1.
Lucas Cranach the Younger
–
Lucas Cranach the Younger was a German Renaissance painter and portraitist, also known as the son of Lucas Cranach the Elder. Lucas Cranach the Younger was born in Wittenberg on 4 October 1515 as the youngest son of Lucas Cranach the Elder and he began his career as an apprentice in his fathers workshop alongside his brother Hans. Henceforth, his own reputation and fame grew, after his fathers death, he assumed control over the workshop. On February 20,1541, he married Barbara Brück, who went on to three sons and a daughter. She died February 10,1550, and thereafter Cranach remarried and this union produced three daughters and two sons, including Augustin Cranach. He is known for portraits and simple versions of allegorical and mythical scenes, the style of his paintings can be so similar to those of his father that there have been some difficulties in attribution of their works. Prominent scholars seem to, nowadays, tend toward the opinion of honest description of his talent as, stoic and undeveloped, at most
2.
Grand Duke of Lithuania
–
The following is a list of rulers over Lithuania—grand dukes, kings, and presidents—the heads of authority over historical Lithuanian territory. The timeline includes Lithuania as an entity or legitimately part of a greater sovereign entity as well as Lithuania under control or occupation of an outside authority. The incumbents and office-holders are listed by names most commonly used in English language, where appropriate, the alternations in Lithuanian, Ruthenian and Polish are included. The state of Lithuania formed in 1230s, when threatened by the Livonian Order in the north and he became the only crowned king of Lithuania. His state became known as Grand Duchy of Lithuania, after Grand Duke Jogaila became also king of Poland in 1386, the two states became closer connected and since 1440 both were ruled by a common ruler. In 1569 Union of Lublin was signed and a new entity—the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth—emerged, the commonwealth was partitioned in 1795 and Lithuania became part of the Russian Empire till 16 February 1918. The Council of Lithuania was able to establish the sovereignty only in 1919, the first republic of Lithuania existed until 1940 when it was occupied by the Soviet Union. During the Soviet-German War, Lithuania was occupied by Nazi Germany, in 1944, as Germany was losing the war, Russia re-occupied Lithuania and established the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. On 11 March 1990, Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare independence, the restored Republic of Lithuania is a democratic republic, a member of both the European Union and NATO. Title, Grand Duke except for Mindaugas, who became king of Lithuania, dates are approximate because of scant written sources. The act of union with Poland was signed as early as 1385, however. The monarchs retained separate titles for both parts of the state, and their numbering was kept separately, the Jagiellon dynasty was a direct continuation of the Gediminids. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was established by Union of Lublin in 1569, the elected King of Poland was to be elected by Lithuanian noble families as a Grand Duke of Lithuania. The first ruler of the country was Sigismund II Augustus. Following the partitions in 1772,1793, and 1795, the commonwealth ceased to exist, there are some gaps in the timeline as it took a while to elect a new king. Title, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the Council of Lithuania declared independence on 16 February 1918 and invited Wilhelm of Urach to become king of Lithuania. The name of the state was the Kingdom of Lithuania, on 9 July 1918, the council declared that the Duke of Urach is to become King Mindaugas II of Lithuania. However, on 2 November, the council revoked this decision because of its unpopularity, the institution of President was created on 4 April 1919
3.
Sigismund I the Old
–
Sigismund I of Poland, of the Jagiellon dynasty, reigned as King of Poland and also as the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until 1548. Earlier, Sigismund had been invested as Duke of Silesia, Sigismund I, the fifth son of Casimir IV and Elisabeth of Habsburg, had ruled Głogów, Silesia, since 1499 and became margrave of Lusatia and governor of all Silesia in 1504. In a short time his judicial and administrative reforms transformed those territories into model states and he succeeded his brother Alexander I as grand prince of Lithuania and king of Poland in 1506. Although he established fiscal and monetary reforms, he clashed with the Polish Diet over extensions of royal power. At the Diet’s demand he married Barbara, daughter of Prince Stephen Zápolya of Hungary, in 1512, to secure a defense treaty and she died three years later, however, leaving only daughters. In 1518 Sigismund married the niece of the Holy Roman emperor Maximilian, Bona Sforza of Milan, by whom he had one son, Sigismund II Augustus and his daughter Catherine later married John III of Sweden, from whom the Vasa kings of Poland were descended. In 1521 Sigismund made peace with his nephew Albert, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Sigismund added the duchy of Mazovia to the Polish state after the death, in 1529, of the last of its Piast dynasty rulers. Again under the command of Tarnowski, Sigismund’s army defeated the forces of Moldavia at Obertyn in 1531 and Muscovy in 1535. Sigismund, influenced by his wife, brought Italian artists to Kraków, although a devout Catholic, he accorded religious toleration to Greek Orthodox Christians and royal protection to Jews. At first he vigorously opposed Lutheranism but later resigned himself to its power in Poland. Sigismund I was a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the son of King Casimir IV Jagiellon and Elisabeth of Austria, Sigismund followed his brothers John I of Poland and Alexander I of Poland to the Polish throne. Their elder brother Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary became king of Hungary, Sigismund was christened as the namesake of his mothers maternal grandfather, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, who had died in 1437. After his fathers death, Sigismund was the son who did not hold any land titles. In the years 1495-1496, he addressed his older brother, the Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander, and demanded the separation of a domain from the Lithuanian Duchy, Queen Dowager Elisabeth Habsburg also tried without success to ensure the succession of her son to the throne of Austria. Also, the disastrous and unsuccessful invasion of Bukovina led by his oldest brother King John I Albert dispelled the plans for placing Sigismund on the Moldavian throne. Eventually Sigismund came under the care of Vladislaus II, King of Bohemia and Hungary, from whom he received the duchy of Głogów and Opava and in 1504 became governor of Silesia and Lower Lusatia. On 8 December 1506, during the session of the Polish Senate in Piotrków and he arrived in Kraków on 20 January 1507 and was crowned four days later in Wawel Cathedral by Primate Andrzej Boryszewski. The internal situation in Poland was characterised by broad authorisation of the Chamber of Deputies, during Alexanders reign, the law of Nihil novi had been instituted, which forbade kings of Poland from enacting laws without the consent of the Sejm
4.
Henry III of France
–
Henry III was a monarch of the House of Valois who was elected the monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1573 to 1575 and ruled as King of France from 1574 until his death. He was the last French monarch of the Valois dynasty, as the fourth son of King Henry II of France and Catherine de Medici, Henry was not expected to assume the throne of France. He was thus a candidate for the vacant Commonwealth throne. Henrys rule over Commonwealth was brief, but notable, the Henrician Articles he signed into law accepting the Commonwealth throne established Poland as an elective monarchy subject to free election by the Polish nobility. Of his three brothers, two would live long enough to ascend the French throne, but both died young and without a legitimate male heir. He abandoned Commonwealth upon receiving word that he had inherited the throne of France at the age of 22, Henry III was himself a politique, arguing that a strong and religiously tolerant monarchy would save France from collapse. Henry IIIs legitimate heir was his distant cousin Henry, King of Navarre, the Catholic League, led by Henry I, Duke of Guise, sought to exclude Protestants from the succession and championed the Catholic Charles, Cardinal of Bourbon, as Henry IIIs heir. Henry was born at the royal Château de Fontainebleau, the son of King Henry II and Catherine de Medici and grandson of Francis I of France. His older brothers were Francis II of France, Charles IX of France and he was made Duke of Angoulême and Duke of Orléans in 1560, then Duke of Anjou in 1566. He was his mothers favourite, she called him chers yeux and lavished fondness and his elder brother, Charles, grew to detest him, partially because he resented his better health. In his youth, Henry was considered the best of the sons of Catherine de Medici, unlike his father and elder brothers, he had little interest in the traditional Valois pastimes of hunting and physical exercise. Although he was fond of fencing and skilled in it, he preferred to indulge his tastes for the arts. These predilections were attributed to his Italian mother, at one point in his youth he showed a tendency towards Protestantism as a means of rebelling. At the age of nine, calling himself a little Huguenot, he refused to attend Mass, sang Protestant psalms to his sister Margaret and his mother firmly cautioned her children against such behaviour, and he would never again show any Protestant tendencies. Instead, he became nominally Roman Catholic, reports that Henry engaged in same sex relations with his court favourites, known as the mignons, date back to his own time. Certainly he enjoyed relationships with them. The scholar Louis Crompton provides substantial contemporary evidence of Henry IIIs homosexuality, and it is difficult, he writes, to reconcile the king whose use of favourites is so logically strategic with the man who goes to pieces when one of them dies. In 1570, discussions commenced to arrange for Henry to court Queen Elizabeth I of England, Elizabeth, almost 37, was expected by many parties in her country to marry and produce an heir
5.
Wawel Cathedral
–
The Royal Archcathedral Basilica of Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslaus on the Wawel Hill, also known as the Wawel Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic church located on Wawel Hill in Kraków, Poland. More than 900 years old, it is the Polish national sanctuary, the construction of the current one began in the 14th century on the orders of bishop Nanker. The Cathedral comprises a nave with aisles, transepts with aisles, a choir with aisles. The main altar, located in the apse, was founded about 1650 by Bishop Piotr Gembicki, the altar painting of Crucified Christ by Marcin Blechowski is from the 17th century. Over the main altar stands a canopy of black marble supported by four pillars, designed by Giovanni Battista Trevano. Underneath the canopy is placed a silver coffin of national patron saint St. Stanislaus created between 1669-1671 after the one was stolen by the Swedes in 1655. The Wawel Cathedral has been the burial site for Polish monarchs since the 14th century. As such, it has significantly extended and altered over time as individual rulers have added multiple burial chapels. Financed by Sigismund I the Old, it was built between 1517 and 1533 by Bartolommeo Berrecci, a Florentine Renaissance architect, who spent most of his career in Poland. A square-based chapel with a dome, it houses the tombs of its founder. Notes Media related to Wawel Cathedral at Wikimedia Commons Wawel Cathedral official website
6.
Catherine of Austria, Queen of Poland
–
Catherine of Austria was one of the fifteen children of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. In 1553, she married Polish King Sigismund II Augustus and became Queen consort of Poland and Grand Duchess consort of Lithuania and their marriage was not happy and they had no issue. After a likely miscarriage in 1554 and a bout of illness in 1558 and he tried but failed to obtain a divorce from the pope. In 1565, Catherine returned to Austria and lived in Linz until her death, Sigismund died just a few months after her bringing the Jagiellon dynasty to its end. Catherine was one of the fifteen children of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and she spent most of her childhood at Hofburg, Innsbruck and received education based on discipline and religion. She learnt Italian and Latin languages, on 17 March 1543, Catherine was betrothed to Francesco III Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Marquess of Montferrat. It reflected her fathers desire to strengthen Habsburg influence against France in northern Italy, particularly Milan, both Catherine and Francesco were 9 and 10 years old at the time. The wedding took place six years later on 22 October 1549, in October 1549, Catherine was escorted by her elder brother Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria from Innsbruck to Mantua. Her dowry was 100,000 Rhine florins, the marriage lasted only four months as Francesco III Gonzaga drowned in the Lake Como on 21 February 1550. Widowed Catherine returned home to Innsbruck, Habsburgs claimed that the marriage was not consummated to increase Catherines chances for a better second marriage. In May 1551, after the death of his second scandalous wife Barbara Radziwiłł, Emperor Ferdinand I pursued the marriage between Catherine and Sigismund to create a pro-Habsburg group within the Polish court. Particularly, he wanted to prevent Polish assistance to Sigismunds sister Isabella Jagiellon, both Catherine and Sigismund personally opposed the marriage. Catherine blamed Sigismund of mistreating and causing the death of her older sister. Sigismund feared that Catherine would be similarly unattractive and of health as Elisabeth. However, the Habsburgs threatened to create an alliance with the Tsardom of Russia. In early 1553, Mikołaj the Black Radziwiłł traveled to the court of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, Radziwiłł had further orders to travel to investigate marriage opportunities with Mechthild of Bavaria or one of the daughters of Ercole II dEste, Duke of Ferrara. However, the Emperor convinced Radziwiłł that marriage between Catherine and Sigismund was best, Radziwiłł wrote enthusiastic letters to Sigismund, who soon gave in and gave his consent on 10 April 1553. The papal dispensation was received on 20 May and the treaty was signed on 23 June
7.
Dynasty
–
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
8.
Jagiellonian dynasty
–
The dynasty reigned in several Central European countries between the 14th and 16th centuries. Members of the dynasty were Kings of Poland, Grand Dukes of Lithuania, Kings of Hungary, one Jagiellonian briefly ruled both Poland and Hungary, and two others ruled both Bohemia and Hungary and then continued in the distaff line as a branch of the House of Habsburg. The cultural flowering had its base in the prosperity of the elites. The name comes from Jogaila, the first Grand Duke of Lithuania to become King of Poland, the rule of Piasts, the earlier Polish ruling house had ended with the death of King Casimir III the Great. Gediminids, the predecessors of the first Jagiellonian, were rulers of medieval Lithuania with the title of Grand Duke. Their realm, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was inhabited by Lithuanians and Ruthenians. Jogaila, the eponymous first ruler of the Jagiellonin dynasty, started as the Grand Duke of Lithuania, as a result of the Union of Krewo he then converted to Christianity and married the 11-year-old Hedwig of Poland. Thereby he became King of Poland and founded the dynasty, angevin rulers were the second and Jagiellonian third dynasty of Polish Kings. In 1385 the Union of Krewo was signed between Queen Jadwiga of Poland and Jogaila, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, the last pagan state in Europe, the act arranged for Jogailas baptism and for the couples marriage and constituted the beginning of the Polish–Lithuanian union. The Union strengthened both nations in their opposition to the Teutonic Knights and the growing threat of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Uniquely in Europe, the union connected two states located on the opposite sides of the great civilizational divide between the Western or Latin, and the Eastern or Byzantine worlds. The intention of the Union was to create a state under Władysław II Jagiełło. Geographic consequences of the union and the preferences of the Jagiellonian kings accelerated the process of reorientation of Polish territorial priorities to the east. The political influence of the Jagiellonian kings was diminishing during this period, the royal dynasty, however, had a stabilizing effect on Polands politics. The Jagiellonian Era is often regarded as a period of political power, great prosperity, and in its later stage. The offensive that followed lost its impact with the siege of Malbork. The failure to take the fortress and eliminate the Teutonic state had for Poland dire historic consequences in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, the Peace of Thorn had given Poland and Lithuania rather modest territorial adjustments, including Samogitia. Afterwards there were negotiations and peace deals that didnt hold, more military campaigns and arbitrations, one attempted, unresolved arbitration took place at the Council of Constance
9.
Bona Sforza
–
Bona Sforza was a member of the powerful House of Sforza, which ruled the Duchy of Milan since 1447. In 1518, she became the wife of Sigismund I the Old. Their marriage lasted 30 years until Sigismunds death in 1548, ambitious and energetic, Bona became heavily involved in the political life of Poland–Lithuania. To increase state revenue, she implemented various economic and agricultural reforms and her reforms made her the richest landowner in the Grand Duchy. In foreign policy, she opposed the Habsburgs and sought to secure her eldest daughter Isabella Jagiellon in the Kingdom of Hungary, Bona was the third of the four children of Gian Galeazzo Sforza and his wife Isabella of Naples. Gian Galeazzo was the heir to the Duchy of Milan. The couple was sent to live at the Castello Visconteo in Pavia, rumors spread that he was poisoned by Ludovico. The family moved to the Sforza Castle in Milan, where they lived under the eye of Ludovico. He was afraid that Milan residents would rebel and install Francesco Sforza, to minimize the risk, Ludovico separated the boy from his family and granted Bari and Rossano to Isabella. The plans were interrupted by the Italian War of 1499–1504, King Louis XII of France deposed Ludovico and took Francesco with him to Paris. Isabella had nothing left in Milan and departed for her native Naples in February 1500, the war reached the Kingdom of Naples and Isabellas uncle Frederick of Naples was deposed. Together with other relatives, she hid at the Aragonese Castle on Ischia. In April 1502, Isabella and her surviving daughter Bona settled at the Castello Normanno-Svevo in Bari more permanently. There Bona started her extensive education and her teachers included Italian humanists Crisostomo Colonna and Antonio de Ferraris who taught her Latin, classical literature, mathematics, history, law, natural science, theology, even geography. Bona could also play musical instruments. When the House of Sforza was restored to the Duchy of Milan in 1512, Isabella hoped to wed Bona, the initial and most likely plan to marry Maximilian Sforza failed when he was deposed after the French victory in the Battle of Marignano in 1515. Pope Leo X proposed his nephew Lorenzo de Medici as he hoped, using Bonas inheritance claims to the Milan, however, the French hold on Milan was too strong and the plan failed. Polish King Sigismund I the Old was widowed in October 1515, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, did not want Sigismund to marry another Habsburg opponent like his late wife Barbara Zápolya
10.
Polish language
–
Polish is a West Slavic language spoken primarily in Poland and is the native language of the Poles. It belongs to the Lechitic subgroup of the West Slavic languages, Polish is the official language of Poland, but it is also used throughout the world by Polish minorities in other countries. It is one of the languages of the European Union. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet, which has 9 additions to the letters of the basic Latin script, Polish is closely related to Kashubian, Silesian, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Czech and Slovak. It is also the second most widely spoken Slavic language, after Russian, in history, Polish is known to be an important language, both diplomatically and academically in Central and Eastern Europe. Today, Polish is spoken by over 38.5 million people as their first language in Poland. It is also spoken as a language in western parts of Belarus and Ukraine, west and central Lithuania, as well as the northern parts of the Czech Republic. There are 55 million Polish language speakers around the world, Polish began to emerge as a distinct language around the 10th century, the process largely triggered by the establishment and development of the Polish state. With Christianity, Poland also adopted the Latin alphabet, which made it possible to write down Polish, the precursor to modern Polish is the Old Polish language. Ultimately, Polish is thought to descend from the unattested Proto-Slavic language, Poland is the most linguistically homogeneous European country, nearly 97% of Polands citizens declare Polish as their first language. Elsewhere, Poles constitute large minorities in Lithuania, Belarus, Polish is the most widely used minority language in Lithuanias Vilnius County and is found elsewhere in southeastern Lithuania. There are significant numbers of Polish speakers among Polish emigrants and their descendants in many other countries, in the United States, Polish Americans number more than 11 million but most of them cannot speak Polish fluently. The largest concentrations of Polish speakers reported in the census were found in three states, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. Enough people in these areas speak Polish that PNC Financial Services offer services available in Polish at all of their machines in addition to English and Spanish. According to the 2011 census there are now over 500,000 people in England, in Canada, there is a significant Polish Canadian population, There are 242,885 speakers of Polish according to the 2006 census, with a particular concentration in Toronto and Montreal. The geographical distribution of the Polish language was affected by the territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II. Poles settled in the Recovered Territories in the west and north and this tendency toward a homogeneity also stems from the vertically integrated nature of the authoritarian Polish Peoples Republic. The inhabitants of different regions of Poland still speak standard Polish somewhat differently, first-language speakers of Polish have no trouble understanding each other, and non-native speakers may have difficulty distinguishing regional variations
11.
Ruthenian language
–
Ruthenian was the group of varieties of Eastern Slavonic spoken in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later in the East Slavic territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The written form is also called Chancery Slavonic by Lithuanian linguists, scholars do not agree whether Ruthenian was a separate language, or a Western dialect or set of dialects of Old East Slavic, but it is agreed that Ruthenian has a close genetic relationship with it. Old East Slavic was the language used in Kievan Rus. Ruthenian can be seen as a predecessor of modern Belarusian, Rusyn, indeed, all these languages, from Old East Slavic to Rusyn, have been labelled as Ruthenian. In modern texts, the language in question is sometimes called Old Belarusian or starabelaruskaya mova, as Ruthenian was always in a kind of diglossic opposition to Church Slavonic, this vernacular language was and still is often called prosta mova, literally simple language. On the other hand, there exists a school of thought that Old Belarusian, names in contemporary use Ruthenian — by the contemporaries, but, generally, not in contemporary Russia. Simple Ruthenian or simple talk — publisher Grigoriy Khodkevich, Lithuanian — possibly, exclusive reference to it in the contemporary Russia. West Russian, language or dialect — chiefly by the supporters of the concept of the Proto-Russian phase, esp. since the end of the 19th century, e. g. by Karskiy, Russian Wikipedia uses the term West Russian written language. Belarusian — rarely in contemporary Russia, lithuanian-Russian — by 19th-century Russian researchers Keppen, archbishop Filaret, Sakharov, Karatayev. Lithuanian-Slavonic — by 19th-century Russian researcher Baranovskiy, ruski — used by Norman Davies in Vanished Kingdoms, The History of Half-Forgotten Europe. Both were usually called Ruskij or Slovenskij, only when a differentiation between the language of Muscovy and the one of Lithuania was needed was the former called Moskovskij Muscovite. After the Union of Lublin in 1569, the territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania came under direct administration by the Polish Crown. It is possible that this resulted in differences concerning the status of Ruthenian as an official language, in his 1827 Little Russian Folksongs Mykhaylo Maksymovych used a new orthography for the Ukrainian language which was based on etymology. Maksymovychivka looked quite similar to Russian, but it was a first step towards an independent orthography, the split between literary Ruthenian and the successor literary languages can be seen at once in the newly designed Belarusian and Ukrainian orthographies. After that Belarusian only survived as a spoken language with almost no written tradition until the mid-19th century. For disambiguation, in English these people are called by the native form of their name. Thus, in the 19th century, the literary Ruthenian language had evolved into three modern literary languages, for their further development, see Belarusian language, Rusyn language, and Ukrainian language. Ukrainian language Belarusian language Rusyn language East Slavic languages Brogi Bercoff, Giovanna, “Plurilingualism in Eastern Slavic culture of the 17th century, The case of Simeon Polockij. ”In, Slavia, Časopis pro slovanskou filologii, danylenko, Andrii, Prostaja mova, Kitab, and Polissian Standard
12.
Lithuanian language
–
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.9 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania, Lithuanian is a Baltic language, related to Latvian. It is written in a Latin alphabet, Lithuanian is often said to be the most conservative living Indo-European language, retaining many features of Proto-Indo-European now lost in other Indo-European languages. Anyone wishing to hear how Indo-Europeans spoke should come and listen to a Lithuanian peasant, among Indo-European languages, Lithuanian is extraordinarily conservative, retaining many archaic features otherwise found only in ancient languages such as Sanskrit or Ancient Greek. For this reason, it is one of the most important sources in the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European language despite its late attestation, the Proto-Balto-Slavic languages branched off directly from Proto-Indo-European, then branched into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic. Proto-Baltic branched off into Proto-West Baltic and Proto-East Baltic, according to some glottochronological speculations, the Eastern Baltic languages split from the Western Baltic ones between AD400 and AD600. The Greek geographer Ptolemy had already written of two Baltic tribe/nations by name, the Galindai and Sudinoi in the 2nd century AD, the differentiation between Lithuanian and Latvian started after AD800, for a long period, they could be considered dialects of a single language. At a minimum, transitional dialects existed until the 14th or 15th century, also, the 13th- and 14th-century occupation of the western part of the Daugava basin by the German Sword Brethren had a significant influence on the languages independent development. The earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503–1525 of the Lords Prayer, the Hail Mary, printed books existed after 1547, but the level of literacy among Lithuanians was low through the 18th century, and books were not commonly available. Brought into the country by book smugglers despite the threat of prison sentences. Jonas Jablonskis made significant contributions to the formation of the standard Lithuanian language and his proposal for Standard Lithuanian was based on his native Western Aukštaitijan dialect with some features of the eastern Prussian Lithuanians dialect spoken in Lithuania Minor. These dialects had preserved archaic phonetics mostly intact due to the influence of the neighbouring Old Prussian language, Lithuanian has been the official language of Lithuania since 1918. During the Soviet era, it was used in official discourse along with Russian, Lithuanian is one of two living Baltic languages, along with Latvian. An earlier Baltic language, Old Prussian, was extinct by the 18th century, such an opinion was first represented by the likes of August Schleicher, and to a certain extent, Antoine Meillet. Endzelīns thought that the similarity between Baltic and Slavic was explicable through language contact while Schleicher, Meillet and others argued for a kinship between the two families. An attempt to reconcile the opposing stances was made by Jan Michał Rozwadowski and he proposed that the two language groups were indeed a unity after the division of Indo-European, but also suggested that after the two had divided into separate entities, they had posterior contact. The genetic kinship view is augmented by the fact that Proto-Balto-Slavic is easily reconstructible with important proofs in historic prosody, vyacheslav Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov believed in the unity of Balto-Slavic, but not in the unity of Baltic. In the 1960s, they proposed a new division, that into East-Baltic, West-Baltic, the Ivanov–Toporov theory is gaining ground among students of comparative-historic grammar of Indo-European language, and seems to be replacing the previous two stances in most PIE textbooks
13.
German language
–
German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
14.
Union of Lublin
–
The Union of Lublin was signed July 1,1569, in Lublin, Poland, and created a single state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In addition, the autonomy of Royal Prussia was largely abandoned, the Duchy of Livonia, tied to Lithuania in real union since the Union of Grodno, became a Polish–Lithuanian condominium. The Commonwealth was ruled by an elected monarch who carried out the duties of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. The Union was a stage in the Polish–Lithuanian alliance and personal union. Constituting a crucial event in the history of nations, the Union of Lublin has been viewed quite differently by many historians. Sometimes identified as the moment at which the Szlachta rose to the height of their power, some Lithuanian historians are more critical of the Union, pointing out that it was an effect of domination by Polish nobles. The Polish nobility on the hand were reluctant to offer help to Lithuania without receiving anything in exchange. Still, the Polish and Lithuanian elite strengthened personal bonds and had opportunities to plan their united futures during increased military cooperation in the 1560s, a clear motivation for Sigismund is that he was the last Jagiello and had no children nor brothers who could inherit the throne. So the Union was an attempt to preserve the continuity of his dynastys work since the union of Poland and Lithuania at the marriage of Jadwiga of Poland. The Union was one of the changes required to establish a formal elected monarchy that would simultaneously reign over the two domains. The Sejm met in January,1569, near the Polish town of Lublin, one of the points of contention was the right of Poles to settle and own land in the Grand Duchy. Bratslav and eastern Podolia were also transferred to Poland and these historic lands of Rus comprise over half of modern Ukraine, and were at that time a substantial portion of the Grand Duchy of Lithuanias territory. The Rus nobles there were eager to capitalize on the economic and political opportunities offered by the Polish sphere, the Lithuanians were forced to return to the Sejm under the leadership of Jan Hieronimowicz Chodkiewicz and to continue negotiations, using slightly different tactics than Mikołaj the Red Radziwiłł. Though the Polish szlachta wanted full incorporation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into the Crown, on 28 June 1569, the last objections were overcome, and on 4 July an act was accordingly signed by the King at Lublin Castle. The Union of Lublin was superseded by the Constitution of May 3,1791 from 1791, the status of semi-federal state was restored by the Reciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations. However, the constitution was not fully implemented and the Commonwealth was ended by the late 18th century Partitions of the Commonwealth, with the last one in 1795. After the Union, the Lithuanian nobles had the formal rights as the Polish to rule the lands. However, political advancement in the Catholic-dominated Commonwealth was a different matter, by the late 15th century, the Polish language was already making rapid inroads among the Lithuanian and Rus elites
15.
Latin
–
Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
16.
Poland
–
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
17.
Lithuania
–
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in Northern Europe. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.9 million people as of 2015, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. The official language, Lithuanian, along with Latvian, is one of two living languages in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. For centuries, the shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s, the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, the King of Lithuania, and the first unified Lithuanian state, with the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772–95, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuanias territory. As World War I neared its end, Lithuanias Act of Independence was signed on 16 February 1918, in the midst of the Second World War, Lithuania was first occupied by the Soviet Union and then by Nazi Germany. As World War II neared its end and the Germans retreated, Lithuania is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, a full member of the Eurozone, Schengen Agreement and NATO. It is also a member of the Nordic Investment Bank, the United Nations Human Development Index lists Lithuania as a very high human development country. Lithuania has been among the fastest growing economies in the European Union and is ranked 21st in the world in the Ease of Doing Business Index, the first people settled in the territory of Lithuania after the last glacial period in the 10th millennium BC. Over a millennium, the Indo-Europeans, who arrived in the 3rd – 2nd millennium BC, mixed with the local population, the first written mention of Lithuania is found in a medieval German manuscript, the Annals of Quedlinburg, in an entry dated 9 March 1009. Initially inhabited by fragmented Baltic tribes, in the 1230s the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, after his assassination in 1263, pagan Lithuania was a target of the Christian crusades of the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order. Despite the devastating century-long struggle with the Orders, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania expanded rapidly, by the end of the 14th century, Lithuania was one of the largest countries in Europe and included present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia. The geopolitical situation between the west and the east determined the multicultural and multi-confessional character of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the ruling elite practised religious tolerance and Chancery Slavonic language was used as an auxiliary language to the Latin for official documents. In 1385, the Grand Duke Jogaila accepted Polands offer to become its king, Jogaila embarked on gradual Christianization of Lithuania and established a personal union between Poland and Lithuania. It implied that Lithuania, the fiercely independent land, was one of the last pagan areas of Europe to adopt Christianity, after two civil wars, Vytautas the Great became the Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1392. During his reign, Lithuania reached the peak of its expansion, centralization of the state began
18.
Sandomierz
–
Sandomierz is a town in south-eastern Poland with 25,714 inhabitants, situated in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. It is the capital of Sandomierz County, Sandomierz is known for its Old Town, which is a major tourist attraction. In the past, Sandomierz used to be one of the most important urban centers not only of Lesser Poland, but also of the whole country. The name of the city might have originated from the Old Polish Sędomir, composed of Sędzi- and mir, or more likely from the given name Sędzimir. Sandomierz is known in German, Sandomir, Latin, Sandomiria, Yiddish, צויזמיר, Hungarian, Szandomir, Ukrainian, Сандомир or Судомир, Russian, Сандомир, Sandomierz is one of the oldest and historically most significant cities in Poland. Archeological finds around the city indicate that humans have inhabited the area since neolithic times, the city came into existence in the early Middle Ages, taking advantage of an excellent location at the junction of Vistula and San rivers, and on the path of important trade routes. The first known mention of the city comes from the early 12th-century. The testament of Bolesław III Wrymouth, in which he divided Poland among his sons, designated Sandomierz as the capital of one of the resulting principalities, in the course of the 13th century the city suffered grievous damage during raids by Tatars in 1241,1259 and 1287. The old wooden buildings of the town were completely destroyed, as a result, in 1286 the High Duke of Poland Leszek II the Black, effectively refounded the city under Magdeburg Law. The city archives preserve the founding document, after the re-unification of the Polish lands in the 14th century, the former principality became the Sandomierz Voivodeship, incorporating large areas of southeastern Poland. Until 1474, it was one of two voivodeships of Lesser Poland, together with Krakow Voivodeship, in 1474, Lublin Voivodeship was created from eastern part of Sandomierz Voivodeship. At this time Sandomierz had about 3,000 inhabitants and was one of the largest Polish cities, in the middle of the 14th century the city was burned again during a raid by the Lithuanians. It was rebuilt during the rule of king Casimir III of Poland, the layout of the city has survived practically unchanged since that time until the present day. The following three hundred years, running until the middle of the 17th century, were prosperous for the city. The most important historical buildings were built during this period and this golden age came to an end in 1655 when Swedish forces captured the city in the course of the Deluge. After briefly holding out in the city, the withdrawing Swedes blew up the castle, in the next 100 years the economy of Poland suffered a decline, which also affected the city. A great fire in 1757 and the First Partition of Poland in 1772, as a result, Sandomierz lost its role as an administrative capital. In 1809, during the Napoleonic Wars, fighting between the forces of Austria and of the Duchy of Warsaw caused damage to the city, after 1815 it found itself in the Russian Empire
19.
Sieradz
–
Sieradz is a town on the Warta river in central Poland with 44,326 inhabitants. It is situated in the Łódź Voivodeship, but was previously the capital of the Sieradz Voivodeship. It is one of the oldest towns in Poland, thrice being a location for the coronation of the Polish monarchs, the town was attacked by the Tartars, Bohemians and Teutonic Knights. Polish Kings chaired six assemblies from here, the oldest settlements can be traced back to almost 6th century. Centuries later, king Casimir the Great built the Castle of Sieradz, in the mid 13th century it was conferred with Municipal rights. It had also welcomed many settlers from Scotland & Netherlands after the 13th century, during the fragmentation of Poland, it was the site of the Duchy of Sieradz. In 1445 the election of King Casimir Jagiellonian took place at this town, until the 16th century the town used to be important trade centre. Merchants from Spain & Portugal were frequently visiting the town for Trade, in the 17th century due to the Swedish wars, plagues, fires and floods the town lost its trading importance and fell from its prime. In the 18th century the reconstruction of town commenced, the residents during that time were only approximately 1500. On 13 November 1806 an uprising against the Prussians took place in Sieradz and it was the capital of a district within the Kalisz region of the Russian Empire until the establishment of the Polish Second Republic in 1918. With the invasion of Poland and the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Sieradz was attacked on September 9, annexed by Nazi Germany, it was renamed Schieratz and administered as part of the county or district of the same name within Reichsgau Wartheland. The Nazis destroyed traces of Polish culture, destroying historical records, monuments, street names were changed in an effort to wipe out any connection with a Polish identity. Bombed by the Soviets, more than 100 residents were killed, after an assault lasting three days, the Red Army arrived on January 23,1945. Following the war, it part of the Peoples Republic of Poland. Economic activities included clothing manufacture, cereal-milling, spirit distillery, potato farming, in 1957 the knitting plant Sira was founded. The natural forests on the banks of river Warta makes a place for mushroom pickers. The town square also makes a perfect tourism place with shops selling various products of good quality. The Churches in Sieradz carry historical significance and well restored, Sieradz dramatically developed since 2007 with new residential projects & townships
20.
Kuyavia
–
Kujawy (, sometimes referred to as Kuyavia or Cuyavia, is a historical region in north-central Poland, situated on the left bank of Vistula, as well as east from Noteć River and Lake Gopło. It is divided into three parts, north-eastern, central, and south-eastern. The name Kujawy first appeared in sources in the 1136 Bull of Gniezno issued by Pope Innocent II. It is also mentioned in the chronicles of Wincenty Kadłubek, the borders of Kujawy stretch out on the left bank of Vistula River, from the mouth of Skrwa Lewa in the south-east, almost to the mouth of the Wda River to the north. The borders also enclose Brdowski Lake, Przedecz and Lubień Kujawski through the Skrwa Lewa, in Kujawy there are black fertile soils, thanks to which Kujawy is called “the granary of Poland”. The episcopal see of Kujawy was probably Kruszwica, and later Włocławek, today, the biggest center of Kujawy is Bydgoszcz, however it is often considered non-kujavian. The other cities are Włocławek and Inowrocław, also the southern part of Toruń lies in the historical region of Kujawy. Some ethnographers and historians, for example Oskar Kolberg and Zygmunt Gloger, count the lands of Dobrzyń, bachorza Białe Kujawy Kujawy borowe Kujawy czarne Kujawy garbate Kujawy leśne Kujawy nadwiślańskie Kujawy zagoplańskie The Linear Pottery culture existed in the area. The earliest solid evidence of cheese-making, dating to 5,500 BC, was found in Kujawy, the beginnings of the state in Kujawy are connected with the tribal state of the West Slavic Goplans. According to some sources, during the war with the Goplans, as a result of occupation of the Goplans’ territory, the lands of Kujawy were under the strong influence of the Pannonian culture and they lost their primary Masovian spirit. When the name Cuiavia arose for the first time in the 1136 Bull of Gniezno, it referred to the lands east of Greater Poland around Kruszwica and Włocławek, the bull confirmed the position of the Bishopric of Kujawy at Włocławek as a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Gniezno. Casimirs son Duke Konrad I of Masovia in 1233 created the Duchy of Kujawy for his second son Casimir I. When Casimirs elder brother Duke Bolesław I of Masovia died in 1248, he took the occasion and took Dobrzyń Land east of the Vistula River from the heritage of his younger brother Siemowit I. Upon Casimirs death 1267, the Duchy of Kujawy was divided by his sons Leszek II the Black, Ziemomysł, in 1306 Ziemomysłs son Casimir II swore allegiance to his uncle Władysław I, who began to re-unite the Lands of the Polish Crown under his rule. The duchy was devastated during the Polish–Teutonic War of 1326–32, culminating in the 1331 Battle of Płowce, with the death of Casimirs son Władysław the White in 1388, the Kujawy line of the Piast dynasty became extinct. After the union of Polish lands in the 14th century, the division into provinces and counties was introduced and that division finalized in the 15th century, existed until the dissolution of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. Kujawy was divided into the two divisions of Brześć Kujawski Voivodeship and Inowrocław Voivodeship. As a result of the First Partition of Poland in 1772 the Kingdom of Prussia took a part of Inowrocław
21.
Kiev
–
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population in July 2015 was 2,887,974, Kiev is an important industrial, scientific, educational, and cultural centre of Eastern Europe. It is home to many industries, higher education institutions. The city has an infrastructure and highly developed system of public transport. The citys name is said to derive from the name of Kyi, during its history, Kiev, one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe, passed through several stages of great prominence and relative obscurity. The city probably existed as a centre as early as the 5th century. A Slavic settlement on the trade route between Scandinavia and Constantinople, Kiev was a tributary of the Khazars, until seized by the Varangians in the mid-9th century. Under Varangian rule, the city became a capital of the Kievan Rus, completely destroyed during the Mongol invasion in 1240, the city lost most of its influence for the centuries to come. It was a capital of marginal importance in the outskirts of the territories controlled by its powerful neighbours, first the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, followed by Poland. The city prospered again during the Russian Empires Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century, in 1917, after the Ukrainian National Republic declared independence from the Russian Empire, Kiev became its capital. From 1919 Kiev was an important center of the Armed Forces of South Russia and was controlled by the White Army. From 1921 onwards Kiev was a city of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which was proclaimed by the Red Army, during World War II, the city again suffered significant damage, but quickly recovered in the post-war years, remaining the third largest city of the Soviet Union. During the countrys transformation to an economy and electoral democracy. Kievs armament-dependent industrial output fell after the Soviet collapse, adversely affecting science, Kiev emerged as the most pro-Western region of Ukraine where parties advocating tighter integration with the European Union dominate during elections. As a prominent city with a history, its English name was subject to gradual evolution. The early English spelling was derived from Old East Slavic form Kyjev, the name is associated with that of Kyi, the legendary eponymous founder of the city. Early English sources use various names, including Kiou, Kiow, Kiew, on one of the oldest English maps of the region, Russiae, Moscoviae et Tartariae published by Ortelius the name of the city is spelled Kiou. On the 1650 map by Guillaume de Beauplan, the name of the city is Kiiow, in the book Travels, by Joseph Marshall, the city is referred to as Kiovia
22.
Ruthenia
–
Ruthenia is a proper geographical exonym for Kievan Rus and other, more local, historical states. It was applied to the area where Ruthenians lived, the word Ruthenia originated as a Latin rendering of the region and people known originally as Rus. A group of Varangians known as the Rus settled in Novgorod in 862 under the leadership of Rurik. In European manuscripts dating from the 13th century, Ruthenia was used to describe Rus, a territory long disputed as an early part of Hungary, and from the 10th century Ruthenia and Poland, formed the Chervian Towns, now mostly in Poland, partly in Ukraine. This laid the foundation of the modern Russian state, the Muscovy population was Eastern Orthodox and used the Greek transcription of Rus, being Rossia, rather than the Latin Ruthenia. Due to their usage of the Latin script rather than the Cyrillic script, other spellings were also used in Latin, English and other languages during this period. The use of the term Ruthenia in the lands of ancient Rus survived longer as a used by Ukrainians for Ukraine. By 1840 the superior term, Малая Русь, Little Rus, or Rus Minora, for Ruthenians became derogative in the Russian Empire, and they began calling themselves Ukrainians, for Ukrayina. In the 1880s and 1900s, the popularity of the ethnonym Ukrainian spread, in time the term Ruthenian became restricted to western Ukraine, an area then part of the Austro-Hungarian state. By the early 20th century, the term Ukraine had replaced Ruthenia in Galicia/Halychyna, rusin has been one of official self-identifications of the Rus population in Poland. Until 1939, for many traditional Ruthenians and Polish, the word Ukrainiec meant a person involved in or friendly to a nationalist movement, however, some other Slavish languages definitely separate the Ruthenian meaning from its Russian neighbour. While Galician Ruthenians considered themselves to be Ukrainians, the Carpatho-Ruthenians were the last East Slavic people that kept the ancient historic name, nowadays, the term Rusyn is used to describe the ethnicity and language of Ruthenians who are not forced to the Ukrainian national identity. Carpatho-Ruthenia formed part of the Hungarian Kingdom from the late 11th century, in May 1919, it was incorporated with nominal autonomy into Czechoslovakia. After this date, Ruthenian people have been divided among three orientations, on 15 March 1939 the Ukrainophile president of Carpatho-Ruthenia, Avhustyn Voloshyn, declared its independence as Carpatho-Ukraine. On the same day Hungarian Army fascist regular troops, allies of Adolf Hitler, in 1944 the Soviet Army occupied Carpatho-Ruthenia, and in 1946, annexed it to the Ukrainian SSR. Officially, there were no Rusyns in the USSR, in fact, Soviet and some modern Ukrainian politicians, as well as Ukrainian government claim that Rusyns are part of the Ukrainian nation. Nowadays some of the population in the Zakarpattya oblast of Ukraine consider themselves Rusyns yet they are still a part of the whole Ukrainian national identity, a Rusyn minority remained after World War II in northeastern Czechoslovakia. According to critics, the Ruthenians rapidly became Slovakized, in 1995 the Ruthenian written language became standardized
23.
Volhynia
–
Volhynia or Volyn is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe straddling Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, while the territory that still carries the name is Volyn Oblast, Volhynia has changed hands numerous times throughout history and been divided among competing powers. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, it has been part of the independent nation of Ukraine, among important cities are Lutsk, Rivne, Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Iziaslav, Novohrad-Volynskyi. In other versions, the city was located over 20 km to the west of Volodymyr-Volynskyi near the mouth of Huczwa River, before the partitions of Poland, eastern edge stretched a little west along the right-banks of Sluch River or just east of it. Volhynia is located in basins of Western Bug and Prypyat, therefore most of its rivers flow either in northern or western directions, relative to other historical regions, it is northeast of Galicia, east of Lesser Poland, and northwest of Podolia. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, and it is considered to overlap a number of other regions, among which are Polesia. Territories of historical Volhynia are now part of the Volyn, Rivne, major cities include Lutsk, Rivne, Kovel, Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Kremenets, and Starokostiantyniv. Before World War II, many Jewish shtetls, such as Trochenbrod, at one time all of Volhynia was part of the Pale of Settlement designated by Imperial Russia on its southwesternmost border. The land was mentioned in works of the Arabian scholar Al-Masudi who denoted the local tribe as people of Valin, in his work of 947-948 Al-Masudi mentions that Valinians as an intertribal union were ruled by their leader Madjak. In the opinion of Ukrainian historian Yuriy Dyba, the chronicle phrase «и оустави по мьстѣ, и по лузѣ погосты и дань и ѡброкы» reflects the actual route of the Olgas raid against Drevlians further to the west up to the Western Bugs right tributary Luha River. As early as 983, Vladimir the Great appointed his son Vsevolod the ruler of the Volhynian Principality and in 988 established the city of Volodymer. The first records can be traced to the Ruthenian chronicles, such as the Primary Chronicle, which mentions tribes of the Dulebe, Buzhan, volhynias early history coincides with that of the duchies or principalities of Halych and Volhynia. These two successor states of the Kievan Rus formed Halych-Volhynia between the 12th and the 14th centuries, after 1569 Volhynia formed a province of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. During this period many Poles and Jews settled in the area, the Roman and Greek Catholic churches became established in the province. In 1375 was established a Roman Catholic Diocese of Lodomeria but it was suppressed in 1425, many Orthodox churches joined the latter organization in order to benefit from a more attractive legal status. Records of the first agricultural colonies of Mennonites date from 1783, after the Third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, Volhynia was annexed as the Volhynian Governorate of the Russian Empire. It covered an area of 71,852.7 square kilometers, many Roman Catholic church buildings were also given to the Russian Church, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lutsk was suppressed on orders of Empress Catherine II. In 1897, the population amounted to 2,989,482 people and it consisted of 73.7 percent East Slavs,13.2 percent Jews,6.2 percent Poles, and 5.7 percent Germans
24.
Prussia
–
Prussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg, and centred on the region of Prussia. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organised, Prussia, with its capital in Königsberg and from 1701 in Berlin, shaped the history of Germany. In 1871, German states united to create the German Empire under Prussian leadership, in November 1918, the monarchies were abolished and the nobility lost its political power during the German Revolution of 1918–19. The Kingdom of Prussia was thus abolished in favour of a republic—the Free State of Prussia, from 1933, Prussia lost its independence as a result of the Prussian coup, when the Nazi regime was successfully establishing its Gleichschaltung laws in pursuit of a unitary state. Prussia existed de jure until its liquidation by the Allied Control Council Enactment No.46 of 25 February 1947. The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians, in the 13th century, the Teutonic Knights—an organized Catholic medieval military order of German crusaders—conquered the lands inhabited by them. In 1308, the Teutonic Knights conquered the region of Pomerelia with Gdańsk and their monastic state was mostly Germanised through immigration from central and western Germany and in the south, it was Polonised by settlers from Masovia. The Second Peace of Thorn split Prussia into the western Royal Prussia, a province of Poland, and the part, from 1525 called the Duchy of Prussia. The union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, Prussia entered the ranks of the great powers shortly after becoming a kingdom, and exercised most influence in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 18th century it had a say in many international affairs under the reign of Frederick the Great. During the 19th century, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck united the German principalities into a Lesser Germany which excluded the Austrian Empire. At the Congress of Vienna, which redrew the map of Europe following Napoleons defeat, Prussia acquired a section of north western Germany. The country then grew rapidly in influence economically and politically, and became the core of the North German Confederation in 1867, and then of the German Empire in 1871. The Kingdom of Prussia was now so large and so dominant in the new Germany that Junkers and other Prussian élites identified more and more as Germans and less as Prussians. In the Weimar Republic, the state of Prussia lost nearly all of its legal and political importance following the 1932 coup led by Franz von Papen. East Prussia lost all of its German population after 1945, as Poland, the main coat of arms of Prussia, as well as the flag of Prussia, depicted a black eagle on a white background. The black and white colours were already used by the Teutonic Knights. The Teutonic Order wore a white coat embroidered with a cross with gold insert
25.
Mazovia
–
Mazovia is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. Borders of the Mazovian Voivodeship, which was created in 1999, do not reflect exactly its original shape, historical Mazovia existed since the Middle Ages until the partitions of Poland and consisted of three voivodeships with the capitals in Warszawa, Płock and Rawa Mazowiecka. In a narrower sense, the Mazovian Voivodeship was only the first of them, between 1816 and 1844 another Mazovian Voivodeship existed, encompassing the south of the region. In the Middle Ages the main city of the region was Płock, since 1138 Mazovia had a separate branch of the Piast dynasty and was incorporated to the Polish Crown as late as in the 15th and 16th centuries. As much as over 20% of Mazovian population was the yeomanry, inhabitants of Mazovia are Mazurzy – hence the region of Masuria, settled by them. Mazovia has a landscape without hills and without lakes and it is spread over the Mazovian Lowland, on both sides of the Vistula river and its confluence with Narew and Bug. Forests cover one-fifth of the region, with the large Kampinos Forest, Puszcza Biała, in the north Mazovia borders on the Masurian subregion of former Prussia, in the east on Podlachia, in the south on Lesser Poland and in the west on Greater Poland. The area of Mazovia is 33,500 km2 and it has population of 5 million. When the Slavs came to this region from the area of Polesie, they mingled with the descendants of Vistula Veneti. This created a Lechitic tribe, Mazovians, the historical region of Mazovia in the beginning encompassed only the territories on the right bank of Vistula near Płock and had strong connections with Greater Poland. In the period of the rule of the first monarchs of the Piast State, Płock was one of their seats, in the period 1037–1047 it was the capital of the independent, Mazovian state of Masław. Between 1079 and 1138 this city was de facto the capital of Poland, during the 9th century Mazovia was perhaps inhabited by the tribe of Mazovians, and it was incorporated into the Polish state in the second half of 10th century under the Piast ruler Mieszko I. In 1138 the duchy of Mazovia was established, and during the 12th and 13th centuries it joined temporarily various adjacent lands and endured invasions of Prussians, Yotvingians, and Ruthenians. To protect its northern section Conrad I of Masovia called in the Teutonic Knights in 1226, after the reunification of the Polish state by Władysław I in the early 14th century, Mazovia became its fief in 1351. In the second half of 15th century western Mazovia and in 1526/1529 the main part was incorporated into the Polish state, in the 15th century eastern part of the region was settled, mainly by the yeomanry. Mazovia was considered underdeveloped in comparison with Greater Poland and Lesser Poland, in the Early Modern Times Mazovia was known for exporting grain, timber, and fur. It was also distinct because there was no reformation here, Mazovia was divided into three voivodeships, each of them divided into lands, each of them divided into counties. The Polish-Lithuanian Union of Lublin established Mazovia as the region of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, with Warsaw rising to prominence as the seat of the state legislature
26.
Podlaskie Voivodeship
–
This is an article about a present administrative unit of Poland. For historical units, see History of Podlaskie Voivodeship, Podlaskie Voivodeship or Podlasie Province is a voivodeship in northeastern Poland. The capital of Podlasie Province is Białystok, there are two opinions regarding the origin of the regions name. People often derive it from the Slavic les or las, meaning forest, i. e. it is an area by the wood or an area of forests, which would bring Podlasie close in meaning to adjacent Polesia. This theory has been questioned, as it does not properly take into consideration the vowel shifts a > e > i in various Slavic languages, heavily wooded Podlasie is home to the primal Białowieża Forest and National Park, habitat of the European wisent bison and tarpan. A second view holds that the term comes from the expression pod Lachem, some claim it to mean under Polish rule, which does not seem historically sound, as the area belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until 1569, and the southern part of it—until 1795. Hence pod Lachem would mean near the Poles, along the border with Poland, the historical Lithuanian name of the region, Palenkė, has exactly this meaning. It has a landscape, shaped in the north by Baltic glaciation. The highest peaks are in the north, where the landscape is dominated by a lake district. Lakeland, Zachodniosuwalskie, Wschodniosuwalskie, Ełckie) and Sandrowy lake district in the central and southern pre-glacial plains prevail, varied in topography with small basins, kurpie lie on the west edge of the outwash plains. Sand, gravel, clay, moraine, and in the valleys and basins of the silt, sand. The vast forests, some of which are the ones in Europe to have retained their original character, contain a unique wealth of flora. The vegetation of the region is diverse, which contributes to the richness of the animal world. Visitors can also see moose, wolves, lynx and bison living in the Białowieża Forest, Podlaskie has the lowest population density of the sixteen Polish voivodeships, and its largely unspoiled nature is one of its chief assets. Around 30% of the area of the voivodeship is under legal protection, the Polish part of the Białowieża Forest biosphere reserve is in Podlaskie. There are four National Parks, three Landscape Parks,88 nature reserves, and 15 protected landscape areas, the voivodeship constitutes a part of the ecologically clean area known as the Green Lungs of Poland. It is substantially different from most of the other Polish lowlands, the region is one of the coldest in Poland, with the average temperature in January being -−5 °C. The average temperature in a year is 7 °C, the number of frost days ranges from 50 to 60, with frost from 110 to 138 days and the duration of snow cover from 90 to 110 days
27.
Pomerania
–
Pomerania is a region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Germany and Poland. The name derives from the Slavic po more, meaning by the sea, Pomerania stretches roughly from the Recknitz river in the west to the Vistula river in the east. The largest Pomeranian islands are Rügen, Usedom/Uznam and Wolin, the largest Pomeranian city is Gdańsk, or, when using a narrower definition of the region, Szczecin. Outside its urban areas, Pomerania is characterized by farmland, dotted with lakes, forests. The region was affected by post–World War I and II border and population shifts. Pomerania is the area along the Bay of Pomerania of the Baltic Sea between the rivers Recknitz in the west and Vistula in the east and it formerly reached perhaps as far south as the Noteć river, but since the 13th century its southern boundary has been placed further north. Most of the region is coastal lowland, being part of the North European Plain, but its southern, hilly parts belong to the Baltic Ridge, within this ridge, a chain of moraine-dammed lakes constitutes the Pomeranian Lake District. The soil is rather poor, sometimes sandy or marshy. The western coastline is jagged, with many peninsulas and islands enclosing numerous bays, Łebsko and several other lakes were formerly bays, but have been cut off from the sea. The easternmost coastline along the Gdańsk Bay and Vistula Lagoon, has the Hel peninsula, the Pomeranian region has the following administrative divisions, Hither Pomerania in northeastern Germany, stretching from the Recknitz river to the Oder–Neisse line. This region is part of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The southernmost part of historical Vorpommern is now in Brandenburg, while its eastern parts are now in Poland. Vorpommern comprises the regions inhabited by Slavic tribes Rugians and Volinians, otherwise the Principality of Rügen. The West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland, stretching from the Oder–Neisse line to the Wieprza river, the Pomeranian Voivodeship, with similar borders to Pomerelia, stretching from the Wieprza river to the Vistula delta in the vicinity of Gdańsk. The northern half of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, comprising most of Chełmno Land, the bulk of Farther Pomerania is included within the modern West Pomeranian Voivodeship, but its easternmost parts now constitute the northwest of Pomeranian Voivodeship. Parts of Pomerania and surrounding regions have constituted a euroregion since 1995, the Pomerania euroregion comprises Hither Pomerania and Uckermark in Germany, West Pomerania in Poland, and Scania in Sweden. Pomerania was first mentioned in a document of 1046, referring to a Zemuzil dux Bomeranorum. Pomerania is mentioned repeatedly in the chronicles of Adam of Bremen, the term West Pomerania is ambiguous, since it may refer to either Hither Pomerania or to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship
28.
Samogitia
–
Samogitia or Žemaitija is one of the five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. Žemaitija is located in northwestern Lithuania, Žemaitija has a long and distinct cultural history, reflected in the existence of the Samogitian dialect. Ruthenian sources mentioned the region as жемотьская земля, samotska semla, this rise to its Polish form, Żmudź. In Latin texts, the name is written as Samogitia, Samogetia etc. The area has long known to its residents and to other Lithuanians exclusively as Žemaitija. The region is known in English as Lower Lithuania or, in reference to its Yiddish names. The largest city is Šiauliai, or Klaipėda if the latter is considered in the region, telšiai is the capital, although Medininkai was once the capital of the Duchy of Samogitia. Samogitian has northern and southern subdialects, after World War II, the territory of the western subdialect was resettled mainly by northern and southern Žemaičiai and by other Lithuanians. Samogitian has an intonation similar to that of the Latvian language. Žemaitija is one of the most ethnically homogeneous regions of the country, during the first part of 19th century, Žemaitija was a major center of Lithuanian culture. The local religion is predominantly Roman Catholic, although there are significant Lutheran minorities in the south, the modern concept of dialectological Žemaitija appeared only by the end of 19th century. The territory of ancient Samogitia was much larger than current ethnographic or dialectological Žemaitija and embraced all of central, the very term Samogitians is a Latinized form of the ancient Lithuanian name for the regions lowlanders, who dwelt in Central Lithuanias lowlands. The original subethnic Samogitia, i. e. the Central Lithuanias flat burial grounds culture, was formed as early as the 5th-6th centuries, before that, it was inhabited by southern Semigallians and southern Curonians. The western part of historical Žemaitija became ethnically Lithuanian between the 13th and 16th centuries, the primal eastern boundary of historical Samogitia was the Šventoji River since the end of the 13th century. Because during the 13th through 16th centuries the Teutonic Order and the Livonian Order bordered Žemaitija, as such, Samogitian territory was offered to these orders, or exchanged in peace treaties, a number of times. Lithuania would then regain Žemaitija during subsequent conflicts, for more than two hundred years, old Samogitia played a central role in Lithuania’s wars against the crusading order of the Teutonic Knights. Invasions started in Lithuania in 1229, combined military forces undertook numerous campaigns against Samogitians and Lithuanians. Saule, Skuodas, Durbe, Lievarde are just a few of the battles took place
29.
Duchy of Livonia
–
The Duchy of Livonia was a territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania—and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth—that existed from 1561 to 1621. It corresponds to the areas of northern Latvia and southern Estonia. Livonia had been part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1561, since the Livonian Order was secularized by the Union of Vilnius and it was a province of Grand Duchy of Lithuania until 1569. After the Union of Lublin in 1569, it became a joint domain of the Polish Crown, the larger part of the Duchy was conquered by Swedish Empire during the Polish–Swedish wars, and their gains were recognized in the Truce of Altmark in 1629. The title Grand Duke of Livonia was added to the title of later Russian Emperors
30.
Armour
–
Personal armour is used to protect soldiers and war animals. Vehicle armour is used on warships and armoured fighting vehicles, a second use of the term armour describes armoured forces, armoured weapons, and their role in combat. After the evolution of armoured warfare, mechanised infantry and their weapons came to be referred to collectively as armour, the word armour began to appear in the Middle Ages as a derivative of Old French. It is dated from 1297 as a mail, defensive covering worn in combat, the word originates from the Old French armure, itself derived from the Latin armatura meaning arms and/or equipment, with the root armare meaning arms or gear. Armour has been used throughout recorded history and it has been made from a variety of materials, beginning with rudimentary leather protection and evolving through mail and metal plate into todays modern composites. For much of history the manufacture of metal personal armour has dominated the technology. Its production was influential in the revolution, and furthered commercial development of metallurgy. Armour was the single most influential factor in the development of firearms, significant factors in the development of armour include the economic and technological necessities of its production. For instance, plate armour first appeared in Medieval Europe when water-powered trip hammers made the formation of plates faster and cheaper, also, modern militaries usually do not equip their forces with the best armour available because it would be prohibitively expensive. The samurai warriors of feudal Japan utilised many types of armour for hundreds of years up to the 19th century, Japanese lamellar armour passed through Korea and reached Japan around the 5th century. These early Japanese lamellar armours took the form of a sleeveless jacket, armour did not always cover all of the body, sometimes no more than a helmet and leg plates were worn. The rest of the body was protected by means of a large shield. Examples of armies equipping their troops in this fashion were the Aztecs, in East Asia many types of armour were commonly used at different times by various cultures including, scale armour, lamellar armour, laminar armour, plated mail, mail, plate armour and brigandine. Around the dynastic Tang, Song, and early Ming Period, cuirasses and plates were also used, the Chinese, during that time used partial plates for important body parts instead of covering their whole body since too much plate armour hinders their martial arts movement. The other body parts were covered in cloth, leather, lamellar, in pre-Qin dynasty times, leather armour was made out of various animals, with more exotic ones such as the rhinoceros. Mail, sometimes called chainmail, made of interlocking iron rings is believed to have first appeared some time after 300 BC and its invention is credited to the Celts, the Romans were thought to have adopted their design. Gradually, small plates or discs of iron were added to the mail to protect vulnerable areas. Hardened leather and splinted construction were used for arm and leg pieces, the coat of plates was developed, an armour made of large plates sewn inside a textile or leather coat
31.
Nuremberg
–
Nuremberg is a city on the river Pegnitz and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia, about 170 kilometres north of Munich. It is the second-largest city in Bavaria, and the largest in Franconia, the population as of February 2015, is 517,498, which makes it Germanys fourteenth-largest city. The urban area also includes Fürth, Erlangen and Schwabach with a population of 763,854. The European Metropolitan Area Nuremberg has ca.3.5 million inhabitants, Nuremberg was, according to the first documentary mention of the city in 1050, the location of an Imperial castle between the East Franks and the Bavarian March of the Nordgau. From 1050 to 1571, the city expanded and rose dramatically in importance due to its location on key trade routes, Nuremberg is often referred to as having been the unofficial capital of the Holy Roman Empire, particularly because Imperial Diet and courts met at Nuremberg Castle. The Diets of Nuremberg were an important part of the structure of the empire. The increasing demand of the court and the increasing importance of the city attracted increased trade. Nuremberg soon became, with Augsburg, one of the two great trade centers on the route from Italy to Northern Europe. In 1298, the Jews of the town were accused of having desecrated the host, behind the massacre of 1298 was also the desire to combine the northern and southern parts of the city, which were divided by the Pegnitz. The Jews of the German lands suffered many massacres during the plague years, in 1349, Nurembergs Jews were subjected to a pogrom. They were burned at the stake or expelled, and a marketplace was built over the former Jewish quarter, the plague returned to the city in 1405,1435,1437,1482,1494,1520 and 1534. Charles was the patron of the Frauenkirche, built between 1352 and 1362, where the Imperial court worshipped during its stays in Nuremberg. Charles IV conferred upon the city the right to conclude alliances independently, frequent fights took place with the burgraves without, however, inflicting lasting damage upon the city. Through these and other acquisitions the city accumulated considerable territory, the Hussite Wars, recurrence of the Black Death in 1437, and the First Margrave War led to a severe fall in population in the mid-15th century. During the Middle Ages, Nurembergs literary culture was rich, varied, the cultural flowering of Nuremberg, in the 15th and 16th centuries, made it the centre of the German Renaissance. In 1525, Nuremberg accepted the Protestant Reformation, and in 1532, during the 1552 revolution against Charles V, Nuremberg tried to purchase its neutrality, but the city was attacked without a declaration of war and was forced into a disadvantageous peace. The state of affairs in the early 16th century, increased trade routes elsewhere, frequent quartering of Imperial, Swedish and League soldiers, the financial costs of the war and the cessation of trade caused irreparable damage to the city and a near-halving of the population. In 1632, the city, occupied by the forces of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, was besieged by the army of Imperial general Albrecht von Wallenstein, the city declined after the war and recovered its importance only in the 19th century, when it grew as an industrial centre
32.
Kunz Lochner
–
Kunz Lochner was a master armourer from Nuremberg, Germany. He was the son of an armourer with the same name, in 1543 he started working for the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, and the following year he began his service at the future Maximilian IIs court. Master Kunz Lochner and his shop have produced some of the most magnificent parade armours that were made during the renaissance, lochners shop produced armours for many royal families from all of Europe. Today you can find them in both USA and Europe, at such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Livrustkammaren. The armour is made in 1550 for Sigismund II Augustus of Poland and he was the last king of the old Jagiellonian dynasty. In his wills he divided his legacy between his sisters, one of them was Catherine Jagiellon, queen of Sweden, married to John III of Sweden. Since Poland didnt have an heir to the throne, John III wanted his son Sigismund to be the next successor. In the complicated process of choosing a new king, Catherines sister Anna sent this armour to calm John III concerning the heritage, the armour remains of a full plate armour and a horse armour
33.
Stockholm
–
The city is spread across 14 islands on the coast in the southeast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago and the Baltic Sea. The area has settled since the Stone Age, in the 6th millennium BC. It is also the capital of Stockholm County, Stockholm is the cultural, media, political, and economic centre of Sweden. The Stockholm region alone accounts for over a third of the countrys GDP and it is an important global city, and the main centre for corporate headquarters in the Nordic region. The city is home to some of Europes top ranking universities, such as the Stockholm School of Economics, Karolinska Institute and it hosts the annual Nobel Prize ceremonies and banquet at the Stockholm Concert Hall and Stockholm City Hall. One of the citys most prized museums, the Vasa Museum, is the most visited museum in Scandinavia. The Stockholm metro, opened in 1950, is known for its decoration of the stations. Swedens national football arena is located north of the city centre, Ericsson Globe, the national indoor arena, is in the southern part of the city. The city was the host of the 1912 Summer Olympics, and hosted the equestrian portion of the 1956 Summer Olympics otherwise held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Stockholm is the seat of the Swedish government and most of its agencies, including the highest courts in the judiciary, and the official residencies of the Swedish monarch and the Prime Minister. The government has its seat in the Rosenbad building, the Riksdag is seated in the Parliament House, and the Prime Ministers residence is adjacent at the Sager House. After the Ice Age, around 8,000 BCE, there were already a number of people living in the present-day Stockholm area. Thousands of years later, as the ground thawed, the climate became tolerable, at the intersection of the Baltic Sea and lake Mälaren is an archipelago site where the Old Town of Stockholm was first built from about 1000 CE by Vikings. They had a positive impact on the area because of the trade routes they created. Stockholms location appears in Norse sagas as Agnafit, and in Heimskringla in connection with the legendary king Agne, the earliest written mention of the name Stockholm dates from 1252, by which time the mines in Bergslagen made it an important site in the iron trade. The first part of the name means log in Swedish, although it may also be connected to an old German word meaning fortification, the second part of the name means islet, and is thought to refer to the islet Helgeandsholmen in central Stockholm. Stockholms core, the present Old Town was built on the island next to Helgeandsholmen from the mid 13th century onward. The city originally rose to prominence as a result of the Baltic trade of the Hanseatic League, Stockholm developed strong economic and cultural linkages with Lübeck, Hamburg, Gdańsk, Visby, Reval, and Riga during this time
34.
Szlachta
–
The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges between 1333 and 1370 during the reign of King Casimir III the Great, in 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown Kingdom of Poland, the existing Lithuanian nobility formally joined this class. As the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth evolved and expanded in territory, its membership grew to include the leaders of Ducal Prussia, the origins of the szlachta are shrouded in obscurity and mystery and have been the subject of a variety of theories. Traditionally, its members were owners of landed property, often in the form of manor farms or so-called folwarks, the nobility negotiated substantial and increasing political and legal privileges for itself throughout its entire history until the decline of the Polish Commonwealth in the late 18th century. During the Partitions of Poland from 1772 to 1795, its members began to lose these legal privileges, the legal privileges of the szlachta were legally abolished in the Second Polish Republic by the March Constitution of 1921. The notion that all Polish nobles were social equals, regardless of their status or offices held, is enshrined in a traditional Polish saying. —which may roughly be rendered, The noble on the croft Is the voivodes equal, or the tenant farmer noble stands equal to the noble army commander. The term szlachta is derived from the Old High German word slahta, the Polish rycerz and the Polish herb. Poles of the 17th century assumed that szlachta came from the German schlachten, early Polish historians thought the term may have derived from the name of the legendary proto-Polish chief, Lech, mentioned in Polish and Czech writings. Some powerful Polish nobles were referred to as magnates and możny, see Magnates of Poland, the Polish term szlachta designated the formalized, hereditary noble class of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In official Latin documents of the old Commonwealth, hereditary szlachta are referred to as nobilitas and are indeed the equivalent in status of the English nobility. Today the word szlachta in the Polish language simply translates to nobility, in its broadest meaning, it can also denote some non-hereditary honorary knighthoods granted today by some European monarchs. Occasionally, 19th-century non-noble landowners were referred to as szlachta by courtesy or error, in the narrow sense, szlachta denotes the old-Commonwealth nobility. In the past, a misconception sometimes led to the mistranslation of szlachta as gentry rather than nobility. This mistaken practice began due to the status of some szlachta members being inferior to that of the nobility in other European countries. The szlachta included those almost rich and powerful enough to be magnates down to rascals with a lineage, no land, no castle, no money, no village. As some szlachta were poorer than some non-noble gentry, some particularly impoverished szlachta were forced to become tenants of the wealthier gentry. In doing so, however, these szlachta retained all their constitutional prerogatives, as it was not wealth or lifestyle, but hereditary juridical status, an individual nobleman was called a szlachcic, and a noblewoman a szlachcianka
35.
Lithuanians
–
Lithuanians are a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,561,300 people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in such as the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom. Their native language is Lithuanian, one of two surviving members of the Baltic language family. Most Lithuanians belong to the Roman Catholic Church, while the Lietuvininkai who lived in the part of East Prussia prior to World War II, were mostly Evangelical Lutherans. The territory of the Balts, including modern Lithuania, was inhabited by several Baltic tribal entities, as attested by ancient sources. The last Pagan peoples in Europe, they were converted to Christianity in 1387. The subsequent imperial Russian occupation accelerated this process, it pursued a policy of Russification and it was believed by some at the time that the nation as such, along with its language, would become extinct within a few generations. At the end of the 19th century a Lithuanian cultural and linguistic revival occurred, Lithuania declared independence after World War I, which helped its national consolidation. A standardised Lithuanian language was approved, however, the eastern parts of Lithuania, including the Vilnius Region, were annexed by Poland, while the Klaipėda Region was taken over by Nazi Germany in 1939. In 1940, Lithuania was invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union, the Germans and their allies attacked the USSR in June 1941, and from 1941—1944, Lithuania was occupied by Germany. The Germans retreated in 1944, and Lithuania fell under Soviet rule once again, the long-standing communities of Lithuanians in the Kaliningrad Oblast were almost destroyed as a result. The Lithuanian nation as such remained primarily in Lithuania, few villages in northeastern Poland, southern Latvia, some indigenous Lithuanians still remain in Belarus and the Kaliningrad Oblast, but their number is small compared to what they used to be. Lithuania regained its independence in 1990, and was recognized by most countries in 1991 and it became a member of the European Union on May 1,2004. Among the Baltic states, Lithuania has the most homogeneous population, Poles are mostly concentrated in the Vilnius Region. Especially large Polish communities are located in the Vilnius District Municipality and this concentration allows Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania, an ethnic minority-based political party, to exert political influence. Due to the excessive pro-Pole political agenda, the party is known to cause friction between Lithuanians and Poles, however, it has only held 1 or 2 seats in the parliament of Lithuania for the past decade. Thus, it is active in local politics by having a majority in a few minor municipality councils. Russians, even though they are almost as numerous as Poles, are more evenly scattered
36.
Calvinism
–
Calvinism is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice of John Calvin and other Reformation-era theologians. The term Calvinism can be misleading, because the tradition which it denotes has always been diverse. The movement was first called Calvinism by Lutherans who opposed it, early influential Reformed theologians include Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, Martin Bucer, William Farel, Heinrich Bullinger, Peter Martyr Vermigli, Theodore Beza, and John Knox. In the twentieth century, Abraham Kuyper, Herman Bavinck, B. B, Warfield, J. Gresham Machen, Karl Barth, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Cornelius Van Til, and Gordon Clark were influential. Contemporary Reformed theologians include J. I, sproul, Timothy J. Keller, John Piper, David Wells, and Michael Horton. Reformed churches may exercise several forms of polity, most are presbyterian or congregationalist. Calvinism is largely represented by Continental Reformed, Presbyterian, and Congregationalist traditions, the biggest Reformed association is the World Communion of Reformed Churches with more than 80 million members in 211 member denominations around the world. There are more conservative Reformed federations such as the World Reformed Fellowship, Calvinism is named after John Calvin. It was first used by a Lutheran theologian in 1552 and it was a common practice of the Catholic Church to name what they perceived to be heresy after its founder. Nevertheless, the term first came out of Lutheran circles, Calvin denounced the designation himself, They could attach us no greater insult than this word, Calvinism. It is not hard to guess where such a deadly hatred comes from that they hold against me, despite its negative connotation, this designation became increasingly popular in order to distinguish Calvinists from Lutherans and from newer Protestant branches that emerged later. Moreover, these churches claim to be—in accordance with John Calvins own words—renewed accordingly with the order of gospel. Since the Arminian controversy, the Reformed tradition—as a branch of Protestantism distinguished from Lutheranism—divided into two groups, Arminians and Calvinists. However, it is now rare to call Arminians a part of the Reformed tradition, some have also argued that Calvinism as a whole stresses the sovereignty or rule of God in all things including salvation. First-generation Reformed theologians include Huldrych Zwingli, Martin Bucer, Wolfgang Capito, John Oecolampadius, scripture was also viewed as a unified whole, which led to a covenantal theology of the sacraments of baptism and the Lords Supper as visible signs of the covenant of grace. Another Reformed distinctive present in these theologians was their denial of the presence of Christ in the Lords supper. Each of these also understood salvation to be by grace alone. Martin Luther and his successor Philipp Melanchthon were undoubtedly significant influences on these theologians, the doctrine of justification by faith alone was a direct inheritance from Luther
37.
Hetman
–
Hetman is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders. For much of the history of the Principality of Moldavia, the Hetman was the second in rank in the army after the ruling prince, the Hetman was also the highest military officer in Ukraines Hetmanates, the Zaporizhian Host and the Ukrainian State. The title was used by Ukraines Cossacks from the 16th century, hejtman is today the term for the elected governor of a Czech region. One theory derives the word from the Early Modern High German Heubtmann, with Heubt meaning head, hauptmann was a common military title during medieval times, literally meaning captain but functionally corresponding rather to todays general. Moreover, it has suggested that the Czech language may have served as an intermediary. The first Polish title of Grand Crown Hetman dates from 1505, the title of Hetman was given to the leader of the Polish Army and until 1581 the Hetman position existed only during specific campaigns and wars. After that, it became a permanent title, as were all the titles in the Kingdom of Poland, at any given time the Commonwealth had four Hetmans – a Great and Field Hetman for each of both Poland and Lithuania. Hetmans were not paid for their job by the Royal Treasury, Hetmans were the main commanders of the military forces, second only to the monarch in the armys chain of command. The fact that they could not be removed by the monarch made them very independent and this system worked well when a Hetman had great ability and the monarch was weak, but sometimes produced disastrous results in the opposite case. The contrast with states bordering the Commonwealth, where sovereigns could dismiss their army-commanders at any time, was immense, in 1648 the Zaporizhian Host elected a Hetman of their own igniting the Ukrainian struggle for independence. The military reform of 1776 limited the powers of the Hetmans, the Hetman office was abolished after the third partition of Poland in 1795. At the end of the century, the commanders of the Zaporizhian Cossacks were called Koshovyi Otaman or Hetmans. In 1572, the hetman was a commander of the Registered Cossack Army of the Rzeczpospolita too, from 1648, the start of Bohdan Khmelnytskys uprising, a hetman was the head of the whole Ukrainian State — Hetmanshchyna. Although they were elected, Ukrainian Hetmans had very broad powers and acted as heads of the Cossack state, their military commanders. After the split of Ukraine along the Dnieper River by the 1667 Polish-Russian Treaty of Andrusovo, Ukrainian Cossacks became known as Left-bank Cossacks, in the Russian Empire, the office of Cossack Hetman was abolished by Catherine II of Russia in 1764. The last Hetman of the Zaporozhian Army was Kyrylo Rozumovsky, who reigned from 1751 until 1764, the title was revived in Ukraine during the revolution of 1917 to 1920. This regime lasted until late 1918, when it was overthrown by a new Directory of the re-established Ukrainian Peoples Republic, ataman Bulawa Hatman Hetmans sign Media related to Hetmans at Wikimedia Commons Hetman
Elisabeth of Austria
Barbara Radziwiłł
Catherine of Austria
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bain, Robert Nisbet (1911). "Sigismund II.". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 68.
