1.
Order of St Michael and St George
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It is named in honour of two military saints, St Michael and St George. People are appointed to the Order rather than awarded it, British Ambassadors to foreign nations are regularly appointed as KCMGs or CMGs. It is the award for members of the FCO. The Orders motto is Auspicium melioris ævi and its patron saints, as the name suggests, are St. Michael the Archangel, and St. George, patron saint of England. One of its symbols is that of St Michael trampling over. The third of the aforementioned Orders—which relates to Ireland, no longer fully a part of the United Kingdom—still exists but is in disuse, the last of the Orders on the list, related to India, has also been in disuse since that countrys independence in 1947. In 1864, however, the protectorate ended and the Ionian Islands became a part of Greece, accordingly, numerous Governors-General and Governors feature as recipients of awards in the order. In 1965, the order was open for women, with Evelyn Bark becoming the first CMG, the British Sovereign is the Sovereign of the Order and appoints all other members of the Order. The next-most senior member is the Grand Master, the office was formerly filled by the Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, now, however, Grand Masters are chosen by the Sovereign. Members of the Royal Family who are appointed to the Order do not count towards the limit, the Orders King of Arms is not a member of the College of Arms, like many other heraldic officers. The Usher of the Order is known as the Gentleman Usher of the Blue Rod, he not, unlike his Order of the Garter equivalent. On the left side is a representation of the star, the mantle is bound with two large tassels. The collar, worn only by Knights and Dames Grand Cross, is made of gold and it consists of depictions of crowned lions, Maltese Crosses, and the cyphers SM and SG, all alternately. In the centre are two winged lions, each holding a book and seven arrows, at less important occasions, simpler insignia are used, The star is an insignia used only by Knights and Dames Grand Cross and Knights and Dames Commanders. It is worn pinned to the left breast, the Knight and Dame Grand Cross star includes seven-armed, silver-rayed Maltese Asterisk, with a gold ray in between each pair of arms. The Knight and Dame Commanders star is a slightly smaller eight-pointed silver figure formed by two Maltese Crosses, it does not include any gold rays, in each case, the star bears a red cross of St George. In the centre of the star is a blue ring bearing the motto of the Order. Within the ring is a representation of St Michael trampling on Satan, the badge is the only insignia used by all members of the Order, it is suspended on a blue-crimson-blue ribbon
2.
British Academy
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The British Academy is the United Kingdoms national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It receives a grant from the Department for Business, Innovation. In 2014/15 the British Academys total income was £33,100,000, including £27,000,000 from BIS. £32,900,000 was distributed during the year in grants, awards. The British Academy was established in 1902 and received its Royal Charter in the same year and it is now a fellowship of more than 900 leading scholars spanning all disciplines across the humanities and social sciences. The Academy is a self-governing and independent registered charity, based at 10–11 Carlton House Terrace in London, as a learned society, it seeks to foster and promote the full range of work that makes up the humanities and social sciences, including inter- and multi-disciplinary work. Until 1927–28 the Academy had no premises, then it moved to some rooms in No.6 Burlington Gardens. In 1968 it moved the short distance to Burlington House and it subsequently moved to headquarters near Regents Park. Then in 1998 the Academy moved to its present headquarters in Carlton House Terrace, overlooking St Jamess Park, the Terrace was designed by John Nash and built in the 1820s and 1830s. Number 10 was formerly the London residence of the Ridley family, in March 2010, the Academy embarked on a £2. 75m project to renovate and restore the public rooms in No. 11, following the departure of former tenant the Foreign Press Association, the work was completed in January 2011 and the new spaces include a new 150-seat Wolfson Auditorium are available for public hire. The history, problems and achievements of the Academy have been recorded in works by two of its Secretaries, Sir Frederic Kenyon’s volume of 37 pages covers the years up to 1951, Sir Mortimer Wheeler’s volume covers the years 1949 to 1968. Election as a Fellow of the British Academy recognises high scholarly distinction in the humanities or social sciences, fellows may use the letters FBA after their names. The British Academy channels substantial public funding support for individuals and organisations pursuing humanities and social sciences research and scholarship in the UK. In 2014/15, the Academy received around £30m to support research and researchers across the humanities, funds available to the Academy were invested in the following main areas, research career development, a portfolio of research grant opportunities, and international engagement. The demand and quality of applications submitted for Academy funding remains high and this year the Academy received around 3,600 applications and made 588 awards to scholars based in around 100 different universities across the UK – a success rate of 16%. The Academy also funds and coordinates a network of overseas institutes which provide local expertise, logistical support, as the UKs national voice for the humanities and social sciences, the British Academy seeks to promote and protect the interests and health of these disciplines and their research base. The Centre was established in October 2009 initially funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and it oversees a programme of activity engaging the expertise within the humanities and social sciences to shed light on policy issues. It produces substantive reports making recommendations on policy and practice
3.
Bolton
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Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester in North West England. A former mill town, Bolton has been a centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th century, introducing a wool. The urbanisation and development of the town coincided with the introduction of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution. The British cotton industry declined sharply after the First World War, close to the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is 10 miles northwest of Manchester. It is surrounded by smaller towns and villages that together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton. The town of Bolton has a population of 139,403, historically part of Lancashire, Bolton originated as a small settlement in the moorland known as Bolton le Moors. In the English Civil War, the town was a Parliamentarian outpost in a staunchly Royalist region, in what became known as the Bolton Massacre,1,600 residents were killed and 700 were taken prisoner. Football club Bolton Wanderers play home games at the Macron Stadium, Cultural interests include the Octagon Theatre and the Bolton Museum and Art Gallery, as well as one of the earliest public libraries established after the Public Libraries Act 1850. Bolton is a common Northern English name derived from the Old English bothl-tun, the first recorded use of the name, in the form Boelton, dates from 1185 to describe Bolton le Moors, though this may not be in relation to a dwelling. It was recorded as Bothelton in 1212, Botelton in 1257, Boulton in 1288, later forms of Botheltun were Bodeltown, Botheltun-le-Moors, Bowelton, Boltune, Bolton-super-Moras, Bolton-in-ye-Moors, Bolton-le-Moors. The towns motto of Supera Moras means overcome difficulties, and is a pun on the Bolton-super-Moras version of the meaning literally. A Bronze Age mound was excavated in Victorian times outside Haulgh Hall, the Romans built roads from Manchester to Ribchester to the east and a road along what is now the A6 to the west. It is claimed that Agricola built a fort at Blackrod by clearing land above the forest, evidence of a Saxon settlement exists in the form of religious objects found when the Victorian parish church was built. In 1067 Great Bolton was the property of Roger de Poitou and after 1100 and it became the property of the Pilkingtons who forfeited it in the Civil War and after that the Stanleys who became Earls of Derby. Great Bolton and Little Bolton were part of the Marsey fee, in 1212 Little Bolton was held by Roger de Bolton as plough-land, a charter to hold a market in Churchgate was granted on 14 December 1251 by King Henry III of England. Bolton became a town and borough by a charter from the Earl of Derby, William de Ferrers, on 14 January 1253. Burgage plots were laid out on Churchgate and Deansgate in the centre of the town close to where Ye Olde Man & Scythe public house. In 1337 Flemish weavers settled and introduced the manufacture of woollen cloth, more Flemish weavers, fleeing the Huguenot persecutions, settled here in the 17th century
4.
Lancashire
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Lancashire is a non-metropolitan ceremonial county in north west England. The county town is Lancaster although the administrative centre is Preston. The county has a population of 1,449,300, people from Lancashire are known as Lancastrians. The history of Lancashire begins with its founding in the 12th century, in the Domesday Book of 1086, some of its lands were treated as part of Yorkshire. The land that lay between the Ribble and Mersey, Inter Ripam et Mersam, was included in the returns for Cheshire, when its boundaries were established, it bordered Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire. Lancashire emerged as a commercial and industrial region during the Industrial Revolution. Liverpool and Manchester grew into its largest cities, dominating global trade, the county contained several mill towns and the collieries of the Lancashire Coalfield. By the 1830s, approximately 85% of all cotton manufactured worldwide was processed in Lancashire, Accrington, Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Bury, Chorley, Colne, Darwen, Manchester, Nelson, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale and Wigan were major cotton mill towns during this time. Blackpool was a centre for tourism for the inhabitants of Lancashires mill towns, the detached northern part of Lancashire in the Lake District, including the Furness Peninsula and Cartmel, was merged with Cumberland and Westmorland to form Cumbria. Lancashire lost 709 square miles of land to other counties, about two fifths of its area, although it did gain some land from the West Riding of Yorkshire. Today the county borders Cumbria to the north, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south and North and West Yorkshire to the east, with a coastline on the Irish Sea to the west. The county palatine boundaries remain the same with the Duke of Lancaster exercising sovereignty rights, including the appointment of lords lieutenant in Greater Manchester, the county was established in 1182, later than many other counties. During Roman times the area was part of the Brigantes tribal area in the zone of Roman Britain. The towns of Manchester, Lancaster, Ribchester, Burrow, Elslack, in the centuries after the Roman withdrawal in 410AD the northern parts of the county probably formed part of the Brythonic kingdom of Rheged, a successor entity to the Brigantes tribe. During the mid-8th century, the area was incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria, in the Domesday Book, land between the Ribble and Mersey were known as Inter Ripam et Mersam and included in the returns for Cheshire. Although some historians consider this to mean south Lancashire was then part of Cheshire and it is also claimed that the territory to the north formed part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It bordered on Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire, the county was divided into hundreds, Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland, Lonsdale, Salford and West Derby. Lonsdale was further partitioned into Lonsdale North, the part north of the sands of Morecambe Bay including Furness and Cartmel
5.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
6.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
7.
Magdalen College, Oxford
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Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. As of 2014, the college had a financial endowment of £180.8 million. Magdalen stands next to the River Cherwell and has within its grounds a deer park and Addisons Walk. The large, square Magdalen Tower is an Oxford landmark, and it is a tradition, dating to the days of Henry VII, Magdalen College was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor. The founders statutes included provision for a foundation of men and boys. The college received another substantial endowment from the estate of Sir John Fastolf of Caister Castle in Norfolk, another unrelated college named Magdalen Hall adjacent to Magdalen College eventually became part of Hertford College. Magdalens prominence since the mid-20th century owes much to such famous fellows as C. S. Lewis and A. J. P. Taylor, women were first admitted to the college in 1979. In 2015, Magdalen topped Oxfords Norrington Table of college undergraduate examination results, the college has large grounds, close to the city centre. They stretch north and east from the college, and are most of the bounded by Longwall Street, the High Street. This large meadow occupies most of the north west of the grounds, from the New Buildings. During the winter and spring, it is the home of a herd of Fallow Deer and it is possible to view the meadow from the path between New Buildings and Grove Quad, and also from the archway in New Buildings. In the 16th century, long before the introduction of the deer, the grove consisted of gardens, orchards, during the Civil War, it was used to house a regiment of soldiers. At one point in the 19th century it was home to three traction engines belonging to the department of the college. By the 20th century it had become well-wooded with many large trees and this triangular meadow lies to the east of the college, bounded on all sides by the River Cherwell. In the spring, it is filled with the flower Fritillaria meleagris and these flowers grow in very few places, and have been recorded growing in the meadow since around 1785. Once the flowering has finished, the deer are moved in for the summer, in wet winters, some or all of the meadow may flood, as the meadow is lower lying than the surrounding path. All around the edge of the meadow is a tree-lined path and it is a beautiful and tranquil walk, favoured by students, dons, and visitors alike. It also links the college with Holywell Ford, and the Fellows Garden, located to the north east of the Meadow, directly behind the new building of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
8.
University of Sussex
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The University of Sussex is a public research university situated in Falmer, near Brighton in Sussex. The university received its Royal Charter in August 1961, and was a member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities promoting excellence in research. Sussex counts three Nobel Prize winners,14 Fellows of the Royal Society, six Fellows of the British Academy, in the latest rankings, the university was placed 62nd in Europe and 140th in the world by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015–16. The Guardian University Guide 2016 placed Sussex 19th in the United Kingdom, the 2015 Academic Ranking of World Universities placed the university within the top 18-21 in the United Kingdom and in the top 151-200 internationally. The University was established as a company in 1959, with a Royal Charter being granted on 16 August 1961, the Universitys organisation broke new ground in seeing the campus divided into Schools of Study, with students able to benefit from a multidisciplinary teaching environment. Sussex came to be identified with student radicalism, in 1973 a mob of students physically prevented United States government adviser Samuel P. Huntington from giving a speech on campus, due to his involvement in the Vietnam War. In an attempt to appeal to an audience, the university chose in 2004 to cease using its coat of arms. The then Vice-Chancellor of the University described the new identity as the starting point for what will be a fresh look. It is based on the vision and values, themselves a statement of what it aspires to be, pioneering, creative, international, excellent. Sussex has been noted to have an attractive location, the university is situated in undulating parkland on the edge of Brighton, and the campus architecture itself has been praised. The campus is surrounded by the South Downs National Park, but relatively close to Brighton, Hove, the campus, designed by Sir Basil Spence, is in the village of Falmer, next to its railway station, and accessed by car from the A27 road. It is situated close to the South Downs, which influenced Spences design of the campus, the campus is self-contained with facilities and shops. Spences designs were appreciated in the community, with many of the buildings on the Universitys campus winning awards. The gatehouse-inspired Falmer House won a medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects. Another campus building, The Meeting House, won the Civic Trust award in 1969, Sussex laid claim to being the only English university located entirely within a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is now surrounded by the newly founded South Downs National Park. The Gardner Arts Centre, another of Basil Spences designs, was opened in 1969 as the first university campus arts centre. It had a 480-seat purpose built theatre, an art gallery and studio space and was regularly used for theatre
9.
Jagiellonian University
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The Jagiellonian University is a research university in Kraków, Poland. Notable alumni include, among others, mathematician and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish king John III Sobieski, pope John Paul II, the campus of the Jagiellonian University is centrally located within the city of Kraków. The university consists of fifteen faculties — including the humanities, law, the natural and social sciences, the university employs roughly 4,000 academics, and has more than 40,000 students who study in some 80 disciplines. More than half of the student body are women, the language of instruction is usually Polish, although several degrees are offered in either German or English. The university library is one of Polands largest, and houses several medieval manuscripts, due to its history, the Jagiellonian University is traditionally considered Polands most reputable institution of higher learning — this standing equally being reflected in international rankings. The Jagiellonian University is a member of the Coimbra Group and Europaeum and his efforts to found an institution of higher learning in Poland were rewarded when Pope Urban V granted him permission to set up a university in Kraków. A royal charter of foundation was issued on 12 May 1364, and it is believed that, in all likelihood, the construction of a building to house the Studium Generale began on Plac Wolnica in what is today the district of Kazimierz. After a period of disinterest and lack of funds, the institution was restored in the 1390s by King Władysław II Jagiełło and his wife Saint Hedwig, the Queen donated all of her personal jewelry to the university, allowing it to enroll 203 students. The university was the first university in Europe to establish independent chairs in Mathematics, during the second half of the 15th century, over 40 percent of students came from outside the Kingdom of Poland. The first chancellor of the University was Piotr Wysz, and the first professors were Czechs, Germans and Poles, by 1520 Greek philology was introduced by Constanzo Claretti and Wenzel von Hirschberg, Hebrew was also taught. At this time, the Collegium Maius comprised seven reading rooms, six of which were named for the ancient scholars, Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Galen, Ptolemy. The librarys original rooms, in all books were chained to their cases in order to prevent theft, are no longer used as such. However, they are occasionally opened to host visiting lecturers talks. If the lecture halls underwent refurbishment they could be rented out to accommodate a laundry and this period thus represents one of the darkest periods in the universitys history and is almost certainly the one during which the closure of the institution seemed most imminent. After the third partition of Poland in 1795 and the ensuing Napoleonic Wars, Kraków became a city under the protection of the Austrian Empire. In 1846, after the Kraków Uprising, the city and its university became part of the Austrian Empire, however, the threat of closure of the University was ultimately dissipated by Kaiser Ferdinand I of Austrias decree to maintain it. By the 1870s the fortunes of the university had improved so greatly that many scholars had returned, the liquefaction of nitrogen and oxygen was successfully demonstrated by professors Zygmunt Wróblewski and Karol Olszewski in 1883. It was, conversely, from this building that in 1918 a large painting of Kaiser Franz Joseph was removed and destroyed by Polish students advocating the reestablishment of an independent Polish state
10.
Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
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The Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland is a Polish order of merit created in 1974, awarded to those who have rendered great service to Poland. It is granted to foreigners or Poles resident abroad, as such it is sometimes referred to as a traditional diplomatic order. The order was established by the act dated April 10,1974 and it was awarded in five classes, Grand Cordon of the Order, Commandery with Star, Commandery, Gold Badge of the Order, and Silver Badge of the Order. It was awarded by the Polish Council of State, after the fall of communism in Poland in 1989, it was decided to retain the order, with necessary changes. Without a formal change of the 1974 act or the name of the order, under the act dated October 16,1992, the order was reestablished under the name Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. Under the 1992 act, the order is awarded to foreigners or Poles resident abroad for distinguished contribution to international cooperation or cooperation between Poland and other countries. It is awarded by the President of Poland. pl Named changed to ORDER OF MERIT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND at geocities. com/polishnobles/merit
11.
History of Europe
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The history of Europe covers the peoples inhabiting Europe from prehistory to the present. Some of the civilizations of prehistoric Europe were the Minoan and the Mycenaean. The period known as classical antiquity began with the emergence of the city-states of Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire came to dominate the entire Mediterranean basin. By 300 AD the Roman Empire was divided into the Western and Eastern empires, during the 4th and 5th centuries, the Germanic peoples of Northern Europe grew in strength, and repeated attacks led to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire. AD476 traditionally marks the end of the period and the start of the Middle Ages. In Western Europe, Germanic peoples became more powerful in the remnants of the former Western Roman Empire and established kingdoms and empires of their own. Of all of the Germanic peoples, the Franks would rise to a position of hegemony over Western Europe, the British Isles were the site of several large-scale migrations. The Viking Age, a period of migrations of Scandinavian peoples, the Normans, a Viking people who settled in Northern France, had a significant impact on many parts of Europe, from the Norman conquest of England to Southern Italy and Sicily. The Rus people founded Kievan Rus, which evolved into Russia, after 1000 the Crusades were a series of religiously motivated military expeditions originally intended to bring the Levant back under Christian rule. The Crusaders opened trade routes which enabled the merchant republics of Genoa, the Reconquista, a related movement, worked to reconquer Iberia for Christendom. Eastern Europe in the High Middle Ages was dominated by the rise, led by Genghis Khan, the Mongols were a group of steppe nomads who established a decentralized empire which, at its height, extended from China in the east to the Black and Baltic Seas in Europe. The Late Middle Ages represented a period of upheaval in Europe, the epidemic known as the Black Death and an associated famine caused demographic catastrophe in Europe as the population plummeted. Dynastic struggles and wars of conquest kept many of the states of Europe at war for much of the period, in Scandinavia, the Kalmar Union dominated the political landscape, while England fought with Scotland in the Wars of Scottish Independence and with France in the Hundred Years War. Russia continued to expand southward and eastward into former Mongol lands, in the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire overran Byzantine lands, culminating in the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, which historians mark as the end of the Middle Ages. Beginning in the 14th century in Florence and later spreading through Europe, the rediscovery of classical Greek and Roman knowledge had an enormous liberating effect on intellectuals. Simultaneously, the Protestant Reformation under German Martin Luther questioned Papal authority, henry VIII seized control of the English Church and its lands. The European religious wars between German and Spanish rulers, the Reconquista ended Muslim rule in Iberia. By the 1490s a series of oceanic explorations marked the Age of Discovery, establishing links with Africa, the Americas
12.
University College London
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University College London is a public research university in London, England, and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It is the largest postgraduate institution in the UK by enrollment and is regarded as one of the worlds leading research universities. UCL also makes the claims of being the third-oldest university in England. In 1836 UCL became one of the two founding colleges of the University of London, which was granted a charter in the same year. UCL has its campus in the Bloomsbury area of central London, with a number of institutes and teaching hospitals elsewhere in central London. UCL is organised into 11 constituent faculties, within there are over 100 departments, institutes. In 2015/16, UCL had around 38,300 students and 12,000 staff and had an income of £1.36 billion. UCL ranks highly in national and international league tables and its graduates rank among the most employable in the world, UCL academics discovered five of the naturally occurring noble gases, co-discovered hormones, invented the vacuum tube, and made several foundational advances in modern statistics. There are at least 29 Nobel Prize winners and 3 Fields medalists amongst UCLs alumni and current, UCL was founded on 11 February 1826 under the name London University, as an alternative to the Anglican universities of Oxford and Cambridge. London Universitys first Warden was Leonard Horner, who was the first scientist to head a British university and this suggests that while his ideas may have been influential, he himself was less so. In 1827, the Chair of Political Economy at London University was created, with John Ramsay McCulloch as the first incumbent, in 1828 the university became the first in England to offer English as a subject and the teaching of Classics and medicine began. In 1830, London University founded the London University School, which would later become University College School, in 1833, the university appointed Alexander Maconochie, Secretary to the Royal Geographical Society, as the first professor of geography in the UK. In 1834, University College Hospital opened as a hospital for the universitys medical school. In 1836, London University was incorporated by charter under the name University College. The Slade School of Fine Art was founded as part of University College in 1871, in 1878, the University of London gained a supplemental charter making it the first British university to be allowed to award degrees to women. The same year, UCL admitted women to the faculties of Arts and Law and of Science, although women remained barred from the faculties of Engineering and of Medicine. Armstrong College, an institution of Newcastle University, also allowed women to enter from its foundation in 1871. Women were finally admitted to medical studies during the First World War in 1917, in 1898, Sir William Ramsay discovered the elements krypton, neon and xenon whilst professor of chemistry at UCL
