1.
English art
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English art is the body of visual arts made in England. English art continued to have an individual character thereafter, though after 1707 it is covered under the art of the United Kingdom. Although medieval English painting, mostly religious, had a national tradition and was at times influential on the rest of Europe. The English Reformation, which was especially destructive of art, not only brought the tradition to an abrupt stop, only illuminated manuscripts now survive in good numbers. Sculpture was mostly architectural and for monumental tombs, by the time of the Act of Union, the English taste for landscape painting was developing. In all these areas, reliance on imported artists was high, the oldest art in England can be dated to the Neolithic period, including the large ritual landscapes such as Stonehenge from c.2600 BC. From around 2150 BC, the Beaker people learned how to make bronze and they became skilled in metal refining and their works of art, placed in graves or sacrificial pits have survived. In the Iron Age, a new art style arrived as Celtic culture, though metalwork, especially gold ornaments, was still important, stone and most likely wood were also used. This style continued into the Roman period, beginning in the 1st century BC, the arrival of the Romans brought the Classical style of which many monuments have survived, especially funerary monuments, statues and busts. They also brought glasswork and mosaics, in the 4th century, a new element was introduced as the first Christian art was made in Britain. Several mosaics with Christian symbols and pictures have been preserved, the style of Romano-British art follows that of the continent, there are some local specialities, influenced by Celtic art, the Staffordshire Moorlands Pan is one example. After Roman rule, the Anglo-Saxons brought Germanic traditions, seen in the metalwork of Sutton Hoo, anglo-Saxon sculpture was outstanding for its time, at least in the small works in ivory or bone that are almost all that have survived. The carved stone crosses, such as the Ruthwell Cross, were a distinctive Insular form. Anglo-Saxon art developed a sophisticated variety of contemporary Continental styles, seen especially in metalwork. Effectively none of the paintings and sculptures that we know existed have survived. English illumination fell away in the phase of the Gothic period as elite patrons began instead to commission works from Paris or Flanders. Some of the extremely rare survivals of English medieval panel paintings, like the Westminster Retable, another art form introduced through the church was stained glass, which was also adopted for secular uses. There was an industry producing Nottingham alabaster reliefs for mid-market altarpieces and small statues
2.
Old Royal Naval College
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The grounds and some of its buildings are open to visitors. Between 1873 and 1998 it was the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, the palace had fallen into disrepair during the English Civil War. With the exception of the incomplete John Webb building, the palace was demolished in 1694. In 1692 the Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich was created on the site on the instructions of Mary II, architectural highlights included the Chapel and the Painted Hall. The hospital closed in 1869 and the remains of thousands of sailors and officers were removed from the site in 1875. In 1873, four years after the closed, the buildings was converted to a training establishment for the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy finally left the College in 1998 when the site passed into the hands of the Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College. Since 1998 the site has had new life breathed into it through a mix of new uses and activities, the buildings are Grade I listed. In 1999 some parts of Queen Mary and King William, and the whole of Queen Anne, in 2000 Trinity College of Music leased the major part of King Charles. This created a new educational and cultural mix. In 2002 the Foundation realised its aim of opening up the site to visitors. It opened the Painted Hall, the Chapel and the grounds, the Old Royal Naval College became open to students and visitors of all ages and nationalities accompanied often by music wafting from Trinity College. As Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote in 1863, the people are sooner or later the legitimate inheritors of whatever beauty kings, in 2005 the room where Nelsons coffin was held prior to his being laid-in-state was opened as the Nelson Room. The little side room contains a statue of Nelson replicating the one in Trafalgar Square, memorabilia, paintings and it can be seen on one of the guided tours that also include a visit to the undercrofts, the old skittle alley and crypt. A service is held in the chapel every Sunday at 11 am which is open to all, public concerts are regularly held here and a wide variety of business and cultural events are held in the Painted Hall. In 2014 the Old Royal Naval College announced that it was embarking on the stage of its ambitious plans to restore the Painted Hall. Over three years 3,700 m2 of Thornhill’s masterpiece will be conserved, the conservation project will focus on the Lower Hall. The Old Royal Naval College and the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage site are becoming focal points for a range of business
3.
Weymouth, Dorset
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Weymouth /ˈweɪməθ/ is a seaside town in Dorset, England, situated on a sheltered bay at the mouth of the River Wey on the English Channel coast. The town is 11 kilometres south of Dorchester and 8 kilometres north of the Isle of Portland, the town is the third largest settlement in Dorset after the unitary authorities of Bournemouth and Poole. The A354 road bridge connects Weymouth to Portland, which form the borough of Weymouth. Weymouth originated as a settlement on a site to the south and west of Weymouth Harbour. The town developed from the mid 12th century onwards, but was not noted until the 13th century, by 1252 it was established as a seaport and became a chartered borough. Melcombe Regis developed separately on the peninsula to the north of the harbour, French raiders found the port so accessible that in 1433 the staple was transferred to Poole. Melcombe Regis is thought to be the first port at which the Black Death came into England in June 1348, possibly either aboard a spice ship or an army ship. In their early history Weymouth and Melcombe Regis were rivals for trade and industry, both towns have become known as Weymouth, despite Melcombe Regis being the main centre. The villages of Upwey, Broadwey, Preston, Wyke Regis, Chickerell, Southill, Radipole, King Henry VIII had two Device Forts built to protect the south Dorset coast from invasion in the 1530s, Sandsfoot Castle in Wyke Regis and Portland Castle in Castletown. Parts of Sandsfoot have fallen into the sea due to coastal erosion, during the English Civil War, around 250 people were killed in the local Crabchurch Conspiracy in February 1645. In 1635, on board the ship Charity, around 100 emigrants from the crossed the Atlantic Ocean and settled in Weymouth. More townspeople emigrated to the Americas to bolster the population of Weymouth, Nova Scotia and Salem, Massachusetts, there are memorials to this on the side of Weymouth Harbour and near to Weymouth Pavilion and Weymouth Sea Life Tower. The architect Sir Christopher Wren was the Member of Parliament for Weymouth in 1702, when he designed St Pauls Cathedral, Wren had it built out of Portland Stone, the famous stone of Portlands quarries. Sir James Thornhill was born in the White Hart public house in Melcombe Regis, Thornhill became an artist, and coincidentally decorated the interior of St Pauls Cathedral. A mounted white horse representing the King is carved into the hills of Osmington. Weymouths esplanade is composed of Georgian terraces, which have been converted into apartments, shops, hotels, statues of Victoria, George III and Sir Henry Edwards, Member of Parliament for the borough from 1867 to 1885, and two war memorials stand along the Esplanade. In the centre of the town lies Weymouth Harbour, although it was the reason for the towns foundation, since the 18th century they have been linked by successive bridges over the narrowest part of the harbour. The present Town Bridge, built in 1930, is a bascule bridge allowing boats to access the inner harbour
4.
Painting
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Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface. The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, Painting is a mode of creative expression, and the forms are numerous. Drawing, gesture, composition, narration, or abstraction, among other aesthetic modes, may serve to manifest the expressive, Paintings can be naturalistic and representational, photographic, abstract, narrative, symbolistic, emotive, or political in nature. A portion of the history of painting in both Eastern and Western art is dominated by motifs and ideas. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action, the term painting is also used outside of art as a common trade among craftsmen and builders. What enables painting is the perception and representation of intensity, every point in space has different intensity, which can be represented in painting by black and white and all the gray shades between. In practice, painters can articulate shapes by juxtaposing surfaces of different intensity, thus, the basic means of painting are distinct from ideological means, such as geometrical figures, various points of view and organization, and symbols. In technical drawing, thickness of line is ideal, demarcating ideal outlines of an object within a perceptual frame different from the one used by painters. Color and tone are the essence of painting as pitch and rhythm are the essence of music, color is highly subjective, but has observable psychological effects, although these can differ from one culture to the next. Black is associated with mourning in the West, but in the East, some painters, theoreticians, writers and scientists, including Goethe, Kandinsky, and Newton, have written their own color theory. Moreover, the use of language is only an abstraction for a color equivalent, the word red, for example, can cover a wide range of variations from the pure red of the visible spectrum of light. There is not a register of different colors in the way that there is agreement on different notes in music. For a painter, color is not simply divided into basic, painters deal practically with pigments, so blue for a painter can be any of the blues, phthalocyanine blue, Prussian blue, indigo, cobalt, ultramarine, and so on. Psychological and symbolical meanings of color are not, strictly speaking, colors only add to the potential, derived context of meanings, and because of this, the perception of a painting is highly subjective. The analogy with music is quite clear—sound in music is analogous to light in painting, shades to dynamics and these elements do not necessarily form a melody of themselves, rather, they can add different contexts to it. Modern artists have extended the practice of painting considerably to include, as one example, collage, some modern painters incorporate different materials such as sand, cement, straw or wood for their texture. Examples of this are the works of Jean Dubuffet and Anselm Kiefer, there is a growing community of artists who use computers to paint color onto a digital canvas using programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter, and many others. These images can be printed onto traditional canvas if required, rhythm is important in painting as it is in music
5.
History painting
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History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than artistic style. History paintings usually depict a moment in a story, rather than a specific and static subject. The term is derived from the senses of the word historia in Latin and Italian, meaning story or narrative. Most history paintings are not of scenes from history, especially paintings from before about 1850, History paintings almost always contain a number of figures, often a large number, and normally show some type of action that is a moment in a narrative. The genre includes depictions of moments in religious narratives, above all the Life of Christ, as well as scenes from mythology. These groups were for long the most frequently painted, works such as Michelangelos Sistine Chapel ceiling are therefore history paintings, History painting may be used interchangeably with historical painting, and was especially so used before the 20th century. Where a distinction is made historical painting is the painting of scenes from secular history, in the 19th century historical painting in this sense became a distinct genre. In phrases such as historical painting materials, historical means in use before about 1900 and he placed emphasis on the ability to depict the interactions between the figures by gesture and expression. This view remained general until the 19th century, when artistic movements began to struggle against the establishment institutions of academic art, which continued to adhere to it. Scenes from ancient history had been popular in the early Renaissance, and once again became common in the Baroque and Rococo periods, and still more so with the rise of Neoclassicism. In some 19th or 20th century contexts, the term may refer specifically to paintings of scenes from history, rather than those from religious narratives. Scenes from ancient history and mythology were also popular, artists continued for centuries to strive to make their reputation by producing such works, often neglecting genres to which their talents were better suited. The large works of Raphael were long considered, with those of Michelangelo, un Peintre qui ne fait que des portraits, na pas encore cette haute perfection de lArt, & ne peut prétendre à lhonneur que reçoivent les plus sçavans. He who produces perfect landscapes is above another who only produces fruit, a painter who only does portraits still does not have the highest perfection of his art, and cannot expect the honour due to the most skilled. By the late 18th century, with religious and mytholological painting in decline, there was an increased demand for paintings of scenes from history. Classical history remained popular, but scenes from national histories were often the best-received, the unheroic nature of modern dress was regarded as a serious difficulty. When, in 1770, Benjamin West proposed to paint The Death of General Wolfe in contemporary dress and he ignored these comments and showed the scene in modern dress. Although George III refused to purchase the work, West succeeded both in overcoming his critics objections and inaugurating a more historically accurate style in such paintings. M. W, conveniently their clothes had been worn away to classical-seeming rags by the point the painting depicts
6.
Baroque
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The style began around 1600 in Rome and Italy, and spread to most of Europe. The aristocracy viewed the dramatic style of Baroque art and architecture as a means of impressing visitors by projecting triumph, power, Baroque palaces are built around an entrance of courts, grand staircases, and reception rooms of sequentially increasing opulence. However, baroque has a resonance and application that extend beyond a reduction to either a style or period. It is also yields the Italian barocco and modern Spanish barroco, German Barock, Dutch Barok, others derive it from the mnemonic term Baroco, a supposedly laboured form of syllogism in logical Scholastica. The Latin root can be found in bis-roca, in informal usage, the word baroque can simply mean that something is elaborate, with many details, without reference to the Baroque styles of the 17th and 18th centuries. The word Baroque, like most periodic or stylistic designations, was invented by later critics rather than practitioners of the arts in the 17th, the term Baroque was initially used in a derogatory sense, to underline the excesses of its emphasis. In particular, the term was used to describe its eccentric redundancy and noisy abundance of details, although it was long thought that the word as a critical term was first applied to architecture, in fact it appears earlier in reference to music. Another hypothesis says that the word comes from precursors of the style, Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola and he did not make the distinctions between Mannerism and Baroque that modern writers do, and he ignored the later phase, the academic Baroque that lasted into the 18th century. Long despised, Baroque art and architecture became fashionable between the two World Wars, and has remained in critical favour. In painting the gradual rise in popular esteem of Caravaggio has been the best barometer of modern taste, William Watson describes a late phase of Shang-dynasty Chinese ritual bronzes of the 11th century BC as baroque. The term Baroque may still be used, usually pejoratively, describing works of art, craft, the appeal of Baroque style turned consciously from the witty, intellectual qualities of 16th-century Mannerist art to a visceral appeal aimed at the senses. It employed an iconography that was direct, simple, obvious, germinal ideas of the Baroque can also be found in the work of Michelangelo. Even more generalised parallels perceived by some experts in philosophy, prose style, see the Neapolitan palace of Caserta, a Baroque palace whose construction began in 1752. In paintings Baroque gestures are broader than Mannerist gestures, less ambiguous, less arcane and mysterious, more like the stage gestures of opera, Baroque poses depend on contrapposto, the tension within the figures that move the planes of shoulders and hips in counterdirections. Baroque is a style of unity imposed upon rich, heavy detail, Baroque style featured exaggerated lighting, intense emotions, release from restraint, and even a kind of artistic sensationalism. There were highly diverse strands of Italian baroque painting, from Caravaggio to Cortona, the most prominent Spanish painter of the Baroque was Diego Velázquez. The later Baroque style gradually gave way to a more decorative Rococo, while the Baroque nature of Rembrandts art is clear, the label is less often used for Vermeer and many other Dutch artists. Flemish Baroque painting shared a part in this trend, while continuing to produce the traditional categories
7.
Wareham, Dorset
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Wareham is an historic market town and, under the name Wareham Town, a civil parish, in the English county of Dorset. The town is situated on the River Frome eight miles southwest of Poole, the town is built on a strategic dry point between the River Frome and the River Piddle at the head of the Wareham Channel of Poole Harbour. The Frome Valley runs through an area of unresistant sand, clay and gravel rocks, at its estuary the river has formed the wide shallow ria of Poole Harbour. Wareham is built on a low dry island between the river plains. The town is situated on the A351 Lytchett Minster-Swanage road and at the terminus of the A352 road to Dorchester and Sherborne. The town has a station on the South Western Main Line railway, the steam railway has ambitions to extend its service, currently from Swanage to Norden, near Corfe Castle back to Worgret Junction and into Wareham again. To the north west of the town a large plantation, Wareham Forest stretches several miles to the A35 road. To the south east is Corfe Castle and the heathland that borders Poole Harbour, including Wytch Farm oil field, about four miles to the south is a chalk ridge, the Purbeck Hills, and eight miles to the south is the English Channel. The towns strategic setting has made it an important settlement throughout its long history, excavations at the nearby Bestwall site have produced evidence of transient early Mesolithic activity dating to around 9000 BCE. At the same site four large Neolithic pits containing worked flint, three greenstone axeheads discovered also probably date to this period. Flint working and potting continued throughout the Bronze Age, the first house discovered dates to the mid 15th century BCE. Archaeological evidence exists of a small Roman settlement, though the current town was founded by the Saxons, the Roman name is unknown, but the town is referred to as Werham in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry of 784, from Old English wer and hām or hamm. The Danes invaded and occupied Wareham in 876, and only left after Alfred returned with an army, in 998 they attacked again, and in 1015 an invasion led by King Canute left the town in ruins. The town was a Saxon royal burial place, notably that of King Beorhtric, also in the town at the ancient minster church of Lady St. Mary is the coffin said to be that of Edward the Martyr, dating from 978. His remains had been buried there and were later taken from Wareham to Shaftesbury Abbey in north Dorset. By the end of the Saxon period, Wareham had become one of the most important towns in the county, the Burghal Hidage lists the town as 1,600 hides, the third largest in the realm. After the conquest of England, the Normans built a castle on the banks of the River Frome, the castle was the focus of much fighting between the forces of Stephen and Matilda during the period of civil war in the mid 12th century. The keep was destroyed at a date in the 12th or 13th century, possibly under the terms of the Treaty of Wallingford
8.
Greenwich Hospital, London
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Greenwich Hospital was a permanent home for retired sailors of the Royal Navy, which operated from 1692 to 1869. Its buildings were used by the Royal Naval College, Greenwich and the University of Greenwich. The foundation which operated the hospital still exists, for the benefit of former Royal Navy personnel and it now provides sheltered housing on other sites. Sir Christopher Wren and his assistant Nicholas Hawksmoor gave their services free of charge as architects of the new Royal Hospital, Sir John Vanbrugh succeeded Wren as architect, completing the complex to Wrens original plans. An early controversy arose when it emerged that the plans for the hospital would have blocked the riverside view from the Queens House. Queen Mary II therefore ordered that the buildings be split, providing an avenue leading from the river through the grounds up to the Queens House. This gave the hospital its distinctive look, with its buildings arranged in a number of quadrants, the Grand Square and processional route running north-south maintained access to, and a river view from, the Queens House and Greenwich Park beyond. The first governor, Sir William Gifford, took up office in 1708, the other principal buildings constructed included Queen Mary Court, completed in 1742, Queen Anne Court, and King William Court. Queen Mary Court houses the hospitals chapel and its present appearance dates from 1779–89, when it was rebuilt to a design by James Athenian Stuart after a devastating fire. The Painted Hall was deemed too magnificent for the pensioned seamens refectory and was never used as such. It became a tourist destination, opened for viewing, on 5 January 1806, Lord Nelsons body lay in state in the Painted Hall of the Greenwich Hospital before being taken up the river Thames to St Pauls Cathedral for a state funeral. A Royal Hospital School opened on the site in 1712 to provide assistance and education to the orphans of seafarers in the Royal, in 1933 it moved to Holbrook, Suffolk, the old school buildings were reopened the following year as the National Maritime Museum. The Greenwich Hospital buildings included an infirmary, constructed in the 1760s to a design also by James Stuart, after some adaptation and rebuilding this became the Dreadnought Seamens Hospital in 1870. The treatment for tropical diseases moved in 1919 to the Seamens Hospital Society hospital near Euston Square, in central London, the Dreadnought Seamans Hospital closed in 1986, with special services for seamen and their families then provided by the Dreadnought Unit at St Thomass Hospital in Lambeth. It is now a Royal Charity for the benefit of seafarers and their dependants, the charity now funds sheltered housing for former Royal Navy personnel and the school it spawned, the Royal Hospital School, now at Holbrook in Suffolk. The charitys head office is located in the City of London, healthcare in London List of hospitals in England Walford, Edward. Old and New London, Vol.6, Greenwich Hospital charity Greenwich in-pensioners website Design drawings in evolution
9.
Protestantism
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Protestantism is a form of Christianity which originated with the Reformation, a movement against what its followers considered to be errors in the Roman Catholic Church. It is one of the three divisions of Christendom, together with Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The term derives from the letter of protestation from German Lutheran princes in 1529 against an edict of the Diet of Speyer condemning the teachings of Martin Luther as heretical. Although there were earlier breaks from or attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church—notably by Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Protestants reject the notion of papal supremacy and deny the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, but disagree among themselves regarding the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Five solae summarize the reformers basic differences in theological beliefs, in the 16th century, Lutheranism spread from Germany into Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states, and Iceland. Reformed churches were founded in Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland and France by such reformers as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, the political separation of the Church of England from Rome under King Henry VIII brought England and Wales into this broad Reformation movement. Protestants developed their own culture, which made major contributions in education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy and the arts, some Protestant denominations do have a worldwide scope and distribution of membership, while others are confined to a single country. A majority of Protestants are members of a handful of families, Adventism, Anglicanism, Baptist churches, Reformed churches, Lutheranism, Methodism. Nondenominational, evangelical, charismatic, independent and other churches are on the rise, and constitute a significant part of Protestant Christianity. Six princes of the Holy Roman Empire and rulers of fourteen Imperial Free Cities, the edict reversed concessions made to the Lutherans with the approval of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V three years earlier. During the Reformation, the term was used outside of the German politics. The word evangelical, which refers to the gospel, was more widely used for those involved in the religious movement. Nowadays, this word is still preferred among some of the historical Protestant denominations in the Lutheran and Calvinist traditions in Europe, above all the term is used by Protestant bodies in the German-speaking area, such as the EKD. In continental Europe, an Evangelical is either a Lutheran or a Calvinist, the German word evangelisch means Protestant, and is different from the German evangelikal, which refers to churches shaped by Evangelicalism. The English word evangelical usually refers to Evangelical Protestant churches, and it traces its roots back to the Puritans in England, where Evangelicalism originated, and then was brought to the United States. Protestantism as a term is now used in contradistinction to the other major Christian traditions, i. e. Roman Catholicism. Initially, Protestant became a term to mean any adherent to the Reformation movement in Germany and was taken up by Lutherans. Even though Martin Luther himself insisted on Christian or Evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ, French and Swiss Protestants preferred the word reformed, which became a popular, neutral and alternative name for Calvinists
10.
William III of England
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It is a coincidence that his regnal number was the same for both Orange and England. As King of Scotland, he is known as William II and he is informally known by sections of the population in Northern Ireland and Scotland as King Billy. William inherited the principality of Orange from his father, William II and his mother Mary, Princess Royal, was the daughter of King Charles I of England. In 1677, he married his fifteen-year-old first cousin, Mary, a Protestant, William participated in several wars against the powerful Catholic king of France, Louis XIV, in coalition with Protestant and Catholic powers in Europe. Many Protestants heralded him as a champion of their faith, in 1685, his Catholic father-in-law, James, Duke of York, became king of England, Ireland and Scotland. Jamess reign was unpopular with the Protestant majority in Britain, William, supported by a group of influential British political and religious leaders, invaded England in what became known as the Glorious Revolution. On 5 November 1688, he landed at the southern English port of Brixham, James was deposed and William and Mary became joint sovereigns in his place. They reigned together until her death on 28 December 1694, after which William ruled as sole monarch, Williams reputation as a staunch Protestant enabled him to take the British crowns when many were fearful of a revival of Catholicism under James. Williams victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 is still commemorated by the Orange Order and his reign in Britain marked the beginning of the transition from the personal rule of the Stuarts to the more Parliament-centred rule of the House of Hanover. William III was born in The Hague in the Dutch Republic on 4 November 1650, baptised William Henry, he was the only child of stadtholder William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, Princess Royal. Mary was the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland, eight days before William was born, his father died of smallpox, thus William was the Sovereign Prince of Orange from the moment of his birth. Immediately, a conflict ensued between his mother the Princess Royal and William IIs mother, Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, over the name to be given to the infant. Mary wanted to name him Charles after her brother, but her mother-in-law insisted on giving him the name William or Willem to bolster his prospects of becoming stadtholder. William II had appointed his wife as his sons guardian in his will, however, Williams mother showed little personal interest in her son, sometimes being absent for years, and had always deliberately kept herself apart from Dutch society. Williams education was first laid in the hands of several Dutch governesses, some of English descent, including Walburg Howard, from April 1656, the prince received daily instruction in the Reformed religion from the Calvinist preacher Cornelis Trigland, a follower of the Contra-Remonstrant theologian Gisbertus Voetius. The ideal education for William was described in Discours sur la nourriture de S. H. Monseigneur le Prince dOrange, in these lessons, the prince was taught that he was predestined to become an instrument of Divine Providence, fulfilling the historical destiny of the House of Orange. From early 1659, William spent seven years at the University of Leiden for a formal education, under the guidance of ethics professor Hendrik Bornius. While residing in the Prinsenhof at Delft, William had a personal retinue including Hans Willem Bentinck, and a new governor, Frederick Nassau de Zuylenstein
11.
Mary II of England
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Mary II was joint monarch of England, Scotland, and Ireland with her husband and first cousin, William of Orange, from 1689 until her death. William became sole ruler upon her death in 1694, popular histories usually refer to their joint reign as that of William and Mary. Mary wielded less power than William when he was in England, ceding most of her authority to him and she did, however, act alone when William was engaged in military campaigns abroad, proving herself to be a powerful, firm, and effective ruler. Mary, born at St Jamess Palace in London on 30 April 1662, was the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York, and his first wife, Anne Hyde. She was baptised into the Anglican faith in the Chapel Royal at St Jamess and her godparents included her fathers cousin, Prince Rupert of the Rhine. Although her mother bore eight children, all except Mary and her younger sister Anne died very young, consequently, for most of her childhood, Mary was second in line to the throne after her father. The Duke of York converted to Roman Catholicism in 1668 or 1669, Marys education, from private tutors, was largely restricted to music, dance, drawing, French, and religious instruction. Her mother died in 1671, and her father remarried in 1673, taking as his second wife Mary of Modena, from about the age of nine until her marriage, Mary wrote passionate letters to an older girl, Frances Apsley, the daughter of courtier Sir Allen Apsley. In time, Frances became uncomfortable with the correspondence, and replied more formally, at the age of fifteen, Mary became betrothed to her cousin, the Protestant Stadtholder of Holland, William of Orange. William was the son of the Kings late sister, Mary, Princess Royal, and thus fourth in the line of succession after James, Mary, and Anne. The Duke of York agreed to the marriage, after pressure from chief minister Lord Danby and the King, when James told Mary that she was to marry her cousin, she wept all that afternoon and all the following day. William and a tearful Mary were married in St Jamess Palace by Bishop Henry Compton on 4 November 1677, Mary accompanied her husband on a rough sea crossing back to the Netherlands later that month, after a delay of two weeks caused by bad weather. On 14 December, they made an entry to The Hague in a grand procession. Marys animated and personable nature made her popular with the Dutch people and she was devoted to her husband, but he was often away on campaigns, which led to Marys family supposing him to be cold and neglectful. She suffered further bouts of illness that may have been miscarriages in mid-1678, early 1679 and her childlessness would be the greatest source of unhappiness in her life. From May 1684, the Kings illegitimate son, James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, lived in the Netherlands, Monmouth was viewed as a rival to the Duke of York, and as a potential Protestant heir who could supplant James in the line of succession. William, however, did not consider him a viable alternative, upon the death of Charles II without legitimate issue in February 1685, the Duke of York became king as James II in England and Ireland and James VII in Scotland. Mary was playing cards when her husband informed her of her fathers accession, to Williams relief, Monmouth was defeated, captured and executed, but both he and Mary were dismayed by Jamess subsequent actions
12.
George I of Great Britain
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George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698. George was born in Hanover and inherited the titles and lands of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg from his father, a succession of European wars expanded his German domains during his lifetime, and in 1708 he was ratified as prince-elector of Hanover. At the age of 54, after the death of his second cousin Queen Anne of Great Britain, in reaction, Jacobites attempted to depose George and replace him with Annes Catholic half-brother, James Francis Edward Stuart, but their attempts failed. During Georges reign, the powers of the monarchy diminished and Britain began a transition to the system of cabinet government led by a prime minister. Towards the end of his reign, actual power was held by Sir Robert Walpole. George died of a stroke on a trip to his native Hanover, George was born on 28 May 1660 in Hanover in the Holy Roman Empire. He was the eldest son of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Sophia was the granddaughter of King James I of England through her mother, Elizabeth of Bohemia. For the first year of his life, George was the heir to the German territories of his father. In 1661 Georges brother, Frederick Augustus, was born and the two boys were brought up together, after Sophias tour she bore Ernest Augustus another four sons and a daughter. In her letters, Sophia describes George as a responsible, conscientious child who set an example to his brothers and sisters. In 1679 another uncle died unexpectedly without sons and Ernest Augustus became reigning Duke of Calenberg-Göttingen, Georges surviving uncle, George William of Celle, had married his mistress in order to legitimise his only daughter, Sophia Dorothea of Celle, but looked unlikely to have any further children. Under Salic law, where inheritance of territory was restricted to the male line, in 1682, the family agreed to adopt the principle of primogeniture, meaning George would inherit all the territory and not have to share it with his brothers. The same year, George married his first cousin, Sophia Dorothea of Celle, the marriage of state was arranged primarily as it ensured a healthy annual income and assisted the eventual unification of Hanover and Celle. His mother was at first against the marriage because she looked down on Sophia Dorotheas mother and she was eventually won over by the advantages inherent in the marriage. In 1683, George and his brother, Frederick Augustus, served in the Great Turkish War at the Battle of Vienna, and Sophia Dorothea bore George a son, George Augustus. The following year, Frederick Augustus was informed of the adoption of primogeniture and it led to a breach between father and son, and between the brothers, that lasted until Frederick Augustuss death in battle in 1690. With the imminent formation of a single Hanoverian state, and the Hanoverians continuing contributions to the Empires wars, Georges prospects were now better than ever as the sole heir to his fathers electorate and his uncles duchy. Sophia Dorothea had a child, a daughter named after her, in 1687
"Thornhill, Sir James". Encyclopædia Britannica. 26 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 880.
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