Pope Leo IX, born Bruno of Egisheim-Dagsburg, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 12 February 1049 to his death in 1054. He was a powerful ruler of central Italy while holding the papacy, he is regarded as a saint by the Catholic Church, his feast day celebrated on 19 April. Leo IX is considered the most significant German pope of the Middle Ages. Leo IX favored traditional morality in his reformation of the Catholic Church. One of his first public acts was to hold the well-known Easter synod of 1049, he joined Henry III in Saxony and accompanied him to Cologne and Aachen, he summoned a meeting of the higher clergy in Reims in which several important reforming decrees were passed. At Mainz he held a council at which the Italian and French as well as the German clergy were represented, ambassadors of the Roman Emperor were present. Here too and the marriage of the clergy were the principal matters dealt with, he was a native of Egisheim, Upper Alsace. His family was of noble rank, his father was a first cousin of Emperor Conrad II.

At the age of five, Bruno was committed to the care of Berthold, Bishop of Toul, who had a school for the sons of the nobility. In 1017 Bruno became a canon at St. Stephen's in Toul. When, in 1024, his cousin Conrad succeeded Henry II as Holy Roman Emperor, Bruno's relatives sent him to the new king's court "to serve in his chapel". Bruno was a deacon in 1026 when Conrad set out for Italy to make his authority respected in that portion of his dominions, as Herimann, Bishop of Toul, was too old to lead his contingent into the peninsula, he entrusted the command of it to Bruno. While he was thus in the midst of arms, Bishop Herimann died and Bruno was at once elected to succeed him. Conrad, who destined him for higher things, was loath to allow him to accept, but Bruno induced the emperor to permit him to take the see. Consecrated in 1027, Bruno administered the Diocese of Toul for over twenty years, during a time of stress and trouble, he had to contend not with famine, but with war, to which as a frontier town Toul was much exposed.

Bruno rendered important political services to Conrad II, afterwards to Emperor Henry III. He knew how to make peace, if necessary, to wield the sword in self-defence. Sent by Conrad to Robert the Pious, he established so firm a peace between France and the empire that it was not again broken during the reigns of the sons of both Conrad and Robert. On the other hand, he held his episcopal city against Eudes, Count of Blois, a rebel against Conrad, "by his wisdom and exertions" added Burgundy to the empire, he became known as an earnest and reforming ecclesiastic by the zeal he showed in spreading the rule of the order of Cluny. It was whilst he was bishop that he was saddened by the death not of his father and mother, but of two of his brothers. Amid his trials Bruno found some consolation in music, in which he proved himself efficient. On the death of Pope Damasus II in 1048, Bruno was selected as his successor by an assembly at Worms in December. Both the Emperor and the Roman delegates concurred.

However, Bruno favored a canonical election and stipulated as a condition of his acceptance that he should first proceed to Rome and be elected by the voice of the clergy and people of Rome. Setting out shortly after Christmas, he met with abbot Hugh of Cluny at Besançon, where he was joined by the young monk Hildebrand, who afterwards became Pope Gregory VII. Leo IX favored celibacy for clergy in his reformation of the Catholic Church. One of his first public acts was to hold the well-known Easter synod of 1049, at which celibacy of the clergy was required anew; the Easter synod was where the Pope at least succeeded in making clear his own convictions against every kind of simony. The greater part of the year that followed was occupied in one of those progresses through Italy and France which form a marked feature in Leo IX's pontificate. After presiding over a synod at Pavia, he joined Henry III in Saxony and accompanied him to Cologne and Aachen, he summoned a meeting of the higher clergy in Reims in which several important reforming decrees were passed.

At Mainz he held a council at which the Italian and French as well as the German clergy were represented, ambassadors of the Greek emperor were present. Here too and the marriage of the clergy were the principal matters dealt with. After his return to Rome he held another Easter synod on 29 April 1050, it was occupied with the controversy about the teachings of Berengar of Tours. In the same year he presided over provincial synods at Salerno and Vercelli, in September revisited his native Germany, returning to Rome in time for a third Easter synod, at which the question of the reordination of those, ordained by simonists was considered. In 1052 he joined the Emperor at Pressburg and vainly sought to secure the submission of the Hungarians. At Regensburg and Worms, the papal presence was celebrated with various ecclesiastical solemnities. In early 1053, Leo arbitrated a dispute between the archbishop of Carthage and the bishop of Gummi-Mahdia over ecclesiastical precedence. In constant fear of attack from the Normans in the south of Italy, the Byzantines turned in desperation to the Normans' own spiri

Lukáš Wagenknecht is a Czech auditor and politician, Senator from Prague 8 since October 2018. Wagenknecht co-founded the auditing organization and think tank Good Governance and is a contributor to Neovlivní.cz, a publisher of investigative journalism. Lukáš Wagenknecht was born on 24 September 1978 in northern-central Czech Republic, he studied at the Faculty of Economics and Administration of the University of Pardubice from 1998 to 2003 and subsequently started his professional career as an internal auditor at the Ministry of the Interior, in 2003. From February 2014 to June 2015, Wagenknecht served as the first Deputy Minister of Finance of the Czech Republic in the field of financial management and audit. In 2015, he received the Prize for Courage for whistleblowing from the Anticorruption Endowment foundation. Wagenknecht co-founded the auditing organization and think tank Good Governance and since January 2018, he is a contributor to Neovlivní.cz, a publisher of investigative journalism.

Wagenknecht was elected a Member of the Senate of the Czech Republic for the Czech Pirate Party in the 2018 election. In October 2019, Wagenknecht "launched legal action at the European Court of Justice after the European Council failed to respond to his concerns about the alleged conflict of interest" of the acting Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Andrej Babiš. Wagenknecht investigated the alleged subsidy fraud of Prime Minister Babiš. Media related to Lukáš Wagenknecht at Wikimedia Commons Lukáš Wagenknecht official website Lukáš Wagenknecht on Czech Pirate Party website Lukáš Wagenknecht on Neovlivní.cz

Alexander Hunter Bassett was a noted planter and local leader in Henry County, Virginia. Alexander Hunter Bassett was the son of Burwell Bassett and Mary Hunter Bassett, grandson and namesake of Alexander Hunter of Henry County, Virginia. Born into local wealth of several generations of tobacco planters, he was educated at home. At the age of 19, he was drafted as a private for the War of 1812 into the 64th Virginia militia, under Captain Graves' Company in the spring of 1815. At the US National Archives Military Service Branch, he has both a pension file, he was given a warrant for 120 acres of land for his military service on July 1, 1853, another forty acres of land in 1855. His service is recognized by the General Society of the War of 1812 Alexander Bassett purchased and sold land throughout Henry, Patrick County and Franklin County, Virginia, he inherited a large portion of his father's estate of land. In addition to the government land warrants from his service, when parts of his family moved to Missouri in 1844, he purchased their land plots of over 203 acres along Stroud's Creek as well.

In 1845, he purchased his brother William's tobacco acres as well. In 1858, he turned over 195 acres of land near Preston, Virginia to Woodson. Alexander Hunter was married twice; the first time he was married to Mary Koger. They were married on April 29, 1818. "Alexander Bassett was known for his sterling industry. His wife, Mary Koger Bassett, was of unusually bright intellect and noted for her untiring industry and good management." They had six children: Martha A. Bassett, she married John S. Dyer and they moved to Lincoln County, Missouri, she married Allan Hopper, died childless. She married W. W. Hill, they had ten children, he married Nancy Spencer. "He was a honorable man. His wife was the best businesswoman in the county." Their sons were Charles Columbus Bassett Joe Bassett and Samuel H. Bassett. Together with their brother in law, Reed L. Stone, they formed the Bassett Furniture company in what would become Bassett, Virginia, he died of fever while home on invalid leave from the 42nd Virginia Infantry, of the Confederate Army.

He married a second time to Ann R. Hardy on December 3, 1872. From the pension application, we know that she was born in Lunenburg County and was 64 years old, which makes her some 13 years younger than Alexander Bassett, 77 years old at the time, her parents are listed as "unknown" which indicates she may have been a foundling. This has all the appearance of an arranged marriage, as she could look after her husband for the rest of his life, she would have a pension and income for the rest of hers, she applied for and was granted a pension based on his army service