1.
Pietro Ottoboni (cardinal)
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Pietro Ottoboni was an Italian cardinal and grandnephew of Pope Alexander VIII. He is remembered especially as a patron of music and art. Ottoboni was the last person to hold the office of Cardinal-nephew. Ottoboni loved pomp, prodigality and sensual pleasure, but was in the same kind, ready to serve. Pietro was born in Venice to the noble Ottoboni family, whose most prominent member had been his granduncle Pope Alexander VIII, the family had bought their way into Venetian nobility in the 17th century. He received the tonsure and the minor orders on 20 October 1689 and was created cardinal deacon in the consistory of 7 November 1689. He was superintendent general of the affairs of the Apostolic See and he held the office of vice-chancellor of the Holy Roman Church from 14 November 1689 until 29 February 1740. He was cardinal-bishop of Sabina 1725, cardinal-bishop of Frascati,1730, Cardinal-bishop of Porto and Santa Rufina,1734, Ottoboni was also Archpriest of the patriarchal Liberian Basilica, secretary of the Roman Inquisition, Archpriest of the patriarchal Lateran Basilica and Grand prior of Ireland. Ottoboni was one of the patrons of his generation. He resided in the Palazzo della Cancelleria, where he had begun to construct a theatre in 1689, the favourite of Cardinal Ottoboni, Andrea Adami, a castrato, was appointed master of the papal choir in the Sistine Chapel. Between 1709 and 1710 Filippo Juvarra entered the court and enlarged the theatre, domenico Paradisi and Angelo de Rossi were responsible for decoration of the palace suites. Ottoboni supported Arcangelo Corelli, the finest violinist of his generation, through these concerts, Corelli was introduced to Handel. Other protégés of the cardinal were Alessandro Scarlatti, Antonio Vivaldi, as his father Antonio Ottoboni also did, Pietro Ottoboni wrote texts of cantatas, and librettos for oratorios, such as for Scarlattis La Giuditta of 1693. When opera was banned in Rome, performances withdrew to Ottobonis Cancelleria and his triumphal return to Venice in 1726 was celebrated with musical festivities that included a serenata Andromeda liberata, with arias contributed by various Venetian masters, including Vivaldi. One of his most important commissions was the Seven Sacraments executed in 1712 by Giuseppe Maria Crespi, in 1735 he donated his Roman sculptures and other antiquities to the Capitoline Museums. The last decade of Ottobinis life was his most active as a patron, Ottoboni was considered papabile, but left the conclave with a fever. His heirs took advantage of the vacant papacy and removed everything portable from the Cancelleria, there is a full description of the cardinals paintings, which locates them by room. It presents a picture of his extensive acquisitions over a period of fifty years
2.
Pope
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The pope is the Bishop of Rome and, therefore, the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church. The current pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013, the office of the pope is the papacy. The pope is considered one of the worlds most powerful people because of his diplomatic and he is also head of state of Vatican City, a sovereign city-state entirely enclaved within the Italian capital city of Rome. The papacy is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in world history, the popes in ancient times helped in the spread of Christianity and the resolution of various doctrinal disputes. In the Middle Ages, they played a role of importance in Western Europe. Currently, in addition to the expansion of the Christian faith and doctrine, the popes are involved in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, charitable work, Popes, who originally had no temporal powers, in some periods of history accrued wide powers similar to those of temporal rulers. In recent centuries, popes were gradually forced to give up temporal power, the word pope derives from Greek πάππας meaning father. The earliest record of the use of title was in regard to the by then deceased Patriarch of Alexandria. Some historians have argued that the notion that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, the writings of the Church Father Irenaeus who wrote around AD180 reflect a belief that Peter founded and organised the Church at Rome. Moreover, Irenaeus was not the first to write of Peters presence in the early Roman Church, Clement of Rome wrote in a letter to the Corinthians, c. 96, about the persecution of Christians in Rome as the struggles in our time and presented to the Corinthians its heroes, first, the greatest and most just columns, the good apostles Peter and Paul. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote shortly after Clement and in his letter from the city of Smyrna to the Romans he said he would not command them as Peter and Paul did. Given this and other evidence, many agree that Peter was martyred in Rome under Nero. Protestants contend that the New Testament offers no proof that Jesus established the papacy nor even that he established Peter as the first bishop of Rome, others, using Peters own words, argue that Christ intended himself as the foundation of the church and not Peter. First-century Christian communities would have had a group of presbyter-bishops functioning as leaders of their local churches, gradually, episcopacies were established in metropolitan areas. Antioch may have developed such a structure before Rome, some writers claim that the emergence of a single bishop in Rome probably did not occur until the middle of the 2nd century. In their view, Linus, Cletus and Clement were possibly prominent presbyter-bishops, documents of the 1st century and early 2nd century indicate that the Holy See had some kind of pre-eminence and prominence in the Church as a whole, though the detail of what this meant is unclear. It seems that at first the terms episcopos and presbyter were used interchangeably, the consensus among scholars has been that, at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, local congregations were led by bishops and presbyters whose offices were overlapping or indistinguishable
3.
Pope Innocent XI
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Pope Innocent XI, born Benedetto Odescalchi, was Pope from 21 September 1676 to his death in 1689. He is known in Budapest as the Saviour of Hungary, much of his reign was concerned with tension with Louis XIV of France. A conservative, he lowered taxes in the Papal States during his pontificate, because of this surplus he repudiated excessive nepotism within the church. Innocent XI was frugal in matters of governing the Papal States, once he was elected to the papacy, he applied himself to moral and administrative reform of the Roman Curia. He abolished sinecures and pushed for greater simplicity in preaching as well as greater reverence in worship—requesting this of both the clergy and faithful. Benedetto Odescalchi was born at Como on 16 May 1611, the son of a Como nobleman, Livio Odescalchi and his siblings were Carlo, Lucrezia, Giulio Maria, Constantino, Nicola and Paolo. He also had several descendants of note through his sister, her grandson Cardinal Baldassare Erba-Odescalchi, Cardinal Benedetto Erba Odescalchi. The Odescalchi, a family of nobility, were determined entrepreneurs. In 1619, Benedettos brother founded a bank with his three uncles in Genoa which quickly grew into a successful money-lending business, after completing his studies in grammar and letters, the 15-year-old Benedetto moved to Genoa to take part in the family business as an apprentice. Lucrative economic transactions were established with clients in the major Italian and European cities, such as Nuremberg, Milan, Kraków, in 1626 Benedettos father died, and he began schooling in the humane sciences taught by the Jesuits at his local college, before transferring to Genoa. In 1630 he narrowly survived an outbreak of plague, which killed his mother, some time between 1632 and 1636, Benedetto decided to move to Rome and then Naples in order to study civil law. He subsequently became legate to Ferrara, when he was sent to Ferrara in order to assist the people stricken with a severe famine, the Pope introduced him to the people of Ferrara as the father of the poor. In 1650, Odescalchi became bishop of Novara, in which capacity he spent all the revenues of his see to relieve the poor, with the permission of the pope he resigned as bishop of Novara in favor of his brother Giulio in 1656 and went to Rome. While there he took a prominent part in the consultations of the congregations of which he was a member. Odescalchi was a papal candidate after the death of Pope Clement IX in 1669. After Pope Clement X died, Louis XIV of France again intended to use his influence against Odescalchis election. On 21 September 1676, Odescalchi was chosen to be Clement Xs successor and he chose this name in honour of Pope Innocent X, who made him a cardinal in 1645. He was formally crowned as pontiff on 4 October 1676 by the protodeacon, immediately upon his accession, Innocent XI turned all his efforts towards reducing the expenses of the Curia
4.
Pope Innocent XII
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Pope Innocent XII, born Antonio Pignatelli, was Pope from 12 July 1691 to his death in 1700. He took a stance against nepotism in the church, continuing the policies of Pope Innocent XI. To that end, he issued a papal bull strictly forbidding it, Antonio Pignatelli was born on 13 March 1615 in Spinazzola to one of the most aristocratic families of the Kingdom of Naples, which had included several Viceroys and ministers of the crown. He was the fourth of five children of Francesco Pignatelli and Porzia Carafa and his other siblings were Marzio, Ludovico, Fabrizio and Paola Maria. He was educated at the Collegio Romano in Rome where he earned a doctorate in canon and civil law. At the age of 20 he became an official of the court of Pope Urban VIII, Pignatelli was the Referendary of the Apostolic Signatura and served as the Governor of Fano and Viterbo. Later he went to Malta where he served as an inquisitor from 1646 to 1649, shortly after this, he received his priestly ordination. Pignatelli was made Titular Archbishop of Larissa in 1652 and received consecration in Rome. Pignatelli served as the Apostolic Nuncio to Poland from 1660 to 1668 and he was transferred to Lecce in 1671. Pope Innocent XI appointed him as the Cardinal-Priest of San Pancrazio in 1681 and he was moved to his final post as Archbishop of Naples in 1686. Pope Alexander VIII died in 1691 and the College of Cardinals assembled to hold a conclave to select his successor, factions loyal to the Kingdom of France, Kingdom of Spain and the broader Holy Roman Empire failed to agree on a consensus candidate. After five months, Cardinal Pignatelli emerged as a compromise candidate between the cardinals of France and those of the Holy Roman Empire, Pignatelli took his new name in honour of Pope Innocent XI and was crowned on 15 July 1691 by the protodeacon, Cardinal Urbano Sacchetti. He took possession of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran on 13 April 1692, immediately after his election on 12 July 1691, Innocent XII declared his opposition to the nepotism which had afflicted the reigns of previous popes. Further, only one relative was to be raised to the cardinalate, at the same time he sought to check the simony in the practices of the Apostolic Chamber and to that end introduced a simpler and more economical manner of life into his court. Innocent XII said that the poor were his nephews and compared his public beneficence to the nepotism of many predecessors, Innocent XII also introduced various reforms into the States of the Church including the Forum Innocentianum, designed to improve the administration of justice dispensed by the Church. In 1693 he compelled French bishops to retract the four propositions relating to the Gallican Liberties which had been formulated by the assembly of 1682. In 1699, he decided in favour of Jacques-Benigne Bossuet in that prelates controversy with Fénelon about the Explication des Maximes des Saints sur la Vie Intérieure of the latter, Innocent XII also created 30 cardinals in four consistories. He canonized Saint Zita of Lucca on 5 September 1696, Innocent XII beatified Augustin Kažotić on 17 July 1701 and approved the cultus of Angela of Foligno in 1693
5.
Pope Innocent X
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Pope Innocent X, born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj, was Pope from 15 September 1644 to his death in 1655. Trained as a lawyer, he succeeded Pope Urban VIII on 15 September 1644, as one of the most politically shrewd pontiffs of the era, Giovanni Battista Pamphili was born in Rome on 5 May 1574, the son of Camillo Pamphili, of the Roman Pamphili family. The family, originally from Gubbio, was descended from Pope Alexander VI. In 1594 he graduated from the Collegio Romano and followed a conventional cursus honorum and he served as a Consistorial lawyer in 1601, and in 1604 succeeded his uncle, Cardinal Girolamo Pamphilj, as auditor of the Roman Rota, the ecclesiastical appellate tribunal. He was also a canonist of the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary, a second tribunal, in 1623 Pope Gregory XV sent him as nuncio to the court of the Kingdom of Naples. In 1625 Urban VIII sent him to accompany his nephew, Francesco Barberini, in January 1626 Pamphili was appointed titular Latin Patriarch of Antioch. The 1644 conclave for the election of a successor to Urban VIII was long and stormy, the large French faction led by Pope Urbans nephews objected to the Spanish candidate, as an enemy of Cardinal Mazarin, who guided French policy. They put up their own candidate but could not establish enough support for him and agreed to Pamphilj as an acceptable compromise, Mazarin, bearing the French veto of Cardinal Pamphilj, arrived too late, and the election was accomplished. Soon after his accession, Innocent X initiated legal action against the Barberini for misappropriation of public funds, the brothers Francesco Barberini, Antonio Barberini and Taddeo Barberini fled to Paris, where they found a powerful protector in Cardinal Mazarin. The French parliament declared the ordinance void in France. In 1653, Innocent X with the Cum occasione papal bull condemned five propositions of Janseniuss Augustinus, inspired by St. Augustine, as heretical and close to Lutheranism. The death of Pope Urban VIII is said to have been hastened by chagrin at the result of the First War of Castro, a war he had undertaken against Odoardo Farnese, the duke of Parma. Hostilities between the papacy and the Duchy of Parma resumed in 1649, and forces loyal to Pope Innocent X destroyed the city of Castro on 2 September 1649, the protests were ignored by the European powers. Olimpia Maidalchini, who had married to his late brother, was believed to be Innocent Xs mistress because of her influence over him in matters of promotion. The relationship between Olimpia and Innocent X, both before and during his papacy, is the concern of the book Mistress of the Vatican by Eleanor Hermann. The less-than-subtle political statement still hangs in a chapel of the Capuchin friars Church of the Conception in Rome. During the papacy of Pope Urban VIII, Giovanni Battista Pamphilj was the popes most significant rival among the College of Cardinals, Antonio Barberini, the popes brother, was a cardinal who had begun his career with the Capuchin brothers. He raised Colegio de Nuestra Senora del Santisimo Rosario to a University in November 20,1645 during his pontificate, in 1650, Innocent X celebrated a Jubilee
6.
Venice
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Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is situated across a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and these are located in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay that lies between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, the lagoon and a part of the city are listed as a World Heritage Site. In 2014,264,579 people resided in Comune di Venezia, together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, with a total population of 2.6 million. PATREVE is a metropolitan area without any degree of autonomy. The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC, the city was historically the capital of the Republic of Venice. Venice has been known as the La Dominante, Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, City of Water, City of Masks, City of Bridges, The Floating City, and City of Canals. The City State of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial center which gradually emerged from the 9th century to its peak in the 14th century and this made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. It is also known for its several important artistic movements, especially the Renaissance period, Venice has played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music, and it is the birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi. Venice has been ranked the most beautiful city in the world as of 2016, the name Venetia, however, derives from the Roman name for the people known as the Veneti, and called by the Greeks Eneti. The meaning of the word is uncertain, although there are other Indo-European tribes with similar-sounding names, such as the Celtic Veneti, Baltic Veneti, and the Slavic Wends. Linguists suggest that the name is based on an Indo-European root *wen, so that *wenetoi would mean beloved, lovable, a connection with the Latin word venetus, meaning the color sea-blue, is also possible. The alternative obsolete form is Vinegia, some late Roman sources reveal the existence of fishermen on the islands in the original marshy lagoons. They were referred to as incolae lacunae, the traditional founding is identified with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo on the islet of Rialto — said to have taken place at the stroke of noon on 25 March 421. Beginning as early as AD166 to 168, the Quadi and Marcomanni destroyed the center in the area. The Roman defences were again overthrown in the early 5th century by the Visigoths and, some 50 years later, New ports were built, including those at Malamocco and Torcello in the Venetian lagoon. The tribuni maiores, the earliest central standing governing committee of the islands in the Lagoon, the traditional first doge of Venice, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was actually Exarch Paul, and his successor, Marcello Tegalliano, was Pauls magister militum. In 726 the soldiers and citizens of the Exarchate rose in a rebellion over the controversy at the urging of Pope Gregory II
7.
Republic of Venice
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It was based in the lagoon communities of the historically prosperous city of Venice. It was a leading European economic and trading power during the Middle Ages, the Venetian city state was founded as a safe haven for people escaping persecution in mainland Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. In its early years, it prospered on the salt trade, in subsequent centuries, the city state established a thalassocracy. It dominated trade on the Mediterranean Sea, including commerce between Asia, Europe and North Africa, the Venetian navy was used in the Crusades. Venice achieved territorial conquests along the Adriatic Sea, the city became home to an extremely wealthy merchant class, who patronized renowned art and architecture along the citys lagoons. Venetian merchants were influential financiers in Europe, the city was also the birthplace of great European explorers, including Marco Polo, as well as the classical music composer Vivaldi. The republic was ruled by the Doge, who was elected by members of the Great Council of Venice, the ruling class was an oligarchy of merchants and aristocrats. Venice and other Italian maritime republics played a key role in fostering capitalism, Venetian citizens generally supported the system of governance. The city-state enforced strict laws and employed ruthless tactics in its prisons, the opening of new trade routes to the Americas and the East Indies via the Atlantic Ocean marked the beginning of Venices decline as a maritime republic. The city state suffered defeats from the navy of the Ottoman Empire, in 1797, the country was colonized by Austria and France, following an invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte. Venice became a part of a unified Italy in the 19th century and it was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in reference to its title as one of the Most Serene Republics. He was the first historical Doge of Venice, whichever the case, the first doges had their power base in Heraclea. Ursuss successor, Deusdedit, moved his seat from Heraclea to Malamocco in the 740s and he was the son of Ursus and represented the attempt of his father to establish a dynasty. Such attempts were more commonplace among the doges of the first few centuries of Venetian history. They desired to remain well-connected to the Empire, another faction, republican in nature, believed in continuing along a course towards practical independence. The other main faction was pro-Frankish, supported mostly by clergy, they looked towards the new Carolingian king of the Franks, Pepin the Short, as the best provider of defence against the Lombards. A minor, pro-Lombard faction was opposed to close ties with any of these further-off powers, the successors of Obelerio inherited a united Venice. By the Pax Nicephori, the two emperors had recognised that Venice belonged to the Byzantine sphere of influence, many centuries later, the Venetians claimed that the treaty had recognised Venetian de facto independence, but the truth of this claim is doubted by modern scholars
8.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
9.
Papal States
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The Papal States, officially the State of the Church, were territories in the Italian Peninsula under the sovereign direct rule of the pope, from the 8th century until 1870. They were among the states of Italy from roughly the 8th century until the Italian Peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. At their zenith, they covered most of the modern Italian regions of Lazio, Marche, Umbria and Romagna and these holdings were considered to be a manifestation of the temporal power of the pope, as opposed to his ecclesiastical primacy. By 1861, much of the Papal States territory had been conquered by the Kingdom of Italy, only Lazio, including Rome, remained under the Popes temporal control. In 1870, the pope lost Lazio and Rome and had no physical territory at all, Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini ended the crisis between unified Italy and the Vatican by signing the Lateran Treaty, granting the Vatican City State sovereignty. The Papal States were also known as the Papal State, the territories were also referred to variously as the State of the Church, the Pontifical States, the Ecclesiastical States, or the Roman States. For its first 300 years the Catholic Church was persecuted and unrecognized and this system began to change during the reign of the emperor Constantine I, who made Christianity legal within the Roman Empire, and restoring to it any properties that had been confiscated. The Lateran Palace was the first significant new donation to the Church, other donations followed, primarily in mainland Italy but also in the provinces of the Roman Empire. But the Church held all of these lands as a private landowner, the seeds of the Papal States as a sovereign political entity were planted in the 6th century. Beginning In 535, the Byzantine Empire, under emperor Justinian I, launched a reconquest of Italy that took decades and devastated Italys political, just as these wars wound down, the Lombards entered the peninsula from the north and conquered much of the countryside. While the popes remained Byzantine subjects, in practice the Duchy of Rome, nevertheless, the pope and the exarch still worked together to control the rising power of the Lombards in Italy. As Byzantine power weakened, though, the took a ever larger role in defending Rome from the Lombards. In practice, the papal efforts served to focus Lombard aggrandizement on the exarch, a climactic moment in the founding of the Papal States was the agreement over boundaries embodied in the Lombard king Liutprands Donation of Sutri to Pope Gregory II. When the Exarchate of Ravenna finally fell to the Lombards in 751, the popes renewed earlier attempts to secure the support of the Franks. In 751, Pope Zachary had Pepin the Younger crowned king in place of the powerless Merovingian figurehead king Childeric III, zacharys successor, Pope Stephen II, later granted Pepin the title Patrician of the Romans. Pepin led a Frankish army into Italy in 754 and 756, Pepin defeated the Lombards – taking control of northern Italy – and made a gift of the properties formerly constituting the Exarchate of Ravenna to the pope. The cooperation between the papacy and the Carolingian dynasty climaxed in 800, when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor, the precise nature of the relationship between the popes and emperors – and between the Papal States and the Empire – is disputed. Events in the 9th century postponed the conflict, the Holy Roman Empire in its Frankish form collapsed as it was subdivided among Charlemagnes grandchildren
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Alexander (popes)". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 556.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the 
