Playing career.

Samuelsson was selected 67th overall by the Hartford Whalers in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft. In February, 1987, Samuelsson played in the "Rendez-vous '87" series as a member of the NHL All-Stars. The two game series between the NHL All-Stars and the Soviet national team took place in Quebec City and replaced the NHL's mid-season all-star game for the 1986-87 season.  He was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins along with Ron Francis in 1991 and was a member of Pittsburgh's Stanley Cup winning team in 1991 and 1992. He scored the 1991 Stanley Cup-winning goal in game six of the finals against the Minnesota North Stars, at 2:00 of the first period in what became an 8–0 blowout victory for Pittsburgh.  In a game versus the Boston Bruins during the 1991 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Samuelsson hit Bruins' star forward Cam Neely with a body check that injured Neely and caused him to develop a condition called myositis ossificans, which ultimately ended his career.  As a member of the New York Rangers in 1995, Samuelsson was famously knocked unconscious by a sucker punch to the face from Tie Domi of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Domi received an eight-game suspension and a fine for the incident, described by some as one of the cheapest shots in NHL history. Domi insisted that Samuelsson provoked the punch by repeatedly calling him "dummy".  Samuelsson played 1,080 career NHL games, scoring 57 goals and 275 assists for 332 points. He accumulated 2,453 penalty minutes over the course of his career.  During the Nagano Olympics, he was ejected from the Swedish team when it was discovered that he had requested and received US citizenship. His Swedish citizenship was revoked and he was not allowed to play. The entire ordeal was listed as the seventy-second most important international story by the IIHF in their centennial celebrations in 2008.

Personal life.

Samuelsson is a resident of Scottsdale, Arizona. Samuelsson's sons, Philip and Henrik are professional hockey players. His daughter, Victoria, played hockey at Penn State University.

Coaching career.

On May 2, 2011, Samuelsson accepted the head coaching position of Modo Hockey, a position he held for two seasons.  On May 31, 2016, it was announced that Samuelsson accepted a head coach position with the Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League. In 2017 Samuelsson was hired as an assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League. On November 6, 2018 he was fired along with head coach Joel Quenneville.

Ulf Bo Samuelsson (born March 26, 1964) is a retired Swedish-American professional ice hockey defenceman who currently serves as head coach of Leksands IF of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). He played several seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Hartford Whalers, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, and Philadelphia Flyers. During his playing career Samuelsson was viewed by NHL stars as "the most hated man in hockey"; he was described to the New York Times as "the lowest form of human being" and someone whose play is all about "trying to hurt you and knock you out of the game". He was a two-time Stanley Cup champion as a member of the Penguins in 1991 and 1992.


Playing career.

Krejčí was drafted by the Boston Bruins in the third round, 63rd overall, of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. He was drafted out of Czech junior leagues, having played for HC Kladno. Following his selection, he moved to North America to play major junior hockey in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) for the Gatineau Olympiques for two seasons.

Professional.

Krejčí turned professional in 2006–07, playing for the Bruins' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Providence Bruins. He played in his first NHL game on 30 January 2007 in a 7–1 loss against the Buffalo Sabres, but suffered a concussion from Buffalo's Adam Mair during his third shift. He recorded just 2:07 minutes of ice time. Krejčí played increasingly with Boston the following season, appearing in 56 NHL games to go with 25 games for Providence. On 19 February 2008, Krejčí was involved in a shootout tie-breaker round, in a Bruins road game against the Carolina Hurricanes, and scored to help the Bruins take the shootout 2–1. Krejčí's shootout tally would not register as his first NHL goal, as shootout goals do not count towards a player's statistical totals. Krejčí scored his first official NHL goal one week later on 26 February against Martin Gerber of the Ottawa Senators, the second Bruins' goal in a 4–0 home shutout. He finished his rookie NHL season with 6 goals and 27 points.  During the 2008–09 season, Krejčí scored his first NHL hat-trick on 18 December 2008 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He registered his first two goals against starter Vesa Toskala and his third against Curtis Joseph in an 8–5 Bruins win. About the midpoint of that season, NESN's play-by-play TV announcer Jack Edwards for televised Bruins games gave Krejčí the nickname ""The Matrix"", due to his ability to slow down the pace of a game through his skating style and abilities on the ice. Before a game on 2 April 2009, Krejčí was named the winner of the Boston Bruins' 2009 Seventh Player Award. The award is given annually to the player who "goes beyond the call of duty and exceeds all expectations" throughout the course of the season. During the game, Krejčí assisted on a goal by Milan Lucic, the 2008 winner of the Seventh Player Award, in a 2–1 home ice victory over the Ottawa Senators. He completed his second NHL season with a then-career-high 73 points in 82 games to go with a league-high +37 plus-minus rating. On 2 June 2009, he signed a multi-year contract extension with the Bruins, reportedly a three-year contract paying an average of $3.75 million per year.  At the beginning of November 2009, Krejčí was noticeably ill; on 5 November 2009, it was confirmed that Krejčí had been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, which sidelined him for a period of time.  On 5 May 2010, during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs, Krejčí dislocated his wrist less than five minutes into a game when he was checked at the Bruins' blue line by Philadelphia Flyers' centre Mike Richards. Surgery was needed and was performed following the game at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, and Krejčí missed the remainder of the playoffs.  On 25 May 2011, in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Krejčí recorded his second NHL career hat-trick. He was the first Bruin to record a playoff hat-trick since Cam Neely, two decades prior. On 15 June, Krejčí and the Bruins won the team's first Stanley Cup in 39 years after defeating the Vancouver Canucks 4–0 in Game 7 of the Finals. Krejčí finished the 2011 playoffs with a playoff-leading 12 goals, 23 points and 4 game-winning goals.  On 1 March 2012, in a game against the New Jersey Devils, Krejčí scored his third career hat-trick, scoring in the first, third and overtime period in a 4–3 win. In Game 4 of the 2013 opening round playoffs against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Krejčí scored a hat-trick, including the game-winning goal in overtime.  On 1 October 2013, Krejčí was named an alternate captain of the Bruins. On 25 October 2013, he scored a game-winning goal with 0.8 seconds left against the San Jose Sharks and goaltender Antti Niemi.  On 3 September 2014, Krejčí signed a six-year contract extension with the Bruins. During a road game on 20 February 2015 against the St. Louis Blues, Krejčí suffered a partial tear of his MCL in his left knee, forcing him off the ice for 4–6 weeks for a recovery.  During the Bruins' home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on 8 December 2018, Krejčí became the tenth-highest scoring Bruins' player of all-time (surpassing Cam Neely) when he recorded a goal and an assist in a 6–3 Bruins' win, bringing his points total to 592. Three days later, on 11 December, Krejčí played his 800th NHL game, recording three assists in a Bruins' 4–3 home win over the Arizona Coyotes. Just one week later, on 20 December, Krejčí recorded his 600th career NHL point after scoring the Bruins' third goal in a 4–1 home ice defeat of the Anaheim Ducks.

International play.

After the Bruins' 2007–08 season ended, Krejčí was named to the Czech national team on 26 April 2008, for the 2008 IIHF World Championships. He was named to the Czech national team for the 2010 Winter Olympics, playing centre on a line with wingers Tomáš Fleischmann and Martin Erat to open the Games.  Following the Bruins' defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round of the 2018 playoffs, Krejčí was invited to participate at the 2018 IIHF World Championship.

David Krejčí (, born 28 April 1986) is a Czech professional ice hockey centre and alternate captain for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was part of the Bruins' Stanley Cup win in 2011 and led the NHL in points during the 2011 and 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs. He was named to the Czech national team for the 2010 and 2014 Olympic teams.


Life.

Philip IV was the son of Philip III of Nassau-Weilburg and his third wife Amalie of Isenburg-Büdingen.  Philip IV and his older half-brother Albert of Nassau-Weilburg were educated in the Protestant faith by Kasper Goltwurm at Neuweilburg Castle. Philip later studied at the University of Jena, where he was rector for a while.  On 4 October 1559 his father died. Philip and Albert inherited the County of Nassau-Weilburg. As Philip was only sixteen years old, John III of Nassau-Saarbrücken, the senior member of the Walram line of the House of Nassau took up the guardianship. Initially, the brothers Albert and Philip ruled together. However, the huge debt they had inherited from their father curtailed their ability to act. Nevertheless, they managed to slowly improve their fiscal situation. On 15 May 1561, the brothers split their inheritance for the first time. Albert received the castle and district of Weilburg, while Philip received Castle and district of Neuweilnau. The largest part of their territory and the father's the debt, however, remained common property. Philip moved into Neuweilnau Castle, which had already served his father as a residence. Between 1564 and 1566, he significantly expanded the castle.  Philip belonged to the Wetterau Association of Imperial Counts, in which Albert took a leading role. In 1567 and 1568, Philip met with William the Silent several times. He participated in the preparation of the Dutch War of Independence against Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba. However, the attack on the Netherlands in 1568, failed.  In 1570 John III of Nassau-Saarbrücken wrote a last will and testament, appointing the half-brothers Albert and Philip as his heirs. John had no male offspring and wanted to ensure that the counties of Saarbrücken, Saarland and Ottweiler were preserved by the Walram line of the House of Nassau in accordance with the inheritance treaty of 1491. As early as 1571 Philip took over the regency over parts of John's estate. He moved his residence from Neuweilnau to Saarbrücken. In the same year Albert and Philip divided the part of the county in Weilburg they had shared earlier. They also closed several treaties with the Landgraviate of Hesse, dividing territories shared by Nassau and Hesse.  Just one year later, in 1572, Philip managed to secularize the St. Mary Abbey in Rosenthal. The Nassau family had a close relationship with the abbey. Their ancestor Adolf of Nassau, the only member of the family to be elected King of Germany, had been temporarily buried there.  In 1572, Philip had Wanborn Castle, a 12th-century structure in the vicinity of Saarbrücken, torn down and a Renaissance style hunting lodge with four wings named constructed on the spot. This lodge was destroyed during the Thirty Years' War; only a vaulted cellar remains. The hunting castle was later built there; the remains of this castle now form the center of a nature preserve.  John III died in 1574 and the Catholic counties of Saarbrücken, Saarland and Ottweiler fell to Albert and Philip of the Weilburg branch of the House of Nassau. They divided this inheritance: Philip received Saarbrüchen, Saarwerden and the Lordship of Stauf; Albert received Ottweiler, the districts of Homburg and Kirchheim and the Lordships of Lahr and Mahlberg in the Black Forest.  Their inheritance of Saarbrücken was challenged from various quarters. Duke Charles III of Lorraine, demanded the county Saarwerden back as a completed fief. However, Albert as the Senior member of the Walram line of Nassau, managed to let Nassau law prevail before the Supreme Court of Appeal. The dispute went on for years and threatened several times to escalate to a militarily level. This was the main reason that Philip moved his main residence to Saarbrücken. His newly built "summer house at Saarbrücken", which forms the basis of today's Saarbrücken Castle, served as his residence.  The Elector Palatine, Frederick III also claimed parts of the inheritance. Here too, the House of Nassau managed to prevail on the essential points. Several large treaties were closed, in which the exact rights and boundaries of the Nassau and Palatinate territories were defined. On the first of January 1575 Philip introduced the Reformation in his territories, after the example of Hesse. The court chaplain at Saarbrücken, Gebhart Beilstein from Wetzlar, was tasked with the implementation. Catholic priests were converted to the new faith or removed from office; church property was confiscated; schools were established and patronage was acquired. The celebration of "pagan" feasts, such as St. John's Eve, and dancing on Sundays, were prohibited by law. Philip issued an extensive Church Order. His implementation of the Reformation intensified his disputes with the Duchy of Lorraine, which was still Catholic.  Philip III. died on 12 March 1602 in Saarbrücken. He was buried in the traditional crypt of the house of Nassau-Saarbrücken, in the Collegiate Church (now the Evangelical Church) in St. Arnual (now part of Saarbrücken). As Philip had no sons, his territories were inherited by his nephew Louis II of Nassau-Weilburg, who then held all the territories of the Walram line of Nassau.

Marriages and issue.

Philip married his first wife Erika of Manderscheid-Blankenheim on 9 April 1563. They had only child:  After the Erika's death in 1581, Philip married on 3 October 1583 Elisabeth of Nassau-Dillenburg, a daughter of John VI "the elder" of Dillenburg. After Philip's death, Elizabeth married Ernest Wolfgang of Isenburg-Büdingen.

Philip IV of Nassau-Weilburg, also known as Philip III of Nassau-Saarbrücken (14 October 1542 in Weilburg – 12 March 1602 in Saarbrücken) was Count of Nassau-Weilburg from 1559 until his death and since 1574 also Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken. Both possessions belonged to the Walram line of the House of Nassau. In Weilburg, he was the fourth count named Philip, but only the third in Saarbrücken, because his father, Philip III of Nassau-Weilburg never held Nassau-Saarbrücken.


Education and career.

Huerta de Soto received a bachelor's degree in economics in 1978 and a PhD in economics in 1992, from Complutense University. His MBA in actuarial science is from Stanford University, 1985. In 2000 he became a full professor of Political Economy at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid. Since 2007 he is director of the Austrian Economics Master Program "Master Economía de la Escuela Austríaca" at the Rey Juan Carlos University.  Huerta de Soto was Editor of seven volumes of the Spanish language version of the University of Chicago Press's "The Collected Works of F.A. Hayek". In that capacity, he was responsible for bibliographies, footnotes, introductions, and hiring translators. He is a member of the editorial board of "New Perspectives on Political Economy" and on the advisory editorial board of the "Journal of Markets and Morality". Huerta de Soto is a Senior Fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and is on the editorial board of its "Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics". He was formerly a Trustee of the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (IMDEA) in social sciences and was a vice-president and director of the Mont Pelerin Society from 2000 to 2004.

Economic views.

Classical liberalism.

An anarcho-capitalist, Huerta argues that classical liberalism and their ideal is theoretically impossible; he also notes that classical liberals have failed to limit the power of the state.

General equilibrium theory.

Economist Leland B. Yeager has cited Huerta de Soto as an example of scorn in economics. Yeager states that Soto scorns general equilibrium theory, citing a passage in which Soto refers to the "pernicious analysis" of price equilibrium at "the intersection of mysterious curves or functions lacking any real existence...even in the minds of the actors involved."

Austrian business cycle and full reserve banking.

Huerta de Soto advocates full-reserve banking, a system in which 100% reserve requirements for banks would prevent any expansion of credit.  In 2006, Huerta de Soto wrote an 876-page book on the subject, published in English by the Mises Institute as "Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles". Samuel Gregg reviewed the book writing that "[t]he sheer length of this text will demand much time and concentration of readers wishing to fully absorb its insights. Certainly there is an element of repetition at different points. This tends, however, to reflect De Soto's determination to demonstrate that the moral, legal, and economic dimensions of money, credit, and banking cannot be artificially separated from each other without risking the loss of a sound understanding of the subject." In the journal New Perspectives on Political Economy, Ludwig van den Hauwe suggested that "[e]ven if it may be difficult at this time to gauge in any precise manner the effect the book will have on the economics profession at large, there can be no doubt the book is destined to become a classic, both by virtue of the subject matters that are treated and in virtue of the manner in which they are treated: thoroughly and authoritatively."  Larry J. Sechrest's review of Huerta de Soto's book, also published by the Mises Institute, stated that the author attempted to provide "final and decisive proof" that fractional reserve banking is incompatible with private property rights, morality, and a stable economy. Sechrest wrote that although Huerta de Soto presented a painstaking investigation of legal theory, banking history, business cycles, and medieval theological doctrine, a great deal of it is irrelevant to the book's thesis. Sechrest concludes "Above all, Huerta de Soto refuses to even consider the possibility that banks' customers may have been quite willing to face some risk exposure in exchange for the benefits 100 percent reserve banks are unable to provide" and believes that "any departure from 100 percent reserve banking is automatically taken to be evidence of malfeasance by bankers, even when there is no clear data on the details of the contractual relations negotiated by depositors."  In his chapter on "Attempts to Legally Justify Fractional-Reserve Banking", Huerta de Soto considers the possibility "that a certain group of bank customers (or for the sake of argument, all of them) enter into a deposit contract aware and fully accepting that banks will invest (or loan, etc.) a large portion of the money they deposit". In this case, argues Huerta de Soto, "the supposed authorization from the depositors lacks legal validity" because few lay-persons understand the instability inherent in fractional-reserve banking: they believe their deposit is guaranteed, which Huerta de Soto considers a (near universal) misconception. As evidence of the true wishes of depositors, he cites the riots that resulted when banks suspended payments during the 1998–2002 Argentine great depression.

Money and banking.

Andre Azevedo Alves and Jose Moreira state that Huerta de Soto has written the "most complete and integrated analysis of the theories of banking" of the School of Salamanca.

Reception.

In a review for the Mises Institute's "Review of Austrian Economics", Institute Associated Scholar Leland B. Yeager called the book "the most thorough treatment in print of Austrian ideas on banking and the business cycle". Mises Institute Senior Fellow and former United States representative Ron Paul endorsed Huerta de Soto's view that fractional reserve banking is the cause of financial instability. An Institute of Economic Affairs review described "The Theory of Dynamic Efficiency" as "A major new collection in the field of Austrian economics" and called Huerta de Soto "a leading Spanish scholar".

Publications.

Journals.

For a list of articles published in Spanish, English, and other languages, see the Huerta de Soto website.

Jesús Huerta de Soto Ballester (born December 23, 1956) is a Spanish economist of the Austrian School. He is a professor in the Department of Applied Economics at King Juan Carlos University of Madrid, Spain and a Senior Fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute.


History.

18th century.

In 1795, the Batavian Republic was proclaimed. The Minister of Finance Isaac Gogel argued that a national museum, following the French example of The Louvre, would serve the national interest. On 19 November 1798, the government decided to found the museum.  On 31 May 1800, the National Art Gallery (Dutch: "Nationale Kunst-Galerij"), precursor of the Rijksmuseum, opened in Huis ten Bosch in The Hague. The museum exhibited around 200 paintings and historic objects from the collections of the Dutch stadtholders.

19th century.

In 1805, the National Art Gallery moved within The Hague to the Prince William V Gallery, on the Buitenhof.  In 1806, the Kingdom of Holland was established by Napoleon Bonaparte. On the orders of king Louis Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, the museum moved to Amsterdam in 1808. The paintings owned by that city, such as "The Night Watch" by Rembrandt, became part of the collection. In 1809, the museum opened in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam.  In 1817, the museum moved to the Trippenhuis. The Trippenhuis turned out to be unsuitable as a museum. In 1820, the historical objects were moved to the Mauritshuis in The Hague and in 1838, the 19th-century paintings ""of living masters"" were moved to King Louis Bonaparte's former summer palace Paviljoen Welgelegen in Haarlem.  In 1863, there was a design contest for a new building for the Rijksmuseum, but none of the submissions was considered to be of sufficient quality. Pierre Cuypers also participated in the contest and his submission reached the second place.  In 1876, a new contest was held and this time Pierre Cuypers won. The design was a combination of gothic and renaissance elements. The construction began on 1 October 1876. On both the inside and the outside, the building was richly decorated with references to Dutch art history. Another contest was held for these decorations. The winners were B. van Hove and J.F. Vermeylen for the sculptures, G. Sturm for the tile tableaus and painting and W.F. Dixon for the stained glass. The museum was opened at its new location on 13 July 1885.  In 1890, a new building was added a short distance to the south-west of the Rijksmuseum. As the building was made out of fragments of demolished buildings, the building offers an overview of the history of Dutch architecture and has come to be known informally as the 'fragment building'. It is also known as the'south wing' and is currently (in 2013) branded the "Philips Wing".

20th century.

In 1906, the hall for the "Night Watch" was rebuilt. In the interior more changes were made between the 1920s and 1950s - most multi-coloured wall decorations were painted over. In the 1960s exposition rooms and several floors were built into the two courtyards. The building had some minor renovations and restorations in 1984, 1995–1996 and 2000.  A renovation of the south wing of the museum, also known as the 'fragment building' or 'Philips Wing', was completed in 1996, the same year that the museum held its first major photography exhibition featuring its extensive collection of 19th-century photos.

21st century.

In December 2003, the main building of the museum closed for a major renovation. During this renovation, about 400 objects from the collection were on display in the 'fragment building', including Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" and other 17th-century masterpieces.  The restoration and renovation of the Rijksmuseum are based on a design by Spanish architects Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz. Many of the old interior decorations were restored and the floors in the courtyards were removed. The renovation would have initially taken five years, but was delayed and eventually took almost ten years to complete. The renovation cost € 375 million.  The reconstruction of the building was completed on 16 July 2012. In March 2013, the museum's main pieces of art were moved back from the 'fragment building' (Philips Wing) to the main building. "The Night Watch" returned to the Night Watch Room, at the end of the Hall of Fame. On 13 April 2013, the main building was reopened by Queen Beatrix. On 1 November 2014, the Philips Wing reopened with the exhibition.

Building.

The building of the Rijksmuseum was designed by Pierre Cuypers and opened in 1885. It consists of two squares with an atrium in each centre. In the central axis is a tunnel with the entrances at ground level and the Gallery of Honour at the first floor. The building also contains a library. The fragment building, branded Philips wing, contains building fragments that show the history of architecture in the Netherlands. The Rijksmuseum is a "rijksmonument" (national heritage site) since 1970 and was listed in the Top 100 Dutch heritage sites in 1990. The Asian pavilion was designed by Cruz y Ortiz and opened in 2013.  According to Muriel Huisman, Project Architect for the Rijksmuseum's renovation, "Cruz y Ortiz always like to look for synergy between old and new, and we try not to explain things with our architecture.” With the Rijks, “there’s no cut between old and new; we’ve tried to merge it. We did this by looking for materials that were true to the original building, resulting in a kind of silent architecture."

Collection.

The collection of the Rijksmuseum consists of 1 million objects and is dedicated to arts, crafts, and history from the years 1200 to 2000. Around 8,000 objects are currently on display in the museum.  The collection contains more than 2,000 paintings from the Dutch Golden Age by notable painters such as Jacob van Ruisdael, Frans Hals, Johannes Vermeer, Jan Steen, Rembrandt, and Rembrandt's pupils.  The museum also has a small Asian collection which is on display in the Asian pavilion.  It also displays the stern of HMS "Royal Charles" which was captured in the Raid on the Medway, and the Hartog plate.  In 2012, the museum took the unusual step of making some 125,000 high-resolution images available for download via its Rijksstudio webplatform, with plans to add another 40,000 images per year until the entire collection of one million works is available, according to Taco Dibbits, director of collections.

Number of visitors.

The 20th-century visitor record of 1,412,000 was reached in the year 1975.  In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Rijksmuseum was annually visited by 0.9 to 1.3 million people. On 7 December 2003, the main building of the museum was closed for a renovation until 13 April 2013. In the preceding decade, the number of visitors had slightly decreased to 0.8 to 1.1 million people. The museum says after the renovation, the museum's capacity is 1.5 to 2.0 million visitors annually. Within eight months since the reopening in 2013, the museum was visited by 2 million people.  The museum had 2.2 million visitors in 2013 and reached an all-time record of 2.47 million visitors in 2014. The museum was the most visited museum in the Netherlands and the 19th most visited art museum in the world in 2013 and 2014.

Library.

The Rijksmuseum Research Library is part of the Rijksmuseum, and is the best and the largest public art history research library in The Netherlands.

Restaurant.

Rijks, stylized as RIJKS®, is a restaurant with 140 seats in the Philips Wing. Joris Bijdendijk has been the chef de cuisine since the opening in 2014. The restaurant was awarded a Michelin star in 2017.

The Rijksmuseum (; ) is a Dutch national museum dedicated to arts and history in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Concertgebouw.


Early life and education.

Seddon was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where she attended St Rose of Lima Catholic School and graduated from Central High School in 1965. She received a bachelor of arts degree in physiology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1970, and a doctorate of medicine from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in 1973. While at the University of California, Seddon was a member of Sigma Kappa sorority.  After medical school, Seddon completed a surgical internship and 3 years of a general surgery residency in Memphis with a particular interest in nutrition in surgery patients. Between the period of her internship and residency, she served as an Emergency Department physician at a number of hospitals in Mississippi and Tennessee, and served in this capacity in the Houston area in her spare time. Seddon has also performed clinical research into the effects of radiation therapy on nutrition in cancer patients.

NASA experience.

Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in January 1978, Seddon became an astronaut in August 1979. Her work at NASA was in a variety of areas, including Orbiter and payload software, Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory, Flight Data File, Shuttle medical kit and checklist, launch and landing rescue helicopter physician, support crew member for STS-6, crew equipment, membership on NASA's Aerospace Medical Advisory Committee, Technical Assistant to the Director of Flight Crew Operations, and Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) in the Mission Control Center.  She was Assistant to the Director of Flight Crew Operations for Shuttle/Mir Payloads. A three-flight veteran with over 722 hours in space, Seddon was a mission specialist on STS-51D (1985) and STS-40 (1991), and was the payload commander on STS-58 (1993). In September 1996, she was detailed by NASA to Vanderbilt University Medical School in Nashville, Tennessee. She assisted in the preparation of cardiovascular experiments which flew aboard on the Neurolab Spacelab flight in April 1998. Seddon retired from NASA in November 1997. She is now the assistant Chief Medical Officer of the Vanderbilt Medical Group in Nashville, Tennessee.

Space flights.

STS-51-D (), April 12–19, 1985, was launched from and returned to land at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The crew deployed ANIK-C for Telesat of Canada, and Syncom IV-3 for the U.S. Navy. A malfunction in the Syncom spacecraft resulted in the first unscheduled spacewalk, rendezvous and proximity operations for the Space Shuttle in an attempt to activate the satellite using the Remote Manipulator System. Taking her Sigma Kappa sorority badge into space Seddon logged 168 hours in 109 Earth orbits, and used her surgical skills to operate a bone saw to help build homemade repair tools for the satellite. STS-40 () Spacelab Life Sciences (SLS-1), June 5–14, 1991, a dedicated space and life sciences mission was launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and returned to land at Edwards Air Force Base, California. During the nine-day mission the crew performed experiments which explored how humans, animals and cells respond to microgravity and re-adapt to Earth's gravity on return. Other payloads included experiments designed to investigate materials science, plant biology and cosmic radiation, and tests of hardware proposed for the Space Station Freedom Health Maintenance Facility. Mission completed in 146 orbits of the Earth, and logged her an additional 218 hours in space.  STS-58 (), Spacelab Life Sciences-2 (SLS-2), flew October 18 to November 1, 1993. Seddon was the Payload Commander on this life science research mission which received NASA management recognition as the most successful and efficient Spacelab flown to date. During the fourteen-day flight the seven-person crew performed neurovestibular, cardiovascular, cardiopulmonary, metabolic, and musculoskeletal medical experiments on themselves and 48 rats, expanding our knowledge of human and animal physiology both on earth and in space flight. In addition, the crew performed 10 engineering tests aboard the Orbiter Columbia and 9 Extended Duration Orbiter Medical Project experiments. The mission was accomplished in 225 orbits of the Earth in over 336 hours.

Personal life.

She is married to former astronaut Robert L. Gibson of Cooperstown, New York, with whom she has three children.

Awards and honors.

In 2015, Seddon was inducted into the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame.

Margaret Rhea Seddon (born November 8, 1947) is a physician and retired NASA astronaut. After being selected as part of the first group of astronauts to include women, she flew on three Space Shuttle flights: as mission specialist for STS-51-D and STS-40, and as payload commander for STS-58. Both before and after her career in the astronaut program, she has been active in the medical community in Tennessee, Mississippi and Texas.


Biography.

Arnold Genthe was born in Berlin, Prussia, to Luise Zober and Hermann Genthe, a professor of Latin and Greek at the Graues Kloster (Grey Monastery) in Berlin. Genthe followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a classically trained scholar; he received a doctorate in philology in 1894 from the University of Jena, where he knew artist Adolf Menzel, his mother's cousin.  After emigrating to San Francisco in 1895 to work as a tutor for the son of Baron and Baroness J. Henrich von Schroeder, he taught himself photography. He was intrigued by the Chinese section of the city and photographed its inhabitants, from children to drug addicts, Due to his subjects' possible fear of his camera or their reluctance to have pictures taken, Genthe sometimes hid his camera. He also sometimes removed evidence of Western culture from these pictures, cropping or erasing as needed. About 200 of his Chinatown pictures survive, and these comprise the only known photographic depictions of the area before the 1906 earthquake.  After local magazines published some of his photographs in the late 1890s, he opened a portrait studio. He knew some of the city's wealthy matrons, and as his reputation grew, his clientele included Nance O'Neil, Sarah Bernhardt, Nora May French, and Jack London. In 1904 he traveled to Western Europe and Tangier with the famous watercolorist, Francis McComas.  In 1906, the San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed Genthe's studio, but he rebuilt. His photograph of the earthquake's aftermath, "Looking Down Sacramento Street, San Francisco, April 18, 1906", is his most famous photograph.  Within a short time, Genthe joined the art colony in Carmel-by-the-Sea, where he fraternized with the literary elite, including George Sterling, Jack London, Harry Leon Wilson, Ambrose Bierce, and Mary Austin. Here he was able to pursue his work in color photography. Of his new residence, he wrote, "The cypresses and rocks of Point Lobos, the always varying sunsets and the intriguing shadows of the sand dunes offered a rich field for color experiments." Although his stay in Carmel was relatively short (1905–07), he was appointed in 1907 to the Board of Directors of the Art Gallery in Monterey’s luxury Hotel Del Monte, where he insured that the work of important regional art photographers, such as Laura Adams Armer and Anne Brigman, was displayed with his own prints. By the spring of 1907 he had established his residence and studio at 3209 Clay Street in San Francisco, where he continued to enjoy membership in the celebrated Bohemian Club, attend prominent society functions, display his own work, and pen newspaper reviews of photo and art exhibitions.  In 1911 he moved to New York City, where he remained until his death of a heart attack in 1942. He worked primarily in portraiture, and Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and John D. Rockefeller all sat for him. His photos of Greta Garbo were credited with boosting her career. He also photographed dancers, including Anna Pavlova, Isadora Duncan, Audrey Munson and Ruth St. Denis, and his photos were featured in the 1916 book, "The Book of the Dance".

Autochromes.

Genthe was an early adopter of the autochrome color photography process. He began experimenting with the process in 1905 in Carmel, California. He claimed credit for the first exhibition of color photographs in America; later scholars determined this is not accurate, but he was undoubtedly one of the earliest. His subjects included portraits, artistic nudes, and landscapes.

Genthe's cat.

Genthe owned a cat called Buzzer. Buzzer often appeared in portraitures with Genthe's subjects, most notably Broadway actresses to whom the cat warmed. One such sitting in autochrome was with actress Ann Murdock.

Arnold Genthe (8 January 1869 – 9 August 1942) was a German-American photographer, best known for his photographs of San Francisco's Chinatown, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and his portraits of noted people, from politicians and socialites to literary figures and entertainment celebrities.


Plot.

Volume 1.

The story is set in 1839, eleven years after the events in "Arthur Gordon Pym", one year after the publication of that book.  The narrator is a wealthy American Jeorling, who has entertained himself with private studies of the wildlife on the Kerguelen Islands and is now looking for a passage back to the United States. "Halbrane" is one of the first ships to arrive at Kerguelen, and its captain Len Guy somewhat reluctantly agrees to have Jeorling as a passenger as far as Tristan da Cunha.  Underway, they meet a stray iceberg with a dead body on it, which turns out to be a sailor from "Jane". A note found with him indicates that he and several others including "Jane's" captain William Guy had survived the assassination attempt at Tsalal and are still alive.  Guy, who had talked to Jeorling earlier about the subject of Pym, reveals himself to be the brother of William Guy. He decides to try to come to the rescue of "Jane"s crew. After taking on provisions on Tristan da Cunha and the Falklands, they head South with Jeorling still on board. They also take aboard another mysterious sailor named Hunt who is eager to join the search for undisclosed reasons.  Extraordinarily mild weather allows the "Halbrane" to make good progress, and they break the pack ice barrier, which surrounds an ice-free Antarctic ocean, early in summer. They find first Bennet's islet, where "Jane" had made a stop, and finally Tsalal. But the island is completely devastated, apparently by a recent massive earthquake, and deserted. They find the remains of Tsalal's natives, who apparently died long "before" the earthquake, and the collar of Pym's dog, Tiger, but no trace of "Jane".

Volume 2.

At this point, Hunt is revealed to be Dirk Peters. On their travel south of Tsalal, he and Pym had become separated, and only Peters made it safely back to the States where he, not Pym, instigated the publication of their voyage. Pym's diary, in Peters' possession, had apparently been significantly embellished by Poe. Upon returning home, Peters took on a new identity, because he was too ashamed of having resorted to cannibalism on the wreck of "Grampus".  Guy and Peters decide to push further south, much to the chagrin of a part of the crew led by one seaman Hearne, who feels they should abandon the rescue attempt and head home before the onset of winter. Not much later, in a freak accident, "Halbrane" is thrown upon an iceberg and subsequently lost. The crew makes it safely onto the iceberg, but with only one small boat left, it is doomed to drift on. The iceberg drifts even past the South Pole, before the whole party is cast ashore on a hitherto unknown land mass still within the pack ice barrier. Hearne and his fellows steal the last remaining boat, trying to make it to the open sea on their own, and making the situation even bleaker for those left behind who now face the prospect of wintering in the Antarctic.  They are lucky, however, as shortly thereafter they see a small boat of aboriginal style drifting by. Peters is the first to react as he swims out toward the boat and secures it. But Peters finds more: In the boat, there are captain William Guy and the three surviving seamen of his crew, semiconscious and close to death by starvation. Peters brings them ashore, and the men from "Halbrane" nurse them back to life.  William Guy then recounts their story. Shortly after the explosion of "Jane" (and presumably the departure of Pym's company), Tiger appeared again. Rabid, he bit and infected the natives who quickly fell victim to the new disease. Those who could fled to the neighboring islands, where they perished later in the course of the earthquake.  Up to this point, William Guy and his men had lived fairly comfortably on Tsalal, which was now their own, but after the earthquake found their position untenable and made a desperate attempt in the boat to escape north. The combined crews of "Halbrane" and "Jane" decide to try to make it north in their newly acquired boat. They make good progress, until they notice the appearance of strong magnetic forces. They find the source of it, the Ice Sphinx: A huge mountain magnetically "charged" by the particle streams that get focused on the poles through Earth's magnetic field.  Here, they find the remains of Hearne's team, which came to grief when the Ice Sphinx's immense magnetic forces attracted their iron tools and boat components to it and smashed them on its rocks. The boat of Joerling and the others only escaped destruction because, being built by the natives, it contained no iron parts.  At the foot of the Sphinx, they also find the body of Pym, who came to death the same way. Peters dies from grief on the same spot. The others embark again in their boat, and finally reach the open ocean and are rescued.

An Antarctic Mystery (, "The Sphinx of the Ice Fields") is a two-volume novel by Jules Verne. Written in 1897, it is a response to Edgar Allan Poe's 1838 novel "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket". It follows the adventures of the narrator and his journey from the Kerguelen Islands aboard "Halbrane".


Playing career.

Amateur.

Wheeler attended Breck School his freshman year through his junior year. There, during his junior year, Wheeler had his breakout season, putting up a state-high 45 goals and 55 assists in 2003–04. He led his team to a Class A State Hockey Championship that season, and scored a hat trick in the final game.  Wheeler opted to play his senior year in the United States Hockey League (USHL) with the Green Bay Gamblers. After playing one season with the Gamblers, Wheeler attended the University of Minnesota. In 2005–06, his freshman year with the Minnesota Golden Gophers, he recorded 23 points in 39 games, playing alongside future Boston Bruins teammate Phil Kessel.  In the 2007 WCHA Final Five tournament, Wheeler recorded a hat trick in a 4–2 win in the semifinal game against the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In the championship game, Wheeler scored the game-winning goal in a 3–2 overtime win against the North Dakota Fighting Sioux. The play was featured on ESPN's "SportsCenter" and quickly gained notoriety for its similarity to the game-winning goal in the 1979 NCAA Championship Game, scored by Minnesota's Neal Broten, also against North Dakota. Wheeler was named the tournament MVP.  Early in the 2007–08 season, following injuries to Ryan Stoa and Mike Howe, Wheeler was named an alternate captain for the Golden Gophers and recorded 35 points in 44 games. At the end of the season, four years after he was drafted, Wheeler had yet to come to a contract agreement with the Coyotes. Given the option, Wheeler elected to become an unrestricted free agent despite a maximum entry-level contract offer from the club.

Professional.

Boston Bruins (2008–2011).

After the Phoenix Coyotes were not able to come to terms with Wheeler, on July 1, 2008, Wheeler signed an entry-level contract with the Boston Bruins. The Coyotes received a compensatory second-round pick as a result of his signing elsewhere. On October 7, the Bruins made their final cuts for the 2008–09 season and Wheeler remained with the NHL club. Two days later, on October 9, Wheeler scored his first NHL goal, in his NHL debut, against goaltender Peter Budaj of the Colorado Avalanche. Wheeler then collected his first NHL hat trick the next month on November 6, against the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Being named to the 2009 NHL YoungStars Game to represent the rookies, he earned Game MVP honors after a four-goal effort to beat the sophomores 9–5. After being hit by a puck in practice during the 2009 pre-season, Blake added a visor to his helmet.

Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets (2011–present).

On February 18, 2011, Wheeler, along with Mark Stuart, was traded by Boston to the Atlanta Thrashers for Boris Valábik and Rich Peverley. On July 18, 2011, Wheeler signed a two-year, $5.1 million deal after the Thrashers were relocated and renamed the Winnipeg Jets. In the inaugural 2011–12 season with the Jets, he led the team in scoring with a career-high 64 points in 80 games. With the 2012–13 season delayed due to the NHL lockout and in order to keep game shape, Wheeler signed in Europe with EHC München of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) in Germany on October 28, 2012.  In July 2013, Wheeler avoided arbitration by signing a contract for six years, $33.6 million, which carried an annual cap hit of $5.6 million per season. He became the third-highest paid Jets player behind defensemen Tobias Enström and Dustin Byfuglien, and he was signed through to the 2018–19 season. On August 31, 2016, Wheeler was named the captain of the Jets. Wheeler was named to his first NHL All-Star game on January 10, 2018, for the 2018 NHL All-Star Game, finished the regular season with a career best 91 points and lead the league in assists with 68, tied with Claude Giroux. On April 24, 2018, Wheeler was named a finalist for the Mark Messier Leadership Award.  On September 4, 2018, Wheeler signed a five-year, $41.25 million contract extension with the Jets.

Blake James Wheeler (born August 31, 1986) is an American professional ice hockey right winger and captain of the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes in the first round, fifth overall, in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Wheeler was born in Plymouth, Minnesota, but grew up in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. After failing to come to terms on a contract with the Phoenix Coyotes, he signed with the Boston Bruins as a free agent.


Early life.

Naujocks was born in Kiel and attended the University of Kiel, where he studied engineering. In 1931, after an incomplete apprenticeship as a precision mechanic, he joined the SS. A well known amateur boxer, he was frequently in brawls with the communists. He then signed on as a low-ranking driver for the Sicherheitsdienst SD-Regional Command East, Berlin in 1934, but was soon entrusted with special assignments such as murder. He led an undercover attack on an anti-Nazi radio station in the village of Slapy in Czechoslovakia on 23 January 1935. Black Front activist Rudolf Formis was killed in the incident; Naujocks confessed to the murder in 1944 while in American custody. By the Autumn of 1937, Naujocks had been promoted to "Hauptsturmführer" (captain) and by 1938 had been promoted again, to "Sturmbannführer" (major).

World War II.

On 10 August 1939, Reinhard Heydrich informed Naujocks of his mission to lead a small group of German operatives to seize the Gleiwitz radio station. Three weeks later, on the night of 31 August, Naujocks led the attack on the German radio station at Gleiwitz, one of twenty-one similar concentrated attacks which the German government quickly attributed to the Poles. Once inside the radio station, a short anti-German message in Polish was broadcast (the precise content of the message is now uncertain). Shots were fired in the studio and a corpse left on the floor near the microphone.  To add documented proof of this attack, the SD operatives placed fictitious Polish troops (corpses of prisoners from the Dachau concentration camp who had been dressed in Polish uniforms provided by the Abwehr, killed by lethal injection, and then shot for the sake of appearances) around the attacked radio station for selected members of the press to see at the site of the incident. These attacks, but not exclusively the Gleiwitz incident, formed Hitler's justification to the Reichstag regarding the necessary "pacification" of Poland, thereby igniting the Second World War in Europe.  More recently, author and researcher Jak Mallmann-Showell's investigation has suggested that Naujocks's claims as to his actions at the Gleiwitz radio station may have been a fabrication to curry special handling by the Allies after the war. Mallmann-Showell discerned that Naujocks is the sole source for details of his personal actions on the night of 31 August 1939. He also avers that the Poles may have accessed the site to obtain Enigma machine secrets for the allies.  Later, on 9 November 1939, Naujocks (along with Walter Schellenberg) participated in the Venlo incident, which saw the capture in the Netherlands of two British SIS agents, Captain Sigismund Payne Best and Major Richard Henry Stevens.  In early 1940, Naujocks was put in charge of the counterfeiting unit of the SD charged with forging British bank notes under Operation Andreas. By late 1940 Naujocks had been removed from his position after he fell out of favor with Heydrich.  In 1941, he was dismissed from the SD after disputing one of Reinhard Heydrich's orders. He was demoted and had to serve in the Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front. In 1943, due to ill health, he was sent to the West, where he served as an economic administrator the following year for German troops in Belgium, while involving himself in the deaths of several Belgian underground and Danish resistance members.  After his promotion to "Obersturmführer" (first lieutenant) he participated in sabotage and terrorist actions against the Danish population from December 1943 until autumn 1944, as the leader of the "Peter Group", including the murder of Lutheran pastor Kaj Munk. Later leadership passed to SS-Hauptsturmführer Otto Alexander Friedrich Schwerdt (SS-Jagdverbände). Circa November 1944, Naujocks turned himself over to American forces, who subsequently placed him in detention as a possible war criminal by the end of the war.

Later life.

At the Nuremberg Trials, Naujocks declared the attack against German Radio Tower in Gleiwitz was under orders from Heinrich Müller, the head of Gestapo and his superior, Reinhard Heydrich. After the war, he escaped from custody before his trial for war crimes, and lived in hiding into the 1960s. He worked as a businessman in Hamburg, where he eventually sold his story to the media as "The Man who Started the War". He was alleged to have been involved in running ODESSA, together with Otto Skorzeny, who handled contracts with the Spanish government, supplying passports and arranging for funds. Naujocks and his associates handled former Nazi war criminals going to Latin America, being responsible for their reception and protection there. Naujocks died of a heart attack in Hamburg on 4 April 1966, aged 54.

Alfred Helmut Naujocks (20 September 1911 – 4 April 1966), alias "Hans Müller", "Alfred Bonsen", and "Rudolf Möbert", was a German SS functionary during the Third Reich. He took part in the staged Gleiwitz incident, a False flag intended to provide the justification for the attack on Poland by Nazi Germany, starting the Second World War in Europe.


Early life.

Redmayne was born on 6 January 1982 in the London borough of Westminster. His mother, Patricia (née Burke), runs a relocation business, and his father, Richard Redmayne, is a businessman in corporate finance. His paternal great-grandfather was Sir Richard Redmayne, a civil and mining engineer. He has an older brother, a younger brother, and an older half-brother and half-sister. From the age of 10, Redmayne attended Jackie Palmer Stage School, where he found his love for acting and singing, alongside fellow star James Corden.  He attended Eaton House, Colet Court, and then Eton College, where he was in the same year as Prince William. He went on to read History of Art at Trinity College, Cambridge, from where he graduated with 2:1 Honours in 2003. Despite being colourblind, Redmayne wrote his dissertation on Yves Klein's signature colour, International Klein Blue, which he is able to see with vibrancy. While at Cambridge, Redmayne was a member of the University Pitt Club.

Career.

Modelling.

Prior to becoming a full-time actor, Redmayne modelled for Burberry in 2008 with Alex Pettyfer, and in 2012 with Cara Delevingne. In the September 2012 issue of "Vanity Fair", he was featured on its annual International Best Dressed List. In 2015, he was named number one in GQ's 50 best dressed British men.

Stage.

Redmayne made his professional stage debut as Viola in "Twelfth Night", for Shakespeare's Globe at the Middle Temple Hall in 2002. He won the award for Outstanding Newcomer at the 50th "Evening Standard" Theatre Awards in 2004, for his performance in Edward Albee's "The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?", and the award for Best Newcomer at the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards in 2005. Later stage credits include "Now or Later" by Christopher Shinn at the Royal Court Theatre. The show ran from 3 September to 1 November 2008.  In 2009, Redmayne appeared in John Logan's new play "Red" at the Donmar Warehouse in London, for which he won the 2010 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He reprised his role in "Red" at the John Golden Theatre on Broadway, in a 15-week run from 11 March to 27 June 2010, and won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play. He portrayed King Richard II in "Richard II" directed by Michael Grandage, at the Donmar Warehouse from 6 December 2011 to 4 February 2012.

Film and television.

Redmayne made his screen debut in 1998 in an episode of "Animal Ark". His television credits include the BBC miniseries "Tess of the d'Urbervilles", the miniseries "The Pillars of the Earth", and the two-part miniseries "Birdsong".  Redmayne was cast in his first feature film "Like Minds" (2006) after being spotted by casting director Lucy Bevan performing in a play called "Goats". Redmayne has appeared in films such as "The Good Shepherd" (2006), "Savage Grace" (2007), "Powder Blue" (2008), "The Other Boleyn Girl" (2008), "Glorious 39" (2009), and "Hick" (2011). He starred as Osmund in Christopher Smith's supernatural gothic chiller film "Black Death" (2010). His 2008 Sundance drama film "The Yellow Handkerchief" was released on 26 February 2010 by Samuel Goldwyn Films.  In 2011 he starred as filmmaker Colin Clark in the drama film "My Week with Marilyn". He took on the role of Marius Pontmercy for the 2012 musical film "Les Misérables".  In 2014, he starred as Stephen Hawking in "The Theory of Everything", a role for which he won the Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor, depicting the debilitating challenges of ALS.  In early 2015, Redmayne appeared in the Wachowski siblings' film, "Jupiter Ascending" as Balem Abrasax. The film was widely panned, including his performance, for which he won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor. Redmayne also presented the 2015 documentary War Art with Eddie Redmayne, made as part of the ITV's Perspectives programme. Redmayne guest starred as Ryan the tank engine in "Thomas & Friends" movie special "Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure."  That same year, Redmayne starred in the biographical drama "The Danish Girl", directed by Academy Award-winning director Tom Hooper. In the film, released in the United Kingdom on 1 January 2016, Redmayne portrayed transgender pioneer Lili Elbe, a casting that was the subject of some controversy from the transgender community. However, Redmayne's performance was met with critical acclaim; in January 2016, he earned his second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor in consecutive years. Redmayne later acknowledged the criticism towards his casting in a 2018 interview, stressing the importance of casting transgender actors playing trans roles.  In 2016, Redmayne starred as Newt Scamander in the film adaptation of "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", the first of a series within the Wizarding World of the "Harry Potter" film series, with a screenplay by J. K. Rowling. In 2018, Redmayne starred in the stop-motion animated film "Early Man", and reprised his role as Newt Scamander in "".

Personal life.

Redmayne married Hannah Bagshawe on 15 December 2014. They have a daughter born in 2016 and a son born in 2018.  Redmayne was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2015 Birthday Honours for services to drama. In August 2014, he was appointed ambassador of film education charity Into Film.

Edward John David Redmayne (; born 6 January 1982) is an English actor. Redmayne is the recipient of various accolades including; an Academy Award, a Tony Award and a BAFTA Award.


Geography.

The mountains were created during the Alpine Orogeny in the Cenozoic. Geologically, they consist mainly of flysch deposits. In the north, they steeply rise nearly over a rather flat landscape; in the south, they slowly merge with the Javorníky. In the south-west, they are separated from the Vsetínské vrchy by the Rožnovská Bečva valley; in the north-east, the Jablunkov Pass separates them from the Silesian Beskids.  The highest point is Lysá hora mountain at, which is one of the rainiest places in the Czech Republic with around of precipitation a year. Many legends are bound to Radhošť Mountain,, which is one of the most visited places in the mountains together with the nearby Pustevny resort.  Smrk, with a height of, is the second highest summit of the range. Its northern slope steeply rises from the surrounding lowlands and is separated from the rest of the mountains by the deep Ostravice River (in the east) and Čeladenka (in the west) river valleys; in the south, it merges in the lower Zadní hory (i.e. "Rear mountains") area.  The Moravian-Silesian Beskids create the largest part of the Beskydy Landscape Protected Area ( or for short). The mountains are 80% forested, though mainly by plantations of spruce which were in some parts severely damaged by emissions from the Ostrava industrial region. Originally, the mountains were covered by mixed forest with dominant beech which are preserved in many places. Recently, permanent occurrence of all three large Central European carnivores – lynx, bear and wolf – have been confirmed in the area.  There are many popular holiday resorts for both winter and summer activities, with centers in the towns under the mountains (Frýdlant nad Ostravicí, Frenštát pod Radhoštěm, Rožnov pod Radhoštěm) and also in smaller resorts, hamlets and chalets throughout the mountains, especially on the ridges. Parts of two euroregions, the Beskydy/Beskidy and Těšínské Slezsko/Śląsk Cieszyński, reach into the Moravian-Silesian Beskids.

The Moravian–Silesian Beskids (Czech:, Slovak: "Moravsko-sliezske Beskydy") is a mountain range in the Czech Republic with a small part reaching to Slovakia. It lies on the historical division between Moravia and Silesia, hence the name. It is part of the Western Beskids, which is in turn part of the Outer Western Carpathians.


Eleanor of England, Countess of Leicester

Early life.

At the time of Eleanor's birth at Gloucester, King John's London was in the hands of French forces, John had been forced to sign the Magna Carta and Queen Isabella was in shame. Eleanor never met her father, as he died at Newark Castle when she was barely a year old. The French, led by Prince Louis the Lion, the future Louis VIII, were marching through the south. The only lands loyal to her brother, King Henry III of England, were in the Midlands and southwest. The barons ruled the north, but they united with the royalists under William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, who protected the young king Henry, and Louis was defeated.  Before William Marshal died in 1219 Eleanor was promised to his son, also named William. They were married on 23 April 1224 at New Temple Church in London. The younger William was 34 and Eleanor only nine. He died in London on 6 April 1231, days before their seventh anniversary. There were no children of this marriage.  Eleanor had brought a dowry of 10 manors and 200 pounds per year to this marriage. According to the law of the time, widows were allowed to retain one third of the estates of the marriage. However, her brother-in-law Richard took all of the estates and sold many, including her dowry, to pay William's debts. Eleanor strove for many years to try and recover her lost property.  The widowed Eleanor swore a holy oath of chastity in the presence of Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Simon de Montfort.

Seven years later, she met Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester. According to Matthew Paris, Simon was attracted to Eleanor's beauty and elegance as well as her wealth and high birth. They fell in love and married secretly on 7 January 1238 at the King's chapel in Westminster Palace. Her brother King Henry later alleged that he only allowed the marriage because Simon had seduced Eleanor. The marriage was controversial because of the oath Eleanor had sworn several years before to remain chaste. Because of this, Simon made a pilgrimage to Rome seeking papal approval for their union. Simon and Eleanor had seven children:  During the Second Barons' War, Simon de Montfort's victory at the Battle of Lewes in 1264 led to him becoming de facto ruler of England. He tried to set up a reformed government, including the first parliament elected by citizens of the towns, but was unable to retain the support of the other barons. Several switched sides to the royalist cause; Montfort was defeated at the Battle of Evesham on 4 August 1265, where he was killed along with his son. Eleanor fled to exile in France where she became a nun at Montargis Abbey, a nunnery founded by her deceased husband's sister Amicia, who remained there as abbess. There she died on 13 April 1275, and was buried there. She was well treated by Henry, retained her incomes, and her proctors were allowed to pursue her litigation concerning the Leicester inheritance in the English courts; her will and testament were executed without hindrance.  Through her son Guy, Eleanor was an ancestor of Elizabeth Woodville, queen consort of Edward IV.  Eleanor's daughter, Eleanor de Montfort, was married, at Worcester in 1278, to Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales. She would die giving birth to their only child, Gwenllian of Wales. After the conquest of Wales, Gwenllian was imprisoned by Edward I of England, her mother's first cousin, at Sempringham priory, where she died 1337.

Fiction.

Eleanor appears as a major character in Sharon Kay Penman's novel "Falls the Shadow", where she is called Nell.  Eleanor is the main character in Virginia Henley's historical romance "The Dragon and the Jewel", which tells of her life from just before her marriage to William Marshal to right before the Battle of Lewes in 1264. Her romance and marriage to Simon de Montfort are much romanticized in this novel, especially since in real life Simon is killed the year following the Battle of Lewes and the pair had already had all 7 of their children; in the book, Eleanor and Simon have only just had their first two sons. Eleanor makes a second appearance in Henley's "The Marriage Prize". Her role in the book is that of the legal guardian to her niece, Rosamond Marshal.

Eleanor of England (also called Eleanor Plantagenet and Eleanor of Leicester) (1215 – 13 April 1275) was the youngest child of John, King of England and Isabella of Angoulême.


Archaeology.

Covering an area of 151 hectares, Shahr-e Sukhteh was one of the world’s largest cities at the dawn of the urban era. In the western part of the site is a vast graveyard, measuring 25 ha. It contains between 25,000 and 40,000 ancient graves.  The settlement appeared around 3200 BCE. The city had four stages of civilization and was burnt down three times before being abandoned in 1800 BCE. The site was discovered and investigated by Aurel Stein in the early 1900s.  Beginning in 1967, the site was excavated by the Istituto italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsIAO) team led by Maurizio Tosi. That work continued until 1978. After a gap, work at the site was resumed by the Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization team led by SMS Sajjadi. New discoveries are reported from time to time.  Most of the material discovered is dated to the period of c. 2700-2300 BCE. The discoveries indicate that the city was a hub of trading routes that connected Mesopotamia and Iran with the Central Asian and Indian civilizations, and as far away as China.  During the Period I, Shahr-e Sukhteh already shows close connections with the sites in southern Turkmenistan, with the Kandahar region of Afghanistan, the Quetta valley, and the Bampur valley in Iran. Also, there are the connections with the Proto-Elamite cities of <unk>uzestān and Fārs. During Period II, Shahr-e Sukhteh was also in contact with the pre-Harappan centers of the Indus valley, and the contacts with the Bampur valley continued.  Shahdad is another related big site that is being excavated. Some 900 Bronze Age sites have been documented in the Sistan Basin, the desert area between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Helmand and Jiroft cultures.

The Helmand culture of western Afghanistan was a Bronze Age culture of the 3rd millennium BCE. Scholars link it with the Shahr-i Sokhta, Mundigak, and Bampur sites.  This civilization flourished between 2500 and 1900 BCE, and may have coincided with the great flourishing of the Indus Valley Civilization. This was also the final phase of Periods III and IV of Shahr-i Sokhta, and the last part of Mundigak Period IV.  Thus, the Jiroft and Helmand cultures are closely related. The Jiroft culture flourished in the eastern Iran, and the Helmand culture in western Afghanistan at the same time. In fact, they may represent the same cultural area. The Mehrgarh culture, on the other hand, is far earlier.

Shahr-e Sukhteh (, meaning "[The] Burnt City"), also spelled as "Shahr-e Sūkhté" and "Shahr-i Sōkhta", is an archaeological site of a sizable Bronze Age urban settlement, associated with the Jiroft culture. It is located in Sistan and Baluchistan Province, the southeastern part of Iran, on the bank of the Helmand River, near the Zahedan-Zabol road. It was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in June 2014.


Early life.

Augusta's mother died soon after her birth. Her grandmother, Lady Holderness, raised Augusta for a few years, but died when Augusta was still a young girl, and the child divided her time among relatives and friends.

Marriage.

Augusta later married her cousin, Lt. Colonel George Leigh (1771–1850), son of General Charles Leigh (1748–1815) and his wife, Frances Byron, her paternal aunt. She had seven children by him. Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, noted the wedding with disdain in his diary: "Poor Augusta Leigh marries today! Poor thing! I pity her connecting herself with such a Family, and such a fool! However she has nobody to blame but herself." The marriage turned out unhappily, because he fell into dissolution and gambled away all his money. At the end, he left his wife and children nothing but debts.

Lord Byron.

Augusta's half-brother, George Lord Byron, did not meet her until he went to Harrow School, and even then only very rarely. From 1804 onward, however, she wrote to him regularly and became his confidante, especially in his quarrels with his mother. Their correspondence ceased for two years after Byron had gone abroad, and was not resumed until she sent him a letter expressing her sympathy on the death of his mother, Catherine in 1811.  Not having been brought up together, they were almost like strangers to each other. But they got on well together and appear to have fallen in love with each other. When Byron's marriage collapsed and he sailed away from England never to return, rumours of incest, a very serious and scandalous offence, were rife.  There is some evidence to support the incest accusation. Augusta Leigh's third daughter, born in spring of 1814, was christened Elizabeth Medora Leigh. A few days after the birth, Byron went to his sister's house Swynford Paddocks in Cambridgeshire to see the child, and wrote, in a letter to his confidante, Lady Melbourne: "Oh! but it is 'worth while', I can't tell you why, and it is "not" an ""Ape"", and if it is, that must be my fault; however, I will positively reform. You must however allow that it is utterly impossible I can ever be half so well liked else-where, and I have been all my life trying to make someone love me and never got the sort I preferred before." "Ape" alludes to the fear that the child would be born deformed.

Later life.

One of Augusta's daughters, Georgiana, married a cousin, Henry Trevanion in 1826, apparently at her mother's instigation; they had three daughters. Trevanion, who may also have had a relationship with Augusta herself, left Georgiana in 1829–30 for her younger sister Elizabeth Medora, who had been staying with them; Medora and Trevanion lived together for several years in France, before finally separating in the 1840s, Medora going on to marry a French soldier.

Poetic references.

Augusta is also the subject of Byron's "Epistle to Augusta" (1816) and "Stanzas to Augusta".

Augusta Maria Leigh ("née" Byron; 26 January 1783 – 12 October 1851) was the only daughter of John "Mad Jack" Byron, the poet Lord Byron's father, by his first wife, Amelia, née Darcy (Lady Conyers in her own right and the divorced wife of Francis, Marquis of Carmarthen).


History.

The Great Mosque contends with the Mosque of the Companions in the Eritrean city of Massawa and Quba Mosque in Medina as the oldest mosque. According to one set of views, Islam as a religion preceded Prophet Muhammad, representing previous prophets such as Abraham. Abraham is credited with having built the "Kaaba" in Mecca, and consequently its sanctuary, which according to this view is seen as the first mosque that ever existed. According to another set of views, Islam started during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century CE, and so did architectural components such as the mosque. In that case, either the Mosque of the Companions or Quba Mosque would be the first mosque that was built in the history of Islam.

Era of Abraham and Ishmael.

According to the Quran, Abraham together with his son Ishmael raised the foundations of a house, which has been identified by commentators as the "Kaaba". God showed Abraham the exact site, very near to what is now the Well of Zamzam, where Abraham and Ishmael began work on the construction of the "Kaaba". After Abraham had built the "Kaaba", an angel brought to him the Black Stone, a celestial stone that, according to tradition, had fallen from Heaven on the nearby hill Abu Qubays. The Black Stone is believed to be the only remnant of the original structure made by Abraham.  After placing the Black Stone in the Eastern corner of the Kaaba, Abraham received a revelation, in which God told the aged prophet that he should now go and proclaim the pilgrimage to mankind, so that men may come both from Arabia and from lands far away, on camel and on foot.

Era of Muhammad.

Upon Muhammad's victorious return to Mecca in 630 CE, he and his cousin, Ali Ibn Abi Talib, broke the idols in and around the Kaaba, similar to what, according to the Quran, Abraham did in his homeland. Thus ended polytheistic use of the Kaaba, and began monotheistic rule over it and its sanctuary.

Umayyad era.

The first major renovation to the mosque took place in 692 on the orders of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. Before this renovation, which included the mosque's outer walls being raised and decoration added to the ceiling, the mosque was a small open area with the Kaaba at the center. By the end of the 8th century, the mosque's old wooden columns had been replaced with marble columns and the wings of the prayer hall had been extended on both sides along with the addition of a minaret on the orders of Al-Walid I. The spread of Islam in the Middle East and the influx of pilgrims required an almost complete rebuilding of the site which included adding more marble and three more minarets.

Ottoman era.

In 1570, Sultan Selim II commissioned the chief architect Mimar Sinan to renovate the mosque. This renovation resulted in the replacement of the flat roof with domes decorated with calligraphy internally, and the placement of new support columns which are acknowledged as the earliest architectural features of the present mosque. These features are the oldest surviving parts of the building.  During heavy rains and flash floods in 1621 and 1629, the walls of the Kaaba and the mosque suffered extensive damage. In 1629, during the reign of Sultan Murad IV, the mosque was renovated. In the renovation of the mosque, a new stone arcade was added, three more minarets (bringing the total to seven) were built, and the marble flooring was retiled. This was the unaltered state of the mosque for nearly three centuries.

Saudi era.

First Saudi expansion.

The first major renovation under the Saudi kings was done between 1955 and 1973. In this renovation, four more minarets were added, the ceiling was refurnished, and the floor was replaced with artificial stone and marble. The Mas'a gallery (As-Safa and Al-Marwah) is included in the Mosque, via roofing and enclosures. During this renovation many of the historical features built by the Ottomans, particularly the support columns, were demolished.  On 20 November 1979, the Great Mosque was seized by extremist insurgents who called for the overthrow of the Saudi dynasty. They took hostages and in the ensuing siege hundreds were killed. These events came as a shock to the Islamic world, as violence is strictly forbidden within the mosque.

Second Saudi expansion.

The second Saudi renovations under King Fahd, added a new wing and an outdoor prayer area to the mosque. The new wing, which is also for prayers, is reached through the King Fahd Gate. This extension was performed between 1982 and 1988.  1988 to 2005 saw the building of more minarets, the erecting of a King's residence overlooking the mosque and more prayer area in and around the mosque itself. These developments took place simultaneously with those in Arafat, Mina and Muzdalifah. This extension also added 18 more gates, three domes corresponding in position to each gate and the installation of nearly 500 marble columns. Other modern developments added heated floors, air conditioning, escalators and a drainage system.

Third Saudi expansion.

In 2008, the Saudi government under King Abdullah Ibn Abdulaziz announced an expansion of the mosque, involving the expropriation of land to the north and northwest of the mosque covering. At that time, the mosque covered an area of including indoor and outdoor praying spaces. 40 billion riyals (US$10.6 billion) was allocated for the expansion project.  In August 2011, the government under King Abdullah announced further details of the expansion. It would cover an area of and accommodate 1.2 million worshippers, including a multi-level extension on the north side of the complex, new stairways and tunnels, a gate named after King Abdullah, and two minarets, bringing the total number of minarets to eleven. The circumambulation areas (Mataf) around the Kaaba would be expanded and all closed spaces receive air conditioning. After completion, it would raise the mosque's capacity from 770,000 to over 2.5 million worshippers. his successor King Salman launched five megaprojects as part of the overall King Abdullah Expansion Project in July 2015, covering an area of. The project was carried out by the Saudi Binladin Group.  On 11 September 2015, at least 111 people died and 394 were injured when a crane collapsed onto the mosque. Construction work was suspended after the incident, and remained on hold due to financial issues during the 2010s oil glut. Development was eventually restarted two years later in September 2017.  On 5 March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the mosque was closed at night and the Umrah pilgrimage was suspended to limit attendance at the mosque.

List of former Imams and Mu'adhins.

Imams:  Mu'adhins:

Pilgrimage.

The Great Mosque is the main setting for the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages that occur in the month of Dhu al-Hijjah in the Islamic calendar and at any time of the year, respectively. The Hajj pilgrimage is one of the Pillars of Islam, required of all able-bodied Muslims who can afford the trip. In recent times, over 5 million Muslims perform the Hajj every year.

Destruction of heritage sites.

There has been some controversy that the expansion projects of the mosque and Mecca itself are causing harm to early Islamic heritage. Many ancient buildings, some more than a thousand years old, have been demolished to make room for the expansion. Some examples are:

The Great Mosque of Mecca, commonly known as al-Masjid al-Ḥarām (), is a mosque that surrounds the Kaaba in the city of Mecca, in the Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia. It is a site of pilgrimage for the Hajj, which every Muslim must do at least once in their lives if able, and is also the main phase for the ʿUmrah, the lesser pilgrimage that can be undertaken any time of the year. The rites of both pilgrimages include circumambulating the Kaaba within the mosque. The Great Mosque includes other important significant sites, including the Black Stone, the Zamzam Well, Maqam Ibrahim, and the hills of Safa and Marwa.


Life and career.

Born in Lemberg (now Lviv) on 5 September 1861 as the second son of Alexander von Mensdorff-Pouilly, Prince von Dietrichstein zu Nikolsburg, a former Austro-Hungarian politician, and his wife Alexandrine ("née" Countess von Dietrichstein-Proskau und Leslie), heiress of the Princes Dietrichstein. The Mensdorff-Pouilly family originated from Lorraine in France and had fled the French revolution in 1790.  Count von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein entered the Austro-Hungarian foreign service in 1884 and was assigned as an attaché to the embassy in Paris and transferred to London in 1889. His family connections with the British court, derived through the marriage of his grandfather Count Emmanuel von Mensdorff-Pouilly with Queen Victoria's aunt, Princess Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and his father had been a godson and friend of Queen Victoria's husband, the Prince Consort. On 6 May 1904, he presented his credentials as Ambassador of the Dual Monarchy at the Court of St. James's, a promotion over the heads of many of his seniors that had come at the request of his second cousin King Edward VII. Considered both an effective and popular diplomat in London's aristocratic circles, his friendship with King Edward VII and his successor George V gave him an entrée to the British court unrivalled by any other diplomat. This contributed to the secure and friendly diplomatic relations between Austria-Hungary and Great Britain before the war. However, his alleged Anglophilia also brought him a certain mistrust in some circles in Vienna, including Archduke Franz Ferdinand. In the critical negotiations during the July Crisis of 1914, he supported the attempts to avert the danger and correspondence has shown that he was not kept fully informed of his capital's intentions. War against Austria-Hungary was declared by the United Kingdom on 12 August, whereafter Count von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein left London.  During World War I, Mensdorff-Pouilly was entrusted with several diplomatic missions directed towards the restoration of peace. The most famous one was the meeting with General Jan Smuts in Geneva in December 1917. However, these negotiations proved as fruitless as those which he conducted with the representatives of the Triple Entente in the last days of the Habsburg Monarchy.  In 1917, Mensdorff-Pouilly was appointed to the Upper House ("Herrenhaus") and in the following year he was a favourite of the court to replace Count Ottokar Czernin as foreign minister, but he was judged too Anglophile by Berlin.  Although the count retired from active service in 1919, he was appointed the first chief delegate of the Republic of Austria to the League of Nations in 1920. In this capacity, he negotiated the Geneva Protocols in 1922 on a loan for the economic and financial reconstruction of Austria.  Count von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein died in Vienna on 15 June 1945.

Honours.

Foreign decorations

Albert Viktor Julius Joseph Michael Graf von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein (5 September 1861 – 15 June 1945) was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat who served as Ambassador to London at the outbreak of World War I.


Origin.

The origins of the popularity of the song and the importance of the armed man are the subject of various theories. Some have suggested that the 'armed man' represents St Michael the Archangel. The composer Johannes Regis ( – ) seems to have intended that allusion in his "Dum sacrum mysterium/Missa l'homme armé" is based upon the melody, which incorporates various additional trope texts and cantus firmus plainchants in honour of St Michael the Archangel. Others have suggested it merely represents the name of a popular tavern (Maison L'Homme Arme) near Du Fay's rooms in Cambrai. It may also represent the arming for a new crusade against the Turks. There is ample evidence to indicate that it held special significance for the Order of the Golden Fleece. It is useful to note that the first appearance of the song was exactly contemporaneous with the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks (1453), an event which had a huge psychological effect in Europe; composers such as Guillaume Du Fay composed laments for the occasion. Yet another possibility is that all three theories are true, given the feeling of urgency, pervasive in central and northern Europe at the time, in organizing a military opposition to the recently victorious Ottomans.  Another recently proposed theory for the origin of the tune is that it is a stylised combination of a street cry and a trumpet call, and may have originated as early as the late 14th century, or perhaps early 15th, due to its use of the major prolation, which was the most common metre at the time. Richard Taruskin noted that the tune was a special favourite of Charles the Bold and suggested that it may have been composed for him (or, at very least, that he had identified himself with the titular man at arms). This however has come to be refuted by several key researchers who show it was used before Charles the Bold's ascension to Duke of Burgundy.

Use in the Latin Mass.

"L'homme armé" is especially well remembered today because it was so widely used by Renaissance composers as a cantus firmus for the Latin Mass. It was probably used for this purpose more than any other secular song: over 40 settings are known. Many composers of the Renaissance set at least one mass on this melody; the two settings by Josquin, the "Missa L'homme armé super voces musicales", and the "Missa L'homme armé sexti toni" are among the best known. Other composers who wrote more than one setting include Matthaeus Pipelare, Pierre de La Rue, Cristóbal de Morales, Guillaume Du Fay and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. A cycle of six settings, all anonymous but probably by the same composer, survives in a Neapolitan manuscript which was supposedly a gift to Beatrice of Aragon of some of the favorite music of Charles the Bold. While the practice of writing masses on the tune lasted into the seventeenth century, including a late setting by Carissimi, the majority of mass settings of "L'homme armé", approximately 30, are from the period between 1450 and 1510.  One of the earliest datable uses of the melody itself was in the combinative chanson "Il sera pour vous conbatu/L'homme armé" ascribed to Robert Morton, which now is believed probably to date from around 1463, owing to historical references in the text. Another possibly earlier version of the tune is an anonymous three-voice setting from the Mellon Chansonnier, which also cannot be precisely dated. In 1523 Pietro Aron, in his treatise "Thoscanello" suggested that Antoine Busnois was the composer of the tune; while tantalizing, since the tune is stylistically consistent with Busnois, there is no other source to corroborate Aron, and he was writing approximately 70 years after the first appearance of the melody. Taruskin has argued that Busnois wrote the earliest known mass on the melody, but this is disputed, many scholars preferring to see the older Guillaume Du Fay as the creator of the first "L'homme armé" Mass. Other composers whose settings of the tune may date from the 1450s include Guillaume Faugues, Johannes Regis, and Johannes Ockeghem.  The tune is singularly well-adapted to contrapuntal treatment. The phrases are clearly delineated, and there are several obvious ways to construct canons. It is also unusually easy to recognize within a contrapuntal texture.

Modern treatments.

Composers still occasionally turn to this song for spiritual or thematic inspiration.

"L'homme armé" (French for ""the armed man"") is a Burgundian School secular song from the time of the Late Middle Ages. Set in Dorian mode, it was the most popular tune used for musical settings of the Ordinary of the Mass: over 40 separate compositions entitled "Missa L'homme armé" survive from the period.


Composition.

The Senate consists of 315 elected members, and six senators for life. The elected senators must be over 40 years of age and are elected by Italian citizens aged 25 or older.  The Senate (except for six senators who represent Italians residing abroad and the senators for life) is elected on a regional basis. The 309 senators are assigned to each region proportionally according to their population. However, Article 57 of the Constitution provides that no region can have fewer than seven senators representing it, except for the Aosta Valley (which has one) and Molise (which has two).  The senators for life are composed of former Presidents of the Italian Republic who hold office "ex officio", and up to five citizens who are appointed by the President "for outstanding merits in the social, scientific, artistic or literary field". The current life senators are:  The current term of the Senate is five years, except for senators for life that hold their office for their lifetime. Until a Constitutional change on February 9, 1963, the Senate was elected for six-year terms. The Senate may be dissolved before the expiration of its normal term by the President of the Republic (e.g. when no government can obtain a majority).

Electoral system and election of the Senate.

According to article 58 of the Italian constitution, people aged more than 25 years are enabled to vote for the Senate.  The electoral system is a parallel voting system, with 37% of seats allocated using first-past-the-post voting (FPTP) and 63% using proportional representation, allocated with the largest remainder method, with one round of voting.  For Italian residents, each house members are elected by single ballots, including the constituency candidate and his/her supporting party lists. In each single-member constituency the deputy/senator is elected on a plurality basis, while the seats in multi-member constituencies will be allocated nationally. In order to be calculated in single-member constituency results, parties need to obtain at least 1% of the national vote. In order to receive seats in multi-member constituencies, parties need to obtain at least 3% of the national vote. Elects from multi-member constituencies will come from closed lists. The single voting paper, containing both first-past-the-post candidates and the party lists, shows the names of the candidates to single-member constituencies and, in close conjunction with them, the symbols of the linked lists for the proportional part, each one with a list of the relative candidates.  The voter can cast their vote in three different ways:  A small, variable number of senators for life are also members of the Senate.

Reform proposal.

In 2016, Italian Parliament passed a constitutional law that "effectively abolishes the Senate as an elected chamber and sharply restricts its ability to veto legislation". The law was rejected on 4 December 2016 by a referendum, leaving the Senate unchanged.

Membership.

The current membership of the Senate of the Republic, following the latest political elections of 4 March 2018:

Presidents.

Under the current Constitution, the Senate must hold its first sitting no later than 20 days after a general election. That session, presided by the oldest senator, proceeds to elect the President of the Senate for the following parliamentary period. On the first two attempts at voting, an absolute majority of all senators is needed; if a third round is needed, a candidate can be elected by an absolute majority of the senators present and voting. If this third round fails to produce a winner, a final ballot is held between the two senators with the highest votes in the previous ballot. In the case of a tie, the elder senator is deemed the winner.  In addition to overseeing the business of the chamber, chairing and regulating debates, deciding whether motions and bills are admissible, representing the Senate, etc., the President of the Senate stands in for the President of the Republic when the latter is unable to perform the duties of the office; in this case the Senate is headed by a vice president.  The current President of the Senate is Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati.  Recent Presidents of the Italian Senate:

Palazzo Madama.

Since 1871, the Senate has met in Palazzo Madama in Rome, an old patrician palace completed in 1505 for the Medici family. The palace takes its name from "Madama" Margherita of Austria, daughter of Charles V and wife of Alessandro de' Medici. After the extinction of the Medici, the palace was handed over to the House of Lorraine. and, later, it was sold to Papal Government.  Later, in 1755, Pope Benedict XIV (whose coat of arms still dominates the main entrance) ordered major restructuring, entrusting the work to Luigi Hostini. In the following years there were installed the court offices and police headquarters. In 1849, Pius IX moved the Ministries of Finances and of the Public Debt here, as well as the Papal Post Offices. After the conquest of Rome by the newly formed Kingdom of Italy, the palace was chosen to become the seat of the "Senato del Regno" (Senate of the Kingdom).  Palazzo Madama and the adjacent buildings underwent further restructuring and adaptation in the first decades of the 20th century. A radical transformation which involved, among other things, the modernization of the hemicycle, the full remaking of the prospectus on Via San Salvatore and Via Dogana Vecchia, and the establishment of a connection with the adjacent Palazzo Carpegna. The latter, owned by the Senate, was entirely rebuilt in an advanced position compared to its original position. The small church of San Salvatore in Thermis, dating to the 6th century, which stood in the street to the left of the palace, was first closed, expropriated and later razed for security reasons.  The current façade was built in the mid-1650s by both Cigoli and Paolo Maruccelli. The latter added the ornate cornice and whimsical decorative urns on the roof. Among the rooms one of the most significant (and perhaps the most impressive from the political point of view) is the "Sala Maccari," which takes its name from Cesare Maccari, the artist who decorated it in 1880 and created the frescoes, among which stands out as one that depicts Cicero makes his indictment of Catiline, who listens, isolated from their seats.  The chamber where the Senate met for the first time on 27 November 1871 was designed by Luigi Gabet. A plaque on the wall behind the speaker's chair commemorates the king's address to Parliament when first convened in the new seat of government: Above this has been placed a plaque bearing the inscription: To the viewers' left stand the flags of the Italian Republic (with a ribbon embroidered with the words SENATO DELLA REPUBBLICA) and the European Union.

The Senate of the Republic () or Senate () is a house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Chamber of Deputies). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical functions, but do so separately. Pursuant to Articles 57, 58, and 59 of the Italian Constitution, the Senate has a variable number of members, of which 309 are elected from Italian constituencies, 6 from Italian citizens living abroad, and a small number (currently 6) are senators for life ("senatori a vita"), either appointed or "ex officio". It was established in its current form on 8 May 1948, but previously existed during the Kingdom of Italy as "Senato del Regno" (Senate of the Kingdom), itself a continuation of the "Senato Subalpino" (Subalpine Senate) of Sardinia established on 8 May 1848. Members of the Senate are styled "Senator" or "The Honourable Senator" (Italian: "Onorevole Senatore") and they meet at Palazzo Madama, Rome.


History.

The Compiègne Wagon was built in 1914 in Saint-Denis as dining car No. 2419D. It was used throughout the First World War in that capacity for Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, the company best known for operating the Orient Express. In August 1918, the wagon was commandeered by the French Army and converted into the office and mobile headquarters of Ferdinand Foch, the Supreme Allied Commander, who began using it in October 1918.  On 8 November 1918, Foch and representatives from the Allied Powers and the German Empire signed the armistice in the then-called "Wagon of Compiègne". This agreement was the final ceasefire which ended fighting in the First World War; the other Central Powers had already reached agreements with the Allied Powers to end hostilities. The car was later returned to Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits and briefly resumed service as a dining car. In September 1919, it was donated to the Musée de l'Armée, in Paris. The wagon was on display in the Musée's Cour des Invalides from 1921 to 1927.  At the request of the Mayor of Compiègne, and with the support of the American Arthur Henry Fleming, the car was restored and returned to Compiègne. It was housed in a specially created museum building as part of the "Glade of the Armistice" historic monument, with the car a few meters from the exact site of the signing ceremony  During World War II, Hitler ordered that the wagon be moved to exactly the same location for the signing of the second "armistice at Compiègne", on 22 June 1940; this time with Germany victorious. The carriage was moved out of its protective building and returned to the signing-place, which was several metres away and had been marked out as part of the monument. Subsequently, the wagon was taken to Berlin and displayed a week later at the Berlin Cathedral. In 1944 the wagon was sent to Thuringia, in central Germany. Then it moved to Ruhla and later Gotha Crawinkel, near a huge tunnel system. There it was destroyed in March 1945 by the SS with fire and/or dynamite, in the face of the advancing U.S. Army. However, some SS veterans and civilian eyewitnesses claim that the wagon had been destroyed by air attack near Ohrdruf while still in Thuringia in April 1944. Even so, it is generally believed the wagon was destroyed in 1945 by the SS.

Replica.

Today's historical wagon is an exact copy of the original one. In 1950, French manufacturer Wagons-Lits, the company that ran the Orient Express, donated a car from the same series to the museum — 2439D is identical to its ravaged twin, from its polished wooden finishes to its studded, leather-bound chairs. This car had also been part of Foch's private train during the 1918 signing. At the 1950 ceremony, it was renumbered No. 2419D. It is parked beside the display of the original car's remains: a few fragments of bronze decoration and two access ramps.

The Compiègne Wagon was the train carriage in which both the Armistice of 11 November 1918 and Armistice of 22 June 1940 were signed.