1.
Maid
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A maid, or housemaid or maidservant, is a female person employed in domestic service. Although now usually only in the most wealthy of households, in the Victorian era domestic service was the second largest category of employment in England and Wales. In the contemporary Western world, comparatively few households can afford live-in domestic help, Maids perform typical domestic chores such as cooking, ironing, washing, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, walking the family dog, and taking care of children. In many places in some countries, maids often take on the role of a nurse in taking care of the elderly. Many maids are required by their employers to wear a uniform, legislation in many countries makes certain living conditions, working hours, or minimum wages a requirement of domestic service. Nonetheless, the work of a maid has always been hard, involving a full day, the word maid itself is short for maiden, meaning virgin. Maids traditionally have a position in the hierarchy of the large households. House-maid or housemaid, a term for maids whose function was chiefly above stairs, and were usually a little older. Where a household included multiple House Maids they were often sub-divided as below, head house-maid, the senior house maid, reporting to the Housekeeper. Parlour maid, the parlour maids cleaned and tidied reception rooms and living areas by morning, and often served refreshments at afternoon tea and they tidied studies and libraries, and answered bells calling for service. Chamber maid, the chamber maids cleaned and maintained the bedrooms, ensured fires were lit in fireplaces, laundry maid, the laundry maids maintained bedding and towels. They also washed, dried, and ironed clothes for the whole household, under house parlour maid, the general deputy to the house parlour maid in a small establishment which had only two upstairs maids. Nursery maid, also a maid, but one who worked in the childrens nursery, maintaining fires, cleanliness. Reported to the Nanny rather than the Housekeeper, kitchen maid, a below stairs maid who reported to the Cook, and assisted in running the kitchens. Head kitchen maid, where multiple kitchen maids were employed, the kitchen maid was effectively a deputy to the cook. Under kitchen maid, where multiple kitchen maids were employed these were the staff who prepared vegetables, peeled potatoes, in more modest households a single maid-of-all-work or skivvy was often the only staff. It is possible this word originates from the Italian for slave, one of the most in-depth and enduring representations of the lives of several types of maid was seen in the 1970s television drama Upstairs, Downstairs, set in England between 1903 and 1936. Another representation of the lives of maids is seen nowadays in Downton Abbey, set in England between 1912 and 1926
2.
Seraglio
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A seraglio or serail is the sequestered living quarters used by wives and concubines in an Ottoman household. The term harem is a term for domestic spaces reserved for women in a Muslim family. The etymology of this Italian word is unclear, in the context of the turquerie fashion, the seraglio became the subject of works of art, the most famous perhaps being Mozarts Singspiel, Die Entführung aus dem Serail. In Montesquieus Persian Letters, one of the characters, a Persian from the city of Isfahan, is described as an occupant of a seraglio. The Seraglio may refer specifically to the Topkapı Palace, the residence of the former Ottoman Sultans in Istanbul, the term can also refer to other traditional Turkish palaces—every imperial prince had his own—and other grand houses built around courtyards. In modern Italian the word is spelled serraglio and it may refer to a wall or structure for containment, for example of caged wild animals, or for defence, such as the Serraglio of Villafranca di Verona, a defensive wall built by the Scaligeri. The Seraglio is also an island on which Mantua is located
3.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
4.
Sultan
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Sultan is a noble title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning strength, authority, rulership, derived from the verbal noun سلطة sulṭah, the dynasty and lands ruled by a sultan are referred to as a sultanate. A feminine form of sultan, used by Westerners, is Sultana or Sultanah, but Turkish and Ottoman Turkish also uses sultan for imperial lady, because Turkish grammar uses the same words for women and men. However, this styling misconstrues the roles of wives of sultans, in a similar usage, the wife of a German field marshal might be styled Frau Feldmarschall. The female leaders in Muslim history are known as sultanas. Special case in Brunei, the Queen Consort is known as Raja Isteri with suffix Pengiran Anak if the queen consort is a royal princess. Among those modern hereditary rulers who wish to emphasize their secular authority under the rule of law and these are generally secondary titles, either lofty poetry or with a message, e. g. g. Sultan ul-Mujahidin as champion of jihad, ghaznavid Sultanate Sultans of Great Seljuk Seljuk Sultanate of Rum Sultans of the Ottoman Empire, the Osmanli Elisu Sultanate and a few others. A Sultan ranked below a Khan and this usage underlines the Ottoman conception of sovereign power as family prerogative. Western tradition knows the Ottoman ruler as sultan, but Ottomans themselves used padişah or hünkar to refer to their ruler, the emperors formal title consisted of sultan together with khan. In formal address, the children were also entitled sultan, with imperial princes carrying the title before their given name. Example, Şehzade Sultan Mehmed and Mihrimah Sultan, son and daughter of Suleiman the Magnificent, henceforth, the mother of the reigning sultan was the only person of non imperial blood to carry the title sultan. In Kazakh Khanate a Sultan was a lord from the ruling dynasty elected by clans, the best of sultans was elected as khan by people at Kurultai. See ru, Казахские султаны In a number of states under Mongol or Turkic rule. These administrations were often decimal, using originally princely titles such as khan, malik, in the Persian empire, the rank of sultan was roughly equivalent to that of a modern-day captain in the West, socially in the fifth-rank class, styled Ali Jah
5.
Jules Joseph Lefebvre
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Jules Joseph Lefebvre was a French figure painter, educator and theorist. Lefebvre was born in Tournan-en-Brie, Seine-et-Marne, on 14 March 1836 and he entered the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in 1852 and was a pupil of Léon Cogniet. He won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1861, between 1855 and 1898, he exhibited 72 portraits in the Paris Salon. In 1891, he became a member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts and he was professor at the Académie Julian in Paris. Lefebvre is chiefly important as an excellent and sympathetic teacher who numbered many Americans among his 1500 or more pupils, tarbell, who became an American Impressionist painter. Another pupil was the miniaturist Alice Beckington, many of his paintings are single figures of beautiful women. Among his best portraits were those of M. L. Reynaud, Lefebvre died in Paris on 24 February 1911. org 42 images by Jules Joseph Lefebvre Art Renewal Centre – Lefebvre Gallery Paintingiant art--Jules Joseph Lefebvre
6.
Concubinage
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The woman in such a relationship is referred to as a concubine. The prevalence of concubinage and the status of rights and expectations of a concubine have varied between cultures as well as the rights of children of a concubine. Whatever the status and rights of the concubine, they were inferior to those of the wife. Historically, concubinage was frequently entered into voluntarily as it provided a measure of security for the woman involved. Involuntary or servile concubinage sometimes involved sexual slavery of one member of the relationship, nevertheless, sexual relations outside marriage were not uncommon, especially among royalty and nobility, and the woman in such relationships was commonly described as a mistress. However, the children of such relationships were counted as illegitimate and were barred from inheriting the title or estates. While various forms of sexual relationships and co-habitation short of marriage have become increasingly common in the Western world. The terms concubinage and concubine are used primarily when referring to non-marital partnerships of earlier eras. In modern usage, a domestic relationship is commonly referred to as co-habitation. Concubinage was highly popular before early 20th century all over Asia, the main function of concubinage was producing additional heirs, as well as bring males pleasure. Children of concubines had lower rights in account to inheritance, which was regulated by Dishu system, after that, even concubinage has been legally banned, the relationship between mistresses and their men are highly affected by it. In China, successful men often had concubines until the practice was outlawed after the Communist Party of China came to power in 1949, the standard Chinese term translated as concubine was qiè 妾, a term used since ancient times, which means female slave. Concubines resembled wives in that they were recognized sexual partners of a family member and were expected to bear children from him. Unofficial concubines, are of lower status, and children of her are considered illegitimate, in English the term concubine is also used for what the Chinese refer to as pínfēi consorts of emperors, some of very high rank. In premodern China, it was illegal and socially disreputable for a man to have more than one wife at a time, but he could have concubines. At first a man could have as many concubines as he could afford, however, from the Eastern Han onward, the higher ranking and the more noble an identity a man possessed, the more concubines he was permitted to have. A concubines treatment and situation were highly variable and were influenced by the status of the male to whom she was engaged. In the Book of Rites chapter on “The Pattern of the Family” it says, “If there were betrothal rites, she became a wife, and if she went without these, Concubines could be taken without any of the ceremonies used in marriages
7.
W. S. Gilbert
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Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for the fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan. The most famous of these include H. M. S, Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and one of the most frequently performed works in the history of musical theatre, The Mikado. The popularity of works was supported for over a century by year-round performances of them, in Britain and abroad, by the repertory company that they founded. Eleven of the Savoy operas continue to be performed in the English-speaking world and beyond by opera companies, repertory companies, schools. Lines from these works have become part of the English language, such as short, sharp shock, What, and Let the punishment fit the crime. Gilberts creative output included over 75 plays and libretti, and numerous stories, poems and lyrics. He also began to write burlesques and his first comic plays, developing a unique absurdist and he also developed a realistic method of stage direction and a reputation as a strict theatre director. M. S. Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance, in the 1880s, Gilbert focused on the Savoy operas, including Patience, Iolanthe, The Mikado, The Yeomen of the Guard and The Gondoliers. Gilbert won the lawsuit, but the argument caused hurt feelings among the partnership. Although Gilbert and Sullivan were persuaded to collaborate on two last operas, they were not as successful as the previous ones, in later years, Gilbert wrote several plays, and a few operas with other collaborators. He retired, with his wife and ward, Nancy McIntosh, to a country estate, Gilbert died of a heart attack while attempting to rescue a young woman to whom he was giving a swimming lesson in the lake at his home. Gilbert was born at 17 Southampton Street, Strand, London and his father, also named William, was briefly a naval surgeon, who later became a writer of novels and short stories, some of which were illustrated by his son. Gilberts mother was the former Anne Mary Bye Morris, the daughter of Thomas Morris, Gilberts parents were distant and stern, and he did not have a particularly close relationship with either of them. They quarrelled increasingly, and following the break-up of their marriage in 1876, his relationships with them, especially his mother, Gilbert was nicknamed Bab as a baby, and then Schwenck, after his fathers godparents. As a child, Gilbert travelled to Italy in 1838 and then France for two years with his parents, who returned to settle in London in 1847. He then attended Kings College London, graduating in 1856, instead he joined the Civil Service, he was an assistant clerk in the Privy Council Office for four years and hated it. In 1859 he joined the Militia, a volunteer force formed for the defence of Britain, with which he served until 1878. In 1863 he received a bequest of £300 that he used to leave the service and take up a brief career as a barrister
8.
Patience (opera)
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Patience, or, Bunthornes Bride, is a comic opera in two acts with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. Henceforth, the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas would be known as the Savoy Operas, Patience was the sixth operatic collaboration of fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan. It ran for a total of 578 performances, which was seven more than the earlier work. Pinafore, and the second longest run of any work of theatre up to that time. Called Art for Arts Sake, the movement valued its ideals of beauty above any pragmatic concerns, although the output of poets, painters and designers was prolific, some argued that the movements art, poetry and fashion was empty and self-indulgent. That the movement was so popular and also so easy to ridicule as a meaningless fad helped make Patience a big hit, the same factors made a hit out of The Colonel, a play by F. C. Burnand based partly on the cartoons of George du Maurier in Punch magazine. The Colonel beat Patience to the stage by several weeks, modern productions of Patience have sometimes updated the setting of the opera to an analogous era such as the hippie 1960s, making a flower-child poet the rival of a beat poet. The two poets in the opera are given to reciting their own verses aloud, principally to the chorus of rapturous maidens. The style of poetry Bunthorne declaims strongly contrasts with Grosvenors, the formers, emphatic and obscure, bears a marked resemblance to Swinburnes poetry in its structure, style and heavy use of alliteration. The latters, simpler and pastoral, echoes elements of Coventry Patmore, Gilbert scholar Andrew Crowther comments, Bunthorne was the creature of Gilberts brain, not just a caricature of particular Aesthetes, but an original character in his own right. According to Gilberts biographer Edith Browne, the character, Patience, was made up. Patience was not the first satire of the movement played by Richard DOyly Cartes company at the Opera Comique. Grossmith himself had written a sketch in 1876 called Cups and Saucers that was revived as a piece to H. M. S. Pinafore in 1878, which was a satire of the blue pottery craze, a popular misconception holds that the central character of Bunthorne, a Fleshly Poet, was intended to satirise Oscar Wilde, but this identification is retrospective. Rossetti had been attacked for immorality by Robert Buchanan in an article called The Fleshly School of Poetry, published in The Contemporary Review for October 1871, nonetheless, Wildes biographer Richard Ellmann suggests that Wilde is a partial model for both Bunthorne and his rival Grosvenor. Carte, the producer of Patience, was also Wildes booking manager in 1881 as the poets popularity took off, although a satire of the aesthetic movement is dated today, fads and hero-worship are evergreen, and Gilbert’s pen was rarely sharper than when he invented Reginald Bunthorne. Gilbert originally conceived Patience as a tale of rivalry between two curates and of the ladies who attended upon them
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