Women's World Rapid champion.

First round pairings were published on 1 November 2012. Chessdom: Women’s World Chess Championship 2012 participants and qualification criteria FIDE report