1.
Horace Walpole
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Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford — also known as Horace Walpole — was an English art historian, man of letters, antiquarian and Whig politician. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, south-west London and his literary reputation rests on his Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto and his Letters, which are of significant social and political interest. He was the son of the first British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole, as Horace Walpole was childless, on his death his barony descended to his cousin of the same surname, who was created the new Earl of Orford. Walpole was born in London, the youngest son of British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole, like his father, he received early education in Bexley, he was also educated at Eton College and Kings College, Cambridge. Walpoles first friends were probably his cousins Francis and Henry Conway, to whom Walpole became strongly attached, at Eton he formed with Charles Lyttelton and George Montagu the Triumvirate, a schoolboy confederacy. More important were another group of friends dubbed the Quadruple Alliance, Walpole, Thomas Gray, Richard West, at Cambridge Walpole came under the influence of Conyers Middleton, an unorthodox theologian. Walpole came to accept the nature of Middletons attitude to some essential Christian doctrines for the rest of his life, including a hatred of superstition. Walpole ceased to reside at Cambridge at the end of 1738, according to one biographer his love for his mother was the most powerful emotion of his entire life. the whole of his psychological history was dominated by it. Walpole did not have any relationships with women, he has been called a natural celibate. Walpoles sexual orientation has been the subject of speculation, many contemporaries described him as effeminate. Biographers such as Timothy Mowl explore his possible homosexuality, including a passionate, some previous biographers such as Lewis, Fothergill, and Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer, however, have interpreted Walpole as asexual. Upon coming of age he became Comptroller of the Pipe and Clerk of the Estreats which gave him an income of £300 per annum, Walpole decided to go travelling with Thomas Gray and wrote a will whereby he left Gray all his belongings. They left Dover on 29 March and arrived at Calais later that day and they then travelled through Boulogne, Amiens and Saint-Denis, arriving at Paris on 4 April. Here they met many aristocratic Englishmen, in early June they left Paris for Rheims, then in September going to Dijon, Lyons, Dauphiné, Savoy, Aix-les-Bains, Geneva, and then back to Lyons. In October they left for Italy, arriving in Turin in November, then going to Genoa, Piacenza, Parma, Reggio, Modena, Bologna, and in December arriving at Florence. Here he struck up a friendship with Horace Mann, an assistant to the British Minister at the Court of Tuscany and wrote Epistle from Florence to Thomas Ashton, tutor to the Earl of Plymouth, a mixture of Whig history and Middletons teachings. In February 1740 Walpole and Gray left for Rome with the intention of witnessing the papal conclave upon the death of Pope Clement XII, Walpole wanted to attend fashionable parties and Gray wanted to visit all the antiquities. At social occasions in Rome he saw the Old Pretender James Francis Edward Stuart, Walpole and Gray returned to Florence in July
2.
Gothic fiction
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Gothic fiction, which is largely known by the subgenre of Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature and film that combines fiction and horror, death, and at times romance. Its origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, the effect of Gothic fiction feeds on a pleasing sort of terror, an extension of Romantic literary pleasures that were relatively new at the time of Walpoles novel. It originated in England in the half of the 18th century and had much success in the 19th, as witnessed by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Another well known novel in this genre, dating from the late Victorian era, is Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the name Gothic refers to the -medieval buildings, emulating Gothic architecture, in which many of these stories take place. This extreme form of romanticism was very popular in England and Germany, the English Gothic novel also led to new novel types such as the German Schauerroman and the French Georgia. The novel usually regarded as the first Gothic novel is Horace Walpoles The Castle of Otranto, Horace Walpoles declared aim was to combine elements of the medieval romance, which he deemed too fanciful, and the modern novel, which he considered to be too confined to strict realism. Walpole published the first edition disguised as a romance from Italy discovered and republished by a fictitious translator. When Walpole admitted to his authorship in the edition, its originally favourable reception by literary reviewers changed into rejection. A romance with elements, and moreover void of didactical intention, was considered a setback. Walpoles forgery, together with the blend of history and fiction, contravened the principles of the Enlightenment and associated the Gothic novel with fake documentation. Clara Reeve, best known for her work The Old English Baron, set out to take Walpoles plot, the question now arose whether supernatural events that were not as evidently absurd as Walpoles would not lead the simpler minds to believe them possible. Ann Radcliffe developed the technique of the supernatural in which every seemingly supernatural intrusion is eventually traced back to natural causes. Among other elements, Ann Radcliffe introduced the figure of the Gothic villain. Radcliffes novels, above all The Mysteries of Udolpho, were best-sellers, however, along with most novels at the time, they were looked down upon by many well-educated people as sensationalist nonsense. Radcliffe also provided an aesthetic for the genre in an influential article On the Supernatural in Poetry, Romantic literary movements developed in continental Europe concurrent with the development of the Gothic novel. The roman noir appeared in France, by writers as François Guillaume Ducray-Duminil, Baculard dArnaud. In Germany, the Schauerroman gained traction with writers as Friedrich Schiller, with novels like The Ghost-Seer and these works were often more horrific and violent than the English Gothic novel. Matthew Gregory Lewiss lurid tale of debauchery, black magic
3.
Horror novel
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Horror is a genre of fiction which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten, scare, disgust, or startle their readers or viewers by inducing feelings of horror and terror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon has defined the horror story as a piece of fiction in prose of variable length, which shocks or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing. It creates an eerie and frightening atmosphere, Horror is frequently supernatural, though it can be non-supernatural. Often the central menace of a work of fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for the larger fears of a society. The genre of horror has ancient origins with roots in folklore and religious traditions, focusing on death, the afterlife, evil, the demonic and these were manifested in stories of beings such as witches, vampires, werewolves and ghosts. 18th century Gothic horror drew on these sources with the seminal and controversial The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole and this marked the first incorporated elements of the supernatural instead of pure realism. In fact, the first edition was published disguised as a medieval romance from Italy discovered and republished by a fictitious translator. Once revealed as contemporary, many found it anachronistic, reactionary, or simply in poor taste — but it proved to be immediately popular. That first novel of Gothic horror inspired such works as Vathek by William Beckford, A Sicilian Romance, The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Italian by Ann Radcliffe and The Monk by Matthew Lewis. A significant amount of fiction of this era was written by women and marketed at a female audience. The Gothic tradition blossomed into the modern readers call horror literature in the 19th century. Each of these novels and novellas created an icon of horror seen in modern re-imaginings on the stage. The proliferation of periodicals, as early as the turn of the century. One writer who specialized in fiction for mainstream pulps such as All-Story Magazine was Tod Robbins, whose fiction dealt with themes of madness. Later, specialist publications emerged to give horror writers an outlet, including Weird Tales, influential horror writers of the early 20th century made inroads in these mediums. Early cinema was inspired by aspects of horror literature, and early horror cinema started a strong tradition of horror films. This imagery made these comics controversial, and as a consequence they were frequently censored, many modern novels claim an early description of the living dead in a precursor to the modern zombie tale, including Dennis Wheatleys Strange Conflict, H. P. Lovecraft stories such as Cool Air, In The Vault, richard Mathesons novel I Am Legend would also influence an entire genre of apocalyptic zombie fiction emblematic of the films of George A. Romero
4.
Literary genre
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A literary genre is a category of literary composition. Genres may be determined by technique, tone, content. The distinctions between genres and categories are flexible and loosely defined, often with subgroups, the most general genres in literature are epic, tragedy, comedy, and creative nonfiction. They can all be in the form of prose or poetry, additionally, a genre such as satire, allegory or pastoral might appear in any of the above, not only as a subgenre, but as a mixture of genres. Finally, they are defined by the cultural movement of the historical period in which they were composed. Genre should not be confused with age categories, by which literature may be classified as adult, young adult. They also must not be confused with format, such as novel or picture book. Just as in painting, there are different types, the landscape, the still life and these types tend to share specific characteristics. Genres describe those works which share specific conventions, Genres are often divided into subgenres. Literature, is divided into the three forms of Ancient Greece, poetry, drama, and prose. Poetry may then be subdivided into the genres of lyric, epic, the lyric includes all the shorter forms of poetry, e. g. song, ode, ballad, elegy, sonnet. Dramatic poetry might include comedy, tragedy, melodrama, and mixtures like tragicomedy, the standard division of drama into tragedy and comedy derives from Greek drama. This parsing into subgenres can continue, comedy has its own subgenres, including, for example, comedy of manners, sentimental comedy, burlesque comedy, and satirical comedy. Often, the used to divide up works into genres are not consistent, and may change constantly. Types of fiction genres are science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, realistic fiction, semi-fiction spans stories that include a substantial amount of non-fiction. It may be the retelling of a story with only the names changed. The other way around, semi-fiction may also involve fictional events with a semi-fictional character, Genres may easily be confused with literary techniques, but, though only loosely defined, they are not the same, examples are parody, frame story, constrained writing, stream of consciousness. Drama Poem Prose Genre fiction Bakhtin, Mikhail M. Epic, on Narrative, The Law of Genre
5.
Clara Reeve
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Clara Reeve was an English novelist, best known for her Gothic novel The Old English Baron. She also wrote an history of prose fiction, The Progress of Romance. Her first work was a translation from Latin, then a language for a woman to learn. Reeve was born in Ipswich, England, one of the eight children of Reverend William Reeve, rector of Freston and of Kreson in Suffolk, and perpetual curate of St Nicholas. Her mother was the daughter of a Smithies, a goldsmith, I gaped and yawned over them at the time, but, unawares to myself, they fixed my principles once and for all. He made me read Rapins History of England, the information it gave made amends for its dryness. I read Catos Letters by Trenchard and Gordon, I read the Greek and Roman histories, after the death of her father, she lived with her mother and sisters in Colchester. It was there that she first became an author, publishing a translation of the historical allegory Argenis by John Barclay under the title of The Phoenix. The first edition under the title of The Old English Baron was dedicated to the daughter of Samuel Richardson, the novel noticeably influenced Mary Shelleys Frankenstein. Reeve also wrote the epistolary novel The School for Widows, one of the stories in the work, The History of Charoba, Queen of Egypt, was the inspiration for Walter Savage Landors first major piece, Gebir. Reeve led a life, leaving very little biographical material. She died at Ipswich and was buried, as she wished, in the churchyard of St. Stephens, clara Reeve from Lives of the Eminent Novelists and Dramatists. A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, london, J. M. Dent & Sons
6.
Ann Radcliffe
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Ann Radcliffe was an English author and pioneer of the Gothic novel. Her style is Romantic in its descriptions of landscapes and long travel scenes. It was her technique, the supernatural as the final revelation of inexplicable phenomena. Little is known of Ann Radcliffes life, christina Rossetti attempted to write a biography of her, but abandoned it for lack of information. According to Ruth Facer, Physically, she was said to be exquisitely proportioned – quite short, complexion beautiful as was her whole countenance, especially her eyes, eyebrows, Radcliffe was born Ann Ward in Holborn, London, on 9 July 1764. Her father was William Ward, a haberdasher, who moved to Bath to manage a china shop. Radcliffe occasionally lived with her Uncle, Thomas Bentley, in Chelsea, Bentley is best known for his partnership with his fellow Unitarian, Josiah Wedgewood, maker of the famous Wedgewood china. Sukey, Wedgewood’s daughter, also stayed in Chelsea and is Radcliffe’s only known childhood companion, sukey later married Dr Robert Darwin and had a son, Charles Darwin. Although mixing in some distinguished circles, Radcliffe seems to have made little impression in society and was described by Wedgewood as “Bentley’s shy niece”. In 1787, she married the Oxford graduate and journalist William Radcliffe, part-owner and he often came home late, and to occupy her time she began to write, and read her work to him when he returned. Theirs was a childless, but seemingly happy, marriage, Radcliffe called him her nearest relative and friend. The money she earned from her novels later allowed them to travel together, along with their dog, in her final years, Radcliffe retreated from public life and was rumoured to have become insane as a result of her writing. Ann died on the 7th February 1823 and was buried in a vault in the Chapel of Ease at St George’s in Hanover Square, Bayswater, London. ”There are few artefacts or manuscripts that give insight into Radcliffes personal life, but in 2014 a rare letter from Radcliffe to her mother-in-law was found in an archive at the British Library. Its tone suggests a relationship between the two, similar to the relationship of Ellena Rosalba and the Marchesa di Vivaldi in her novel The Italian. Radcliffes fiction is marked by supernatural events that are then provided with rational explanations. Throughout her work, traditional values are asserted, the rights of women are advocated. Radcliffe published six novels and a book of poetry, Radcliffe is considered one of the founders of Gothic literature. While there were others that preceded her, Radcliffe was the one that legitimised the genre, sir Walter Scott called her the founder of a class or school
7.
William Thomas Beckford
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His parents were William Beckford and Maria Hamilton, daughter of the Hon. George Hamilton. He was Member of Parliament for Wells from 1784 to 1790 and he is remembered as the author of the Gothic novel Vathek, the builder of the remarkable lost Fonthill Abbey and Lansdown Tower, Bath, and especially for his art collection. Beckford was born on 29 September 1760 in the familys London home at 22 Soho Square and this fortune allowed him to indulge his interest in art and architecture, as well as writing. On 5 May 1783 Beckford married Lady Margaret Gordon, a daughter of the fourth Earl of Aboyne, Courtenay was just ten years old on first meeting Beckford, who was eight years older. For many years Beckford was believed to have conducted an affair with his cousin Peters wife Louisa Pitt. Beckford was discovered to be whipping Courtenay in some posture or another after finding a letter penned by Courtenay to another lover. Although Beckford was never punished for child molestation, fornication, or attempted buggery, having studied under Sir William Chambers and Alexander Cozens, Beckford journeyed in Italy in 1782 and promptly wrote a book about his travels, Dreams, Waking Thoughts and Incidents. According to Srinivas Aravamudan Vathek is a work, full of fantastic and magnificent conceptions. In 1793 he visited Portugal, where he settled for a while, Beckfords fame, however, rests as much upon his eccentric extravagances as a builder and collector as upon his literary efforts. In undertaking his buildings he managed to dissipate his fortune, which was estimated by his contemporaries to give him an income of £100,000 a year, the loss of his Jamaican sugar plantation to James Beckford Wildman was particularly costly. Only £80,000 of his capital remained at his death, Beckford was a compulsive and restless collector, who also frequently sold works, sometimes later repurchasing them. His collection was notable for its many Italian Quattrocento paintings, then little collected, despite his interest in Romantic medievalism, he owned few medieval works, though many from the Renaissance. He was also interested in showy Asian objets dart such as Mughal hardstone carvings, by 1822 he was short of funds, and in debt. Fonthill, with part of his collection, was sold before the sale for £330,000 to John Farquhar, Beckford pieces are now in museums all over the world. Horace Walpole would not have suffered it in his toyshop at Strawberry Hill, now in the National Gallery, London, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, the National Gallery paid c £6,000 in 1839, as part of a bulk purchase from Beckford. Agony in the Garden, bought at the Joshua Reynolds sale in 1795 for £5, sold with Fonthill, portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan, Giovanni Bellini, bought 1807,13 guineas, sold to NG in 1844 for £630. Exhumation of Saint Hubert, Rogier van der Weyden and workshop, bought by Beckford in 1802 for £96. 12s, by NG in 1868 for £1,500. Philip IV in Brown and Silver by Diego Velázquez, bought by NG for £6,300 at the 1882 Hamilton Palace Sale, a very high price for a Spanish painting at the time
8.
Matthew Lewis (writer)
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Matthew Gregory Lewis was an English novelist and dramatist, often referred to as Monk Lewis, because of the success of his 1796 Gothic novel, The Monk. Lewis was the child of Matthew and Frances Maria Sewell Lewis. His father, Matthew Lewis, was the son of William Lewis and he attended Westminster School before proceeding to Christ Church, Oxford, where he received his bachelors degree in 1769 and his master’s in 1772. That same year, he was appointed as the Chief Clerk in the War Office, the following year, Lewis married Frances Maria Sewell, a young woman who was very popular at court. She was the daughter born to Sir Thomas Sewell and was one of eight children born in his first marriage. Her family, like Lewis’, had connections with Jamaica, as a child, she spent her time in Ottershaw. In December 1775, in addition to his post as the Chief Clerk in the War Office, with one exception, he was the first to hold both positions at that same time. Lewis owned considerable property in Jamaica, within four miles of Savanna-la-Mer, or Savanna-la-Mar and his son would later inherit this property. In addition to Matthew Gregory Lewis, Matthew and Frances had three children, Maria, Barrington, and Sophia Elizabeth. On 23 July 1781, when Matthew was six and his youngest sister was one, during their estrangement, Frances lived under a different name, Langley, in order to hide her location from her husband. He still, however, knew her whereabouts, on 3 July 1782, Frances gave birth to a child. That same day, hearing of the birth, her husband returned. Afterwards, he began to arrange a legal separation from his wife, however, as these bills were rarely granted, it was rejected when brought to a vote. Consequently, Matthew and Frances remained married until his death in 1818, Frances, though withdrawing from society and temporarily moving to France, was always supported financially by her husband and then later, her son. She later returned to London and then finished her days at Leatherhead, rejoining society. Frances and her son remained quite close, with her taking on the responsibility of helping him with his literary career and she even became a published author, much to her son’s dislike. Matthew Gregory Lewis began his education at a school under Reverend Dr John Fountain. Fountain was a friend of both the Lewis and Sewell families, there Lewis learned Latin, Greek, French, writing, arithmetic, drawing, dancing, and fencing
9.
Mary Shelley
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Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus. She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and her father was the political philosopher William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. When Mary was four, her father married a neighbour, with whom, as her stepmother, in 1814, Mary began a romance with one of her fathers political followers, Percy Bysshe Shelley, whom she eventually married. Together with Marys stepsister Claire Clairmont, Mary and Shelley left for France, upon their return to England, Mary was pregnant with Percys child. Over the next two years, she and Percy faced ostracism, constant debt, and the death of their prematurely born daughter and they married in late 1816, after the suicide of Percy Shelleys first wife, Harriet. In 1816, the couple spent a summer with Lord Byron, John William Polidori, and Claire Clairmont near Geneva, Switzerland. The Shelleys left Britain in 1818 for Italy, where their second and third died before Mary Shelley gave birth to her last and only surviving child. In 1822, her husband drowned when his boat sank during a storm near Viareggio. A year later, Mary Shelley returned to England and from then on devoted herself to the upbringing of her son, the last decade of her life was dogged by illness, probably caused by the brain tumour that was to kill her at the age of 53. Recent scholarship has yielded a comprehensive view of Mary Shelley’s achievements. Mary Shelleys works often argue that cooperation and sympathy, particularly as practised by women in the family, were the ways to reform civil society. This view was a challenge to the individualistic Romantic ethos promoted by Percy Shelley. Mary Shelley was born as Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin in Somers Town, London and she was the second child of the feminist philosopher, educator, and writer Mary Wollstonecraft, and the first child of the philosopher, novelist, and journalist William Godwin. Wollstonecraft died of fever shortly after Mary was born. Godwin was left to bring up Mary, along with her older half-sister, Fanny Imlay, a year after Wollstonecrafts death, Godwin published his Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, which he intended as a sincere and compassionate tribute. However, because the Memoirs revealed Wollstonecrafts affairs and her illegitimate child, Mary Godwin read these memoirs and her mothers books, and was brought up to cherish her mothers memory. Marys earliest years were happy ones, judging from the letters of William Godwins housekeeper and nurse, but Godwin was often deeply in debt, feeling that he could not raise the children by himself, he cast about for a second wife. In December 1801, he married Mary Jane Clairmont, a woman with two young children of her own—Charles and Claire
10.
Bram Stoker
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Abraham Bram Stoker was an Irish author, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula. During his lifetime, he was known as the personal assistant of actor Henry Irving and business manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London. Stoker was born on 8 November 1847 at 15 Marino Crescent, Clontarf, on the northside of Dublin and his parents were Abraham Stoker from Dublin and Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornley, who was raised in County Sligo. Stoker was the third of seven children, the eldest of whom was Sir Thornley Stoker, Abraham and Charlotte were members of the Church of Ireland Parish of Clontarf and attended the parish church with their children, who were baptised there. Stoker was bedridden with an unknown illness until he started school at the age of seven, of this time, Stoker wrote, I was naturally thoughtful, and the leisure of long illness gave opportunity for many thoughts which were fruitful according to their kind in later years. He was educated in a school run by the Rev. William Woods. After his recovery, he grew up without further serious illnesses, even excelling as an athlete at Trinity College, Dublin and he graduated with honours as a B. A. in Mathematics. He was auditor of the College Historical Society and president of the University Philosophical Society, Stoker became interested in the theatre while a student through his friend Dr. Maunsell. He became the critic for the Dublin Evening Mail, co-owned by the author of Gothic tales Sheridan Le Fanu. Theatre critics were held in low esteem, but he attracted notice by the quality of his reviews, in December 1876, he gave a favourable review of Henry Irvings Hamlet at the Theatre Royal in Dublin. Irving invited Stoker for dinner at the Shelbourne Hotel where he was staying, Stoker also wrote stories, and The Crystal Cup was published by the London Society in 1872, followed by The Chain of Destiny in four parts in The Shamrock. In 1876 while a servant in Dublin, Stoker wrote the non-fiction book The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland which remained a standard work. Furthermore, he possessed an interest in art, and was a founder of the Dublin Sketching Club in 1879, in 1878 Stoker married Florence Balcombe, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel James Balcombe of 1 Marino Crescent. She was a celebrated beauty whose former suitor was Oscar Wilde, Stoker had known Wilde from his student days, having proposed him for membership of the university’s Philosophical Society while he was president. Wilde was upset at Florences decision, but Stoker later resumed the acquaintanceship, the Stokers moved to London, where Stoker became acting manager and then business manager of Irvings Lyceum Theatre, London, a post he held for 27 years. On 31 December 1879, Bram and Florences only child was born, the collaboration with Henry Irving was important for Stoker and through him he became involved in Londons high society, where he met James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Working for Irving, the most famous actor of his time and he was dedicated to Irving and his memoirs show he idolised him. In London Stoker also met Hall Caine, who one of his closest friends – he dedicated Dracula to him
11.
Edgar Allan Poe
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Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and he is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and American literature as a whole, and he was one of the countrys earliest practitioners of the short story. Poe is generally considered the inventor of the fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a difficult life. Poe was born in Boston, the child of two actors. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died the following year, thus orphaned, the child was taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia. They never formally adopted him, but Poe was with them well into young adulthood, tension developed later as John Allan and Edgar repeatedly clashed over debts, including those incurred by gambling, and the cost of secondary education for the young man. Poe attended the University of Virginia for one semester but left due to lack of money, Poe quarreled with Allan over the funds for his education and enlisted in the Army in 1827 under an assumed name. It was at time that his publishing career began, albeit humbly, with the anonymous collection of poems Tamerlane and Other Poems. With the death of Frances Allan in 1829, Poe and Allan reached a temporary rapprochement, however, Poe later failed as an officer cadet at West Point, declaring a firm wish to be a poet and writer, and he ultimately parted ways with John Allan. Poe switched his focus to prose and spent the several years working for literary journals and periodicals. His work forced him to move among several cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, in Richmond in 1836, he married Virginia Clemm, his 13-year-old cousin. In January 1845, Poe published his poem The Raven to instant success and his wife died of tuberculosis two years after its publication. For years, he had been planning to produce his own journal The Penn, Poe and his works influenced literature in the United States and around the world, as well as in specialized fields such as cosmology and cryptography. Poe and his work appear throughout popular culture in literature, music, films, a number of his homes are dedicated museums today. The Mystery Writers of America present an award known as the Edgar Award for distinguished work in the mystery genre. He was born Edgar Poe in Boston on January 19,1809 and he had an elder brother William Henry Leonard Poe, and a younger sister Rosalie Poe. Their grandfather David Poe Sr. had emigrated from Cavan, Ireland to America around the year 1750, Edgar may have been named after a character in William Shakespeares King Lear, a play that the couple were performing in 1809
12.
Robert Louis Stevenson
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Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. His most famous works are Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, a literary celebrity during his lifetime, Stevenson now ranks as the 26th most translated author in the world. M. Barrie, and G. K. Chesterton, who said of him that he seemed to pick the word up on the point of his pen. Stevenson was born at 8 Howard Place, Edinburgh, Scotland, on 13 November 1850, to Thomas Stevenson, a lighthouse engineer. He was christened Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson, at about age 18, Stevenson was to change the spelling of Lewis to Louis, and in 1873, he dropped Balfour. Lighthouse design was the profession, Thomass father was the famous Robert Stevenson. Indeed, even Thomass maternal grandfather, Thomas Smith, had been in the same profession, however, Roberts mothers family were not of the same profession. Margarets natal family, the Balfours, were gentry, tracing their lineage back to a certain Alexander Balfour who had held the lands of Inchyra in Fife in the fifteenth century. Margarets father, Lewis Balfour, was a minister of the Church of Scotland at nearby Colinton, and her siblings included the physician George William Balfour, Stevenson spent the greater part of his boyhood holidays in his maternal grandfathers house. Now I often wonder, wrote Stevenson, what I inherited from this old minister, I must suppose, indeed, that he was fond of preaching sermons, and so am I, though I never heard it maintained that either of us loved to hear them. Lewis Balfour and his daughter both had weak chests, so they often needed to stay in warmer climates for their health, Stevenson inherited a tendency to coughs and fevers, exacerbated when the family moved to a damp, chilly house at 1 Inverleith Terrace in 1851. The family moved again to the sunnier 17 Heriot Row when Stevenson was six years old, illness would be a recurrent feature of his adult life and left him extraordinarily thin. Contemporary views were that he had tuberculosis, but more recent views are that it was bronchiectasis or even sarcoidosis, Stevensons parents were both devout and serious Presbyterians, but the household was not strict in its adherence to Calvinist principles. His nurse, Alison Cunningham, was fervently religious. Her Calvinism and folk beliefs were a source of nightmares for the child. But she also cared for him tenderly in illness, reading to him from Bunyan, Stevenson recalled this time of sickness in The Land of Counterpane in A Childs Garden of Verses, dedicating the book to his nurse. In any case, his frequent illnesses often kept him away from his first school and he was a late reader, first learning at age seven or eight, but even before this he dictated stories to his mother and nurse. He compulsively wrote stories throughout his childhood and his father was proud of this interest, he had also written stories in his spare time until his own father found them and told him to give up such nonsense and mind your business
13.
George du Maurier
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George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier was a Franco-British cartoonist and author, known for his cartoons in Punch and for his novel Trilby. He was the father of actor Sir Gerald du Maurier and grandfather of writers Angela du Maurier and he was also the father of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and grandfather of the five boys who inspired J. M. Barries Peter Pan. George du Maurier was born in Paris, the son of Louis-Mathurin du Maurier and Ellen Clarke and he was brought up to believe that his aristocratic grandparents fled France during the Revolution, leaving vast estates behind in France, to live in England as émigrés. However, du Mauriers grandfather, Robert-Mathurin Busson, was actually a tradesman who left Paris in 1789 to avoid fraud charges, Du Maurier studied art in Paris, and moved to Antwerp, Belgium, where he lost vision in his left eye. He consulted an oculist in Düsseldorf, Germany, where he met his future wife and he followed her family to London, where he married Emma in 1863. The couple settled in Hampstead around 1877, first in Church Row and they had five children, Beatrix, Guy, Sylvia, Marie Louise and Gerald. He became a member of the staff of the British satirical magazine Punch in 1865 and his most common targets were the affected manners of Victorian society, the bourgeoisie and members of Britains growing Middle Class in particular. His most enduringly famous cartoon, True Humility, was the origin of the good in parts. In an earlier cartoon, du Maurier had coined the expression bedside manner by which he satirized actual medical skill, another of du Mauriers notable cartoons was of a videophone conversation in 1879, using a device he called Edisons telephonoscope. Among several other novels he illustrated was Misunderstood by Florence Montgomery in 1873, owing to his deteriorating eyesight, du Maurier reduced his involvement with Punch in 1891 and settled in Hampstead, where he wrote three novels. His first, Peter Ibbetson, was a modest success at the time and later adapted to stage and screen, most notably in Peter Ibbetson and his second novel Trilby, was published in 1894. It fitted into the horror genre which was undergoing a revival during the fin de siècle. The story of the artists model Trilby OFerrall, transformed into a diva under the spell of the evil musical genius Svengali. The plot inspired Gaston Lerouxs 1910 novel Phantom of the Opera, Du Maurier eventually came to dislike the persistent attention given to his novel. The third novel was a long, largely autobiographical work entitled The Martian, George du Maurier was a close friend of Henry James, the novelist, their relationship was fictionalised in David Lodges Author, Author. He was buried in St John-at-Hampstead churchyard in Hampstead parish in London. Peter Ibbetson –1891, adapted in 1935 by Henry Hathaway into a film starring Gary Cooper, also adapted as an opera by Deems Taylor Trilby –1894, the Martian –1897 Social Pictorial Satire-1898 Trilbymania Richard Kelly. The Art of George du Maurier, routledge & Kegan Paul, London,1969
14.
King's Lynn (UK Parliament constituency)
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Until 1918 it was a parliamentary borough, after which the name was transferred to a county constituency. It was abolished for the February 1974 general election, sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister, was an MP for the constituency for almost the entirety of his parliamentary career, from 1702 to 1742. 1950-1974, The Municipal Borough of Kings Lynn, the Urban District of New Hunstanton, and the Rural Districts of Docking, Freebridge Lynn, representation reduced to one member General Election 1914/15 Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The Constitutional Year Book for 1913 J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons Leigh Rayments Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with K
15.
Strawberry Hill House
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Strawberry Hill House—often called simply Strawberry Hill—is the Gothic Revival villa that was built in Twickenham, London by Horace Walpole from 1749 onward. It is the example of the Strawberry Hill Gothic style of architecture. Walpole rebuilt the house in stages starting in 1749,1760,1772 and 1776. The interior included a Robert Adam fireplace, parts of the exterior were designed by James Essex, the garden contained a large seat shaped like a Rococo sea shell, it has been recreated in the 2012 restoration. In May 1747, Horace Walpole took a lease on a small 17th-century house that was more than a cottage. Horace was under familial and political pressure to establish a seat, especially a family castle. The following year he purchased the house which the original owner and this was intolerable to Walpole, his residence ought, he thought, to possess some distinctive appellation, of a very different character. Finding an old lease that described his land as Strawberry Hill Shot, in stages, Walpole rebuilt the house to his own specifications, giving it a Gothic style and expanding the property to 46 acres over the years. As such it has a claim to be the point of the Gothic Revival. Bentley left the group abruptly after an argument in 1761, chute had an eclectic but rather dry style and was in charge of designing most of the exterior of the house and some of the interior. To Walpole, he was an oracle of taste, Walpole often disagreed with Bentley on some of his wayward schemes, but admired his talent for illustration. William Robinson of the Royal Office of Works contributed professional experience in overseeing construction and he incorporated many of the exterior details of cathedrals into the interior of the house. Externally there seemed to be two predominant styles mixed, a based on castles with turrets and battlements, and a style based on Gothic cathedrals with arched windows. The building evolved similarly to how a medieval cathedral often evolved over time, indeed, Michael Snodin argues, the most striking external feature of Strawberry Hill was its irregular plan and broken picturesque silhouette. Walpole added new features over a period, as he saw fit. The total cost came to about £20,720 and this style has variously been described as Georgian Gothic, Strawberry Hill Gothic, or Georgian Rococo. Walpoles eccentric and unique style on the rooms of Strawberry Hill complemented the Gothic exterior. The interiors of Walpoles little play-thing house were intended to be settings of Gothic gloomth for Walpoles collection, speaking on Walpoles collection, Clive Wainwright states that Walpoles collection constituted an essential part of the interiors of his house
16.
Gentleman
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In modern parlance, the term gentleman refers to any man of good, courteous conduct. It may also refer to all men collectively, as in indications of gender-separated facilities, the modern female equivalent is lady. In its original meaning, the term denoted a man of the lowest rank of the English gentry, standing below an esquire, in this sense, the word equates with the French gentilhomme, which latter term has been, in Great Britain, long confined to the peerage. Maurice Keen points to the category of gentlemen in this context as thus constituting the nearest contemporary English equivalent of the noblesse of France, by social courtesy the designation came to include any well-educated man of good family and distinction, analogous to the Latin generosus. To a degree, gentleman came to signify a man with a derived from property, a legacy, or some other source. The term was used of those who could not claim any other title or even the rank of esquire. Widening further, it became a politeness for all men, as in the phrase Ladies, chaucer, in the Meliboeus, says, Certes he sholde not be called a gentil man, that. For no creation could make a man of blood than he is. The word gentleman, used in the wide sense with which birth, William Harrison, writing in the late 1500s, says, gentlemen be those whom their race and blood, or at the least their virtues, do make noble and known. Being called also to the wars what soever it cost him, he will both array and arm himself accordingly, and show the more manly courage, and all the tokens of the person which he representeth. No man hath hurt by it but himself, who peradventure will go in wider buskins than his legs will bear, or as our proverb saith, now and then bear a bigger sail than his boat is able to sustain. In this way, Shakespeare himself was demonstrated, by the grant of his coat of arms, to be no vagabond, the inseparability of arms and gentility is shown by two of his characters, Petruchio, I swear Ill cuff you if you strike again. Katharine, So may you lose your arms, If you strike me, you are no gentleman, And if no gentleman, however, although only a gentleman could have a coat of arms, the coat of arms recognised rather than created the status. Thus, all armigers were gentlemen, but not all gentlemen were armigers, hence, Henry V, act IV, scene iii, For he today that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother, be he neer so vile, This day shall gentle his condition. And gentlemen in England now abed Shall think themselves accursd they were not here And hold their manhoods cheap whilst any speaks That fought with us upon St. Crispins Day. At the last, the wearing of a sword on all occasions was the outward and visible sign of a gentleman, the custom survives in the sword worn with court dress. The suggestion is discredited by an examination, in England, of the records of the High Court of Chivalry and, in Scotland, the Far East held similar ideas to the West of what a gentleman is, which are based on Confucian principles. The term Jūnzǐ is a crucial to classical Confucianism
17.
Naples
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Naples is the capital of the Italian region Campania and the third-largest municipality in Italy, after Rome and Milan. In 2015, around 975,260 people lived within the administrative limits. The Metropolitan City of Naples had a population of 3,115,320, Naples is the 9th-most populous urban area in the European Union with a population of between 3 million and 3.7 million. About 4.4 million people live in the Naples metropolitan area, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Bronze Age Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC, a larger colony – initially known as Parthenope, Παρθενόπη – developed on the Island of Megaride around the ninth century BC, at the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Naples remained influential after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, thereafter, in union with Sicily, it became the capital of the Two Sicilies until the unification of Italy in 1861. Naples was the most-bombed Italian city during World War II, much of the citys 20th-century periphery was constructed under Benito Mussolinis fascist government, and during reconstruction efforts after World War II. The city has experienced significant economic growth in recent decades, and unemployment levels in the city, however, Naples still suffers from political and economic corruption, and unemployment levels remain high. Naples has the fourth-largest urban economy in Italy, after Milan, Rome and it is the worlds 103rd-richest city by purchasing power, with an estimated 2011 GDP of US$83.6 billion. The port of Naples is one of the most important in Europe, numerous major Italian companies, such as MSC Cruises Italy S. p. A, are headquartered in Naples. The city also hosts NATOs Allied Joint Force Command Naples, the SRM Institution for Economic Research, Naples is a full member of the Eurocities network of European cities. The city was selected to become the headquarters of the European institution ACP/UE and was named a City of Literature by UNESCOs Creative Cities Network, the Villa Rosebery, one of the three official residences of the President of Italy, is located in the citys Posillipo district. Naples historic city centre is the largest in Europe, covering 1,700 hectares and enclosing 27 centuries of history, Naples has long been a major cultural centre with a global sphere of influence, particularly during the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras. In the immediate vicinity of Naples are numerous culturally and historically significant sites, including the Palace of Caserta, culinarily, Naples is synonymous with pizza, which originated in the city. Neapolitan music has furthermore been highly influential, credited with the invention of the romantic guitar, according to CNN, the metro stop Toledo is the most beautiful in Europe and it won also the LEAF Award 2013 as Public building of the year. Naples is the Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide, Naples sports scene is dominated by football and Serie A club S. S. C. Napoli, two-time Italian champions and winner of European trophies, who play at the San Paolo Stadium in the south-west of the city, the Phlegraean Fields around Naples has been inhabited since the Neolithic period. The earliest Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC, sailors from the Greek island of Rhodes established a small commercial port called Parthenope on the island of Megaride in the ninth century BC
18.
Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland
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Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, 4th Baron Percy, titular King of Mann, KG, Lord Marshal was the son of Henry de Percy, 3rd Baron Percy, and a descendant of Henry III of England. His mother was Mary of Lancaster, daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, son of Edmund, Earl of Leicester and Lancaster, Henry Percy was originally a follower of Edward III of England, for whom he held high offices in the administration of northern England. At a young age he was made Warden of the Marches towards Scotland in 1362, in February 1367 he was entrusted with the supervision of all castles and fortified places in the Scottish marches. He went on to support King Richard II and was created an Earl, after Richard elevated his rival Ralph Neville to the position of Earl of Westmorland in 1397, Percy supported the rebellion of Henry Bolingbroke, who became King as Henry IV. On King Henry IVs coronation he was appointed Constable of England, in 1403 the Percys turned against Henry IV in favour of Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, and then conspired with Owain Glyndŵr against King Henry. The Tripartite Indenture was signed by all three parties, which divided England up between them, the Mortimers were to have received the rest of southern England, below the river Trent. The Percy rebellion failed at the Battle of Shrewsbury, where Hotspur was killed, since the earl did not directly participate in the rebellion, he was not convicted of treason. However, he lost his office as Constable, in 1405 Percy supported Richard le Scrope, Archbishop of York, in another rebellion, after which Percy fled to Scotland, and his estates were confiscated by the king. In 1408 Percy invaded England in rebellion once more and was killed at the Battle of Bramham Moor, Percys severed head was subsequently put on display at London Bridge. In 1358, he married Margaret Neville, daughter of Ralph Neville, 2nd Baron Neville de Raby and they had four sons and one daughter. Northumberland is a character in Shakespeares Richard II, Henry IV, part 1. The other novels in the trilogy, Lion Dormant and Lion Invincible tell the story of his other descendants and their role in the English War of the Roses. Henry Percy and his son Hotspur are also characters in Edith Pargeters novel. He is a character in My Lord John by Georgette Heyer. Alnwick Castle, the home of the Percy family, was featured in the Harry Potter movies as the location of Hogwarts. Rymer, Thomas Foedera, The Hague,1739 Beltz, G. F. Memorials of the most noble Order of the Garter, from its foundation to the present time London 1841 Doyle, J. W. Rose, phoenix/Orion Books Ltd,2002, ISBN 1-84212-485-4
19.
Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland
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Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland KG, PC was an English peer, landowner, and art patron. He was born Hugh Smithson, the son of Langdale Smithson of Langdale, Yorkshire and he changed his surname to Percy when he married Lady Elizabeth Seymour, daughter of Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset, on 16 July 1740, through a private Act of Parliament. The title Earl of Northumberland passed by special remainder to Hugh Percy, as Elizabeths husband, when her father died, who had been created 1st Earl of Northumberland in 1749. In 1766, the earl was created 1st Duke of Northumberland and was created Baron Lovaine on 28 June 1784, the Louvain family of Brabant, which married the Percy heiress, was the origin of the Percy family of England. He was created a Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1756, Sir Hugh and Lord Brooke were the most important patrons of Canaletto in England. Smithson made a Grand Tour and was in Venice in 1733, in 1736 he became one of the two vice presidents of the Society for the Encouragement of Learning. 1739–1740, mostly to his own designs and he was one of the 175 commissioners for the building of Westminster Bridge, a structure he had Canaletto paint two more large canvases, c. He built an observatory, designed by Robert Adam, on Ratcheugh Crag, thomas Chippendale dedicated his Gentleman & Cabinet makers director to him. He became 2nd Earl of Northumberland on the death of his father-in-law, 1870–1871, in connection with the creation of Trafalgar Square. Remnants of the Northumberland House Glass Drawing-Room are preserved at the Victoria, the greater Adam interiors for the Duke are at Syon House, executed in the 1760s. At Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, the Duke employed James Wyatt, one or other Adam designed Brizlee Tower for the duke. Alnwick Castle, Northumberland Syon House, Middlesex Northumberland House, Strand, London Stanwick Hall, Stanwick St John, Yorkshire, Kielder Castle, in the Kielder Forest, Northumberland, a shooting box built in 1775 by the 1st Duke to his own design by William Newton. Hugh died in 1786 and was buried in the Northumberland Vault, the dukes illegitimate son, James Smithson, is famed for having made the founding bequest and provided the name for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C. Cruickshanks, Eveline, biography of Smithson, Sir Hugh, 4th Bt. of Stanwick, Yorks. and Tottenham, published in The History of Parliament, the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick,1970
20.
Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Northumberland
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Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Northumberland, also suo jure 2nd Baroness Percy, was a British peer. Percy was the daughter of Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset and his wife, Frances Seymour, Duchess of Somerset. On 16 July 1740, she married Sir Hugh Smithson, Bt, Sir Hughs illegitimate son James Smithson, otherwise Jacques Louis Macie, born in about 1764 to one of Elizabeths cousins, bequeathed the fortune which established the Smithsonian Institution. In 1761, Percy became a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte and he built Brizlee Tower as one of a number of monuments to commemorate her. Elizabeth Percy is buried in the Northumberland Vault, within Westminster Abbey
21.
Crusades
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The First Crusade arose after a call to arms in a 1095 sermon by Pope Urban II. Urban urged military support for the Byzantine Empire and its Emperor, Alexios I, the response to Urbans preaching by people of many different classes across Western Europe established the precedent for later Crusades. Volunteers became Crusaders by taking a vow and receiving plenary indulgences from the church. Some were hoping for apotheosis at Jerusalem, or forgiveness from God for all their sins, others participated to satisfy feudal obligations, gain glory and honour, or find opportunities for economic and political gain. Many modern Historians have polarised opinions of the Crusaders behaviour under Papal sanction, to some it was incongruous with the stated aims and implied moral authority of the papacy and the Crusades, to the extent that on occasions that the Pope excommunicated Crusaders. Crusaders often pillaged as they travelled, while their leaders retained control of captured territory rather than returning it to the Byzantines. During the Peoples Crusade thousands of Jews were murdered in what is now called the Rhineland massacres, Constantinople was sacked during the Fourth Crusade rendering the reunification of Christendom impossible. These tales consequently galvanised medieval romance, philosophy and literature, but the Crusades also reinforced the connection between Western Christendom, feudalism, and militarism. Crusade is not a term, instead the terms iter for journey or peregrinatio for pilgrimage were used. Not until the word crucesignatus for one who was signed with the cross was adopted at the close of the century was specific terminology developed. The Middle English equivalents were derived from old French, croiserie in the 13th–15th centuries, croisade appeared in English c1575, and continued to be the leading form till c1760. By convention historians adopt the term for the Christian holy wars from 1095, the Crusades in the Holy Land are traditionally counted as nine distinct campaigns, numbered from the First Crusade of 1095–99 to the Ninth Crusade of 1271/2. Usage of the term Crusade may differ depending on the author, pluralists use the term Crusade of any campaign explicitly sanctioned by the reigning Pope. This reflects the view of the Roman Catholic Church that every military campaign given Papal sanction is equally valid as a Crusade, regardless of its cause, justification, generalists see Crusades as any and all holy wars connected with the Latin Church and fought in defence of their faith. Popularists limit the Crusades to only those that were characterised by popular groundswells of religious fervour – that is, only the First Crusade, Medieval Muslim historiographers such as Ali ibn al-Athir refer to the Crusades as the Frankish Wars. The term used in modern Arabic, ḥamalāt ṣalībiyya حملات صليبية, campaigns of the cross, is a loan translation of the term Crusade as used in Western historiography. The Islamic prophet Muhammad founded Islam in the Arabian Peninsula, the resulting unified polity in the seventh and eighth centuries led to a rapid expansion of Arab power. This influence stretched from the northwest Indian subcontinent, across Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, southern Italy, tolerance, trade, and political relationships between the Arabs and the Christian states of Europe waxed and waned
22.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
23.
First Crusade
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The First Crusade was the first of a number of crusades that attempted to capture the Holy Land, called by Pope Urban II in 1095. An additional goal became the principal objective—the Christian reconquest of the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. During the crusades, nobility, knights, peasants and serfs from many regions of Western Europe travelled over land and by sea, first to Constantinople and then on towards Jerusalem. The Crusaders arrived at Jerusalem, launched an assault on the city and they also established the crusader states of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, and the County of Edessa. The First Crusade was followed by the Second to the Ninth Crusades and it was also the first major step towards reopening international trade in the West since the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The majority view is that it had elements of both in its nature, the origin of the Crusades in general, and particularly that of the First Crusade, is widely debated among historians. The confusion is due to the numerous armies in the first crusade. The similar ideologies held the armies to similar goals, but the connections were rarely strong, the Umayyad Caliphate had conquered Syria, Egypt, and North Africa from the predominantly Christian Byzantine Empire, and Hispania from the Visigothic Kingdom. In North Africa, the Umayyad empire eventually collapsed and a number of smaller Muslim kingdoms emerged, such as the Aghlabids, who attacked Italy in the 9th century. Pisa, Genoa, and the Principality of Catalonia began to battle various Muslim kingdoms for control of the Mediterranean Basin, exemplified by the Mahdia campaign and battles at Majorca and Sardinia. Essentially, between the years 1096 and 1101 the Byzantine Greeks experienced the crusade as it arrived at Constantinople in three separate waves, in the early summer of 1096, the first large unruly group arrived on the outskirts of Constantinople. This wave was reported to be undisciplined and ill-equipped as an army and this first group is often called the Peasants’ or People’s Crusade. It was led by Peter the Hermit and Walter Sans Avoir and had no knowledge of or respect for the wishes of Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. The second wave was not under the command of the Emperor and was made up of a number of armies with their own commanders. Together, this group and the first wave numbered an estimated 60,000, the second wave was led by Hugh I, Count of Vermandois, the brother of King Philip I of France. Also among the wave were Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse. It was this wave of crusaders which later passed through Asia Minor, captured Antioch in 1098 and finally took Jerusalem 15 July 1099. ”The third wave, composed of contingents from Lombardy, France. At the western edge of Europe and of Islamic expansion, the Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula was well underway by the 11th century and it was intermittently ideological, as evidenced by the Codex Vigilanus compiled in 881
24.
Manfred, King of Sicily
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Manfred was the King of Sicily from 1258 to 1266. He was a son of the emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. Manfred, who bore his mothers surname, studied in Paris and Bologna and shared with his father a love of poetry. At Fredericks death, Manfred, although only about 18 years old, acted loyally, the Kingdom was in turmoil, mainly due to riots spurred by Pope Innocent IV. Manfred was able to subdue numerous rebel cities, with the exception of Naples, when his legitimate brother Conrad IV appeared in southern Italy in 1252, disembarking at Siponto, his authority was quickly and generally acknowledged. Naples fell in October 1253 into the hands of Conrad, the latter, in the meantime, had grown distrustful of Manfred, stripping him of all his fiefs and reducing his authority to the principality of Taranto. In May 1254 Conrad died of malaria, Manfred, after refusing to surrender Sicily to Innocent IV, accepted the regency on behalf of Conradin, the infant son of Conrad. The pope however, having been named guardian of Conradin, excommunicated Manfred in July 1254, the regent decided to open negotiations with Innocent. By a treaty made in September 1254, Apulia passed under the authority of the pope, but Manfred’s suspicions being aroused by the demeanour of the papal retinue, and also annoyed by the occupation of Campania by papal troops, he fled to the Saracens at Lucera. Aided by Saracen allies, he defeated the army at Foggia on 2 December 1254, and soon established his authority over Sicily. He thus reached the status of patron of the Ghibelline League, also in that year Innocent died, succeeded by Alexander IV, who immediately excommunicated Manfred. In 1257, however, Manfred crushed the army and settled all the rebellions, imposing his firm rule of southern Italy. The following year, taking advantage of a rumour that Conradin was dead, the falsehood of this report was soon manifest, but the new king, supported by the popular voice, declined to abdicate and pointed out to Conradin’s envoys the necessity for a strong native ruler. The pope, to whom the Saracen alliance was a serious offence, undeterred by the excommunication Manfred sought to obtain power in central and northern Italy, where the Ghibelline leader Ezzelino III da Romano had disappeared. He named vicars in Tuscany, Spoleto, Marche, Romagna, after Montaperti he was recognized as protector of Tuscany by the citizens of Florence, who did homage to his representative, and he was chosen Senator of the Romans by a faction in the city. His power was augmented by the marriage of his daughter Constance in 1262 to Peter III of Aragon. Terrified by these proceedings, the new Pope Urban IV excommunicated him, the pope first tried to sell the Kingdom of Sicily to Richard of Cornwall and his son, but in vain. In 1263 he was most successful with Charles, the Count of Anjou, a brother of the French King Louis IX, who accepted the investiture of the kingdom of Sicily at his hands
25.
Otranto
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Otranto is a town and comune in the province of Lecce, in a fertile region once famous for its breed of horses. It is located on the east coast of the Salento peninsula, the Strait of Otranto, to which the city gives its name, connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea and separates Italy from Albania. The harbour is small and has little trade, the lighthouse Faro della Palascìa, at approximately 5 kilometres southeast of Otranto, marks the most easterly point of the Italian mainland. About 50 kilometres south lies the promontory of Santa Maria di Leuca, the extremity of Italy. The district between this promontory and Otranto is thickly populated and very fertile, Otranto occupies the site of the ancient Hydrus or Hydruntum, also known as Hydrunton, Hydronton, or Hydruntu. Otranto was a town of Greek origin, which, in the wars of Pyrrhus, in Roman times it was a city. In the 8th century, it was for some time in the possession of duke Arechis II of Benevento, in the Middle Ages the Jews had a school there. In 1480, Mehmet the Conqueror sent an Ottoman fleet to invade Rome under the command of Gedik Ahmed Pasha and this force reached the shores of Apulia on 28 July 1480 and the city was captured in two weeks on 11 August 1480. Some 800 citizens, known as the Martyrs of Otranto, were beheaded after refusing to convert to Islam and they were canonized by Pope Francis on 12 May 2013. In 1481, the Pope, in panic, called for a crusade to be led by King Ferdinand of Naples, the Turks controlled the city for 13 months. Mehmet II died on his way to capture the rest of Italy and his successor, Bayezid II, ordered Gedik Ahmed Pasha to be hanged and on 11 September 1481 the Turks abandoned the city. In 1537, the famous Turkish corsair and Ottoman admiral Barbarossa recaptured Otranto and the Fortress of Castro, in 1804, the city was obliged to harbour a French garrison that was established there to watch the movements of the English fleet. Under the French name of Otrante it was created a duché grand-fief de lEmpire in the Napoleonic kingdom of Naples for Joseph Fouché, Napoleons minister of Police, the family used the title of duc dOtrante after Joseph Fouchés death. Otranto experiences a Mediterranean climate like much of Italy, Otranto main sights include, The Castello Aragonese, reinforced by Emperor Frederick II and rebuilt by Alphonso II of Naples in 1485–98. It has a plan with five sides, with a moat running along the entire perimeter. In origin it had an entrance, reachable through a draw-bridge. Towers include three cylindrical ones and a bastion called Punta di Diamante, the entrance sports the coat of arms of Emperor Charles V. The Cathedral, consecrated in 1088, a work of Count Roger I adorned later, by Bishop Jonathas, with a floor, it has a rose window
26.
Gothic literature
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Gothic fiction, which is largely known by the subgenre of Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature and film that combines fiction and horror, death, and at times romance. Its origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, the effect of Gothic fiction feeds on a pleasing sort of terror, an extension of Romantic literary pleasures that were relatively new at the time of Walpoles novel. It originated in England in the half of the 18th century and had much success in the 19th, as witnessed by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Another well known novel in this genre, dating from the late Victorian era, is Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the name Gothic refers to the -medieval buildings, emulating Gothic architecture, in which many of these stories take place. This extreme form of romanticism was very popular in England and Germany, the English Gothic novel also led to new novel types such as the German Schauerroman and the French Georgia. The novel usually regarded as the first Gothic novel is Horace Walpoles The Castle of Otranto, Horace Walpoles declared aim was to combine elements of the medieval romance, which he deemed too fanciful, and the modern novel, which he considered to be too confined to strict realism. Walpole published the first edition disguised as a romance from Italy discovered and republished by a fictitious translator. When Walpole admitted to his authorship in the edition, its originally favourable reception by literary reviewers changed into rejection. A romance with elements, and moreover void of didactical intention, was considered a setback. Walpoles forgery, together with the blend of history and fiction, contravened the principles of the Enlightenment and associated the Gothic novel with fake documentation. Clara Reeve, best known for her work The Old English Baron, set out to take Walpoles plot, the question now arose whether supernatural events that were not as evidently absurd as Walpoles would not lead the simpler minds to believe them possible. Ann Radcliffe developed the technique of the supernatural in which every seemingly supernatural intrusion is eventually traced back to natural causes. Among other elements, Ann Radcliffe introduced the figure of the Gothic villain. Radcliffes novels, above all The Mysteries of Udolpho, were best-sellers, however, along with most novels at the time, they were looked down upon by many well-educated people as sensationalist nonsense. Radcliffe also provided an aesthetic for the genre in an influential article On the Supernatural in Poetry, Romantic literary movements developed in continental Europe concurrent with the development of the Gothic novel. The roman noir appeared in France, by writers as François Guillaume Ducray-Duminil, Baculard dArnaud. In Germany, the Schauerroman gained traction with writers as Friedrich Schiller, with novels like The Ghost-Seer and these works were often more horrific and violent than the English Gothic novel. Matthew Gregory Lewiss lurid tale of debauchery, black magic
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Thomas Gray
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Thomas Gray was an English poet, letter-writer, classical scholar and professor at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He is widely known for his Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, Thomas Gray was born in Cornhill, London. His father, Philip Gray, was a scrivener and his mother, Dorothy Antrobus, was a milliner He was the fifth of 12 children, and he lived with his mother after she left his abusive and mentally unwell father. Grays mother paid for him to go to Eton College where two of his uncles worked, Robert and William Antrobus, Robert became Grays first teacher and helped inspire in Gray a love for botany and observational science. Grays other uncle, William, became his tutor and he recalled his schooldays as a time of great happiness, as is evident in his Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College. Gray was a delicate and scholarly boy who spent his time reading and avoiding athletics and he lived in his uncle’s household rather than at college. He made three friends at Eton, Horace Walpole, son of the Prime Minister Robert Walpole, Thomas Ashton. The four prided themselves on their sense of style, sense of humour and they were called the quadruple alliance. In 1734 Gray went up to Peterhouse, Cambridge and he wrote letters to friends listing all the things he disliked, the masters and the Fellows. Intended by his family for the law, he spent most of his time as an undergraduate reading classical and modern literature, in 1738 he accompanied his old school-friend Walpole on his Grand Tour of Europe, possibly at Walpoles expense. The two fell out and parted in Tuscany, because Walpole wanted to attend parties and Gray wanted to visit all the antiquities. They were reconciled a few years later and it was Walpole who later helped publish Grays poetry. When Gray sent his most famous poem, Elegy, to Walpole, Walpole sent off the poem as a manuscript, Gray then published the poem himself and received the credit he was due Gray began seriously writing poems in 1742, mainly after his close friend Richard West died. He moved to Cambridge and began a programme of literary study, becoming one of the most learned men of his time. Gray was a brilliant bookworm, a quiet, abstracted, dreaming scholar and he became a Fellow first of Peterhouse, and later of Pembroke College, Cambridge. Gray moved to Pembroke after the students at Peterhouse played a prank on him, Gray spent most of his life as a scholar in Cambridge, and only later in his life did he begin traveling again. Although he was one of the least productive poets, he is regarded as the foremost English-language poet of the mid-18th century, in 1757, he was offered the post of Poet Laureate, which he refused. Gray was so self-critical and fearful of failure that he published only thirteen poems during his lifetime and he once wrote that he feared his collected works would be mistaken for the works of a flea
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William Shakespeare
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William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the worlds pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called Englands national poet, and the Bard of Avon and his extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright, Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a career in London as an actor, writer. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, at age 49, Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, which are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, in his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and it was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as not of an age, but for all time. In the 20th and 21st centuries, his works have been adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship. His plays remain highly popular and are studied, performed. William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden and he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised there on 26 April 1564. His actual date of birth unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April. This date, which can be traced back to an 18th-century scholars mistake, has proved appealing to biographers because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and he was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. At the age of 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, the consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence on 27 November 1582. The next day, two of Hathaways neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing that no lawful claims impeded the marriage, twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585. Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596, after the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. The exception is the appearance of his name in the bill of a law case before the Queens Bench court at Westminster dated Michaelmas Term 1588 and 9 October 1589
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Hamlet
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The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare at an uncertain date between 1599 and 1602. Set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the play dramatises the revenge Prince Hamlet is called to wreak upon his uncle, Claudius, by the ghost of Hamlets father, Claudius had murdered his own brother and seized the throne, also marrying his deceased brothers widow. It has inspired many other writers—from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Charles Dickens to James Joyce and he almost certainly wrote his version of the title role for his fellow actor, Richard Burbage, the leading tragedian of Shakespeares time. In the 400 years since its inception, the role has been performed by highly acclaimed actors in each successive century. Three different early versions of the play are extant, the First Quarto, the Second Quarto, each version includes lines and entire scenes missing from the others. The plays structure and depth of characterisation have inspired much critical scrutiny, the protagonist of Hamlet is Prince Hamlet of Denmark, son of the recently deceased King Hamlet, and nephew of King Claudius, his fathers brother and successor. Claudius hastily married King Hamlets widow, Gertrude, Hamlets mother, Denmark has a long-standing feud with neighboring Norway, which culminated when King Hamlet slew King Fortinbras of Norway in a battle years ago. Although Denmark defeated Norway, and the Norwegian throne fell to King Fortinbrass infirm brother, Denmark fears that an invasion led by the dead Norwegian kings son, Prince Fortinbras, is imminent. On a cold night on the ramparts of Elsinore, the Danish royal castle and they vow to tell Prince Hamlet what they have witnessed. As the court gathers the next day, while King Claudius and Queen Gertrude discuss affairs of state with their elderly adviser Polonius, after the court exits, Hamlet despairs of his fathers death and his mothers hasty remarriage. Learning of the ghost from Horatio, Hamlet resolves to see it himself, as Poloniuss son Laertes prepares to depart for a visit to France, Polonius gives him contradictory advice that culminates in the ironic maxim to thine own self be true. Poloniuss daughter, Ophelia, admits her interest in Hamlet, and that night on the rampart, the ghost appears to Hamlet, telling the prince that he was murdered by Claudius and demanding that Hamlet avenge him. Hamlet agrees and the ghost vanishes, the prince confides to Horatio and the sentries that from now on he plans to put an antic disposition on and forces them to swear to keep his plans for revenge secret. Privately, however, he remains uncertain of the ghosts reliability, soon thereafter, Ophelia rushes to her father, telling him that Hamlet arrived at her door the prior night half-undressed and behaving crazily. Polonius blames love for Hamlets madness and resolves to inform Claudius, as he enters to do so, the king and queen finish welcoming Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two student acquaintances of Hamlet, to Elsinore. The royal couple has requested that the students investigate the cause of Hamlets mood, additional news requires that Polonius wait to be heard, messengers from Norway inform Claudius that the King of Norway has rebuked Prince Fortinbras for attempting to re-fight his fathers battles. The forces that Fortinbras conscripted to march against Denmark will instead be sent against Poland, Polonius tells Claudius and Gertrude his theory regarding Hamlets behavior, and speaks to Hamlet in a hall of the castle to try to uncover more information. Hamlet feigns madness but subtly insults Polonius all the while, when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive, Hamlet greets his friends warmly, but quickly discerns that they are spies
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Catholicism
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The use of terms catholicism and catholicity is closely related to the use of term Catholic Church. The earliest evidence of the use of term is the Letter to the Smyrnaeans that Ignatius of Antioch wrote in about 108 to Christians in Smyrna. In 380, Emperor Theodosius I limited use of the term Catholic Christian exclusively to those who followed the faith as Pope Damasus I of Rome. Numerous other early writers including Cyril of Jerusalem, Augustine of Hippo further developed the use of the term catholic in relation to Christianity. In Christian theology, and specially in ecclesiology, terms Catholicism, when used with small c, terms catholicism and catholicity generally designate theological doctrine of the catholicity of the Church without denominational connotations. A common belief in Catholicism is institutional continuity with the early Christian church founded by Jesus Christ, many churches or communions of churches identify singularly or collectively as the authentic church. The Bishop of Rome was also considered to have the right to convene ecumenical councils, when the Imperial capital moved to Constantinople, Romes influence was sometimes challenged. The first great rupture in the Church followed this Council and they are often called Ancient Oriental Churches. The next major break was after the Council of Chalcedon and this Council repudiated Eutychian Monophysitism which stated that the divine nature completely subsumed the human nature in Christ. This Council declared that Christ, though one person, exhibited two natures without confusion, without change, without division, without separation and thus is both fully God and fully human, the next great rift within Christianity was in the 11th century. This division between the Western Church and the Eastern Church is called the East–West Schism, several eastern churches reunited, constituting some of the Eastern Catholic Churches. Liturgical and canonical practices vary between all these particular Churches constituting the Roman and Eastern Catholic Churches, in all these cases the beliefs and practices of Catholicism would be identical with the beliefs and practices of the Church in question. However, in Roman Catholicism, the term catholic is understood as to cover those who recognize and are in standing with the Magisterium. The sense given to the word by those who use it to distinguish their position from a Calvinistic or Puritan form of Protestantism. It is then meaningful to attempt to draw up a list of common characteristic beliefs, the Roman Catholic Church includes the 23 rites who recognize the Magisterium. Belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the belief that Christ is made manifest in the elements of Holy Communion, possession of the threefold ordained ministry of Bishops, Priests and Deacons. Belief that the Church is the vessel and deposit of the fullness of the teachings of Jesus and this teaching is preserved in both written scripture and in unwritten tradition, neither being independent of the other. A belief in the necessity and efficacy of sacraments, liturgical and personal use of the Sign of the Cross The use of sacred images, candles, vestments and music, and often incense and water, in worship
31.
Richard II (play)
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King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in approximately 1595. Although the First Folio edition of Shakespeares works lists the play as a history play, the play spans only the last two years of Richards life, from 1398 to 1400. Bolingbrokes father, John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, meanwhile, the tournament scene is very formal with a long, ceremonial introduction, but as the combatants are about to fight, Richard interrupts and sentences both to banishment from England. Bolingbroke is originally sentenced to ten years banishment, but Richard changes this to six years, Mowbray predicts that the king will sooner or later fall at the hands of Bolingbroke. John of Gaunt dies and Richard II seizes all of his land and they then help Bolingbroke to return secretly to England, with a plan to overthrow Richard II. There remain, however, subjects who continue faithful to the King, among them Bushy, Bagot, Green, when King Richard leaves England to attend to the war in Ireland, Bolingbroke seizes the opportunity to assemble an army and invades the north coast of England. Executing both Bushy and Green, he wins over the Duke of York, whom Richard has left in charge of his government in his absence, upon Richards return, Bolingbroke not only reclaims his lands but lays claim to the very throne. Crowning himself King Henry IV, he has Richard taken prisoner to the castle of Pomfret, after interpreting King Henrys living fear as a reference to the still-living Richard, an ambitious nobleman goes to the prison and murders him. King Henry repudiates the murderer and vows to journey to Jerusalem to cleanse himself of his part in Richards death, a somewhat more complicated case is presented by the anonymous play sometimes known as The First Part of Richard II. This play, which exists in one manuscript copy is subtitled Thomas of Woodstock. This play treats the leading up to the start of Shakespeares play. The play was entered into the Register of the Stationers Company on 29 August 1597 by the bookseller Andrew Wise, the second and third quartos followed in 1598 – the only time a Shakespearean play was printed in three editions in two years. Q4 followed in 1608, and Q5 in 1615, the play was next published in the First Folio in 1623. Richard II exists in a number of variations, the quartos vary to some degree from one another, and the folio presents further differences. The first three quartos lack the deposition scene, the fourth quarto, published in 1608, includes a version of the deposition scene shorter than the one later printed, presumably from a prompt-book, in the 1623 First Folio. The scant evidence makes explaining these differences largely conjectural, there is no external evidence for this hypothesis, however, and the title page of the 1608 quarto refers to a lately acted deposition scene. The play is divided into five acts and its structure is as formal as its language and it has a double complementary plot describing the fall of Richard II and the rise of Bolingbroke, later known as Henry IV. Critic John R. Elliott Jr. notes that this particular play can be distinguished from the other history plays because it contains an ulterior political purpose
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Macbeth
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Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, it is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake. Of all the plays that Shakespeare wrote during the reign of James I and it was first published in the Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book, and is his shortest tragedy. A brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland, consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia, forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of madness, the events of the tragedy are usually associated with the execution of Henry Garnet for complicity in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. In the backstage world of theatre, some believe that the play is cursed, over the course of many centuries, the play has attracted some of the most renowned actors to the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. It has been adapted to film, television, opera, novels, comics, the play opens amidst thunder and lightning, and the Three Witches decide that their next meeting shall be with Macbeth. Macbeth, the Kings kinsman, is praised for his bravery, in the following scene, Macbeth and Banquo discuss the weather and their victory. As they wander onto a heath, the Three Witches enter, though Banquo challenges them first, they address Macbeth, hailing him as Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and that he shall be King hereafter. Macbeth appears to be stunned to silence, when Banquo asks of his own fortunes, the witches respond paradoxically, saying that he will be less than Macbeth, yet happier, less successful, yet more. He will father a line of kings though he himself will not be one, while the two men wonder at these pronouncements, the witches vanish, and another thane, Ross, arrives and informs Macbeth of his newly bestowed title, Thane of Cawdor. The first prophecy is fulfilled, and Macbeth, previously skeptical. King Duncan welcomes and praises Macbeth and Banquo, and declares that he spend the night at Macbeths castle at Inverness. Macbeth sends a message ahead to his wife, Lady Macbeth, Lady Macbeth suffers none of her husbands uncertainty and wishes him to murder Duncan in order to obtain kingship. When Macbeth arrives at Inverness, she overrides all of her husbands objections by challenging his manhood and he and Lady Macbeth plan to get Duncans two chamberlains drunk so that they will black out, the next morning they will blame the chamberlains for the murder. They will be defenseless as they remember nothing. While Duncan is asleep, Macbeth stabs him, despite his doubts and he is so shaken that Lady Macbeth has to take charge
33.
Henry VIII of England
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Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. Henry was the second Tudor monarch, succeeding his father, Henry VII, Henry is best known for his six marriages and, in particular, his efforts to have his first marriage, to Catherine of Aragon, annulled. Despite his resulting excommunication, Henry remained a believer in core Catholic theological teachings, domestically, Henry is known for his radical changes to the English Constitution, ushering in the theory of the divine right of kings to England. Besides asserting the supremacy over the Church of England, he greatly expanded royal power during his reign. Charges of treason and heresy were commonly used to quash dissent, and he achieved many of his political aims through the work of his chief ministers, some of whom were banished or executed when they fell out of his favour. Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Richard Rich and his contemporaries considered Henry in his prime to be an attractive, educated, and accomplished king, and he has been described as one of the most charismatic rulers to sit on the English throne. He was an author and composer, as he aged, Henry became severely obese and his health suffered, contributing to his death in 1547. He is frequently characterised in his life as a lustful, egotistical, harsh. He was succeeded by his son Edward VI, born 28 June 1491 at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, London, Henry Tudor was the third child and second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Of the young Henrys six siblings, only three – Arthur, Prince of Wales, Margaret, and Mary – survived infancy and he was baptised by Richard Fox, the Bishop of Exeter, at a church of the Observant Franciscans close to the palace. In 1493, at the age of two, Henry was appointed Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. He was subsequently appointed Earl Marshal of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at age three, and was inducted into the Order of the Bath soon after. The day after the ceremony he was created Duke of York, in May 1495, he was appointed to the Order of the Garter. Henry was given an education from leading tutors, becoming fluent in Latin and French. Not much is known about his early life – save for his appointments – because he was not expected to become king, as Duke of York, Henry used the arms of his father as king, differenced by a label of three points ermine. In 1502, Arthur died at the age of 15 of sweating sickness, Arthurs death thrust all his duties upon his younger brother, the 10-year-old Henry. After a little debate, Henry became the new Duke of Cornwall in October 1502, Henry VII gave the boy few tasks. Young Henry was strictly supervised and did not appear in public, as a result, the young Henry would later ascend the throne untrained in the exacting art of kingship
34.
Anne Boleyn
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Anne Boleyn was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of King Henry VIII, and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henrys marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution by beheading, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the start of the English Reformation. Anne was the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard, in February/March 1526, Henry VIII began his pursuit of Anne. She resisted his attempts to seduce her, refusing to become his mistress – which her sister Mary had been and it soon became the one absorbing object of Henrys desires to annul his marriage to Queen Catherine so he would be free to marry Anne. When it became clear that Pope Clement VII would not annul the marriage, in 1532, Henry granted Anne the Marquessate of Pembroke. Henry and Anne married on 25 January 1533, after a marriage on 14 November 1532. On 23 May 1533, newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer declared Henry and Catherines marriage null and void, five days later, he declared Henry, shortly afterwards, the Pope decreed sentences of excommunication against Henry and Cranmer. As a result of marriage and these excommunications, the first break between the Church of England and Rome took place and the Church of England was brought under the Kings control. Anne was crowned Queen of England on 1 June 1533, on 7 September, she gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I. Henry was disappointed to have a rather than a son but hoped a son would follow. Anne subsequently had three miscarriages, and by March 1536, Henry was courting Jane Seymour, in order to marry Jane Seymour, Henry had to find reasons for his marriage with Anne to end. Henry had Anne investigated for treason in April 1536. She was beheaded four days later, modern historians view the charges against her, which included adultery, incest, and plotting to kill the king, as unconvincing. Some say that Anne was accused of witchcraft but the indictments make no mention of this charge, after the coronation of her daughter, Elizabeth, as queen, Anne was venerated as a martyr and heroine of the English Reformation, particularly through the works of John Foxe. Over the centuries, she has inspired, or been mentioned, in artistic and cultural works. Anne was the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, later Earl of Wiltshire and Earl of Ormond, Thomas Boleyn was a well respected diplomat with a gift for languages, he was also a favourite of King Henry VII, who sent him on many diplomatic missions abroad. Anne and her siblings grew up at Hever Castle in Kent, however, the siblings were born in Norfolk at the Boleyn home at Blickling. A lack of records from the period has made it impossible to establish Annes date of birth
35.
Catherine of Aragon
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The daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, Catherine was three years old when she was betrothed to Arthur, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the English throne. They married in 1501, but Arthur died five months later on 2 April 1502, in 1507, she held the position of ambassador of the Aragonese Crown in England, the first female ambassador in European history. Catherine subsequently married Arthurs younger brother, the recently ascended Henry VIII, for six months in 1513, she served as regent of England while Henry VIII was in France. During that time the English won the Battle of Flodden, an event in which Catherine played an important part with a speech about English courage. He sought to have their marriage annulled, setting in motion a chain of events led to Englands schism with the Catholic Church. When Pope Clement VII refused to annul the marriage, Henry defied him by assuming supremacy over religious matters, in 1533 their marriage was consequently declared invalid and Henry married Anne on the judgement of clergy in England, without reference to the Pope. Catherine refused to accept Henry as Supreme Head of the Church in England and considered herself the Kings rightful wife and queen, despite this, she was acknowledged only as Dowager Princess of Wales by Henry. After being banished from court, she lived out the remainder of her life at Kimbolton Castle, English people held Catherine in high esteem, and her death set off tremendous mourning. The controversial book The Education of a Christian Woman by Juan Luis Vives, such was Catherines impression on people that even her enemy, Thomas Cromwell, said of her, If not for her sex, she could have defied all the heroes of History. She successfully appealed for the lives of the involved in the Evil May Day. Catherine also won widespread admiration by starting an extensive programme for the relief of the poor and she was a patron of Renaissance humanism, and a friend of the great scholars Erasmus of Rotterdam and Thomas More. Catherine was born at the Archbishops Palace in Alcalá de Henares near Madrid and she was the youngest surviving child of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile. Catherine was quite short in stature with red hair, wide blue eyes, a round face. Consequently, she was cousin of her father-in-law, Henry VII of England. Catherine was educated by a tutor, Alessandro Geraldini, who was a clerk in Holy Orders and she studied arithmetic, canon and civil law, classical literature, genealogy and heraldry, history, philosophy, religion, and theology. She had a religious upbringing and developed her Roman Catholic faith that would play a major role in later life. She learned to speak, read and write in Spanish and Latin and she was also taught domestic skills, such as cooking, dancing, drawing, embroidery, good manners, lace-making, music, needlepoint, sewing, spinning, and weaving. The great scholar Erasmus later said that Catherine loved good literature which she had studied with success since childhood
36.
Arthur, Prince of Wales
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Arthur Tudor was Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester and Duke of Cornwall. As the eldest son and heir apparent of Henry VII of England and his mother, Elizabeth of York, was the daughter of Edward IV, and his birth cemented the union between the House of Tudor and the House of York. Plans for Arthurs marriage began before his birthday, he was installed as Prince of Wales two years later. He grew especially close to his siblings Margaret and Henry, Duke of York, at the age of eleven, Arthur was formally betrothed to Catherine of Aragon, a daughter of the powerful Catholic Monarchs in Spain, in an effort to forge an Anglo-Spanish alliance against France. Arthur was well educated and, contrary to some belief, was in good health for the majority of his life. Soon after his marriage to Catherine in 1501, the took up residence at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire. Catherine would later state that the marriage had not been consummated. One year after Arthurs death, Henry VII renewed his efforts of sealing an alliance with Spain by arranging for Catherine to marry Arthurs brother Henry. Arthurs untimely death paved the way for Henrys accession as Henry VIII in 1509, in 1485, Henry Tudor became King of England upon defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth. On this occasion, Camelot was identified as present-day Winchester, and his wife, born at Saint Swithuns Priory on 20 September 1486 at about 1 am, Arthur was Henry and Elizabeths eldest child. Arthurs birth was anticipated by French and Italian humanists eager for the start of a Virgilian golden age, Sir Francis Bacon wrote that although the Prince was born one month premature, he was strong and able. Young Arthur was viewed as a symbol of not only the union between the House of Tudor and the House of York, but also of the end of the Wars of the Roses. In the opinion of contemporaries, Arthur was the hope of the newly established House of Tudor. Arthur became Duke of Cornwall at birth, four days after his birth, the baby was baptised at Winchester Cathedral by the Bishop of Worcester, John Alcock, and his baptism was immediately followed by his Confirmation. Initially, Arthurs nursery in Farnham was headed by Elizabeth Darcy, after Arthur was created Prince of Wales in 1490, he was awarded a household structure at the behest of his father. Over the next thirteen years, Henry VII and Elizabeth would have six more children, Arthur was especially close to his sister Margaret and his brother Henry, with whom he shared a nursery. On 29 November 1489, after being made a Knight of the Bath, Arthur was appointed Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, and was invested as such at the Palace of Westminster on 27 February 1490. As part of his ceremony, he progressed down the River Thames in the royal barge and was met at Chelsea by the Lord Mayor of London, John Mathewe
37.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
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A Midsummer Nights Dream is a comedy written by William Shakespeare in 1595/96. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, the former queen of the Amazons. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six actors who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. The play is one of Shakespeares most popular works for the stage and is performed across the world. The play opens with Hermia, who is in love with Lysander, resistant to her father Egeus demand that she wed Demetrius, Helena meanwhile pines unrequitedly for Demetrius. Enraged, Egeus invokes an ancient Athenian law before Duke Theseus, whereby a daughter must marry the suitor chosen by her father, Theseus offers her another choice, lifelong chastity while worshipping the goddess Artemis as a nun. Quince reads the names of characters and bestows them to the players, nick Bottom, who is playing the main role of Pyramus, is over-enthusiastic and wants to dominate others by suggesting himself for the characters of Thisbe, the Lion, and Pyramus at the same time. He would also rather be a tyrant and recites some lines of Ercles, Bottom is told by Quince that he would do the Lion so terribly as to frighten the duchess and ladies enough for the Duke and Lords to have the players hanged. Quince ends the meeting with at the Dukes oak we meet, in a parallel plot line, Oberon, king of the fairies, and Titania, his queen, have come to the forest outside Athens. Titania tells Oberon that she plans to stay there until she has attended Theseus, Oberon and Titania are estranged because Titania refuses to give her Indian changeling to Oberon for use as his knight or henchman, since the childs mother was one of Titanias worshippers. Oberon seeks to punish Titanias disobedience, when the concoction is applied to the eyelids of a sleeping person, that person, upon waking, falls in love with the first living thing they perceive. He instructs Puck to retrieve the flower with the hope that he might make Titania fall in love with an animal of the forest and thereby shame her into giving up the little Indian boy. He says, And ere I take this charm from off her sight, /As I can take it with another herb, Hermia and Lysander have escaped to the same forest in hopes of eloping. Helena, desperate to reclaim Demetriuss love, tells Demetrius about the plan, Helena continually makes advances towards Demetrius, promising to love him more than Hermia. However, he rebuffs her with cruel insults against her, observing this, Oberon orders Puck to spread some of the magical juice from the flower on the eyelids of the young Athenian man. Instead, Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius, not having seen either before. Helena, coming across him, wakes him while attempting to determine whether he is dead or asleep, upon this happening, Lysander immediately falls in love with Helena. Oberon sees Demetrius still following Hermia and is enraged, when Demetrius goes to sleep, Oberon sends Puck to get Helena while he charms Demetrius eyes
38.
Surrealism
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Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for its visual artworks and writings. The aim was to resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream, leader André Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was, above all, a revolutionary movement. Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities during World War I, the word surrealist was coined by Guillaume Apollinaire and first appeared in the preface to his play Les Mamelles de Tirésias, which was written in 1903 and first performed in 1917. The Dadaists protested with anti-art gatherings, performances, writings and art works, after the war, when they returned to Paris, the Dada activities continued. Meeting the young writer Jacques Vaché, Breton felt that Vaché was the son of writer. He admired the young writers anti-social attitude and disdain for established artistic tradition, later Breton wrote, In literature, I was successively taken with Rimbaud, with Jarry, with Apollinaire, with Nouveau, with Lautréamont, but it is Jacques Vaché to whom I owe the most. Back in Paris, Breton joined in Dada activities and started the literary journal Littérature along with Louis Aragon and they began experimenting with automatic writing—spontaneously writing without censoring their thoughts—and published the writings, as well as accounts of dreams, in the magazine. Breton and Soupault delved deeper into automatism and wrote The Magnetic Fields, continuing to write, they came to believe that automatism was a better tactic for societal change than the Dada form of attack on prevailing values. They also looked to the Marxist dialectic and the work of such theorists as Walter Benjamin, freuds work with free association, dream analysis, and the unconscious was of utmost importance to the Surrealists in developing methods to liberate imagination. They embraced idiosyncrasy, while rejecting the idea of an underlying madness, as Salvador Dalí later proclaimed, There is only one difference between a madman and me. Beside the use of analysis, they emphasized that one could combine inside the same frame, elements not normally found together to produce illogical. The more the relationship between the two juxtaposed realities is distant and true, the stronger the image will be−the greater its emotional power, the group aimed to revolutionize human experience, in its personal, cultural, social, and political aspects. They wanted to people from false rationality, and restrictive customs. Breton proclaimed that the aim of Surrealism was long live the social revolution. To this goal, at various times Surrealists aligned with communism and anarchism, in 1924 two Surrealist factions declared their philosophy in two separate Surrealist Manifestos. That same year the Bureau of Surrealist Research was established, leading up to 1924, two rival surrealist groups had formed. Each group claimed to be successors of a revolution launched by Guillaume Apollinaire, the other group, led by Breton, included Louis Aragon, Robert Desnos, Paul Éluard, Jacques Baron, Jacques-André Boiffard, Jean Carrive, René Crevel and Georges Malkine, among others. Goll and Breton clashed openly, at one point literally fighting, at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées, in the end, Breton won the battle through tactical and numerical superiority
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Castle of Otranto (film)
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Castle of Otranto is a 1977 Czechoslovak animated short film by Jan Švankmajer. It is based on The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, the film features a form of a pseudo-documentary frame story in live action with an abridged adaptation of the story itself presented in cut-out animation in the style of Gothic art. Jaroslav Vozáb decides to find a place where the story of novel The Castle of Otranto occurred as he believes it is based on a true story. He finds similarities between ruins of Czech Castle Otrhany and the castle from novel and it leads him to believe that Otrhany is the castle he is looking for, a TV reporter Miroslav Fýba makes a reportage with Vozáb who tells him about his research and the story of book. The film also features a storyline from the book told through animation and it starts with Conrad, the son of Lord Manfred, being crushed by a giant helmet on his way to his wedding with Isabella. Manfred is devastated by the fact that he lost his heir and decides to marry Isabella himself which horrifies her. Manfred pursues her but is stopped by a giant knight and Isabella is then saved by Theodore, Manfred then imprisons Theodore while Isabella hides. A knight from another kingdom comes to Otranto Castle who want to deliver Isabella, Theodore in the meantime is freed by Manfreds daughter Matilda who loves Theodore and is sad by the fact that he loves Isabella. Theodore then goes to find Isabela who hides in a mountain Cave, Theodore meets the knight there and they fight for Isabella. Theodore eventually wins the fight but the knight is revealed to be Isabellas father Frederic, Frederic is healed in Otranto Castle while Theodore hides in forest. Manfred makes a deal with Frederic that the both will marry each others daughter, Frederic then goes to propose to Matilda but is stopped by the giant knight and realises his mistake. He decides not to marry Matilda and not to give his daughter to Manfred, angered Manfred then decides to kill Isabella but accidentally kills his own daughter. The Giant Knight then ruins the castle and kills Manfred in process, Theodore and Isabella are then seen happily together. Castle of Otranto at the Internet Movie Database
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Frame story
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The frame story leads readers from a first story into another, smaller one within it. The frame story may also be used to allow readers to understand a part of the story and this is not however, to be mixed up with a narrative structure or character personality change. The earliest known frame stories are preserved on the ancient Egyptian Papyrus Westcar. This form gradually spread west through the centuries and became popular, giving rise to such classic frame tale collections as the One Thousand and One Nights, The Decameron, and Canterbury Tales. This format had flexibility in that various narrators could retain the stories they liked or understood, while dropping ones they didnt and this occurred particularly with One Thousand and One Nights, where different versions over the centuries have included different stories. A typical example of a story is One Thousand and One Nights. Many of Scheherazades tales are also frame stories, such as Tale of Sindbad the Seaman and Sindbad the Landsman, extensive use of this device is found in Ovids Metamorphoses, where the stories nest several deep, to allow the inclusion of many different tales in one work. Emily Brontës Wuthering Heights uses this device to tell the story of Heathcliff and Catherine. Her sister Anne also uses this device in her epistolary novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, the main heroines diary is framed by the narrators story and letters. Mary Shelleys novel Frankenstein is another example of a book with multiple framed narratives. Frame stories have appeared in other media, such as comic books. Neil Gaimans comic book series The Sandman featured a story arc called Worlds End which consisted of frame stories, frame stories are often organized as a gathering of people in one place for the exchange of stories. Each character tells his or her tale, and the tale progresses in that manner. Sometimes only one exists, and in this case there might be different levels of distance between the reader and author. In this mode, the tale can become more fuzzy. Here the frame includes the world of the imagined Crayon, his stories, essentially, it is a frame story without a story to be framed. When there is a story, the frame story is used for other purposes – chiefly to position the readers attitude toward the tale. One common one is to draw attention to the narrators unreliability, by explicitly making the narrator a character within the frame story, the writer distances himself from the narrator, he may also characterize the narrator to cast doubt on his truthfulness
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Gothic art
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Gothic art was a style of medieval art that developed in Northern France out of Romanesque art in the 12th century AD, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, and much of Southern and Central Europe, in the late 14th century, the sophisticated court style of International Gothic developed, which continued to evolve until the late 15th century. In many areas, especially Germany, Late Gothic art continued well into the 16th century, primary media in the Gothic period included sculpture, panel painting, stained glass, fresco and illuminated manuscripts. The earliest Gothic art was monumental sculpture, on the walls of Cathedrals, Christian art was often typological in nature, showing the stories of the New Testament and the Old Testament side by side. Increased literacy and a body of secular vernacular literature encouraged the representation of secular themes in art. Gothic art emerged in Île-de-France, France, in the early 12th century at the Abbey Church of St Denis built by Abbot Suger, monastic orders, especially the Cistercians and the Carthusians, were important builders who disseminated the style and developed distinctive variants of it across Europe. Gothic art was often typological in nature, reflecting a belief that the events of the Old Testament pre-figured those of the New, Old and New Testament scenes were shown side by side in works like the Speculum Humanae Salvationis, and the decoration of churches. The Gothic period coincided with a resurgence in Marian devotion. Images of the Virgin Mary developed from the Byzantine hieratic types, through the Coronation of the Virgin, to human and initimate types. Artists like Giotto, Fra Angelico and Pietro Lorenzetti in Italy, and Early Netherlandish painting, brought realism, Western artists, and their patrons, became much more confident in innovative iconography, and much more originality is seen, although copied formulae were still used by most artists. Even in Last Judgements Christ was now usually shown exposing his chest to show the wounds of his Passion, the word Gothic for art was initially used as a synonym for Barbaric, and was therefore used pejoratively. Its critics saw this type of Medieval art as unrefined and too remote from the aesthetic proportions, Renaissance authors believed that the Sack of Rome by the Gothic tribes in 410 had triggered the demise of the Classical world and all the values they held dear. Gothic art was criticized by French authors such as Boileau, La Bruyère, Rousseau, before becoming a recognized form of art. Molière would famously comment on Gothic, The besotted taste of Gothic monuments, These odious monsters of ignorant centuries, in its beginning, Gothic art was initially called French work, thus attesting the priority of France in the creation of this style. Painting in a style that can be called Gothic did not appear until about 1200, or nearly 50 years after the origins of Gothic architecture and sculpture. Then figures become more animated in pose and facial expression, tend to be smaller in relation to the background of scenes, and are arranged more freely in the pictorial space, where there is room. This transition occurs first in England and France around 1200, in Germany around 1220, painting during the Gothic period was practiced in four primary media, frescos, panel paintings, manuscript illumination and stained glass. Frescoes continued to be used as the pictorial narrative craft on church walls in southern Europe as a continuation of early Christian
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International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
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Mario Praz
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Mario Praz KBE was an Italian-born critic of art and literature, and a scholar of English literature. His best-known book, The Romantic Agony, was a survey of the erotic. See Femme fatale for a reference of one of his chapters, the book was written and published first in Italian as La carne, la morte e il diavolo nella letteratura romantica in 1930, and the most recent edition was published in Firenze, Sansoni,1996. Praz was the son of Luciano Praz, a clerk, and his wife. His stepfather was Carlo Targioni, a doctor, whom his mother married in 1912 and he studied at the University of Bologna, received a law degree from the University of Rome, and received a doctorate in literature from the University of Florence. Praz married, on 17 March 1934, Vivyan Leonora Eyles and she was a daughter of British novelist M. Leonora Eyles and married in 1948, as her second husband, art historian Wolfgang Fritz Volbach. The couple had one child, a daughter, Lucia Praz, prazs only other known romantic attachment was to an Anglo-Italian woman named Perla Cacciguerra, whom he met in 1953 and called Diamante in the book The House of Life. Mario Praz residence in Palazzo Primoli in Rome has been turned into the Museo Mario Praz, Mario Praz was a well-respected Italian-born art critic and scholar of the English language. He taught Italian Studies at the Victoria University of Manchester between 1932 and 1934 and he then went on to teach English Literature at the University of Rome from 1934, until he retired in 1966. In 1962, Praz was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and became a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire KBE, the concepts that were presented in his The Romantic Agony have been shaped into his design and art criticism. This writing style has been administered in Praz’s two most noteworthy design books, “The House of Life” and “An Illustrated history in Interior Design”. These works highlight his theories of the interiority of a space, Mario Praz has had a profound impact not only on writings about interior design and decoration but also on the history, and the development, of design. The work, An Illustrated History of Interior Decoration from Pompeii to Art Nouveau has allowed the creation of an album to be made, “Praz’s rediscovery of this minor. Was a revelation, and the no less than aesthetic importance of the subject is now recognised by a group of informed collectors”. His work “provides a selection of visual representations of domesticity from ancient Greece through to the Art Nouveau, the sketches, paintings, and watercolour representations capture the spatial qualities and features of the interiority and decoration of the overall space. The images record accuracy to the shape of the room, from the carpet, to the furniture, pictures, fabrics, wall colour, the hang of curtains and the placement of light. Mario Praz’s work has documented all these characteristics that would have shaped the space for the inhabiters in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This work has had a contribution to the impact of not only researching the interiority of a space
The Castle of Otranto public domain audiobook at LibriVox