Matilda of Tuscany was a powerful feudal Margravine of Tuscany, ruler in northern Italy and the chief Italian supporter of Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy. In 1076 she came into possession of a substantial territory that included present-day Lombardy, the Romagna and Tuscany, made the castle of Canossa, in the Apennines south of Reggio, the centre of her domains. Between 6 and 11 May 1111 she was crowned Imperial Vicar and Vice-Queen of Italy by Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor at the Castle of Bianello. Sometimes called la Gran Contessa or Matilda of Canossa after her ancestral castle of Canossa, Matilda was one of the most important figures of the Italian Middle Ages, she lived in a period of constant battles and excommunications, was able to demonstrate an extraordinary force enduring great pain and humiliation, showing an innate leadership ability. In a miniature in the early twelfth-century Vita Mathildis by the monk Donizo, Matilda is referred to as'Resplendent Matilda'.

Since the Latin word lucens is similar to lucensis, this may be a reference to Matilda's origins. She was descended from the nobleman Sigifred of Lucca, was the youngest of the three children of Margrave Boniface III of Tuscany, ruler of a substantial territory in Northern Italy and one of the most powerful vassals of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III. Matilda's mother, Beatrice of Lorraine, was the Emperor's first cousin and connected to the imperial household. Renowned for her learning, Matilda was literate in Latin, as well as reputed to speak German and French; the extent of Matilda's education in military matters is debated. It has been asserted that she was taught strategy, tactics and wielding weapons, but recent scholarship challenges these claims. Following the death of their father in 1052, Matilda's brother, inherited the family lands and titles under the regency of their mother. Matilda's sister, died the next year, making Matilda heir presumptive to Frederick's personal holdings. In 1054, determined to safeguard the interests of her children as well as her own, her mother married Godfrey the Bearded, a distant kinsman, stripped of the Duchy of Upper Lorraine after rebelling against Emperor Henry III.

Henry was enraged by Beatrice of Lorraine's unauthorised union with his most vigorous adversary and took the opportunity to have her arrested, along with Matilda, when he marched south to attend a synod in Florence on Pentecost in 1055. Frederick's rather suspicious death soon thereafter made Matilda the last member of the House of Canossa. Mother and daughter were taken to Germany, but Godfrey avoided capture. Unable to defeat him, Henry sought a rapproachment; the Emperor's death in October 1056, which brought to throne the underage Henry IV, seems to have accelerated the negotiations. Godfrey was reconciled with the crown and recognized as Margrave of Tuscany in December, while Beatrice and Matilda were released. By the time she and her mother returned to Italy, in the company of Pope Victor II, Matilda was formally acknowledged as heir to the greatest territorial lordship in the southern part of the Empire. Matilda's mother and stepfather became involved in the series of disputed papal elections during their regency, supporting the Gregorian Reforms.

Godfrey's brother Frederick became Pope Stephen IX, while both of the following two popes, Nicholas II and Alexander II, had been Tuscan bishops. Matilda made her first journey to Rome with her family in the entourage of Nicholas in 1059. Godfrey and Beatrice assisted them in dealing with antipopes, while the adolescent Matilda's role remains unclear. A contemporary account of her stepfather's 1067 expedition against Prince Richard I of Capua on behalf of the papacy mentions Matilda's participation in the campaign, describing it as the "first service that the most excellent daughter of Boniface offered to the blessed prince of the apostles." In 1069, as Godfrey the Bearded lay dying in Verdun and Matilda hastened to reach Lorraine, anxious to ensure a smooth transition of power. Matilda was present at her stepfather's deathbed, on that occasion she is for the first time mentioned as the wife of her stepbrother, Godfrey the Hunchback, to whom she had been betrothed since childhood; the marriage proved a failure.

By the end of 1071, Matilda had returned to Tuscany. Matilda's bold decision to repudiate her husband ensured her independence. Beatrice started preparing Matilda for rule by holding court jointly with her and encouraging her to issue charters on her own as countess and duchess. Godfrey fiercely protested the separation and demanded that Matilda come back to him, which she refused; the Duke descended into Italy in 1072, determined to enforce the marriage. He sought the help of both Matilda's mother and her ally, the newly elected Pope Gregory VII, promising military aid to the latter. Matilda's resolution was unshakable, Godfrey returned to Lorraine alone, losing all hope by 1074. Rather than supporting the Pope as promised, Godfrey turned his attention to imperial affairs. Meanwhile, the conflict known as the Inves

Edward Fuller was a passenger on the historic 1620 voyage of the ship Mayflower. He was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact and perished with his wife soon after the passengers came ashore to their new settlement at Plymouth. Fuller was baptised at Redenhall, in Norfolk, England, on 4 September 1575, he and his brother Samuel Fuller a Mayflower passenger, were the sons of Robert Fuller, a butcher, of Robert's first wife Sarah Dunkhorn. There is little additional existing documentation on the life of Edward Fuller in England, his father, who died by early 1614, left a will, dated 19 May 1613, in which Edward is named as receiving some monies as well as his father's tenement, an inheritance which would take place after his step-mother Frances' death. The names of Edward Fuller and his brother Samuel Fuller appear in a Leiden, Holland record, but there is no other information about his life in Holland. Edward Fuller boarded the Mayflower with a child, he had two known children, born about 1605, Samuel, born about 1608.

William Bradford, writing in 1651, recorded Mayflower passengers: "Edward Fuller, his wife, Samuell, their sonne."The Mayflower departed from Plymouth, England on 6/16 September 1620. The small, 100-foot ship had 102 passengers and a crew of about 30–40 in cramped conditions. By the second month out, the ship was being buffeted by strong westerly gales, causing the ship's timbers to be badly shaken. Caulking failed to keep out sea water, and passengers in their berths, lay wet and ill. This, combined with a lack of proper rations and unsanitary conditions for several months, contributed to death for many the majority of women and children. During the voyage there were two deaths, a crew member and a passenger, but the worst was yet to come when, after arriving at their destination, in the space of several months half the passengers perished in the cold, unfamiliar New England winter. On 9/19 November 1620, after about 3 months at sea, including a month of delays in England, they spotted land, the Cape Cod Hook, now called Provincetown Harbor.

After several days of trying to get south to their planned destination of the Colony of Virginia, strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbour at Cape Cod hook, where they anchored on 11/21 November. Edward Fuller was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact on 11/21 November 1620, along with his brother Samuel Fuller. Plymouth Colony governor William Bradford's 1651 recollection of this family reads: "Edward Fuller and his wife dyed soon after they came ashore. After the deaths of Edward Fuller and his wife, their son Samuel and daughter Alice about age twelve and one month was taken into the household of his uncle, Dr. Samuel Fuller. Edward Fuller and his wife died, according to Bradford, sometime after the Plymouth settlement was established between 11 January 1621 and March but the exact date was not recorded, they were buried in the Coles Hill Burial Ground in Plymouth in unmarked graves, as were so many who died that winter. They are memorialised on the Pilgrim Memorial Tomb on Coles Hill, as "Edward Fuller and his wife".

Edward Fuller was married in England sometime before 1605. His wife's first and maiden names are unknown, their two sons were born in England: Matthew Fuller was born c.1605 and died in 1678 in Barnstable. He had five children, he came to Plymouth Colony twenty years after his parents and brother Samuel, arriving before 26 October 1640. He lived first in Plymouth, moving to Barnstable after 1648, he was a doctor, a militia lieutenant, a colony leader. In 1671 Capt. Matthew Fuller was added to the Council of War. Samuel Fuller was born c.1608. At his parent's demise, he came under the care of his uncle, Samuel Fuller in early 1621. In the 1623 Division of Land, he was listed as "Samuell fuller Junior" and in the 1627 Division of Cattle he was listed as "Samuell fuller Junior" with his uncle Samuel Fuller, he became a freeman in 1634 and married Jane Lathropp—daughter of the prominent Rev. John Lothropp—on 5/8 April 1635 in Scituate, they had nine children. He moved to Barnstable by August 1641 and died there on 31 October 1683

Reversible Errors, published in 2002 is Scott Turow's sixth novel, like the others, set in fictional Kindle County. The novel won the 2003 Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Fiction; the title is a legal term. The novel revolves around three 1991 murders, it begins with attorney Arthur Raven being assigned to handle the final appeal of said death row inmate. Though the lawyer does not want the case, he discovers some problems with the conviction. Unlikely allies are found, including the police officer who made the arrest and the judge who presided over the initial trial, it becomes a race against the clock to determine the truth. The novel's 42 chapters are arranged in titled Investigation and Proceedings. Many of the minor characters appear in Turow's other novels, which are all set in fictional Midwestern Kindle County. In 2004, a television miniseries based on the novel and bearing the same title was released starring William H. Macy, Tom Selleck and Felicity Huffman