1.
Departments of France
–
In the administrative divisions of France, the department is one of the three levels of government below the national level, between the administrative regions and the commune. There are 96 departments in metropolitan France and 5 overseas departments, each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council. From 1800 to April 2015, they were called general councils, the departments were created in 1791 as a rational replacement of Ancien Régime provinces with a view to strengthen national unity, the title department is used to mean a part of a larger whole. Almost all of them were named after geographical features rather than after historical or cultural territories which could have their own loyalties. The earliest known suggestion of it is from 1764 in the writings of dArgenson and they have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies. Most French departments are assigned a number, the Official Geographical Code. Some overseas departments have a three-digit number, the number is used, for example, in the postal code, and was until recently used for all vehicle registration plates. For example, inhabitants of Loiret might refer to their department as the 45 and this reform project has since been abandoned. The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 by Marc-René dArgenson to serve as administrative areas purely for the Ponts et Chaussées infrastructure administration, before the French Revolution, France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of independent entities. By the close of the Ancien Régime, it was organised into provinces, during the period of the Revolution, these were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. Their boundaries served two purposes, Boundaries were chosen to break up Frances historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural differences, Boundaries were set so that every settlement in the country was within a days ride of the capital of the department. This was a security measure, intended to keep the national territory under close control. This measure was directly inspired by the Great Terror, during which the government had lost control of rural areas far from any centre of government. The old nomenclature was carefully avoided in naming the new departments, most were named after an areas principal river or other physical features. Even Paris was in the department of Seine, the number of departments, initially 83, was increased to 130 by 1809 with the territorial gains of the Republic and of the First French Empire. Following Napoleons defeats in 1814-1815, the Congress of Vienna returned France to its pre-war size, in 1860, France acquired the County of Nice and Savoy, which led to the creation of three new departments. Two were added from the new Savoyard territory, while the department of Alpes-Maritimes was created from Nice, the 89 departments were given numbers based on their alphabetical order. The department of Bas-Rhin and parts of Meurthe, Moselle, Vosges and Haut-Rhin were ceded to the German Empire in 1871, following Frances defeat in the Franco-Prussian War
Departments of France
–
Geometrical proposition rejected
Departments of France
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The 101 departments of France
Departments of France
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The three Algerian departments in 1848
2.
Prefectures in France
–
There are 101 prefectures in France, one for each department. The official in charge is the prefect, the prefect represents the national government at the local level and as such exercises the powers that are constitutionally attributed to the national government. The prefect issues ordinances written for the application of law, to close a building that does not conform to safety codes. In the past, the prefect was head of the department, but since 1982, there is an exception in Paris and its three surrounding departments. These departments are administered by a prefecture for law enforcement and security purposes, called the Prefecture of Police. The power of law enforcement is usually invested in the mayor in other French communes, the departments are divided into arrondissements, themselves divided into cantons. The chef-lieu darrondissement is the subprefecture, the official in charge is the subprefect (French, sous-préfet. Cantons have relatively few competences, the most important one being the local organisation of elections, administrative divisions of France French National Police
Prefectures in France
–
Petite Couronne
3.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
4.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
France
–
One of the
Lascaux paintings: a horse –
Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC
France
–
Flag
France
–
The
Maison Carrée was a temple of the
Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day
Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the
Roman Empire.
France
–
With
Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the
Frankish monarchy,
elective and
secular until then, became
hereditary and of
divine right.
5.
Regions of France
–
France is divided into 18 administrative regions, including 13 metropolitan regions and 5 overseas regions. The current legal concept of region was adopted in 1982, the term région was officially created by the Law of Decentralisation, which also gave regions their legal status. The first direct elections for representatives took place on 16 March 1986. In 2016, the number of regions was reduced from 27 to 18 through amalgamation, in 2014, the French parliament passed a law reducing the number of metropolitan regions from 22 to 13 with effect from 1 January 2016. However, the region of Upper and Lower Normandy is simply called Normandy. Permanent names were to be proposed by the new regional councils by 1 July 2016, the legislation defining the new regions also allowed the Centre region to officially change its name to Centre-Val de Loire with effect from January 2015. Two regions, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, opted to retain their interim names, between 1982 and 2015, there were 22 regions in Metropolitan France. Before 2011, there were four regions, in 2011 Mayotte became the fifth. Regions lack separate legislative authority and therefore cannot write their own statutory law and they levy their own taxes and, in return, receive a decreasing part of their budget from the central government, which gives them a portion of the taxes it levies. They also have considerable budgets managed by a council made up of representatives voted into office in regional elections. A regions primary responsibility is to build and furnish high schools, in March 2004, the French central government unveiled a controversial plan to transfer regulation of certain categories of non-teaching school staff to the regional authorities. Critics of this plan contended that tax revenue was insufficient to pay for the costs. In addition, regions have considerable power over infrastructural spending, e. g. education, public transit, universities and research. This has meant that the heads of regions such as Île-de-France or Rhône-Alpes can be high-profile positions. Number of regions controlled by each coalition since 1986, Overseas region is a recent designation, given to the overseas departments that have similar powers to those of the regions of metropolitan France. Radio France Internationale in English Overseas regions Ministère de lOutre-Mer some explanations about the past and current developments of DOMs and TOMs
Regions of France
6.
Nancy, France
–
Nancy is the capital of the north-eastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, and formerly the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, and then the French province of the same name. The metropolitan area of Nancy had a population of 410,509 inhabitants at the 1999 census,103,602 of whom lived in the city of Nancy proper. The motto of the city is Non inultus premor, Latin for Im not touched with impunity—a reference to the thistle, the earliest signs of human settlement in the area date back to 800 BC. Early settlers were attracted by easily mined iron ore and a ford in the Meurthe River. A small fortified town named Nanciacum was built by Gérard, Duke of Lorraine around 1050, Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy, was defeated and killed in the Battle of Nancy in 1477, René II, Duke of Lorraine became the ruler. In 1736 Emperor Charles arranged her marriage to Duke François of Lorraine, exiled Polish king Stanisław Leszczyński, father-in-law of French king Louis XV, was given the vacant duchy instead. Under his nominal rule, Nancy experienced growth and a flowering of Baroque culture and architecture, with his death in 1766, the duchy became a regular French province and Nancy lost its position as a residential capital city with its own princely court and patronage. As unrest surfaced within the French armed forces during the French Revolution, a few reliable units laid siege to the town and shot or imprisoned the mutineers. In 1871, Nancy remained French when Prussia annexed Alsace-Lorraine, the flow of refugees reaching Nancy doubled its population in three decades. Artistic, academic, financial and industrial excellence flourished, establishing what is still the Capital of Lorraines trademark to this day, Nancy was freed from Nazi Germany by the U. S. Third Army in September 1944, during the Lorraine Campaign of World War II at the Battle of Nancy ), in 1988, Pope John Paul II visited Nancy. In 2005, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Nancy is situated on the left bank of the river Meurthe, about 10 km upstream from its confluence with the Moselle. The Marne–Rhine Canal runs through the city, parallel to the Meurthe, Nancy is surrounded by hills that are about 150 m higher than the city center, which is situated at 200 m amsl. The area of Nancy proper is small,15 km2. Its built-up area is continuous with those of its adjacent suburbs, the neighboring communes of Nancy are, Jarville-la-Malgrange, Laxou, Malzéville, Maxéville, Saint-Max, Tomblaine, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy and Villers-lès-Nancy. Adjacent to its south is the quarter Charles III – Centre Ville and this quarter contains the famous Place Stanislas, the Nancy Cathedral, the Opéra national de Lorraine and the main railway station. The old city centers heritage dates from the Middle Ages to the 18th century, the cathedral of Nancy, the Triumphal Arch and the Place de la Carriere are a fine examples of 18th-century architecture. The Palace of the Dukes of Lorraine is the princely residence of the rulers
Nancy, France
–
Place Stanislas – Fountain of Amphitrite
Nancy, France
–
A panoramic view of
Place Stanislas
Nancy, France
–
The emblem of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on Notre-Dame de Bon Secours
Nancy, France
–
Cours-Léopold
7.
Subprefectures in France
–
In France, a subprefecture is the administrative center of a departmental arrondissement that does not contain the prefecture for its department. The term also applies to the building houses the administrative headquarters for an arrondissement. The civil servant in charge of a subprefecture is the subprefect, between May 1982 and February 1988, subprefects were known instead by the title commissaire adjoint de la République. Where the administration of an arrondissement is carried out from a prefecture, the municipal arrondissements of Paris, Lyon, and Marseille) are divisions of the city rather than the prefecture, and so are not arrondissements in the same sense
Subprefectures in France
–
A subprefecture in
Verdun,
Meuse
Subprefectures in France
–
A subprefecture in
Langon,
Gironde
8.
Toul
–
Toul is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department, Toul is located between Commercy and Nancy, and situated between the Moselle River and the Canal de la Marne au Rhin. Toul was known to the Romans as Tullum Leucorum, and was the capital of the Gaulish tribe of the Leuci, in 612, King Theudebert II of Austrasia was defeated by King Theuderic II of Burgundy near Toul. By the Treaty of Meerssen of 870, Toul became part of East Francia, during the High Middle Ages, it became a Free Imperial City. Toul was annexed to France by King Henry II in 1552 and it then was a part of the French province of the Three Bishoprics. Toul was the seat of the bishops of Toul, the diocese was founded around 365, the city was also the primary base of the Air Service, United States Army, a predecessor organization of the United States Air Force during World War I. As such, it was a base for many of the 45 wartime squadrons of the First Army Air Service, including the squadrons of the 1st Pursuit Group, First Army Observation Group, the Americans referred to the area around Toul as the Toul Sector. Two large operations were launched from this area, the St. Mihiel Offensive, the most striking features are the impressive stone ramparts. Those that exist today are the work of Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, in 1698 he designed a new enclosure and work began in 1699-1700. Several of Vaubans fortifications in France are listed as a combined UNESCO World Heritage Site, although the fortifications at Toul are not in that list they do follow the general defiladed fortification pattern for which Vauban is known. There appears to have been a town at this location since the earliest recorded history. Today, the ramparts encircle and define the old town and they are built of dressed white stone, and topped with grass, and in places are over five metres high. There is a deal of Roman archæology in the area. The Roman fortified town of Grand is some 30 km away, with its great amphitheatre, the old towns architecture is dominated by past glories in various states of decay, including a major Gothic cathedral, which is in a poor condition and is being slowly restored. Many of the houses were built as residences in the Late Middle Ages. There is no trace of the monastery, however its wine-cellars still exist, Toul is at the intersection of the Moselle River with the Canal de la Marne au Rhin, and was once, consequently, an important port. The barges known as péniches still navigate these watercourses commercially, typically carrying steel, there is a main-line railway station at Toul, the last major station before the marshalling yards at Nancy. However, the Paris-Strasbourg TGV line, now under construction, will pass about 20 km north of Toul and its completion will likely reduce Touls importance as a station
Toul
–
Toul Cathedral
Toul
–
Facade
9.
List of French departments by population
–
This table lists the 101 French departments in descending order of population, area and population density. The figures include, population without double counting for 1999, municipal population published in decree No, 2010-1723 of 30 December 2010 as amended by Decree No. 2011-343 of 28 March 2011 which corresponds to data compiled as at 1 January 2008, municipal population The total population takes into account double counting. Guadeloupe has seemingly lost population between 1999 and 2008, however, this diminution of the legal population is due to the creation of the overseas communities of Saint Barthelemy and Saint-Martin. In the 1999 census, the population of Guadeloupe without the arrondissement of Saint-Martin-Saint-Barthélemy was 386,566 inhabitants, the departments population has actually increased by more than 15,000 people over the period based on a constant territory
List of French departments by population
–
Population Density by Department
10.
Daylight saving time
–
Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
Daylight saving time
–
Ancient
water clock that lets hour lengths vary with season.
Daylight saving time
–
G. V. Hudson invented modern DST, proposing it first in 1895.
Daylight saving time
–
Retailers generally favor DST.
United Cigar Stores hailed a 1918 DST bill.
Daylight saving time
–
William Willett independently proposed DST in 1907 and advocated it tirelessly.
11.
Central European Summer Time
–
It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
Central European Summer Time
–
light blue
12.
Communes in France
–
The commune is a level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to civil townships incorporated municipalities in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany, the United Kingdom has no exact equivalent, as communes resemble districts in urban areas, but are closer to parishes in rural areas where districts are much larger. Communes are based on historical geographic communities or villages and have received significant powers of governance to manage the populations, the communes are the fourth-level administrative divisions of France. A French commune may be a city of 2.2 million inhabitants like Paris, communes typically are based on pre-existing villages and facilitate local governance. All communes have names, but not all named geographic areas or groups of people residing together are communes, a commune is a town, city, or municipality. Use of commune in English is a habit, and one that might be corrected. There is nothing in commune in French that is different from town in English. The French word commune appeared in the 12th century, from Medieval Latin communia, as of January 2015, there were 36,681 communes in France,36,552 of them in metropolitan France and 129 of them overseas. This is a higher total than that of any other European country. The whole territory of the French Republic is divided into communes and this is unlike some other countries, such as the United States, where unincorporated areas directly governed by a county or a higher authority can be found. There are only a few exceptions, COM of Saint-Martin and it was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe région. The commune structure was abolished when Saint-Martin became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007, COM of Wallis and Futuna, which still is divided according to the three traditional chiefdoms. It was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe region, the commune structure was abolished when Saint-Barthélemy became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007.88 square kilometres. The median area of metropolitan Frances communes at the 1999 census was even smaller, the median area is a better measure of the area of a typical French commune. This median area is smaller than that of most European countries. In Italy, the area of communes is 22 km2, in Belgium it is 40 km2, in Spain it is 35 km2, and in Germany. Switzerland and the Länder of Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia in Germany were the places in Europe where the communes had a smaller median area than in France. The communes of Frances overseas départements such as Réunion and French Guiana are large by French standards and they usually group into the same commune several villages or towns, often with sizeable distances among them
Communes in France
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Road sign marking the end of the village of
Y in the
Somme department of
Picardy
Communes in France
–
Map of the 36,569 communes of metropolitan France
Communes in France
–
Mittelhausbergen in
Alsace
Communes in France
–
Vacqueyras in
Provence, showing double French/
Provençal name
13.
Estuary
–
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a zone between river environments and maritime environments. They are subject both to marine influences—such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water—and to riverine influences—such as flows of fresh water and sediment. The inflows of sea water and fresh water provide high levels of nutrients both in the water column and in sediment, making estuaries among the most productive natural habitats in the world. Most existing estuaries formed during the Holocene epoch with the flooding of river-eroded or glacially scoured valleys when the sea began to rise about 10. Estuaries are typically classified according to their geomorphological features or to water-circulation patterns, the banks of many estuaries are amongst the most heavily populated areas of the world, with about 60% of the worlds population living along estuaries and the coast. The word estuary is derived from the Latin word aestuarium meaning tidal inlet of the sea, there have been many definitions proposed to describe an estuary. However, this definition excludes a number of water bodies such as coastal lagoons. This broad definition also includes fjords, lagoons, river mouths, an estuary is a dynamic ecosystem having a connection to the open sea through which the sea water enters with the rhythm of the tides. The sea water entering the estuary is diluted by the water flowing from rivers. The pattern of dilution varies between different estuaries and depends on the volume of water, the tidal range. Drowned river valleys are known as coastal plain estuaries. In places where the sea level is rising relative to the land, sea water progressively penetrates into river valleys and this is the most common type of estuary in temperate climates. Well-studied estuaries include the Severn Estuary in the United Kingdom and the Ems Dollard along the Dutch-German border, the width-to-depth ratio of these estuaries is typically large, appearing wedge-shaped in the inner part and broadening and deepening seaward. Water depths rarely exceed 30 m, examples of this type of estuary in the U. S. are the Hudson River, Chesapeake Bay, and Delaware Bay along the Mid-Atlantic coast, and Galveston Bay and Tampa Bay along the Gulf Coast. They are relatively common in tropical and subtropical locations and these estuaries are semi-isolated from ocean waters by barrier beaches. Formation of barrier beaches partially encloses the estuary, with only narrow inlets allowing contact with the ocean waters, bar-built estuaries typically develop on gently sloping plains located along tectonically stable edges of continents and marginal sea coasts. They are extensive along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U. S. in areas with active coastal deposition of sediments, barrier beaches form in shallow water and are generally parallel to the shoreline, resulting in long, narrow estuaries
Estuary
–
Estuary of the
Klamath River in
Northern California
Estuary
–
River Exe estuary
Estuary
–
River Nith estuary
Estuary
–
Estuary mouth located in
Darwin,
Northern Territory,
Australia
14.
Mediomatrici
–
The Mediomatrici were an ancient Celtic people of Gaul, who belong to the division of Belgae. Julius Caesar shows their position in a way when he says that the Rhine flows along the territories of the Sequani, Mediomatrici, Triboci or Tribocci. Ptolemy places the Mediomatrici south of the Treviri, divodurum was the capital of the Mediomatrici. Besides Metz, settlements in France include the oppidum of Hérapel, other settlements and oppida in Germany were thought to be Saarbrücken, Speyer, Homburg, and Rodalben, although today the ascription of Speyer, Homburg und Rodalben is hotly disputed. The name Mediomatrici has been explained as the people between the Matrona and the Matra and this agrees with Strabo, who says that the Sequani and Mediomatrici inhabit the Rhine, among whom are settled the Triboci, a Germanic nation which had crossed over from their own country. Elements of the Mediomatrici may have settled near Novara, in northern Italy and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Smith, William, ed. Belgae. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography
Mediomatrici
–
Civitas of the Mediomatrici
Mediomatrici
–
City scape of Divodurum Mediomatricum (ca. 2nd century AD), ancestor of present-day
Metz, capital of the Mediomatrici.
15.
Leuci
–
The Leuci were a Gallic tribe, recorded to have lived in the southern part of what is now Lorraine. They are mentioned by Julius Caesar as a people supplying wheat to the Roman army in 58 BC, along with the Lingones, strabo in his Geographica describes the Leuci and a part of the Lingones dwelling above the Mediomatrici, whose capital was at Metz. Hillforts in the region of the Leuci include some small ones in the Vosges, there is also a possible oppidum in Geneviève. Toul was the Roman capital civitas of the tribe, but Ptolemy listed Naix-aux-Forges also as a civitas of the Leuci, and it was probably larger. Celtic camp at Bure City of the Leuci
Leuci
–
Map with the location of Belgica shortly before Roman conquest
16.
Gallia Belgica
–
Gallia Belgica was a province of the Roman empire located in Belgium, in the northern and eastern parts of Roman Gaul. It began as one of the three provinces of Gaul described by its Roman conqueror Julius Caesar. An official Roman province was created by emperor Augustus in 22 BC. The province is named for the Belgae as the largest tribal confederation in the area, the southern border of Belgica, formed by the Marne and Seine rivers, was reported by Caesar as the original cultural boundary between the Belgae and the Gauls who he distinguished as Celts. The province was re-organized several times, first increased and later decreased in size, the capital of Belgica Prima, Trier, became an important late western Roman capital. In 57 BC, Julius Caesar led the conquest of northern Gaul and this definition became the basis of the later Roman province of Belgica. Indeed, the Belgian tribes closest to the Rhine he distinguished as the Germani cisrhenani, apart from the southern Remi, all the Belgic tribes allied against the Romans, angry at the Roman decision to garrison legions in their territory during the winter. At the beginning of the conflict, Caesar reported the combined strength at 288,000, led by the Suessione king. Due to the Belgic coalitions size and reputation for uncommon bravery, instead, he used cavalry to skirmish with smaller contingents of tribesmen. Only when Caesar managed to isolate one of the tribes did he risk conventional battle, the tribes fell in a piecemeal fashion and Caesar claimed to offer lenient terms to the defeated, including Roman protection from the threat of surrounding tribes. Most tribes agreed to the conditions, a series of uprisings followed the 57 BC conquest. The largest revolt was led by the Bellovaci in 52 BC, during this rebellion, it was the Belgae who avoided direct conflict. They harassed the Roman legions, led personally by Caesar, with cavalry detachments, the rebellion was put down after a Bellovaci ambush of the Romans failed. Following a census of the region in 27 BC, Augustus ordered a restructuring of the provinces in Gaul, the capital of this territory was Reims, according to the geographer Strabo, though later the capital moved to modern day Trier. The date of this move is uncertain, successive Roman emperors struck a balance between Romanizing the people of Gallia Belgica and allowing pre-existing culture to survive. The Romans allowed local governments to survive, typically in the form of cantons, Roman government was run by Concilia in Reims or Trier. Additionally, local notables from Gallia Belgica were required to participate in a festival in Lugdunum which typically celebrated or worshiped the emperor’s genius, the gradual adoption of Romanized names by local elites and the Romanization of laws under local authority demonstrate the effectiveness of this concilium Galliarum. With that said, the concept and community of Gallia Belgica did not predate the Roman province, during the 1st century AD, the provinces of Gaul were restructured
Gallia Belgica
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Map of Roman Gaul with Belgica in orange. (Droysens Allgemeiner historischer Handatlas, 1886)
Gallia Belgica
Gallia Belgica
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'Belgica Foederata' was the Latin name the
Dutch Republic
17.
Lotharingia
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It was named after King Lothair II who received this territory after the kingdom of Middle Francia of his father Lothair I was divided among his sons in 855. Neither Lotharingia nor Middle Francia had any natural coherence, but each was conceived after territorial division of a larger realm. Conflict between East and West Francia over Lotharingia was based on the fact that these were the old Frankish homelands of Austrasia, the latter term, formed with the Germanic suffix -ing, indicating ancestral or familial relationships, gave rise to the Latin term Lotharingia in the tenth century. Later French terms like Lorraine and Lothier are derived from this Latin term, in 817 emperor Louis the Pious made plans for division of the Carolingian Empire among his three sons after his death. Unforeseen in 817 was a further heir besides Louiss three grown sons, a fourth son, Charles the Bald was born to Louiss second wife Judith of Bavaria in 823. When Louis tried in 833 to re-divide the empire for the benefit of Charles, he met with opposition of his sons, Lothair, Pepin. A decade of war and fluctuating alliances followed, punctuated by brief periods of peace. Pepin died in 838, and Louis the Pious in 840, the remaining three brothers made peace and divided Empire with the 843 Treaty of Verdun. Lothair, as the eldest, kept the title and received a long strip of territories stretching from the North Sea to southern Italy. Middle Francia thus included all the land between Aachen and Rome and it has sometimes called by historians the Lotharingian axis. In 855, when Lothair I was dying in Prüm Abbey, to the eldest son, Louis II went Italy, with the imperial title. To the youngest, Charles, still a minor, went Provence, to the middle son, Lothair II, went the remaining territories to the north of Provence, a kingdom which lacked ethnic or linguistic unity. Lothair II ruled from Aachen and did not venture outside his kingdom, when he died in 869 Lothair II left no legitimate children, but one illegitimate son - Hugh, Duke of Alsace. Thus Lotharingia, as a kingdom, ceased to exist for some years. In 876 Charles the Bald invaded eastern Lotharingia with the intent to capture it, in 879 Louiss son, king Louis the Younger was invited by a faction of the West Frankish nobility to succeed king Louis the Stammerer, Charless son, on the throne of West Francia. After a brief war, Louis the Stammerers young sons, Carloman II and Louis III, the border between the two kingdoms was established at Saint-Quentin in 880 by the Treaty of Ribemont. In November 887 Arnulf of Carinthia called a council of East Frankish nobility to depose emperor Charles the Fat, who by 884 had succeeded to thrones of all the kingdoms of the Empire. The Lotharingian aristocracy, in attempt to assert its right to elect a sovereign, joined the other East Frankish nobles in deposing Charles the Fat in 887 and elected Arnulf as their king
Lotharingia
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Threefold division of the Frankish empire by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, showing West Francia (pink), Middle Francia (green), and East Francia (yellow).
Lotharingia
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Lotharingia's division in 959 Blue: Alsace, ceded to Swabia in 925 Orange: Upper Lorraine after 928 Green: Lower Lorraine after 977
Lotharingia
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Territorial divisions from the Treaty of Verdun (843) to the Treaty of Meerssen (870).
18.
Duchy of Lorraine
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The Duchy of Lorraine, originally Upper Lorraine, was a duchy now included in the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France. It was founded in 959 following the division of Lotharingia into two duchies, Upper and Lower Lorraine, the westernmost parts of the Holy Roman Empire. The Lower duchy was quickly dismantled, while Upper Lorraine came to be known as simply the Duchy of Lorraine, the Duchy of Lorraine was coveted and briefly occupied by the Dukes of Burgundy and the Kings of France. When Stanisław died on 23 February 1766, Lorraine was annexed by France, lorraines predecessor, Lotharingia, was an independent Carolingian kingdom under the rule of King Lothair II. Its territory had originally been a part of Middle Francia, created in 843 by the Treaty of Verdun, Middle Francia was allotted to Emperor Lothair I, therefore called Lotharii Regnum. On his death in 855, it was divided into three parts, of which his son Lothair II took the northern one. His realm then comprised a territory stretching from the County of Burgundy in the south to the North Sea. In French, this became known as Lorraine, while in German. In the Alemannic language once spoken in Lorraine, the -ingen suffix signified a property, thus, in a figurative sense, stuck in the conflict with his rival Hugh the Great, in 942 King Louis IV of France renounced all claims to Lotharingia. In 953, the German king Otto I had appointed his brother Bruno the Great Duke of Lotharingia, in 959, Bruno divided the duchy into Upper and Lower Lorraine, this division became permanent following his death in 965. The Upper Duchy was further up the system, that is, it was inland. Upper Lorraine was first denominated as the Duchy of the Moselle, the usage of Lotharingia Superioris and Lorraine in official documents begins later, around the fifteenth century. The first duke and deputy of Bruno was Frederick I of Bar, Lower Lorraine disintegrated into several smaller territories and only the title of a Duke of Lothier remained, held by Brabant. After the duchy of the Moselle came into the possession of René of Anjou, the name Duchy of Lorraine was adopted again, only retrospectively called Upper Lorraine. At that time, several territories had already split off, such as the County of Luxembourg, the Electorate of Trier, the County of Bar, the border between the Empire and the Kingdom of France remained relatively stable throughout the Middle Ages. In 1301, Count Henry III of Bar had to receive the part of his lands as a fief by King Philip IV of France. In 1475, the Burgundian duke Charles the Bold campaigned for the Duchy of Lorraine, in the 1552 Treaty of Chambord, a number of insurgent Protestant Imperial princes around Elector Maurice of Saxony ceded the Three Bishoprics to King Henry II of France in turn for his support. In the 17th century, the French kings began to covet Lorraine, while the central Imperial authority decayed in the course of the Thirty Years War, Chief Minister Cardinal Richelieu urged the occupation of the duchy in 1641
Duchy of Lorraine
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1618-1648
Duchy of Lorraine
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Flag
19.
Duchy of Bar
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The County of Bar, from 1354 the Duchy of Bar, was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire encompassing the pays de Barrois and centred on the city of Bar-le-Duc. Part of the county, the so-called Barrois mouvant, became a fief of the Kingdom of France in 1301, the Barrois non-mouvant remained a part of the Empire. From 1480, it was united to the imperial Duchy of Lorraine, both imperial Bar and Lorraine were ceded to France in 1738. With the death of the last duke, Stanislaus Leszczynski, in 1766, the county of Bar originated in the frontier fortress of Bar that Duke Frederick I of Upper Lorraine built on the bank of the river Ornain around 960. The fortress was originally directed at the counts of Champagne, who had made incursions into Fredericks allodial lands, Frederick also confiscated some lands from the nearby Abbey of Saint-Mihiel and settled his knights on it. The original Barrois was thus a mixture of the dukes allodial lands, on the death of Duke Frederick III in 1033, these lands passed to his sister, Sophia, who was the first person to associate the comital title with Bar, styling herself Countess of Bar. Sophias descendants, of the House of Montbéliard, expanded Bar by usurpation, conquest, purchase and its population was francophone and culturally French, and the counts were involved in French politics. Count Reginald II married Agnes, a sister of the queen of France and his son, Henry I, died on the Third Crusade in 1190. From 1214 to 1291 Bar was ruled by Henry II and Theobald II, in the Treaty of Bruges of 1301 Henry was forced to recognise all of his county west of the river Meuse as a fief of France. This was the origin of the Barrois mouvant, a territory that was turned into a fief was said to have moved and entered the mouvance of its suzerain and it was subject to the Parliament of Paris. The Treaty of Bruges did not represent any expansion of French territory, the territory to the west of the Meuse was French since the Treaty of Verdun of 843, but in 1301 it became a direct fief of the crown, including its allodial parts. In 1354 the Count of Bar took the title and was thereafter recognised as a Peer of France. Père Anselme believed that Count Robert had been created a duke by King John II of France in preparation for the marriage to Johns daughter. The rulers of Bar were not created dukes by imperial appointment, the only title Count Robert received by imperial grant in 1354 was that of Margrave of Pont-à-Mousson. This margraviate was bestowed by the Dukes of Bar on their heirs apparent. In that same year the emperor raised the County of Luxembourg into a duchy, Bar passed to his great-nephew, René I, who was married to Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine. In 1431 the couple inherited Lorraine, on Renés death in 1480, Bar passed to his daughter Yolanda and her son, René II, who was already Duke of Lorraine. In 1482 he conquered the prévôté of Virton, a part of the Duchy of Luxembourg, in 1484 Peter II, Duke of Bourbon, regent for King Charles VIII of France, formally installed him in the Duchy of Bar
Duchy of Bar
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The former ducal palace at Bar-le-Duc is today a museum, the Musée Barrois.
Duchy of Bar
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France in 1477, showing the duchy of Bar in "Valois-Anjou" colours
20.
Three Bishoprics
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The Three Bishoprics constituted a province of pre-revolutionary France consisting of the dioceses of Metz, Verdun, and Toul within the Lorraine region. The three dioceses were Prince-bishoprics of the Holy Roman Empire until they were seized by King Henry II of France between April and June 1552, at the end of the Thirty Years War, they were officially ceded to France by the 1648 Peace of Westphalia. In the course of the rebellion against the Habsburg emperor Charles V and they agreed to establish contacts with the Catholic French king Henry II, disregarding his oppression of the Protestant Huguenots. In autumn Henry declared war against Charles V and prepared to march against the Empire up to the Rhine River, on 15 January 1552, he signed the Treaty of Chambord with Maurice of Saxony and his Protestant allies, whereby the French conquests were legitimised ahead of time. The princes acknowledged the lordship as Vicar of the Empire over the Imperial cities of Metz, Toul and Verdun, as well as Cambrai. On Palm Sunday 1552 French troops under the command of Anne de Montmorency in a surprise attack moved into the walls of Metz, Henry then turned against the Lorraine capital Nancy, where he had the minor duke Charles III abducted to the French court in Paris. On 18 April the king celebrated his entry into Metz and, after an attack on the Imperial City of Strasbourg. At that time, the French had occupied the three Imperial cities as well as the territory of the surrounding Prince-bishoprics, the expedition ultimately failed, when the Imperial troops were defeated by the French forces under Duke Francis of Guise in the 1554 Battle of Renty. When the emperor, worn out and exhausted, abdicated in 1556, King Henry II left a permanent garrison in each of the cities and gradually subjected its citizens to his royal authority. Initiated by Cardinal Richelieu, the Trois-Évêchés received a certain autonomy with a provincial parlement installed in 1633 in Metz, civil commotions decreased as the cities prospered under French rule, though the implementation of the gabelle of salt sparked some unrest in Metz. When King Louis XIV acceded to the throne in 1643, he confirmed the privileges of the Metz, Toul and Verdun citizens as his good and faithful subjects. The Diocese of Saint-Dié, created in 1777 and sometimes called the Fourth Bishopric of Lorraine, is not related historically to the Three Bisphoprics, Trois-Évêchés on the French Wikipedia 450th anniversary celebrations on the French Ministry of Cultures website Biography of Henry II
Three Bishoprics
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Metz Cathedral
Three Bishoprics
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The Three Bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun (outlined in pink), surrounded by the Duchies of Bar and Lorraine
Three Bishoprics
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Toul Cathedral
Three Bishoprics
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Verdun Cathedral
21.
Cross of Lorraine
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The Cross of Lorraine was originally a heraldic cross. The two-barred cross consists of a vertical line crossed by two horizontal bars. In most renditions, the bars are graded with the upper bar being the shorter. The Lorraine name has come to signify several cross variations, including the cross with its bars near the top. The Cross of Lorraine consists of one vertical and two horizontal bars, the Cross of Lorraine came from the Kingdom of Hungary to the Duchy of Lorraine. In Hungary, Béla III was the first monarch to use the cross as the symbol of royal power in the late 12th century. He probably adopted it from the Byzantine Empire, according to historian Pál Engel, René II, Duke of Lorraine inherited the two-barred cross as a symbol from his ancestors from the House of Anjou. His grandfather, René the Good, who used it as his sigil, laid claim to four kingdoms. The cross was known as the cross of Anjou in the 16th century. René II placed the symbol on his flag before the Battle of Nancy in January 1477, in the battle, René defeated the army of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, who had occupied the Duchy of Lorraine, and regained his duchy. All coins struck for René bore the symbol thereafter, the Cross of Lorraine is an emblem of Lorraine in eastern France. Between 1871 and 1918, the quarter of Lorraine was annexed to Germany. During that period the Cross served as a point for French ambitions to recover its lost provinces. This historical significance lent it considerable weight as a symbol of French patriotism, during World War II, Capitaine de corvette Thierry dArgenlieu suggested the Cross of Lorraine as the symbol of the Free French Forces led by Charles de Gaulle as an answer to the Nazi swastika. In France, the Cross of Lorraine was the symbol of Free France during World War II, the liberation of France from Nazi Germany, the Cross was displayed on the flags of Free French warships, and the fuselages of Free French aircraft. The medal of the Order of Liberation bears the Cross of Lorraine, de Gaulle himself is memorialised by a 43-metre high Cross of Lorraine in his home village of Colombey-les-Deux-Églises. The Cross of Lorraine was later adopted by Gaullist political groups such as the Rally for the Republic, French Jesuit missionaries and settlers to the New World carried the Cross of Lorraine c. The symbol was said to have helped the missionaries to convert the peoples they encountered
Cross of Lorraine
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The French frigate
Aconit, named after the corvette
Aconit of the
Free French Navy, flies the Cross of Lorraine on her foremast.
Cross of Lorraine
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Patriarchal cross, in modern times known as the Cross of Lorraine
Cross of Lorraine
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The
tampion of the
Rubis features the Cross of Lorraine in honour of the Free French submarine
Rubis.
Cross of Lorraine
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Order of the Cross of Vytis, a
Lithuanian presidential award
22.
Lorrain language
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Lorrain is a dialect spoken by a minority of people in Lorraine in France, small parts of Alsace and in Gaume in Belgium. It is classified as a language of France and has the recognised status of a regional language of Wallonia. It has been influenced by Lorraine Franconian and Luxembourgish, Germanic languages spoken in nearby or overlapping areas. Ban de la Roche http, //www. travelphrases. info/languages/lorrain. htm Essai sur le patois lorrain des environs du comté du Ban de la Roche, Jeremias Jacob Oberlin,1775
Lorrain language
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Lorrain, at the east among other
oïl languages
23.
Lorraine Franconian
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The term Lorraine Franconian has multiple denotations. Some scholars use it to refer to the group of West Central German dialects spoken in the French Lorraine region. In 1806 there were 218,662 speakers of Lorraine Franconian in Moselle and 41,795 speakers in Meurthe. In part from the ambiguity of the term, estimates of the number of speakers of Lorraine Franconian in France vary widely, ranging from 30,000 to 400,000. The most reliable data comes from the Enquête famille carried out by INSEE as part of the 1999 census, approximately 78,000 people were reported to speak Lorraine Franconian, but fewer than 50,000 passed basic knowledge of the language on to their children. Another statistic illustrating the point is that of all adult men who used Franconian regularly when they were 5. Langues régionales et relations transfrontalières dans l’espace Saar-Lor-Lux, la dynamique des langues en France au fil du XXe siècle. Bilingualism in North-East France with specific reference to Rhenish Franconian spoken by Moselle Cross-border workers, in Preisler, Bent, et al. eds. The Consequences of Mobility, Linguistic and Sociocultural Contact Zones, Roskilde, Denmark, Roskilde Universitetscenter, Institut for Sprog og Kultur. — Historical, literary, and linguistic information Gau un Griis — Association for the defense and promotion of Lorraine Franconian Plattweb
Lorraine Franconian
Lorraine Franconian
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Lorraine Franconian
Lorraine Franconian
Lorraine Franconian
24.
Low Alemannic German
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Low Alemannic is a branch of Alemannic German, which is part of Upper German. Its varieties are only partly intelligible to non-Alemannic speakers, the feature that distinguishes Low Alemannic from Swabian is the retention of the Middle High German monophthongs, for instance Huus house vs. Swabian Hous or Ziit time vs. Swabian Zejt. Sometimes diminutives require umlaut, other times not, weak Declension Strong Declension Comparative Standard ending -er Superlative Standard ending -schd Irregular Personal Pronouns 1. Infinitive Infinitive ends in -e Some monosyllabic verbs do not have this ending 2, conjugation 3.1 Present Tense 3.1.1 Regular Verb Alemannic encyclopedia -German-
Low Alemannic German
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Low Alemannic
25.
Roman Catholicism
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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church or the Universal Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.28 billion members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history, headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, the churchs doctrines are summarised in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Its central administration is located in Vatican City, enclaved within Rome, the Catholic Church is notable within Western Christianity for its sacred tradition and seven sacraments. It teaches that it is the one church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christs apostles. The Catholic Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it declares as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as such as mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders. Among the sacraments, the one is the Eucharist, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body, the Catholic Church practises closed communion, with only baptised members in a state of grace ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Queen of Heaven and is honoured in numerous Marian devotions. The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture, Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world, from the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines on sexuality, its refusal to ordain women and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in the letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name Catholic Church was used to distinguish it from other groups that call themselves the church. The use of the adjective Roman to describe the Church as governed especially by the Bishop of Rome became more widespread after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages. Catholic Church is the name used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, in parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both, additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services
Roman Catholicism
–
Saint Peter's Basilica,
Vatican City
Roman Catholicism
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St. Peter's Basilica,
Vatican City
Roman Catholicism
–
Pope Francis, elected in the
papal conclave, 2013
Roman Catholicism
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Traditional graphic representation of the Trinity: The earliest attested version of the diagram, from a manuscript of
Peter of Poitiers ' writings, c. 1210
26.
Roman Catholic Diocese of Metz
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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Metz is a Diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in France. In the Middle Ages it was in effect an independent state, part of the Holy Roman Empire and it was annexed to France by King Henry II in 1552, this was recognized by the Holy Roman Empire in the Peace of Westphalia of 1648. It then was part of the province of the Three Bishoprics, since 1801 the Metz diocese is a public-law corporation of cult. Metz was definitely a bishopric by 535, but may date from earlier than that, metzs Basilica of Saint-Pierre-aux-Nonnains is built on the site of a Roman basilica which is a likely location for the one of the earliest Christian congregations of France. Originally the diocese was under the metropolitan of Trier, after the French Revolution, the last prince bishop, Cardinal Louis de Montmorency-Laval fled and the old organization of the diocese was broken up. With the Concordat of 1801 the diocese was re-established covering the departments of Moselle, Ardennes, and Forêts, in 1817 the parts of the diocese which became Prussian territory were transferred to the Diocese of Trier. As of 1910 there were about 533,000 Catholics living in the diocese of Metz, after World War I it was returned to France, but the concordatary status has been preserved since as part of the Local law in Alsace-Moselle. In 1940, after the French defeat, it came under German occupation till 1944 when it became French again, together with the Archdiocese of Strasbourg the bishop of the see is nominated by the French government according to the concordat of 1801. The concordat further provides for the clergy being paid by the government, according to the traditional list of bishops, the current bishop Pierre René Ferdinand Raffin is the 105th bishop of Metz. According to this list, the first bishop was Saint Clement, the first fully authenticated bishop however is Sperus or Hesperus, who was bishop in 535. Many of the bishops were declared holy or blessed, like Saint Arnulf, adelbero was bishop of Metz in 933 AD. The bishop of Metz is appointed by the President of the Republic
Roman Catholic Diocese of Metz
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Metz Cathedral
27.
Holy See
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The Holy See, also referred to as the See of Rome, is the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, the episcopal see of the Pope, and an independent sovereign entity. It serves as the point of reference for the Catholic Church everywhere. Today, it is responsible for the governance of all Catholics, organised in their Particular Churches, Patriarchates, as an independent sovereign entity, holding the Vatican City enclave in Rome as sovereign territory, it maintains diplomatic relations with other states. Diplomatically, the Holy See acts and speaks for the whole church and it is also recognised by other subjects of international law as a sovereign entity, headed by the Pope, with which diplomatic relations can be maintained. The creation of the Vatican City state was meant to ensure the diplomatic, in Greek, the adjective holy or sacred is constantly applied to all such sees as a matter of course. The word see comes from the Latin word sedes, meaning seat, while Saint Peters basilica in Vatican City is perhaps the church most associated with the Papacy, the actual cathedral of the Holy See is the church of Saint John Lateran within the city of Rome. The Pope governs the Catholic Church through the Roman Curia, the Secretariat of State, under the Cardinal Secretary of State, directs and coordinates the Curia. The incumbent, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, is the Sees equivalent of a prime minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State, acts as the Holy Sees minister of foreign affairs. Parolin was named in his role by Pope Francis On 31 August 2013, mamberti was named in his role by Pope Benedict XVI in September 2006. The Secretariat of State is the body of the Curia that is situated within Vatican City. The others are in buildings in different parts of Rome that have rights similar to those of embassies. The Roman Rota handles normal judicial appeals, the most numerous being those that concern alleged nullity of marriage and it also oversees the work of other ecclesiastical tribunals at all levels. The most important of these is the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, the Prefecture of the Papal Household is responsible for the organization of the papal household, audiences, and ceremonies. The Holy See does not dissolve upon a Popes death or resignation and it instead operates under a different set of laws sede vacante. The government of the See, and therefore of the Catholic Church, canon law prohibits the College and the Camerlengo from introducing any innovations or novelties in the government of the Church during this period. In 2001, the Holy See had a revenue of 422.098 billion Italian lire, the Guardian newspaper described Mennini and his role in the following manner. Paolo Mennini, who is in effect the popes merchant banker, Mennini heads a special unit inside the Vatican called the extraordinary division of APSA – Amministrazione del Patrimonio della Sede Apostolica – which handles the patrimony of the Holy See. The Holy See has been recognized, both in practice and in the writing of modern legal scholars, as a subject of public international law, with rights
Holy See
–
The
papal throne (
cathedra), in the apse of
Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, symbolises the Holy See.
