Name.

The castle was named "bel fort" or "beau fort" (French for "beautiful fortress") by the Crusaders who occupied the castle in the 12th century. Its Arabic name "Qala'at al-Shaqif" means "Castle of the High Rock" ("shqif" is the Aramaic word for "high rock").

History.

Medieval era.

The outcrop Beaufort occupied overlooks the Litani River. The river flows past the east side of the castle, which stands atop a cliff which declines steeply to the river. Little is known of the site prior to its capture by Crusader forces in 1139, as no contemporary documents mention the site before then. However, historians assume that the castle's commanding hilltop site made it a strategic position that was fortified before its capture by the Crusaders. Fulk, King of Jerusalem, captured the fortification of Qal'at al-Shaqif in 1139 and gave the site to the lords of Sidon. Medieval historian Hugh Kennedy speculates that construction of the Crusader castle began soon after Fulk gave the site to the lords of Sidon. The Battle of Hattin in 1187 saw the Crusaders suffer a crushing defeat at the hands of Saladin. In the aftermath, many castles and cities fell to Saladin's forces so that only a handful of cities remained under the Crusaders' control. Beaufort was one of the last castles to resist Saladin. In April 1189, Saladin was preparing to besiege the castle and Arab sources describe the event in detail. At the time Beaufort was under the control of Reynald of Sidon who had survived the Battle of Hattin, While Saladin was camped at nearby Marjayoun, preparing for the siege, Reynald met him and claimed to have Muslim sympathies. He said that while he would like to hand over control of Beaufort, his family were in the Christian city of Tyre and he could not surrender until they were safely out of the city. In the hope of a taking the castle without any bloodshed, Reynald was given three months to extract his family from Tyre; instead he used this time to repair the castle and stock up on supplies.  After three months Reynald met Saladin again, protesting he needed more time. Saladin insisted he hand over the castle immediately, so Reynald ordered the garrison to surrender. When they refused Reynald was taken prisoner and the siege began. Hostilities lasted until August that year when Saladin was forced to lift the siege to defend Acre. In April 1190 an agreement was reached where the castle's garrison would hand over control to Saladin in return for Reynald's release. The castle came under Crusader control in 1240 as part of a treaty negotiated by Theobald I of Navarre. It was sold to the Knights Templar by Reginald's grandson, Julian of Sidon, in 1260. In 1268, the Mamluke Sultan Baibars captured the castle, and there was relative calm through the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries.

Modern era.

In the 17th century Fakhr-al-Din II took the castle as a part of his network of fortifications. Fakhr-al-Din II was defeated by the Ottomans, who destroyed the upper portions of the castle. The area was ruled by feudal families until 1769. In 1782 the Governor of Acre, Jazzar Pasha, besieged the castle, captured it and destroyed many of its remaining fortifications. The Galilee earthquake of 1837 caused further damage to the structure and from then on the ruins were used as a quarry and a shelter for sheep. The late 19th century saw the start of study of Beaufort Castle, with surveys by Victor Guérin in 1880 and Claude Reignier Conder and Herbert Kitchener in 1881 as part of the Survey of Western Palestine.  T E Lawrence visited the castle in 1909 during his walk across modern-day Lebanon and Syria, conducting research for his thesis. He was particularly struck by the view of the coast and along the Litani River.  In 1921 the French Mandate was established and French historians and archaeologists investigated the region's history and structures. The medieval historian Paul Deschamps began studying Crusader castles in the 1927 and his work influenced subsequent generations of historians of the Crusades. In 1936, seven years after he first visited Beaufort, Deschamps and architect Pierre Coupel organised 65 soldiers to clear Beaufort's inner enclosure and the keep. Kennedy highlights Deschamps' "La Défense du Royaume de Jerusalem" (1939) as a particularly important source in the study of Beaufort as "his descriptions and plans record a building which has probably been mutilated beyond recognition by recent military activity". The French Mandate ended in 1943 when Lebanon became independent.  The castle's strategic location, which affords a view of much of southern Lebanon and northern Israel, has caused it to be a focus for recent conflicts. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) held the castle from 1976 onwards, during the Lebanese Civil War and consequentially it was attacked dozens of times by Israeli forces in the space of five years. On 6 June 1982, at the start of Operation Peace for Galilee (the 1982 Lebanon War), the PLO position on Beaufort Castle was heavily shelled by the Israelis before it was captured by the Israeli forces two days later in the Battle of the Beaufort. The fighting caused damage to the castle, and in the aftermath the Israeli army adapted the site for their own use by building a large forward operations base adjacent to the fort's western wall - as a result of prior presence of PLO and the fear of IEDs, Israeli soldiers manning the base were allowed to tour the upper floors of the fortress but prevented from accessing the lower parts. In 2000 the Israeli army left Beaufort, altogether demolishing the base. The IDF occupation of Beaufort provides the basis of the Israeli film "Beaufort", although the film itself was shot on the Golan Heights. After the Israeli withdrawal attempts by local tourism services to restore the fort began, albeit in very slow progress and lack of funding.

Construction.

Several of the great Crusader castles were built on spurs, using natural defences and fortifying the one access point. The setting of Beaufort plays a role in the defence of the site, but the terrain is only impassable on the north side. The Kurds extended the castle to include a slightly lower shelf of rock immediately to the east of the castle, thereby removing one of the routes of attack. Divided into two wards, one occupying the lower ground to the east, the castle is roughly triangular in shape and measures about. A keep or great tower was built against the west wall of the upper ward; the tower has a square plan and measures about. While it was common for keeps in Europe to be entered through the first floor, in Syria the convention was for a ground floor entrance as can be seen at Beaufort.

Beaufort or Belfort Castle ( "Qala'at al-Shaqif" ) is a Crusader fortress in Nabatieh Governorate, Southern Lebanon, about to the south-south-east of the village of Arnoun. There was a fortification on the site before it was captured by Fulk, King of Jerusalem, in 1139 and construction of the Crusader castle probably began soon after. Saladin captured Beaufort in 1190, but 60 years later Crusaders re-took it. In 1268 Sultan Baibars finally captured the castle for the Islamic forces.


History.

The first macrolide discovered was erythromycin, which was first used in 1952. Erythromycin was widely used as a substitute to penicillin in cases where patients were allergic to penicillin or had penicillin-resistant illnesses. Later macrolides developed, including azithromycin and clarithromycin, stemmed from chemically modifying erythromycin; these compounds were designed to be more easily absorbed and have fewer side-effects (erythromycin caused gastrointestinal side-effects in a significant proportion of users).

Uses.

Antibiotic macrolides are used to treat infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria (e.g., "Streptococcus pneumoniae") and limited Gram-negative bacteria (e.g., "Bordetella pertussis", "Haemophilus influenzae"), and some respiratory tract and soft-tissue infections. The antimicrobial spectrum of macrolides is slightly wider than that of penicillin, and, therefore, macrolides are a common substitute for patients with a penicillin allergy. Beta-hemolytic streptococci, pneumococci, staphylococci, and enterococci are usually susceptible to macrolides. Unlike penicillin, macrolides have been shown to be effective against Legionella pneumophila, mycoplasma, mycobacteria, some rickettsia, and chlamydia.  Macrolides are "not" to be used on non-ruminant herbivores, such as horses and rabbits. They rapidly produce a reaction causing fatal digestive disturbance. It can be used in horses less than one year old, but care must be taken that other horses (such as a foal's mother) do not come in contact with the macrolide treatment.  Macrolides can be administered in a variety of ways that include tablets, capsules, suspensions, injectings and topically.

Mechanism of action.

Antibacterial.

Macrolides are protein synthesis inhibitors. The mechanism of action of macrolides is inhibition of bacterial protein biosynthesis, and they are thought to do this by preventing peptidyltransferase from adding the growing peptide attached to tRNA to the next amino acid (similarly to chloramphenicol) as well as inhibiting ribosomal translation. Another potential mechanism is premature dissociation of the peptidyl-tRNA from the ribosome.  Macrolide antibiotics do so by binding reversibly to the P site on the 50S subunit of the bacterial ribosome. This action is considered to be bacteriostatic. Macrolides are actively concentrated within leukocytes, and thus are transported into the site of infection.

Immunomodulation.

Diffuse panbronchiolitis.

The macrolide antibiotics erythromycin, clarithromycin, and roxithromycin have proven to be an effective long-term treatment for the idiopathic, Asian-prevalent lung disease diffuse panbronchiolitis (DPB). The successful results of macrolides in DPB stems from controlling symptoms through immunomodulation (adjusting the immune response), with the added benefit of low-dose requirements.  With macrolide therapy in DPB, great reduction in bronchiolar inflammation and damage is achieved through suppression of not only neutrophil granulocyte proliferation but also lymphocyte activity and obstructive secretions in airways. The antimicrobial and antibiotic effects of macrolides, however, are not believed to be involved in their beneficial effects toward treating DPB. This is evident, as the treatment dosage is much too low to fight infection, and in DPB cases with the occurrence of the macrolide-resistant bacterium "Pseudomonas aeruginosa", macrolide therapy still produces substantial anti-inflammatory results.

Examples.

Antibiotic macrolides.

US FDA-approved :  Non-US FDA-approved:

Ketolides.

Ketolides are a class of antibiotics that are structurally related to the macrolides. They are used to treat respiratory tract infections caused by macrolide-resistant bacteria. Ketolides are especially effective, as they have two ribosomal binding sites.  Ketolides include:

Fluoroketolides.

Fluoroketolides are a class of antibiotics that are structurally related to the ketolides. The fluoroketolides have three ribosomal interaction sites.  Fluoroketolides include:

Non-antibiotic macrolides.

The drugs tacrolimus, pimecrolimus, and sirolimus, which are used as immunosuppressants or immunomodulators, are also macrolides. They have similar activity to ciclosporin.

Antifungal drugs.

Polyene antimycotics, such as amphotericin B, nystatin etc., are a subgroup of macrolides. Cruentaren is another example of an antifungal macrolide.

Toxic macrolides.

A variety of toxic macrolides produced by bacteria have been isolated and characterized, such as the mycolactones.

Resistance.

The primary means of bacterial resistance to macrolides occurs by post-transcriptional methylation of the 23S bacterial ribosomal RNA. This acquired resistance can be either plasmid-mediated or chromosomal, i.e., through mutation, and results in cross-resistance to macrolides, lincosamides, and streptogramins (an MLS-resistant phenotype).  Two other types of acquired resistance rarely seen include the production of drug-inactivating enzymes (esterases or kinases), as well as the production of active ATP-dependent efflux proteins that transport the drug outside of the cell.  Azithromycin has been used to treat strep throat (Group A streptococcal (GAS) infection caused by "Streptococcus pyogenes") in penicillin-sensitive patients, however macrolide-resistant strains of GAS are not uncommon. Cephalosporin is another option for these patients.

Side-effects.

A 2008 "British Medical Journal" article highlights that the combination of some macrolides and statins (used for lowering cholesterol) is not advisable and can lead to debilitating myopathy. This is because some macrolides (clarithromycin and erythromycin, not azithromycin) are potent inhibitors of the cytochrome P450 system, particularly of CYP3A4. Macrolides, mainly erythromycin and clarithromycin, also have a class effect of QT prolongation, which can lead to torsades de pointes. Macrolides exhibit enterohepatic recycling; that is, the drug is absorbed in the gut and sent to the liver, only to be excreted into the duodenum in bile from the liver. This can lead to a buildup of the product in the system, thereby causing nausea. In infants the use of erythromycin has been associated with pyloric stenosis.  Some macrolides are also known to cause cholestasis, a condition where bile cannot flow from the liver to the duodenum. A new study found an association between erythromycin use during infancy and developing IHPS (Infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis) in infants. However, no significant association was found between macrolides use during pregnancy or breastfeeding.  A Cochrane review showed gastrointestinal symptoms to be the most frequent adverse event reported in literature.

Interactions.

Macrolides should not be taken with colchicine as it may lead to colchicine toxicity. Symptoms of colchicine toxicity include gastrointestinal upset, fever, myalgia, pancytopenia, and organ failure.

The macrolides are a class of natural products that consist of a large macrocyclic lactone ring to which one or more deoxy sugars, usually cladinose and desosamine, may be attached. The lactone rings are usually 14-, 15-, or 16-membered. Macrolides belong to the polyketide class of natural products. Some macrolides have antibiotic or antifungal activity and are used as pharmaceutical drugs.


Life.

The son of an illiterate farmer, young Joseph was sent to a very strict Catholic school where he was taught to obey and to fear God. Seeking escape from the intense poverty of his childhood as the 15th child of a peasant family, he joined the army in 1892. Frustrated by slow promotion and no recognition, and infused with the grandiose belief that he was not receiving the attention he deserved, Vacher attempted to kill himself by slicing his throat. This was the first of two unsuccessful suicide attempts.  While Vacher had been in the army, he fell in love with a young maidservant, Louise, who was not attracted to him and spurned his advances. After his attempted suicide led to his dismissal from the military, he again tried to court her, even going so far as to propose marriage. Bored by him and uninterested in his offer, she mocked him and his proposal. This second slight also motivated violence: in a rage, Vacher shot Louise four times and then tried to commit suicide. Both attempts were unsuccessful—Louise was badly injured but survived the shooting, and Vacher severely maimed himself. Shooting himself twice in the head, Vacher succeeded in paralyzing one side of his face, deforming him severely. One of the bullets remained lodged in his ear for the remainder of his life, and the damage to his brain likely exacerbated his existing mental illness. He felt that the shooting damaged him more than physically: he later claimed, after his arrest, that the reactions of strangers to this self-inflicted deformity drove him to hatred of society at large. This second suicide attempt put him in a mental institution in Dole, Jura. Despite a one-year stay and a pronouncement from his doctors that he was "completely cured," Vacher began murdering his victims shortly after his release at the age of 25.  During a three-year period beginning in 1894, Vacher murdered and mutilated at least 11 people (one woman, five teenage girls, and five teenage boys). Many of them were shepherds watching their flocks in isolated fields. The victims were stabbed repeatedly, often disemboweled, raped, and sodomized. Vacher became a drifter, travelling from town to town, from Normandy to Provence, staying mainly in the southeast of France and surviving by begging or working on farms as a day laborer. By most accounts, he was unkempt and frightening, wandering from town to town as a vagrant in filthy clothes, begging in the streets and surviving on the scraps he received from anyone who spared him a kindness.  In 1897 Vacher tried to assault a woman gathering wood in a field in Ardèche. She fought back and her screams soon alerted her husband and son, both of whom came rushing to her aid. The men overpowered Vacher and took him to the police. Despite their belief that they had apprehended the man responsible, the authorities had little evidence that Vacher was responsible for the series of murders. However, and with little apparent prompting, Vacher confessed to committing all eleven murders, saying, "I committed them all in moments of frenzy."

Insanity plea.

After his arrest, Vacher claimed he was insane and attempted to prove it in a variety of ways. He claimed that a rabid dog's bite had poisoned his blood, causing madness, but later blamed the quack cure he received for the bite. He also claimed he was sent by God, comparing himself to Joan of Arc. Despite his protestations, he was pronounced sane after lengthy investigations by a team of doctors that included the eminent professor Alexandre Lacassagne. He was tried and convicted by the Cour d'Assises of Ain, the county where he had murdered two of his victims, and was sentenced to death on October 28, 1898. Vacher was executed by guillotine at dawn two months later, on December 31, 1898. He refused to walk to the scaffold under his own power and was dragged to the guillotine by the executioners.

Legacy.

Vacher's place in French social history is similar to Jack the Ripper's place in British social history.

Joseph Vacher (November 16, 1869 – December 31, 1898) was a French serial killer, sometimes known as "The French Ripper" or "L'éventreur du Sud-Est" ("The South-East Ripper") owing to comparisons to the more famous Jack the Ripper murderer of London, England, in 1888. His scarred face and plain, white, handmade rabbit-fur hat composed his trademark appearance. He killed 11 to 27 people, many of whom were adolescent farm workers, between 1894 and 1897.


Life and career.

Victoria was born in Sanchidrián in the province of Ávila, Castile around 1548 and died in 1611. Victoria's family can be traced back for generations. Not only are the names of the members in his immediate family known, but even the occupation of his grandfather. Victoria was the seventh of nine children born to Francisco Luis de Victoria and Francisca Suárez de la Concha. His mother was of converso descent. After his father's death in 1557, his uncle, Juan Luis, became his guardian. He was a choirboy in Ávila Cathedral. Cathedral records state that his uncle, Juan Luis, presented Victoria's Liber Primus to the Church while reminding them that Victoria had been brought up in the Ávila Cathedral. Because he was such an accomplished organist, many believe that he began studying the keyboard at an early age from a teacher in Ávila. Victoria most likely began studying "the classics" at St. Giles's, a boys' school in Ávila. This school was praised by St.Teresa of Avila and other highly regarded people of music.  After receiving a grant from Philip II in 1565, Victoria went to Rome and became cantor at the German College founded by St. Ignatius Loyola. He may have studied with Palestrina around this time, though the evidence is circumstantial; certainly he was influenced by the Italian's style. For some time, beginning in 1573, Victoria held two positions, one being at the German College and the other being at the Pontifical Roman Seminary. He held the positions of chapelmaster and instructor of plainsong. In 1571, he was hired at the German College as a teacher and began earning his first steady income. After Palestrina left the Seminary, Victoria took over the position of maestro. Victoria was ordained a priest in 1574 by bishop Thomas Goldwell. Before this he was made a deacon, but did not serve long in that capacity as typically deacons became priests soon after. In 1575, Victoria was appointed Maestro di Capella at S. Apollinare. Church officials would often ask Victoria for his opinion on appointments to cathedral positions because of his fame and knowledge. He was faithful to his position as convent organist even after his professional debut as an organist. He did not stay in Italy, however.  In 1587 Philip II honoured Victoria's desire to return to his native Spain, naming him chaplain to his sister, the Dowager Empress María, daughter of Charles V, who had been living in retirement with her daughter Princess Margarita at the Monasterio de las Descalzas de St. Clara at Madrid from 1581. In 1591, Victoria became a godfather to his brother Juan Luis's daughter, Isabel de Victoria. Victoria worked for 24 years at Descalzas Reales, serving for 17 years as chaplain to the Empress until her death, and then as convent organist. Victoria was also being paid much more at the Descalzas Reales than he would have earned as a cathedral chapelmaster, receiving an annual income from absentee benefices from 1587–1611. When the Empress Maria died in 1603, she willed three chaplaincies in the convent, with one going to Victoria. According to Victoria, he never accepted any extra pay for being a chapelmaster, and became the organist rather than the chapelmaster. Such was the esteem in which he was held that his contract allowed him frequent travel away from the convent. He was able to visit Rome in 1593 for two years, attending Palestrina's funeral in 1594. He died in 1611 in the chaplain's residence and was buried at the convent, although his tomb has yet to be identified.

Music.

Victoria is the most significant composer of the Counter-Reformation in Spain, and one of the best-regarded composers of sacred music in the late Renaissance, a genre to which he devoted himself exclusively. Victoria's music reflected his intricate personality, and expressed the passion of Spanish mysticism and religion. Victoria was praised by Padre Martini for his melodic phrases and his joyful inventions. His works have undergone a revival in the 20th century, with numerous recent recordings. Many commentators hear in his music a mystical intensity and direct emotional appeal, qualities considered by some to be lacking in the arguably more rhythmically and harmonically placid music of Palestrina. There are quite a few differences in their compositional styles, such as treatment of melody and quarter-note dissonances.  Victoria was a master at overlapping and dividing choirs with multiple parts with a gradual decreasing of rhythmic distance throughout. Not only does Victoria incorporate intricate parts for the voices, but the organ is almost treated like a soloist in many of his choral pieces. Victoria did not begin the development of psalm settings or antiphons for two choirs, but he continued and increased the popularity of such repertoire. Victoria reissued works that had been published previously, and included new revisions in each new issue.  Victoria published his first book of motets in 1572. In 1585 he wrote his "Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae", a collection which included 37 pieces that are part of the Holy Week celebrations in the Catholic liturgy, including the eighteen motets of the "Tenebrae Responsories".  Two influences in Victoria's life were Giovanni Maria Nanino and Luca Marenzio, whom Victoria admired for their work in madrigals rather than church music. It has been speculated that Victoria took lessons from Escobedo at an early age before moving to Rome.  Victoria claimed that he composed his most creative works under his patron Otto, Cardinal von Truchsess. However, Stevenson does not believe that he learned everything about music under Cardinal Truchsess's patronage; Victoria would like people to believe such a fact. During the years that Victoria was devoted to Philip II of Spain, he expressed exhaustion from his compositional work. Most of the compositions that Victoria wrote that were dedicated to Cardinal Michele Bonelli, Philip II of Spain, or Pope Gregory XIII were not compensated properly.  Stylistically, his music shuns the elaborate counterpoint of many of his contemporaries, preferring simple line and homophonic textures, yet seeking rhythmic variety and sometimes including intense and surprising contrasts. His melodic writing and use of dissonance is more free than that of Palestrina; occasionally he uses intervals which are prohibited in the strict application of 16th century counterpoint, such as ascending major sixths, or even occasional diminished fourths (for example, a melodic diminished fourth occurs in a passage representing grief in his motet "Sancta Maria, occurred"). Victoria sometimes uses dramatic word-painting, of a kind usually found only in madrigals. Some of his sacred music uses instruments (a practice which is not uncommon in Spanish sacred music of the 16th century), and he also wrote polychoral works for more than one spatially separated group of singers, in the style of the composers of the Venetian school who were working at St. Mark's in Venice.  His most famous work, and his masterpiece, "Officium Defunctorum", is a Requiem Mass for the Empress Maria.

Recordings.

The following are recordings of music by Tomás Luis de Victoria. As in all of his music, the texts are in Latin and drawn from the Roman Catholic Liturgy.  Select recordings of music by Victoria are discussed in an article published in March 2011 by "Gramophone"

Tomás Luis de Victoria (sometimes Italianised as "da Vittoria"; c. 1548 – 27 August 1611) was the most famous composer in 16th-century Spain, and was one of the most important composers of the Counter-Reformation, along with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Orlando di Lasso. Victoria was not only a composer but also an accomplished organist and singer as well as a Catholic priest. However, he preferred the life of a composer to that of a performer.


Early life.

Ramiro was the youngest son of Sancho Ramírez, king of Aragon and Navarre, and Felicia of Roucy. Sancho placed Ramiro as a child into the Benedictine monastery of Saint Pons de Thomières in the Viscounty of Béziers. As a respected monk, Ramiro was elected abbot of the Castillian royal monastery of Santos Fecundo y Primitivo in Sahagún and later was abbot of the monastery of San Pedro el Viejo at Huesca. Wanting to limit Ramiro's power within the Kingdom of Navarre-Aragon, his brother Alfonso the Battler had blocked his elections as bishop of Burgos and as bishop of Pamplona.  In 1134 Ramiro had been elected bishop of Barbastro-Roda when the death of his childless brother made him one of the candidates for succession to the crown. Others put forward included Alfonso VII of Castile, who as a foreign king found little support, and the choice of the Navarrese nobility, Pedro de Atarés, grandson of Sancho Ramírez, Count of Ribagorza, the illegitimate son of Ramiro I of Aragon. At an assembly at Borja intended to resolve the succession, a misunderstanding alienated Pedro from his supporters, yet they were unwilling to accept the Aragonese-favored Ramiro, and in the end the kingdoms were divided. In Navarre, García Ramírez, a scion of the pre-union royal family of Navarre and protégé of Alfonso VII was chosen king, while in Aragon the choice fell on Ramiro, who suspended his monastic vows to take the crown.

King of Aragon.

The reign of Ramiro the Monk, as he is known, was tumultuous. At the beginning of his reign he had problems with his nobles, who thought he would be docile and easily steered to their wishes, but discovered him to be inflexible. In order to produce an heir, he married Agnes, daughter of Duke William IX of Aquitaine. He and Agnes had a daughter, Petronilla, who was betrothed to Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona at the age of one. The marriage contract, signed at Barbastro on 11 August 1137, made Petronilla the heir to the crown of Aragon, which in event of her childless death would pass to Ramon Berenguer and any children he might have by other wives. Ramon accepted Ramiro as "King, Lord and Father", and the County of Barcelona and the Kingdom of Aragon were united into the Crown of Aragon. The previously-landlocked Aragonese state thus returned to the position of peninsular power it had held prior to the loss of Navarre, and received a window to the Western Mediterranean it would come to dominate.  In the time between his accession and the betrothal of his daughter, Ramiro II had already had to put down a rebellion of the nobles, and knowing himself not to be a war king, he passed royal authority to his son-in-law Ramon Berenguer on 13 November 1137. Ramon became the "Prince of the Aragonese people" ("Princeps Aragonensis") and effective chief of the kingdom's armies. Ramiro never formally resigned his royal rights, continuing to use the royal title, and keeping aware of the business of the kingdom, he withdrew from public life, returning to the Abbey of San Pedro in Huesca. He later became known for the famous and passionate legend of the Bell of Huesca. He died there on 16 August 1157, the crown then formally passing to his daughter Petronilla.  <br

Ramiro II (24 April 1086 – 16 August 1157), called the Monk, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Aragon from 1134 until withdrawing from public life in 1137. Although a monk, he was elected king by the Aragonese nobility upon the death of his childless brother, Alfonso the Battler. He then had a daughter, Petronilla, whom he had marry Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona, unifying Aragon and Barcelona into the Crown of Aragon.


Early life.

Baccarin was born in Rio de Janeiro, the daughter of actress Vera Setta and Fernando Baccarin, a journalist. She is of Italian descent. When she was seven, she moved with her family to Greenwich Village, New York, as her father was transferred to work as an editor at Globo TV's headquarters. Baccarin attended Public School 41 and New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies, where she and her future "Homeland" co-star Claire Danes were classmates. She later attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts before she entered the theater program at the Juilliard School, where she was in the Drama Division's "Group 29" (1996–2000).

Career.

Baccarin landed her first film role in the improvised fashion-world comedy "Perfume" (2001). This was followed by a lead role in "Way Off Broadway" (2001). She served as Natalie Portman's understudy in the Central Park production of "The Seagull". The science-fiction drama "Firefly" (2002) as Inara Serra was Baccarin's first television series, and she reprised her role in the 2005 film "Serenity".  In February 2005, Baccarin provided the voice for Black Canary in multiple episodes of the animated series "Justice League Unlimited". She also guest starred in three episodes of the television series "The O.C." in 2006. Baccarin also appeared in the unaired pilot episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", playing a transgender woman Carmen. It was announced in April 2006 that Baccarin would be playing the adult version of recurring villain Adria in the tenth season of "Stargate SG-1". She first appeared in season 10 episode "Counterstrike" as adult Adria (the younger versions of Adria were previously played by other actresses). Baccarin reprised her role in the movie "".  In May 2009, Baccarin made her Off-Broadway debut in Theresa Rebeck's television satire "Our House" at Playwrights Horizons in New York City. She landed the lead role of Anna, the leader of the alien Visitors, in ABC's 2009–2011 series "V", a remake of the 1984 series. In May 2011, shortly following the airing of the show's second-season finale, it was announced that the show would not return for a third season. That same month, Baccarin joined the cast of the Showtime television drama "Homeland", for which she received praise for her role as the conflicted wife of a former prisoner of war. On July 18, 2013, she was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the 2013 Primetime Emmy awards for her performance.  Baccarin appeared alongside Melissa McCarthy in the 2015 action-comedy "Spy" as agent Karen Walker. In 2016, Baccarin appeared alongside Ryan Reynolds in the hit movie "Deadpool" as Vanessa Carlysle. She reprised her role in the 2018 sequel "Deadpool 2".  In 2015, Baccarin began a leading role as Dr. Leslie Thompkins in the Fox show "Gotham". She portrayed the character in all five seasons of the show. In 2019, she played a psychologist on Brazilian TV series Sessão de Terapia (Therapy Session), her first role on a production in her homeland.

Social engagement.

Baccarin works with the International Rescue Committee on behalf of refugees. In January 2019, she wrote an article in the Newsweek magazine describing her experiences. She was interviewing refugees from Venezuela during a trip to Colombia. Back then she warned of an evolving situation, which could lead to an increase of refugees asking for asylum in the US.  In 2019, she, together with other artists, lawyers, advocates and refugees, took part in the "Flores Exhibits" project. She read a protocol of a statement by a migrant.

Personal life.

Baccarin married American film producer and director Austin Chick in November 2011. Their son was born in October 2013. Chick filed for divorce in July 2015, citing irreconcilable differences. On March 18, 2016, Baccarin and Chick's divorce became official.  In September 2015, Baccarin said that after her divorce was finalized, she planned to marry her "Gotham" co-star Ben McKenzie, adding that she was pregnant with their child. The couple have a daughter, born in March 2016. Baccarin and McKenzie announced their engagement in November 2016. They were married in Brooklyn, New York, on June 2, 2017, Baccarin's 38th birthday.

Morena Baccarin (born June 2, 1979) is a Brazilian-American actress known for portraying Inara Serra in the sci-fi series "Firefly" and the follow-up film "Serenity", Vanessa in the superhero comedy film "Deadpool" and its sequel "Deadpool 2"; Jessica Brody in the Showtime series "Homeland", for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2013; and Leslie Thompkins in the Fox series "Gotham".


Central ideas.

The most evident purpose of the Canzoniere is to praise Laura, yet questions concerning the virtue of love in relation to the Christian religion and desire are always present. Antithesis are also key to the sequence and in one sense represent Petrarch's search for balance; these would later be exploited by Petrarchists in Europe but represent only one aspect of the Rimes. This leads on to the essential paradox of Petrarchan love, where love is desired yet painful: fluctuation between states is a means of expressing this instability. The changing mind of man and the passing of time are also central themes, as is the consideration of the art of poetic creation itself. Some other themes are desire, isolation, unrequited love, and vanity of youth.  The central theme in the Canzoniere is the love for Laura, with whom Petrarch fell in love at first sight. Laura was already married and turned down all of Petrarch's advances. It is unknown if the two ever spoke. They met on Good Friday and Laura allegedly died on Good Friday.  In any case, it would be improper to see "Canzoniere" as uniquely inspired by love for Laura. Other themes are important: religion, poetry, politics, time, glory. The love theme itself should be considered as the nucleus around which Petrarca develops his deep psychological analysis: thanks to his poems inspired by Laura (laurus is the symbol for poetry) the poet aspires to reach glory, which in turn can fight the all-destroying power of time. Even glory, however, cannot guarantee real eternity, because in Christianity, only faith in Jesus Christ can guarantee it.

Influences on the "Canzoniere".

Petrarch uses Ovid's "Metamorphoses" to convey themes of instability, and also sources Virgil's "Aeneid". Petrarch inherited aspects of artifice and rhetorical skill from Sicilian courtly poetry, including that of the inventor of the sonnet form, Giacomo da Lentini. In addition, the troubadours who wrote love poems concerned with chivalry in Provençal (in the canso or canzone form) are likely to have had an influence, primarily because of the position of adoration in which they placed the female figure. Dante, and the school of the "dolce stil nuovo", or new sweet style, developed this placement of the female and proposed that the pursuit of love was a noble virtue.

Influence of the Rime.

In England.

In 1380, Chaucer adopted part of the Canzoniere to form three stanzas of rhyme royal in Troilus and Criseyde, Book I. Over 150 years would pass until Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, would translate several Rimes in the court environment of Henry VIII. Their translations are largely credited with making the ten-syllable line normative in English, and in George Puttenham's 1589 "Art of English Poesie" are credited with reforming the English language: As novices newly crept out of the schooles of Dante, Arioste and Petrarch, they greatly polished our rude and homely manner of vulgar poesie, from that it had bene before, and for that cause may justly be sayd the first reformers of our English meetre and stile. Thus, their translations of Rimes from the Canzoniere paved the way for the sonnet sequences of Sidney and Shakespeare.

In France.

Early French sonneteers included Clément Marot and Mellin Saint Gelais. The latter spent nine years in Italy before returning to France to spread knowledge of Petrarch and Serafino. The first sonnet sequence to be published in France came in 1549 in the form of Joachim du Bellay's "L'Olive". When first published it contained 50 sonnets but the next year Bellay added more poems and raised the total number to 115 - references to Petrarch are made in fourteen of these sonnets. Pierre de Ronsard also took up Petrarch's influence and his sonnets are credited for their originality.

Il Canzoniere (; ), also known as the "Rime Sparse" (), but originally titled (, that is "Fragments composed in vernacular"), is a collection of poems by the Italian humanist, poet, and writer Petrarch.


Development and design.

The V/1500 was produced to meet a 1917 British Air Board requirement for a large night bomber capable of reaching deeper into Germany than the Handley Page O/100 which had recently entered service, carrying a 3,000 lb (1,400 kg) bombload. It was thus capable of bombing Berlin from bases in East Anglia.  While the V/1500 had a similar fuselage to that of the O/400, it had longer-span, four-bay biplane wings and was powered by four 375 hp (280 kW) Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engines mounted in two nacelles, with two engines pulling in the conventional manner and two pushing, rather than the two Eagle engines of the smaller bomber. Construction was of wood and fabric materials. A relatively novel design feature was the gunner's position at the extreme rear of the fuselage, between the four fins.  Owing to pressure of work at Handley Page's Cricklewood factory and to ensure security, the first prototype was constructed by Harland and Wolff at Belfast, Northern Ireland, being assembled at Cricklewood and first flying on 22 May 1918. Orders were placed with a number of companies (including Harland and Wolff, Beardmore, Handley Page, Grahame-White and Alliance Aircraft for a total of 210 V/1500s at £12,500 apiece, although only 40 aircraft were completed, with a further 22 produced as spares. The Beardmore order was for fifty machines in two batches, the first batch was for 20 and the second batch for 30. The company accounts state production continuing into 1921.The test pilot for Beardmore was Clifford Prodger and the aircraft were delivered from Inchinnan Aerodrome (Ref Company accounts UGD 100/8/1921 University of Glasgow and Mac Kay)

Service.

Three aircraft were delivered to No. 166 Squadron at RAF Bircham Newton (Norfolk) during October 1918. The squadron commander did not receive clear orders for his mission until 8 November, due to debate at high level. A mission was scheduled for that night (to bomb Berlin, fly on to Prague as the Austro-Hungarian forces had surrendered by then, refuel, re-arm, and bomb Düsseldorf on the way back). No mission was flown - a technical expert insisted that all the engines on one aircraft be changed. The same happened the following day (but with a different aircraft). The three aircraft were about to taxi out after the second set of engine changes when an excited ground crew member ran out to stop them — the armistice had just been declared.  One of the original batch of aircraft (J1936, "Old Carthusian") went on to record two significant 'firsts'. On 13 December 1918, the bomber, flown by Major A.C.S. Maclaren and Captain Robert Halley, accompanied by Brigadier General N.D.K. MacEwen, made the first ever 'through-flight' from England to India. Taking off from Britain the aircraft flew via Rome, Malta, Cairo, and Baghdad, finally reaching Karachi on 15 January 1919.  The same aircraft played a pivotal role in ending the Third Anglo-Afghan War. On 25 May 1919, flying from Risalpur piloted by Captain Halley and with Lt E. Villiers as observer, the V/1500 reached Kabul in three hours. Of its payload of four 112 lb (51 kg) bombs on improvised bomb racks removed from B.E.2cs and 16 20 lb (10 kg) bombs carried in the fuselage and dropped by hand, four bombs hit the royal palace. Although the bombing did little physical damage, it had a great psychological impact on the citizens - the ladies of the royal harem rushed onto the streets in terror, causing great scandal. A few days later King Amanullah sued for peace, bringing an end to the war after less than one month of hostilities. J1936 ended its life being consumed by termites.  The Handley Page V/1500 aircraft "Atlantic" was shipped to Newfoundland in early 1919 to attempt the first non-stop Transatlantic flight. However, the prize was won by Alcock and Brown in a Vickers Vimy in June 1919. The crew departed for New York City but was forced to land in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia on 5 July 1919 where it was repaired over the course of the summer. The "Atlantic" continued to New York on 9 October 1919 carrying with it the first airmail from Canada to the United States.  They were eventually replaced in service by the Vickers Vimy.

Survivors.

No complete example of the V/1500 remains; however, the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford holds several relics in store, including three propellers, four sections of tailplane and a compass

The Handley Page V/1500 was a British night-flying heavy bomber built by Handley Page towards the end of the First World War. It was a large four-engined biplane, which resembled a larger version of Handley Page's earlier O/100 and O/400 bombers, intended to bomb Berlin from East Anglian airfields. The end of the war stopped the V/1500 being used against Germany, but a single aircraft was used to carry out the first flight from England to India, and later carried out a bombing raid on Kabul during the Third Anglo-Afghan War. It was colloquially known within the fledgling Royal Air Force as the "Super Handley". The V/1500 which was shipped to Canada to attempt a transatlantic flight was flown in the US, and in 1919 crash-landed in a field at Mount Jewett, Pennsylvania. Photos appeared in the 20 February 1969 issue of the "Bradford Journal" newspaper.


History, mining and coinage.

At the beginning of the 16th century, silver was found in the area of Joachimsthal. The village of Joachimsthal was founded in 1516 in place of the former abandoned village of Konradsgrun in order to facilitate the exploitation of this valuable resource. The silver caused the population to grow rapidly, and made the Counts von Schlick, whose possessions included the town, one of the richest noble families in Bohemia. The Schlicks had coins minted, which were called "Joachimsthalers". They gave their name to the Thaler and the dollar. The fame of Joachimsthal for its ore mining and smelting works attracted the scientific attention of the doctor Georg Bauer (better known by the Latin form of his name, Georgius Agricola) in the late 1520s, who based his pioneering metallurgical studies on his observations made here.  In 1523, the Protestant Reformation began. In the Schmalkaldic War (1546–47) Joachimsthal was occupied for a time by Saxon troops. When in 1621 the Counter-reformation and re-Catholicisation took effect in the town, many Protestant citizens and people from the mountains migrated to nearby Saxony.  Until 1918, the town (named Joachimsthal before 1898) was in the Austrian part of the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary, head of the district with the same name, one of the 94 "Bezirkshauptmannschaften" in Bohemia.  In the 19th century the town was also the location of a Court, and of an administrative office responsible for mines and iron production. Mining was still significant in this period. It was run partly by state-owned and partly by privately owned firms. In addition to silver ore (of which in 1885 227 zentners (11.35 tonnes) were produced), nickel, bismuth and uranium ore were also extracted. There were also other industries: an enormous tobacco factory employed 1,000 women. In addition, there was the manufacture of gloves and corks and of bobbin lace.  On 31 March 1873 the town almost entirely burnt down.  At the end of the 19th century, Marie Curie discovered, in tons of pitchblende ore containing uraninite from Joachimsthal, the element radium, for which she won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Until the First World War this was the foremost source of radium in the world.  The first radon spa in the world was founded in Joachimsthal in 1906, joining the famous spas of the region, including Karlsbad, Franzensbad, and Marienbad.  In 1929, Dr Löwy of Prague established that "mysterious emanations" in the mine led to a form of cancer. Ventilation and watering measures were introduced, miners were given higher pay and longer vacations, but death rates remained high.  Following the Munich Agreement in 1938, it was annexed by Nazi Germany as part of the so-called Sudetenland. Most of the German-speaking population was expelled in 1945–1946 (see the Potsdam Agreement) and replaced by mostly non-German-speaking settlers from other parts of the country.

Modern town.

After the Communist party took control of Czechoslovakia in 1948, large prison camps were established in the town and around it. Opponents of the new regime were forced to mine uranium ore under very harsh conditions: the average life expectancy in Jáchymov at this period was 42 years.  Uranium mining ceased in 1964. The radioactive thermal springs which arise in the former uranium mine are used under the supervision of doctors for the treatment of patients with nervous and rheumatic disorders. They make use of the constantly produced radioactive gas radon (Rn) dissolved in the water, see Radon therapy.

Nearby attractions.

Not far from here, at the foot of the Plešivec, there once stood the Capuchin monastery "Mariasorg" ("Mariánská"); it was razed to the ground in the 1950s.  From the valley of the Veseřice a chairlift goes to the highest peak in the Ore Mountains, the 1244-metre-high (4081′) Klínovec.

Jáchymov (), until 1945 known also by its German name of "Sankt Joachimsthal" or "Joachimsthal" (meaning "Saint Joachim's Valley";, or "" in modern orthography) is a spa town in the Karlovy Vary Region of Bohemia, Czech Republic. It is situated at an altitude of above sea level in the eponymous St. Joachim's valley in the Ore Mountains, close to the Czech border with Germany.


Club career.

Born in Prague, Plánička played most of his footballing career and lived most of his life in the Czech capital. In the beginning of his career, Plánička played for the clubs "Slovan Praha VII", "Union VII", "Staroměstský SK Olympia", and "SK Bubeneč". He played for Slavia Prague from 1923 to 1938, in what has been one of the most successful eras in the club's history. During thirteen seasons with the club between 1925 and 1938, Slavia won seven league titles and Plánička played 196 league matches. He appeared in a total of 969 matches, of which Slavia won 742. Despite being of below-average height for a goalkeeper, at 1.72m (5 ft 8 in), he was an effective shot stopper, and his acrobatic style earned him the nickname The Cat of Prague.  In 1932, Slavia reached the semifinals of the Mitropa Cup. In the first leg, they beat Juventus 4–0; in the second leg, Juventus had a 2–0 lead after which, according to RSSSF, Slavia resorted to obstruction and time wasting, which extended to the stands to the point that spectators started throwing stones on the pitch; one of the projectiles hit Plánička, causing him a serious injury. Slavia abandoned the pitch and the game stopped, and this led to their disqualification from the tournament.  Plánička also won six "Bohemia cups" (a domestic tournament) with Slavia, in 1926, 1927, 1928, 1930, 1932, and 1935. His only international title came in 1938, when his club finally won the Mitropa Cup.

International career.

Between 1926 and 1938, Plánička played 73 times in goal for Czechoslovakia, a world record at the time and a national record that stood until 1966 when Ladislav Novák earned his 74th cap. Plánička was the national team captain 37 times. His international debut was on 17 January 1926 in a 1–3 loss against Italy.

1934 World Cup.

Plánička helped Czechoslovakia qualify to the 1934 World Cup, and was the team's captain in the tournament. After beating Romania in the first round and Switzerland in quarterfinals, the Czech played a semifinal against Germany. The Czech took the lead early in the match, but Germany equalized in the second half when Plánička could not react to a long shot by Rudolf Noack. Czechoslovakia regained the lead and scored a third goal late in the game to win 3–1 and advance to the final.  On 10 June 1934 Czechoslovakia played the final against hosts Italy, who also had one of the great goalkeepers of the time, Giampiero Combi, as its captain. The Czechs took the lead in the 71st minute with a goal by Antonín Puč, but ten minutes later a shot by Raimundo Orsi beat Plánička for the equalizer, sending the match to extra time, where goal by Angelo Schiavio gave the Italians the victory. Plánička finished the tournament with six goals against in four matches.

1938 World Cup.

As Nazi Germany occupied Czechoslovakia, Plánička captained the Czechs again to the 1938 World Cup. In the first round, they beat the Netherlands 3–0 with all three goals coming in extra time. In the second round, they faced Brazil on 12 July, in what was one of the most violent matches in World Cup history, known as the "Battle of Bordeaux." One Czech and two Brazilian players were sent off, and players from both teams suffered serious injuries. With the game tied 1–1, Plánička's teammate Oldřich Nejedlý had to abandon the pitch with a broken leg, and then Plánička himself suffered a broken arm, after colliding with Brazil's striker Perácio's kick, as the Brazilian attempted to shoot. Plánička did not leave the pitch, however, and instead played through the pain until the end of regulation and through the subsequent extra time, which had no change in the score. The game was replayed two days later, and Czechoslovakia, without Plánička or forwards Nejedlý and Antonín Puč, lost 2–1 and was eliminated.  Plánička only conceded one goal in 240 minutes played, having the lowest goals against average with 0.38 goals per 90 minutes (better than Aldo Olivieri of champions Italy). He was selected to the Best XI of the tournament by a group of journalists. The match against Brazil in Bordeaux was the last one of Plánička's international career.

After retirement.

Plánička continued to play football after his retirement, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and physical condition. On 4 July 1970 Plánička last played in goal in a senior team of former internationals. In 1985, UNESCO presented him with an Honorary Fair Play Award in recognition to his footballing career.  In 1994, after receiving a sports merit award, Plánička stated that he would like to see Slavia win the league while he was still alive. In the 1995/96 season, after a 48-year wait, Slavia won the league title, and Plánička was able to celebrate it. Two months later, he died at the age of 92. At the time of his death, he was the last living member of the Czech squad at the 1934 World Cup and the last surviving player from either team to play in the final. Czech national team midfielder Karel Poborský attended his burial, postponing his contract signing with Manchester United, which was scheduled to happen the same day.

František Plánička (; 2 June 1904 – 20 July 1996) was a Czech football goalkeeper and one of the most honoured players in the history of Czechoslovak football. He played all his career for Slavia Prague, during which time the club won the Czech league eight times and the Mitropa Cup once. He also became a member of the Czechoslovakia national team and later its captain during the World Cup finals of 1934 (where the Czech team finished second) and 1938.


Life.

She was born in 1303, sometime before 15 April, the eldest daughter of Charles, count of Valois, and Catherine I.  Her mother was recognized as Empress of the Latin Empire of Constantinople by the Latin states in Greece, despite the city having been captured by the Empire of Nicaea in 1261. Catherine inherited her claims as the titular Empress on 11 October 1307. She was still a child and remained in the custody of her father, who managed her claims to the empire until his death in 1325.  An early betrothal to Hugh of Burgundy, made on 15 April 1303 when she was an infant, was renounced in 1312.

Naples.

In July 1313, Catherine married Philip I of Taranto, King of Albania and Prince of Achaea, who was the younger brother of Robert, King of Naples. She associated her husband as titular Emperor (Philip II), and retained the claim to the empire after his death on 23 December 1332. Robert, his eldest surviving son, succeeded him as Prince of Taranto in 1331. Catherine became influential at the court of Naples.  Her court was more worldly than the pious court of King Robert and his pious wife, Sancha of Majorca. During the reign of her niece, Joanna I of Naples, she opposed the marriage of Joan's younger sister, Maria of Calabria, to Charles, Duke of Durazzo. This was because Maria was heir presumptive to the throne of Naples, and the Durazzos were rivals to her own family. She and her family were compensated with a cash settlement from the royal treasury.

Achaea.

In 1333, her son Robert received the Principality of Achaea through an agreement with his uncle, John of Gravina. However, the thirteen-year-old boy was deemed too young to reign alone, and his mother became his co-ruler for the rest of her life. Initially ruling through appointed "baillis", in summer 1338 Catherine mustered a fleet and took her whole household to Achaea, where she took an active part in its government. She gave refuge to Nikephoros II Orsini of Epirus, and supported him in his attempt to assert himself in his land against the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos.

Final Years.

Her presence in Achaea was no longer needed by the time Robert reached adulthood in 1341. She became Governor of Cephalonia and spent the last five years of her life in this responsibility. After the murder of Joan's husband, Andrew of Hungary, Joan sought a new husband amongst her Taranto cousins. Catherine supported her younger son, Louis of Taranto, against her older son, Robert. She sheltered Charles of Artois, a bastard son of Robert the Wise, and his son Bertrand, who were both suspected of complicity. When asked to give them up, she refused and stated she would punish them herself if they were guilty.  She died in Naples in October 1346. Queen Joan organized her funeral at the church of San Domenico.

Issue.

By Philip I of Taranto, Catherine II had four children:

Catherine II, also Catherine of Valois or Catherine of Taranto (before 15 April 1303 – October 1346), was the recognised Latin Empress of Constantinople from 1307–1346, although she lived in exile and only had authority over Crusader States in Greece. She was Princess consort of Achaea and Taranto, and also regent of Achaea from 1332–1341, and Governor of Cephalonia from 1341–1346.


Playing career.

Junior.

Johnson played hockey for the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, Minnesota, where he starred in his two seasons as a freshman and sophomore at the prep school. In the 2003–04 season he led all defenseman in scoring with 13 goals and 34 points to be selected to the Missota All-Conference Team. As a 16-year old Johnson transferred to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to play for the National Team Development Program (NTDP).  In the 2004–05 season, he split time between the U.S. National under-17 and under-18 squads, compiling 26 points in 57 games, tops amongst defenseman. Having been scouted as being tailored to suit the professional ranks with his hybrid two-way style and physicality, Johnson continued his rise in development the following season with a team-leading 49 points in 47 games with the under-18's. While also having a major impact at the junior international stage, Johnson was selected first overall in the 2006 NHL Entry draft by the St. Louis Blues. He became the first American-born defenseman to be selected first overall without having played Canadian major junior or collegiate hockey. He joined a select group of five (now eight following Patrick Kane, Auston Matthews, and Jack Hughes) Americans to have been chosen first overall in an NHL Entry Draft, along with Rick DiPietro (2000), Bryan Berard (1995), Mike Modano (1988), and Brian Lawton (1983).  Having committed to the University of Minnesota, Johnson also became the first Golden Gopher and Minnesotan to be taken first overall. Despite the willingness to turn professional, Johnson was not signed to a professional contract with the Blues, becoming the first player in 44 years to play college hockey after being selected No.1 overall. In his freshman campaign with the Golden Gophers during the 2006–07 season, Johnson quickly established a top defensive role and accumulated 4 goals and 24 points in 41 contests to lead all WCHA rookie defenseman and earn a selection to the WCHA All-Rookie Team. Johnson concluded his collegiate career after his freshman year when he was signed by the St. Louis Blues to a three-year, entry-level contract on April 20, 2007.

Professional.

St. Louis Blues.

Johnson scored his first career NHL goal against Los Angeles Kings goaltender Jonathan Bernier on October 6, 2007. It was also the game-winning goal. He finished his rookie season averaging over 18 minutes of ice-time per game to go with 5 goals and 28 assists in 69 games.  After missing the 2008-09 season with a knee injury, Johnson returned for the 2009-10 season, setting new career-highs with 10 goals, 29 assists, and 39 points, as well as 79 penalty minutes. He also represented Team USA in the 2010 Winter Olympics where he earned a silver medal,  On August 2, 2010, as a restricted free agent, Johnson re-signed with the Blues with a two-year, $5.2 million contract.

Colorado Avalanche.

During the 2010–11 season, on February 19, 2011, he was traded to the Colorado Avalanche, along with Jay McClement and a conditional first-round pick (that Colorado used to select Duncan Siemens), in exchange for Chris Stewart, Kevin Shattenkirk and a conditional second-round pick, which St. Louis used to select Ty Rattie. Later that day, Johnson made his Avalanche debut at the HP Pavilion at San Jose in a 4–0 defeat to the San Jose Sharks. In his second game, Johnson faced his former team and posted his first goal as a member of the Avalanche in a 4–3 victory over the Blues on February 22, 2011.  On July 3, 2012, Johnson signed a four-year, $15 million extension with the Avalanche. He was selected to the 2015 NHL All-Star Game on January 10, 2015. At the time of his selection, he was leading all defensemen in goal-scoring.  On September 22, 2015, Johnson signed a seven-year, $42 million extension with the Avalanche, making him the highest paid player on the Avalanche roster and one of the highest paid defensemen in the NHL.  During the 2017–18 NHL season Johnson played in his 600th NHL game on December 3, 2017, in a 7–2 loss to the Dallas Stars. At the time, Johnson led the team, and was the fifth highest in the league, in average ice time at 26:24 minutes. Johnson was suspended for two games on December 17, 2017, for boarding Tampa Bay Lightning forward Vladislav Namestnikov.  On February 29, 2020, Johnson became the 1st defenseman from the 2006 draft to reach 300 points. He is the 37th US-born defenseman in NHL history to hit the 300-mark.

International play.

As a product of the US NTDP, Johnson first made his international debut for the United States at the 2005 World U17 Hockey Challenge. In the same year, he captured a gold medal as a 17-year-old at the 2005 World Under-18 Championships. Johnson scored ten points in six games the 2006 World Under-18 championships to help the U.S. retain the gold medal, and was selected as the Bob Johnson Award winner as the Best American player in international competition.  Johnson was a member of the U.S. junior team that won a bronze medal in the 2007 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. He was named to the tournament's All-Star Team and was named the tournament's Best Defenseman. Johnson finished the tournament with four goals and six assists for ten points, becoming the first defenseman to lead the tournament in scoring.  Representing the senior U.S. team at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Johnson received a silver medal after losing in overtime to Canada in the final.  Johnson was chosen to participate in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey for Team USA.

Racehorse Ownership.

In addition to his accomplished career as an NHL defenseman, Erik Johnson is a proprietor and commercial racehorse breeder for ERJ Racing, LLC. He refers to his hobby as "my outlet away from hockey and my passion."  One of his racehorses, Landeskog, is named after his teammate Gabriel Landeskog.

Erik Robert Johnson (born March 21, 1988) is an American ice hockey defenseman and alternate captain for the Colorado Avalanche in the National Hockey League (NHL). Nicknamed the "Condor", Johnson formerly played for the St. Louis Blues, with whom he began his NHL career. Additionally, he has represented the United States in numerous tournaments.


Plot.

Rabbi Jacob (Marcel Dalio) is one of the most loved rabbis of New York. One day, the French side of his family, the Schmolls, invite him to celebrate the bar mitzvah of the young David. Rabbi Jacob boards a plane to leave America for his birthland of France after more than 30 years of American life. His young friend Rabbi Samuel comes with him.  In Normandy, the rich businessman Victor Pivert (Louis de Funès) is also on his way; his daughter (Miou-Miou) will be married the next day. Pivert is a dreadful man: bad-tempered, rude and a bigot, with a well-honed racism against blacks, Jews, and pretty much all foreigners. He and his driver, Salomon (Henri Guybet), have a car accident in which Pivert's car (carrying a speed boat) flips upside-down into a lake. When Salomon, who is Jewish, refuses to help because Shabbat has just begun, Pivert fires him, much to Salomon's content.  Arab revolutionist leader Mohamed Larbi Slimane (Claude Giraud) is kidnapped by killers who are working for his country's government. The team, led by Colonel Farès, takes him by night to an empty bubble gum factory... the same place where Victor Pivert goes to find assistance. Pivert involuntarily helps Slimane to flee, leaving two killers' corpses behind them. The police, alerted by Salomon, find the bodies and accuse Pivert of the crime.  The next day, Slimane forces Pivert to go to Orly airport to catch a plane to Slimane's country (if the revolution succeeds, he will become President). However, they are followed by a number of people: the jealous Germaine, Pivert's wife, who thinks her husband is going to leave her for another woman; Farès and the killers; and the police commissioner Andréani (Claude Piéplu), a zealous and overly suspicious cop who imagines that Pivert is the new Al Capone. Farès and his cohorts manage to kidnap Germaine, and they use her own dentist equipment to interrogate her.  Trying to conceal his and Pivert's identities, Slimane attacks two rabbis in the toilets, stealing their clothes and shaving their beards and their payot. The disguises are perfect, and they are mistaken for Rabbi Jacob and Rabbi Samuel by the Schmoll family. The only one who recognizes Pivert (and Slimane) behind the disguise is Salomon, his former driver, who just happens to be a Schmoll nephew. But Pivert and Slimane are able to keep their identity secret and even manage to hold a sermon in Hebrew, thanks to the polylingual Slimane (who is deeply gutted, of course).  After a few misunderstandings, Commissioner Andréani and his two inspectors are mistaken by the Jews for terrorists, attempting to kill Rabbi Jacob. The real Rabbi Jacob arrives at Orly, where no one is waiting for him any more. He is mistaken for Victor Pivert by the police, then by Farès and his killers (both times in a painful way for his long beard).  There is a chaotic, but sweeping happy ending:

The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (, ) is a 1973 French-Italian comedy film directed by Gérard Oury, starring Louis de Funès and Claude Giraud. The plot involves a bigoted businessman and a kidnapper who disguise themselves as rabbis to escape from a group of assassins. One of De Funès' most popular and iconic movies, it has become a cult classic.


Biography.

Perkins graduated from the Tilton School in 1963. He subsequently attended Middlebury College for two years before dropping out. He later earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Boston University in 1968. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador from 1968 to 1970. He spent the 1970s working for the Boston strategic-consulting firm Chas. T. Main; he claims to have been screened for this job by the National Security Agency (NSA) and subsequently hired by Einar Greve, a member of the firm (alleged by Perkins to have been acting as an NSA liaison, a claim which Greve has denied).  As Chief Economist at Chas. T. Main, Perkins and his staff advised the World Bank, United Nations, IMF, U.S. Treasury Department, Fortune 500 corporations, and countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. He worked directly with heads of state and CEOs of major companies. Perkins's time at Chas T. Main provides the basis for his subsequent published claims that, as an "economic hit man", he was charged with inducing developing countries to borrow large amounts of money, designated to pay for questionable infrastructure investments, but ultimately with a view to making the debt-laden countries more dependent, economically and politically, upon the West.  In the 1980s Perkins left Main and founded and directed an independent energy company. In the book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", Perkins claims that his company was successful due to 'coincidences' orchestrated by those appreciative of his silence about the work he says he did as an economic hit man.  Perkins is a founder and board member of Dream Change and The Pachamama Alliance, nonprofit organizations devoted to promoting environmentally sustainable and socially just societies. He has lectured at Harvard, Oxford, and more than 50 universities around the world, and is the author of eight books on global economics and indigenous cultures. He has been featured on ABC, NBC, CNN, CNBC, NPR, A&E, the History Channel, "Time, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Der Spiegel," and many other publications, as well as in numerous documentaries. He was awarded the Lennon Ono Grant for Peace 2012, and Rainforest Action Network Challenging Business As Usual Award, 2006.  Perkins's story is the main theme in part II of the movie "", released in October 2008. In that same year, he appeared in the film, "The End of Poverty?". His life as an economic hit man is detailed in the full-length movie, "Apology of an Economic Hit Man". He also appears in the films "The Weight of Chains" by Boris Malagurski, released in December 2010, "Let's Make Money" (in German) by the Austrian director Erwin Wagenhofer, released October 2008, and "Four Horsemen" by Ross Ashcroft, released in 2012.

Controversy.

Sebastian Mallaby, economics columnist of the "Washington Post", reacted sharply to Perkins' book: describing him as "a conspiracy theorist, a vainglorious peddler of nonsense, and yet his book, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", is a runaway bestseller." Mallaby, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, holds that Perkins' conception of international finance is "largely a dream" and that his "basic contentions are flat wrong." As an example, Mallaby states that Indonesia reduced its infant mortality and illiteracy rates by two-thirds after economists persuaded its leaders to borrow money in 1970. Perkins points out that the gap between rich and poor and the number of impoverished people in Indonesia and many other countries has increased greatly as a result of the loans, that the rich benefited and the middle class and poor suffered.  Articles in the "New York Times" and "Boston" magazine, as well as a press release issued by the United States Department of State, have referred to a lack of documentary or testimonial evidence to corroborate the claim that the NSA was involved in his hiring by Chas T. Main. After an extensive investigation, the "New York Times" concluded that "the arc of Mr. Perkins's career seems to be described accurately," although they did not find evidence to support "some of his fancier claims," including those involving the NSA.  In a 2006 statement, a State Department release claims that much of the book "appears to be a total fabrication... the National Security Agency is a cryptological (codemaking and codebreaking) organization, not an economic organization... Neither of [its] missions anything remotely resembling placing economists at private companies in order to increase the debt of foreign countries." Perkins responds that Wikileaks and Edward Snowden documents clearly demonstrated that the NSA is involved in a wide range of activities that have nothing to do with codemaking and codebreaking and that often serve to undermine other countries and their leaders.  The State Department also claims that Perkins has alleged U.S. Government complicity in "the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., former Beatle John Lennon, and several unnamed U.S. senators who had died in plane crashes." Questioned in a recorded interview about the State Department claims on the assassinations, Perkins replied, "No, I've never alleged that. I probably opened a question as to whether it might have been that way." There is no mention in any of his books about U.S. Government complicity in these assassinations. Perkins, however, does allege that two of his clients, President Jaime Roldós Aguilera of Ecuador and Omar Torrijos of Panama, had been assassinated and the US government had been involved, adding "I know. I was there."

Bibliography.

Perkins's books on mystical aspects of indigenous cultures, including shamanism, include:

References.

John Perkins also appeared in "Dangerous Edge: A Life of Graham Greene." See link https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5562900/reference

John Perkins (born January 28, 1945) is an American author. His best known book is "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" (2004), in which Perkins claims to have played a role in an alleged process of economic colonization of Third World countries on behalf of what he portrays as a cabal of corporations, banks, and the United States government. This book spent more than 70 weeks on the "New York Times" bestseller list, has been published in at least 32 languages, and is used in many college and university programs.


Events.

Immediately prior to the accident, a barge being pushed by the towboat "Mauvilla" (owned and operated by Warrior and Gulf Navigation of Chickasaw, Alabama) had made a wrong turn on the Mobile River and entered the Big Bayou Canot, an un-navigable channel of water crossed by a CSX Transportation rail bridge.  The towboat's pilot, Willie Odom, was not properly trained on how to read his radar and so, due to very poor visibility in heavy fog and his lack of experience, did not realize he was off course. The boat also lacked a compass and a chart of the waters. Odom believed that he was still on the Mobile River and had identified the bridge in the radar as another tug boat. After the investigation, he was not found to be criminally liable for the accident.  The bridge was struck by the "Mauvilla" at about 2:45 am. The span had been designed to rotate so it could be converted to a swing bridge by adding suitable equipment. No such conversion had ever been performed but the span had not been adequately secured against unintended movement. The collision forced the unsecured end of the bridge span approximately three feet out of alignment and severely kinked the track.  At 2:53 a.m., Amtrak's "Sunset Limited" train, powered by three locomotives (one GE Genesis P40DC number 819 in the front and two EMD F40PHs, numbers 262 and 312) en route from Los Angeles, California to Miami, Florida with 220 passengers and crew aboard, crossed the bridge at around and derailed at the kink. The first of its three locomotives slammed into the displaced span, causing that part of the bridge to collapse into the water beneath. The lead locomotive embedded itself nose-first into the canal bank and the other two locomotives, together with the baggage car, sleeping car and two of the six passenger cars, plunged into the water. The locomotives' fuel tanks, each of which held several thousand gallons of diesel fuel, ruptured upon impact, resulting in a massive fuel spill and a fire. Forty-seven people, 42 of whom were passengers, were killed many by drowning, others by fire/smoke inhalation. Another 103 were injured. The towboat's four crew members were not injured. Odom helped save seventeen people after the crash using the same towboat that had been pushing the barge that hit the bridge. At the time of the derailment, the lead locomotive, number 819, had been in service with Amtrak for only twenty days.  Despite the displacement of the bridge, the continuously welded rails did not break. As a result, the track circuit controlling the bridge approach block signals remained closed (intact) and the nearest signal continued to display a clear (green) aspect. Had one of the rails been severed by the bridge's displacement, the track circuit would have opened, causing the approach signal to display a stop (red) aspect and the preceding signal an amber (caution) approach indication. This might have given the Amtrak engineer sufficient time to stop his train or at least reduce its speed in an effort to minimize the accident's severity.

Fatal delay.

An episode of the National Geographic Channel documentary series "Seconds From Disaster" examined the accident. In addition to corroborating findings of the official accident report, the program revealed that the train had been delayed in New Orleans by repairs to an air conditioner unit and a toilet. This had put it a half-hour behind schedule. If not for this delay, the "Sunset Limited" would have passed over the Big Bayou Canot bridge twenty minutes before the bridge was hit by the barge.

Aftermath.

As a result of its investigation of this accident, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) made a comprehensive series of recommendations, on September 19, 1994, to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Amtrak, the American Waterways Operators, Inc., the Warrior & Gulf Navigation Company, the Association of American Railroads, and the American Short Line Railroad Association. Following a recommendation to maintain a record of onboard passenger numbers, Amtrak now records passenger lists electronically.

The Big Bayou Canot rail accident was the derailing of an Amtrak train on the CSX Transportation Big Bayou Canot Bridge in southwestern Alabama, United States, on September 22, 1993. It was caused by displacement of a span and deformation of the rails when a tow of heavy barges collided with the rail bridge eight minutes earlier. 47 people were killed and 103 more were injured. To date, it is both the deadliest train wreck in Amtrak's history and the worst rail disaster in the United States since the 1958 Newark Bay, New Jersey rail accident in which 48 lives were lost.


Preparation.

The dish is a famous soup, and often consumed by tourists and locals. An important ingredient in Fisherman's Soup is in the court-bouillon, which adds significant flavor. To prepare the soup base, fish trimmings are used, fresh carp heads, bones, skin and fins. These are boiled with water, salt and vegetables (red onions, green peppers and tomatoes) for two hours. When ready, the court bouillon is strained. Hot ground paprika and two finger-thick carp fillets, the roe and coral is added, ten minutes before serving, to the boiling soup.  Fisherman's Soup variations  Traditionally, the soup is prepared in small kettles on open fire on the river banks by fishermen. Fisherman's soup in kettle is prepared with fresh fish on the place. When prepared in kettles, first, chopped onion is fried in the kettle with some oil until it is caramelized. Then, ground "paprika" is added and the kettle is filled with water. When the water comes to a boil, other spices (such as black pepper, white wine, tomato juice) are added, and finally the fish, chopped into large pieces. Entire fish, including heads and tails, are often added to the soup. The soup is usually prepared with mixed fish, the most common species are common carp, catfish, perch and pike. Depending on the amount of added hot paprika the soup is mildly to very hot. The Hungarian soup is famous for being very hot and spicy.  The soup is served directly from the kettle and eaten with bread (the spicier the soup, the more bread is required).  Many people, especially fishermen, regard the preparation of fish soup as somewhat secretive. Although the recipe is basically simple, the "right" ratio of spices, onion, fish (its quality and variety) and water, as well as timing, affect the soup taste significantly. Many dedicated fishermen regarded their recipe as a highly-kept secret.  Competitions in preparing the soup are popular and are usually held at fairs along river coast. Visitors are offered to taste the soup for money or for free; the quality is determined by public or committee and (un)success of competitors is often subject of mutual teasing.  The soup is best accompanied by dry white wine (such as Riesling), which may be diluted with soda water. The combination of wine and soda water (a wine spritzer) is called "fröccs" in Hungarian.  The Fisherman's soup or halászlé is a traditional dish for Christmas Eve dinner in Hungary.

The Solanaceae, or nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and ornamentals. Many members of the family contain potent alkaloids, and some are highly toxic, but many—including tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, bell and chili peppers—are used as food. The family belongs to the order Solanales, in the asterid group and class Magnoliopsida (dicotyledons). The Solanaceae consists of about 98 genera and some 2,700 species, with a great diversity of habitats, morphology and ecology.


Plot.

Gaius Calpurnius Piso, a leading Roman statesman, benefactor of literature, and orator, intended to have Nero assassinated, and replace him as Emperor through acclamation by the Praetorian Guard. He enlisted the aid of several prominent senators, equestrians, and soldiers with a loosely conceived plan in which Faenius Rufus—joint prefect of the Praetorian Guard with Ofonius Tigellinus—would conduct Piso to the Praetorian Camp, where the Guard would acclaim him as emperor. The conspirators were said to have varying motives. Some wished to replace Nero with a better emperor; others wished to be free of emperors altogether, and to restore a purely Republican form of government. According to the Roman historian Tacitus, the ringleaders included a Praetorian tribune named Subrius Flavus, and a centurion named Sulpicius Asper, who helped Piso devise the plot.  The conspiracy was put in jeopardy by a woman named Epicharis, who divulged parts of the plan to Volusius Proculus, a fleet captain in Campania. Epicharis was involved with the conspiracy and was attempting to move it along faster. When Proculus complained to Epicharis that Nero did not favor him, she informed him of the conspiracy. Proculus informed Nero of the conspiracy and Epicharis was arrested. Though she denied the accusations, the conspiracy collapsed and Epicharis was tortured brutally. While on transport to be tortured a second time, she committed suicide by strangling herself with her own girdle.  On the morning that the conspirators' plot was to be carried out (19 April) a freedman named Milichus and his wife discovered the conspiracy and reported it to Nero's secretary, Epaphroditos. The plot collapsed as Flavius Scaevinus, the man Milichus served, and Natalis, a conspirator whom Milichus also accused, quickly gave up everything they knew.  Nero ordered Piso, the philosopher Seneca, Seneca's nephew Lucan, and the satirist Petronius to commit suicide. Many others were also killed. In Plutarch's version, one of the conspirators remarked to a condemned prisoner that all would change soon (because Nero would be dead). The prisoner reported the conversation to Nero, who had the conspirator tortured until he confessed the plot.  The ancient Roman historian, Tacitus, writes in Annals that "It was rumoured that Subrius Flavus and the centurions had decided in private conference, though not without Seneca's knowledge, that, once Nero had been struck down by the agency of Piso, Piso should be disposed of in his turn, and the empire made over to Seneca; who would thus appear to have been chosen for the supreme power by innocent men, as a consequence of his distinguished virtues."

Named conspirators.

At least 41 individuals were accused of being part of the conspiracy. Of the known 41, there were 19 Senators, 7 Equites, 11 soldiers, and 4 women.

Executed or forced to commit suicide.

Piso, Plautius Lateranus, Lucan, Afranius Quintianus, Flavius Scaevinus, Claudius Senecio, Vulcatius Araricus, Julius Augurinus, Munatius Gratus, Marcius Festus, Faenius Rufus, Subrius Flavus, Sulpicius Asper, Maximus Scaurus, Venetus Paulus, Epicharis, Seneca the Younger, Antonia, Marcus Julius Vestinus Atticus.

Exiled or denigrated.

Novius Priscus, Annius Pollio, Publius Glitius Gallus, Rufrius Crispinus, Verginius Flavus, Musonius Rufus, Cluvidienus Quietus, Julius Agrippa, Blitius Catulinus, Petronius Pricus, Julius Altinus, Caesennius Maximus, Caedicia.

Pardoned or acquitted.

Antonius Natalis, Cervarius Proculus, Statius Proximus (but afterwards committed suicide), Gavius Silvanus (also afterwards committed suicide), Acilia Lucana.

Modern fiction.

The novel by Naomi Mitchison, "The Blood of the Martyrs" (1939), is set in the months leading up to the failure of the conspiracy.

The conspiracy of Gaius Calpurnius Piso in AD 65 was a major turning point in the reign of the Roman emperor Nero (reign 54–68). The plot reflected the growing discontent among the ruling class of the Roman state with Nero's increasingly despotic leadership, and as a result is a significant event on the road toward his eventual suicide and the chaos of the Year of the Four Emperors which followed.


Family.

A member of the House of Wittelsbach, she was born in Munich, Bavaria. Maria Josepha was the seventh and youngest child of Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria, and Holy Roman Emperor. Her mother, Maria Amalia, was an Archduchess of Austria by birth. Her maternal grandparents were Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Her paternal grandparents were Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, and Theresa Kunegunda Sobieska, the daughter of the King of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, John III Sobieski. Josepha's mother, Archduchess Maria Amalia, was also a first cousin to her future mother-in-law, Empress Maria Theresa, and therefore Josepha was a second cousin to her future husband, Joseph, King of the Romans.  Josepha's mother, Archduchess Maria Amalia, gave birth to seven children, only four of whom lived through to adulthood. Maria Josepha's siblings included her brother Maximilian III, Elector of Bavaria, and two sisters Maria Antonia, Electress of Saxony, and Maria Anna Josepha, Margravine of Baden-Baden.

Marriage.

Maria Josepha was first married by proxy on 13 January 1765, to her second cousin, the widowed Joseph, King of the Romans, and heir of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria in Munich, Germany. Upon her arrival to Vienna from Munich, her husband did not seem to be dissatisfied with his new wife and neither did the entourage who greeted the princess. She and Joseph formally married on 25 January 1765, at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, amidst suitable festivities. The marriage, however, was never happy; it had taken place only under pressure from Joseph's mother, Maria Theresa, who wanted her son to provide an heir to the throne. Joseph, however, had never wanted to remarry after the death of his beloved first wife, Isabella of Parma, although he had made some overtures toward Isabella's younger sister, Maria Luisa of Parma. Maria Luisa, however, was already promised to the Crown Prince of Spain and, in any case, was not interested.  Joseph did not find Maria Josepha physically attractive either—he described her in a letter when he first saw her as, "She is twenty five. She has never had smallpox, and the very thought of the disease makes me shudder. Her figure is short, thickset, and without a vestige of charm. Her face is covered with spots and pimples. Her teeth are horrible." However, Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg, had wanted Joseph to marry Maria Josepha because of the Bavarian connection, so she was ultimately selected to be Joseph's bride.  A month after his wedding, Joseph sent off a long, self-pitying letter to his first wife's father. He did not have anything in common with his new wife, he admitted; however, as far as her character was concerned, Maria Josepha was an "irreproachable woman" who loved him, and he valued her for her positive traits but suffered because he could not love her. Even her enemies admitted that Josepha was amiable, obliging, friendly to all, and disposed to every kind or benevolent sentiment; but her understanding was narrow as well as deficient in cultivation. Joseph further added, "I will keep the path of honour, and if I cannot be an affectionate husband, at least she will have in me a friend, who appreciates her good qualities and treats her with every imaginable consideration." Despite this, Joseph never kept his word.  As time went on he did more than treat Josepha with perfect frigidity. Maria Josepha's sister-in-law, Archduchess Marie Christine, once wrote: "I believe if I were his [Joseph's] wife and so maltreated I would run away and hang myself on a tree in Schonbrunn." Despite Joseph's cold behaviour towards her, Maria Josepha had loved her husband with much ardour and was deeply affected by his unkindness towards her. Being of a meek and timid disposition, and conscious of her own inferiority, she trembled and turned pale whenever she came in her husband's presence. The only member of the imperial family who took the poor young queen under his wing was her father-in-law, Emperor Francis I; and when Francis died shortly after her marriage, she had no real support in the court. Upon Francis I's death on 18 August 1765, Maria Josepha became Empress of the Holy Roman Empire following her husband's accession to the throne. Her mother-in-law, however, remained the most powerful and important Power figure in the Empire and at court in Vienna and Holy Roman Empire.  Maria Josepha and Joseph's short-lived marriage did not produce any children, but for much of the two years of her marriage, Josepha's state of health led her and others to suppose that she was pregnant. In October 1765, in sentences delicately omitted by Arneth from a published version of a letter to his younger brother Leopold, Joseph wrote: 'As for my empress, there is no change. She has no illness but considerable disturbance. She [Josepha] maybe pregnant though without the slightest swelling. I just don't understand it, and I console myself with the happy life I lead as a bachelor husband.'  Next month, he wrote: 'I live almost as a bachelor, getting up at 6 o'clock in the morning, going to bed at 11, seeing my wife only at table and touching her only in bed.' In the same month, Josepha's mistress of the household retired, because she could no longer bear to contemplate the "tableau de ce mauvais menage". Apparently, the young empress had made matters worse for herself by telling her troubles to her servants.

Death.

On 28 May 1767, after only two years of marriage, Maria Josepha died of smallpox as had her predecessor Isabella. Upon the young empress' death, the Court immediately plunged into mourning. Her husband did not visit her during her illness, although her mother-in-law, Maria Theresa, did. In doing so, Maria Theresa also caught the disease, but survived.  In Joseph's first reaction to receiving the news of his wife's death, he had told some of his intimates some remarks which imply regrets for the coldness he had shown to her. He further brought himself to tell his sister-in-law, Duchess Maria Antonia, that his wife had been "for so many reasons worthy of respect". Maria Josepha was buried in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna, but Joseph did not attend her burial.  The unloved young empress played a role in her husband's life once more after her death, when he laid claim to a large part of Bavaria in 1778–1779. He based his claim on, among other grounds, his marriage to his Bavarian second wife. This conflict eventually grew into the War of the Bavarian Succession. In the end, the Habsburg dynasty gained only the Innviertel.

Maria Josepha of Bavaria (Maria Josepha Antonia Walburga Felicitas Regula, 20 March 173928 May 1767) was Holy Roman Empress, Queen of the Romans, Archduchess of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, etc. by her marriage to Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor. By birth, she was a Princess and Duchess of Bavaria as the daughter of Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor, Elector of Bavaria, and Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria.


Plug gauge.

These gauges are referred to as plug gauges; they are used in the manner of a plug. They are generally assembled from standard parts, where the gauge portion is interchangeable with other gauge pieces (obtained from a set of pin type and a body that uses the collet principle to hold the gauges firmly. To use this style of gauge, one end is inserted into the part first, and depending on the result of that test, the other end is tried.  In the right image, the top gauge is a thread gauge that is screwed into the part to be tested, the "GO" end should fully enter the part; the "NOT GO" end should not. The lower image is a plain plug gauge used to check the size of a hole; the green end is the "go", and the red end is the "no-go". The tolerance of the part that this gauge checks is 0.30 mm, where the lower size of the hole is 12.60 mm and the upper size is 12.90 mm, every size outside this range is "out of tolerance". This may be initially expressed on the parts drawing in a number of styles; three possibilities may be

Pin gauge.

The image on the right is a set of pin gauges used to measure holes only a few millimeters in diameter.

Snap gauge.

Snap gauges are often used when a large quantity of work pieces must be inspected. The snap gauge has four "anvils" or "jaws", the first one or pair (outermost) are set using the upper limit (tolerance) of the part and the inner set adjusted to the lower limit of the part. A correctly machined part will pass the first set of jaws and stop at the second—end of test. In this manner, a part may be checked in one action, unlike the plug gauge that needs to be used twice and flipped to access the second gauge. The first go/no-go snap gage for checking thread rolls was invented in 1943 to speed production of parts during WWII.

Other styles.

Once the concept is understood, the principle of operation can lead to all manner of designs where internal grooves, keyways, splines, etc. may be measured in a simple yet effective manner. These will often be made to order by the toolmakers, or a related skilled tradesman.  Go/no-go gauges play an integral part in setting the correct headspace during gunsmithing. In order for the chamber to be in-spec, the bolt must close without resistance on the go gauge, but it must not close completely on the no-go gauge. In addition, there is usually a third gauge called FIELD that is slightly larger than the no-go gauge. Since bolt and chamber lugs eventually stretch with use, the bolt may start to close on the no-go gauge. If the bolt also closes fully on the field gauge, such a gun is considered unsafe due to high risk of shell case rupture if the cartridges length happens to be on the shorter end of the spec.  A special match-grade go gauge can also be employed to verify a particularly tight, or shorter-than-SAAMI spec. chamber length. Such gauges are usually specially ordered from chamber-reamer manufacturers. This minimizes case stretch or end-play in order to best control the positioning of an unfired round prior to its firing in a match-grade chamber. Such chambers are also usually cut to tighter dimensions in the case-neck area. Thus, a standard go gauge may not actually chamber as easily due to these reduced dimensions, even if they are cut properly.

A go/no-go gauge refers to an inspection tool used to check a workpiece against its allowed tolerances via a go/no-go test. Its name is derived from two tests: the check involves the workpiece having to pass one test ("go") and fail the other ("no-go").