1.
Imperial Regalia of Japan
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The Imperial Regalia of Japan, also known as the Three Sacred Treasures of Japan, consist of the sword Kusanagi, the mirror Yata no Kagami, and the jewel Yasakani no Magatama. The regalia represent the three virtues, valor, wisdom, and benevolence. Since 690, the presentation of items to the Emperor by the priests at the shrine has been a central element of the enthronement ceremony. This ceremony is not public, and these items are by tradition seen only by the Emperor, because of this, no known photographs or drawings exist. Two of the three treasures were last seen during the accession and enthronement of Emperor Akihito in 1989 and 1993 and these treasures were eventually said to be passed down to Emperor Jimmu, who was the first Emperor of Japan and was also Ninigis great-grandson. Traditionally, they were a symbol of the divinity as a descendant of Amaterasu. Susanoo later presented the sword Kusanagi to Amaterasu as a token of apology, he had obtained it from the body of an eight-headed serpent, Yamata no Orochi. At the conclusion of the Genpei War in 1185, the eight year-old Emperor Antoku and they were present when the Taira were defeated by the rival Minamoto clan at the Battle of Dan-no-ura, which was fought on boats in the shallow Kanmon Straits. The child-emperors grandmother threw herself, the boy, the sword, the mirror was recovered, but according to the main account of the battle, a Minamato soldier who tried to force open the box containing it was struck blind. The jewel was recovered shortly afterwards by divers, but the sword was lost, Regalia Chrysanthemum Throne Imperial House of Japan Japanese mythology National seals of Japan Order of the Sacred Treasure Shinto
2.
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
3.
Vienna Coronation Gospels
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The Vienna Coronation Gospels, also known simply as the Coronation Gospels, is a late 8th century illuminated Gospel Book produced at the court of Charlemagne in Aachen. It was used by the emperor at his coronation on Christmas Day 800. Traditionally, it is considered to be the manuscript that was found in the tomb of Charlemagne when it was opened in the year 1000 by Emperor Otto III. The Coronation Evangeliar cover was created by Hans von Reutlingen, c, the Coronation Evangeliar is part of the Imperial Treasury in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. The Coronation Evangeliar is the work among a small group of manuscripts produced at the court of Charlemagne at Aachen. The Coronation Evangeliar manuscript consists of 236 crimson-dyed parchment pages with gold, the pages measure 32.4 cm ×24.9 cm, and contain text presented in one column,26 lines per page. The book is decorated with 16 plates and four portraits depicting the Evangelists—one at the start of each Gospel, the portrait paintings are in a Carolingian style derived from Byzantine art. In the margin of the first page of the Gospel of Luke the Greek name Demetrius presbyter is written in capital letters. This may be the signature of the scribe or illuminator and may indicate there were Byzantine artists in the court of Charlemagne. The Coronation Evangeliar cover was created by the goldsmith Hans von Reutlingen of Aachen c, designed in high relief, the gold cover shows God the Father seated in front of the canopy of his throne. His left hand is closed over the Bible, and his hand is raised in a gesture of blessing directed at Mary. The right side of the shows the Angel of the Annunciation. God the Father is dressed in imperial vestments and wearing a crown, similar to the one worn by Maximilian I. The four corners of the front cover are decorated with four medalions bearing symbols of the four Evangelists, notes Bibliography Kunsthistorisches Museum More information at Earlier Latin Manuscripts
4.
Regalia
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Crown jewels is the traditional English term for the elements in metalwork or jewellery of the royal regalia of a particular former or current monarchy state. Though additions to them may be made, since medieval times the existing items are passed down unchanged as they symbolize the continuity of the monarchy. Many crown jewels are kept in a museum setting except when in use, several countries outside Europe have crown jewels that are either in traditional forms for the country, or a synthesis of European and local forms and styles. Mostly incorporated as part of the regalia of the monarchs of the succeeding Ethiopian Empire, when King Shamim and Queen Rita Ullah married, the traditional emblem of the Mwami was the Karyenda drum. These holy drums were kept at special drum-sanctuaries throughout the country and were out for special ceremonies only. One such place is in Gitega, location of the royal court. See Coronations in Africa, Emperor Bokassa, Central African Empire, following its fall, they were kept by the government of the newly restored republic as the property of the nation. Ancient Egypt The treasures of the Pharaohs can be seen in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Kingdom of Egypt Most of the Crown Jewels of the Mehmet Ali Dynasty are at the Museum at Abdin Palace in Cairo. The principal crowns worn by Ethiopian emperors and empresses regnant are unique in that they are made to be worn over a turban and they usually have the form of a cylinder of gold with a convex dome on the top with usually some form of cross on a pedestal. These gold cylinders/cubes are composed of openwork, filigree, medallions with images of saints in repoussé, some crowns also appear to have a semi-circular platform for additional ornaments attached to the lower front edge of the crown. Each of these seven ornaments was given to the emperor one of his seven anointing on his head, brow and shoulders with seven differently scented holy oils. This cape is apparently identical in form to that worn by the Patriarch, the empress consort also was crowned and given a ring at her husbands coronation, although formerly this took place at a semi-public court ceremony three days after the emperors coronation. Her scarlet imperial mantle has a shape and ornamentation very like that of the emperor, the crowns of empresses consort took a variety of different forms, that of Empress Menen was modelled on the traditional form of a European sovereigns crown. The Crown Jewels used at the coronation of Emperor Haile Selassie are kept at the museum in the National Palace in Addis Ababa. Ashanti Confederacy The symbol of the power and authority of the Asantehene or sovereign ruler of the Ashanti, is the sacred Golden Stool and it is used for the enthronement and symbolizes the very soul of the Ashanti as a people. It is kept alongside other royal artefacts at the Royal Palace in Kumasi, the crown of the Malagasy sovereign was made in France for Ranavalona I. It is a crown made from locally mined gold in c.1890 and is very heavy. The falcon is a symbol of the Malagasy sovereign
5.
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
6.
Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire
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The Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire was the hoop crown of the Holy Roman Emperor from the 11th century to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. The crown was used in the coronation of the King of the Romans and it was made in the late 10th or early 11th century. Unlike many other crowns, it has a rather than a circular shape. The plate in the front of the crown is surmounted by a cross, the crown is now exhibited at the Hofburg in Vienna. The crown was probably somewhere in Western Germany, either under Otto I, by Conrad II or Conrad III during the late 10th. The first preserved mention of it is from the 12th century—assuming it is the same crown, most of the Kings of the Romans of the Holy Roman Empire were crowned with it. Along with the Imperial Cross, the Imperial Sword, and the Holy Lance, during the coronation, it was given to the new king along with the sceptre and the Imperial Orb. The Imperial Regalia of the Holy Roman Empire, especially the Imperial Crown, were kept from 1349–1421 in Bohemia, between 1424–1796 they were all kept in Nuremberg, Franconia—and could only leave the city for the coronation. Currently, the crown and the rest of the Imperial Regalia are exhibited at the Hofburg in Vienna—officially until there is again a Holy Roman Emperor of the German Nation, an identical copy is in Aachen in Germany in the Krönungssaal of Charlemagnes former palace, now the town hall. The newest authorised copy is kept in the Czech castle of Karlštejn along with a copy of the Crown of Saint Wenceslas, the Imperial Crown does not look like most more modern crowns. The crown does not have a shape, but an octagonal one. Instead of a ring, it has eight hinged plates which are arched at the top, two strips of iron, riveted with golden rivets to the plates, hold the crown together and give it its octagonal shape. At what point these iron strips were installed is unknown, before the addition of the rings the plates were held together by long golden pins thus making it possible to separate the plates and the arch for easier transport. Each plate of the crown is made out of a high gold, around 22 carats, which gives the crown a buttery colour. The stones are not cut into facets, but rather polished into rounded shapes and this technique is an ancient one and gemstones like this are described as being en cabochon, which are still made to this day. The pearls and the stones were put into openings that were cut into the metal, the effect was that when the light shone in, the stones looked as if they would shine from within. The crown is decorated with 144 precious stones and about the number of pearls. Emmeram and Codex Aureus of Echternach, four smaller plaques bear pictorial representations of figures and scenes from the Bible and inscriptions in cloisonné enamel, in the Byzantine senkschmelz style
7.
Holy Lance
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The Holy Lance, also known as the Holy Spear, the Spear of Destiny, or the Lance of Longinus, according to the Gospel of John, is the lance that pierced the side of Jesus as he hung on the cross. The lance is mentioned in the Gospel of John, but not the Synoptic Gospels, the gospel states that the Romans planned to break Jesus legs, a practice known as crurifragium, which was a method of hastening death during a crucifixion. Just before they did so, they realized that Jesus was already dead, to make sure that he was dead, a Roman soldier stabbed him in the side. One of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance, and immediately came out blood. The phenomenon of blood and water was considered a miracle by Origen, the blood symbolizes his humanity, the water his divinity. In most variants of the Orthodox Divine Liturgy, the priest lances the host with a spear before it is divided in honor of the Trinity, the Theotokos. The deacon recites the relevant passage from the Gospel of John, the main piece becomes The Lamb, the host that is consecrated on the altar and distributed to the faithful for Holy Communion. A form of the name Longinus occurs on a miniature in the Rabula Gospels, in the miniature, the name LOGINOS is written in Greek characters above the head of the soldier who is thrusting his lance into Christs side. This is one of the earliest records of the name, if the inscription is not a later addition, there have been three or four major relics that are claimed to be the Holy Lance or parts of it. The Holy Lance in Rome is preserved beneath the dome of Saint Peters Basilica, a mention of the lance occurs in the so-called Breviarius at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The presence in Jerusalem of the relic is attested by Cassiodorus as well as by Gregory of Tours, in 615, Jerusalem and its relics were captured by the Persian forces of King Khosrau II. This point of the lance, which was now set in an icon, was acquired by the Latin Emperor, Baldwin II of Constantinople, the point of the lance was then enshrined with the crown of thorns in the Sainte Chapelle in Paris. During the French Revolution these relics were removed to the Bibliothèque Nationale but the point subsequently disappeared. As for the portion of the lance, Arculpus claimed he saw it at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre around 670 in Jerusalem. Some claim that the relic had been conveyed to Constantinople in the 8th century. At this time great doubts as to its authenticity were felt at Rome, as Johann Burchard records, because of the presence of other rival lances in Paris, Nuremberg and this relic has never since left Rome, and its resting place is at Saint Peters. The Holy Lance in Vienna is displayed in the Imperial Treasury or Weltliche Schatzkammer at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, in the tenth century, the Holy Roman Emperors came into possession of the lance, according to sources from the time of Otto I. In 1000, Otto III gave Boleslaw I of Poland a replica of the Holy Lance at the Congress of Gniezno, in 1084, Henry IV had a silver band with the inscription Nail of Our Lord added to it
8.
Imperial Sword
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The Imperial Sword is one of the four most important parts of the Imperial Regalia of the Holy Roman Empire. During a coronation, it was given to the emperor along with the Imperial Crown, Imperial Sceptre, all four parts of the Imperial Regalia are displayed in the Imperial Treasury at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. The Imperial Sword was made for Emperor Otto IV in the twelfth century and its predecessor, the sword of Otto III, is also preserved, in the Essen Abbey treasury. The first known mention of the sword dates to 1315, in a letter of a lady-in-waiting of Elisabeth of Aragon. It may also be referenced in an inventory of 1246, which mentions merely zwey swert mit zweyn scheiden, the first pictorial representations of the sword date to the fifteenth century, but the first detailed depiction only to the seventeenth century. The Imperial Sword has a length of 110 cm, with the length of the blade being 95.3 cm. The sword originated during the medieval period, but was refitted and decorated several times during the late medieval. The addition of the wire wrapping the hilt. The crossguard on one side bears the Middle Latin inscription CHRISTVS, VINCIT, CHRISTVS, REIGNAT, CHRISTVS, on the reverse side, the shorter variant CHRISTVS, VINCIT, CHRISTVS, REINAT. The pommel is of the mushroom or tea-cosy shape typical of the medieval period. The pommel is engraved with the arms of Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV, the lower edge of the pommel is inscribed with BENEDICTVS · DOS DES QVI DOCET MANV+ viz. This is a form of Psalm 144,1, Benedictus Dominus Deus meus, qui docet manus meas ad prælium. The scabbard of the sword is adorned with 14 gold plates engraved with depictions of monarchs and these pictures date to the eleventh century, and are thus about a century older than the sword itself. The figures have identified as depicting the consecutive German monarchs from Charlemagne to Henry III
9.
Imperial Treasury, Vienna
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The Imperial Treasury at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria contains a valuable collection of secular and ecclesiastical treasures covering over a thousand years of European history. The entrance to the treasury is at the Schweizerhof, the oldest part of the palace, the Imperial Treasury is divided into two collections, the secular collection and the ecclesiastical collection. Like all secular treasuries, it was designed to attest to the political power, the ecclesiastical collection contains numerous religious treasures, including relics and objects ascribed to the private ownership of saints. The Imperial Treasury collections were set up from 1556 by the scholar Jacopo Strada, after the Austrian Anschluss of 1938, the Nazi authorities took them back to Nuremberg. At the end of World War II, they were returned to Vienna by the US forces, the display was completely renovated in 1983-1987. The Treasury is divided two sections - secular and ecclesiastical. The original insignia of the Kingdom of Bohemia, the scepter, the treasury of the Order of the Golden Fleece from the heritage of Marys father Duke Charles the Bold. On display are various valuable gems, including one of the worlds largest emeralds, the ecclesiastical collection contains numerous devotional images and altars, mostly from the Baroque era. Citations Bibliography Austria Info Imperial Treasury Museum Just Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum Secular Treasury Kunsthistorisches Museum Ecclesiastical Treasury Visiting Vienna
10.
Hofburg
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The Hofburg is the former imperial palace in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was the principal winter residence, as Schönbrunn Palace was the summer residence. Since 1279 the Hofburg area has been the seat of government. The Hofburg has been expanded over the centuries to various residences, the imperial chapel, the imperial library, the treasury, the Burgtheater, the Spanish Riding School. The palace faces the Heldenplatz ordered under the reign of Emperor Francis Joseph I, as part of what was planned to become the Kaiserforum, the name translates as Royal Castle, which denotes its origins when it was initially constructed during the Medieval Age. Initially constructed as the seat of the Dukes of Austria in the 13th century, from 1438 to 1583 and from 1612 to 1806, it was the seat of the Habsburg kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, thereafter the seat of the Emperor of Austria until 1918. It has continued its role as the seat of the head of state and is used by the Austrian Federal President. It is also the permanent conference seat of the Organization for Security, presently the Burghauptmannschaft is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Ministry of Economy. In September 1958 parts of the Hofburg were opened to the public as a convention centre, in the first ten years the Burghauptmannschaft operated the convention centre, since 1969 a private company has been managing the international congress and events center. Every year the centre hosts about 300 to 350 events with around 300,000 to 320,000 guests. Among the events are conventions and meetings as well as banquets, trade fairs, concerts, the oldest sections originate from the 13th century and were primarily constructed by the last of the Babenbergers or by Ottakar II of Bohemia. Previously the castle of the Austrian rulers had been located on the square called Am Hof, the castle had a square-shaped outline with four turrets, surrounded by a moat and a drawbridge that led to the inside. These oldest sections of the castle form the Swiss Court. There situated are a chapel, from the 15th century, and the treasury, which holds, among other objects, the imperial insignia of the Holy Roman Empire. The Court Music Chapel is located in the Court Chapel and this is where the Vienna Boys Choir traditionally sing for Sunday mass. The appearance of the Swiss Court was given during the reign of Emperor Ferdinand I during the Renaissance, the entry Swiss Gate displays the many titles of Emperor Ferdinand I and the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece painted on the ceiling. An adjoining section of the Swiss Wing houses the Radetzky Apartments, next to the Knights Hall is the Guard Room, where the duty officer of the Household Guards kept watch over the emperor. The lower section of this wing once accommodated the imperial kitchen, although not physically connected to the rest of the complex, the imperial mews of the Hofburg were originally built as a residence for the then crown prince Maximilian II
11.
Vienna
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Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austrias primary city, with a population of about 1.8 million, and its cultural, economic and it is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union. Today, it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin, Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC. The city is located in the part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region, along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, apart from being regarded as the City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is also said to be The City of Dreams because it was home to the worlds first psycho-analyst – Sigmund Freud. The citys roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city and it is well known for having played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, Vienna is known for its high quality of life. In a 2005 study of 127 world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first for the worlds most liveable cities, between 2011 and 2015, Vienna was ranked second, behind Melbourne, Australia. Monocles 2015 Quality of Life Survey ranked Vienna second on a list of the top 25 cities in the world to make a base within, the UN-Habitat has classified Vienna as being the most prosperous city in the world in 2012/2013. Vienna regularly hosts urban planning conferences and is used as a case study by urban planners. Between 2005 and 2010, Vienna was the worlds number-one destination for international congresses and it attracts over 3.7 million tourists a year. The English name Vienna is borrowed from the homonymous Italian version of the name or the French Vienne. The etymology of the name is still subject to scholarly dispute. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning forest stream, which produced the Old High German Uuenia. A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech and Slovak names of the city, the name of the city in Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian and Ottoman Turkish has a different, probably Slavonic origin, and originally referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene-speakers call the city Dunaj, which in other Central European Slavic languages means the Danube River, evidence has been found of continuous habitation since 500 BC, when the site of Vienna on the Danube River was settled by the Celts. In 15 BC, the Romans fortified the city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north
12.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
13.
Latin
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Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
14.
Nuremberg
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Nuremberg is a city on the river Pegnitz and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia, about 170 kilometres north of Munich. It is the second-largest city in Bavaria, and the largest in Franconia, the population as of February 2015, is 517,498, which makes it Germanys fourteenth-largest city. The urban area also includes Fürth, Erlangen and Schwabach with a population of 763,854. The European Metropolitan Area Nuremberg has ca.3.5 million inhabitants, Nuremberg was, according to the first documentary mention of the city in 1050, the location of an Imperial castle between the East Franks and the Bavarian March of the Nordgau. From 1050 to 1571, the city expanded and rose dramatically in importance due to its location on key trade routes, Nuremberg is often referred to as having been the unofficial capital of the Holy Roman Empire, particularly because Imperial Diet and courts met at Nuremberg Castle. The Diets of Nuremberg were an important part of the structure of the empire. The increasing demand of the court and the increasing importance of the city attracted increased trade. Nuremberg soon became, with Augsburg, one of the two great trade centers on the route from Italy to Northern Europe. In 1298, the Jews of the town were accused of having desecrated the host, behind the massacre of 1298 was also the desire to combine the northern and southern parts of the city, which were divided by the Pegnitz. The Jews of the German lands suffered many massacres during the plague years, in 1349, Nurembergs Jews were subjected to a pogrom. They were burned at the stake or expelled, and a marketplace was built over the former Jewish quarter, the plague returned to the city in 1405,1435,1437,1482,1494,1520 and 1534. Charles was the patron of the Frauenkirche, built between 1352 and 1362, where the Imperial court worshipped during its stays in Nuremberg. Charles IV conferred upon the city the right to conclude alliances independently, frequent fights took place with the burgraves without, however, inflicting lasting damage upon the city. Through these and other acquisitions the city accumulated considerable territory, the Hussite Wars, recurrence of the Black Death in 1437, and the First Margrave War led to a severe fall in population in the mid-15th century. During the Middle Ages, Nurembergs literary culture was rich, varied, the cultural flowering of Nuremberg, in the 15th and 16th centuries, made it the centre of the German Renaissance. In 1525, Nuremberg accepted the Protestant Reformation, and in 1532, during the 1552 revolution against Charles V, Nuremberg tried to purchase its neutrality, but the city was attacked without a declaration of war and was forced into a disadvantageous peace. The state of affairs in the early 16th century, increased trade routes elsewhere, frequent quartering of Imperial, Swedish and League soldiers, the financial costs of the war and the cessation of trade caused irreparable damage to the city and a near-halving of the population. In 1632, the city, occupied by the forces of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, was besieged by the army of Imperial general Albrecht von Wallenstein, the city declined after the war and recovered its importance only in the 19th century, when it grew as an industrial centre
15.
Imperial Orb
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The cross represents Christs dominion over the orb of the world, literally held in the hand of an earthly ruler. In the iconography of Western art, when Christ himself holds the globe, he is called Salvator Mundi, holding the world in ones hand, or more ominously, under ones foot, has been used as a symbol since antiquity. To citizens of the Roman Empire, the round globe held by Jupiter represented the world, or the universe. The orbis terrarum was central to the iconography of the Tetrarchy, constantine I claimed to have had a vision of a cross above the sun, with the words In this sign, you shall conquer, at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312. His soldiers painted crosses upon their shields, and then defeated their foe, with the growth of Christianity in the 5th century, the orb was topped with a cross, symbolising the Christian Gods dominion over the world. The emperor held the world in his hand, to show that he ruled it on Gods behalf, to non-Christians already familiar with the pagan globe, the surmounting of a cross sent a message about the triumph of Christianity. Although the globe symbolized the entire Earth, its use spread among many Christian rulers who reigned over parts of the earth. The globus cruciger was associated with rulers and celestial beings alike. It first appeared on coins in the early 5th century and remained throughout the Middle Ages in coins, iconography. It may still be seen in the arms of the surviving European monarchies. Even in the era in England, the Sovereigns Orb symbolises both the state and Church of England under the protection and domain of the royal crown. The Ball and the Cross Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch Monde Earth symbol Leslie Brubaker, Dictionary of the Middle Ages, vol 5,564, ISBN 0-684-18161-4 Picture of the 10th century Orb, Scepter and Crown insignia of the Holy Roman Empire
16.
Globus cruciger
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The cross represents Christs dominion over the orb of the world, literally held in the hand of an earthly ruler. In the iconography of Western art, when Christ himself holds the globe, he is called Salvator Mundi, holding the world in ones hand, or more ominously, under ones foot, has been used as a symbol since antiquity. To citizens of the Roman Empire, the round globe held by Jupiter represented the world, or the universe. The orbis terrarum was central to the iconography of the Tetrarchy, constantine I claimed to have had a vision of a cross above the sun, with the words In this sign, you shall conquer, at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312. His soldiers painted crosses upon their shields, and then defeated their foe, with the growth of Christianity in the 5th century, the orb was topped with a cross, symbolising the Christian Gods dominion over the world. The emperor held the world in his hand, to show that he ruled it on Gods behalf, to non-Christians already familiar with the pagan globe, the surmounting of a cross sent a message about the triumph of Christianity. Although the globe symbolized the entire Earth, its use spread among many Christian rulers who reigned over parts of the earth. The globus cruciger was associated with rulers and celestial beings alike. It first appeared on coins in the early 5th century and remained throughout the Middle Ages in coins, iconography. It may still be seen in the arms of the surviving European monarchies. Even in the era in England, the Sovereigns Orb symbolises both the state and Church of England under the protection and domain of the royal crown. The Ball and the Cross Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch Monde Earth symbol Leslie Brubaker, Dictionary of the Middle Ages, vol 5,564, ISBN 0-684-18161-4 Picture of the 10th century Orb, Scepter and Crown insignia of the Holy Roman Empire
17.
Sceptre
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A sceptre or scepter is a symbolic ornamental staff or wand held in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia. Figuratively, it means royal or imperial authority or sovereignty, either right or cruel, the ancient Indian work of Tirukkural dedicates a separate chapter each on the ethics of the right sceptre and the evils of the cruel sceptre. The Was and other types of staffs were signs of authority in Ancient Egypt, for this reason, they are often described as sceptres, even if they are full-length staffs. One of the earliest royal sceptres was discovered in the 2nd Dynasty tomb of Khasekhemwy in Abydos, kings were also known to carry a staff, and Pharaoh Anedjib is shown on stone vessels carrying a so-called mks-staff. The staff with the longest history seems to be the heqa-sceptre, the Bronze Age rulers of Mesopotamia are not regularly depicted with sceptres. However, in instances, they are shown armed, with bow and arrow. Use of a rod or staff as representing authority can be traced to the beginning of Classical Antiquity. Among the early Greeks, the sceptre was a staff, such as Agamemnon wielded or was used by respected elders, and came to be used by judges, military leaders, priests. It is represented on painted vases as a staff tipped with a metal ornament. When the sceptre is borne by Zeus or Hades, it is headed by a bird, when, in the Iliad, Agamemnon sends Odysseus to the leaders of the Achaeans, he lends him his sceptre. Among the Etruscans, sceptres of great magnificence were used by kings, many representations of such sceptres occur on the walls of the painted tombs of Etruria. The British Museum, the Vatican, and the Louvre possess Etruscan sceptres of gold, the Roman sceptre probably derived from the Etruscan. Under the Republic, a sceptre was a mark of consular rank. It was also used by generals who received the title of imperator. In the First Persian Empire, the Biblical Book of Esther mentions the sceptre of the King of Persia. Esther 5,2 When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight, so Esther came near, and touched the top of the scepter. Under the Roman Empire, the sceptrum Augusti was specially used by the emperors, the codes of the right and the cruel sceptre are found in the ancient Tamil work of Tirukkural, dating back to between the first and the third centuries BCE. With the advent of Christianity, the sceptre was tipped with a cross instead of with an eagle
18.
Ceremonial weapon
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A ceremonial weapon is an object used for ceremonial purposes to display power or authority. They are often used in parades and as part of dress uniforms, although they are descended from weapons used in actual combat, they are not normally used as such. Their form and, especially, their finishing and decoration are typically designed to show status and power and to be an impressive sight, quite often, ceremonial weapons are constructed with precious metals or other materials that make them too delicate for combat use. With ceremonial swords, an example of this is that the sword may be poorly balanced, historically, however, many ceremonial weapons were also capable of actual combat, most notably in the military. Maces, halberds, daggers and swords are the most common form of ceremonial weapons, the Sergeant at Arms in some Parliaments carries a ceremonial mace. The Swiss Guard in the Vatican carry both ceremonial weapons and 21st century weapons, another example is the use of a firearm to signal the start of a race. Guns are also used in celebratory gunfire
19.
Imperial Cross
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The Imperial Cross is part of the Imperial Regalia of the Holy Roman Empire. It served as the container for the two Great Relics of Christ, the Holy Lance in its arms and the reliquary of the True Cross in the lower shaft. It is thus the original reliquary of the Imperial relics, the Imperial Cross is kept in the Imperial Treasury in the Hofburg. It has been suggested that the cross was created some time around 1024/5 or 1030 in Lotharingia. A somewhat earlier creation as a commission of Conrads predecessor Henry II is also found in scholarly literature, an older base was replaced with the current gilt silver base of the cross in 1350 in Prague at the command of Charles IV. In addition he had new reliquaries made for the relics which had hitherto been stored inside the Imperial Cross, the cross has an oak core which is coated on the outside with gold leaf and with red leather on the inside. It measures 77 by 70 centimetres, the beams are 9 centimetres wide for most of their length and 12 cm wide at the ends of the beams. The front of the cross is decorated with pearls and gemstones in high mountings. The reverse, decorated with the Niello technique, depicts the Agnus Dei at the centre of the cross, surrounded by the twelve Apostles and the symbols of the Four Evangelists at the cross four ends. Because it was created as a reliquary, several parts of the front side can lift off, the openings are lined with dark red material and are an exact fit for the Holy Lance and the reliquary of the True Cross. The dimensions of the result from these relics. There are other small, rectangular openings as well, whether these are for documents or other smaller relics is unknown. The following inscription runs around the sides, ECCE, CRVCEM, DOMINI, FVGIAT, PARS, HOSTIS, INIQVI, † HINC, CHVONRADI, TIBI, CEDANT, OMNES, INIMICI, Lo. May the hostile faction of evil flee the cross of the Lord † Thus may all of the evil ones surrender to you, Chuonrad refers to Conrad II, in whose reign the cross was probably made. It is not known whether he commissioned the cross, viewing the cross as a symbol of victory rather than an instrument of suffering is typical of the High Middle Ages and occurs often in Romanesque art. It is, therefore, also a symbol of the Imperial claim to universal rule, the base of the cross is a later addition, made of gilt silver with a wooden core and decorated with four enamelled coats of arms. The shields on the front and back show the single-headed, right-facing Imperial Eagle, while the silver Bohemian lion is shown on a red background on the two sides and this base is 17.3 cm high and 29.2 x 22 cm wide. Die Insignien und Kleinodien des Heiligen Römischen Reiches, Wien und München 1954 Gesellschaft für staufische Geschichte, Die Reichskleinodien, Herrschaftszeichen des Heiligen Römischen Reiches
20.
Sabre of Charlemagne
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The so-called Sabre of Charlemagne is an early sabre of Hungarian type which has exceptionally been preserved as part of the Aachen regalia of the Holy Roman Empire. Along with the rest of the regalia from both Aachen and Nuremberg, it is now kept in the Hofburg Palace, Vienna. The Sabre of Charlemagne is not to be confused with a weapon which is also ascribed to Charlemagne. The sabre is of the Eastern European type and most likely dates to the first half of the 10th century, according to tradition, Otto III recovered the weapon when he opened Charlemagnes grave in AD1000. When French troops approached Aachen in 1794 the Imperial regalia located there were taken to the Capuchin abbey at Paderborn, then to Hildesheim in 1798, the sabre was stored in the Treasury of the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. On the orders of Adolf Hitler, the relics were brought to Nuremberg in 1938. During the Second World War they were stored in the Historischer Kunstbunker to protect them from aerial bombardment, the Imperial regalia were found there by American soldiers in 1945 and returned to the Hofburg in 1946. Die Insignien und Kleinodien des Heiligen Römischen Reiches, Die Reichskleinodien in Nürnberg 1938–1945 in Mitteilungen des Vereins für Geschichte der Stadt Nürnberg, Vol.65,1978, pp. 397–413, online Sabine Haag. Meisterwerke der Weltlichen Schatzkammer, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien,2009, jan Keupp et al. „… die keyserlichen zeychen …“ Die Reichskleinodien – Herrschaftszeichen des Heiligen Römischen Reiches, Regensburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7954-2002-4. Amalthea, Wien und München 1991, ISBN 3-85002-304-4, säbel Karls des Großen in the image database of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
21.
Aachen
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Aachen or Bad Aachen, traditionally known in English and French as Aix-la-Chapelle, is a spa and border city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was the residence of Charlemagne, and, from 936 to 1531. Aachen is the westernmost city in Germany, located near the borders with Belgium, RWTH Aachen University is located in the city. Aachens industries include science, engineering and information technology, in 2009, Aachen was ranked eighth among cities in Germany for innovation. The location has been inhabited by humans since the Neolithic era, about 5,000 years ago, latin Aquae figures in Aachens Roman name Aquae granni, which meant waters of Grannus, referring to the Celtic god of healing who was worshipped at the springs. Aachens name in French and German evolved in parallel, Aachens local dialect is called Öcher Platt and belongs to the Ripuarian language. Bronze Age settlement is evidenced by the remains of barrows found, for example, during the Iron Age, the area was settled by Celtic peoples who were perhaps drawn by the marshy Aachen basins hot sulphur springs where they worshipped Grannus, god of light and healing. Later, the 25-hectare Roman spa resort town of Aquae Granni was, according to legend, founded by Grenus, under Hadrian, a kind of forum, surrounded by colonnades, connected the two spa complexes. There was also a residential area, part of it inhabited by a flourishing Jewish community. The Romans built bathhouses near Burtscheid, a temple precinct called Vernenum was built near the modern Kornelimünster/Walheim. Today, remains have been found of three bathhouses, including two fountains in the Elisenbrunnen and the Burtscheid bathhouse, Roman civil administration in Aachen broke down between the end of the 4th and beginning of the 5th centuries. Rome withdrew its troops from the area, but the town remained populated, by 470, the town came to be ruled by the Ripuarian Franks and subordinated to their capital, Cologne. Einhard mentions that in 765–6 Pepin spent both Christmas and Easter at Aquis villa, which must have been equipped to support the royal household for several months. In the year of his coronation as king of the Franks,768, Charlemagne spent most winters in Aachen between 792 and his death in 814. Aachen became the focus of his court and the centre of his empire. In 936, Otto I was crowned king of East Francia in the church built by Charlemagne. During the reign of Otto II, the nobles revolted and the West Franks, under Lothair, Aachen was attacked again by Odo of Champagne, who attacked the imperial palace while Conrad II was absent. Odo relinquished it quickly and was killed soon afterwards, the palace and town of Aachen had fortifying walls built by order of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa between 1172 and 1176
22.
Lombards
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The Lombards or Longobards were a Germanic people who ruled large parts of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. In the 1st century AD, they formed part of the Suebi, the Lombard king Audoin defeated the Gepid leader Thurisind in 551 or 552, his successor Alboin eventually destroyed the Gepids at the Battle of Asfeld in 567. The Lombards were joined by numerous Saxons, Heruls, Gepids, Bulgars, Thuringians, and Ostrogoths, by late 569 they had conquered all north of Italy and the principal cities north of the Po River except Pavia, which fell in 572. At the same time, they occupied areas in central Italy and they established a Lombard Kingdom in north and central Italy, later named Regnum Italicum, which reached its zenith under the 8th-century ruler Liutprand. In 774, the Kingdom was conquered by the Frankish King Charlemagne, however, Lombard nobles continued to rule southern parts of the Italian peninsula, well into the 11th century when they were conquered by the Normans and added to their County of Sicily. In this period, the part of Italy still under Longobardic domination was known by the name Langbarðaland in the Norse runestones. Their legacy is apparent in the regional name Lombardy. The fullest account of Lombard origins, history, and practices is the Historia Langobardorum of Paul the Deacon, pauls chief source for Lombard origins, however, is the 7th-century Origo Gentis Langobardorum. The Origo Gentis Langobardorum tells the story of a tribe called the Winnili dwelling in southern Scandinavia. The Winnili were split into three groups and one part left their land to seek foreign fields. The reason for the exodus was probably overpopulation, the departing people were led by the brothers Ybor and Aio and their mother Gambara and arrived in the lands of Scoringa, perhaps the Baltic coast or the Bardengau on the banks of the Elbe. Scoringa was ruled by the Vandals and their chieftains, the brothers Ambri and Assi, the Winnili were young and brave and refused to pay tribute, saying It is better to maintain liberty by arms than to stain it by the payment of tribute. The Vandals prepared for war and consulted Godan, who answered that he would give the victory to those whom he would see first at sunrise. The Winnili were fewer in number and Gambara sought help from Frea, at sunrise, Frea turned her husbands bed so that he was facing east, and woke him. So Godan spotted the Winnili first and asked, Who are these long-beards. and Frea replied, My lord, thou hast given them the name, from that moment onwards, the Winnili were known as the Longbeards. When Paul the Deacon wrote the Historia between 787 and 796 he was a Catholic monk and devoted Christian and he thought the pagan stories of his people silly and laughable. Paul explained that the name Langobard came from the length of their beards, a modern theory suggests that the name Langobard comes from Langbarðr, a name of Odin. Priester states that when the Winnili changed their name to Lombards, they changed their old agricultural fertility cult to a cult of Odin
23.
True Cross
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The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a Catholic Church tradition, are believed to be from the cross upon which Jesus was crucified. Many churches possess fragmentary remains that are by tradition alleged to be those of the True Cross and their authenticity is not accepted universally by those of the Christian faith and the accuracy of the reports surrounding the discovery of the True Cross is questioned by some Christians. The medieval legends that developed concerning its provenance differ between Catholic and Orthodox tradition and these churches honour Helena as a saint, as does also the Anglican Communion. The Golden Legend contains several versions of the origin of the True Cross, in The Life of Adam, Voragine writes that the True Cross came from three trees which grew from three seeds from the Tree of Mercy which Seth collected and planted in the mouth of Adams corpse. After many centuries, the tree was cut down and the used to build a bridge over which the Queen of Sheba passed. So struck was she by the portent contained in the timber of the bridge that she fell on her knees and revered it. On her visit to Solomon, she told him that a piece of wood from the bridge would bring about the replacement of Gods Covenant with the Jewish people, Solomon, fearing the eventual destruction of his people, had the timber buried. But after fourteen generations, the wood taken from the bridge was fashioned into the Cross used to crucify Christ, Voragine then goes on to describe its finding by Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine. In the late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance, there was a general acceptance of the origin of the True Cross and its history preceding the Crucifixion. The Golden Legend and many of its sources developed after the East-West Schism of 1054, the above pre-Crucifixion history, therefore, is not to be found in Eastern Christianity. According to the tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church the True Cross was made from three different types of wood, cedar, pine and cypress. The link between this verse and the Crucifixion lies in the words, the place of my feet, there is a tradition that the three trees from which the True Cross was constructed grew together in one spot. A traditional Orthodox icon depicts Lot, the nephew of Abraham, according to tradition, these trees were used to construct the Temple in Jerusalem. Later, during Herods reconstruction of the Temple, the wood from these trees was removed from the Temple and discarded, eventually being used to construct the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Following his conversion to Christianity, Emperor Constantine ordered in about 325–326 that the site be uncovered and instructed Saint Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem, in his Life of Constantine, Eusebius does not mention the finding of the True Cross. Socrates Scholasticus, in his Ecclesiastical History, gives a description of the discovery that was repeated later by Sozomen. In Socratess version of the story, Macarius had the three placed in turn on a deathly ill woman. This woman recovered at the touch of the cross, which was taken as a sign that this was the cross of Christ
24.
Palermo
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Palermo is a city of Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence, Palermo is located in the northwest of the island of Sicily, right by the Gulf of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The city was founded in 734 BC by the Phoenicians as Ziz, Palermo then became a possession of Carthage, before becoming part of the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire and eventually part of the Byzantine Empire, for over a thousand years. The Greeks named the city Panormus meaning complete port, from 831 to 1072 the city was under Arab rule during the Emirate of Sicily when the city first became a capital. The Arabs shifted the Greek name into Balarme, the root for Palermos present-day name, eventually Sicily would be united with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies until the Italian unification of 1860. The population of Palermo urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 855,285, in the central area, the city has a population of around 676,000 people. The inhabitants are known as Palermitani or, poetically, panormiti, the languages spoken by its inhabitants are the Italian language, Sicilian language and the Palermitano dialect. Palermo is Sicilys cultural, economic and touristic capital and it is a city rich in history, culture, art, music and food. Palermo is the main Sicilian industrial and commercial center, the industrial sectors include tourism, services, commerce. Palermo currently has an airport, and a significant underground economy. In fact, for cultural, artistic and economic reasons, Palermo was one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean and is now among the top tourist destinations in both Italy and Europe. It is the seat of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Arab-Norman Palermo. The city is going through careful redevelopment, preparing to become one of the major cities of the Euro-Mediterranean area. Roman Catholicism is highly important in Palermitano culture, the Patron Saint of Palermo is Santa Rosalia whose Feast Day is celebrated on 15 July. The area attracts significant numbers of each year and is widely known for its colourful fruit, vegetable and fish markets at the heart of Palermo, known as Vucciria, Ballarò. Palermo lies in a basin, formed by the Papireto, Kemonia, the basin was named the Conca dOro by the Arabs in the 9th century. The city is surrounded by a range which is named after the city itself. These mountains face the Tyrrhenian Sea, Palermo is home to a natural port and offers excellent views to the sea, especially from Monte Pellegrino
25.
Aspergillum
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An aspergillum is a liturgical implement used to sprinkle holy water. It comes in two forms, a brush that is dipped in the water and shaken, and a silver ball on a stick. Some have sponges or internal reservoirs that dispense holy water when shaken, an aspergillum is used in Roman Catholic and Anglican ceremonies, including the Rite of Baptism and during the Easter Season. In addition, a priest will use the aspergillum to bless the candles during candlemas services, at a requiem, if a coffin is present, the priest will sprinkle holy water on the coffin. The aspergillum can be used in other manners where sprinkling of water is appropriate, as in a house blessing. The name derives from the Latin verb aspergere to sprinkle, the form of the aspergillum differs in the Eastern Orthodox Church. In the Greek Orthodox Church the aspergillum is in the form of a vessel with a tapering lid. The top of the lid has holes in it from which the agiasmos is sprinkled, in the Russian Orthodox Church the aspergillum is in the form of a whisk made of cloth or hair. Sometimes, sprigs of basil are used to sprinkle holy water, in some of the Oriental Orthodox Churches, no aspergillum is used, but the priest will pour holy water into the palm of his right hand and throw it on the faithful. ‘And the priest goes out of the camp and the priest looks, ‘And the priest commands, and takes, for the one healed, two unblemished live birds, cedar wood, Coccus scarlet, and hyssop. ’5. ‘And the priest commands, and slaughters the one bird in a pottery vessel upon living water. ’6. ‘He takes the live bird and the wood and the Coccus scarlet and the hyssop and dips them. ‘And sprinkle seven times upon him purified of leprosy, and he is purified, and sends the live bird upon the face of the field. ”“Of the cedar wood, hyssop, clean bird, and scarlet wool or fillet, were made an aspergillum, or instrument to sprinkle with. The cedar wood served for the handle, the hyssop and living bird were attached to it, the bird was so bound to this handle, as that its tail should be downwards, in order to be dipped in the blood of the bird that had been killed. The whole of this made an instrument for the sprinkling of blood, and when this business was done, the living bird was let loose, and permitted to go whithersoever it would. ”Over running water] Literally, living. The meaning appears to be this, some water was taken from a spring, and put in an earthen vessel, and they killed the bird over this water. I p.529 “The unusual ceremony in 14, 2-9 reflects an idea that linked physical illness with a winged evil demon. The priest, as arbiter in the matter, met the persons outside the camp
26.
Reliquary
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A reliquary is a container for relics. These may be the purported or actual physical remains of saints, such as bones, pieces of clothing, the authenticity of any given relic is often a matter of debate, for that reason, some churches require documentation of the relics provenance. Relics have long been important to Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, in these cultures, reliquaries are often presented in shrines, churches, or temples to which the faithful make pilgrimages in order to gain blessings. Relics are venerated in the Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, reliquaries provide a means of protecting and displaying relics. While frequently taking the form of caskets, they range in size from simple pendants or rings to very elaborate ossuaries, ivory was widely used in the Middle Ages for reliquaries, its pure white color an indication of the holy status of its contents. These objects constituted a form of artistic production across Europe. Many were designed with portability in mind, often being exhibited in public or carried in procession on the saints feast day or on holy days. Pilgrimages often centered on the veneration of relics, the faithful often venerate relics by bowing before the reliquary or kissing it. Those churches which observe the veneration of relics make a distinction between the honor given to the saints and the worship that is due to God alone. The feretrum was a form of reliquary or shrine containing the sacred effigies. In the late Middle Ages the craze for relics, many now fraudulent, became extreme, 16th-century reformers such as Martin Luther opposed the use of relics since many had no proof of historic authenticity, and they objected to the cult of saints. Nonetheless, the use and manufacture of reliquaries continues to this day, especially in Roman Catholic, post-Reformation reliquaries have tended to take the form of glass-sided caskets to display relics such as the bodies of saints. The earliest reliquaries were essentially boxes, either simply box-shaped or based on an architectural design and these latter are known by the French term chasse, and typical examples from the 12th to 14th century have wooden frameworks with gilt-copper plaques nailed on, decorated in champlevé enamel. Limoges was the largest centre of production, NB the English usage differs from that of the French châsse, relics of the True Cross became very popular from the 9th century onwards and were housed in magnificent gold and silver cross-shaped reliquaries, decorated with enamels and precious stones. Similarly, the bones of saints were often housed in reliquaries that recalled the shape of the body part. A philatory is a transparent reliquary designed to contain and exhibit the bones and this style of reliquary has a viewing portal by which to view the relic contained inside. During the later Middle Ages, the form, mostly used for consecrated hosts, was sometimes used for reliquaries. These housed the relic in a crystal or glass capsule mounted on a column above a base
27.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
28.
Prague
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Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. It is the 14th largest city in the European Union and it is also the historical capital of Bohemia. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city has a temperate climate, with warm summers and chilly winters. Prague has been a political, cultural, and economic centre of central Europe with waxing and waning fortunes during its history and it was an important city to the Habsburg Monarchy and its Austro-Hungarian Empire. Prague is home to a number of cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence. Main attractions include the Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, Old Town Square with the Prague astronomical clock, since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The city has more than ten major museums, along with theatres, galleries, cinemas. An extensive modern public transportation system connects the city, also, it is home to a wide range of public and private schools, including Charles University in Prague, the oldest university in Central Europe. Prague is classified as an Alpha- global city according to GaWC studies, Prague ranked sixth in the Tripadvisor world list of best destinations in 2016. Its rich history makes it a popular tourist destination, and the city more than 6.4 million international visitors annually. Prague is the fifth most visited European city after London, Paris, Istanbul, the region was settled as early as the Paleolithic age. In the last century BC, the Celts were slowly driven away by Germanic tribes, around the area where present-day Prague stands, the 2nd century map of Ptolemaios mentioned a Germanic city called Casurgis. In the following century, the Czech tribes built several fortified settlements in the area, most notably in Levý Hradec, Butovice and in the Šárka valley. The construction of what came to be known as the Prague Castle began near the end of the 9th century, the first masonry under Prague Castle dates from the year 885 at the latest. The other prominent Prague fort, the Přemyslid fort Vyšehrad, was founded in the 10th century, Prague Castle is dominated by the cathedral, which was founded in 1344, but completed in the 20th century. The legendary origins of Prague attribute its foundation to the 8th century Czech duchess and prophetess Libuše and her husband, Přemysl, legend says that Libuše came out on a rocky cliff high above the Vltava and prophesied, I see a great city whose glory will touch the stars. She ordered a castle and a town called Praha to be built on the site, a 17th century Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the city was founded as Boihaem in c.1306 BC by an ancient king, Boyya. The region became the seat of the dukes, and later kings of Bohemia, under Roman Emperor Otto II the area became a bishopric in 973
29.
John the Evangelist
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John the Evangelist is the name traditionally given to the author of the Gospel of John. Christians have traditionally identified him with John the Apostle, John of Patmos, the Gospel of John refers to an otherwise unnamed disciple whom Jesus loved, who bore witness to and wrote the Gospels message. Christian tradition says that John the Evangelist was John the Apostle, the Apostle John was a historical figure, one of the pillars of the Jerusalem church after Jesus death. He was one of the twelve apostles and is thought to be the only one to have lived into old age. John is associated with the city of Ephesus, where he is said to have lived, some believe that he was exiled to the Aegean island of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of Revelation. However, this is a matter of debate, with some attributing the authorship of Revelation to another man, the authorship of the Johannine works has been debated by scholars since at least the 2nd century AD. The main debate centers on who authored the writings, and which of the writings, if any, orthodox tradition attributes all the books to John the Apostle. In the 6th century, the Decretum Gelasianum argued that Second and Third John have an author known as John. Historical criticism rejects the view that John the Apostle authored any of these works, many modern scholars conclude that the apostle John wrote none of these works, although others, notably J. A. T. Robinson, F. F. Bruce, Leon Morris, and Martin Hengel hold the apostle to be behind at least some, there may have been a single author for the gospel and the three epistles. Some scholars conclude the author of the epistles was different from that of the gospel, the gospel and epistles traditionally and plausibly came from Ephesus, c. 90-110, although some argue for an origin in Syria. In the case of Revelation, many scholars agree that it was written by a separate author, John of Patmos. In the Tridentine Calendar he was commemorated also on each of the days up to and including 3 January. This Octave was abolished by Pope Pius XII in 1955, the traditional liturgical color is white. John the Evangelist is usually depicted as a young man, in Christian art, John is symbolically represented by an eagle, one of the creatures envisioned by Ezekiel and in the Revelation to John. The use of the chalice as a symbol for John is sometimes interpreted with reference to the Last Supper, another explanation is to be found in the words of Christ to John and James, My chalice indeed you shall drink. According to some authorities, this symbol was not adopted until the 13th century, the painting Saint John the Evangelist by Domenico Zampieri was auctioned in London in December 2009, for an estimated US$16.5 million
30.
Jesus
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In Christology, the Person of Christ refers to the study of the human and divine natures of Jesus Christ as they co-exist within one person. There is no discussion in the New Testament regarding the dual nature of the Person of Christ as both divine and human. Hence, since the days of Christianity theologians have debated various approaches to the understanding of these natures. In the period following the Apostolic Age, specific beliefs such as Arianism and Docetism were criticized. On the other end of the spectrum, Docetism argued that Jesus physical body was an illusion, docetic teachings were attacked by St. Ignatius of Antioch and were eventually abandoned by proto-orthodox Christians. However, after the First Council of Nicaea in 325 the Logos, historically in the Alexandrian school of christology, Jesus Christ is the eternal Logos paradoxically humanized in history, a divine Person who became enfleshed, uniting himself to the human nature. The views of these schools can be summarized as follows, Alexandria, Antioch, Logos assumes a specific human being The First Council of Ephesus in 431 debated a number of views regarding the Person of Christ. At the same gathering the council debated the doctrines of monophysitism or miaphysitism. The council rejected Nestorianism and adopted the term hypostatic union, referring to divine, the language used in the 431 declaration was further refined at the 451 Council of Chalcedon. However, the Chalcedon creed was not accepted by all Christians, because Saint Augustine died in 430 he did not participate in the Council of Ephesus in 431 or Chalcedon in 451, but his ideas had some impact on both councils. On the other hand, the major theological figure of the Middle Ages. The Third Council of Constantinople in 680 held that both divine and human wills exist in Jesus, with the divine will having precedence, leading and guiding the human will. John Calvin maintained that there was no element in the Person of Christ which could be separated from the person of The Word. Calvin also emphasized the importance of the Work of Christ in any attempt at understanding the Person of Christ, the study of the Person of Christ continued into the 20th century, with modern theologians such as Karl Rahner and Hans von Balthasar. Balthasar argued that the union of the human and divine natures of Christ was achieved not by the absorption of human attributes, thus in his view the divine nature of Christ was not affected by the human attributes and remained forever divine
31.
St. Anne
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Saint Anne of Davids house and line, was the mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus according to apocryphal Christian and Islamic tradition. Marys mother is not named in the gospels, nor in the Quran. Annes name and that of her husband Joachim come only from New Testament apocrypha, the story bears a similarity to that of the birth of Samuel, whose mother Hannah had also been childless. Although Anne receives little attention in the Latin Church prior to the late 12th century, in the Eastern Orthodox Churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, she is revered as Hannah. The Dormition of Hannah is also a minor feast in Eastern Christianity, in Protestantism, it is held that Martin Luther chose to enter religious life as a Augustinian monk after crying out to St. Anne. Anne is also revered in Islam, recognised as a spiritual woman. The Quran describes her as the daughter of Faqud who remained childless until her old age, one day, Hannah saw a bird feeding its young while sitting in the shade of a tree, which awakened her desire to have children of her own. She prayed for a child and eventually conceived, her husband, Imran, expecting the child to be male, Hannah vowed to dedicate him to isolation and service in the Second Temple. However, Hannah bore a daughter instead, and named her Mary. Her words upon delivering Mary reflect her status as a mystic, realising that while she had wanted a son, this daughter was Gods gift to her, Then. Truly, I brought her forth, a female, and God is greater in knowledge of what she brought forth. And the male is not like the female, so her Lord received her with the very best acceptance. And her bringing forth caused the very best to develop in her, so her Lord received her with the very best acceptance. And her bringing forth caused the very best to develop in her, the oldest and most influential source for these is the apocryphal Gospel of James, first written in Greek around the middle of the second century. Ancient belief, attested to by a sermon of John of Damascus, was that Anne married once, the sister of Saint Anne was Sobe, who was the mother of Elizabeth. Adherents included the 16th century Lutheran mystic Valentin Weigel, who claimed Anne conceived Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit rather than conventional conjugal relations and this belief was condemned as an error by the Catholic Church in 1677. In the fifteenth century, the Catholic cleric Johann Eck related in a sermon that St Annes parents were named Stollanus, the Catholic Encyclopedia regards this genealogy as spurious. In the Eastern church, the cult of Anne herself may go back as far as c,550, when Justinian built a church in Constantinople in her honor
32.
John the Baptist
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John the Baptist, also known as John the Baptizer, was a Jewish itinerant preacher in the early first century AD. John is revered as a religious figure in Christianity, Islam, the Baháí Faith. He is called a prophet by all of these traditions, and is honoured as a saint in many Christian traditions, John used baptism as the central symbol or sacrament of his messianic movement. Most scholars agree that John baptized Jesus, scholars generally believe Jesus was a follower or disciple of John and several New Testament accounts report that some of Jesus early followers had previously been followers of John. John the Baptist is also mentioned by the Jewish historian Josephus, according to the New Testament, John anticipated a messianic figure greater than himself. Christians commonly refer to John as the precursor or forerunner of Jesus, John is also identified with the prophet Elijah. John the Baptist is mentioned in all four canonical Gospels and the non-canonical Gospel of the Nazarenes, the Synoptic Gospels describe John baptising Jesus, in the Gospel of John it is implied in John 1, 32-34. The Gospel of Mark introduces John as a fulfilment of a prophecy from the Book of Isaiah about a messenger being sent ahead, John is described as wearing clothes of camels hair, living on locusts and wild honey. John proclaims baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin, and says another will come after him who will not baptize with water, Jesus comes to John, and is baptized by him in the river Jordan. The account describes how, as he emerges from the water, the heavens open, a voice from heaven then says, You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased. Later in the gospel there is an account of Johns death and it is introduced by an incident where the Tetrarch Herod Antipas, hearing stories about Jesus, imagines that this is John the Baptist raised from the dead. It then explains that John had rebuked Herod for marrying Herodias, Herodias demands his execution, but Herod, who liked to listen to John, is reluctant to do so because he fears him, knowing he is a righteous and holy man. The account then describes how Herods daughter Herodias dances before Herod, when the girl asks her mother what she should request, she is told to demand the head of John the Baptist. Reluctantly, Herod orders the beheading of John, and his head is delivered to her, at her request, Johns disciples take the body away and bury it in a tomb. There are a number of difficulties with this passage, the Gospel wrongly identifies Antipas as King and the ex-husband of Herodias is named as Philip, but he is known to have been called Herod. Although the wording clearly implies the girl was the daughter of Herodias, many texts describe her as Herods daughter, Herodias. Since these texts are early and significant and the reading is difficult, many see this as the original version, corrected in later versions and in Matthew. Josephus says that Herodias had a daughter by the name of Salome, scholars have speculated about the origins of the story
33.
Last Supper
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The Last Supper is the final meal that, in the Gospel accounts, Jesus shared with his Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The Last Supper is commemorated by Christians especially on Maundy Thursday, the Last Supper provides the scriptural basis for the Eucharist, also known as Holy Communion or The Lords Supper. The First Epistle to the Corinthians contains the earliest known mention of the Last Supper, during the meal Jesus predicts his betrayal by one of the Apostles present, and foretells that before the next morning, Peter will deny knowing him. Scholars have looked to the Last Supper as the source of early Christian Eucharist traditions, others see the account of the Last Supper as derived from 1st-century eucharistic practice as described by Paul in the mid-50s. The term Last Supper does not appear in the New Testament, most Protestants use the term Lords Supper, stating that the term last suggests this was one of several meals and not the meal. The term Lords Supper refers both to the event and the act of Holy Communion and Eucharistic celebration within their liturgy. Evangelical Protestants also use the term Lords Supper, but most do not use the terms Eucharist or the word Holy with the name Communion, the Eastern Orthodox use the term Mystical Supper which refers both to the biblical event and the act of Eucharistic celebration within liturgy. The last meal that Jesus shared with his disciples is described in all four canonical Gospels and this meal later became known as the Last Supper. The Last Supper was likely a retelling of the events of the last meal of Jesus among the early Christian community, after the meal, Jesus is betrayed, arrested, tried, and then crucified. In Matthew 26, 24-25, Mark 14, 18-21, Luke 22, 21-23 and John 13, 21-30 during the meal and it would be better for him if he had not been born. In Matthew 26, 23-25 and John 13, 26-27, Judas is specifically identified as the traitor. In the Gospel of John, when asked about the traitor, Jesus states, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish. ”Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him, in the course of the Last Supper, Jesus divides up some bread, says a prayer, and hands the pieces of bread to his disciples, saying this is my body. He then takes a cup of wine, offers another prayer, and hands it around, saying this is my blood of the everlasting covenant, finally, according to Paul and Luke, he tells the disciples do this in remembrance of me. This event has been regarded by Christians of most denominations as the institution of the Eucharist, there is recorded celebration of the Eucharist by the early Christian community in Jerusalem. The institution of the Eucharist is recorded in the three Synoptic Gospels and in Pauls First Epistle to the Corinthians, the words of institution differ slightly in each account. In addition, Luke 22, 19b-20 is a text which does not appear in some of the early manuscripts of Luke. Some scholars, therefore, believe that it is an interpolation, a comparison of the accounts given in the Gospels and 1 Corinthians is shown in the table below, with text from the ASV
34.
Opal
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Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silica, its water content may range from 3 to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6 and 10%. Because of its amorphous character, it is classed as a mineraloid, unlike crystalline forms of silica, which are classed as minerals. It is deposited at a low temperature and may occur in the fissures of almost any kind of rock, being most commonly found with limonite, sandstone, rhyolite, marl. Opal is the gemstone of Australia. The internal structure of precious opal makes it diffract light, depending on the conditions in which it formed, it can take on many colors. Precious opal ranges from clear white, gray, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, magenta, rose, pink, slate, olive, brown. Of these hues, the black opals are the most rare, whereas white, opals vary in optical density from opaque to semitransparent. Precious opal shows a variable interplay of colors, and though it is a mineraloid. At microscopic scales, precious opal is composed of silica spheres some 150 to 300 nm in diameter in a hexagonal or cubic close-packed lattice, the regularity of the sizes and the packing of these spheres determines the quality of precious opal. The colors that are observed are determined by the spacing between the planes and the orientation of planes with respect to the incident light, the process can be described by Braggs law of diffraction. Visible light of diffracted wavelengths cannot pass through large thicknesses of the opal and this is the basis of the optical band gap in a photonic crystal. The notion that opals are photonic crystals for visible light was expressed in 1995 by Vasily Astratovs group, in addition, microfractures may be filled with secondary silica and form thin lamellae inside the opal during solidification. The term opalescence is commonly and erroneously used to describe this unique and beautiful phenomenon, contrarily, opalescence is correctly applied to the milky, turbid appearance of common or potch opal. Potch does not show a play of color, for gemstone use, most opal is cut and polished to form a cabochon. Solid opal refers to polished stones consisting wholly of precious opal, opals too thin to produce a solid may be combined with other materials to form attractive gems. An opal doublet consists of a thin layer of precious opal, backed by a layer of dark-colored material, most commonly ironstone, dark or black common opal, onyx. The darker backing emphasizes the play of color, and results in an attractive display than a lighter potch. An opal triplet is similar to a doublet, but has a third layer, the cap takes a high polish and acts as a protective layer for the opal
35.
Sapphire
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Sapphire is a gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, an aluminium oxide. It is typically blue in color, but natural fancy sapphires also occur in yellow, purple, orange, the only color which sapphire cannot be is red - as red colored corundum is called ruby, another corundum variety. This variety in color is due to amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, copper. Commonly, natural sapphires are cut and polished into gemstones and worn in jewelry and they also may be created synthetically in laboratories for industrial or decorative purposes in large crystal boules. Sapphire is the birthstone for September and the gem of the 45th anniversary, a sapphire jubilee occurs after 65 years. Sapphire is one of the two gem-varieties of corundum, the other being ruby, although blue is the best-known sapphire color, they occur in other colors, including gray and black, and they can be colorless. A a pinkish orange variety of sapphire is called padparadscha, significant sapphire deposits are found in Eastern Australia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, China, Madagascar, East Africa, and in North America in a few locations, mostly in Montana. Sapphire and rubies are often found in the geological setting. Every sapphire mine produces a range of quality - and origin is not a guarantee of quality. For sapphire, Kashmir receives the highest premium although Burma, Sri Lanka, the cost of natural sapphires varies depending on their color, clarity, size, cut, and overall quality. For gems of exceptional quality, an independent determination from a respected laboratory such as the GIA, gemstone color can be described in terms of hue, saturation, and tone. Hue is commonly understood as the color of the gemstone, saturation refers to the vividness or brightness of the hue, and tone is the lightness to darkness of the hue. Blue sapphire exists in various mixtures of its primary and secondary hues, various tonal levels, blue sapphires are evaluated based upon the purity of their primary hue. Purple, violet, and green are the most common secondary hues found in blue sapphires, violet and purple can contribute to the overall beauty of the color, while green is considered to be distinctly negative. Blue sapphires with up to 15% violet or purple are generally said to be of fine quality, gray is the normal saturation modifier or mask found in blue sapphires. Gray reduces the saturation or brightness of the hue, and therefore has a negative effect. The 423-carat Logan sapphire in the National Museum of Natural History, in Washington, sapphires in colors other than blue are called fancy or parti colored sapphires. Fancy sapphires are found in yellow, orange, green sapphires, brown, purple
36.
Ministerialis
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Ministerialis were people raised up from serfdom to be placed in positions of power and responsibility. What began as an arrangement of workers with a wide variety of duties and restrictions rose in status. The ministeriales were not legally free people, but held social rank, legally, their liege lord determined whom they could or could not marry, and they were not able to transfer their lords properties to heirs or spouses. They were, however, considered members of the nobility since that was a social designation, ministeriales were trained knights, held military responsibilities and surrounded themselves with the trappings of knighthood, and so were accepted as noblemen. Both women and men held the status, and the laws on ministeriales made no distinction between the sexes in how they were treated. The origin of the pedigree is obscure. A mediaeval chronicler reported that Julius Caesar defeated the Gauls and rewarded his Germanic allies with Roman rank, princes were awarded senatorial status and their lesser knights received Roman citizenship. He assigned these knights to princes but urged the princes to treat the knights not as slaves and servants but rather to receive their services as the knights lords and defenders. Hence it is, the chronicler explained, that German knights, unlike their counterparts in other nations, are called servants of the royal fisc, abbot Adalard of Corbie was Emperor Charlemagnes chief adviser, and described the running of the government in his work De ordine palatii. There he praises the merits of his imperial staff, made up of household servii proprii who were the first ministerials authoritatively recorded. His letters specify that not only were they considered exceptional by their superiors and this may be the origin of ministerials as individuals in a set position. It was Emperor Conrad II who first referred to ministerials as a distinct class and he had them organized into a staff of officials and administrators. In documents they are referred to as ministerialis vir, or ministerial men, kings placed military requirements upon their princes, who in turn, placed requirements upon their vassals. The free nobles under a prince may have a bond of vassalage that let them get out of serving, so kings, princes, such a body made up the group called ministeriales. They received fiefs, which to begin with were not heritable, Ministerials were found holding the four great offices necessary to run a great household, seneschal, butler, marshal and chamberlain. They were vidames or castellans, having military and administrative responsibilities. Conrad II of Kuchl was the adviser to four archbishops over the course of 40 years. From the reign of Archbishop Conrad II they were employed as stewards, castellans and judges in the administration of the imperial territories, as Imperial ministerials they upheld the Salian, and particularly the Hohenstaufen, imperial polity
37.
Harzburg
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Later used as a robber barons lair, the hill castle crumbled into ruins over the centuries. Today it has almost completely disappeared, only fragments of the foundation walls, therefore, Harzburg can be translated as Harz Castle. The ruins of the Große Harzburg are located above the spa town, southwards, the view goes over the densely forested mountains of the Harz National Park up to the Brocken massif. The remains of the walls on the Großer Burgberg summit are open to the public, the layout of the castle and its remnants are explained on information boards at the site. It had two different bergfrieds, the one has been partially rebuilt in modern times. One interesting feature is the wide moat driven through the rock that separates the complex into an east. The castle well drew drinking water from the nearby Sachsenbrunnen, a spring in the woods. In medieval times, the water was transferred several hundred metres in wooden pipes. Already in 924/926 King Henry the Fowler had reached an armistice with the Hungarian invaders at nearby Werla Castle, in the 11th century, the Salian emperor Henry III had made the Imperial Palace of Goslar one of his favourite residences. He did, however, arouse the disfavour of the local Saxon nobility and the Billung dukes, not only by his Franconian descendance, but also due to the expensive maintaining of his Imperial court. Henry III died in 1056 at Bodfeld Castle and when his son King Henry IV, came of age in 1065, during Henrys minority and the regency of his mother Agnes of Poitou, the Saxon nobles had strengthened their position. The local count Otto of Nordheim, Duke of Bavaria since 1061, had even been involved in Henrys abduction during the 1062 Coup of Kaiserswerth, in turn, the Große Harzburg was erected during a large-scale castle building programme in the Duchy of Saxony from 1065 to 1068. Its walls extend right up to the face of the conical hilltop. At the time it was built the castle was impregnable, despite its defensive strength, the castle was also especially palatial. For example, it contained, amongst other things, unusually large, three-roomed great hall and collegiate church, to which Henry had many relics transferred. He even had a sort of family vault built, in which he laid the remains of his brother, Duke Conrad II of Bavaria and his son, Henry. According to the chronicler Lambert of Hersfeld, the Saxon Rebellion broke out when on 29 June 1073 several nobles marched against the king residing in the Imperial Palace of Goslar, Henry had to flee along with the Imperial Regalia into the walls of the Harzburg. The besieging forces led by Otto of Nordheim and Bishop Burchard II of Halberstadt allegedly numbered 60,000 whilst his garrison only had 300 men
38.
Imperial Palace of Goslar
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The Imperial Palace of Goslar is a historical building complex at the foot of the Rammelsberg hill in the south of the town of Goslar north of the Harz mountains, central Germany. It covers an area of about 340 by 180 metres and stands, the palace grounds originally included the Kaiserhaus, the old collegiate church of St. Simon and St. Jude, the palace chapel of St. Ulrich and the Church of Our Lady. The Kaiserhaus, which has extensively restored in the late 19th century, was a favourite imperial residence. As early as the 11th century, the buildings of the palace had already so impressed the chronicler Lambert of Hersfeld that he described it as the most famous residence in the empire. Since 1992, the site, together with the Goslars Old Town. The palace district is located in the part of the town of Goslar. The area is dominated on the west by the north-south oriented Kaiserhaus, to the north, it was once joined at right angles by the Church of Our Lady, separated by a small courtyard, but there is nothing left of the church today. Its foundations are under the leading up to the Kaiserhaus. To the south, now connected by a 19th-century arcade to the Kaiserhaus, is the Chapel of St. Ulrich, to the east, opposite the Kaiserhaus stood the east-west aligned collegiate church of St. Simon and St. Jude, of which only the north porch remains. The plan of the church is, however, incorporated into the surface of the car park. To the palace grounds belonged also the residential and working buildings of the canons, the houses of the ministeriales and the imperial entourage, in addition, the whole area was surrounded by a wall. The earliest origins of the palace are probably in a royal hunting lodge. In 1005 Henry II erected a first imperial mansion in Goslar, in the 1030s Conrad II began to expand the site by laying the foundation stone for the Church of Our Lady. The district was completed and enjoyed its heyday under his son, in 1048 he called to Goslar one of the foremost architects of his day, someone who later became Bishop of Osnabrück, Benno II. Uncertain, however, is the date of the dedicated to Saint Ulrich. It is believed to have been built either during the time of Henry III, the Kaiserhaus is 54 metres long and 18 metres wide and is the largest secular building of its time. The centre of the building is its two-storey hall and this contains two rooms on each floor of 47 metres long and 15 metres wide. Both had a ceiling, which was supported in the middle by a row of columns
39.
Trifels Castle
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Trifels Castle is a reconstructed medieval castle at an elevation of 500 m near the small town of Annweiler, in the Palatinate region of southwestern Germany. It is located high above the Queich valley within the Palatinate Forest on one peak of a red sandstone mountain split into three. Trifels Castle is on the peak of the Sonnenberg, and on both of the two rock elevations there are castle ruins, Anebos Castle and Scharfenberg Castle. Trifels Castle has been restored since the 19th century and today replicas of the Imperial Regalia of the Holy Roman Empire are on display here. It is—together with Hambach Castle—one of the most popular tourist destinations in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, the castle in Rhenish Franconia was first mentioned in a 1081 deed of donation, when it was held by a local noble Diemar, a relative of Archbishop Siegfried I of Mainz. From him Trifels passed to the Imperial Salian dynasty, Emperor Henry V in 1113 made it a Reichsburg, rejecting the inheritance claims raised by Archbishop Adalbert of Mainz. The archbishop, allied with Henrys opponent Lothair of Supplinburg, had to several years of imprisonment at Trifels. Handed over to Emperor Henry VI of Hohenstaufen, a period of three weeks of captivity at Trifels from 31 March to 19 April 1193 is well documented. According to one legend, Richard was found by the trobador Blondel de Nesle, Trifels Castle lost its importance with the Interregnum. After the fall of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, the castle was pledged several times, in 1330, it was mortgaged to the Electoral Palatinate. It finally fell to the Dukes of Palatinate-Simmern and Zweibrücken in 1410, deserted and derelict, the ruin served as a stone quarry, as a result of which the late-Romanesque residential building almost completely disappeared and the outer bailey for the most part. From about 1840, the Wittelsbach kings of Bavaria had the castle rebuilt, the present-day castle is in large parts not true to the medieæval original. It is characterized by a well tower outside the ring wall. The surrounding rocky landscape is a venue for mountaineers
40.
Annweiler am Trifels
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Annweiler am Trifels, or Annweiler is a town in the Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Queich,12 km west of Landau, Annweiler is situated in the Southern part of the Palatinate forest called the Wasgau, and is surrounded by high hills which yield a famous red sandstone. The towns main industry is tourism, on the Sonnenberg lie the ruins of the castle of Trifels, in which Richard Coeur de Lion was imprisoned from 31 March to 19 April 1193. Annweiler is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Annweiler am Trifels, in an 1911 edition of the Brockhaus Enzyklopädie, the area around Annweiler was referred to as Pfälzer Schweiz. Annweiler - Geschichte einer alten Reichsstadt
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Haguenau
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Haguenau is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department of France, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is second in size in the Bas-Rhin only to Strasbourg, to the north of the town, the Forest of Haguenau is the largest undivided forest in France. Haguenau was founded by German dukes and has swapped back and forth several times between Germany and France over the centuries, with its spelling altering between Hagenau and Haguenau by the turn. It was last German at the end of World War I, Haguenau is a rapidly growing town, its population having increased from 22,644 inhabitants in 1968 to 34,891 inhabitants in 2006. Haguenaus metropolitan area has grown from 43,904 inhabitants in 1968 to 64,562 inhabitants in 2006, Haguenau dates from the beginning of the 12th century, when the German dukes of Swabia erected a hunting lodge on an island in the Moder River. The medieval King and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa fortified the settlement and gave it town rights, important for further development, on the site of the hunting lodge he founded an imperial palace he regarded as his favourite residence. In this palace were preserved the Crown Jewels of the Holy Roman Empire, i. e. the jewelled crown, sceptre, imperial orb. Richard of Cornwall, King of the Romans, made it a city in 1257. Subsequently through Rudolph I of Germany Haguenau became the seat of the Landvogt of Hagenau, in the 14th century, it housed the executive council of the Decapole, a defensive and offensive association of ten German towns in Alsace against French aggression and related political instability. In the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the Alsace was ceded to France, in 1673 King Louis XIV had the fortifications as well as the remains of the kings palace razed in order to extinguish German traditions. Haguenau was recaptured by German troops in 1675, but was again by the French two years later, when it was nearly destroyed by fire set by looting French troops. In 1871, Haguenau was ceded to the German Empire upon its victory in the Franco-Prussian War, the Haguenau Airport was built in 1916 by the German military to train fighter and bomber pilots to fight in the First World War. Hagenau was part of the briefly independent Republic of Alsace-Lorraine after World War I, in the Second World War, Germany retook the town in 1940. In November 1944 the area surrounding Haguenau was under the control of the 256th Volksgrenadier Division under the command of General Gerhard Franz, before they withdrew, the Germans demolished bridges, useful buildings, and even the town park. However, as experienced by Haguenau throughout its history, the Germans came back, most of the inhabitants fled with the assistance of the U. S. Army. The Americans launched a counterattack to retake the town. The 313th Infantry Regiment of the 79th Division was relieved by the 506th PIR of the 101st Airborne Division on 5 February 1945, the 36th Infantry Division would relieve the 101st on 23 February 1945. On March 15 the Allied Operation Undertone, an effort of the U. S
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Waldburg Castle
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The Waldburg is the ancestral castle of the stewards and imperial princes of the nobility gender with the same name. The Waldburg is a Hilltop castle located on a natural elevation, the hill castle was very woody till the eighties of the 20th century. The view at the castle was moved again in the old condition for the reopening in 1996 by specific deforestation in the beginning of the nineties. During the day, as well as at night with lighting, the first foundation of the castle goes back to the 11th century. In this time the family of Waldburg received a fief from the Guelphs. In the first half of the 13th century the castle was radically rebuilt, under Emperor Frederick II the Imperial Regalia were kept in the castle from 1220 to at least 1240. In 1327 the church Saint Magnus was built at feet of the castle, at the middle of the 16th century under steward Georg IV of Waldburg the castle was developed to a residence similar like a palace. From the 17th century the castle was inhabited sporadically by the family of Waldburg. Today the Schloss accommodates a museum and is opened for sightseeing during the seasons from early April until late October. Guided tours are held on weekends and holidays at 1,30 pm and 3,00 pm, at the top of the roof there is a vista platform with a look around as far as eye can see. The walking tour begins in the floor with the late Middle Ages. The Holy Lance, the Imperial Sceptre and the Imperial Orb are exhibited as replicas, the Federal Republic of Germany consigned the original in 2007 to the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The castle chapel is used for church weddings, parts of the museum and the vaults are also available for wedding celebrations. The Burgschenke, the inn, is the former kitchen in the imperial castle
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Ravensburg
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Ravensburg is a town in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg. Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088, in the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and an important trading centre. The Great Ravensburg Trading Society owned shops and trading companies all over Europe, the historic town centre is still very much intact, including three town gates and over 10 towers of the medieval fortification. The all-white Mehlsack is a tower marking the Altstadt’s southern edge, a steep staircase leads up to the Veitsburg, a quaint baroque castle. The towns most popular festival is the Rutenfest in mid year, Ravensburg was first mentioned in writing in 1088. It was founded by the Welfs, a Frankish dynasty in Swabia who became later Dukes of Bavaria and Saxony, with the death of Conradin 1268 in Naples the Hohenstaufen line became extinct. Their former estates became imperial property of the Holy Roman Empire, like many other cities in Swabia, at the end of the 13th century Ravensburg became an Imperial Free City in 1276. The Great Ravensburg Trading Society was founded at Ravensburg and Konstanz around 1380 by the merchant families of Humpis, Mötteli, at first, the society mostly dealt in the production of linen and fustian. With the opening of one of the first paper mills north of the Alps in 1402 in Ravensburg, the Ravensburg stores also sold oriental spices, Mediterranean wines and Bohemian ores. After the liquidation of the Great Ravensburg Trading Society in 1530, the Thirty Years War caused a grave decline of the population. Swedish troops destroyed the old castle, now named Veitsburg after the St. Veit chapel at the castle grounds, following the Reformation a paritetic government emerged, meaning an equal distribution of public offices between the Catholic and Protestant confession. The city council was one half each Protestant and Catholic, for some time there was even a Catholic and a Protestant mayor at the same time, and the both confessions celebrated the village fair, the Rutenfest, apart from each other. This system was approved at the end of the Thirty Years War in the Peace of Westphalia which named four Paritetic Imperial Cities, Augsburg, Biberach, Dinkelsbühl, as a result, Ravensburg first became a Bavarian exclave within Württemberg. After a swap of estates between Bavaria and Württemberg it was incorporated in the Kingdom of Württemberg in 1810, since Ravensburg was impoverished and depopulated after the Thirty Years War, only a few new buildings were raised during the 18th and the early 19th century. The benefit of this economic stagnation was the conservation of an intact medieval city with nearly all towers. During World War II Ravensburg was strategically of no relevance, Ravensburg did not harbor any noteworthy arms industry, but was home to a big aid supplies center belonging to the Swiss Red Cross, so no air raid destroyed the historic city center. In the 1970s, Ravensburg increased in population and territory by the incorporation of communities like Eschach, Schmalegg. Ravensburg University of Cooperative Education was established in the town in 1978, in the 1980s, the Old Town was renovated and all transit traffic was banned from the city center
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