Priory.

Solesmes Abbey was founded in 1010 by Geoffrey, Lord of Sable, who donated the monastery and its farm to the Benedictine monks of the Saint-Pierre de la Couture Abbey, "for the redemption of his soul and those of his parents, or those who went before him and those who come after him". The church was dedicated on 12 October, sometime between 1006 and 1015. The Abbey celebrated a Jubilee Year from 11 October 2010 to 12 October 2010. The rebuilding of the church started towards the end of the fifteenth century. Prior Philibert de la Croix changed its plan from the basilica form to a Latin cross. His successor, Jean Bougler (1505-1556), completed the restoration of the church, added the tower, and rebuilt the cloisters, sacristy, and library. Under his direction two famous groups of statuary, known as the "Saints of Solesmes", were set up in the church. In the sixteenth century these masterpieces were in danger of being destroyed by the Huguenots and other Iconoclasts, but the monks saved them by erecting barricades.  From the 17th century on, Solesmes Abbey underwent a slow decline under a series of commendatory priors. The superior was a layman who received part of the monastery's income without living there. However, in 1664, the monastery was aggregated to the St. Maur Congregation and a stricter monastic observance was resumed.  Following the French Revolution, the newly formed National Constituent Assembly prohibited all religious vows on 13 February 1790. At Solesmes one of the seven monks (the sub-prior) broke his vows to become a constitutional priest and soldier of the Republic. At the beginning of 1791, the monks began to leave the monastery, and those who wished to remain there were imprisoned or deported to the Island of Jersey. One of them, Dom Pierre Papion, hid in order to celebrate secret masses across the region. After signing the Concordat, he became chaplain of the hospice de Sablé. Solesmes, whose occupants had been forced out in March 1791, was then commandeered as the country residence of a certain Henri Lenoir Chantelou and its archives were burned in a "civic" bonfire on 14 July 1794. The church was reopened at the time of the Concordat and the Lenoir de Chantelou family were given statues by Napoleon himself so that those at Mans were not removed.  In 1825, government property administrators sold the monastic buildings and 145 acres with its farms.

Abbey.

In 1831 the remaining buildings, which had escaped demolition in the Revolution but were threatened with destruction for want of a buyer, came to the attention of a locally born priest, Prosper Guéranger. Inspired by a vision of a restored monastic life in France, he acquired them for the home of a new Benedictine community. In 1832, it was decided to demolish the buildings, starting with the east wing, which has now disappeared. The Benedictines moved in on 11 July 1833. Against all expectation the new community flourished and in 1837 not only received Papal approval, but was elevated to the rank of an abbey and made the head of the newly created French Benedictine Congregation, now the Solesmes Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation.  In 1866 a convent, St. Cecilia's Abbey, Solesmes, was also founded at Solesmes, by Mother Cécile Bruyère (the first abbess) with the support of Dom Guéranger, which was the first house of the nuns of the Solesmes Congregation.  Since its restoration Solesmes has been dissolved by the French Government no fewer than four times. In 1880, 1882, and 1883 the monks were ejected by force but, receiving hospitality in the neighbourhood, succeeded each time in re-entering their abbey. Between 1901 and 1922 the monks were forced into exile in England. They settled on the Isle of Wight and built the present Quarr Abbey. The community survived those trials and those of two World Wars and is still at Solesmes.  As part of its mission of monastic revival the abbey has been the mother house of some twenty five other monastic foundations, including the monastery at Palendriai in Lithuania.  The abbey is noted for its contribution to the advancement of the Roman Catholic liturgy and the revival of Gregorian chant. A documentary film on life at Solesmes was made in 2009 and focuses on the tradition of the chant at the monastery.

Solesmes Abbey or St. Peter's Abbey, Solesmes ("Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Solesmes") is a Benedictine monastery in Solesmes (Sarthe, France), famous as the source of the restoration of Benedictine monastic life in the country under Dom Prosper Guéranger after the French Revolution. The current abbot is the Right Reverend Dom Philippe Dupont, O.S.B.


History.

Early history.

As early as Roman times, the island functioned as a point of departure for ships going to Britain; it had a temple of the goddess Nehalennia who was popular with those who braved the waters of the North Sea. The Romans called it "Wallacra", a term most likely associated with "Walhaz", the name Germans used for Romans.  Walcheren became the seat of the Danish Viking Harald (fl. 841-842), who conquered what would become the Netherlands together with his brother Rorik (fl. 842-873) (or Rurik) in the ninth century. One fringe theory has it that Ahmad ibn Rustah (fl. 10th century) described Walcheren when reporting on the seat of the Rus' Khaganate. Another fringe theory mentions Walcheren as the seat of Hades, described by Homer.

Treaty of Dover.

Under the Secret Treaty of Dover, concluded in 1670 between Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France, England was supposed to get possession of Walcheren as well as the isle of Cadzand, as the reward for helping France in the then impending war against the Dutch Republic. In the event, the Dutch resistance - much stronger than anticipated - managed to repulse the French-English attack, and the treaty was not implemented.

Napoleonic Wars.

Starting on 30 July 1809, a British armed force of 39,000 men landed on Walcheren, the Walcheren Campaign, with a view to assisting the Austrians in their war against Napoleon, and attacking the French fleet moored at Flushing (Vlissingen). The expedition turned into a disaster – although Flushing surrendered the Austrians had already been decisively defeated at the Battle of Wagram in early July and were suing for peace. Meanwhile, the French fleet had moved to Antwerp, and the British lost over 4,000 men to a disease called "Walcheren Fever", thought to be a combination of malaria and typhus, as well as to enemy action. The French suffered some 4000 dead, wounded and captured. With the strategic reasons for the campaign gone and the worsening conditions, the British force was withdrawn in December.

World War II.

Strategically situated at the mouth of the River Scheldt, Walcheren was the key that allowed use of the deep-water port of Antwerp, located further upstream on the right bank of the southern estuary of the river. It was fought over during World War II in 1940 between Dutch and German troops in the Battle of the Netherlands, and again in 1944 in the Battle of Walcheren Causeway, the fourth and final stage of the Battle of the Scheldt. On 3 October 1944 the RAF bombed the sea wall at Westkapelle causing the Inundation of Walcheren. The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division cleared South Beveland to the east and approached the island on 31 October 1944. The plan was to cross the Sloe Channel, but leading troops of the 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade found that assault boats were useless in the deep mud of the channel. The only route open was the 40 metre wide Walcheren Causeway, a mile-long land bridge from South Beveland to the island. The Canadian Black Watch sent a company across on the evening of 31 October, but was stopped. The Calgary Highlanders sent two companies over in succession, the second attack opening up a bridgehead on the island. The Highlanders were eventually thrown back, having lost 64 killed and wounded. "Le Régiment de Maisonneuve" relieved them on the causeway, followed by the 1st Battalion, Glasgow Highlanders of the British 52nd Infantry Division. Meanwhile, on 1 November 1944, British Commandos landed in the village of Westkapelle in order to silence the German coastal batteries looking out over the Scheldt. The amphibious assault ("") proved a success and by 8 November, all German resistance on the island had ceased.

Topography.

"Topographic map of Walcheren, 2010-2011. Click to enlarge."

Walcheren () is a region and former island in the Dutch province of Zeeland at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Eastern Scheldt in the north and the Western Scheldt in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus. The two sides facing the North Sea consist of dunes and the rest of its coastline is made up of dykes. Middelburg, the provincial capital, lies at Walcheren's center. Vlissingen, to the south, is the main harbour and the third municipality is Veere.


Tenente revolt.

Prestes helped organize the failed "tenente" revolts of 1922, an uprising of the largely middle class officer corps and poor conscripted servicemen against the agrarian oligarchies that dominated Brazil's Old Republic (1889–1930). Because Prestes was sick with typhoid fever, he was unable to fight on the day of the revolt. From 1924, Prestes became one of the leaders of the insurrectionist movement, leading the "Coluna Prestes" (Prestes' Column) on a march through the Brazilian countryside. The march did not aim to defeat the enemy forces of the Federal government, but rather to ensure the insurrectionists' survival and their ability to continue threatening the dictatorship.

1930 revolution.

The "tenente" revolt heralded the end of the 'coffee and milk' "coronelismo" politics and the beginning of social reforms. The Revolution of 1930 ended Brazil's Old Republic. Joined by many moderate "tenentes", but not Prestes, the Revolution of 1930 installed Getúlio Vargas as Brazil's provisional president. Although the "tenentes" sympathized with him, Vargas was a far more conservative figure. As the "tenentes" wanted Prestes to join Vargas, Prestes decided to meet him in Porto Alegre and explained his idea of socialist revolution to Vargas for about two hours. Vargas was highly impressed by Prestes and even donated 800 "contos de réis" (about $400,000 at the time, or about $5,860,000 in 2017 USD) to the revolutionary cause. However, Prestes viewed Vargas as the leader of a bourgeois revolution and decided to route most of the donated money to the Latin American branch of the Comintern, financing the group for a few years. Another part of the money was routed to "tenente" member Siqueira Campos, who died in a plane crash while flying from Argentina to Brazil. His body was discovered three days later, but the money was never found.

Alignment to Marxism.

As Getúlio Vargas was gaining power in Brazil, Prestes turned to Marxism while in exile in Buenos Aires. In the 1930s he became the leader of the "Aliança Nacional Libertadora" (National Liberating Alliance) (ANL), a left-wing popular front launched in 1935, consisting of socialists, communists, and other progressives led by the Communist Party in opposition to Vargas' crackdown against organized labor.  Getúlio Vargas, who had by this time become Brazil's legally-recognized president (no longer merely "ad interim"), thus looked to a form of authoritarian government. He endeavored to suppress his enemies on the left, led by Prestes, through violence and state terror in order to survive with his coalition intact during the agitated years that began in 1934. Vargas had become allied with Brazils' agrarian oligarchies, having an established network of economic and political power, and the Integralists, a fascist movement with a mass popular support-base in urban Brazil. Vargas' political power forced the Brazilian Congress to respond to the growth of the Communist movement.

Imprisonment.

As a result of Vargas' increased political power, the Brazilian Congress branded all leftist opposition as "subversive" under a March 1935 National Security Act. The new act allowed the President to ban the ANL. Vested with its new emergency powers, the federal government imposed a crackdown on the entire left, with arrests, torture, and summary trials. By mid-1935 Brazilian politics had become drastically destabilized. In July the government moved against the ANL, with troops raiding offices, confiscating propaganda, seizing records, and jailing leaders. The ANL became forced, reluctantly, to begin an armed insurrection in November. The authoritarian regime, like its fascist counterparts in Europe, responded by imprisoning and torturing Prestes and violently crushing the Communist movement through state terror.  Vargas, seeking to co-opt Brazil's fascist movement and paramilitary, known as "Integralism" and led by Plínio Salgado, tolerated a tide of anti-Semitism, and may have targeted Prestes' wife to appease his new supporters. Vargas deported the pregnant, German-Jewish wife of Luís Carlos Prestes, Olga Benario, to Nazi Germany, where she later died in a concentration camp. According to Prestes, he was a virgin until he met Olga Benario.  After Vargas began abandoning fascist-style autocracy in 1945, following his rapprochement with the World War II Allies in 1943, political prisoners were released, including Luís Carlos Prestes. Prestes gave an astute assessment of Vargas' politics, commenting, "Getúlio is very flexible. When it was fashionable to be a fascist, he was a fascist. Now that it is fashionable to be democratic, he will be a democrat." Many members of the Brazilian Communist Party were disgusted by Prestes and decided to leave the party.  However, Prestes was correct in his assessment. Vargas astutely responded to the newly liberal sentiments of a middle class that was no longer fearful of disorder and proletarian discontent by moving away from fascist repression. Vargas promised "a new postwar era of liberty" that included presidential elections, amnesty for political prisoners, and the legalization of opposition parties, including the Communist Party, which had become more moderate and weaker. When asked how he could give his support to the man who deported his wife to her death, Prestes answered by saying that the good of the common man was above personal disputes.

Political career.

In the elections of December 2, 1945, Prestes won the highest number of votes in his race for the Senator of the Federal District. Later that month, Vargas was ousted by the hard-right wing of the military partly because of his liberalizing moves; the Communist movement became persecuted once again. However, the party made another comeback following Brazil's move toward democratization in the 1950s and early 1960s.  Under the presidency of João Goulart (1961–1964), a protégé of Getúlio Vargas, and another gaúcho from Rio Grande do Sul, the closeness of the government to the historically disenfranchised working class and peasantry and even to the Communist Party under none other than Luís Carlos Prestes was equally remarkable. Goulart appeared to have been co-opting the Communist movement in a manner reminiscent of Vargas' co-option of the Integralists shortly, and not coincidentally, before his ouster by reactionary forces. Once again, Prestes was imprisoned and the Communist movement was persecuted.  The experience of the failed "tenente" rebellion and Vargas' suppression of the Communist movement left Prestes, and some of his comrades, skeptical of armed conflict for the rest of his life. His well-cultivated skepticism later helped precipitate the permanent schism between hard-line Maoists and orthodox Moscow-influenced militants in the Brazilian Communist Party during the early 1960s. Prestes went on to lead the pro-Soviet faction of the party known as the Brazilian Communist Party (or PCB) while the Maoists formed the Communist Party of Brazil (or PCdoB). While the Maoists went underground and engaged in urban combat against the military dictatorship after 1964, Prestes' faction did not.  In 1970, Prestes went to Moscow with his second wife and children, and only returned to Brazil after amnesty for political offenders was granted ten years later.  After his return to Brazil, Prestes later abandoned the PCB without renouncing Marxism. He became a supporter of the Brazil's Democratic Labour Party and took part in Leonel Brizola's presidential campaign in 1989. Prestes died on March 7, 1990, aged 92.

Luís Carlos Prestes (January 3, 1898 – March 7, 1990) was a lieutenant, later communist militant and Brazilian politician. He was one of the organizers of the 1920s "tenente" revolts and the communist opposition to the Vargas Era in Brazil. He was also the general-secretary of the Brazilian Communist Party.


Plot.

The story is set and filmed on Thamesmead, a working class area of South East London dominated by post-war council estates.  The main character, Jamie (Glen Berry), is a teenager who is infatuated with his classmate, Ste. Jamie's single mother, Sandra (Linda Henry), is pre-occupied with ambitious plans to run her own pub and has an ever-changing string of lovers; the latest of these is Tony (Ben Daniels), a neo-hippie.  Sandra finds herself at odds with Leah (Tameka Empson), a sassy and rude neighbour who has been expelled from school, does several drugs, and constantly listens and sings along to her mother's Cass Elliot records. While Jamie's homosexuality remains concealed, his introverted nature and dislike of football are reason enough for his classmates to bully him at every opportunity.  Ste (Scott Neal), who is living together with his drug-dealing brother and abusive, alcoholic father in the flat next door to Sandra and Jamie's, is beaten by his brother so badly that Sandra takes pity and lets him sleep over one night. In the absence of a third bed, Ste has to make do with sleeping 'top-to-toe' with Jamie. On the second night they share a bed, the boys change sleeping arrangements and Jamie kisses Ste for the first time.  The next morning, Ste panics, leaves the flat before Jamie has awakened, and avoids him for days. Jamie works up the nerve to steal a "Gay Times" from a newsagent, apparently starting to accept his sexuality and affection for Ste. Jamie finally spots Ste at a nearby party and confronts him about his sexuality; they prepare to leave together. The party ends badly, with Sandra taking vengeance on Leah for gossiping. Leah then threatens to'spill the beans' about Ste and Jamie and confesses to having covered up for Ste in front of his father and brother. Ste reacts by angrily rejecting Jamie and running away.  Slowly, Ste accepts Jamie's love. Their relationship develops as they visit a gay pub together. Sandra follows them and discovers their secret. The film reaches its climax as a bad trip by Leah (on an unnamed drug) precipitates Sandra's breakup with Tony, the news of Sandra's new job comes out, and Sandra confronts Ste and Jamie about their relationship. Sandra comes to accept her son's sexuality.  The film ends with the two boys slow-dancing in the courtyard of their council flats to the Cass Elliot song "Dream a Little Dream of Me" while a protective Sandra dances defiantly at their side with Leah as the local residents look on. Some onlookers are shocked, some strongly disapprove and some enjoy the moment.

Critical reception.

"Beautiful Thing" has been mostly commended by contemporary critics. The film holds a 91% approval rating on the reviewing aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes based on 22 reviews, with a weighted average of 6.67/10. The site's consensus reads: "An engaging slice of life drama that happens to double as a gay coming-of-age story, "Beautiful Thing" captures its place and time with deceptive depth and skill".  Roger Ebert wrote "The most interesting scenes involve the characters around them, who all but steal the movie. The boys’ lives contain few surprises, but from the other characters there is one astonishment after another." Stephen Holden from The New York Times commented "Ms. Henry is wonderful as a woman whose fighting spirit masks a streak of hard-bitten tenderness."

Home media.

In the United States, the film was released domestically by Sony Pictures Classics. The film was released on DVD in UK in 2001 and again in 2007.

Links to other media.

Some of the actors that appeared in "Beautiful Thing" appeared in other work by Jonathan Harvey. Harvey himself made a cameo appearance in the film, which he also did in "Gimme Gimme Gimme" and "Beautiful People".

Soundtrack.

A soundtrack for the film was released by MCA Records on 15 October 1996.

Beautiful Thing is a 1996 British film directed by Hettie MacDonald and released by Channel 4 Films. The screenplay was written by Jonathan Harvey based on his own original play of the same name.


Personal life.

Bianchi was born in Milan, Italy, but moved to Belgium in 1946 when he was still a child, with his father who was a race mechanic working, before the Second World War, in the Alfa Romeo competition department. His grandnephew, Jules Bianchi, who made his Formula One debut with the Marussia team for the season competing under the French flag, also died as a result of injuries sustained in a racing accident.

Racing career.

Lucien Bianchi's first race event was at the Alpine Rally in 1951. He won the 1957, 1958 and 1959 "Tour de France" as well as the Paris 1000 sports car race in the latter two years.  He entered Formula One in 1959, although only with sporadic appearances at first. He drove various cars under the banner of the ENB team, including a Cooper T51, a Lotus 18 and an Emeryson. After a couple of races for the UDT Laystall team in 1961, driving another Lotus, he returned to ENB for whom he drove their ENB-Maserati. He finally secured a more regular drive in Formula One in 1968, with the Cooper-BRM team, although success was elusive despite a bright start. Bianchi managed his best Formula One performance, finishing third at the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix, in his first race for Cooper.  Bianchi also raced touring cars, sports cars and rally cars, being successful in all disciplines, his biggest victories coming in the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans, behind the wheel of a Ford GT40 with Pedro Rodríguez and at Sebring in 1962 with Jo Bonnier. He was also leading the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon when his Citroën DS collided with a non-competing car.  He was killed when his Alfa Romeo T33 spun into a telegraph pole during Le Mans testing in 1969.  At Circuit Zolder, the fourth turn of the circuit, entering the back stretch, is named LucienBianchiBocht in his memory.

Lucien Bianchi (10 November 1934 – 30 March 1969), born Luciano Bianchi, was an Italian born Belgian racing driver who raced for the Cooper, ENB, UDT Laystall and Scuderia Centro Sud teams in Formula One. He entered a total of 19 Formula One World Championship races, scoring six points and had a best finish of third at the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix.


History.

The history of Wenger S.A. is strongly linked to the history of the Swiss Army knife.

Company origins.

Founded 1893 at Courtetelle in the Delémont valley in the Canton of Jura, the industrial cutlery house of Paul Boechat & Cie (the future Wenger) received a contract from the Swiss Army to produce knives as the second industrial cutlery manufacturer of Switzerland. In 1897 Theodore Wenger, a minister who had served in the US, was returning home to Switzerland and was hired by the group of entrepreneurs that had bought Boechat & Cie two years earlier (later renaming the company "Wenger et Cie."). One of Wenger's first acts was to acquire a manufacturer of spoons and forks which he moved to a rented factory in Delémont.  In 1900, a new facility was built. Both the utensil operations and the Courtetelle cutlery production were incorporated into the new plant now called Fabrique Suisse de Coutellerie et Services. In 1908 the Swiss Army decided to split the contract, with half of the order going to Victorinox, in the German-speaking canton of Schwyz, and the other half to Wenger in the French-speaking part of the canton of Bern. In 1929, after Theo Wenger's death, Kaspar Oertli gained majority share in the company.  In 1988, Wenger started producing watches, one year before Victorinox.

Crisis and restart.

After the 9/11 attacks all air traveling and related industries were facing a severe crisis. This was also the case for the Swiss Army knife manufacturers especially Wenger S.A. Changing airport security regulations which precluded the carrying of pocket knives diminished the sales of Swiss Army knives at duty-free shops. The crisis led to the acquisition of Wenger by its competitor Victorinox in 2005. With the backing of Victorinox, Wenger was able to maintain its own production and branding of Swiss army knives and watches. Wenger knives are advertised as the "Genuine Swiss Army Knife" and Victorinox as the "Original Swiss Army Knife".

Rebranding after acquisition.

After being acquired by Victorinox, in 2005 Wenger S.A. started to develop new products. In the process of rebranding itself as a provider of multifunctional tools for outdoor adventures, Wenger started to cooperate with individuals such as Ueli Steck and Mike Horn acting as their brand ambassadors providing each of them with a suited multi-functional tool adapted to their specific challenges. Additionally Wenger cooperated with Alinghi providing the sailors with a suited multifunctional tool. Most recently Wenger supports the Patagonia Expedition Race.

Product lines merging.

On January 30, 2013, Wenger and Victorinox announced that the separate knife brands were going to be merged into one brand: Victorinox. The press release stated that Wenger's factory in Delémont would continue to produce knives and all employees at this site will retain their jobs. They further elaborated that an assortment of items from the Wenger line-up will remain in production under the Victorinox brand name. Wenger's U.S. headquarters will be merged with Victorinox's location in Monroe, Connecticut. Wenger's watch and licensing business will continue as a separate brand.

Recent developments.

On March, 2016, during the Baselworld 2016 expo, Victorinox relaunched the Wenger brand with marketing emphasising Swiss values at a reasonable price. Wenger changed its slogan to "A Swiss Company Since 1893" from "Maker of the genuine Swiss Army Knife", which was used for decades.  In 2017, Victorinox released a Swiss Army Knife model named “Wenger Red”. This knife has the Wenger logo and the Wenger brand name in the scale of the knife. This knife is delivered in a box with the Victorinox logo and brand name. This part number is produced in Delémont, Switzerland. This is the only Swiss Army Knife with the Wenger logo and brand name that is being produced and sold as today.

Products.

The two main product lines of Wenger S.A. are the "Genuine Swiss Army Knife" and Wenger Watch. Additionally Wenger S.A. makes kitchen cutlery under the brand names of Swibo, Grand Maitre.

Genuine Swiss Army Knife.

Most of the traditional products produced by Wenger are pocket knives with a body size of about 75mm to 125mm (3" to 5") and blades of about 50mm to 100mm (2" to 4") with features like can openers and screwdrivers in a red- or black-coloured case.

Special editions.

The Giant  The Swiss Army knife is famous for integrating different tools into one knife. Wenger integrated 87 tools with 141 functions into one knife called The Giant, which was featured in "Guinness World Records".  Heritage  Based on the original plans of the Swiss Army knife of 1908 Wenger introduced the limited edition line called Heritage.  TitaniumLine, Alinghi Sui 1, Mike Horn Knife & Patagonia Expedition Race  All three are multifunctional knives developed in cooperation with the individuals and organizations involved suited to their specific challenges. The Titanium Line is a product suited to the challenges a speed climber like Ueli Steck faces. For the Swiss Americas Cup participant Alinghi Wenger developed an easy to use knife for sailors. As the main sponsor of the Wenger Patagonia Expedition Race, Wenger created a knife suited to the challenges the participants of the race have to face. For the adventurer Mike Horn Wenger released a knife in 2009.

Wenger Watches.

Wenger Watches are made in Switzerland. The company's head office is located in Delémont Switzerland. Wenger watches are supposedly related to the basic ideas and concept of the Swiss Army Knife, having a multifunctional outdoor focus. Additionally Wenger produces several watches focusing only on elegance.

Other products.

Wenger also makes notepads that can function as a twofold wallet.  Wenger produced bayonets for the Swiss Stgw 90 assault rifle. The bayonet has an overall length of 310 mm and a muzzle ring diameter of 22 mm. The 177 mm long blade is single-edged and it has no fuller. The bayonets were manufactured exclusively for the Swiss Army by Wenger and Victorinox (before the two companies merged).  In North America, licensed products using the Wenger and SwissGear trademarks are owned independently from Victorinox SA, and are used to market camping equipment (particularly tents, backpacks and sleeping bags), luggage, backpacks and office/business needs.

Wenger is one of two companies that have manufactured Swiss Army knives. Based in Delémont, Wenger was acquired by rival Victorinox in 2005. Since 2013, Wenger Swiss Army knives are integrated in the Victorinox collection (as the "Delémont collection"); the brand Wenger remains for watches and licensed products.


Description.

"Syringa vulgaris" is a large deciduous shrub or multistemmed small tree, growing to high. It produces secondary shoots (suckers) from the base or roots, with stem diameters up to, which in the course of decades may produce a small clonal thicket. The bark is grey to grey-brown, smooth on young stems, longitudinally furrowed, and flaking on older stems. The leaves are simple, and 3–8 cm broad, light green to glaucous, oval to cordate, with pinnate leaf venation, a mucronate apex, and an entire margin. They are arranged in opposite pairs or occasionally in whorls of three. The flowers have a tubular base to the corolla 6–10 mm long with an open four-lobed apex 5–8 mm across, usually lilac to mauve, occasionally white. They are arranged in dense, terminal panicles long. The fruit is a dry, smooth, brown capsule, 1–2 cm long, splitting in two to release the two-winged seeds.

Taxonomy and naming.

"Syringa vulgaris" was first formally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and the description was published in "Species Plantarum". The Latin specific epithet "vulgaris" means "common" (in the sense of "widespread"}.

Garden history.

Lilacs—both "S. vulgaris" and "S." × "persica" the finer, smaller "Persian lilac", now considered a natural hybrid—were introduced into northern European gardens at the end of the 16th century, from Ottoman gardens, not through botanists exploring the Balkan habitats of "S. vulgaris". The Holy Roman Emperor's ambassador, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, is generally credited with supplying lilac slips to Carolus Clusius, about 1562. Well-connected botanists, such as the great herbalist John Gerard, soon had the rarity in their gardens: Gerard noted that he had lilacs growing "in very great plenty" in 1597, but lilacs were not mentioned by Shakespeare, and John Loudon was of the opinion that the Persian lilac had been introduced into English gardens by John Tradescant the elder. Tradescant's Continental source for information on the lilac, and perhaps ultimately for the plants, was Pietro Andrea Mattioli, as one can tell from a unique copy of Tradescant's plant list in his Lambeth garden, an adjunct of his "Musaeum Tradescantianum"; it was printed, though probably not published, in 1634: it lists "Lilac Matthioli". That Tradescant's "lilac of Mattioli's" was a white one is shown by Elias Ashmole's manuscript list, "Trees found in Mrs Tredescants Ground when it came into my possession" (1662): "Syringa alba".  In the American colonies, lilacs were introduced in the 18th century. Peter Collinson, F.R.S., wrote to the Pennsylvania gardener and botanist John Bartram, proposing to send him some, and remarked that John Custis of Virginia had a fine "collection", which Ann Leighton interpreted as signifying common and Persian lilacs, in both purple and white, "the entire range of lilacs possible" at the time.

Cultivation.

The lilac is a very popular ornamental plant in gardens and parks, because of its attractive, sweet-smelling flowers, which appear in early summer just before many of the roses and other summer flowers come into bloom.  In late summer, lilacs can be attacked by powdery mildew, specifically "Erysiphe syringae", one of the Erysiphaceae. No fall color is seen and the seed clusters have no aesthetic appeal.  Common lilac tends to flower profusely in alternate years, a habit that can be improved by deadheading the flower clusters after the color has faded and before seeds, few of which are fertile, form. At the same time, twiggy growth on shoots that have flowered more than once or twice can be cut to a strong, outward-growing side shoot.  It is widely naturalised in western and northern Europe. In a sign of its complete naturalization in North America, it has been selected as the state flower of the state of New Hampshire, because it "is symbolic of that hardy character of the men and women of the Granite State". Additional hardiness for Canadian gardens was bred for in a series of "S. vulgaris" hybrids by Isabella Preston, who introduced many of the later-blooming varieties. Their later-developing flower buds are better protected from late spring frosts. The "Syringa "×" prestoniae" hybrids range primarily in the pink and lavender shades.

Cultivars.

Most garden plants of "S. vulgaris" are cultivars, the majority of which do not exceed tall. Between 1876 and 1927, the nurseryman Victor Lemoine of Nancy, France introduced over 153 named cultivars, many of which are considered classics and still in commerce today. Lemoine's "French lilacs" extended the limited color range to include deeper, more saturated hues, and they also introduced double-flowered "sports", with the stamens replaced by extra petals.  In the UK these cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:

Syringa vulgaris (lilac or common lilac) is a species of flowering plant in the olive family Oleaceae, native to the Balkan Peninsula, where it grows on rocky hills. Grown for its scented purple flowers in spring, this large shrub or small tree is widely cultivated and has been naturalized in parts of Europe and North America. It is not regarded as an aggressive species, found in the wild in widely scattered sites, usually in the vicinity of past or present human habitations.


Early life.

Garth was born in Urbana, Illinois, to John and Carolyn Garth. The youngest of seven children (though their only child together), Garth spent much of her youth on a 25-acre horse ranch between Sadorus and Arcola, Illinois. For a time the family stayed in Tuscola, Illinois; but eventually they settled in Glendale, Arizona, when Garth was around 13 years old. She studied dance and modeled, and was soon discovered at a local talent competition by Randy James, Hollywood scout and manager. She attended Greenway High School as a freshman and transferred to Apollo High School in her sophomore year. Determined to become an actress, Garth would receive audition materials from Los Angeles that she would work on with Jean Fowler, a local acting coach. She left school during her junior year to work in Los Angeles with James and would later obtain her high school diploma in California.

Career.

In 1990, she landed the role of Kelly Taylor in the series "Beverly Hills, 90210". Throughout the series, Garth's character went through several trials and tribulations, and dealt with difficult issues in her personal life and with her family. Garth appears in all ten seasons of the show. She directed two episodes which was the second most of any cast member. She won a Young Artist Award and was nominated for a Teen Choice Award for the role. She was also instrumental in launching the spin-offs "Melrose Place" and "90210", with the character of Kelly becoming a continuity icon by appearing in the most franchise episodes.  Her successful role on "Beverly Hills, 90210" opened the door to several lead roles in made-for-TV films in the 1990s, including "Danielle Steel's Star" (1993), "Without Consent" (1994), "Lies of the Heart: The Story of Laurie Kellogg" (1994), "Falling for You" (1995), and "An Unfinished Affair" (1996). She also had minor and supporting roles in the theatrical films "Telling You" (1998), "My Brother's War" (1997), and "Power 98" (1996).  Garth ranked No. 59 on the "FHM" 100 Sexiest Women of 2000, and #93 on the magazine's 100 Sexiest Women of 2001.  In 2002, Garth co-starred with Amanda Bynes in the WB sitcom "What I Like About You" as Valerie Tyler. She and Bynes appeared on the show for all four seasons. The show centered around the relationship of the Tyler sisters, along with their friendships and romances. In 2003, she starred in the television movies "The Last Cowboy" and the Christmas family drama "Secret Santa", playing a journalist. She and the cast of "Secret Santa" won the "2004 CAMIE Award".  In 2005, she voiced her "Beverly Hills, 90210" character Kelly Taylor, as well as an additional role in the DVD Film "". The ensemble cast included Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Mila Kunis, and Drew Barrymore. Garth also starred in the TV teen drama film "Girl, Positive" (2007), playing a teacher who was HIV positive. She and co-star Andrea Bowen (known for the series "Desperate Housewives") each won a Prism Award for their performances. In 2007, Garth appeared on "Dancing with the Stars": season five and was paired with Derek Hough. They reached the semi-finals in the competition.  In September 2008, Garth returned to the role of Kelly Taylor on the series premiere of The CW's spin-off series "90210". In the new series, Garth's character, Kelly Taylor, is a Guidance Counselor at the fictional West Beverly High, where her half-sister Erin Silver attends. Kelly was reintroduced with a four-year-old son, whose father is ex-boyfriend Dylan McKay. The writers were eager to have her share scenes with former "Beverly Hills, 90210" co-star Shannen Doherty, who reprised her role of Brenda Walsh. Tori Spelling, who played Donna Martin in the original series, later joined the spinoff in a recurring role as well. Garth also reprised the role in season two.  On November 21, 2008, Garth appeared on the game show "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?". She won $100,000 for her charity, the American Heart Association, for which she is spokeswoman for its "Go Red for Women" campaign. This TV show also noted that Garth owns a horse ranch in Santa Barbara, California. In 2009, she played the role of Natasha in Candace Bushnell's Web series of "The Boardroom". She also appeared in a cameo role on the December 7 episode of the children's television show "Sesame Street", entitled "Mary Mary Quite Contrary". In January 2010, Garth starred in an iVillage web series created by NBC Universal, "Garden Party", about farm life, fresh produce and healthy eating. On February 18, 2014, it was announced that production had started on "The Jennie Garth Project", a ten-episode reality television series that will air on HGTV. It chronicles Garth as she renovates a home in Hollywood Hills, California for herself and her three children.  On May 3, 2017, Garth launched MomGiftBox.com, "an online subscription box of products to indulge, inspire and pamper moms with every purchase benefiting a charity." Garth collaborated with Dune Jewelry and launched Travelling Heart Collection in February 2018

Other ventures.

In 1993, she released a workout video titled "Body In Progress". She has appeared in infomercials for Keurig Vue beverage brewer and Wen healthy hair care system, and commercials for migraine headaches and RAINN Crisis hotline. In 2004, she appeared in a print ad for Wish-Bone salad dressings as part of their $25,000 Kitchen Makeover contest. In 2012, she appeared in a television commercial for clothing retailer Old Navy with "Beverly Hills, 90210" co-stars Luke Perry and Jason Priestley. She has graced the cover of numerous magazines, including "Veronica", "TV Guide", "Woman's World", "Health", "Entertainment Weekly", "Cookie", "Sassy", "Soap Opera Digest" and "People".

Personal life.

Garth was married to musician Daniel B. Clark from 1994 to 1996.  In 1995, Garth met her second husband, actor Peter Facinelli, while filming the movie "An Unfinished Affair". Garth and Facinelli married on January 20, 2001, in a traditional Roman Catholic wedding mass. They have three daughters; Luca Bella (b. 1997), Lola Ray (b. 2002), and Fiona Eve (b. 2006). In March 2012, Facinelli filed for divorce. The divorce was finalized in June 2013. Although there was no requirement to do so, Garth had converted to Catholicism when she married Facinelli.  Garth subsequently began dating actor David Abrams in the fall of 2014 after they met on a blind date, and they became engaged in April 2015. They married on July 11, 2015. Garth and Abrams separated in 2017. In April 2018, the couple filed for divorce. In February 2019 the couple appeared to have reconciled with Abrams filing a petition to dismiss the divorce proceedings.  In 2002, Garth was diagnosed with a leaky heart valve, a condition she stated would require monitoring for the rest of her life. She revealed the diagnosis in 2009. "Down the road it’s something that could get more complicated or it could not," she commented. "People have had valve replacements and that kind of thing... but I’m prepared, that’s the key."

"Dancing with the Stars" performances.

In 2007, Garth appeared on season five of "Dancing with the Stars" and was paired with Derek Hough. They reached the semi-finals in the competition.

Jennifer Eve Garth (born April 3, 1972) is an American actress. She is known for starring as Kelly Taylor throughout the "Beverly Hills, 90210" franchise (1990–2000) and Val Tyler on the sitcom "What I Like About You" (2002–06). In 2012, she starred in her own reality show, "Jennie Garth: A Little Bit Country" on CMT.


Taxonomy.

The genus "Nothofagus" was first formally described in 1850 by Carl Ludwig Blume who published the description in his book "Museum botanicum Lugduno-Batavum, sive, Stirpium exoticarum novarum vel minus cognitarum ex vivis aut siccis brevis expositio et descriptio".  Four sub-genera are recognized, based on morphology and DNA analysis:

Species list.

The following is a list of species, hybrids and varieties accepted by the Plants of the World Online as at April 2020:  In 2013, Peter Brian Heenan and Rob D. Smissen proposed splitting the genus into four, turning the four recognized subgenera into the new genera "Fuscospora", "Lophozonia" and "Trisyngyne", with the five South American species of subgenus "Nothofagus" remaining in genus "Nothofagus". The proposed new genera are not accepted at the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families.

Extinct species.

The following additional species are listed as extinct:

Distribution.

The pattern of distribution around the southern Pacific Rim suggests the dissemination of the genus dates to the time when Antarctica, Australia, and South America were connected in a common land-mass or supercontinent referred to as Gondwana. However, genetic evidence using molecular dating methods has been used to argue that the species in New Zealand and New Caledonia evolved from species that arrived in these landmasses by dispersal across oceans. Uncertainty exists in molecular dates and controversy rages as to whether the distribution of "Nothofagus" derives from the break-up of Gondwana (i.e. vicariance), or if long-distance dispersal has occurred across oceans. In South America, the northern limit of the genus can be construed as La Campana National Park and the Vizcachas Mountains in the central part of Chile.

Ecology.

The species of subgenus "Brassospora" are evergreen, and distributed in the tropics of New Guinea, New Britain, and New Caledonia. In New Guinea and New Britain "Nothofagus" is characteristic of lower montane rain forests between 1000 and 2500 meters elevation, occurring infrequently at elevations as low as 600 meters and in upper montane forests between 2500 and 3150 meters elevation. "Nothofagus" is most commonly found above the "Castanopsis-Lithocarpus" zone in the lower montane forests, and below the conifer-dominated upper montane forests. "Nothofagus" grows in mixed stands with trees of other species or in pure stands, particularly on ridge crests and upper slopes. The Central Range has the greatest diversity of species, with fewer species distributed among the mountains of western and northern New Guinea, New Britain, and Goodenough and Normanby islands.  The New Caledonian species are endemic to the main island (Grand Terre), most commonly on soils derived from ultramafic rocks between 150 to 1350 meters elevation. They occur in isolated stands, forming a low or stunted and irregular and fairly open canopy. The conifers "Agathis" and "Araucaria" are sometimes present as emergents, rising 10 to 20 meters above the "Nothofagus" canopy.

Beech mast.

Every four to six years or so, "Nothofagus" produces a heavier crop of seeds and is known as the beech mast. In New Zealand, the beech mast causes an increase in the population of introduced mammals such as mice, rats, and stoats. When the rodent population collapses, the stoats begin to prey on native bird species, many of which are threatened with extinction. This phenomenon is covered in more detail in the article on stoats in New Zealand.

Nothofagus, also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and New Caledonia). The species are ecological dominants in many temperate forests in these regions. Some species are reportedly naturalised in Germany and Great Britain. The genus has a rich fossil record of leaves, cupules, and pollen, with fossils extending into the late Cretaceous period and occurring in Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, and South America. In the past, they were included in the family Fagaceae, but genetic tests revealed them to be genetically distinct, and they are now included in their own family, the Nothofagaceae.


Background and education.

He was a son of Lord Augustus FitzRoy, a Captain in the Royal Navy, and Elizabeth Cosby, daughter of Colonel William Cosby, who served as a colonial Governor of New York. His father was the third son of the 2nd Duke of Grafton and Lady Henrietta Somerset, which made FitzRoy a great-grandson of both the 1st Duke of Grafton and the Marquess of Worcester. He was notably a fourth-generation descendant of King Charles II and the 1st Duchess of Cleveland; the surname FitzRoy stems from this illegitimacy. His younger brother was the 1st Baron Southampton. From the death of his uncle in 1747, he was styled Earl of Euston as his grandfather's heir apparent. Lord Euston was educated at Newcome's School in Hackney and at Westminster School, made the Grand Tour, and obtained a degree at Peterhouse, University of Cambridge.

Political career.

In 1756, he entered Parliament as MP for Boroughbridge, a pocket borough; several months later, he switched constituencies to Bury St Edmunds, which was controlled by his family. However, a year later, his grandfather died and he succeeded as 3rd Duke of Grafton, which elevated him to the House of Lords.  He first became known in politics as an opponent of Lord Bute, a favourite of King George III. Grafton aligned himself with the Duke of Newcastle against Lord Bute, whose term as Prime Minister was short-lived largely because it was felt that the peace terms to which he had agreed at the Treaty of Paris were not a sufficient return for Britain's performance in the Seven Years' War.  In 1765, Grafton was appointed a Privy Counsellor; then, following discussions with William Pitt the Elder, he was appointed Northern Secretary in Lord Rockingham's first government. However, he retired the following year, and Pitt (by then Lord Chatham) formed a ministry in which Grafton was First Lord of the Treasury but not Prime Minister.  Chatham's illness, at the end of 1767, resulted in Grafton becoming the Government's effective leader (he is credited with entering the office of Prime Minister in 1768), but political differences, the impact of the Corsican Crisis and the attacks of "Junius" led to his resignation in January 1770. Also, in 1768, Grafton became Chancellor of Cambridge University. He became Lord Privy Seal in Lord North's ministry (1771) but resigned in 1775, being in favour of conciliatory action towards the American colonists. In the second Rockingham ministry of 1782, he was again Lord Privy Seal and continued in post in the following Shelburne ministry until March 1783.

Religious interests.

In later years he was a prominent Unitarian, being one of the early members of the inaugural Essex Street Chapel under Rev. Theophilus Lindsey when founded in 1774. Grafton had associated with a number of liberal Anglican theologians when at Cambridge, devoted much time to theological study and writing after leaving office as Prime Minister. In 1773 in the House of Lords he supported a bill to release Anglican clergy from subscribing to all the Thirty-nine Articles. He became an advocate of moral reformation among the upper classes and of liturgical reform. He was author of:  He was a sponsor of Richard Watson's "Consideration of the Expediency of Revising the Liturgy and Article of the Church of England" (published 1790) and he funded the printing of 700 copies of Griesbach's edition of the Greek New Testament in 1796.

Horseracing.

The Duke also had horse racing interests. His racing silks were sky blue, with a black cap.

Legacy.

Grafton County, New Hampshire, in the United States, is named in his honour, as are the towns of Grafton, New South Wales, Australia, the town of Grafton, New York, the unincorporated community of Grafton, Virginia, and possibly the township (since 1856 a city) of Grafton, West Virginia. The Grafton Centre Shopping Mall in Cambridge is also named after him, and indeed lies on Fitzroy Street. Cape Grafton in Far North Queensland was named after him by Lieutenant James Cook during his first voyage of discovery.  Grafton had the longest post-premiership of any prime minister in British history, totalling 41 years and 45 days.

Family.

On 29 January 1756, he married The Hon. Anne Liddell, daughter of Henry Liddell, 4th Baronet Ravensworth (1708–1784). They had three children:  In 1764, the Duke had a very public affair with the courtesan Nancy Parsons whom he kept at his town house and took to the opera. This brazen lack of convention offended society's standards. After the Duchess had become pregnant by her lover, the Earl of Upper Ossory, she and the Duke were divorced by Act of Parliament, passed 23 March 1769. Three months later, on 24 June 1769, the Duke married Elizabeth Wrottesley (1 November 174525 May 1822), daughter of the Reverend Sir Richard Wrottesley, Dean of Worcester. They had the following children:  Grafton was thus the first British Prime Minister, before Sir Anthony Eden, to be divorced and the second, after Sir Robert Walpole, to marry while in office. Grafton would be the only Prime Minister to divorce and remarry whilst in office until 2020.

Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, (28 September 173514 March 1811), styled Earl of Euston between 1747 and 1757, was a British Whig statesman of the Georgian era. He is one of a handful of dukes who have served as Prime Minister.


Synthesis.

About 20M kg/y are produced industrially as both a by-product of and precursor to the manufacture of Teflon. It is produced by reaction of chloroform with HF:  It is also generated biologically in small amounts apparently by decarboxylation of trifluoroacetic acid.

Historical.

Fluoroform was first obtained by Maurice Meslans in the violent reaction of iodoform with dry silver fluoride in 1894. The reaction was improved by Otto Ruff by substitution of silver fluoride by a mixture of mercury fluoride and calcium fluoride. The exchange reaction works with iodoform and bromoform, and the exchange of the first two halogen atoms by fluorine is vigorous. By changing to a two step process, first forming a bromodifluoro methane in the reaction of antimony trifluoride with bromoform and finishing the reaction with mercury fluoride the first efficient synthesis method was found by Henne.

Industrial applications.

CHF is used in the semiconductor industry in plasma etching of silicon oxide and silicon nitride. Known as R-23 or HFC-23, it was also a useful refrigerant, sometimes as a replacement for chlorotrifluoromethane (cfc-13) and is a byproduct of its manufacture.  When used as a fire suppressant, the fluoroform carries the DuPont trade name, FE-13. CHF is recommended for this application because of its low toxicity, its low reactivity, and its high density. HFC-23 has been used in the past as a replacement for Halon 1301[cfc-13b1] in fire suppression systems as a total flooding gaseous fire suppression agent.

Organic chemistry.

Fluoroform is weakly acidic with a pK = 25–28 and quite inert. Attempted deprotonation results in defluorination to generate F and difluorocarbene (CF). Some organocopper and organocadmium compounds have been developed as trifluoromethylation reagents.  Fluoroform is a precursor of Ruppert's reagent CFSi(CH), which is a source of the nucleophilic CF anion.

Greenhouse gas.

CHF is a potent greenhouse gas. A ton of HFC-23 in the atmosphere has the same effect as 11,700 tons of carbon dioxide. This equivalency, also called a 100-yr global warming potential, is slightly larger at 14,800 for HFC-23. The atmospheric lifetime is 270 years.  HFC-23 was the most abundant HFC in the global atmosphere until around 2001, which is when the global mean concentration of HFC-134a (1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane), the chemical now used extensively in automobile air conditioners, surpassed those of HFC-23. Global emissions of HFC-23 have in the past been dominated by the inadvertent production and release during the manufacture of the refrigerant HCFC-22 (chlorodifluoromethane).  Substantial decreases are evident in developed or Annex 1 countries HFC-23 emissions from the 1990s to the 2000s (UNFCCC greenhouse gas emissions databases). The UNFCCC Clean Development Mechanism projects have provided funding and facilitated the destruction of HFC-23 co-produced from a portion of HCFC-22 produced in developing or non-Annex 1 countries since 2003. Developing countries have become the largest producers of HCFC-22 in recent years according to data compiled by the Ozone Secretariat of the World Meteorological Organization. Emissions of all HFCs are included in the UNFCCCs Kyoto Protocol. To mitigate its impact, CHF can be destroyed with electric plasma arc technologies or by high temperature incineration.

Fluoroform is the chemical compound with the formula CHF. It is one of the "haloforms", a class of compounds with the formula CHX (X = halogen) with C symmetry. Fluoroform is used in diverse applications in organic synthesis. It is not an ozone depleter but is a greenhouse gas.


Reception.

Early.

"The Romance of the Rose" was both popular and controversial. One of the most widely read works in France for three centuries, it was possibly the most read book in Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries. Its emphasis on sensual language and imagery provoked attacks by Jean Gerson, Christine de Pizan and many other writers and moralists of the 14th and 15th centuries. Historian Johan Huizinga writes: "It is astonishing that the Church, which so rigorously repressed the slightest deviations from dogma of a speculative character, suffered the teaching of this breviary of the aristocracy (for the "Roman de la Rose" was nothing else) to be disseminated with impunity."

Modern.

Later reactions suggested that it had a tenuous encyclopedic quality. The nineteenth-century scholar and writer Gaston Paris wrote that it was "an encyclopedia in disorder" and British author C. S. Lewis described it as having an "encyclopedic character". One historian wrote that while the "Roman de la Rose" is obviously not an encyclopedia, "it evokes one, represents one, dreams one, perhaps, with all its aspirations and limitations".

Manuscripts and incunabula.

About 300 manuscripts are extant, one of the highest figures for a secular work. Many of these are illustrated, most with fewer than ten remaining illustrations, but there are a number with twenty or more illustrations, and the exceptional Burgundian British Library Harley MS 4425 has 92 large and high quality miniatures, despite a date around 1500; the text was copied by hand from a printed edition. These are by the artist known as the Master of the Prayer Books of around 1500, commissioned by Count Engelbert II of Nassau. The peak period of production was the 14th century, but manuscript versions continued to be produced until the advent of printing, and indeed afterwards – there are at least seven manuscripts dated after 1500. There are also seven incunabula printed editions before 1500, the first from Geneva in about 1481, followed by two from Lyons in the 1480s and four from Paris in the 1490s. An edition from Lyons in 1503 is illustrated with 140 woodcuts. Digital images of more than 140 of these manuscripts are available for study in the "Roman de la Rose" Digital Library.

Translation and influence.

Part of the story was translated from its original Old French into Middle English as "The Romaunt of the Rose", which had a great influence on English literature. Chaucer was familiar with the original French text, and a portion of the Middle English translation is thought to be his work. Critics suggest that the character of "La Vieille" acted as source material for Chaucer's Wife of Bath. There were several other early translations into languages including Middle Dutch (Heinrik van Aken, c. 1280). "Il Fiore" is a "reduction" of the poem into 232 Italian sonnets by a "ser Durante", sometimes thought to have been Dante, although this is generally thought unlikely. Dante never mentions the "Roman", but is often said to have been highly conscious of it in his own work. In 1900, the pre-Raphaelite F. S. Ellis translated the whole of the poem into English verse, with the exception of a section describing a sexual encounter, which he included in an appendix in Old French with the note that he "believes that those who will read them will allow that he is justified in leaving them in the obscurity of the original". C. S. Lewis's 1936 study "The Allegory of Love" renewed interest in the poem.

Le Roman de la Rose (The Romance of the Rose) is a medieval poem in Old French, styled as an allegorical dream vision. As poetry, "The Romance of the Rose" is a notable instance of courtly literature meant to entertain and to teach about the art of romantic love. Throughout the narrative, the word "Rose" is used both as the name of the titular lady and as an abstract symbol of female sexuality. The names of the other characters function both as personal names and as metonyms illustrating the different factors that lead to and constitute a love affair.


Early life.

Roberto Burle Marx was born in São Paulo. He was the fourth son of Rebecca Cecília Burle, a member of the traditional Pernambuco family of French ancestry, Burle Dubeux, and Wilhelm Marx, a German Jew born in Stuttgart and raised in Trier. The family moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1913.  Burle Marx's first landscaping inspirations came while studying painting in Germany, where he often visited the Botanical Garden in Berlin and first learned about Brazil's native flora. Upon returning to Brazil in 1930, he began collecting plants in and around his home. He went to school at the National School of Fine Arts in Rio in 1930 where he focused on visual arts under Leo Putz and Candido Portinari. While in school he associated with several of Brazil's future leaders in architecture and botanists who continued to be of significant influence in his personal and professional life. One of these was his professor, Brazilian Modernism's Lucio Costa, the architect and planner who lived down the street from Burle.

Career.

In 1932, Burle Marx designed his first landscape for a private residence by the architects Lucio Costa and Gregori Warchavchik. This project, the Schwartz house was the beginning of a collaboration with Costa which was enriched later by Oscar Niemeyer who designed the Brazilian Pavilion at the New York World's Fair in 1939. Niemeyer also designed the Pampulha complex in 1942 for which Marx designed gardens. His first garden design was completed in 1933. In 1937, Burle Marx gained international recognition and admiration for this abstract design of a roof garden for the Ministry of Education building. The design highlighted elements of tension and drama.  In 1949 he acquired the Sítio de Santo Antonio da Bica, a 365,000m2 estate in the Barra de Guaratiba neighborhood on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Burle Marx began taking expeditions into the Brazilian rain forest with botanists, landscape architects, architects and other researchers to gather plant specimens. He learned to practice studying plants in situ from the botanist Henrique Lahmeyer de Mello Barreto and established his garden, nursery and tropical plant collection at Guaratiba. This property was donated to the Brazilian government in 1985 and became a national monument. Now called Sítio Roberto Burle Marx, under the direction of IPHAN-Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional / Ministério da Cultura, it houses over 3,500 species of plants. The house was rebuilt in a valley on the site of a garden house belonging to the original plantation estate.  Roberto Burle Marx founded a landscape studio in 1955 and in the same year he founded a landscape company, called Burle Marx & Cia. Ltda. He opened an office in Caracas, Venezuela in 1956 and started working with architects Jose Tabacow and Haruyoshi Ono in 1968. Marx worked on commissions thorough out Brazil, Argentina, in Chile and many other South American countries, France, South Africa, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles. Additionally his artwork can be found displayed throughout the city of Rio de Janeiro "it is an open-air museum of works displaying his unmistakable style, one wholly his own" (Montero 2001 p. 29). Roberto Burle Marx's 62-year career ended when he died June 4, 1994 two months before his 85th birthday.  He spent time in the Brazilian forests where he was able to study and explore. Burle Marx was one of the first Brazilians to speak out against deforestation. This enabled him to add significantly to the botanical sciences, by discovering new rocks and plants for example. At least 50 plants bear his name. Marx was also involved in efforts to protect and conserve the rain forest from the destructive commercial activities of deforestation for bananas and other crops and clear cutting of timber.

Style.

Burle Marx's artistic style was avant-garde and modern. Much of his work has a sense of timelessness and perfection. He explored an anti-mimitec and skeptical aesthetic developed from modernism with a distinctly Brazilian style. His designs were also influenced by cubism and abstractionism. Another strong influence was Brazilian folk art.  His aesthetics were often nature based, for example, never mixing flower colours, utilisation of big groups of the same specimen, using native plants and making a rocky field into a relaxing garden. He was very interested in each plant's character and what effect that has on the whole garden. He sought a depth in his designs by understanding how animals interacted with plants and how they bloomed, amongst other plant characteristics. Burle Marx had a great skill in utilising the sculptural form of plants. Burle Marx was mindful of the dynamic of walking through a garden. The sensation of mobility is an important element of experiencing his landscapes. He also made clever use of enormous scale, lighting and reflection particularly in his use of water. Burle Marx was able to extend the architecture of a building into the garden. He preferred to work on public spaces because, in his words, they are able to provide dignity for the masses.  Marx's work "can be summarized in four general design concepts—the use of native tropical vegetation as a structural element of design, the rupture of symmetrical patterns in the conception of open spaces, the colorful treatment of pavements, and the use of free forms in water features" (Vaccarino 2000, p. 17). This approach is exemplified by the Copacabana Beach promenade, where native sea breeze resistant trees and palms appear in groupings along Avenida Atlantica. These groupings punctuate Portuguese stone mosaics which form a giant abstract painting where no section along the promenade is the same. This "painting" is viewed from the balconies of hotels, and offers an ever-changing view for those driving along the beach. The mosaics continue the entire two and a half-mile distance of the beach. The water feature, in this case, is of course the ocean and beach, which is bordered by a 30-foot wide continuous scallop patterned mosaic walk (Eliovson 1991; Montero 2001). Copacabana Beach is "the most famous in Brazil" (Eliovson 1991 p. 103).

Awards.

Roberto Burle Marx has received the following prizes, diplomas of merit and honorary memberships: The landscape architecture prize at the 2nd International Exhibition of Architecture (1953), title of Knight of the Order of the Crown from Belgium (1959), Diploma d’Honneur in Paris (1959), the Santos Dumont Medal of the Brazilian Government (1963), the Fine Arts Medal of The American Institute of Architects in Washington (1965), doctor of the Royal College of Art, London (1982) and an honorary doctorate from the Queen of the Netherlands. The Missouri Botanical Garden awarded him the Greensfelder Award and the Kentucky Botanic Garden proclaimed October 14, 1985 in his honor (Eliovson 1991).

Roberto Burle Marx (August 4, 1909 – June 4, 1994) was a Brazilian landscape architect (as well as a painter, print maker, ecologist, naturalist, artist and musician) whose designs of parks and gardens made him world-famous. He is accredited with having introduced modernist landscape architecture to Brazil. He was known as a modern nature artist and a public urban space designer. His work had a great influence on tropical garden design in the 20th century. Water gardens were a popular theme in his work. He was deftly able to transfer traditional artistic expressions such as graphic design, tapestry and folk art into his landscape designs. He also designed fabrics, jewellery and stage sets.


Life.

Born in Milan, the capital of the Austrian Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, he was a son of Viceroy Archduke Rainer of Austria (1783–1853) and his consort Princess Elisabeth of Savoy (1800–1856). Rainer spent most of his youth at the Royal Villa of Monza. He studied law at the University of Vienna and in 1843 joined the Austrian Imperial Army in the rank of an "Oberst" (Colonel).  In 1852, he married his cousin Archduchess Maria Karoline of Austria (1825–1915), a daughter of Archduke Charles, known for his victory at the 1809 Battle of Aspern. The marriage was a very happy one, and, with numerous public appearances and charitable activities, the couple was probably the most popular amongst the Habsburg family. The lavish celebration of their diamond wedding in 1912 was rated as one of the last great events of the dissolving Austro-Hungarian Monarchy before World War I. However, the marriage remained childless.  In 1854, Rainer achieved the rank of "Generalmajor" in the Imperial Army and in 1861 was raised to "Feldmarschall-Leutnant" (Field marshal lieutenant). Beside his military career, he was also interested in art and science, in particular the emerging Papyrology. In 1899 he donated his extensive Faiyum papyrus collection to the Austrian National Library, part of the UNESCO Memory of the World Register since 2001.  Already in 1857, Archduke Rainer was appointed president of the Austrian Imperial Council by Emperor Francis Joseph I. In the course of the implementation of the 1861 February Patent constitution, he took up office as nominal Minister-President chairing the liberal cabinet of State Minister Anton von Schmerling.

Archduke Rainer Ferdinand Maria Johann Evangelist Franz Ignaz of Austria (11 January 1827 – 27 January 1913), a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine and nephew of Emperor Francis II, was an Austrian politician who served as Minister-President of Austria from 1861 to 1865.


History.

Wisła Kraków was founded in 1906 when students of the Second Practical School in Kraków, inspired by their professor Tadeusz Łopuszański, formed a football club.  In this first, historic season of the League, the fight for the championship was decided between two teams: Wisła Kraków and 1. FC Katowice. This rivalry was treated very seriously, not only by the two sides involved, but also by the whole nation. 1. FC was regarded as the team supported by the German minority, while Wisła, at the end of this historic season, represented ambitions of all Poles. Some time in the fall of 1927 in Katowice, an ill-fated game between 1.FC and Wisła took place. Stakes were very high – the winner would become the Champion. Kraków's side won 2–0 and became the Champion. 1.FC finished second, third was Warta Poznań.  In 1949, the club was renamed to Gwardia-Wisła Kraków. In 1955 the club returned to its original name, TS Wisła. In 1967, the club was once again renamed, to GTS Wisła, a name which held until 1990 when the club reverted to its original name, TS Wisła. In the late 1990s, the football section of the club was incorporated and was renamed Wisła Kraków SSA.  The club has had its ups and downs, winning national championships and earning European qualification. It was also relegated to the second division on three occasions. Since the football section has been bought by Tele-Fonika Kable S.A. in 1998, the team has been far and away the most successful club in Poland, winning seven national championships and finishing in second place three times, totalling ten top two finishes in 12 years.  At international level, Wisła has competed in all three of the European competitions. The club's greatest success came in the 1978–79 season, when Wisła was able to reach the quarter-finals of the European Cup, eventually to be knocked out by Malmö FF 3–5 on aggregate. Most recently, Wisła narrowly missed out on a chance to compete in the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League group stage, being defeated 4–5 by Panathinaikos after extra time.  Wisła also twice reached the second round of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1967–68 and 1984–85, falling 0–5 and 2–3 by Hamburger SV and Fortuna Sittard respectively.  "The White Star" has competed in the UEFA Cup ten times.

Stadium.

Wisła's Stadium is located at 22 Reymonta Street in Kraków. The stadium was originally built in 1953 and currently has a capacity of 33,326. The stadium was renovated in 2010, being upgraded to UEFA elite standards. The Wisła Stadium has also been chosen as a reserve venue for the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament, jointly held in Poland and Ukraine. The record attendance of 45,000 at Wisła Stadium came on 29 September 1976 when Wisła defeated Celtic 2–0. The venue has been a fortress for Wisła, where the team is especially difficult to defeat. It is worth noting that Wisła holds the all-time European football record for consecutive home games without a loss. The streak began following a loss on 16 September 2001 to KSZO Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, and ended more than five years later on 11 November 2006, when GKS Bełchatów defeated Wisła 4–2. The number of matches without a loss was then settled at 73, overcoming the former Polish record of 48 which belonged to Legia Warsaw. During the 2008–09 season, Wisła lost points at home only twice, drawing with ŁKS Łódź and being defeated by Lech Poznań.

Supporters and rivalries.

Fan Friendlies.

Wisła fans formerly had relations with Lechia Gdańsk and Śląsk Wrocław until 2016, when their alliance fell apart. They formed a new group with Ruch Chorzów and Widzew Łódź which divided Wisła fans. The club also has relations with Italian side Lazio, and formerly held relations with Unia Tarnów.

The Holy War.

The term "Holy War" refers to the intense rivalry between the two Kraków-based teams; Wisła and KS Cracovia. In 1906, the establishment of the two first Polish football clubs, Cracovia and Wisła, created a rivalry that now dates back more than 100 years. The term "Holy War" was first used to describe the rivalry of Kraków's Jewish teams, Makkabi and Jutrzenka. A Jutrzenka defender, Ludwik Gintel, who later joined the Cracovia side referred to the derby match against Wisła as the "Holy War". The phrase was incorporated into a song and has since been popular amongst both Wisła and Cracovia fans.  The first recorded Kraków Derby was contested on 20 September 1908, a 1–1 draw. A historic derby match between Cracovia and Wisła occurred on 8 May 1913. It was the first time Polish teams played a championship game officially sanctioned by FIFA; Cracovia won 2–1. The most famous derby took place in 1948 when after the first post-war season, both Cracovia and Wisła accumulated an even number of points and the championship had to be decided by an additional game played at a neutral venue. On 5 December 1948, Cracovia defeated Wisła 3–1 and was crowned national champions. As of May 2011, the Kraków derby game between Wisła and Cracovia has been contested 183 times, with Wisła winning 82 times, tying 42 times and Cracovia winning 59 times.

Poland's Derby.

The match contested between Wisła Kraków and Legia Warsaw is commonly recognized as the greatest rivalry in Polish club football. The two sides have been the most successful clubs in Poland during the past decade and the rivalry between two of Poland's premier cities of Kraków and Warsaw sparks the rivalry even more. The regional differences of Kraków (South) and Warsaw (North), and the fact that Kraków used to be the capital of Poland before Warsaw (in the years 1041–1596) and the full official name of Kraków is Stołeczne Królewskie Miasto Kraków, or "Royal Capital City of Kraków" in English, also add a greater meaning to the match.

Additional teams.

In addition to the professional team, Wisła Kraków plays also in the Polish Junior league and has a reserve team.

Records.

Team records Records individual

UEFA Ranking.

Club Ranking for 2014 (Previous year rank in italics, UEFA Club Coefficients in parentheses)

Notable players.

Had international caps for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Wisła.

Wisła Kraków () is a Polish football club based in Kraków. Wisła play in the Ekstraklasa, the top level of the Polish football league system. Wisła is one of the oldest and most successful Polish football clubs. It ranks third in the number of national titles won (13), behind Górnik Zabrze and Ruch Chorzów (14), and second in all-time victories. Wisła was founded in 1906 under the name TS Wisła (Polish Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła).


Early years.

Marshak was born to a Jewish family on 3 November 1887 in Voronezh. His father was a foreman at a soap-making plant. He had a good home education and later studied at the gymnasium (secondary school) of Ostrogozhsk, a suburb of Voronezh. He started to write poetry during his childhood years in Voronezh. His brother Ilya (who wrote under the pseudonym M. Ilin) (1896—1953) and sister Liya (who wrote as Elena Ilina) (1901—1964) also both became Soviet authors.  In 1902, the Marshak family moved to Saint Petersburg. There was a complication: as a Jew, Marshak could not legally live outside the Pale of Settlement, thus he could not attend school while living in the city. Philanthropist and scholar Baron David Gunzburg took an interest in Marshak and introduced him to the influential critic Vladimir Stasov. Stasov was so impressed by the schoolboy's literary talent that he arranged an exception from the Pale laws for Samuil and his family. He also introduced Marshak to Maxim Gorky and Feodor Chaliapin.  In 1904, Samuil was diagnosed with tuberculosis and could no longer continue to live in the cold climate of Saint Petersburg. Maxim Gorky arranged for Samuil to live with his family in the Black Sea resort town of Yalta (1904–1907). Gorky and Chaliapin also paid for his education and therapy. However, he spent much of this period in Kerch, living with the Fremerman family.

Young poet, philosopher and translator.

In 1904, he published his first works in the magazine "Jewish Life" and in the mid- to late 1900s, Marshak created a body of Zionist verse, some of which appeared in such periodicals as "Young Judea". In 1907 he returned to Saint Petersburg and subsequently published numerous works in the popular magazine "Satyricon".  Marshak failed to gain admission at a university in Russia due to 'political insecurity' and earned his living giving lessons and writing for magazines. From his first trip to the Middle East he brought back many impressions, poems and a beautiful wife.  In 1912 he moved to England and studied philosophy at the University of London. He fell in love with English culture and with poetry written in English. In his senior year at the University he published his translations of the poems written by William Blake, Robert Burns and William Wordsworth, published in Russia. His 1913 visit to an experimental "free" school in Wales (led by the Tolstoyan Philip Oyler) is noted as the event that sparked his professional interest in children.  Shortly before World War I, in 1914, he returned to Russia and devoted himself to translation.

Children's poetry.

In 1914 Marshak and his wife worked with children of Jewish refugees in Voronezh. The death of Marshak's young daughter in 1915 directed him toward children's literature. In 1920 he moved to Ekaterinodar (now Krasnodar) to head the province's orphanages and it was there that he and a group of enthusiasts, including Elena Vasilieva, organized "Children's town" that included a children's theater, library, and studios. For this theater, he co-wrote plays that later became the book "Theater for Children".  In 1922, Marshak moved back to what was then Petrograd to become the head of the Children's Literature Studio. He published the following works at the publishing house "Радуга" ("Rainbow"): "Детки в клетке" ("Kids in a cage"), "Пожар" ("Fire") 1923, "Сказка о глупом мышонке" ("The Tale of a Silly Mouse"), "Синяя птица" ("Blue bird"), "Цирк" ("Circus"), "Мороженое" ("Ice Cream"), "Вчера и сегодня»" ("Yesterday and today") 1925, "Багаж" ("Luggage") 1926, "Пудель" ("Poodle"), "Почта" ("Post Office") 1927, and "Вот какой рассеянный" ("What an absent-minded guy") 1930.  Marshak had a prolific career in children's literature. Soviet critic Viktor Shklovsky wrote that "Samuil Marshak understood that many new writers would appear in the new Soviet republic. He stood at the door of literature, a benevolent angel, armed not with a sword or with a pencil, but with words on work and inspiration." Marshak's contributions to the field of children's literature was not just limited to his own writings. In 1924, he became the head of the children's branch of the state publishing house Gosizdat (GIZ), a position he held for over a decade. Through his role as editor, Marshak attracted some of Russia's best writers to try their hand at writing for children, including Evgeniy Shvarts and OBERIU member Daniil Kharms.

Translations.

Among his Russian translations there are William Shakespeare's sonnets and songs from Shakespeare's plays, "The Merry Wives of Windsor" (together with Mikhail Morozov, who translated prosaic scenes), poems of Robert Burns, William Blake, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, William Wordsworth, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Robert Louis Stevenson, W. B. Yeats, Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll, Rudyard Kipling, T. S. Eliot, A. A. Milne, English and Scottish folk ballads, poems from Nursery rhymes. Besides English poetry, he translated poems of Heinrich Heine, Sándor Petőfi, Gianni Rodari and Hovhannes Tumanyan.  His main work in this area is translation of Shakespeare's sonnets (1948). This translation has enjoyed great success over the years. Some Shakespeare sonnets in Marshak's translation have been set to music (in classical style by Dmitry Kabalevsky, in pop style by Tikhon Khrennikov, Mikael Tariverdiev, Alla Pugacheva and others, even in rock style — Kruiz). His translations are considered classics in Russia. But many of Marshak's poetic translations became so entrenched in Russian culture, that it was often quipped that he was not so much a translator as a co-author.

Later years.

In 1937 Marshak moved to Moscow, where he worked on children's books and translations. During World War II, he published satires against the Nazis. After the war he continued to publish children's books including: "Разноцветная книга" ("Multicolored book") 1948, "Круглый год" ("All year round") 1948, "Тихая сказка" ("A Quiet tale") 1956, etc.  In the last years of his life, he wrote aphoristic verses that he named "lyrical epigrams". They were published in his last book, "Selected Lyrics" (Избранная Лирика) in 1963. He also published three tale plays: "The Twelve Months" 1943, "Afraid of Troubles - Cannot Have Luck" 1962, and "Smart Things" 1964.  Although not widely known, in the Soviet era, Marshak was on a (political) razor's edge and barely escaped death in 1937. His name was often mentioned in the documents of the eliminated Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. However, the process of the committee ended in August 1952 (12 executed and 98 subjected to repression) and Marshak was not accused. In 1953 with the death of Josef Stalin and the onset of Khrushchev Thaw Marshak was out of danger. There is an opinion that Stalin's death saved Marshak from inevitable death in the period of the fight against cosmopolitism.  Samuil Marshak died on 4 July 1964 and was buried in Moscow.

Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak (alternative spelling: Samuil Yakovlevich Marchak) (; 4 July 1964) was a Russian and Soviet writer of Jewish origin, translator and poet who wrote for both children and adults. He translated the sonnets and some other of the works of William Shakespeare, English poetry (including poems for children), and poetry from other languages. Maxim Gorky proclaimed Marshak to be "the founder of Russia's (Soviet) children's literature."


Early life and education.

Christian Lindner was born in Wuppertal, Germany. His father Wolfgang Lindner is a teacher of mathematics and computer science at the "Städtisches Gymnasium" in Wermelskirchen.  After graduating from Gymnasium in 1998 and an alternative civilian service, Christian Lindner studied political science at the University of Bonn from 1999 to 2006.  After eleven semesters he acquired the academic degree of Master of Arts (MA). In his master's thesis at the Institute of Political Science, he dealt with the topic: "tax competition and revenue sharing. Can the financial constitution be reformed?". In 2006, he began writing his dissertation under supervision from political science professor Frank Decker, which he has so far not completed due to his political activities.  While studying Lindner undertook his National Service obligations as a reserve officer in the Air Force. In 2002, he was promoted to First lieutenant (Oberleutnant) in the Reserve. In 2008 he was a liaison officer to the state command Landeskommando of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Düsseldorf and since September 2011 he has held the rank of Captain (Hauptmann) in the Reserve.

Early political career.

Lindner joined the FDP in 1995. He has been a member of the Executive Board of the FDP in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 1998 and became Secretary General in 2004 (until February 2010). At the May 2000 election for the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia, the 21-year old Lindner was elected, becoming the youngest MP in the history of the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lindner was from 2000 initially'spokesman for Intergenerational Affairs, Family and Integration' and then from 2005 to 2009 was also vice chairman of the FDP parliamentary group in the parliament and spokesman for Innovation, Science and Technology. In 2007 he also became a member of the Executive Board of the FDP on federal level.  From 2009 Lindner served as a member of the German Bundestag. In the negotiations to form a coalition government following the 2009 federal elections, he was part of the FDP delegation in the working group on families, integration of immigrants and culture, led by Maria Böhmer and Hans-Joachim Otto.  From December 2009 until his surprise resignation in December 2011, Lindner was also Secretary General of the FDP on federal level, under the leadership of party chairman Philipp Rösler. His resignation was caused by an internal party vote which had been forced by a group centered around the Eurosceptic FDP parliamentarian Frank Schäffler to determine the FDP's future course on questions pertaining to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).  Lindner was later chosen to serve as Chairman of the NRW FDP in the 2012 state election of North Rhine-Westphalia, succeeding Daniel Bahr. In the election, the FDP received 8.6% of the vote, surpassing all expectations at the time. Following the party's victory at that election he was elected Parliamentary leader of the FDP in the NRW Landtag, succeeding Gerhard Papke on 15 May 2012. In March 2013, he was elected one of Rösler’s deputies, alongside Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger and Holger Zastrow.

FDP Chairman.

Linder was elected the new chairman of the FDP following the resignation of Chairman Philipp Rösler after the 2013 German federal elections in which the FDP failed to clear the 5% hurdle to enter the Bundestag for the first time since 1949.  Ahead of the 2014 European elections, Lindner and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte served as ‘mediators’ between Olli Rehn and Guy Verhofstadt, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe’s candidates for the presidency of the European Commission; eventually, the candidates agreed to jointly lead the ALDE’s campaign for elections, with Verhofstadt running to succeed José Manuel Barroso. At the time, Linder was widely regarded to support Rehn.  Lindner was a FDP delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2017, where he endorsed the government's candidate Frank-Walter Steinmeier. That same year, he led his party's successful campaign for the 2017 state elections of North Rhine-Westphalia, which resulted in the FDP joining the state government of incoming Minister-President Armin Laschet. Linder himself did not take a position in the new government because of his aim to lead the FDP back to the Bundestag in September 2017, which he achieved with a result of 10.7%. After that success he was elected leader of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag.  In October 2017, Angela Merkel's CDU and Katrin Göring-Eckardt's and Cem Özdemir's Greens started negotiations with the FDP to form a government, in which Lindner was widely seen as the future Minister of Finance, as the CDU had even nominated the former Minister Wolfgang Schäuble as President of the Bundestag to make place for the FDP. Such a coalition was the only realistic possibility to form a government (except for a Grand coalition) but had almost never been used before on any regional level in Germany. In November 2017, after midnight, Lindner and his party left the already prolonged negotiations after four unsuccessful weeks, which led to the longest government formation in German history and finally in March 2018 once more to a Grand Coalition with the SPD, which had previously rejected any participation in the new government.

Political positions.

Entrepreneurship.

In early 2015, an impassioned response to heckling by Lindner, defending entrepreneurs and startup culture made it onto newspaper front pages and became one of the most watched political speeches in months. Lindner was speaking before the state legislature in North Rhine-Westphalia about the importance of entrepreneurship and how failed entrepreneurs deserve a second chance when a Social Democratic member in the audience heckled: “That [failure] is something you have experience in.” That was a reference to an Internet company co-founded by Lindner that failed after the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s. Lindner responded with a finger-wagging, 21⁄2-minute tirade. “If one succeeds, one ends up in the sights of the Social Democratic redistribution machinery and, if one fails, one can be sure of derision and mockery,” he responded, also pointing out that this particular member preferred to have a secure job in public service for his entire life, rather than daring to found a company, and how the message of that heckling attempt was the total opposite of what had been announced just minutes earlier by the president of the state legislature (who happened to be an SPD member, just like the heckler).  "Bild", the highest-circulation daily newspaper in Germany, praised Lindner on its front page. The Berlin daily "Tagesspiegel" said the rant offered a welcome contrast to the “persistent fog of alternative-less Merkelism” that characterized debate in the Bundestag.

Financial policy.

Shortly after the 2017 elections, Lindner ruled out taking on new debt to manage the balancing act of cutting income taxes and increasing investment on digital infrastructure. He criticized outgoing Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble for not being tough enough on Greece and not cutting income taxes for middle-class workers.

Personal life.

In 2011, Lindner married journalist Dagmar Rosenfeld; they had started dating in 2009. On 19 April 2018 they announced their separation. In 2018 he started dating journalist Franca Lehfeldt.

Christian Wolfgang Lindner (born 7 January 1979) is a German politician, member of the Bundestag and leader of the liberal Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP).


Observance days.

Depending on the culture and time period, uposatha days have been observed from two to six days each lunar month.

Theravada countries.

In general, Uposatha is observed about once a week in Theravada countries in accordance with the four lunar phases: the new moon, the full moon, and the two quarter moons in between. In some communities, such as in Sri Lanka, only the new moon and full moon are observed as uposatha days.  In Burmese Buddhism, Uposatha (called "ubot nei") is observed by more pious Buddhists on the following days: waxing moon ( "la hsan"), full moon ( "la pyei nei"), waning moon ( "la hsote"), and new moon ( "la kwe nei"). The most common days of observance are the full moon and the new moon. In precolonial Burma, Uposatha was a legal holiday that was observed primarily in urban areas, where secular activities like business transactions came to a halt. However, since colonial rule, Sunday has replaced Uposatha as the legal day of rest. All major Burmese Buddhist holidays occur on Uposathas, namely Thingyan, the beginning of Vassa (beginning in the full moon of Waso, around July, to the full moon of Thadingyut, around October). During this period, Uposatha is more commonly observed by Buddhists than during the rest of the year. During Uposatha days, Buddhist monks at each monastery assemble and recite the patimokkha, a concise compilation of the Vinaya.

Mahayana countries.

In Mahayana countries that use the Chinese calendar, the Uposatha days are observed ten times a month, on the 1st, 8th, 14th, 15th, 18th, 23rd, 24th and final three days of each lunar month. Alternatively, one can only observe Uposatha days six times a month; on the 8th, 14th, 15th, 23rd and final two days of each lunar month. In Japan, these six days are known as the.

Names of Full Moon Uposatha Days.

The Pali names of the uposatha days are based on the Sanskrit names of the "nakśatra" (Pali: "nakkhatta"), the constellations or lunar mansions through which the moon passes within a lunar month.

History.

The word Uposatha derives from the Muluposatha Sutta (AN 3.70), in which a lay woman Visakha, goes to the Blessed One and says she is oberserving the Uposatha day. The Buddha replies that there are different Uposatha days, then proceeds to tell her the correct version of the Uposatha day. The Uposatha of the Noble Disciples.

Practice.

Lay practice.

On each uposatha day, devout Upāsaka and Upāsikā practice the Eight Precepts, perhaps echoing the Buddha's teaching that laypeople should "imitate" arhats on Uposatha days. The first five of the eight precepts are similar to the five precepts, that is, to refrain from killing living beings, stealing, wrong speech and to abstain from intoxicating drink or drugs, but the third precept is abstinence of all sexual activity instead of refraining from sexual offenses. The eight precepts are similar to the ten precepts observed by novice monks, except that the seventh and eighth precepts for the novices are combined, the ninth novice precept becomes the eighth, and the tenth novice precept (non-acceptance of gold and silver, use of money) is excluded as being impracticable for a lay person. Thus, the final three precepts are to abstain from eating at the wrong time (after midday); to abstain from entertainment such as dancing, singing, music, watching shows, as well as to abstain from wearing garlands, perfumes, cosmetics, and personal adornments; and to abstain from luxurious seats and beds.  For lay practitioners who live near a Buddhist temple, the "uposatha" is an opportunity for them to visit it, make offerings, listen to sermons by monks and participate in meditation sessions. For lay practitioners unable to participate in the events of a local monastery, the "uposatha" is a time to intensify one's own meditation and Dhamma practice, for instance, meditating an extra session or for a longer time, reading or chanting special Buddhist texts, recollecting or giving in some special way.  Presently, the "uposatha" vows are mostly associated with Theravāda Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia, but it was a widespread practice in China as well, and is still practiced.  The eight precepts are meant to give lay people an impression of what it means to live as a monastic, and the precepts "may function as the thin end of a wedge for attracting some to monastic life." The objective of the eight precepts is different from the five in that they are less moral in nature, but more focused on developing meditative concentration, and preventing distractions. Among the eight precepts, the third precept is about maintaining chastity. Buddhist tradition therefore requires lay people to be chaste on observance days, which is similar to the historical Indian tradition of being chaste on "parvan" days. As for the sixth rule, this means not having food after midday, in imitation of a nearly identical rule for monks. Fluids are allowed. Taiwanese physician Ming-Jun Hung and his co-authors have analyzed early and medieval Chinese Buddhist Texts and argue that the main purposes of the half-day fast is to lessen desire, improve fitness and strength, and decrease sleepiness. Historically, Chinese Buddhists have interpreted the eight precepts as including vegetarianism.  The seventh precept is sometimes also interpreted to mean not wearing colorful clothes, which has led to a tradition for people to wear plain white when observing the eight precepts. This does not necessarily mean, however, that a Buddhist devotee dressed in white is observing the eight precepts all the time. As for the eighth precept, not sitting or sleeping on luxurious seats or beds, this usually comes down to sleeping on a mat on the floor. Though not specified in the precepts themselves, in Thailand and China, people observing the precepts usually stay in the temple overnight. This is to prevent temptations at home which break the eight precepts, and helps foster the community effort in upholding the precepts.

Monastic practice.

On the new-moon and full-moon uposatha, in monasteries where there are four or more bhikkhus, the local Sangha will recite the Patimokkha. Before the recitation starts, the monks will confess any violations of the disciplinary rules to another monk or to the Sangha. Depending on the speed of the Patimokkha chanter (one of the monks), the recitation may take from 30 minutes to over an hour. Depending on the monastery, lay people may or may not be allowed to attend.

Communal reciprocity.

Describing his experience of Uposatha day in Thailand, Khantipalo (1982a) writes:

Special Uposatha days.

In Thailand five full-moon Uposatha days are of special significance and are called puja: is the most sacred Buddhist holiday. It is the anniversary of the Buddha's birth, awakening and parinibbana. Anniversary of the Buddha's delivering the "Anapanasati Sutta". This event is not connected to an Uposatha (Poya) day in Sri Lanka and perhaps is particular to Thailand. Anniversary of the assembling of 1250 monks in the Buddha's presence during which time he delivered the "Ovada-Patimokkha Gatha."  In Sri Lanka, three full moon Uposatha or Poya days are of special significance.  In Tibet and Bhutan, there are four full moon Uposatha days that are of importance  In China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam there are certain full moon Uposatha days of importance.

The Uposatha () is a Buddhist day of observance, in existence from the Buddha's time (600 BCE), and still being kept today in Buddhist countries. The Buddha taught that the Uposatha day is for "the cleansing of the defiled mind," resulting in inner calm and joy. On this day, both lay and ordained members of the sangha intensify their practice, deepen their knowledge and express communal commitment through millennia-old acts of lay-monastic reciprocity. On these days, the lay followers make a conscious effort to keep the Five Precepts or (as the tradition suggests) the eight precepts. It is a day for practicing the Buddha's teachings and meditation.