1.
Alfonso the Battler
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Alfonso I, called the Battler or the Warrior, was the king of Aragon and Navarre from 1104 until his death in 1134. He was the son of King Sancho Ramírez and successor of his brother Peter I. Alfonso the Battler earned his sobriquet in the Reconquista and he won his greatest military successes in the middle Ebro, where he conquered Zaragoza in 1118 and took Ejea, Tudela, Calatayud, Borja, Tarazona, Daroca, and Monreal del Campo. He died in September 1134 after a battle with the Muslims at the Battle of Fraga. During his brothers reign, he participated in the taking of Huesca, which became the largest city in the kingdom and he also joined El Cids expeditions in Valencia. His father gave him the lordships of Biel, Luna, Ardenes, a series of deaths put Alfonso directly in line for the throne. His brothers children, Isabella and Peter, died in 1103 and 1104 respectively, a passionate fighting-man, he was married in 1109 to the ambitious Queen Urraca of León, widow of Raymond of Burgundy, a passionate woman unsuited for a subordinate role. The marriage had been arranged by her father Alfonso VI of León in 1106 to unite the two chief Christian states against the Almoravids, and to them with a capable military leader. But Urraca was tenacious of her right as queen regnant and had not learnt chastity in the household of her father. Husband and wife quarrelled with the brutality of the age and came to open war, Alfonso had the support of one section of the nobles who found their account in the confusion. The marriage of Alfonso and Urraca was declared null by the Pope, as they were cousins, in 1110. He inserted the title of imperator on the basis that he had three kingdoms under his rule, the king quarrelled with the church, and particularly the Cistercians, almost as violently as with his wife. As he defeated her, so he drove Archbishop Bernard into exile and he was finally compelled to give way in Castile and León to his stepson, Alfonso VII of Castile, son of Urraca and her first husband. The intervention of Pope Calixtus II brought about an arrangement between the old man and his young namesake, in 1122 in Belchite, he founded a confraternity of knights to fight against the Almoravids. It was the start of the orders in Aragon. Years later, he organised a branch of the Militia Christi of the Holy Land at Monreal del Campo, Alfonso spent his first four years in near-constant war with the Muslims. In 1105, he conquered Ejea and Tauste and refortified Castellar, in 1106, he defeated Ahmad II al-Mustain of Zaragoza at Valtierra. In 1107, he took Tamarite de Litera and Esteban de la Litera, then followed a period dominated by his relations with Castile and León through his wife, Urraca
2.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
3.
Catholicism
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The use of terms catholicism and catholicity is closely related to the use of term Catholic Church. The earliest evidence of the use of term is the Letter to the Smyrnaeans that Ignatius of Antioch wrote in about 108 to Christians in Smyrna. In 380, Emperor Theodosius I limited use of the term Catholic Christian exclusively to those who followed the faith as Pope Damasus I of Rome. Numerous other early writers including Cyril of Jerusalem, Augustine of Hippo further developed the use of the term catholic in relation to Christianity. In Christian theology, and specially in ecclesiology, terms Catholicism, when used with small c, terms catholicism and catholicity generally designate theological doctrine of the catholicity of the Church without denominational connotations. A common belief in Catholicism is institutional continuity with the early Christian church founded by Jesus Christ, many churches or communions of churches identify singularly or collectively as the authentic church. The Bishop of Rome was also considered to have the right to convene ecumenical councils, when the Imperial capital moved to Constantinople, Romes influence was sometimes challenged. The first great rupture in the Church followed this Council and they are often called Ancient Oriental Churches. The next major break was after the Council of Chalcedon and this Council repudiated Eutychian Monophysitism which stated that the divine nature completely subsumed the human nature in Christ. This Council declared that Christ, though one person, exhibited two natures without confusion, without change, without division, without separation and thus is both fully God and fully human, the next great rift within Christianity was in the 11th century. This division between the Western Church and the Eastern Church is called the East–West Schism, several eastern churches reunited, constituting some of the Eastern Catholic Churches. Liturgical and canonical practices vary between all these particular Churches constituting the Roman and Eastern Catholic Churches, in all these cases the beliefs and practices of Catholicism would be identical with the beliefs and practices of the Church in question. However, in Roman Catholicism, the term catholic is understood as to cover those who recognize and are in standing with the Magisterium. The sense given to the word by those who use it to distinguish their position from a Calvinistic or Puritan form of Protestantism. It is then meaningful to attempt to draw up a list of common characteristic beliefs, the Roman Catholic Church includes the 23 rites who recognize the Magisterium. Belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the belief that Christ is made manifest in the elements of Holy Communion, possession of the threefold ordained ministry of Bishops, Priests and Deacons. Belief that the Church is the vessel and deposit of the fullness of the teachings of Jesus and this teaching is preserved in both written scripture and in unwritten tradition, neither being independent of the other. A belief in the necessity and efficacy of sacraments, liturgical and personal use of the Sign of the Cross The use of sacred images, candles, vestments and music, and often incense and water, in worship
4.
Spanish language
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Spanish —also called Castilian —is a Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain, with hundreds of millions of native speakers around the world. It is usually considered the worlds second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese and it is one of the few languages to use inverted question and exclamation marks. Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Beginning in the early 16th century, Spanish was taken to the colonies of the Spanish Empire, most notably to the Americas, as well as territories in Africa, Oceania, around 75% of modern Spanish is derived from Latin. Greek has also contributed substantially to Spanish vocabulary, especially through Latin, Spanish vocabulary has been in contact from an early date with Arabic, having developed during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula. With around 8% of its vocabulary being Arabic in origin, this language is the second most important influence after Latin and it has also been influenced by Basque as well as by neighboring Ibero-Romance languages. It also adopted words from languages such as Gothic language from the Visigoths in which many Spanish names and surnames have a Visigothic origin. Spanish is one of the six languages of the United Nations. It is the language in the world by the number of people who speak it as a mother tongue, after Mandarin Chinese. It is estimated more than 437 million people speak Spanish as a native language. Spanish is the official or national language in Spain, Equatorial Guinea, speakers in the Americas total some 418 million. In the European Union, Spanish is the tongue of 8% of the population. Spanish is the most popular second language learned in the United States, in 2011 it was estimated by the American Community Survey that of the 55 million Hispanic United States residents who are five years of age and over,38 million speak Spanish at home. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the language of the whole Spanish State in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas. Article III reads as follows, El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado, las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas. Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State, the other Spanish languages as well shall be official in their respective Autonomous Communities. The Spanish Royal Academy, on the hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. Two etymologies for español have been suggested, the Spanish Royal Academy Dictionary derives the term from the Provençal word espaignol, and that in turn from the Medieval Latin word Hispaniolus, from—or pertaining to—Hispania
5.
Aragonese language
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It is the only modern language which survived from medieval Navarro-Aragonese in a form distinctly different from Spanish. Informally known as fabla, Aragonese is also referred to by the names of its local dialects such as cheso or patués. Aragonese, which developed in portions of the Ebro basin, can be traced back to the High Middle Ages and it spread throughout the Pyrenees to areas where languages similar to Basque were previously spoken. The Kingdom of Aragon expanded southward from the mountains, pushing the Moors farther south in the Reconquista, the Aragonese Reconquista in the south ended with the cession of Murcia by James I of Aragon to the Kingdom of Castile as dowry for an Aragonese princess. The best-known proponent of the Aragonese language was Johan Ferrandez dHeredia and he wrote an extensive catalog of works in Aragonese and translated several works from Greek into Aragonese. The spread of Castilian, the Castilian origin of the Trastámara dynasty, a turning point was the 15th-century coronation of the Castilian Ferdinand I of Aragon, also known as Ferdinand of Antequeraa. In recent times, Aragonese was mostly regarded as a group of dialects of Spanish. Compulsory education undermined its already weak position, for example, pupils were punished for using it, however, the 1978 Spanish transition to democracy heralded literary works and studies of the language. Aragonese is the language of the Aragonese mountain ranges of the Pyrenees, in the comarcas of Somontano, Jacetania, Sobrarbe. Cities and towns in which Aragonese is spoken are Huesca, Graus, Monzón, Barbastro, Bielsa, Chistén, Fonz, Echo, Estadilla, Benasque, Campo, Sabiñánigo, Jaca, Plan, Ansó, Ayerbe, Broto, and El Grado. It is spoken as a language by inhabitants of Huesca, Zaragoza, Ejea de los Caballeros. According to recent polls, there are about 10,000 active speakers and 30,000 passive speakers, in 2009, the Languages Act of Aragon recognized the native language, original and historic of Aragon. The language received several linguistic rights, including its use in public administration, some are conservative features that are also shared with the Astur-Leonese languages and Galician-Portuguese, where Spanish innovated in ways that did not spread to nearby languages. Romance initial F- is preserved, e. g. FILIUM > fillo, Romance palatal approximant consistently became medieval, as in medieval Catalan and Portuguese. This becomes modern ch, as a result of the devoicing of sibilants, in Spanish, the medieval result was either, or nothing, depending on the context. IUVENEM > choven, GELARE > chelar, Romance groups -LT-, -CT- result in, e. g. FACTUM > feito, MULTUM > muito. Romance groups -X-, -PS-, SCj- result in voiceless palatal fricative ix, Romance groups -Lj-, -CL-, -TL- result in palatal lateral ll, e. g. MULIERE > muller, ACUTLA > agulla. Open O, E from Romance result systematically in diphthongs, e. g. VETLA > viella and this includes before a palatal approximant, e. g. octō > ueito
6.
Basque language
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Basque is the language spoken by the Basques. Linguistically, Basque is unrelated to the languages of Europe and indeed, as a language isolate. The Basques are indigenous to, and primarily inhabit, the Basque Country, the Basque language is spoken by 27% of Basques in all territories. Of these, 93% are in the Spanish area of the Basque Country, native speakers live in a contiguous area that includes parts of four Spanish territories and the three ancient provinces in France. However, in those Basque-speaking regions that supported the uprising the Basque language was more than merely tolerated, overall, in the 1960s and later, the trend reversed and education and publishing in Basque began to flourish. As a part of process, a standardized form of the Basque language. Besides its standardised version, the five historic Basque dialects are Biscayan, Gipuzkoan, and Upper Navarrese in Spain and they take their names from the historic Basque provinces, but the dialect boundaries are not congruent with province boundaries. Euskara Batua was created so that Basque language could be easily understood by all Basque speakers—in formal situations. In both Spain and France, the use of Basque for education varies from region to region, a language isolate, Basque is believed to be one of the few surviving pre-Indo-European languages in Europe, and the only one in Western Europe. Basque has adopted a good deal of its vocabulary from the Romance languages, the Basque alphabet uses the Latin script. In Basque, the name of the language is officially Euskara, three etymological theories of the name Euskara are taken seriously by linguists and Vasconists. In French, the language is normally called basque, though in recent times euskara has become common, Spanish has a greater variety of names for the language. Today, it is most commonly referred to as el vasco, la lengua vasca, both terms, vasco and basque, are inherited from Latin ethnonym Vascones, which in turn goes back to the Greek term οὐασκώνους, an ethnonym used by Strabo in his Geographica. The Spanish term Vascuence, derived from Latin vasconĭce, has acquired negative connotations over the centuries and is not well-liked amongst Basque speakers generally, Basque is geographically surrounded by Romance languages but is a language isolate unrelated to them. It is the last remaining descendant of one of the languages of Western Europe. Consequently, its prehistory may not be reconstructible by means of the comparative method except by applying it to differences between dialects within the language. Little is known of its origins, but a form of the Basque language likely was present in Western Europe before the arrival of the Indo-European languages to the area. Others find this unlikely, see the aizkora controversy, Latin inscriptions in Gallia Aquitania preserve a number of words with cognates in the reconstructed proto-Basque language, for instance, the personal names Nescato and Cison
7.
Kingdom of Aragon
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The Kingdom of Aragon was a medieval and early modern kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain. The name Aragón is the same as that of the river Aragón and it might derive from the Basque Aragona/Haragona meaning good upper valley. Alternatively, the name may be derived from the earlier Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis, by defeating his brother, García Sánchez III of Navarre, Ramiro achieved independence for Aragon. His son Sancho Ramírez, who inherited the kingdom of Navarre, was the first to call himself King of the Aragonians. As the Aragonian domains expanded to the south, conquering land from Al Andalus, the city moved from Jaca to Huesca. After Alfonso the Battler died childless in 1135, different rulers were chosen for Navarre and Aragon, by 1285 the southernmost areas of what is nowadays Aragon had been taken from the Moors. The King of Aragón was the direct King of the Aragonese region, and held also the title of Count of Provence, Count of Barcelona, Lord of Montpellier, and Duke of Athens and Neopatria. Each of these gave him sovereignty over a certain region. In the 14th century, his power was restricted by the Union of Aragon. The Crown of Aragon became a part of the Spanish monarchy after the union with Castile. One of Ferdinands successors, John II of Aragon, countered residual Catalan resistance by arranging for his heir, Ferdinand, to marry Isabella, in 1479, upon John II’s death, the crowns of Aragon and Castile were united to form the nucleus of modern Spain. The decrees ended the kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia and Mallorca and the Principality of Catalonia, a new Nueva Planta decree in 1711 restored some rights in Aragon, such as the Aragonese Civil Rights, but preserved the end of the political independence of the kingdom. The old kingdom of Aragon survived as a unit until 1833. In the aftermath of Francisco Francos death, in 1982 Aragon became one of the communities of Spain. List of Aragonese monarchs List of Aragonese consorts List of Navarrese monarchs List of Counts of Barcelona
8.
Kingdom of Navarre
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The medieval Kingdom of Pamplona was formed when the native chieftain Íñigo Arista was elected or declared King in Pamplona, and led a revolt against the regional Frankish authority. The southern part of the kingdom was conquered by the Crown of Castile in 1512, the monarchs of this unified state took the title King of France and Navarre until its fall in 1792, and again during the Bourbon Restoration from 1814 until 1830. There are similar earlier toponyms but the first documentation of Latin navarros appears in Eginhards chronicle of the feats of Charles the Great, other Royal Frankish Annals give nabarros. Basque naba/Castilian nava + Basque herri, the linguist Joan Coromines consider naba as not clearly Basque in origin but as part of a wider pre-Roman substrate. The area was conquered by the Romans by 74 BC. It was first part of the Roman province of Citerior, then of the Tarraconensis province, after that it was part of the conventus Caesaraugustanus. The Roman empire influenced the area in urbanization, language, infrastructure, commerce, after the decline of the Western Roman Empire, neither the Visigoths nor the Arabs succeeded in permanently occupying the western Pyrenees. The western Pyrenees passages were the only ones allowing good transit through the mountains and that made the region strategically important from early in its history. The Franks under Charlemagne extended their influence and control towards the south, occupying several regions of the north and it is not clear how solid the Frankish control over Pamplona was. In response, the Cordoban Emirate launched a campaign to place the region under their firm control and it placed a muwallad governor, Mutarrif ibn Musa, in Pamplona. The same year the Basque leader, Jimeno the Strong, submitted to the Emir, in 799, Mutarrif ibn Musa was killed by a pro-Frankish faction whose leader Velasco gained control of the region. In 806 and 812 Pamplona fell into the Franks hands, due to difficulties at home, the Frankish rulers could not give full attention to the outlying borderlands, and the country gradually withdrew entirely from their allegiance. In 816, Louis the Pious removed Seguin as Duke of Vasconia, the rebel Garcia Jiménez arose in his place, and was killed in turn in 818. Louis son Pepin, then King of Aquitaine, stamped out the Vasconic revolt in Gascony and he next hunted the chieftains who had taken refuge in southern Vasconia, i. e. Pamplona and Navarre, no longer controlled by the Franks. He sent an army led by the counts Aeblus and Aznar-Sanchez, on the way back, however, they were ambushed and defeated in Roncesvaux by a probable joint Vasconic-Banu Qasi force. Out of this pattern of resistance against both Frankish and Cordoban interests, the Basque chieftain Íñigo Arista took power, tradition tells he was elected as king of Pamplona in 824, giving rise to a dynasty of kings in Pamplona that would last for eighty years. Pamplona and Navarre are cited as separate entities in a Frankish Carolingian chronicle, Pamplona is cited in 778 by another Frankish account as a Navarrese stronghold, while this may be put down to their vague knowledge of the Basque territory. They distinguished Navarre and its main town in 806 though, while the Chronicle of Fontenelle quotes Induonis et Mitionis, however, Arab chroniclers make no such distinctions, and just talk of the Baskunisi, a transliteration of Vascones, since a big majority of the population was Basque
9.
Saint Peter
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Saint Peter, also known as Simon Peter, Simeon, or Simōn pronunciation, according to the New Testament, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, leaders of the early Christian Great Church. Hippolytus of Rome, a 3rd-century theologian, gave him the title of Apostle of the Apostles, according to Catholic teaching, Peter was ordained by Jesus in the Rock of My Church dialogue in Matthew 16,18. He is traditionally counted as the first Bishop of Rome and by Eastern Christian tradition also as the first Patriarch of Antioch. The ancient Christian churches all venerate Peter as a saint and as founder of the Church of Antioch. The New Testament indicates that Peter was the son of John and was from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee or Gaulanitis and his brother Andrew was also an apostle. According to New Testament accounts, Peter was one of twelve apostles chosen by Jesus from his first disciples, originally a fisherman, he played a leadership role and was with Jesus during events witnessed by only a few apostles, such as the Transfiguration. According to the gospels, Peter confessed Jesus as the Messiah, was part of Jesuss inner circle, thrice denied Jesus and wept bitterly once he realised his deed, according to Christian tradition, Peter was crucified in Rome under Emperor Nero Augustus Caesar. It is traditionally held that he was crucified upside down at his own request, Tradition holds that he was crucified at the site of the Clementine Chapel. His remains are said to be contained in the underground Confessio of St. Peters Basilica. According to Catholic doctrine, the direct successor to Saint Peter is the incumbent pope. Two general epistles in the New Testament are ascribed to Peter, the Gospel of Mark was traditionally thought to show the influence of Peters preaching and eyewitness memories. Peters original name was Shimon or Simeon and he was later given the name Peter, New Testament Greek Πέτρος derived from πέτρα, which means rock. In the Latin translation of the Bible this became Petrus, a form of the feminine petra. Another version of this name is Aramaic, , after his name in Hellenised Aramaic. The English, Dutch and German Peter, French Pierre, the Italian Pietro, the Spanish and Portuguese Pedro, the Syriac or Aramaic word for rock is kepa, which in Greek became Πέτρος, also meaning rock. He is also known as Simon Peter, Cephas and Kepha, both Cephas and Kepha also mean rock. In the New Testament, he is among the first of the disciples called during Jesus ministry, Peter became the first listed apostle ordained by Jesus in the early church. Peter was a fisherman in Bethsaida and he was named Simon, son of Jonah or John
10.
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
11.
Vassal
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A vassal or feudatory is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, the term is applied to similar arrangements in other feudal societies. It is like a land lord some one who own and lets you live on it, in contrast, a fidelity, or fidelitas, was a sworn, unconditional loyalty to a monarch. Such refinements were not included from the outset when it was time of crisis, war, hunger, under feudalism, those who were weakest needed the protection of the knights who owned the weapons and knew how to fight. Feudal society was based on the concept of lordship, which was one of the distinguishing features of the Early Middle Ages and had evolved from times of Late Antiquity. In the time of Charlemagne, the connection slowly developed between vassalage and the grant of land, the form of wealth at that time. Contemporaneous social developments included agricultural manorialism and the social and legal structures labelled — and these developments proceeded at different rates in various regions. In Merovingian times, monarchs would reward only the greatest and most trusted vassals with lands, even at the most extreme devolution of any remnants of central power, in 10th-century France, the majority of vassals still had no fixed estates. The stratification of a band of vassals into distinct groups might roughly correlate with the new term fief that had started to supersede benefice in the 9th century. An upper group comprised great territorial magnates, who were strong enough to ensure the inheritance of their benefice to the heirs of their family, a lower group consisted of landless knights attached to a count or duke. This social settling process also received impetus in fundamental changes in the conduct of warfare, as co-ordinated cavalry superseded disorganized infantry, armies became more expensive to maintain. A vassal needed economic resources to equip the cavalry he was bound to contribute to his lord to fight his frequent wars. Such resources, in the absence of an economy, came only from land and its associated assets. Many empires have set up states, based on tribes, kingdoms, or city-states. In these cases a state has retained internal autonomy, but has lost independence in foreign policy, while and, in many instances. In this framework, a colony or junior ally might also be regarded as a vassal state in terms of international relations. The concept of a state uses the concept of personal vassalry to theorize formally hegemonic relationships between states – even those using non-personal forms of rule. Imperial states to which this terminology has been applied include, for instance, Ancient Rome, the Mongol Empire, and the British Empire
12.
Al-Andalus
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Al-Andalus, also known as Muslim Spain or Islamic Iberia, was a medieval Muslim territory and cultural domain occupying at its peak most of what are today Spain and Portugal. At its greatest geographical extent in the century, southern France—Septimania—was briefly under its control. Rule under these kingdoms led to a rise in cultural exchange, a number of achievements that advanced Islamic and Western science came from al-Andalus including major advances in trigonometry, astronomy, surgery, pharmacology, and other fields. Al-Andalus became an educational center for Europe and the lands around the Mediterranean Sea as well as a conduit for culture. For much of its history, al-Andalus existed in conflict with Christian kingdoms to the north, after the fall of the Umayyad caliphate, al-Andalus was fragmented into a number of minor states and principalities. Attacks from the Christians intensified, led by the Castilians under Alfonso VI, the Almoravid empire intervened and repelled the Christian attacks on the region, deposing the weak Andalusi Muslim princes and included al-Andalus under direct Berber rule. In the next century and a half, al-Andalus became a province of the Berber Muslim empires of the Almoravids and Almohads, ultimately, the Christian kingdoms in the north of the Iberian Peninsula overpowered the Muslim states to the south. In 1085, Alfonso VI captured Toledo, starting a gradual decline of Muslim power, with the fall of Córdoba in 1236, most of the south quickly fell under Christian rule and the Emirate of Granada became a tributary state of the Kingdom of Castile two years later. In 1249, the Portuguese Reconquista culminated with the conquest of the Algarve by Afonso III, finally, on January 2,1492, Emir Muhammad XII surrendered the Emirate of Granada to Queen Isabella I of Castile, completing the Christian Reconquista of the peninsula. The toponym al-Andalus is first attested to by inscriptions on coins minted by the new Muslim government in Iberia, the etymology of the name has traditionally been derived from the name of the Vandals. A number of proposals since the 1980s have contested this, Vallvé proposed a corruption of the name Atlantis, halm derives the name from a Gothic term *landahlauts. Bossong suggests derivation from a pre-Roman substrate and they crossed the Pyrenees and occupied Visigothic Septimania in southern France. Most of the Iberian peninsula became part of the expanding Umayyad Empire and it was organized as a province subordinate to Ifriqiya, so, for the first few decades, the governors of al-Andalus were appointed by the emir of Kairouan, rather than the Caliph in Damascus. Visigothic lords who agreed to recognize Muslim suzerainty were allowed to retain their fiefs, resistant Visigoths took refuge in the Cantabrian highlands, where they carved out a rump state, the Kingdom of Asturias. In the 720s, the al-Andalus governors launched several raids into Aquitaine. At the Battle of Poitiers in 732, the al-Andalus raiding army was defeated by Charles Martel, in 734, the Andalusi launched raids to the east, capturing Avignon and Arles and overran much of Provence. In 737, they climbed up the Rhône valley, reached as far as Burgundy, Charles Martel of the Franks, with the assistance of Liutprand of the Lombards, invaded Burgundy and Provence and expelled the raiders by 739. Relations between Arabs and Berbers in al-Andalus had been tense in the years after the conquest
13.
Taifa
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The caliphate of Cordova, at this time among the richest and most powerful states in Europe, underwent civil war, known as fitna. As a result, it broke into taifas, small rival emirates fighting among themselves, however, the political decline and chaos was not immediately followed by cultural decline. Intense intellectual and literary activity continued in some of the larger taifas, there was a second period when taifas arose, toward the middle of the 12th century, when the Almoravid rulers were in decline. During the heyday of the taifas, in the 11th century and again in the mid 12th century, their emirs competed among themselves, not only militarily and they tried to recruit the most famous poets and artisans. Due to their weakness, taifa princes appealed for North African warriors to come fight Christian kings on two occasions. The Almoravids were invited after the fall of Toledo, and the Almohads after the fall of Lisbon and these warriors did not in fact help the taifa emirs but rather annexed their lands to their own North African empires. Taifas often hired Christian mercenaries to fight neighbouring realms, the most dynamic taifa, which conquered most of its neighbours before the Almoravid invasion, was Seville. Zaragoza was also powerful and expansive, but inhibited by the neighbour Christian states of the Pyrenees. Zaragoza, Toledo, and Badajoz had previously been the military districts of the Caliphate. After the fall of the Caliphate of Cordoba in 1031, about 33 taifas were independent after the civil war, the strongest and largest taifa in this first period were the Taifa of Zaragoza, Taifa of Toledo, Taifa of Badajoz and the Taifa of Seville. The only taifa which conquered most of the neighbours was Taifa of Seville under the Abbadid Dynasty ruler. Al-Tagr Al-Adna This region includes the Centro and Lisboa region of Portugal, Badajoz 1013-1022/1034-1094, 1027-1034,1094 Lisbon 1022-1034, 1034-1093 Al-Garb This region includes the Alentejo and Algarve region of Portugal. Toledo, 1010/1031–1085 Al-Musata This region only includes the provinces of Ciudad Real, Albacete, albarracín, 1011–1104 Alpuente, 1009–1106 Rueda, 1118–30 Tortosa, 1039–1060, 1081/1082–1092 Zaragoza, 1018–1046, 1046–1110 Al-Xarq This region includes the region of Valencia, Murcia and Baleares. Almería, 1011–1091 Denia, 1010/1012–1076 Jérica, 11th century Lorca, 1051–1091 Majorca, purchena, dates and destiny uncertain or unknown Ronda,1145 Santarém. –1147 Segura, 1147–
14.
Valencia
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Its urban area extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of around 1. 5–1.6 million people. Valencia is Spains third largest metropolitan area, with a population ranging from 1.7 to 2.5 million, the Port of Valencia is the 5th busiest container port in Europe and the busiest container port on the Mediterranean Sea. The city is ranked at Gamma in the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, Valencia was founded as a Roman colony by the consul Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus in 138 BC, and called Valentia Edetanorum. In 1238 the Christian king James I of Aragon reconquered the city and divided the land among the nobles who helped him conquer it and he also created a new law for the city, the Furs of Valencia, which were extended to the rest of the Kingdom of Valencia. In the 18th century Philip V of Spain abolished the privileges as punishment to the kingdom of Valencia for aligning with the Habsburg side in the War of the Spanish Succession, Valencia was the capital of Spain when Joseph Bonaparte moved the Court there in the summer of 1812. It also served as capital between 1936 and 1937, during the Second Spanish Republic, the city is situated on the banks of the Turia, on the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula, fronting the Gulf of Valencia on the Mediterranean Sea. Valencia is integrated into an area on the Costa del Azahar. Valencias main festival is the Falles, the traditional Spanish dish, paella, originated in Valencia. The original Latin name of the city was Valentia, meaning strength, or valour, the Roman historian Livy explains that the founding of Valentia in the 2nd century BC was due to the settling of the Roman soldiers who fought against an Iberian rebel, Viriatus. It is not clear if the term Balansiyya was reserved for the entire Taifa of Valencia or also designated the city, by gradual sound changes, Valentia /waˈlentia/ has become Valencia or in Castilian and València in Valencian. In Valencian, the grave accent <è> /ɛ/ contrasts with the acute accent <é> /e/—but the word València is an exception to this rule and it is spelled according to Catalan etymology, though its pronunciation is closer to Vulgar Latin. Valencia stands on the banks of the Turia River, located on the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, at its founding by the Romans, it stood on a river island in the Turia,6.4 km from the sea. The Albufera, a lagoon and estuary about 11 km south of the city, is one of the largest lakes in Spain. The City Council bought the lake from the Crown of Spain for 1,072,980 pesetas in 1911, in 1986, because of its cultural, historical, and ecological value, the Generalitat Valenciana declared it a natural park. Valencia has a Mediterranean climate with short, very mild winters and long, hot and its average annual temperature is 18.4 °C.23.0 °C during the day and 13.8 °C at night. In the coldest month – January, the temperature typically during the day ranges from 14 to 21 °C. In the warmest month – August, the temperature during the day typically ranges from 28–34 °C. Generally, similar temperatures to those experienced in the part of Europe in summer last about 8 months
15.
Almoravid dynasty
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The Almoravid dynasty was a Berber imperial dynasty of Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century that stretched over the western Maghreb, founded by Abdallah ibn Yasin, the Almoravid capital was Marrakesh, a city they founded in 1062. The dynasty originated among the Lamtuna and the Gudala, nomadic Berber tribes of the Sahara and this enabled them to control an empire that stretched 3,000 kilometers north to south. However, the rule of the dynasty was relatively short-lived, the Almoravids fell—at the height of their power—when they failed to quell the Masmuda-led rebellion initiated by Ibn Tumart. As a result, their last king Ishaq ibn Ali was killed in Marrakesh in April 1147 by the Almohad Caliphate, who replaced them as a ruling dynasty both in Morocco and Al-Andalus. The term Almoravid comes from the Arabic al-Murabitun, which is the form of al-Murabit—literally meaning one who is tying. The term is related to the notion of Ribat, a frontier monastery-fortress, another theory states that the name Almoravid comes from a school of Malikite law called Dar al-Murabitin founded in Sus al-Aksa, modern day Morocco, by a certain scholar named Waggag Ibn Zallu. Ibn Zallu sent his student Abdallah ibn Yasin to preach Malikite Islam to the Sanhaja Berbers of the Adrar, hence, the name of the Almoravids comes from the followers of the Dar al-Murabitin, the house of those who were bound together in the cause of God. It is uncertain exactly when or why the Almoravids acquired that appellation, al-Bakri, writing in 1068, before their apex, already calls them the al-Murabitun, but does not clarify the reasons for it. Ibn Idhari wrote that the name was suggested by Ibn Yasin in the persevering in the fight sense,1054, in which they had taken many losses. Whichever explanation is true, it seems certain the appellation was chosen by the Almoravids for themselves, the name might be related to the ribat of Waggag ibn Zallu in the village of Aglu, where the future Almoravid spiritual leader Abdallah ibn Yasin got his initial training. Contemporaries frequently referred to them as the al-mulathimun, the Almoravids veiled themselves below the eyes with a tagelmust, a custom they adapted from southern Sanhaja Berbers. Although practical for the desert dust, the Almoravids insisted on wearing the veil everywhere, as a badge of foreignness in urban settings and it served as the uniform of the Almoravids. Under their rule, sumptuary laws forbade anybody else from wearing the veil, in turn, the succeeding Almohads made a point of mocking the Almoravid veil as symbolic of effeminacy and decadence. The western Sanhaja had been converted to Islam some time in the 9th century and they were subsequently united in the 10th century and, with the zeal of neophyte converts, launched several campaigns against the Sudanese. Under their king Tinbarutan ibn Usfayshar, the Sanhaja Lamtuna erected the citadel of Awdaghust, after the collapse of the Sanhaja union, Awdagust passed over to the Ghana empire, and the trans-Saharan routes were taken over by the Zenata Maghrawa of Sijilmassa. The Maghrawa also exploited this disunion to dislodge the Sanhaja Gazzula and Lamta out of their pasturelands in the Sous, around 1035, the Lamtuna chieftain Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Tifat, tried to reunite the Sanhaja desert tribes, but his reign lasted less than three years. Around 1040, Yahya ibn Ibrahim, a chieftain of the Gudala, on his return, he stopped by Kairouan in Ifriqiya, where he met Abu Imran al-Fasi, a native of Fes and a jurist and scholar of the Sunni Maliki school
16.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
17.
County of Urgell
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The County of Urgell is one of the historical Catalan counties, bordering on the counties of Pallars and Cerdanya. The county of Urgell was carved by the Franks out of a section of the Mark of Toulouse when the Alt Urgell area became part of the Carolingian Empire between 785 and 790. The original territory was made up of the Alt Urgell, also known as Urgellet from the end of the 12th century onwards, the historical capital was first la Seu dUrgell and later Balaguer. Sunifred II of Urgell died without descendants and the county went to his nephew Borrell II, thus the first dynasty of Urgell began with Ermengol I. The first dynasty is known as Barcelona-Urgell. In 1231 Countess Aurembiaix died without descendants and the first dynasty became extinguished, after a period of dynastic squabbles Jaume I acknowledged Ponç IV of Cabrera as the successor to the County of Urgell. The second dynasty is known as Cabrera-Urgell. Ponç I Ermengol IX Àlvar I Ermengol X Ermengol X dUrgell named his niece Teresa dEntença as successor to the county and she was married to Alfons el Benigne, son of James II of Aragon. The third and last dynasty is known as Aragon-Urgell. Jaume I of Urgell Pere II of Urgell Jaume II of Urgell There is also a Roman Catholic diocese of Urgell, the diocese is of ancient origin and traditions of the early Christian church lingered. Felix of Urgels tendencies towards the position of adoptionism was attacked by Alcuin of York in Contra Felicem. Andorra was ceded to the bishop of Urgell by the count Ermengol IV of Urgell in the twelfth century, the bishop of Urgell, who since 2003 has been Joan Enric Vives Sicília, is simultaneously joint head of state of Andorra alongside the President of the French Republic. Counts of Urgell House of Cabrera Viscounty of Àger Bolòs, Jordi, Atles del comtat dUrgell, Barcelona, Rafael Dalmau, Barcelona,2006
18.
Graus
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Graus is a village in the Spanish province of Huesca, located in the Pyrenees at the confluence of rivers Esera and Isabena. It is the capital of the region. It is one of the areas of Aragon in which is preserved the Aragonese language. The Battle of Graus took place here, and Spanish philosopher Baltasar Gracián y Morales was exiled here, during the Spanish Civil War, the village of Graus served as a fairly important local commercial center with 2,600 inhabitants around 1936. It was a stronghold and a centre of collectivization at that time. There are also uninhabited villages, Bafaluy, Cancer, Erdao, Fantova, Grustán, Pano, the first population in Graus is dated from the Paleolithic as is evidenced by the remains found at the site of Las Forcas close to the Morral Rock. After this battle, Graus was ceded to the monastery of St. Victorian of Asan, being responsible for rebuilding and repopulate the town, giving important privileges to those who populate Graus. In 1223, Peter II of Aragon granted the town with the title of Very Noble and Very Old Village of Graus, in 1415 the Dominican friar St. Vincent Ferrer visited the village being invited by Berenguer de Bardaxi. Both were commissioners three years earlier in Caspe, resolving the problem of succession of the Crown of Aragon, the Valencian saint was preaching here with great success, giving in appreciation of all done by the town a crucifix which is preserved and venerated in the local church. The main festivities of the town are dedicated to Vincent Ferrer, centuries later, in 1588, Philip II of Spain set a weekly market every Monday that has lasted until now. Lately, in 1681 Charles II of Spain added the Santa Lucia fair every May, in these centuries is also built the most important monument of the town, the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rock. In the 1920s, Graus incorporates the towns of Barasona and Benavente de Aragón, in the 1960s, Graus incorporates the towns of Aguinalíu, Panillo, Puebla de Fantova and Torruella de Aragon. And finally, in the 1970s, the village absorbs the towns of Chuseu, Güell and this dance has a structure consisting of three different musical fragments, known as Cardelina, Taninaná and Culebreta. It is danced by five groups with a total of twenty dancers, dressed in different outfits, the most striking is that used by the middle frame, whose dancers wears pompous lace, stockings, gloves, necklaces and flowered hats. The explanation for this costume can be found in trying to incorporate the element in a male dance that, originally, was in honour of strength. It is more modern than the one, because his music is a traditional grausina polka introduced in the second half of the 19th century and is played with orchestra. This polka was played on bagpipes before, and was known as the old polka, the dancers dance holding a ribbons around a large pole decorated with ribbons and flowers, representing an ancestral fertility celebration. Previously, it was danced by men until the 1960s
19.
Sobrarbe
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Sobrarbe is one of the comarcas of Aragon, Spain. It is located in the part of the province of Huesca. Many of its people speak the Aragonese language locally known as fabla, the administrative capital is Boltaña and the economic development capital is Aínsa. Sobrarbe was one of the Christian principalities of the Marca Hispanica, legend says there was a Kingdom of Sobrarbe, where a cross appeared upon a tree Latin, Supra Arbore. It became part of the County of Aragon, but in the early 9th century was held for five years by Amrus ibn Yusuf, Sobrarbe was joined to the County of Ribagorza in the early 10th century through marriage to an heiress. However, in the late 10th and early 11th century, a series of incursions from the left it disorganized and depopulated. This was reversed by Sancho the Great of Pamplona, who reconquered the region in 1015, whatever hereditary claim might have existed was subsequently brought to Sancho through his wife Muniadona of Castile, heiress to the Ribagorza counts. Sancho divided the territories he had united, and his son, Gonzalo, was given the counties of Sobrarbe. After the death of Gonzalo in 1038, his illegitimate half-brother Ramiro I of Aragon brought Sobrarbe and Ribagorza into his hands, portal Turístico de la Comarca de Sobrarbe Sobrarbe Geopark Folklore
20.
Pamplona
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Pamplona or Iruña is the historical capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former Kingdom of Navarre. The city is famous worldwide for the running of the bulls during the San Fermín festival and this festival was brought to literary renown with the 1926 publication of Ernest Hemingways novel The Sun Also Rises. Pamplona is located in the middle of Navarre in a valley, known as the Basin of Pamplona. It is 92 km from the city of San Sebastián,117 km from Bilbao,735 km from Paris and 407 km from Madrid, the climate and landscape of the basin is a transition between those two main Navarrese geographical regions. Its central position at crossroads has served as a link between those very different natural parts of Navarre. The historical centre of Angelo is on the bank of the Arga. The city has developed on both sides of the river, the climate of Pamplona is normally classified as oceanic with influences of a semi-continental mediterranean climate. In the winter of 75–74 BC, the served as a camp for the Roman general Pompey in the war against Sertorius. He is considered to be the founder of Pompaelo, which became Pamplona, actually it was the chief town of the Vascones, and they called it Iruña, the city. During the Visigothic period, Pamplona alternated between self-rule, Visigoth domination or Frankish suzerainty in the Duchy of Vasconia. During the beginning of the 6th century, Pamplona probably stuck to an unstable self-rule, circa 581, the Visigoth king Liuvigild overcame the Basques, seized Pamplona, and founded in the town of Victoriacum. After 684 and 693, a bishop called Opilano is mentioned again in 829, followed by Wiliesind, even in the 10th century, important gaps are found in bishop succession, which is recorded unbroken only after 1005. At the time of the Umayyad invasion in 711, the Visigothic king Roderic was fighting the Basques in Pamplona and had to turn his attention to the new enemy coming from the south. By 714-16, the Umayyad troops had reached the Basque-held Pamplona, the position was then garrisoned by Berbers, who were stationed on the outside of the actual fortress, and established the cemetery unearthed not long ago at the Castle Square. In 740, the Wali Uqba ibn al-Hayyay imposed direct central Cordovan discipline on the city, however, in 755 the last governor of Al-Andalus, Yusuf al Fihri, sent an expedition north to quash Basque unrest near Pamplona, resulting in the defeat of the Arab army. From 755 until 781, Pamplona remained autonomous, probably relying on regional alliances, to a considerable extent, that alternation reflected the internal struggles of the Basque warrior nobility. After the Frankish defeat at Roncevaux, Pamplona switched again to Cordovan rule, a Wali or governor was imposed, Mutarrif ibn-Musa up to the 799 rebellion. In that year, the Pamplonese-—possibly led by a certain Velasko-—stirred against their governor, following a failed expedition to the town led by Louis the Pious around 812, allegiance to the Franks collapsed after Enecco Arista rose to prominence
21.
Cinca (Spain)
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The Cinca is a river in Aragon, Spain. Its source is in the Circo de Pineta, in the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park and it is a tributary to the Segre River, with its confluence at La Granja dEscarp, not far from the point where the Segre flows into the Ebro River. The Cinca River flows through an agricultural region. The Cinca is born in the area of Pineta and begins its descent between cascades and torrents, in the mountains of the Tres Sorores and it flows across the entire Pineta valley. In Bielsa it joins with the Barrosa, and somewhat later the Cinqueta, upon reaching Aínsa it is joined on the right side by the Ara River, where the Mediano Reservoir is located. Immediately after the Mediano, after crossing the throat of the Entremón, just after this, it is joined on the left side by the Ésera River, the Cincas most important tributary. On the right side it is joined by the Vero River, later, the Alcanadre pours into it on the right. Finally, in Massalcoreig, it joins the Segre to flow into the Ebro River, the presence of humans is not found in the upper stretches of the river, but only in the middle stretches, although it is known from ancient accounts. The migratory villages, in the first Iron Age, used the Cinca Valley in their path to the interior, the current name of the river comes from Cinga, because Julius Caesar in his account of the civil war used that name. It underwent a change of name under the Moors because it came to have the name Az-Zaytum, Cinca Medio Baix Cinca List of rivers of Spain Cinca River - Geography La Pinzana, Centro de Interpretación del río Cinca Cinca River - Hydrology
22.
Huesca
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Huesca is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the autonomous community of Aragon. It is also the capital of the Spanish province of the same name, in 2009 it had a population of 52,059, almost a quarter of the total population of the province. The city is one of the smallest provincial capitals in Spain, Huesca celebrates its main festival Fiestas de San Lorenzo from 9 to 15 August. Huesca dates from pre-Roman times, and was known as Bolskan in the ancient Iberian language. It was once the capital of the Vescetani, in the north of Hispania Tarraconensis, on the road from Tarraco, during Roman times, the city was known as Osca, and was a Roman colony under the rule of Quintus Sertorius, who made Osca his base. The city minted its own coinage and was the site of a school founded by Sertorius to educate young Iberians in Latin. After Sertorius, it is thought that it was renamed Ileoscan by Strabo and it appears to have been situated on silver mines. The Romanised city was made a municipium by decree of Augustus in 30 BC, the Arabs conquered the city in the late 8th century, and the city came to be called Washqah, falling within the Upper March of the Emirate of Córdoba. In 1094 Sancho Ramirez built the nearby Castle of Montearagón with the intention of laying siege to Wasqah but was killed by an arrow as he reached the citys walls. It was conquered in 1096 by Peter I of Aragon, in 1354, King Peter IV of Aragon founded the University of Huesca, which initially had a faculty of theology. The school expanded, but by the end of the 16th century was eclipsed by the University of Zaragoza, the university was abolished in 1845. During the Spanish Civil War the Huesca Front was the scene of some of the worst fighting between the Republicans and Francos army, the city was besieged by the Republicans, George Orwell among them, but didnt fall. Huesca celebrates its most important annual festival in August, the festival of San Lorenzo, the anniversary of his martyrdom falls on August 10. The fiesta starts on 9 August and finishes on the 15, many of the inhabitants dress in green and white for the duration. San Lorenzo, born in Huesca, was a deacon in Rome, the grille is the symbol of San Lorenzo and can be seen in a number of decorative works in the city. Huesca is also the birthplace of film director Carlos Saura and his brother Antonio Saura, there is an international film festival held annually. The writer Oscar Sipan, winner of several prizes, was born in Huesca in 1974. The celebrated illustrator Isidro Ferrer, though born in Madrid, lives in the city, Huesca lies on a plateau in the northern region of Aragón, at an altitude of 488 m above sea level
23.
Pope Urban II
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Pope Urban II, born Odo of Châtillon or Otho de Lagery, was Pope from 12 March 1088 to his death in 1099. He is best known for initiating the First Crusade and setting up the modern-day Roman Curia in the manner of an ecclesiastical court to help run the Church. Pope Urban II was a native of France and he was a descendant of a noble family in Châtillon-sur-Marne. Urban, baptized Eudes, was born to a family of Châtillon-sur-Marne and he was prior of the abbey of Cluny, later Pope Gregory VII named him cardinal-bishop of Ostia c. 1080. He was one of the most prominent and active supporters of the Gregorian reforms and he was among the four whom Gregory VII nominated as papabile. From the outset, Urban had to reckon with the presence of Guibert, Gregory had repeatedly clashed with the emperor Henry IV over papal authority. Despite the Walk to Canossa, Gregory had backed the rebel Duke of Swabia, Henry finally took Rome in 1084 and installed Clement III in his place. Urban took up the policies of Pope Gregory VII and, while pursuing them with determination, showed greater flexibility, usually kept away from Rome, Urban toured northern Italy and France. He facilitated the marriage of Matilda, countess of Tuscany, with Welf II and he supported the rebellion of Prince Conrad against his father and receiving the office of the groom from him at Cremona in 1095. The Empress Adelaide was encouraged in her charges of coercion against her husband. Urban maintained vigorous support for his predecessors reforms, however, Urban IIs problems included war with Germany, conflict in France, a rival pope and Christians in the East under siege. Perhaps a massive pilgrimage may solve these problems, a great council met, attended by numerous Italian, Burgundian, and French bishops in such vast numbers it had to be held in the open air outside the city of Clermont. Though the Council of Clermont held in November of the year was primarily focused on reforms within the church hierarchy. Urban IIs sermon proved highly effective, as he summoned the nobility and the people to wrest the Holy Land. There exists no exact transcription of the speech that Urban delivered at the Council of Clermont on 27 November 1095, the five extant versions of the speech were written down some time later, and they differ widely from one another. All versions of the speech except that by Fulcher of Chartres were probably influenced by the account of the First Crusade called the Gesta Francorum. Fulcher of Chartres was present at the Council, though he did not start writing his history of the crusade, Robert the Monk may have been present, but his version dates from about 1106. The five versions of Urbans speech reflect much more clearly what later authors thought Urban II should have said to launch the First Crusade than what Urban II himself actually did say
24.
Papal bull
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A Papal bull is a specific kind of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by a pope of the Roman Catholic Church. It is named after the seal that was traditionally appended to the end in order to authenticate it. Papal bulls have been in use at least since the 6th century, but the phrase was not used until around the end of the 13th century, and then only internally for unofficial administrative purposes. However, it had become official by the 15th century, when one of the offices of the Apostolic Chancery was named the register of bulls, by the accession of Pope Leo IX in 1048, a clear distinction developed between two classes of bulls of greater and less solemnity. The majority of the bulls now in existence are in the nature of confirmations of property or charters of protection accorded to monasteries. In an epoch when there was much fabrication of such documents, a Papal confirmation, under certain conditions, could be pleaded as itself constituting sufficient evidence of title in cases where the original deed had been lost or destroyed. Since the 12th century, Papal bulls have carried a seal with the heads of the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul on one side. Papal bulls were issued by the Pope for many kinds of communication of a public nature. Papyrus seems to have used almost uniformly as the material for these documents until the early years of the eleventh century. Popularly, the name is used for any Papal document that contains a metal seal, today, the bull is the only written communication in which the Pope will refer to himself as Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei. For example, when Pope Benedict XVI issued a decree in bull form, while Papal bulls always used to bear a metal seal, they now do so only on the most solemn occasions. A Papal bull is today the most formal type of public decree or letters patent issued by the Vatican Chancery in the name of the Pope, the body of the text had no specific conventions for its formatting, it was often very simple in layout. For the most solemn bulls, the Pope signed the document himself, following the signature in this case would be an elaborate monogram, the signatures of any witnesses, and then the seal. Nowadays, a member of the Roman Curia signs the document on behalf of the Pope, usually the Cardinal Secretary of State, and thus the monogram is omitted. The most distinctive characteristic of a bull was the seal, which was usually made of lead. On the obverse it depicted, originally somewhat crudely, the early Fathers of the Church of Rome, the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, identified by the letters Sanctus PAulus and Sanctus PEtrus. Each head was surrounded by a circle of globetti, and the rim of the seal was surrounded by a ring of such beads. On the reverse was the name of the issuing Pope in the nominative Latin form, with the letters PP, for Pastor Pastorum
25.
Excommunication
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The word excommunication means putting a specific individual or group out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group, Excommunication may involve banishment, shunning, and shaming, depending on the religion, the offense that caused excommunication, or the rules or norms of the religious community. 1 Corinthians 5, 1-8 directs the church at Corinth to excommunicate a man for sexual immorality, in 2 Corinthians 2, 5-11, the man, having repented and suffered the punishment by the majority is restored to the church. In Romans 16,17, Paul writes to mark those who cause divisions contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them. Also, in 2 John 1, 10-11, the writer advises believers that whosoever transgresseth and he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed, within the Catholic Church, there are differences between the discipline of the majority Latin Church regarding excommunication and that of the Eastern Catholic Churches. Excommunication can be either latae sententiae or ferendae sententiae, according to Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki, excommunication does not expel the person from the Catholic Church, but simply forbids the excommunicated person from engaging in certain activities. g. A thus excommunicated bishop cannot validly invest a priest as pastor of a vacant parish and they are urged to retain a relationship with the Church, as the goal is to encourage them to repent and return to active participation in its life. These are the effects for those who have incurred a latae sententiae excommunication. Since excommunication excludes from reception of the sacraments, absolution from excommunication is required before absolution can be given from the sin that led to the censure, in many cases, the whole process takes place on a single occasion in the privacy of the confessional. For some more serious wrongdoings, absolution from excommunication is reserved to a bishop, another ordinary and these can delegate a priest to act on their behalf. Such ceremonies are not held today, and instead are simply announced by the bishop, interdict is a censure similar to excommunication. It too excludes from ministerial functions in public worship and from reception of the sacraments, in the Eastern Catholic Churches, excommunications is imposed only by decree, never incurred automatically by latae sententiae excommunication. A distinction is made between minor and major excommunication and those on whom minor excommunication has been imposed are excluded from receiving the Eucharist and can also be excluded from participating in the Divine Liturgy. They can even be excluded from entering a church when divine worship is being celebrated there, the decree of excommunication must indicate the precise effect of the excommunication and, if required, its duration. They are to be removed from participation in the Divine Liturgy, and they are deprived of the right to vote or to be elected. Minor excommunication is roughly equivalent to the interdict in Western law, under current law, an excommunicate is never vitandus. Persons belonging to an Eastern Catholic Church are never subject to a latae sententiae punishment, according to the Code of Canon Law of 1917, the excommunications reserved to the Apostolic See were grouped in three categories, those reserved 1
26.
Saint George's Cross
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Saint Georges Cross, also called Cross of Saint George, is a red cross on a white background. Sometimes associated with Saint George, the saint, often depicted as a crusader from the late Middle Ages, the cross has appeared on many flags, emblems, standards. Its first documented use was as the ensign of the Republic of Genoa, the cross is also found, for various reasons, on the provincial flags of Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel and Barcelona. In Northern Ireland the cross appears on the flag of the loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force, Saint George became widely venerated as a warrior saint during the Third Crusade. There was a legend that he had miraculously assisted Godfrey of Bouillon, however, there was no association of the red cross with St George before the end of the crusades. The red-on-white combination was chosen by Genoa and Aragon, among others, Saint George was depicted as a crusader knight during this time, but the red cross had no particular association with him. A crusader-era fresco in the crypt of Trani cathedral shows Saint George wearing a cross on a red surcoat. It continued to be used as the Reichssturmfahne of the Holy Roman Empire, eventually giving rise to the flag of Savoy and the present-day flags of Switzerland and Denmark). The association with the Saint of the red-on-white cross probably arises in Genoa, a vexillum beati Georgii is mentioned in the Genovese annals for the year 1198, referring to a red flag with a depiction of St George and the dragon. An illumination of this flag is shown in the annals for the year 1227, the Genoese flag with the red cross was used alongside this Georges flag, from at least 1218, and was known as the insignia cruxata comunis Janue. The flag showing the saint himself was the principal war flag. The cross ceased to be a symbol associated with the taking of the cross. With the development of heraldry, there was great demand for variations of the cross symbol. Juliana Berners reports that there were Crossis innumerabull born dayli, the term St Georges cross was at first associated with any plain Greek cross touching the edges of the field. Thomas Fuller in 1647 spoke of the plain or St Georges cross as the mother of all the others. Edward III of England chose Saint George as the saint of his Order of the Garter in 1348. There was a tradition claiming that Richard the Lionheart himself adopted both the flag and the patron saint from Genoa at some point during his crusade. This idea can be traced to the Victorian era, Perrin refers to it as a common belief, the English Monarch paid an annual tribute to the Doge of Genoa for this privilege
27.
Sardinia
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Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and an autonomous region of Italy. It is located in the Western Mediterranean, just south of the French island of Corsica, the regions official name is Regione Autonoma della Sardegna / Regione Autònoma de Sardigna, and its capital and largest city is Cagliari. It is divided into four provinces and a metropolitan city and its indigenous language and the other minority languages spoken by the Sardinians enjoy equal dignity with Italian under regional law. The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *srd-, later romanised as sardus and it makes its first appearance on the Nora Stone, where the word Šrdn testifies to the names existence when the Phoenician merchants first arrived. According to Timaeus, one of Platos dialogues, Sardinia and its people as well might have named after Sardò. There has also been speculation that identifies the ancient Nuragic Sards with the Sherden, in Classical antiquity, Sardinia was called Ichnusa, Σανδάλιον Sandal, Sardinia and Sardó. Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 24,100 square kilometres and it is situated between 38°51 and 41°18 latitude north and 8°8 and 9°50 east longitude. To the west of Sardinia is the Sea of Sardinia, a unit of the Mediterranean Sea, to Sardinias east is the Tyrrhenian Sea, the nearest land masses are the island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia, the Balearic Islands, and Provence. The Tyrrhenian Sea portion of the Mediterranean Sea is directly to the east of Sardinia between the Sardinian east coast and the west coast of the Italian mainland peninsula, the Strait of Bonifacio is directly north of Sardinia and separates Sardinia from the French island of Corsica. The island has an ancient geoformation and, unlike Sicily and mainland Italy, is not earthquake-prone and its rocks date in fact from the Palaeozoic Era. Due to long erosion processes, the highlands, formed of granite, schist, trachyte, basalt, sandstone and dolomite limestone. The highest peak is Punta La Marmora, part of the Gennargentu Ranges in the centre of the island. The islands ranges and plateaux are separated by wide valleys and flatlands. Sardinia has few rivers, the largest being the Tirso,151 km long, which flows into the Sea of Sardinia, the Coghinas. There are 54 artificial lakes and dams that supply water and electricity, the main ones are Lake Omodeo and Lake Coghinas. The only natural lake is Lago di Baratz. A number of large, shallow, salt-water lagoons and pools are located along the 1,850 km of the coastline, the climate of the island is variable from area to area, due to several factors including the extension in latitude and the elevation. During the year there is a concentration of rainfall in the winter and autumn, some heavy showers in the spring
28.
Historia Roderici
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It is generally written in a simple, unadorned Latin by an author who reveals no knowledge of a wide reading, his only reference to other literature is a Biblical reminiscence in chapter 28. Modern editors have divided the work into seventy-seven chapters, the author apparently knew little of Rodrigos life before his marriage to Jimena, and the whole of it is narrated in the first six chapters. The details of Rodrigos career leading up to and including his exile in Zaragoza are related with more confidence. The period of Rodrigos return to the court of Alfonso VI of León and to Castile are passed over quickly, as are the years 1095–96, the largest portion of the history is devoted to his second exile and conquest of Valencia. The final section covers the last two years of Rodrigos life and a brief epilogue describes the Christian evacuation of Valencia in 1102 under the direction of Jimena. The coverage is by no means even, as the author admits in chapter 27, Not all the wars and warlike exploits which Rodrigo accomplished with his knights, the earliest preserved manuscript of the work dates to the first half of the thirteenth century. It was found in the eighteenth century in San Isidoro in León. It is now MS 9/4922 in the library of the Real Academia de la Historia in Madrid, several errors in the Historia Roderici indicate that this manuscript is a copy. Fletcher tentatively dates the Historia to before 1125, in chapter 23, the scribe of the Madrid manuscript put Súnchez for the correct patronymic Sánchez, an orthographic error that may originate in a misreading of Visigothic script. The script, once common all over Spain, was disappearing in central Spain by 1125 and was all but extinct there by the 1140s, replaced by the script called francesa, since the Visigothic a had an open top, it resembled the French u. The copyist was probably working from a Visigothic original, the Aristocracy in Twelfth-Century León and Castile. The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VI, 1065–1109
29.
Yusuf ibn Tashfin
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Yusuf ibn Tashfin also, Tashafin, or Teshufin, or Yusuf, was leader of the Moroccan Almoravid empire. He co-founded the city of Marrakech and led the Muslim forces in the Battle of Zallaqa/Sagrajas, Ibn Tashfin came to al-Andalus from Africa to help the Muslims fight against Alfonso VI, eventually achieving victory and promoting an Islamic system in the region. He was married to Zainab al-Nafzawiyya, whom he reportedly trusted politically, Yusuf ibn Tashfin emerged from a line of Berber military leaders. His brother oversaw the military for ibn Yasin but was killed in a Saharan revolt in 1056, Ibn Yasin, too, would die in battle against the Barghawata three years later. He appears to have handed him this authority in the interim but even went as far as to give Yusuf his wife, Zaynab an-Nafzawiyyat, purportedly the richest woman of Aghmāt. Daunted by Yusufs new-found power, Abu Bakr saw any attempts at recapturing his post politically unfeasible, the Taifa period followed the demise of the Umayyad Caliphate. The tribute of the emirs bolstered the economy of the Christian kingdom, I am loath to have my name cursed in every Muslim pulpit. And, for my part, I would rather be a camel-driver in Africa than a swineherd in Castile and he is regarded as the co-founder of the famous Moroccan city Marrakech. The site had been chosen and work started by Abu Bakr in 1070, the work was completed by Yusef, who then made it the capital of his empire, in place of the former capital Aghmāt. Yusefs cavalry was said to have included 6,000 shock troops from Senegal mounted on white Arabian horses, camels were also put to use. The death of Yusefs heir, however, prompted his return to Africa. The emirs in such cities as Seville, Badajoz, Almeria, on top of doling out tribute to the Christians and giving Andalusian Jews unprecedented freedoms and authority, they had levied burdensome taxes on the populace to maintain this lifestyle. After a series of fatwas and careful deliberation, Yusef saw the implementation of orthodoxy as long overdue and that year he exiled the emirs Abdallah and his brother Tamim from Granada and Málaga, respectively, to Aghmāt, and a year later al-Mutamid of Seville suffered the same fate. When all was said and done, Yusef united all of the Muslim dominions of the Iberian Peninsula, with the exception of Zaragoza, to the Kingdom of Morocco, and situated his royal court at Marrakech. He took the title of Amir al-muslimin, seeing himself as serving the caliph of Baghdad. The military might of the Almoravids was at its peak, the Sanhaja confederation, which consisted of a hierarchy of Lamtuna, Musaffa and Djudalla Berbers, represented the militarys top brass. The occupying forces of the Almoravids were made up largely of horsemen, soldiers on foot used bows & arrows, sabres, pikes, javelins, each protected by a cuirass of Moroccan leather and iron-spiked shields. Yusef also established bases in Cadiz, Almeria and neighboring ports along the Mediterranean
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