Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was a French diplomat and nobleman, the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily, and King of Spain. After the fall of Napoleon, Joseph styled himself Comte de Survilliers, Joseph was born in 1768 to Carlo Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino at Corte, the capital of the Corsican Republic. In the year of his birth, Corsica was invaded by France and his father was originally a follower of the Corsican Patriot leader, Pasquale Paoli, but became a supporter of French rule. As a lawyer and diplomat, Joseph served in the Cinq-Cents and was the French ambassador to Rome, in 1795 Joseph was a member of the Council of Ancients, where he used his position to help his brother overthrow the Directory four years later. The Château de Villandry had been seized by the French Revolutionary government, in 1806, Joseph was given military command of Naples, and shortly afterward was made king by Napoleon, to be replaced two years by his sisters husband, Joachim Murat.
Joseph was made King of Spain in August 1808, soon after the French invasion, Joseph somewhat reluctantly left Naples, where he was popular, and arrived in Spain where he was extremely unpopular. His arrival sparked the legitimate Spanish revolt against French rule, Joseph temporarily retreated with much of the French Army to northern Spain. Joseph and his supporters never established complete control over the country, King Josephs Spanish supporters were called josefinos or afrancesados. During his reign, he ended the Spanish Inquisition, partly because Napoleon was at odds with Pope Pius VII at the time, during Josephs rule of Spain and Venezuela declared independence from Spain. King Joseph abdicated and returned to France after the main French forces were defeated by a British-led coalition at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. He was seen by Bonapartists as the rightful Emperor of the French after the death of Napoleons own son Napoleon II in 1832, Josephs home was located near the confluence of Crosswicks Creek and the Delaware River.
He considerably expanded Sayres home and created extensive gardens in the picturesque style, when his first home was destroyed by fire in January 1820 he converted his stables into a second grand house. At Point Breeze, Joseph entertained many of the leading intellectuals, reputedly some Mexican revolutionaries offered to crown him Emperor of Mexico in 1820, but he declined. Joseph Bonaparte returned to Europe, where he died in Florence, Italy and he married Marie Julie Clary daughter of François Clary on 1 August 1794 in Cuges-les-Pins, France. They had three daughters, Julie Joséphine Bonaparte, zénaïde Laetitia Julie Bonaparte, married, in 1822 to Charles Lucien Bonaparte. Charlotte Napoléone Bonaparte, married, in 1826 to Napoleon Louis Bonaparte and he claimed the two surviving daughters as his heirs. He sired two children with Maria Giulia, the Countess of Atri, Giulio Teresa, Joseph had two American daughters born at Point Breeze, his estate in Bordentown, New Jersey, by his mistress, Annette Savage, Pauline Anne, died young.
He was asked by his brother Napoleon to monitor freemasonry as Grand Master of the Grand Orient of France, with Cambacérès he managed the post-revolution rebirth of the Order in France
Battle of Vitoria
In July 1812, after the Battle of Salamanca, the French had evacuated Madrid, which Wellingtons army entered on 12 August 1812. Wellington spent the winter reorganising and strengthening his forces, by contrast, Napoleon withdrew many soldiers to rebuild his main army after his disastrous invasion of Russia. The French retreated to Burgos, with Wellingtons forces marching hard to cut them off from the road to France. Wellington himself commanded the central force in a strategic feint. Wellington launched his attack with 57,000 British,16,000 Portuguese and 8,000 Spanish at Vitoria on 21 June, after hard fighting, Thomas Pictons 3rd Division broke the enemys centre and soon the French defence crumbled. About 5,000 French soldiers were killed or wounded and 3,000 were taken prisoner,151 cannons were captured, but Joseph Bonaparte, erstwhile King of Spain, narrowly escaped. The battle led to the collapse of Napoleonic rule in Spain, the battlefield centres on the Zadorra River, which runs from east to west.
As the Zadorra runs west, it loops into a hairpin bend, on the south of the battlefield are the Heights of La Puebla. To the northwest is the mass of Monte Arrato, Vitoria stands to the east, two miles south of the Zadorra. Five roads radiate from Vitoria, north to Bilbao, northeast to Salinas and Bayonne, east to Salvatierra, south to Logroño, Jourdan was ill with a fever all day on 20 June. Because of this, few orders were issued and the French forces stood idle, an enormous wagon train of booty clogged the streets of Vitoria. A convoy left during the night, but it had to leave siege artillery behind because there were not enough draft animals to pull the cannons, Gazans divisions guarded the narrow western end of the Zadorra valley, deployed south of the river. Maransins brigade was posted in advance, at the village of Subijana, the divisions were disposed with Leval on the right, Daricau in the centre, Conroux on the left and Villate in reserve. Only a picket guarded the western extremity of the Heights of La Puebla, further back, dErlons force stood in a second line, south of the river.
DArmagnacs division deployed on the right and Cassagnes on the left, dErlon failed to destroy three bridges near the rivers hairpin bend and posted Avys weak cavalry division to guard them. Wellington directed Hills 20, 000-man Right Column to drive the French from the Zadorra defile on the side of the river. While the French were preoccupied with Hill, Wellingtons Right Centre column moved along the bank of the river. Grahams 20, 000-man Left Column was sent around the side of Monte Arrato
Napoleon III
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the only President of the French Second Republic and, as Napoleon III, the Emperor of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I and he was the first President of France to be elected by a direct popular vote. He remains the longest-serving French head of state since the French Revolution, during the first years of the Empire, Napoleons government imposed censorship and harsh repressive measures against his opponents. Some six thousand were imprisoned or sent to penal colonies until 1859, thousands more went into voluntary exile abroad, including Victor Hugo. From 1862 onwards, he relaxed government censorship, and his came to be known as the Liberal Empire. Many of his opponents returned to France and became members of the National Assembly, Napoleon III is best known today for his grand reconstruction of Paris, carried out by his prefect of the Seine, Baron Haussmann. He launched similar public works projects in Marseille, Napoleon III modernized the French banking system, greatly expanded and consolidated the French railway system, and made the French merchant marine the second largest in the world.
He promoted the building of the Suez Canal and established modern agriculture, Napoleon III negotiated the 1860 Cobden–Chevalier free trade agreement with Britain and similar agreements with Frances other European trading partners. Social reforms included giving French workers the right to strike and the right to organize, womens education greatly expanded, as did the list of required subjects in public schools. In foreign policy, Napoleon III aimed to reassert French influence in Europe and he was a supporter of popular sovereignty and of nationalism. In Europe, he allied with Britain and defeated Russia in the Crimean War and his regime assisted Italian unification and, in doing so, annexed Savoy and the County of Nice to France, at the same time, his forces defended the Papal States against annexation by Italy. Napoleon doubled the area of the French overseas empire in Asia, the Pacific, on the other hand, his armys intervention in Mexico which aimed to create a Second Mexican Empire under French protection ended in failure.
Beginning in 1866, Napoleon had to face the power of Prussia. In July 1870, Napoleon entered the Franco-Prussian War without allies, the French army was rapidly defeated and Napoleon III was captured at the Battle of Sedan. The French Third Republic was proclaimed in Paris, and Napoleon went into exile in England, charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, known as Louis Napoleon and Napoleon III, was born in Paris on the night of 20–21 April 1808. His presumed father was Louis Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. His mother was Hortense de Beauharnais, the daughter by the first marriage of Napoleons wife Joséphine de Beauharnais, as empress, Joséphine proposed the marriage as a way to produce an heir for the Emperor, who agreed, as Joséphine was by infertile. Louis married Hortense when he was twenty-four and she was nineteen and they had a difficult relationship, and only lived together for brief periods
Monarchy of Spain
The Monarchy of Spain, constitutionally referred to as the Crown, is a constitutional institution and historic office of Spain. It used to be called the Hispanic Monarchy. The monarchy comprises the monarch, his or her family. The Spanish monarchy is represented by King Felipe VI, his wife Queen Letizia, and their daughters Leonor, Princess of Asturias, the Spanish Constitution of 1978 reestablished a constitutional monarchy as the form of government for Spain. The 1978 constitution affirmed the role of the King of Spain as the personification and embodiment of the Spanish State, the king is the head-of-state and commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed Forces. According to the constitution, the monarch is instrumental in promoting relations with the nations of its historical community, the King of Spain serves as the president of the Ibero-American States Organization, purportedly representing over 700,000,000 people in twenty-four member nations worldwide. In 2008, Juan Carlos I was considered the most popular leader in all Ibero-America, a dynastic marriage between Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon united Spain in the 15th century.
The last pretender of the Crown of the Byzantine Empire, Andreas Palaiologos, sold his title to Ferdinand II of Aragon. However, there is no evidence that any Spanish monarch has used the Byzantine imperial titles, the Spanish Empire became one of the first global powers as Isabella and Ferdinand funded Christopher Columbuss exploratory voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. This led to the discovery of America, which became the focus of Spanish colonization, in 2010, the budget for the Spanish monarchy was 7.4 million euros, one of the lowest public expenditures for the institution of monarchy in Europe. One of the earliest influential dynasties was the House of Jiménez which united much of Christian Iberia under its leadership in the 11th century. From Sancho III of Navarre until Urraca of León and Castile, the Jiménez rulers sought to bring their kingdoms into the European mainstream and often engaged in cross-Pyrenees alliances and marriages, and became patrons to Cluniac Reforms. Urracas son and heir Alfonso VII of León and Castile, the first of the Spanish branch of the Burgundy Family, was the last to claim the title of Spain.
The Castilian Civil War ended with the death of King Peter at the hands of his illegitimate half-brother Henry, Henry II became the first of the House of Trastámara to rule over a Spanish kingdom. King Peters heiress, his granddaughter Catherine of Lancaster, married Henry III, reuniting the dynasties in the person of their son, each kingdom retained its basic structure. In 1492 the Catholic Monarchs conquered the Kingdom of Granada in southern Spain and this date marks the unification of Spain. The territories of the Spanish empire overseas were dependencies of the crown of Castile, in the early 16th century, the Spanish monarchy controlled several territories in Europe under the Habsburg King Charles I, son of Queen Joanna of Castile. His reign ushered in the Spanish Golden Age a period of colonial expansion
Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a AAA Four Diamond luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, United States, situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip, between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of the most prestigious hotels in the world. Caesars Palace was established in 1966 by Jay Sarno, who sought to create an opulent facility that gave guests a sense of life during the Roman Empire. It contains many statues and iconography typical of Hollywood Roman period productions, Caesars Palace is now owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. As of July 2016, the hotel has 3,976 rooms and suites in six towers, the hotel has a large range of restaurants, including several serving authentic Chinese cuisine to cater to wealthy East Asian gamblers. From the outset, Caesars Palace has been oriented towards attracting high rollers, the hotel is closely associated with the entertainment industry and has served as a venue for boxing since the late 1970s, and hosted the Caesars Palace Grand Prix from 1981 to 1982.
Notable entertainers who have performed at Caesars Palace include Frank Sinatra, the main performance venue is The Colosseum, a 4, 296-seat stadium with a 22, 450-square-foot stage, which was originally built at a cost of $95 million for Celine Dions show, A New Day. After departing in 2007, Dion returned to the Colosseum with her new show entitled Celine in March 2011, in 1962, cabana motel owners Jay Sarno and Stanley Mallin applied for a $10.6 million loan from the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund. He began plans to build a hotel on land owned by Kirk Kerkorian, Sarno would act as designer of the hotel he planned to construct. He wanted to emulate life under the Roman Empire, to come up with a palace in which everybody staying at the hotel would feel like a Caesar. Caesars Palace was instrumental in beginning a new era of lavish casinos from the late 1960s onward, Architectural writer Alan Hess stated, Caesars Palace needed only a sumptuous array of Classical statuary and a host of marble-white columns to establish its theme.
The visitors imagination, in league with well-placed publicity, filled in the opulence, jefferson Graham wrote that the result was the gaudiest, most elaborate, and most talked about resort Vegas had ever seen. Emblem was a chesty female dipping grapes into the mouth of a recumbent Roman, fitted out in toga, laurel wreath. Cocktail waitresses in Greco-Roman wigs would greet guests and say Welcome to Caesars Palace, among the performers at the opening were Andy Williams and Phil Richards. According to author Ovid Demaris, Caesars Palace was a casino from the day it opened its doors. By the time it opened, the significant publicity of the new hotel had generated $42 million in advanced bookings. On December 31,1967, stunt performer Evel Knievel arrived at the hotel to watch a boxing match and convinced Sarno that he could jump over the distance of 140 feet over the fountains. ABC came in to film the jump, in which Knievel hit the top of the safety ramp after the jump, fracturing his pelvis, several bones and suffering a concussion, he lay in a hospital unconscious for 29 days in a coma before recovering
Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain, called the Prudent, was King of Spain, King of Portugal, King of Naples and Sicily, and jure uxoris King of England and Ireland. He was Duke of Milan, from 1555, he was lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands. Known in Spain as Felipe el Prudente, his empire included territories on every continent known to Europeans, during his reign, Spain reached the height of its influence and power. This is sometimes called the Golden Age, the expression, the empire on which the sun never sets, was coined during Philips time to reflect the extent of his dominion. During Philips reign there were separate state bankruptcies in 1557,1560,1569,1575 and this was partly the cause of the declaration of independence that created the Dutch Republic in 1581. The Ambassador went on to say He dresses very tastefully, the culture and courtly life of Spain were an important influence in his early life. He was tutored by Juan Martínez Siliceo, the future Archbishop of Toledo, Philip displayed reasonable aptitude in arms and letters alike.
Later he would study with more illustrious tutors, including the humanist Juan Cristóbal Calvete de Estrella, though Philip had good command over Latin and Portuguese, he never managed to equal his father, Charles V, as a polyglot. While Philip was a German archduke of the House of Habsburg, Philip felt himself to be culturally Spanish, he had been born in Spain and raised in the Castilian court, his native tongue was Spanish, and he preferred to live in Spain. This would ultimately impede his succession to the imperial throne, in April 1528, when Philip was eleven months old, he received the oath of allegiance as heir to the crown from the Cortes of Castile. Philip was close to his two sisters, María and Juana, and to his two pages, the Portuguese nobleman Rui Gomes da Silva and Luis de Requesens, the son of his governor Juan de Zúñiga. These men would serve Philip throughout their lives, as would Antonio Pérez, Philips martial training was undertaken by his governor, Juan de Zúñiga, a Castilian nobleman who served as the commendador mayor of Castile.
The practical lessons in warfare were overseen by the Duke of Alba during the Italian Wars, Philip was present at the Siege of Perpignan in 1542 but did not see action as the Spanish army under Alba decisively defeated the besieging French forces under the Dauphin of France. On his way back to Castile, Philip received the oath of allegiance of the Aragonese Cortes at Monzón. The king-emperors interactions with his son during his stay in Spain convinced him of Philips precocity in statesmanship, who had previously been made the Duke of Milan in 1540, began governing the most extensive empire in the world at the young age of sixteen. Charles left Philip with experienced advisors—notably the secretary Francisco de los Cobos, Philip was left with extensive written instructions that emphasised piety, patience and distrust. These principles of Charles were gradually assimilated by his son, who would grow up to become grave, self-possessed, Philip spoke softly and had an icy self-mastery, in the words of one of his ministers, he had a smile that cut like a sword.
After living in the Netherlands in the years of his reign
Philip III of Spain
Philip III of Spain was King of Spain and Portugal. A member of the House of Habsburg, Philip III was born in Madrid to King Philip II of Spain and his wife and niece Anna. Philip III married his cousin Margaret of Austria, sister of Ferdinand II, V. Wedgwood, R. Stradling and J. H. Elliott. In particular, Philips reliance on his chief minister, the Duke of Lerma, drew much criticism at the time. For many, the decline of Spain can be dated to the difficulties that set in during the early years of his reign. After Philip IIIs older brother Don Carlos died insane, Philip II had concluded that one of the causes of Carlos condition had been the influence of the factions at the Spanish court. Philip II appointed Juan de Zúñiga, Prince Diegos governor, to continue this role for Philip and they were joined by Cristóbal de Moura, a close supporter of Philip II. In combination, Philip believed, they would provide a consistent, stable upbringing for Prince Philip, Philip does not appear to have been naive – his correspondence to his daughters shows a distinctive, cautious streak in his advice on dealing with court intrigue.
Philip first met the Marquis of Denia – the future Duke of Lerma – then and Philip became close friends, but Lerma was considered unsuitable by the King and Philips tutors. Lerma was dispatched to Valencia as a Viceroy in 1595, with the aim of removing Philip from his influence, the prince received a new, conservative Dominican confessor. The following year, Philip II died after an illness, leaving the empire to his son. Philip married his cousin, Margaret of Austria, in 1599, the sister of the future Emperor Ferdinand II, would be one of three women at Philips court who would apply considerable influence over the king. Margaret continued to fight a battle with Lerma for influence up until her death in 1611. Philip had an affectionate, close relationship with Margaret, and paid her additional attention after she bore him a son in 1605 and they were successful, for example, in convincing Philip to provide financial support to Ferdinand from 1600 onwards. Philip steadily acquired other religious advisors, similarly Mariana de San Jose, a favoured nun of Queen Margarets, was criticised for her influence over the Kings actions.
The Spanish crown at the time ruled through a system of royal councils and these councils were supplemented by small committees, or juntas, as necessary, such as the junta of the night through which Philip II exercised personal authority towards the end of his reign. As a matter of policy, Philip had tried to avoid appointing grandees to major positions of power within his government and relied heavily on the lesser nobles, the so-called service nobility. To his contemporaries, the degree of personal oversight he exercised was excessive, Philip first started to become engaged in practical government at the age of 15, when he joined Philip IIs private committee
Museo del Prado
The Prado Museum is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. Founded as a museum of paintings and sculpture in 1819, it contains important collections of other types of works. El Prado is one of the most visited sites in the world, and it is considered one of the greatest art museums in the world. The collection currently comprises around 8,200 drawings,7,600 paintings,4,800 prints, and 1,000 sculptures, in addition to a large number of other works of art and historic documents. As of 2012, the museum displayed about 1,300 works in the buildings, while around 3,100 works were on temporary loan to various museums. The museum received 2.8 million visitors in 2012 and it is one of the largest museums in Spain. The best-known work on display at the museum is Las Meninas by Velázquez, Velázquez and his keen eye and sensibility were responsible for bringing much of the museums fine collection of Italian masters to Spain, now the largest outside of Italy. The museum is planning a 16% extension in the nearby Salón de Reinos and their efforts and determination led to the Royal Collection being enriched by some of the masterpieces now to be seen in the Prado.
In addition to works from the Spanish royal collection, other holdings increased and enriched the Museum with further masterpieces, such as the two Majas by Goya. Among the now closed museums whose collections have been added to that of the Prado were the Museo del la Trinidad in 1872, in addition, numerous legacies and purchases have been of crucial importance for the growth of the collection. Upon the deposition of Isabella II in 1868, the museum was nationalized and acquired the new name of Museo del Prado, the building housed the royal collection of arts, and it rapidly proved too small. The first enlargement to the museum took place in 1918, particularly important donations include Barón Emile dErlangers gift of Goyas Black Paintings in 1881. Between 1873 and 1900, the Prado helped decorate city halls, new universities, during the Second Spanish Republic from 1931 to 1936, the focus was on building up provincial museums. The art had to be returned across French territory in night trains to the museum upon the commencement of World War II, during the early years of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, many paintings were sent to embassies.
The main building was enlarged with short pavilions in the rear between 1900 and 1960, in 1993, an extension proposed by the Prados director at the time, Felipe Garin, was quickly abandoned after a wave of criticism. In the late 1990s, a $14 million roof work forced the Velázquez masterpiece Las Meninas to change galleries twice, in 1998, the Prado annex in the nearby Casón del Buen Retiro closed for a $10 million two-year overhaul that included three new underground levels. In 2007, the finally executed Rafael Moneos project to expand its exposition room to 16,000 square meters. A glass-roofed and wedge-shaped foyer now contains the shops and cafeteria
Mary I of England
Mary I was the Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death. Her executions of Protestants led to the posthumous sobriquet Bloody Mary and she was the only child of Henry VIII by his first wife Catherine of Aragon to survive to adulthood. Her younger half-brother Edward VI succeeded their father in 1547, when Edward became mortally ill in 1553, he attempted to remove Mary from the line of succession because of religious differences. On his death their first cousin once removed, Lady Jane Grey, was proclaimed queen, Mary assembled a force in East Anglia and deposed Jane, who was ultimately beheaded. Mary was—excluding the disputed reigns of Jane and the Empress Matilda—the first queen regnant of England, in 1554, Mary married Philip of Spain, becoming queen consort of Habsburg Spain on his accession in 1556. Mary is remembered for her restoration of Roman Catholicism after her half-brothers short-lived Protestant reign, during her five-year reign, she had over 280 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian persecutions.
After her death in 1558, her re-establishment of Roman Catholicism was reversed by her younger half-sister and successor Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry, Mary was born on 18 February 1516 at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, London. She was the child of King Henry VIII by his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Her mother had many miscarriages, before Marys birth, four previous pregnancies had resulted in a stillborn daughter and she was baptised into the Catholic faith at the Church of the Observant Friars in Greenwich three days after her birth. Her godparents included her great-aunt the Countess of Devon, Lord Chancellor Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIIIs cousin once removed, Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, stood sponsor for Marys confirmation, which was held immediately after the baptism. The following year, Mary became a godmother herself when she was named as one of the sponsors of her cousin Frances Brandon, in 1520, the Countess of Salisbury was appointed Marys governess. Sir John Hussey, Lord Hussey, was her chamberlain from 1530, in July 1520, when scarcely four and a half years old, she entertained a visiting French delegation with a performance on the virginals.
By the age of nine, Mary could read and write Latin and she studied French, music and perhaps Greek. Henry VIII doted on his daughter and boasted to the Venetian ambassador Sebastian Giustiniani, also, as the miniature portrait of her shows, Mary had, like both her parents, a very fair complexion, pale blue eyes and red or reddish-golden hair. She was ruddy cheeked, a trait she inherited from her father, despite his affection for Mary, Henry was deeply disappointed that his marriage had produced no sons. By the time Mary was nine years old, it was apparent that Henry and Catherine would have no more children, in 1525, Henry sent Mary to the border of Wales to preside, presumably in name only, over the Council of Wales and the Marches. She was given her own based at Ludlow Castle and many of the royal prerogatives normally reserved for the Prince of Wales. Vives and others called her the Princess of Wales, although she was never technically invested with the title and she appears to have spent three years in the Welsh Marches, making regular visits to her fathers court, before returning permanently to the home counties around London in mid-1528
Autumn
Autumn, known as fall in North American English, is one of the four temperate seasons. One of its features is the shedding of leaves from deciduous trees. Some cultures regard the autumnal equinox as mid-autumn, while others with a longer temperature lag treat it as the start of autumn. Meteorologists use a definition based on months, with autumn being September and November in the northern hemisphere, in North America, autumn is usually considered to start with the September equinox and end with the winter solstice. As daytime and nighttime temperatures decrease, trees shed their leaves, in traditional East Asian solar term, autumn starts on or around 8 August and ends on or about 7 November. In Ireland, the autumn months according to the meteorological service. In Australia and New Zealand, autumn officially begins on 1 March, the word autumn comes from the ancient Etruscan root autu- and has within it connotations of the passing of the year. It was borrowed by the neighbouring Romans, and became the Latin word autumnus, after the Roman era, the word continued to be used as the Old French word autompne or autumpne in Middle English, and was normalized to the original Latin.
In the Medieval period, there are examples of its use as early as the 12th century. Before the 16th century, harvest was the usually used to refer to the season. The alternative word fall for the season traces its origins to old Germanic languages, the exact derivation is unclear, with the Old English fiæll or feallan and the Old Norse fall all being possible candidates. However, these all have the meaning to fall from a height and are clearly derived either from a common root or from each other. The term came to denote the season in 16th century England, during the 17th century, English emigration to the British colonies in North America was at its peak, and the new settlers took the English language with them. While the term gradually became obsolete in Britain, it became the more common term in North America. The name backend, a common name for the season in Northern England, has today been largely replaced by the name autumn. Association with the transition from warm to cold weather, and its status as the season of the primary harvest, has dominated its themes.
In Western cultures, personifications of autumn are usually pretty, well-fed females adorned with fruits, many cultures feature autumnal harvest festivals, often the most important on their calendars. There are the many North American Indian festivals tied to harvest of ripe foods gathered in the wild, the Chinese Mid-Autumn or Moon festival, and many others
Christie's
Christies is a historic British auction house. It was founded in 1766 by James Christie and its main premises are in King Street, St. Jamess, in London, and on Rockefeller Plaza in New York City in the United States. The company is owned by Groupe Artémis, the company of François-Henri Pinault. Sales in 2015 totalled £4.8 billion, other sources note that James Christie rented auction rooms from 1762, and newspaper advertisements of Christies sales dating from 1759 have been traced. Christies soon established a reputation as an auction house. From 1859, the company was called Christie, Manson & Woods, in 1958, it established its first overseas office, by placing a representative in Rome. The first overseas salesroom opened in Geneva, where Christies holds jewellery auctions, Christies was a public company, listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1973 to 1999. In 1974, Jo Floyd was appointed chairman of Christies and he served as chairman of Christies International plc. from 1976 to 1988, until handing over to Lord Carrington, and was a non-executive member of the board of directors until 1992.
The auction houses subsidiary Christies International Inc. held its first sale in the United States in 1977,13 years than Sothebys, Christies growth was slow but steady since 1989, when it had 42 percent of the auction market. In 1990, the company reversed a policy and guaranteed a minimum price for a collection of artworks in its May auctions. In 1996, the auction houses sales eclipsed Sothebys for the first time since 1954. In 1993, Christies paid $10.9 million for the London gallery Spink & Sons, which specialised in Oriental art and British paintings, the company bought Leger Gallery for $3.3 million in 1996, and merged it with Spink to become Spink-Leger. The company has not been reporting profits, though it gives sale totals twice a year. Its policy, in line with U. K. accounting standards, is to convert non-U. K, results using an average exchange rate weighted daily by sales throughout the year. In 2002, Christies France held its first auction in Paris, like Sothebys, Christies became increasingly involved in high-profile private transactions.
Under the original deal, the gallery was meant to be the channel for all of Christies private-client business as well as the focus of its primary trade. Also, the house originally announced that Haunch employees could not bid at auction because of conflicts of interest or issues of market manipulation. Today, the continues to operate as an independent company in London and New York
Philip IV of Spain
Philip IV of Spain was King of Spain and Portugal as Philip III. He ascended the thrones in 1621 and reigned in Spain until his death, Philip is remembered for his patronage of the arts, including such artists as Diego Velázquez, and his rule over Spain during the challenging period of the Thirty Years War. Philip IV was born in Valladolid, and was the eldest son of Philip III and his wife, Philip had seven children by Elisabeth, with only one being a son, Balthasar Charles, who died at the age of sixteen in 1646. The death of his son deeply shocked the king, who appears to have been a father by the standards of the day. Philip remarried in 1646, following the deaths of both Elisabeth and his legitimate heir. Perceptions of Philips personality have altered considerably over time, victorian authors were inclined to portray him as a weak individual, delegating excessively to his ministers, and ruling over a debauched Baroque court. Victorian historians even attributed the death of Baltasar to debauchery.
The doctors who treated the Prince at that time in fact diagnosed smallpox, Philip was idealised by his contemporaries as the model of Baroque kingship. Philip was a horseman, a keen hunter and a devotee of bull-fighting. Privately, Philip appears to have had a lighter persona, when he was younger, he was said to have a keen sense of humour and a great sense of fun. He privately attended academies in Madrid throughout his reign — these were lighthearted literary salons, aiming to analyse contemporary literature, a keen theatre-goer, he was sometimes criticised by contemporaries for his love of these frivolous entertainments. Others have captured his private personality as naturally kind and affable and those close to him claimed he was academically competent, with a good grasp of Latin and geography, and could speak French and Italian well. Like many of his contemporaries, including Olivares, he had a keen interest in astrology and his handwritten translation of Francesco Guicciardinis texts on political history still exists.
Although Philips Catholic beliefs no longer attract criticism from English language writers, from the 1640s onwards he sought the advice of a noted cloistered abbess, Sor María de Ágreda, exchanging many letters with her. By the end of the reign, and with the health of Carlos José in doubt, there was a possibility of Juan Josés making a claim on the throne. Philip IV came to power as the influence of the Sandovals was being undermined by a new noble coalition, over the course of at least a year, the relationship became very close, with Philips tendency towards underconfidence and diffidence counteracted by Olivares drive and determination. Philip retained Olivares as his confidant and chief minister for the twenty years. Philip himself argued that it was appropriate for the king himself to go house to house amongst his ministers to see if his instructions were being carried out
