Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand III was Holy Roman Emperor from 15 February 1637 until his death, as well as King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria. Ferdinand was born in Graz, the eldest son of Emperor Ferdinand II of Habsburg and his first wife, Maria Anna of Bavaria, was baptised as Ferdinand Ernst. Educated by the Jesuits, he became Archduke of Austria in 1621, King of Hungary in 1625, King of Bohemia in 1627. In 1627 Ferdinand enhanced his authority and set an important legal and military precedent by issuing a Revised Land Ordinance that deprived the Bohemian estates of their right to raise soldiers, reserving this power for the monarch. Following the death of Albrecht von Wallenstein in 1634, he was made titular head of the Imperial Army in the Thirty Years' War; that year he joined with his cousin, the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, nominally responsible for the capture of Donauwörth and Regensburg, for the defeat of the Swedes at the Battle of Nördlingen. Leader of the peace party at court, he helped negotiate the Peace of Prague with the Protestant states Saxony in 1635.
Having been elected King of the Romans in 1636, he succeeded his father as Holy Roman Emperor in 1637. He hoped to make peace soon with France and Sweden, but the war dragged on ending in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia, negotiated by his envoy Maximilian von und zu Trauttmansdorff, a diplomat, made a count in 1623 by his father Ferdinand II. During the last period of the war, in 1644 Ferdinand III gave all rulers of German states the right to conduct their own foreign policy – the emperor hoped to gain more allies in the negotiations with France and Sweden; this edict, contributed to the gradual erosion of the imperial authority in the Holy Roman Empire. After 1648 the emperor was engaged in carrying out the terms of the treaty and ridding Germany of the foreign soldiery. In 1656 he sent an army into Italy to assist Spain in her struggle with France, he had just concluded an alliance with Poland to check the aggressions of Charles X of Sweden when he died on 2 April 1657. On 20 February 1631, Ferdinand III married Maria Anna of Spain.
She was the youngest daughter of Philip III of Margaret of Austria. They were first cousins, they were parents to six children: Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans Maria Anna "Mariana", Archduchess of Austria. Married her maternal uncle Philip IV of Spain. Philip August, Archduke of Austria Maximilian Thomas, Archduke of Austria Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor Maria, Archduchess of Austria On 2 July 1648 in Linz, Ferdinand III married his second wife, Archduchess Maria Leopoldine of Austria, she was a daughter of Leopold V, Archduke of Austria, Claudia de' Medici. They were first cousins as male-line grandchildren of Charles II, Archduke of Austria, Maria Anna of Bavaria, they had a single son: Archduke of Austria. He was Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights from 1662 to his death. On 30 April 1651, Ferdinand III married Eleonora Gonzaga, she was a daughter of Duke of Rethel. They were parents to four children: Theresia Maria Josefa, Archduchess of Austria Eleonora Maria of Austria, who married first Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland, Charles Léopold, Duke of Lorraine.
Maria Anna Josepha of Austria, who married Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine. Ferdinand Josef Alois, Archduke of Austria Ferdinand III was a well-known patron of music and a composer, he studied music under Giovanni Valentini, who bequeathed his musical works to him, had close ties with Johann Jakob Froberger, one of the most important keyboard composers of the 17th century. Froberger lamented the emperor's death and dedicated to him one of his most celebrated works, Lamentation faite sur la mort très douloureuse de Sa Majesté Impériale, Ferdinand le troisième; some of Ferdinand's own compositions survive in manuscripts: masses, motets and other sacred music, as well as a few secular pieces. His Drama musicum was praised by Athanasius Kircher, the extant works, although influenced by Valentini, show a composer with an individual style and a solid technique. Recordings of Ferdinand's compositions include: Jesu Redemptor Omnium. Deus Tuorum. Humanae Salutis. With Schmelzer: Lamento Sopra La Morte de Ferdinand III.
Joseph I: Regina Coeli. Leopold I: Sonata Piena. Wiener Akademie, dir. Martin Haselböck, CPO 1997. Ferdinand III: Hymnus "Jesu Corona Virginum". On Musik für Gamben-Consort. Klaus Mertens, Hamburger Ratsmusik, dir. Simone Eckert CPO 2010 Ferdinand III, by the grace of God elected Holy Roman Emperor, forever August, King of Germany, King of Hungary, Dalmatia, Slavonia, Serbia, Lodomeria and Bulgaria, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, Styria, Carniola, Margrave of Moravia, Duke of Luxemburg, of the Higher and Lower Silesia, of Württemberg and Teck, Prince of Swabia, Count of Habsburg, Tyrol and Goritia, Marquess of the Holy Roman Empire, the Higher and Lower Lusace, Lord of the Marquisate of Slavonia, of Port Nao
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style that flourished in Europe during the High and Late Middle Ages. It was succeeded by Renaissance architecture. Originating in 12th-century France, it was used for cathedrals and churches, until the 16th century, its most prominent features included the use of the rib vault and the flying buttress, which allowed the weight of the roof to be counterbalanced by buttresses outside the building, giving greater height and more space for windows. Another important feature was the extensive use of stained glass, the rose window, to bring light and color to the interior. Another feature was the use of realistic statuary on the exterior over the portals, to illustrate biblical stories for the illiterate parishioners; these technologies had all existed in Romanesque architecture, but they were used in more innovative ways and more extensively in Gothic architecture to make buildings taller and stronger. The first notable example is considered to be the Abbey of Saint-Denis, near Paris, whose choir and facade were reconstructed with Gothic features.
The choir was completed in 1144. The style appeared in some civic architecture in northern Europe, notably in town halls and university buildings. A Gothic revival began in mid-18th-century England, spread through 19th century Europe and continued for ecclesiastical and university structures, into the 20th century. Gothic architecture was known during the period as opus francigenum, The term "Gothic architecture" originated in the 16th century, was very negative, suggesting barbaric. Giorgio Vasari used the term "barbarous German style" in his 1550 Lives of the Artists to describe what is now considered the Gothic style, in the introduction to the Lives he attributed various architectural features to "the Goths" whom he held responsible for destroying the ancient buildings after they conquered Rome, erecting new ones in this style; the Gothic style originated in the Ile-de-France region of northern France in the first half of the 12th century. A new dynasty of French Kings, the Capetians, had subdued the feudal lords, had become the most powerful rulers in France, with their capital in Paris.
They allied themselves with the bishops of the major cities of northern France, reduced the power of the feudal abbots and monasteries. Their rise coincided with an enormous growth of the population and prosperity of the cities of northern France; the Capetian Kings and their bishops wished to build new cathedrals as monuments of their power and religious faith. The church which served as the primary model for the style was the Abbey of St-Denis, which underwent reconstruction by the Abbot Suger, first in the choir and the facade, Suger was a close ally and biographer of the French King, Louis VII, a fervent Catholic and builder, the founder of the University of Paris. Suger remodeled the ambulatory of the Abbey, removed the enclosures that separated the chapels, replaced the existing structure with imposing pillars and rib vaults; this created higher and wider bays, into which he installed larger windows, which filled the end of the church with light. Soon afterwards he rebuilt the facade, adding three deep portals, each with a tympanum, an arch filled with sculpture illustrating biblical stories.
The new facade was flanked by two towers. He installed a small circular rose window over the central portal; this design became the prototype for a series of new French cathedrals. Sens Cathedral was the first Cathedral to be built in the new style. Other versions of the new style soon appeared in Noyon Cathedral; the Gothic style was adapted by some French monastic orders, notably the Cistercian order under Saint Bernard of Clairvaux It was used in an austere form without ornament at the new Cistercian Abbey of Fontenay and the church of Clairvaux Abbey, whose site is now occupied by a French prison. The new style was copied outside the Kingdom of France in the Duchy of Normandy. Early examples of Norman Gothic included Coutances Cathedral. Through the rule of the Angevin dynasty, the new style was introduced to England and spread from there to Low Countries, Spain, northern Italy and Sicily; the Gothic style did not replace the Romanesque everywhere in Europe. The Late Romanesque continued to flourish in the Holy Roman Empire under the Hohenstaufens and Rhineland.
From the end of the 12th century until the middle of the 13th century, the gothic style spread from the Île-de-France to appear in other cities of northern France. New structures in the style included Chartres Cathedral; the early type of rib vault used of Saint Denis and Notre Dame, with six parts, was modified to four parts, making it simpler and stronger. Amiens and Chartres were among the first to use the flying buttress. At Reims, the buttresses were given greater weight and strength by the addition of heavy stone pinnacles on top; these were decorated with statues of ange
Architectural style
An architectural style is characterized by the features that make a building or other structure notable or identifiable. A style may include such elements as form, method of construction, building materials, regional character. Most architecture can be classified within a chronology of styles which changes over time reflecting changing fashions and religions, or the emergence of new ideas, technology, or materials which make new styles possible. Styles therefore emerge from the history of a society, they are documented in the subject of architectural history. At any time several styles may be fashionable, when a style changes it does so as architects learn and adapt to new ideas; the new style is sometimes only a rebellion against an existing style, such as post-modernism, which has in recent years found its own language and split into a number of styles which have acquired other names. Styles spread to other places, so that the style at its source continues to develop in new ways while other countries follow with their own twist.
For instance, Renaissance ideas emerged in Italy around 1425 and spread to all of Europe over the next 200 years, with the French, German and Spanish Renaissances showing recognisably the same style, but with unique characteristics. A style may spread through colonialism, either by foreign colonies learning from their home country, or by settlers moving to a new land. One example is the Spanish missions in California, brought by Spanish priests in the late 18th century and built in a unique style. After a style has gone out of fashion, revivals and re-interpretations may occur. For instance, classicism found new life as neoclassicism; each time it is revived, it is different. The Spanish mission style was revived 100 years as the Mission Revival, that soon evolved into the Spanish Colonial Revival. Vernacular architecture is listed separately; as vernacular architecture is better understood as suggestive of culture, writ broadly, it technically can encompass every architectural style--or none at all.
In and of itself, vernacular architecture is not a style. Constructing schemes of the period styles of historic art and architecture was a major concern of 19th century scholars in the new and mostly German-speaking field of art history. Important writers on the broad theory of style including Carl Friedrich von Rumohr, Gottfried Semper, Alois Riegl in his Stilfragen of 1893, with Heinrich Wölfflin and Paul Frankl continued the debate into the 20th century. Paul Jacobsthal and Josef Strzygowski are among the art historians who followed Riegl in proposing grand schemes tracing the transmission of elements of styles across great ranges in time and space; this type of art history is known as formalism, or the study of forms or shapes in art. Semper, Wölfflin, Frankl, Ackerman, had backgrounds in the history of architecture, like many other terms for period styles, "Romanesque" and "Gothic" were coined to describe architectural styles, where major changes between styles can be clearer and more easy to define, not least because style in architecture is easier to replicate by following a set of rules than style in figurative art such as painting.
Terms originated to describe architectural periods were subsequently applied to other areas of the visual arts, more still to music and the general culture. In architecture stylistic change follows, is made possible by, the discovery of new techniques or materials, from the Gothic rib vault to modern metal and reinforced concrete construction. A major area of debate in both art history and archaeology has been the extent to which stylistic change in other fields like painting or pottery is a response to new technical possibilities, or has its own impetus to develop, or changes in response to social and economic factors affecting patronage and the conditions of the artist, as current thinking tends to emphasize, using less rigid versions of Marxist art history. Although style was well-established as a central component of art historical analysis, seeing it as the over-riding factor in art history had fallen out of fashion by World War II, as other ways of looking at art were developing, a reaction against the emphasis on style developing.
According to James Elkins "In the 20th century criticisms of style were aimed at further reducing the Hegelian elements of the concept while retaining it in a form that could be more controlled". While many architectural styles explore harmonious ideals, Mannerism wants to take style a step further and explores the aesthetics of hyperbole and exaggeration. Mannerism is notable for its intellectual sophistication as well as its artificial qualities. Mannerism favours compositional instability rather than balance and clarity; the definition of Mannerism, the phases within it, continues to be the subject of debate among art historians. An example of mannerist architecture is the Villa Farnese at Caprarola in the rugged country side outside of Rome; the proliferation of engravers during the 16th century spread Mannerist styles more than any previous styles. A center of Mannerist design was Antwerp during its 16th-century boom. Through Antwerp and Mannerist styles were introduced in England and northern and eastern Europe in general.
Dense with ornament of "Roman" detailing, the display doorway at Colditz Castle exemplifies this northern style, characteristically applie
Temple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem was any of a series of structures which were located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque. These successive temples stood at this location and functioned as a site of ancient Israelite and Jewish worship, it is called the Holy Temple. The Hebrew name given in the Hebrew Bible for the building complex is either Beit YHWH, Beit HaElohim "House of God", or Beiti "my house", Beitekhah "your house" etc. In rabbinical literature the temple is Beit HaMikdash, "The Sanctified House", only the Temple in Jerusalem is referred to by this name; the Hebrew Bible says. According to the Book of Deuteronomy, as the sole place of Israelite sacrifice, the Temple replaced the Tabernacle constructed in the Sinai Desert under the auspices of Moses, as well as local sanctuaries, altars in the hills; this temple was sacked a few decades by Shoshenq I, Pharaoh of Egypt. Although efforts were made at partial reconstruction, it was only in 835 BCE when Jehoash, King of Judah, in the second year of his reign invested considerable sums in reconstruction, only to have it stripped again for Sennacherib, King of Assyria c. 700 BCE.
The First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, when they sacked the city. According to the Book of Ezra, construction of the Second Temple was authorized by Cyrus the Great and began in 538 BCE, after the fall of the Babylonian Empire the year before, it was completed 23 years on the third day of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the Great, dedicated by the Jewish governor Zerubbabel. However, with a full reading of the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah, there were four edicts to build the Second Temple, which were issued by three kings. Cyrus in 536 BCE, recorded in the first chapter of Ezra. Next, Darius I of Persia in 519 BCE, recorded in the sixth chapter of Ezra. Third, Artaxerxes I of Persia in 457 BCE, the seventh year of his reign, is recorded in the seventh chapter of Ezra. By Artaxerxes again in 444 BCE in the second chapter of Nehemiah. Despite the fact that the new temple was not as extravagant or imposing as its predecessor, it still dominated the Jerusalem skyline and remained an important structure throughout the time of Persian suzerainty.
Moreover, the temple narrowly avoided being destroyed again in 332 BCE when the Jews refused to acknowledge the deification of Alexander the Great of Macedonia. Alexander was "turned from his anger" at the last minute by astute diplomacy and flattery. Further, after the death of Alexander on 13 June 323 BCE, the dismembering of his empire, the Ptolemies came to rule over Judea and the Temple. Under the Ptolemies, the Jews lived content under their rule. However, when the Ptolemaic army was defeated at Panium by Antiochus III of the Seleucids in 198 BCE, this policy changed. Antiochus wanted attempting to introduce the Greek pantheon into the temple. Moreover, a rebellion ensued and was brutally crushed, but no further action by Antiochus was taken, when Antiochus died in 187 BCE at Luristan, his son Seleucus IV Philopator succeeded him. However, his policies never took effect in Judea, since he was assassinated the year after his ascension. Antiochus IV Epiphanes succeeded his older brother to the Seleucid throne and adopted his father's previous policy of universal Hellenisation.
The Jews Antiochus, in a rage, retaliated in force. Considering the previous episodes of discontent, the Jews became incensed when the religious observances of Sabbath and circumcision were outlawed; when Antiochus erected a statue of Zeus in their temple and Hellenic priests began sacrificing pigs, their anger began to spiral. When a Greek official ordered a Jewish priest to perform a Hellenic sacrifice, the priest killed him. In 167 BCE, the Jews rose up en masse behind Mattathias and his five sons to fight and win their freedom from Seleucid authority. Mattathias' son Judah Maccabee, now called "The Hammer", re-dedicated the temple in 165 BCE and the Jews celebrate this event to this day as a major part of the festival of Hanukkah; the temple was rededicated under Judah Maccabee in 164 BCE. During the Roman era, Pompey left the Temple intact. In 54 BCE, Crassus looted the Temple treasury, only for him to die the year after at the Battle of Carrhae against Parthia. According to folklore he was executed by having molten gold poured down his throat.
When news of this reached the Jews, they revolted again, only to be put down in 43 BCE. Around 20 BCE, the building was renovated and expanded by Herod the Great, became known as Herod's Temple, it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE during the Siege of Jerusalem. During the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Romans in 132–135 CE, Simon bar Kokhba and Rabbi Akiva wanted to rebuild the Temple, but bar Kokhba's revolt failed and the Jews were banned from Jerusalem by the Roman Empire; the emperor Julian allowed to have the Temple rebuilt but the Galilee earthquake of 363 ended all attempts since. After the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in the 7th century, Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ordered the construction of an Islamic shrine, the Dome of the Rock, on the Temple Mount; the shrine has stood on the mount since 691 CE.
Nave
The nave is the central part of a church, stretching from the main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type building, the strict definition of the term "nave" is restricted to the central aisle. In a broader, more colloquial sense, the nave includes all areas available for the lay worshippers, including the side-aisles and transepts. Either way, the nave is distinct from the area reserved for clergy; the nave extends from the entry—which may have a separate vestibule —to the chancel and may be flanked by lower side-aisles separated from the nave by an arcade. If the aisles are high and of a width comparable to the central nave, the structure is sometimes said to have three naves, it provides the central approach to the high altar. The term nave is from navis, the Latin word for ship, an early Christian symbol of the Church as a whole, with a possible connection to the "ship of St. Peter" or the Ark of Noah.
The term may have been suggested by the keel shape of the vaulting of a church. In many Scandinavian and Baltic countries a model ship is found hanging in the nave of a church, in some languages the same word means both'nave' and'ship', as for instance Danish skib, Swedish skepp or Spanish; the earliest churches were built when builders were familiar with the form of the Roman basilica, a public building for business transactions. It had a wide central area, with aisles separated by columns, with windows near the ceiling. Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is an early church, it was built in the 4th century on the orders of Roman emperor Constantine I, replaced in the 16th century. The nave, the main body of the building, is the section set apart for the laity, while the chancel is reserved for the clergy. In medieval churches the nave was separated from the chancel by the rood screen. Medieval naves were divided into the repetition of form giving an effect of great length. During the Renaissance, in place of dramatic effects there were more balanced proportions.
Longest nave in Denmark: Aarhus Cathedral, 93 m Longest nave in England: St Albans Cathedral, St Albans, 85 m Longest nave in Ireland: St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, 91 m, externally Longest nave in France: Bourges Cathedral, 91 m, including choir where a crossing would be if there were transepts Longest nave in Germany: Cologne cathedral, 58 m, including two bays between the towers Longest nave in Italy: St Peter's Basilica in Rome, 91 m, in four bays Longest nave in Spain: Seville, 60 m, in five bays Longest nave in the United States: Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York City, United States, 70 m Highest vaulted nave: Beauvais Cathedral, France, 48 m, but only one bay of the nave was built. Highest completed nave: Rome, St. Peter's, Italy, 46 m Abbey, with architectural discussion and groundplans Cathedral architecture Cathedral diagram List of highest church naves
Bema
The bema, or bima, is an elevated platform used as an orator's podium in ancient Athens. In Jewish synagogues, it is known as a bimah and is for Torah reading during services. In an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, a bema is the sanctuary. In antiquity it was made of stone, but in modern times it is a rectangular wooden platform approached by steps; the Ancient Greek bēma means both'platform' and'step', being derived from bainein. The original use of the bema in Athens was as a tribunal from which orators addressed the citizens as well as the courts of law, for instance, in the Pnyx. In Greek law courts the two parties to a dispute presented their arguments each from separate bemas. By metonymy, bema was a place of judgement, being the extension of the raised seat of the judge, as described in the New Testament, in Matthew 27:19 and John 19:13, further, as the seat of the Roman emperor, in Acts 25:10, of God, in Romans 14:10, when speaking in judgment; the bimah in synagogues is known as the almemar or almemor among some Ashkenazim.
The post-Biblical Hebrew bima,'platform' or'pulpit', is certainly derived from the Ancient Greek word for a raised platform, bema. Among the Sephardim, it is known as migdal-etz, it is elevated by two or three steps, as was the bimah in the Temple. At the celebration of the Shavuot holiday when synagogues are decorated with flowers, many synagogues have special arches that they place over the bimah and adorn with floral displays; the importance of the bimah is to show that the reader is the most important at that moment in time, to make it easier to hear their reader of the Torah. A raised bimah will have a railing; this was a religious requirement for safety in bimah more than 10 handbreadths high, or between 83 and 127 centimetres. A lower bimah will have a railing as a practical measure to prevent someone from inadvertently stepping off; the bimah became a standard fixture in synagogues from which a portion from the Torah and the haftarah are read. In Orthodox Judaism, the bimah is located in the center of separate from the Ark..
In other branches of Judaism, the bimah and the Ark are joined together. The ceremonial use of a bema carried over from Judaism into early Christian church architecture, it was a raised platform with a lectern and seats for the clergy, from which lessons from the Scriptures were read and the sermon was delivered. In Western Christianity the bema developed over time into the pulpit. In Eastern Christianity bema remains the name of the platform, it may be approached by one or several steps. The bema is composed of the altar, the soleas, the ambo. Orthodox laity do not step up onto the bema except to receive Holy Communion. Ambon Templon Tribune Media related to Bimot at Wikimedia Commons
Scolanova Synagogue
The Scolanova Synagogue is a medieval synagogue in Trani, Italy. It was built as a synagogue in the 13th century, confiscated by the church during a wave of antisemitism around the year 1380, converted for use as a church known as Santa Maria in Scolanova. In 2006, the building was returned to its original use. By 1380 all of the four synagogues in Trani had been converted to churches and the 310 Jews remaining in the city forcibly converted to Christianity; the four confiscated synagogues were renamed Santa Maria in Scolanova, San Leonardo Abate, San Pietro Martire, Santi Quirico e Giovita, once the Scolagrande synagogue. San Pietro was demolished. A plaque still visible on the northern wall of Sant'Anna explains that it was built on the site of a demolished synagogue in 1247. San Leonardo has undergone such extensive renovation. In 2006 the Scolanova Synagogue, standing as an empty and disused church since the 1950s, was de-consecrated and returned to the Jewish community; the individuals principally responsible for the reconsecration of the synagogue were Professor and Mrs. Francesco Lotoro, descendants of Italian Anusim.
Professor Lotoro is a pianist and conductor, who had studied the music of the Nazi concentration camps. The community now includes descendants of San Nicandro Jews. A old oil painting of St. Mary hangs in the niche that once held the torah ark; the Church has refused to allow the painting to be moved to a museum. Moreover, the building is a protected historic site, so the Jewish congregation is not allowed to move the painting; the solution has been to hang a large image of a menorah in front of the painting. The synagogue was converted for use as a church without significant alterations being made to the interior of the building; the Gothic synagogue is 49 by 21 feet. The barrel-vaulted ceiling is 36 feet high. There are three windows in the eastern wall, one on each side of the Torah Ark, one above it; the cut-stone surround. The ark was once reached by a flight of seven steps, it featured a central column. The building next door once contained the synagogue's women's gallery and, in the basement, the stairs and pool of the medieval mikveh which survive.
Sacerdoti, Annie. The Guide to Jewish Italy. Rizzoli. ISBN 0-8478-2653-8. Http://www.jewishitaly.org/detail.asp? ID=254 https://www.flickr.com/groups/synagogues/discuss/72157594418164779/ https://web.archive.org/web/20130828181737/http://charlesborlam.com/synagogue_in_trani.htm
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "PRAGUE". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
Media related to Old New Synagogue at Wikimedia Commons