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Opteron

Opteron is AMD's x86 former server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture (known generically as x86-64). It was released on April 22, 2003, with the SledgeHammer core (K8) and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same segment as the Intel Xeon processor. Processors based on the AMD K10 microarchitecture (codenamed Barcelona) were announced on September 10, 2007, featuring a new quad-core configuration. The last released Opteron CPUs are the Piledriver-based Opteron 4300 and 6300 series processors, codenamed "Seoul" and "Abu Dhabi" respectively.

In January 2016, the first ARMv8-A based Opteron-branded SoC was released, though it is unclear what, if any, heritage this Opteron-branded product line shares with the original Opteron technology other than intended use in the server space.

Key capabilities
Opteron combines two important capabilities in a single processor:
 * 1) native execution of legacy x86 32-bit applications without speed penalties
 * 2) native execution of x86-64 64-bit applications

The first capability is notable because at the time of Opteron's introduction, the only other 64-bit architecture marketed with 32-bit x86 compatibility (Intel's Itanium) ran x86 legacy-applications only with significant speed degradation. The second capability, by itself, is less noteworthy, as major RISC architectures (such as SPARC, Alpha, PA-RISC, PowerPC, MIPS) have been 64-bit for many years. In combining these two capabilities, however, the Opteron earned recognition for its ability to run the vast installed base of x86 applications economically, while simultaneously offering an upgrade path to 64-bit computing.

The Opteron processor possesses an integrated memory controller supporting DDR SDRAM, DDR2 SDRAM or DDR3 SDRAM (depending on processor generation). This both reduces the latency penalty for accessing the main RAM and eliminates the need for a separate northbridge chip.

Multi-processor features
In multi-processor systems (more than one Opteron on a single motherboard), the CPUs communicate using the Direct Connect Architecture over high-speed HyperTransport links. Each CPU can access the main memory of another processor, transparent to the programmer. The Opteron approach to multi-processing is not the same as standard symmetric multiprocessing; instead of having one bank of memory for all CPUs, each CPU has its own memory. Thus the Opteron is a Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) architecture. The Opteron CPU directly supports up to an 8-way configuration, which can be found in mid-level servers. Enterprise-level servers use additional (and expensive) routing chips to support more than 8 CPUs per box.

In a variety of computing benchmarks, the Opteron architecture has demonstrated better multi-processor scaling than the Intel Xeon which did not have a point to point system until QPI and integrated memory controllers with the Nehalem design. This is primarily because adding another Opteron processor increases memory bandwidth, while that is not always the case for Xeon systems, and the fact that the Opterons use a switched fabric, rather than a shared bus. In particular, the Opteron's integrated memory controller allows the CPU to access local RAM very quickly. In contrast, multiprocessor Xeon system CPUs share only two common buses for both processor-processor and processor-memory communication. As the number of CPUs increases in a typical Xeon system, contention for the shared bus causes computing efficiency to drop. Intel migrated to a memory architecture similar to the Opteron's for the Intel Core i7 family of processors and their Xeon derivatives.

Multi-core Opterons
In April 2005, AMD introduced its first multi-core Opterons. At the time, AMD's use of the term multi-core in practice meant dual-core; each physical Opteron chip contained two processor cores. This effectively doubled the computing performance available to each motherboard processor socket. One socket could then deliver the performance of two processors, two sockets could deliver the performance of four processors, and so on. Because motherboard costs increase dramatically as the number of CPU sockets increase, multicore CPUs enable a multiprocessing system to be built at lower cost.

AMD's model number scheme has changed somewhat in light of its new multicore lineup. At the time of its introduction, AMD's fastest multicore Opteron was the model 875, with two cores running at 2.2 GHz each. AMD's fastest single-core Opteron at this time was the model 252, with one core running at 2.6 GHz. For multithreaded applications, or many single threaded applications, the model 875 would be much faster than the model 252.

Second-generation Opterons are offered in three series: the 1000 Series (single socket only), the 2000 Series (dual socket-capable), and the 8000 Series (quad or octo socket-capable). The 1000 Series uses the AM2 socket. The 2000 Series and 8000 Series use Socket F.

AMD announced its third-generation quad-core Opteron chips on September 10, 2007 with hardware vendors announcing servers in the following month. Based on a core design codenamed Barcelona, new power and thermal management techniques were planned for the chips. Earlier dual core DDR2 based platforms were upgradeable to quad core chips. The fourth generation was announced in June 2009 with the Istanbul hexa-cores. It introduced HT Assist, an additional directory for data location, reducing the overhead for probing and broadcasts. HT Assist uses 1 MB L3 cache per CPU when activated.

In March 2010 AMD released the Magny-Cours Opteron 6100 series CPUs for Socket G34. These are 8- and 12-core multi-chip module CPUs consisting of two four or six-core dies with a HyperTransport 3.1 link connecting the two dies. These CPUs updated the multi-socket Opteron platform to use DDR3 memory and increased the maximum HyperTransport link speed from 2.40 GHz (4.80 GT/s) for the Istanbul CPUs to 3.20 GHz (6.40 GT/s).

AMD changed the naming scheme for its Opteron models. Opteron 4000 series CPUs on Socket C32 (released July 2010) are dual-socket capable and are targeted at uniprocessor and dual-processor uses. The Opteron 6000 series CPUs on Socket G34 are quad-socket capable and are targeted at high-end dual-processor and quad-processor applications.

Socket 939
AMD released Socket 939 Opterons, reducing the cost of motherboards for low-end servers and workstations. Except for the fact they have 1 MB L2 cache (versus 512 KB for the Athlon 64) the Socket 939 Opterons are identical to the San Diego and Toledo core Athlon 64s, but are run at lower clock speeds than the cores are capable of, making them more stable.

Socket AM2
Socket AM2 Opterons are available for servers that only have a single-chip setup. Codenamed Santa Ana, rev. F dual core AM2 Opterons feature 2 × 1 MB L2 cache, unlike the majority of their Athlon 64 X2 cousins which feature 2 × 512 KB L2 cache. These CPUs are given model numbers ranging from 1210 to 1224.

Socket AM2+
AMD introduced three quad-core Opterons on Socket AM2+ for single-CPU servers in 2007. These CPUs are produced on a 65 nm manufacturing process and are similar to the Agena Phenom X4 CPUs. The Socket AM2+ quad-core Opterons are code-named "Budapest". The Socket AM2+ Opterons carry model numbers of 1352 (2.10 GHz), 1354 (2.20 GHz), and 1356 (2.30 GHz).

Socket AM3
AMD introduced three quad-core Opterons on Socket AM3 for single-CPU servers in 2009. These CPUs are produced on a 45 nm manufacturing process and are similar to the Deneb-based Phenom II X4 CPUs. The Socket AM3 quad-core Opterons are code-named "Suzuka". These CPUs carry model numbers of 1381 (2.50 GHz), 1385 (2.70 GHz), and 1389 (2.90 GHz).

Socket AM3+
Socket AM3+ was introduced in 2011 and is a modification of AM3 for the Bulldozer microarchitecture. Opteron CPUs in the AM3+ package are named Opteron 3xxx.

Socket F
Socket F (LGA 1207 contacts) is AMD’s second generation of Opteron socket. This socket supports processors such as the Santa Rosa, Barcelona, Shanghai, and Istanbul codenamed processors. the "lidded land grid array" socket adds support for DDR2 SDRAM and improved HyperTransport version 3 connectivity. Physically the socket and processor package are nearly identical, although not generally compatible with socket 1207 FX.

Socket G34
Socket G34 (LGA 1944 contacts) is one of the third generation of Opteron sockets, along with Socket C32. This socket supports Magny-Cours Opteron 6100, Bulldozer-based Interlagos Opteron 6200, and Piledriver-based "Abu Dhabi" Opteron 6300 series processors. This socket supports four channels of DDR3 SDRAM (two per CPU die). Unlike previous multi-CPU Opteron sockets, Socket G34 CPUs will function with unbuffered ECC or non-ECC RAM in addition to the traditional registered ECC RAM.

Socket C32
Socket C32 (LGA 1207 contacts) is the other member of the third generation of Opteron sockets. This socket is physically similar to Socket F but is not compatible with Socket F CPUs. Socket C32 uses DDR3 SDRAM and is keyed differently so as to prevent the insertion of Socket F CPUs that can use only DDR2 SDRAM. Like Socket G34, Socket C32 CPUs will be able to use unbuffered ECC or non-ECC RAM in addition to registered ECC SDRAM.

Micro-architecture update
The Opteron line saw an update with the implementation of the AMD K10 microarchitecture. New processors, launched in the third quarter of 2007 (codename Barcelona), incorporate a variety of improvements, particularly in memory prefetching, speculative loads, SIMD execution and branch prediction, yielding an appreciable performance improvement over K8-based Opterons, within the same power envelope.

In 2007 AMD introduced a scheme to characterize the power consumption of new processors under "average" daily usage, named average CPU power (ACP).

Socket FT3
The Opteron X1150 and Opteron X2150 APU are used with the BGA-769 or Socket FT3.

APUs
See APU features table

Models
For Socket 940 and Socket 939 Opterons, each chip has a three-digit model number, in the form Opteron XYY. For Socket F and Socket AM2 Opterons, each chip has a four-digit model number, in the form Opteron XZYY. For all first, second, and third-generation Opterons, the first digit (the X) specifies the number of CPUs on the target machine: For Socket F and Socket AM2 Opterons, the second digit (the Z) represents the processor generation. Presently, only 2 (dual-core, DDR2), 3 (quad-core, DDR2) and 4 (six-core, DDR2) are used.
 * 1 – Designed for uniprocessor systems
 * 2 – Designed for dual-processor systems
 * 8 – Designed for systems with 4 or 8 processors

Socket C32 and G34 Opterons use a new four-digit numbering scheme. The first digit refers to the number of CPUs in the target machine:

 * 4 – Designed for uniprocessor and dual-processor systems.
 * 6 – Designed for dual-processor and four-processor systems.

Like the previous second and third generation Opterons, the second number refers to the processor generation. "1" refers to AMD K10-based units (Magny-Cours and Lisbon), "2" refers to the Bulldozer-based Interlagos, Valencia, and Zurich-based units, and "3" refers to the Piledriver-based Abu Dhabi, Seoul, and Delhi-based units.

For all Opterons, the last two digits in the model number (the YY) indicate the clock frequency of a CPU, a higher number indicating a higher clock frequency. This speed indication is comparable to processors of the same generation if they have the same amount of cores, single-cores and dual-cores have different indications despite sometimes having the same clock frequency.

The suffix HE or EE indicates a high-efficiency/energy-efficiency model having a lower TDP than a standard Opteron. The suffix SE indicates a top-of-the-line model having a higher TDP than a standard Opteron.

Starting from 65 nm fabrication process, the Opteron codenames have been based on Formula 1 hosting cities; AMD has a long term sponsorship with F1's most successful team, Ferrari.

Single-core – SledgeHammer (1yy, 2yy, 8yy)

 * CPU steppings: B3, C0, CG
 * L1 cache: 64 + 64 KB (data + instructions)
 * L2 cache: 1024 KB, full speed
 * MMX, Extended 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, AMD64
 * Socket 940, 800 MHz HyperTransport
 * Registered DDR SDRAM required, ECC possible
 * VCore: 1.50–1.55 V
 * Max power (TDP): 89 W
 * First release: April 22, 2003
 * Clock rate: 1.4–2.4 GHz (x40 – x50)

Single-core – Venus (1yy), Troy (2yy), Athens (8yy)

 * CPU steppings: E4
 * L1 cache: 64 + 64 KB (data + instructions)
 * L2 cache: 1024 KB, full speed
 * MMX, Extended 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, AMD64
 * Socket 940, 800 MHz HyperTransport
 * Socket 939/Socket 940, 1000 MHz HyperTransport
 * Registered DDR SDRAM required for socket 940, ECC possible
 * VCore: 1.35–1.4 V
 * Max power (TDP): 95 W
 * NX bit
 * 64-bit segment limit checks for VMware-style binary-translation virtualization.
 * Optimized Power Management (OPM)
 * First release: December 2004
 * Clock rate: 1.6–3.0 GHz (x42 – x56)

Dual-core – Denmark (1yy), Italy (2yy), Egypt (8yy)

 * CPU steppings: E1, E6
 * First release: April 2005
 * Clock rate: 1.6–2.8 GHz (x60, x65, x70, x75, x80, x85, x90)
 * Socket 939/Socket 940, 1000 MHz HyperTransport
 * NX bit

Dual-core – Santa Ana (12yy), Santa Rosa (22yy, 82yy)

 * CPU steppings: F2, F3
 * L1 cache: 64 + 64 KB (data + instructions)
 * L2 cache: 2 × 1024 KB, full speed
 * MMX, Extended 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, AMD64
 * Socket F, 1000 MHz HyperTransport – Opteron 22yy, 82yy
 * Socket AM2, 1000 MHz HyperTransport – Opteron 12yy
 * VCore: 1.35 V
 * Max power (TDP): 95 W
 * NX bit
 * AMD-V Virtualization
 * Optimized Power Management (OPM)
 * First release: ?????? 2006
 * Clock rate: 1.8–3.2 GHz (xx10, xx12, xx14, xx16, xx18, xx20, xx22, xx24)

Quad-core – Barcelona (23xx, 83xx) 2360/8360 and below, Budapest (13yy) 1356 and below

 * CPU steppings: BA, B3
 * L1 cache: 64 + 64 KB (data + instructions) per core
 * L2 cache: 512 KB, full speed per core
 * L3 cache: 2048 KB, shared
 * MMX, Extended 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, AMD64, SSE4a, ABM
 * Socket F, Socket AM2+, HyperTransport 3.0 (1.6–2 GHz)
 * Registered DDR2 SDRAM required, ECC possible
 * VCore: 1.2 V
 * Max power (TDP): 95 W
 * NX bit
 * 2nd-generation AMD-V Virtualization with Rapid Virtualization Indexing (RVI)
 * Split power plane dynamic power management
 * First release: September 10, 2007
 * Clock rate: 1.7–2.5 GHz

Quad-core – Shanghai (23xx, 83xx) 2370/8370 and above, Suzuka (13yy) 1381 and above

 * CPU steppings: C2
 * L3 cache: 6 MB, shared
 * Clock rate: 2.3–2.9 GHz
 * HyperTransport 1.0, 3.0
 * 20% reduction in idle power consumption
 * support for DDR2 800 MHz memory (Socket F)
 * support for DDR3 1333 MHz memory (Socket AM3)

6-core – Istanbul (24xx, 84xx)
Released June 1, 2009.

 * CPU steppings: D0
 * L3 cache: 6 MB, shared
 * Clock rate: 2.2–2.8 GHz
 * HyperTransport 3.0
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR2 800 MHz memory

8-core – Magny-Cours MCM (6124–6140)
Released March 29, 2010.

 * CPU steppings: D1
 * Multi-chip module consisting of two quad-core dies
 * L2 cache: 8 × 512 KB
 * L3 cache: 2 × 6 MB, shared
 * Clockrate: 2.0–2.6 GHz
 * Four HyperTransport 3.1 at 3.2 GHz (6.40 GT/s)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1333 MHz memory
 * Socket G34

12-core – Magny-Cours MCM (6164-6180SE)
Released March 29, 2010

 * CPU steppings: D1
 * Multi-chip module consisting of two hexa-core dies
 * L2 cache, 12 × 512 KB
 * L3 cache: 2 × 6 MB, shared
 * Clock rate: 1.7–2.5 GHz
 * Four HyperTransport 3.1 links at 3.2 GHz (6.40 GT/s)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1333 MHz memory
 * Socket G34

Quad-core – Lisbon (4122, 4130)
Released June 23, 2010

 * CPU steppings: D0
 * L3 cache: 6 MB
 * Clock rate: 2.2 GHz (4122), 2.6 GHz (4130)
 * Two HyperTransport links at 3.2 GHz (6.40 GT/s)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3-1333 memory
 * Socket C32

Hex-core – Lisbon (4162–4184)
Released June 23, 2010

 * CPU steppings: D1
 * L3 cache: 6 MB
 * Clock rate: 1.7–2.8 GHz
 * Two HyperTransport links at 3.2 GHz (6.40 GT/s)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3-1333 memory
 * Socket C32

Quad-core – Zurich (3250–3260)
Released March 20, 2012.

 * CPU steppings: B2
 * Single processor Bulldozer module
 * L2 cache: 2 × 2 MB
 * L3 cache: 4 MB
 * Clock rate: 2.5 GHz (3250) – 2.7 GHz (3260)
 * HyperTransport 3 (5.2 GT/s)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1866 MHz memory
 * Turbo CORE support, up to 3.5 GHz (3250), up to 3.7 GHz (3260)
 * Supports uniprocessor configurations only
 * Socket AM3+

Eight-core – Zurich (3280)
Released March 20, 2012.

 * CPU steppings: B2
 * Single processor Bulldozer module
 * L2 cache: 4 × 2 MB
 * L3 cache: 8 MB
 * Clock rate: 2.4 GHz
 * HyperTransport 3 (5.2 GT/s)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1866 MHz memory
 * Turbo CORE support, up to 3.5 GHz
 * Supports uniprocessor configurations only
 * Socket AM3+

6-core – Valencia (4226–4238)
Released November 14, 2011.

 * CPU steppings: B2
 * Single die consisting of three dual-core Bulldozer modules
 * L2 cache: 6 MB
 * L3 cache: 8 MB, shared
 * Clock rate: 2.7–3.3 GHz (up to 3.1–3.7 GHz with Turbo CORE)
 * Two HyperTransport 3.1 at 3.2 GHz (6.40 GT/s)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1866 MHz memory
 * Turbo CORE support
 * Supports up to dual-processor configurations
 * Socket C32

8-core – Valencia (4256 HE-4284)
Released November 14, 2011.

 * CPU steppings: B2
 * Single die consisting of four dual-core Bulldozer modules
 * L2 cache: 8 MB
 * L3 cache: 8 MB, shared
 * Clockrate: 1.6–3.0 GHz (up to 3.0-3.7 GHz with Turbo CORE)
 * Two HyperTransport 3.1 at 3.2 GHz (6.40 GT/s)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1866 MHz memory
 * Turbo CORE support
 * Supports up to dual-processor configurations
 * Socket C32

Quad-core – Interlagos MCM (6204)
Released November 14, 2011.

 * CPU steppings: B2
 * Multi-chip module consisting of two dies, each with one dual-core Bulldozer module
 * L2 cache: 2 × 2 MB
 * L3 cache: 2 × 8 MB, shared
 * Clockrate: 3.3 GHz
 * HyperTransport 3 at 3.2 GHz (6.40 GT/s)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1866 MHz memory
 * Does not support Turbo CORE
 * Supports up to quad-processor configurations
 * Socket G34

8-core – Interlagos (6212, 6220)
Released November 14, 2011.

 * CPU steppings: B2
 * Multi-chip module consisting of two dies, each with two dual-core Bulldozer modules
 * L2 cache: 2 × 4 MB
 * L3 cache: 2 × 8 MB, shared
 * Clockrate: 2.6, 3.0 GHz (up to 3.2 and 3.6 GHz with Turbo CORE)
 * Four HyperTransport 3.1 at 3.2 GHz (6.40 GT/s)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1866 MHz memory
 * Turbo CORE support
 * Supports up to quad-processor configurations
 * Socket G34

12-core – Interlagos (6234, 6238)
Released November 14, 2011.

 * CPU steppings: B2
 * Multi-chip module consisting of two dies, each with three dual-core Bulldozer modules
 * L2 cache: 2 × 6 MB
 * L3 cache: 2 × 8 MB, shared
 * Clock rate: 2.4, 2.6 GHz (up to 3.1 and 3.3 GHz with Turbo CORE)
 * Four HyperTransport 3.1 at 3.2 GHz (6.40 GT/s)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1866 MHz memory
 * Turbo CORE support
 * Supports up to quad-processor configurations
 * Socket G34

16-core – Interlagos (6262 HE-6284 SE)
Released November 14, 2011.

 * CPU steppings: B2
 * Multi-chip module consisting of two dies, each with four dual-core Bulldozer modules
 * L2 cache: 2 × 8 MB
 * L3 cache: 2 × 8 MB, shared
 * Clock rate: 1.6–2.7 GHz (up to 2.9-3.5 GHz with Turbo CORE)
 * Four HyperTransport 3.1 at 3.2 GHz (6.40 GT/s)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1866 MHz memory
 * Turbo CORE support
 * Supports up to quad-processor configurations
 * Socket G34

Quad-core – Delhi (3320 EE, 3350 HE)
Released December 4, 2012.

 * CPU steppings: C0
 * Single die consisting of two Piledriver modules
 * L2 cache: 2 × 2 MB
 * L3 cache: 8 MB, shared
 * Clockrate: 1.9 GHz (3320 EE) – 2.8 GHz (3350 HE)
 * 1 × HyperTransport 3 (5.2 GT/s per link)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1866 MHz memory
 * Turbo CORE support, up to 2.5 GHz (3320 EE), up to 3.8 GHz (3350 HE)
 * Supports uniprocessor configurations only
 * Socket AM3+

Eight-core – Delhi (3380)
Released December 4, 2012.

 * CPU steppings: C0
 * Single die consisting of four Piledriver modules
 * L2 cache: 4 × 2 MB
 * L3 cache: 8 MB, shared
 * Clock rate: 2.6 GHz
 * 1 × HyperTransport 3 (5.2 GT/s per link)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1866 MHz memory
 * Turbo CORE support, pp to 3.6 GHz
 * Supports uniprocessor configurations only
 * Socket AM3+

4-core – Seoul (4310 EE)
Released December 4, 2012

 * CPU steppings: C0
 * Single die consisting of two Piledriver modules
 * L2 cache: 2 × 2 MB
 * L3 cache: 8 MB, shared
 * Clock rate: 2.2 GHz
 * 2 × HyperTransport 3.1 at 3.2 GHz (6.40 GT/s per link)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1866 MHz memory
 * Turbo CORE support, up to 3.0 GHz
 * Supports up to dual-processor configurations
 * Socket C32

6-core – Seoul (4332 HE – 4340)
Released December 4, 2012

 * CPU steppings: C0
 * Single die consisting of three Piledriver modules
 * L2 cache: 3 × 2 MB
 * L3 cache: 8 MB, shared
 * Clockrate: 3.0 GHz (4332 HE) – 3.5 GHz (4340)
 * 2 × HyperTransport 3.1 at 3.2 GHz (6.40 GT/s per link)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1866 MHz memory
 * Turbo CORE support, from 3.5 GHz (4334) to 3.8 GHz (4340)
 * Supports up to dual-processor configurations
 * Socket C32

8-core – Seoul (4376 HE and above)
Released December 4, 2012

 * CPU steppings: C0
 * Single die consisting of four Piledriver modules
 * L2 cache: 4 × 2 MB
 * L3 cache: 8 MB, shared
 * Clock rate: 2.6 GHz (4376 HE) – 3.1 GHz (4386)
 * 2 × HyperTransport 3.1 at 3.2 GHz (6.40 GT/s per link)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1866 MHz memory
 * Turbo CORE support, from 3.6 GHz (4376 HE) to 3.8 GHz (4386)
 * Supports up to dual-processor configurations
 * Socket C32

Quad-core – Abu Dhabi MCM (6308)
Released November 5, 2012.

 * CPU steppings: C0
 * Multi-chip module consisting of two dies, each with one Piledriver module
 * L2 cache: 2 MB per die (4 MB total)
 * L3 cache: 2 × 8 MB, shared within each die
 * Clock rate: 3.5 GHz
 * 4 × HyperTransport 3.1 at 3.2 GHz (6.40 GT/s per link)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1866 MHz memory
 * Does not support Turbo CORE
 * Supports up to quad-processor configurations
 * Socket G34

Eight-core – Abu Dhabi MCM (6320, 6328)
Released November 5, 2012.

 * CPU steppings: C0
 * Multi-chip module consisting of two dies, each with two Piledriver module
 * L2 cache: 2 × 2 MB per die (8 MB total)
 * L2 cache: 2 × 8 MB, shared within each die
 * Clock rate: 2.8 GHz (6320) – 3.2 GHz (6328)
 * 4 × HyperTransport 3.1 at 3.2 GHz (6.40 GT/s per link)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1866 MHz memory
 * Turbo CORE support, from 3.3 GHz (6320) to 3.8 GHz (6328)
 * Supports up to quad-processor configurations
 * Socket G34

12-core – Abu Dhabi MCM (6344, 6348)
Released November 5, 2012.

 * CPU steppings: C0
 * Multi-chip module consisting of two dies, each with three Piledriver module
 * L2 cache: 3 × 2 MB per die (12 MB total)
 * L3 cache: 2 × 8 MB, shared within each die
 * Clock rate: 2.6 GHz (6344) – 2.8 GHz (6348)
 * 4 × HyperTransport 3.1 at 3.2 GHz (6.40 GT/s per link)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1866 MHz memory
 * Turbo CORE support, from 3.2 GHz (6344) to 3.4 GHz (6348)
 * Supports up to quad-processor configurations
 * Socket G34

16-core – Abu Dhabi MCM (6366 HE and above)
Released November 5, 2012.

 * CPU steppings: C0
 * Multi-chip module consisting of two dies, each with four Piledriver module
 * L2 cache: 4 × 2 MB per die (16 MB total)
 * L3 cache: 2 × 8 MB, shared within each die
 * Clock rate: 1.8 GHz (6366 HE) – 2.8 GHz (6386 SE)
 * 4 × HyperTransport 3.1 at 3.2 GHz (6.40 GT/s per link)
 * HT Assist
 * Support for DDR3 1866 MHz memory
 * Turbo CORE support, from 3.1 GHz (6366 HE) to 3.5 GHz (6386 SE)
 * Supports up to quad-processor configurations
 * Socket G34

Quad-core – Kyoto (X1150)
Released May 29, 2013
 * Single SoC with one Jaguar module and integrated I/O
 * Configurable CPU frequency and TDP
 * L2 cache: 2 MB shared
 * CPU frequency: 1.0–2.0 GHz
 * Max. TDP: 9–17 W
 * Support for DDR3-1600 memory
 * Socket FT3

Quad-core APU – Kyoto (X2150)
Released May 29, 2013
 * Single SoC with one Jaguar module, integrated GCN GPU and I/O
 * Configurable CPU/GPU frequency and TDP
 * L2 cache: 2 MB shared
 * CPU frequency: 1.1–1.9 GHz
 * GPU frequency: 266–600 MHz
 * GPU cores: 128
 * Max. TDP: 11–22 W
 * Support for DDR3-1600 memory
 * Socket FT3

A1100-series
The Opteron A1100-series "Seattle" (28 nm) are SoCs based on ARM Cortex-A57 cores that use the ARMv8-A instruction set. They were first released in January 2016.
 * Cores: 4–8
 * Frequency: 1.7–2.0 GHz
 * L2 cache: 2 MB (4 core) or 4 MB (8 core)
 * L3 cache: 8 MB
 * Thermal design power: 25 W (4 core) or 32 W (8 core)
 * Up to 64 GB DDR3L-1600 and up to 128 GB DDR4-1866 with ECC
 * SoC peripherals include 14 × SATA 3, 2 × integrated 10 GbE LAN, and eight PCI Express lanes in ×8, ×4, and ×2 configurations

Opteron X (28 nm bulk) – Excavator microarchitecture
Released June, 2017

Dual-core – Toronto (X3216)

 * L2 cache: 1 MB
 * CPU frequency: 1.6 GHz
 * Turbo CORE support, 3.0 GHz
 * GPU frequency: 800 MHz
 * TDP: 12–15 W
 * Support for DDR4 1600 MHz memory

Quad-core – Toronto (X3418 & X3421)

 * L2 cache: 2 × 1 MB
 * CPU frequency: 1.8–2.1 GHz
 * Turbo CORE support, 3.2–3.4 GHz
 * GPU frequency: 800 MHz
 * TDP: 12–35 W
 * Support for DDR4 2400 MHz memory

Supercomputers
Opteron processors first appeared in the top 100 systems of the fastest supercomputers in the world list in the early 2000s. By the summer of 2006, 21 of the top 100 systems used Opteron processors, and in the November 2010 and June 2011 lists the Opteron reached its maximum representation of 33 of the top 100 systems. The number of Opteron-based systems decreased fairly rapidly after this peak, falling to 3 of the top 100 systems by November 2016, and in November 2017 only one Opteron-based system remained.

Several supercomputers using only Opteron processors were ranked in the top 10 systems between 2003 and 2015, notably:

 * Red Storm – Sandia National Laboratories – system in November 2006.
 * Jaguar – Oak Ridge National Laboratory – various configurations held top 10 positions between 2005 and 2011, including in November 2009 and June 2010.
 * Ranger – Texas Advanced Computing Center – system in June 2008.
 * Kraken – National Institute for Computational Sciences – system in November 2009.
 * Hopper – National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center – system in November 2010.

Other top 10 systems using a combination of Opteron processors and compute accelerators have included:

 * IBM Roadrunner – Los Alamos National Laboratory – system in 2008.  Composed of Opteron processors with IBM PowerXCell 8i co-processors.

The only system remaining on the list (as of November 2017), also using Opteron processors combined with compute accelerators:

 * Titan (supercomputer) – Oak Ridge National Laboratory – system in 2012,  as of November 2017.  Composed of Opteron processors with Nvidia Fermi (microarchitecture) GPU-based accelerators.

Opteron without Optimized Power Management
AMD released some Opteron processors without Optimized Power Management (OPM) support, which use DDR memory. The following table describes those processors without OPM.

Opteron recall (2006)
AMD recalled some E4 stepping-revision single-core Opteron processors, including ×52 (2.6 GHz) and ×54 (2.8 GHz) models which use DDR memory. The following table describes affected processors, as listed in AMD Opteron ×52 and ×54 Production Notice of 2006.

The affected processors may produce inconsistent results if three specific conditions occur simultaneously:
 * The execution of floating point-intensive code sequences
 * Elevated processor temperatures
 * Elevated ambient temperatures

A software verification tool for identifying the AMD Opteron processors listed in the above table that may be affected under these specific conditions is available, only to AMD OEM partners. AMD will replace those processors at no charge.

Recognition
In the February 2010 issue of Custom PC (a UK-based computing magazine focused on PC hardware), the AMD Opteron 144 (released in Summer 2005) appeared in the "Hardware Hall of Fame". It was described as "The best overclocker's CPU ever made" due to its low cost and ability to run at speeds far beyond its stock speed. (According to Custom PC, it could run at "close to 3 GHz on air".)

title: Opteron


text:
Aylesford

Aylesford is a village and civil parish on the River Medway in Kent, England, 4 mi northwest of Maidstone.

Originally a small riverside settlement, the old village comprises around 60 houses, many of which were formerly shops. Two pubs, a village shop and other amenities are located on the high street. Aylesford's current population is around 5,000.

The Parish of Aylesford covers more than 7 sqmi, stretching north to Rochester Airport estate and south to Barming, and has a total population of over 10,000 (as of 2011), with the main settlements at Aylesford, Eccles, Blue Bell Hill and (part of) Walderslade.

Aylesford Newsprint was a long-established major employer in the area and was the largest paper recycling factory in Europe, manufacturing newsprint for the newspaper industry. In 2015, Aylesford Paper Mill, as it was known by local residents, was closed down and stripped of all its assets.

History
There has been activity in the area since Neolithic times. There are several chamber tombs north of the village, of which Kit's Coty House, 1.5 mi to the north, is the most famous; all have been damaged by farming. Kit's Coty is the remains of the burial chamber at one end of a long barrow. Just south of this, situated lower down the same hillside, is a similar structure, Little Kits Coty House (also known as the Countless Stones).

Bronze Age swords have been discovered near here and an Iron Age settlement and Roman villa stood at Eccles. A cemetery of the British Iron Age discovered in 1886 was excavated under the leadership of Sir Arthur Evans (of Knossos fame), and published in 1890. Many of Evans' finds are now kept in the British Museum, including a bronze jug, pan and 'bucket' with handles in the form of a human face from a cremation burial. With the later excavation at Swarling not far away (discovery to publication was 1921–1925) this is the type site for Aylesford-Swarling pottery or the Aylesford-Swarling culture. Evan's conclusion that the site belonged to a culture closely related to the continental Belgae, remains the modern view, though the dating has been refined to the period after about 75 BC. The village has been suggested as the site of the Battle of the Medway during the Roman invasion of Britain although there is no direct evidence of this.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the Battle of Aylesford taking place nearby in 455, when the Germanic Hengest fought the Welsh Vortigern; Horsa (Hengist's brother) is said to have fallen in this battle; Alfred the Great defeated the Danes in 893; as did Edmund II Ironside in 1016.

Following the Norman Conquest of 1066, the manor of Aylesford was owned by William the Conqueror. Some of the land was given to the Bishop of Rochester as compensation for land seized for the building of Rochester Castle. The Domesday Book of 1086 records: Also the Bishop of Rochester holds as much of this land as is worth 17s6d in exchange for the land on which the castle stands. 17s6d is the rental value (as used for taxation), not the capital value.

The church of St Peter and St Paul is of Norman origin. Here there is a memorial to the Culpeper family, who owned the nearby Preston Hall Estate.

The Friars
In 1240, Ralph Frisburn, on his return from the Holy Land, founded a Carmelite monastery under the patronage of Richard, Lord Grey of Codnor, among the first of the Order to be founded in Europe. He was followed later by Simon Stock, who in 1254 was elected Prior General of the now mendicant Carmelites. Saint Simon died in 1265, whilst on a visit to Bordeaux, whereafter, his remains were honoured for centuries. In July 1951, his relics (remains of his head) were installed in a reliquary at the friary.

Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII in 1536, ownership of the site was transferred in 1538 to Sir Thomas Wyatt of nearby Allington Castle. Following the rebellion against Queen Mary by Sir Thomas's son, Thomas Wyatt the younger, the property was forfeited back to the crown. Possession was later granted to Sir John Sedley by Mary's half-sister Queen Elizabeth. The Sedleys sold the estate to Sir Peter Ricaut and his family. Although the Sedley family made some changes to the priory, it was the next owner, Sir John Banks, in the 1670s, who was responsible for the remodelling of the buildings. In 1696, the estate passed by marriage to Heneage Finch, later created Earl of Aylesford.

The main part of the house was destroyed by fire in the 1930s, revealing many original features, which had been hidden by Banks's alterations. The Carmelites purchased it in 1949 from the Hewitt family and restored some of the original buildings; beyond the cloisters four chapels have been built to service the needs of the many different groups that visit yearly (The Choir Chapel - where the community celebrates daily Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours; St Joseph's; St Anne's; and the Relic Chapel, which houses the remains of St Simon Stock). Aesthetically, the modern build shows sensitivity to the existing buildings with a mixture of English Gothic (perpendicular Gothic) and Tudor features; many modern materials have been employed but traditional peg tiles are on the roofs and are the walls are faced in Kentish ragstone. The priory is a popular place for pilgrimage, as well as for retreats and conferences. The friary has some notable artwork, such as many pieces by the ceramic artist Adam Kossowski. The remains of the manor house present at the foundation of the priory are believed to lie under the Great Courtyard; this could date from as early as 1085.

River Medway
Due to the village's location on its banks, the River Medway has been a key influence on its development. Aylesford takes its name from an Old English personal name, and literally denotes 'Ægel's ford'. Its first recorded use is from the tenth century, as Æglesforda. It was also the place where one of the earliest bridges across the Medway was built, believed to be in the 14th century (although the wide central span seen today is later). Upstream from Rochester Bridge, it became the next bridging point. The river was navigable as far as Maidstone until 1740, when barges of forty tons could reach as far as Tonbridge. As a result, wharves were built, one being at Aylesford. Corn, fodder and fruit, along with stone and timber, were the principal cargoes. Due to increased road traffic in recent years, the ancient bridge has now been superseded by a modern structure nearby, but remains in use for pedestrians.

The village
The oldest parts of the village lie north and immediately south of the Medway. Many of the buildings are of great antiquity: the Chequers Inn, the George House (formerly a coaching inn) and the almshouses among them. St Peter and St Paul's church, parts of which date back to the Norman invasion, sits on a hill in the southern part of the village. Major construction took place during the Victorian era, when houses were built to serve the nearby quarry. The brick and tile industries have been replaced by a large area of commercial buildings, and what was once the huge Aylesford paper mills site was later regenerated by a leading newsprint plant surrounded by newly developed private estates featuring high value accommodation.

Recent expansion has been to the southern side of the river, where a substantial suburban housing estate has grown up, partly because the village is served by the railway, with connections for Maidstone and London. Many of these homes were originally owned by employees of the paper mills, which are now closed and which have been replaced by a number of smaller industrial estates with a variety of specialist businesses that include engineering, manufacturing, wholesale and others.

Schools
Henry Arthur Brassey (1840–1891) was a great benefactor of Aylesford, and as well as financing major repairs to the church, also provided the village with a school. This was replaced in the 1960s with a new building to the south east of the village, next to the site of the local secondary school (now Aylesford School - Sports College) which was housed in buildings largely built in the 1940s by Italian prisoners of War. The old school buildings were totally rebuilt on the same site in 2008. The original village school – now known as the Brassey Centre – is used as a church office and community hall.

Railway
Aylesford railway station, opened on 18 June 1856, is on the Medway Valley Line connecting Strood with Maidstone (West) and Paddock Wood. The original station buildings – gabled and highly decorated, built in Kentish ragstone with Caen stone dressings, with windows that replicate those at Aylesford Priory – have been used as a fast food restaurant in recent years following restoration in the 1980s.

Royal British Legion Village
Located to the south of Aylesford, on the A20 London Road, the Royal British Legion Village was founded after the First World War to help injured soldiers following their discharge from the nearby Preston Hall hospital. It was first the centre of a small farming community known as The Preston Hall Colony. When the British Legion was founded in 1921, it became one of the first branches and, by 1925, was known as Royal British Legion Village. A thriving community has since developed, providing nursing homes, sheltered housing and independent living units, as well as employment and social activities, helping all disabled veterans living in, or moving to, the area. In 1972 the Poppy Appeal headquarters moved to the village, which now forms one of the main centres of Legion life and activities. An industrial complex in the village houses Royal British Legion industries, including the manufacture of road and public signs used throughout the UK.

Sports
Aylesford Football Club are based in the village, playing at the Recreation Ground on Forstal Road since before the War Aylesford Bulls Rugby Football Club is located at the Jack Williams Memorial Ground in Hall Road. They run children's age-grade teams from U6-U18 plus several adult teams for men and women of all levels.

The village is home to what is claimed to be Britain's oldest operating sauna, the Finnish Sauna Bath. Built for the London Olympics in 1948, it was subsequently moved to Aylesford.

Demography
At the 2001 UK census, the Aylesford electoral ward had a population of 4,548. The ethnicity was 98.2% white, 0.8% mixed race, 0.9% Asian, 0.1% black and 0% other. The place of birth of residents was 96.2% United Kingdom, 0.5% Republic of Ireland, 1% other Western European countries, and 2.3% elsewhere. Religion was recorded as 77.4% Christian, 0.2% Buddhist, 0.5% Hindu, 0.1% Sikh, 0% Jewish, and 0.2% Muslim. 12.8% were recorded as having no religion, 0.1% had an alternative religion and 8.8% did not state their religion.

The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 41.1% in full-time employment, 14.5% in part-time employment, 9.3% self-employed, 1.9% unemployed, 2.2% students with jobs, 2.5% students without jobs, 15.3% retired, 6.7% looking after home or family, 4.4% permanently sick or disabled and 2.2% economically inactive for other reasons. The industry of employment of residents was 19.6% retail, 13.6% manufacturing, 9.2% construction, 13.2% real estate, 9.7% health and social work, 6.1% education, 8% transport and communications, 4.8% public administration, 3.6% hotels and restaurants, 4.7% finance, 1.1% agriculture and 6.4% other. Compared with national figures, the ward had a relatively high proportion of workers in construction, and a relatively low proportion in agriculture, education, hotels and restaurants. Of the ward's residents aged 16–74, 14.3% had a higher education qualification or the equivalent, compared with 19.9% nationwide.

Lathe of Aylesford
The Lathe of Aylesford, in the western division of the county of Kent, comprised 13 Hundreds, and was bounded on the north by the river Thames, on the west by the Lathe of Sutton at Hone, on the south by the county of Sussex and on the east by the Lathe of Scray. It was the second in extent, and embraced an area of 233580 acre, and had the largest population of any of the five Lathes into which this county is divided.

In 1841 there were 18,303 inhabited houses with a population of 103,166. To the above may be added the town of Chatham, the city of Rochester, and the borough of Maidstone, containing together 10570 acre, and a population of 51,260.

The Lathe of Aylesford consisted of the following Hundreds: plus the Lowey of Tonbridge
 * Brenchley and Horsmonden
 * Chatham and Gillingham
 * Eyhorne
 * Hoo
 * Larkfield
 * Littlefield
 * Maidstone
 * Shamwell
 * Toltingtrough
 * Twyford
 * Washlingstone
 * West Barnfield
 * Wrotham

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Aylesford


text:
User:Theanthrope

I agree to multi-license all my contributions, with the exception of my user pages, as described below:

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title: User:Theanthrope


text:
Pierre de Ronsard

Pierre de Ronsard (11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet or, as his own generation in France called him, a "prince of poets".

Ronsard was born at Manoir de la Possonnière in the village of Couture-sur-Loir, Vendômois. His father served Francis I as maître d'hôtel du roi. Ronsard received an education at home before attending the College of Navarre in Paris at age nine. He later travelled extensively, including visits to Scotland, Flanders, and Holland. After a hearing impairment halted his diplomatic career, Ronsard dedicated himself to study at the Collège Coqueret.

He became the acknowledged leader of the Pléiade, a group of seven French poets aiming to apply classical criticism and scholarship to the vernacular. Ronsard was a prolific writer, and his work was both admired and criticized throughout his life. His reputation was established by critics such as Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, and his poetry is characterized by its magnificence of language and imagery and graceful variety of metre.

Early life

Pierre de Ronsard was born at the Manoir de la Possonnière, in the village of Couture-sur-Loir, Vendômois (in present-day Loir-et-Cher). Baudouin de Ronsard or Rossart was the founder of the French branch of the house, and made his mark in the early stages of the Hundred Years' War. The poet's father was Louis de Ronsard, and his mother was Jeanne de Chaudrier, who came from a noble and well-connected family. Pierre was the youngest son. Louis de Ronsard was maître d'hôtel du roi to Francis I, whose captivity after Pavia had just been ameliorated by treaty, and who had to leave home shortly after Pierre's birth.

The future poet was educated at home in his earliest years and sent to the Collège de Navarre in Paris at age nine. When Madeleine of France married to James V of Scotland, Ronsard became a page in the Scottish court, where he became inspired to render French vernacular translations of classical authors. A year after the death of the queen, he returned to France, travelling back through England.

Further travel took him to Flanders, Holland, and again, for a short time, Scotland, on diplomatic missions on with Claude d'Humières, seigneur de Lassigny. He then became secretary to the suite of Lazare de Baïf, the father of his future colleague in the Pléiade and his companion on this occasion, Antoine de Baïf, at the diet of Speyer. Afterwards he joined the entourage of the cardinal du Bellay-Langey; his notorious quarrel with François Rabelais dates from this period.

Studies
His apparently promising diplomatic career was cut short by an attack of deafness following a 1540 visit, as part of legation to Alsace, that no physician could cure; he would subsequently determine to devote himself to study. The institution he chose for the purpose among the numerous schools and colleges of Paris was the Collège Coqueret, the principal of which was Jean Daurat — afterwards the "dark star" (as he has been called from his silence in French) of the Pléiade, and already an acquaintance of Ronsard's from having held the office of tutor in the Baïf household. Antoine de Baïf, Daurat's pupil, accompanied Ronsard; Remy Belleau shortly followed; Joachim du Bellay, the second of the seven, joined not much later. Muretus (Marc Antoine de Muret), a great scholar and by means of his Latin plays a great influence in the creation of French tragedy, was also a student here.

Ronsard's period of study occupied seven years, and the first manifesto of the new literary movement, which was to apply to the vernacular the principles of criticism and scholarship learnt from the classics, came not from him but from Du Bellay. The Défense et illustration de la langue française of the latter appeared in 1549, and the Pléiade (or Brigade, as it was first called) may be said to have been then launched. It consisted, as its name implies, of seven writers whose names are sometimes differently enumerated, though the orthodox canon is beyond doubt composed of Ronsard, Du Bellay, Baïf, Belleau, Pontus de Tyard (a man of rank and position who had exemplified the principles of the friends earlier), Jodelle the dramatist, and Daurat. Ronsard's own work came a little later, and a rather idle story is told of a trick of Du Bellay's which at last determined him to publish. Some single and minor pieces, an epithalamium on Antoine de Bourbon and Jeanne de Navarre (1550), a "Hymne de la France" (1549), an "Ode a la Paix," preceded the publication in 1550 of the four first books ("first" is characteristic and noteworthy) of the Odes of Pierre de Ronsard.

This was followed in 1552 by the publication of his Amours de Cassandre with the fifth book of Odes, dedicated to the 15-year-old Cassandre Salviati, whom he had met at Blois and followed to her father's Château de Talcy. These books excited a violent literary quarrel. Marot was dead, but he left numerous followers, some of whom saw in the stricter literary critique of the Pléiade, in its outspoken contempt of merely vernacular and medieval forms, in its strenuous advice to French poetry to "follow the ancients," and so forth, an insult to the author of the Adolescence Clémentine and his school.

Fame

His popularity in his own time was overwhelming and immediate, and his prosperity was unbroken. He published his Hymns, dedicated to Margaret de Valois, in 1555; the conclusion of the Amours, addressed to another heroine, in 1556; and then a collection of Œuvres completes, said to be due to the invitation of Mary Stuart, Queen of Francis II, in 1560; with Elégies, mascarades et bergeries in 1565. To this same year belongs his most important and interesting Abrégé de l'art poétique français.

The rapid change of sovereigns did Ronsard no harm. Charles IX, King of France, who succeeded his brother after a very short time, was even better inclined to him than Henry and Francis. He gave him rooms in the palace; he bestowed upon him diverse abbacies and priories; and he called him and regarded him constantly as his master in poetry. Neither was Charles IX a bad poet. This royal patronage, however, had its disagreeable side. It excited violent dislike to Ronsard on the part of the Huguenots, who wrote constant pasquinades against him, strove (by a ridiculous exaggeration of the Dionysiac festival at Arcueil, in which the friends had indulged to celebrate the success of the first French tragedy, Jodelle's Cleopatre) to represent him as a libertine and an atheist, and (which seems to have annoyed him more than anything else) set up his follower Du Bartas as his rival.

According to some words of his own, they were not contented with this variety of argument, but attempted to have him assassinated. During this period, Ronsard began writing the epic poem the Franciade (1572), a work that was never finished and is generally considered a failure due to its versification—a decasyllabic metre of rimes plates that corresponds poorly with the genre of epic poetry. The metre (the decasyllable) could not but contrast unfavourably with the magnificent alexandrines that Du Bartas and Agrippa d'Aubigné were shortly to produce; the general plan is feebly classical, and the very language has little or nothing of that racy mixture of scholarliness and love of natural beauty which distinguishes the best work of the Pléiade. The poem could never have had an abiding success, but at its appearance it had the singular bad luck almost to coincide with the massacre of St Bartholomew, which had occurred about a fortnight before its publication. One party in the state were certain to look coldly on the work of a minion of the court at such a juncture, the other had something else to think of.

The death of Charles made little difference in the court favour which Ronsard enjoyed, but, combined with his increasing infirmities, it seems to have determined him to quit court life. During his last days he lived chiefly at a house which he possessed in Vendôme, the capital of his native province, at his abbey at Croix-Val in the same neighbourhood, or else at Paris, where he was usually the guest of Jean Galland, well known as a scholar, at the College de Boncourt. It seems also that he had a town house of his own in the Fauhourg Saint-Marcel. At any rate his preferments made him in perfectly easy circumstances, and he seems neither to have derived nor wished for any profit from his books. A half-jocular suggestion that his publishers should give him money to buy "du bois pour se chauffer" in return for his last revision of his Œuvres complètes is the only trace of any desire of the kind. On the other hand, he received not merely gifts and endowments from his own sovereign but presents from many others, including Elizabeth I of England. Mary, Queen of Scots addressed him from her prison, and Tasso consulted him on the Gerusalemme.

Final years
His last years were saddened not merely by the death of many of his closest friends, but by increasing ill health. This did not interfere with the quality of his literary work; he was rarely idle, and some of his final verse is among his best. But he indulged the temptation to alter his work repeatedly, and many of his later alterations are not improvements. Towards the end of 1585 his health deteriorated, and he seems to have moved restlessly from one of his houses to another for some months. When the end came—which, though in great pain, he met in a resolute and religious manner—he was at his priory of Saint-Cosme in Touraine, and he was buried in the church of that name on Friday, 27 December 1585.

Works

The character and fortunes of Ronsard's works are among the most remarkable in literary history, and supply in themselves a kind of illustration of the progress of French literature during the last three centuries. It was long his fortune to be almost always extravagantly admired or violently attacked. At first, as has been said, the enmity, not altogether unprovoked, of the friends and followers of Marot fell to his lot, then the still fiercer antagonism of the Huguenot faction, who, happening to possess a poet of great merit in Du Bartas, were able to attack Ronsard at his tenderest point. But fate had by no means done its worst with him in his lifetime. After his death the classical reaction set in under the auspices of Malherbe, who seems to have been animated with a sort of personal hatred of Ronsard, though it is not clear that they ever met. After Malherbe, the rising glory of Corneille and his contemporaries obscured the tentative and unequal work of the Pléiade, which was, moreover, directly attacked by Boileau himself, the dictator of French criticism in the last half of the 17th century.

Then Ronsard was, except by a few men of taste, such as Jean de La Bruyère and Fénelon, forgotten when he was not sneered at. In this condition he remained during the whole 18th century and the first quarter of the 19th. The Romantic revival, seeing in him a victim of its special bête noire Boileau, and attracted by his splendid diction, rich metrical faculty, and combination of classical and medieval peculiarities, adopted his name as a kind of battle-cry, and for the moment exaggerated his merits somewhat. The critical work of Sainte-Beuve in his Tableau de la littérature française au 16ème siècle, and later of other authors, has established Ronsard's reputation.

Ronsard was the acknowledged chief of the Pléiade and its most voluminous poet. He was probably also its best, though a few isolated pieces of Belleau excel him in airy lightness of touch. Several sonnets of Du Bellay exhibit the melancholy of the Renaissance more perfectly than anything of his, and the finest passages of the Tragiques and the Divine Sep'Maine surpass his work in command of the alexandrine and in power of turning it to the purposes of satirical invective and descriptive narration. But that work is very extensive (we possess at a rough guess not much short of a hundred thousand lines of his), and it is extraordinarily varied in form. He did not introduce the sonnet into France, but he practised it soon after its introduction and with skill - the famous "Quand vous serez bien vieille" being one of the acknowledged gems of French literature.

His many odes are interesting, and at best are fine compositions. He began by imitating the strophic arrangement of the ancients, but very soon had the wisdom to desert this for a kind of adjustment of the Horatian ode to rhyme, instead of exact quantitative metre. In this latter kind he devised some exquisitely melodious rhythms of which, till our own day, the secret died with the 17th century. His more sustained work sometimes displays a bad selection of measure; and his occasional poetry—epistles, eclogues, elegies, etc.--is injured by its vast volume. But the preface to the Franciade is a fine piece of verse, superior (it is in alexandrines) to the poem itself. In general, Ronsard is best in his amatory verse (the long series of sonnets and odes to Cassandre, Pikles, Marie, Genévre, Héléne—Héléne de Surgeres, a later and mainly "literary" love—etc.), and in his descriptions of the country (the famous "Ode à Cassandre," the "Fontaine Bellerie," the "Forêt de Gastine," and so forth), which are graceful and fresh. He used the graceful diminutives which his school set in fashion. He knew well too how to manage the gorgeous adjectives ("marbrine," "cinabrine," "ivoirine" and the like) which were another fancy of the Pléiade. In short, Ronsard shows eminently the two great attractions of French 16th-century poetry as compared with that of the two following ages - magnificence of language and imagery and graceful variety of metre.

General

 * Hennigfeld, Ursula: Der ruinierte Körper: Petrarkistische Sonette in transkultureller Perspektive Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2008.

Criticism

 * Sainte-Beuve, articles in the Causeries du lundi.
 * F. L. Lucas, "The Prince of Court-Poets", an essay on Ronsard in Studies French and English (London, 1934), pp. 76–114. (Online. Revised edition 1950; reprinted in The Cassell Miscellany (London, 1958).

title: Pierre de Ronsard


text:
Norway (disambiguation)

Norway is a country in Northern Europe. The word may also refer to:

Canada

 * Norway, Toronto a former name of a portion of the Upper Beaches neighbourhood
 * Norway House, Manitoba
 * Norway, Prince Edward Island
 * New Norway, Alberta

United States

 * Norway, Illinois
 * Norway, Indiana
 * Norway, Iowa
 * Norway, Kansas
 * Norway, Maine, a New England town
 * Norway (CDP), Maine, the main village in the town
 * Norway, Michigan
 * Norway, Nebraska
 * Norway, New York
 * Norway, Oregon
 * Norway, South Carolina
 * Norway, Wisconsin

Other uses

 * Kingdom of Norway (872–1397), the old Norwegian kingdom from the early to high Middle Ages
 * Kingdom of Norway (1814), short-lived state
 * Nevil Shute Norway (1899–1960), a British aeronautical engineer and novelist who published under the pen name "Nevil Shute"
 * The SS France (1961), which sailed for much of its operational life as SS Norway
 * "Norway" (song), by Beach House, from the album Teen Dream
 * Sons of Norway, a North American fraternal organization
 * Norway pine, Pinus resinosa, a pine native to North America
 * Norway spruce, Picea abies, a spruce native to Europe
 * Norway Pavilion at Epcot, one of the 11 countries at EPCOT
 * Norway (2014 film), a Greek black comedy horror film
 * Norway (2018 film), also known as 22 July, a 2018 American film based on the 2011 Norway attacks
 * Norway Corporation, the motion picture and television production company established by Gene Roddenberry

title: Norway (disambiguation)


text:
Mellin de Saint-Gelais

Mellin de Saint-Gelais (or Melin de Saint-Gelays or Sainct-Gelais; c. 1491 – October, 1558) was a French poet of the Renaissance and Poet Laureate of Francis I of France.

Life
He was born at Angoulême, most likely the natural son of Jean de Saint-Gelais, marquis de Montlieu, a member of the Angoumois gentry. His forename was the French-Norman malapropism of the British wizard Merlin featured in Arthurian legends. He was close to his uncle Octavien de Saint-Gelais (1466–1502), bishop of Angoulême since 1494, himself a poet who had translated the Aeneid into French.

Mellin, who had studied at Bologna and Padua, had the reputation of being doctor, astrologer and musician as well as poet. He returned to France around 1523, and soon gained favour at the court of the art-loving Valois ruler Francis I by his skill in light verse. He was made almoner to the Dauphin, abbot of Reclus in the diocese of Troyes and librarian to the king at Blois.

He enjoyed immense popularity until the appearance of Joachim du Bellay's Défense et illustration... in 1549, where Saint-Gelais was not excepted from the scorn poured on contemporary poets. He attempted to ridicule the innovators by reading aloud the Odes of Pierre de Ronsard with burlesque emphasis before Henry II, when the king's sister, Marguerite de Valois, seized the book and read them herself.

Ronsard accepted Saint-Gelais's apology for this incident, but Du Bellay satirized the offender in the Poète courtisan. He translated the Sofonisba of Gian Giorgio Trissino (1478–1550) which was represented in 1556 before Catherine de' Medici at Blois. Saint-Gelais was the champion of the style marotique (see Clément Marot) and the earliest of French sonneteers and petrarchist. He died in Paris in 1558.

title: Mellin de Saint-Gelais


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Beech

Beech (Fagus) is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Eurasia and North America. There are 13 accepted species in two distinct subgenera, Engleriana and Fagus. The subgenus Engleriana is found only in East Asia, distinctive for its low branches, often made up of several major trunks with yellowish bark. The better known Fagus subgenus beeches are native to Europe and North America. They are high-branching trees with tall, stout trunks and smooth silver-grey bark. The European beech Fagus sylvatica is the most commonly cultivated species, yielding a utility timber used for furniture construction, flooring and engineering purposes, in plywood, and household items. The timber can be used to build homes. Beechwood makes excellent firewood. Slats of washed beech wood are spread around the bottom of fermentation tanks for Budweiser beer. Beech logs are burned to dry the malt used in some German smoked beers. Beech is also used to smoke Westphalian ham, andouille sausage, and some cheeses.

Description
Beeches are monoecious, bearing both male and female flowers on the same plant. The small flowers are unisexual, the female flowers borne in pairs, the male flowers wind-pollinating catkins. They are produced in spring shortly after the new leaves appear. The fruit of the beech tree, known as beechnuts or mast, is found in small burrs that drop from the tree in autumn. They are small, roughly triangular, and edible, with a bitter, astringent, or mild and nut-like taste.

The European beech (Fagus sylvatica) is the most commonly cultivated, although few important differences are seen between species aside from detail elements such as leaf shape. The leaves of beech trees are entire or sparsely toothed, from 5 – long and 4 – broad.

The bark is smooth and light gray. The fruit is a small, sharply three-angled nut 10 – long, borne singly or in pairs in soft-spined husks 1.5 – long, known as cupules. The husk can have a variety of spine- to scale-like appendages, the character of which is, in addition to leaf shape, one of the primary ways beeches are differentiated. The nuts have a bitter taste (though not nearly as bitter as acorns) and a high tannin content; these are called beechnuts or beech mast.

Taxonomy
Recent classification systems of the genus recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, Engleriana and Fagus. The Engleriana subgenus is found only in East Asia, and is notably distinct from the Fagus subgenus in that these beeches are low-branching trees, often made up of several major trunks with yellowish bark. Further differentiating characteristics include the whitish bloom on the underside of the leaves, the visible tertiary leaf veins, and a long, smooth cupule-peduncle. Proposed by botanist Chung-Fu Shen in 1992, F. japonica, F. engleriana, and F. okamotoi comprise this subgenus.

The better known Fagus subgenus beeches are high-branching with tall, stout trunks and smooth silver-gray bark. This group includes F. sylvatica, F. grandifolia, F. crenata, F. lucida, F. longipetiolata, and F. hayatae. The classification of the European beech, F. sylvatica, is complex, with a variety of different names proposed for different species and subspecies within this region (for example F. taurica, F. orientalis, and F. moesica ). Research suggests that beeches in Eurasia differentiated fairly late in evolutionary history, during the Miocene. The populations in this area represent a range of often overlapping morphotypes, and genetic analysis does not clearly support separate species.

Fagus is the most basal group in the evolution of the Fagaceae family, which also includes oaks and chestnuts. The southern beeches (genus Nothofagus) previously thought closely related to beeches, are now treated as members of a separate family, the Nothofagaceae (which remains a member of the order Fagales). They are found throughout the Southern Hemisphere in Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, New Caledonia, as well as Argentina and Chile (principally Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego).

Species
Species accepted by Plants of the World Online :

Fossil species
Numerous species have been named globally from the fossil record spanning from the Cretaceous to the Pleistocene

 * †Fagus aburatoensis Tanai, 1951
 * †Fagus alnitifolia Hollick
 * †Fagus altaensis Kornilova & Rajushkina, 1979
 * †Fagus ambigua (Massalongo) Massalongo, 1853
 * †Fagus angusta Andreánszky, 1959
 * †Fagus antipofii Heer, 1858
 * †Fagus aperta Andreánszky, 1959
 * †Fagus arduinorum Massalongo, 1858
 * †Fagus aspera (Berry) Brown, 1944
 * †Fagus aspera Chelebaeva, 2005 (jr homonym)
 * †Fagus atlantica Unger, 1847
 * †Fagus attenuata Göppert, 1855
 * †Fagus aurelianii Marion & Laurent, 1895
 * †Fagus australis Oliver, 1936
 * †Fagus betulifolia Massalongo, 1858
 * †Fagus bonnevillensis Chaney, 1920
 * †Fagus castaneifolia Unger, 1847
 * †Fagus celastrifolia Ettingshausen, 1887
 * †Fagus ceretana (Rérolle) Saporta, 1892
 * †Fagus chamaephegos Unger, 1861
 * †Fagus chankaica Alexeenko, 1977
 * †Fagus chiericii Massalongo, 1858
 * †Fagus chinensis Li, 1978
 * †Fagus coalita Rylova, 1996
 * †Fagus cordifolia Heer, 1883
 * †Fagus cretacea Newberry, 1868
 * †Fagus decurrens Reid & Reid, 1915
 * †Fagus dentata Göppert, 1855
 * †Fagus deucalionis Unger, 1847
 * †Fagus dubia Mirb, 1822
 * †Fagus dubia Watelet, 1866 (jr homonym)
 * †Fagus echinata Chelebaeva, 2005
 * †Fagus eocenica Watelet, 1866
 * †Fagus etheridgei Ettingshausen, 1891
 * †Fagus ettingshausenii Velenovský, 1881
 * †Fagus europaea Schwarewa, 1960
 * †Fagus evenensis Chelebaeva, 1980
 * †Fagus faujasii Unger, 1850
 * †Fagus feroniae Unger, 1845
 * †Fagus florinii Huzioka & Takahashi, 1973
 * †Fagus forumlivii Massalongo, 1853
 * †Fagus friedrichii Grímsson & Denk, 2005
 * †Fagus gortanii Fiori, 1940
 * †Fagus grandifoliiformis Panova, 1966
 * †Fagus gussonii Massalongo, 1858
 * †Fagus haidingeri Kováts, 1856
 * †Fagus herthae (Unger) Iljinskaja, 1964
 * †Fagus hitchcockii Lesquereux, 1861
 * †Fagus hondoensis (Watari) Watari, 1952
 * †Fagus hookeri Ettingshausen, 1887
 * †Fagus horrida Ludwig, 1858
 * †Fagus humata Menge & Göppert, 1886
 * †Fagus idahoensis Chaney & Axelrod, 1959
 * †Fagus inaequalis Göppert, 1855
 * †Fagus incerta (Massalongo) Massalongo, 1858
 * †Fagus integrifolia Dusén, 1899
 * †Fagus intermedia Nathorst, 1888
 * †Fagus irvajamensis Chelebaeva, 1980
 * †Fagus japoniciformis Ananova, 1974
 * †Fagus japonicoides Miki, 1963
 * †Fagus jobanensis Suzuki, 1961
 * †Fagus jonesii Johnston, 1892
 * †Fagus juliae Jakubovskaya, 1975
 * †Fagus kitamiensis Tanai, 1995
 * †Fagus koraica Huzioka, 1951
 * †Fagus kraeuselii Kvaček & Walther, 1991
 * †Fagus kuprianoviae Rylova, 1996
 * †Fagus lancifolia Heer, 1868 (nomen nudum)
 * †Fagus langevinii Manchester & Dillhoff, 2004
 * †Fagus laptoneura Ettingshausen, 1895
 * †Fagus latissima Andreánszky, 1959
 * †Fagus leptoneuron Ettingshausen, 1893
 * †Fagus macrophylla Unger, 1854
 * †Fagus maorica Oliver, 1936
 * †Fagus marsillii Massalongo, 1858
 * †Fagus menzelii Kvaček & Walther, 1991
 * †Fagus microcarpa Miki, 1933
 * †Fagus miocenica Ananova, 1974
 * †Fagus napanensis Iljinskaja, 1982
 * †Fagus nelsonica Ettingshausen, 1887
 * †Fagus oblonga Suzuki, 1959
 * †Fagus oblonga Andreánszky, 1959
 * †Fagus obscura Dusén, 1908
 * †Fagus olejnikovii Pavlyutkin, 2015
 * †Fagus orbiculatum Lesquereux, 1892
 * †Fagus orientaliformis Kul'kova
 * †Fagus orientalis var fossilis Kryshtofovich & Baikovskaja, 1951
 * †Fagus orientalis var palibinii Iljinskaja, 1982
 * †Fagus pacifica Chaney, 1927
 * †Fagus palaeococcus Unger, 1847
 * †Fagus palaeocrenata Okutsu, 1955
 * †Fagus palaeograndifolia Pavlyutkin, 2002
 * †Fagus palaeojaponica Tanai & Onoe, 1961
 * †Fagus pittmanii Deane, 1902
 * †Fagus pliocaenica Geyler & Kinkelin, 1887 (jr homonym)
 * †Fagus pliocenica Saporta, 1882
 * †Fagus polycladus Lesquereux, 1868
 * †Fagus praelucida Li, 1982
 * †Fagus praeninnisiana Ettingshausen, 1893
 * †Fagus praeulmifolia Ettingshausen, 1893
 * †Fagus prisca Ettingshausen, 1867
 * †Fagus pristina Saporta, 1867
 * †Fagus producta Ettingshausen, 1887
 * †Fagus protojaponica Suzuki, 1959
 * †Fagus protolongipetiolata Huzioka, 1951
 * †Fagus protonucifera Dawson, 1884
 * †Fagus pseudoferruginea Lesquereux, 1878
 * †Fagus pygmaea Unger, 1861
 * †Fagus pyrrhae Unger, 1854
 * †Fagus salnikovii Fotjanova, 1988
 * †Fagus sanctieugeniensis Hollick, 1927
 * †Fagus saxonica Kvaček & Walther, 1991
 * †Fagus schofieldii Mindell, Stockey, & Beard, 2009
 * †Fagus septembris Chelebaeva, 1991
 * †Fagus shagiana Ettingshausen, 1891
 * †Fagus stuxbergii Tanai, 1976
 * †Fagus subferruginea Wilf et al., 2005
 * †Fagus succinea Göppert & Menge, 1853
 * †Fagus sylvatica var diluviana Saporta, 1892
 * †Fagus sylvatica var pliocenica Saporta, 1873
 * †Fagus tenella Panova, 1966
 * †Fagus uemurae Tanai, 1995
 * †Fagus uotanii Huzioka, 1951
 * †Fagus vivianii Unger, 1850
 * †Fagus washoensis LaMotte, 1936

Fossil species formerly placed in Fagus include:

 * †Alnus paucinervis (Borsuk) Iljinskaja
 * †Castanea abnormalis (Fotjanova) Iljinskaja
 * †Fagopsis longifolia (Lesquereux) Hollick
 * †Fagopsis undulata (Knowlton) Wolfe & Wehr
 * †Fagoxylon grandiporosum (Beyer) Süss
 * †Fagus-pollenites parvifossilis (Traverse) Potonié
 * †Juglans ginannii Massalongo (new name for F. ginannii)
 * †Nothofagaphyllites novae-zealandiae (Oliver) Campbell
 * †Nothofagus benthamii (Ettingshausen) Paterson
 * †Nothofagus dicksonii (Dusén) Tanai
 * †Nothofagus lendenfeldii (Ettingshausen) Oliver
 * †Nothofagus luehmannii (Deane) Paterson
 * †Nothofagus magelhaenica (Ettingshausen) Dusén
 * †Nothofagus maidenii (Deane) Chapman
 * †Nothofagus muelleri (Ettingshausen) Paterson
 * †Nothofagus ninnisiana (Unger) Oliver
 * †Nothofagus risdoniana (Ettingshausen) Paterson
 * †Nothofagus ulmifolia (Ettingshausen) Oliver
 * †Nothofagus wilkinsonii (Ettingshausen) Paterson
 * †Trigonobalanus minima (M. Chandler) Mai

Etymology
The name of the tree in Latin, fagus (from whence the generic epithet), is cognate with English "beech" and of Indo-European origin, and played an important role in early debates on the geographical origins of the Indo-European people, the beech argument. Greek φηγός (figós) is from the same root, but the word was transferred to the oak tree (e.g. Iliad 16.767) as a result of the absence of beech trees in southern Greece.

Britain and Ireland
Fagus sylvatica was a late entrant to Great Britain after the last glaciation, and may have been restricted to basic soils in the south of England. Some suggest that it was introduced by Neolithic tribes who planted the trees for their edible nuts. The beech is classified as a native in the south of England and as a non-native in the north where it is often removed from 'native' woods. Large areas of the Chilterns are covered with beech woods, which are habitat to the common bluebell and other flora. The Cwm Clydach National Nature Reserve in southeast Wales was designated for its beech woodlands, which are believed to be on the western edge of their natural range in this steep limestone gorge.

Beech is not native to Ireland; however, it was widely planted in the 18th century and can become a problem shading out the native woodland understory.

Beech is widely planted for hedging and in deciduous woodlands, and mature, regenerating stands occur throughout mainland Britain at elevations below about 650 m. The tallest and longest hedge in the world (according to Guinness World Records) is the Meikleour Beech Hedge in Meikleour, Perth and Kinross, Scotland.

Continental Europe
Fagus sylvatica is one of the most common hardwood trees in north-central Europe, in France constituting alone about 15% of all nonconifers. The Balkans are also home to the lesser-known oriental beech (F. orientalis) and Crimean beech (F. taurica).

As a naturally growing forest tree, beech marks the important border between the European deciduous forest zone and the northern pine forest zone. This border is important for wildlife and fauna.

In Denmark and Scania at the southernmost peak of the Scandinavian peninsula, southwest of the natural spruce boundary, it is the most common forest tree. It grows naturally in Denmark and southern Norway and Sweden up to about 57–59°N. The most northern known naturally growing (not planted) beech trees are found in a small grove north of Bergen on the west coast of Norway. Near the city of Larvik is the largest naturally occurring beech forest in Norway, Bøkeskogen.

Some research suggests that early agriculture patterns supported the spread of beech in continental Europe. Research has linked the establishment of beech stands in Scandinavia and Germany with cultivation and fire disturbance, i.e. early agricultural practices. Other areas which have a long history of cultivation, Bulgaria for example, do not exhibit this pattern, so how much human activity has influenced the spread of beech trees is as yet unclear.

The primeval beech forests of the Carpathians are also an example of a singular, complete, and comprehensive forest dominated by a single tree species - the beech tree. Forest dynamics here were allowed to proceed without interruption or interference since the last ice age. Nowadays, they are amongst the last pure beech forests in Europe to document the undisturbed postglacial repopulation of the species, which also includes the unbroken existence of typical animals and plants. These virgin beech forests and similar forests across 12 countries in continental Europe were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2007.

North America
The American beech (Fagus grandifolia) occurs across much of the eastern United States and southeastern Canada, with a disjunct population in Mexico. It is the only Fagus species in the Western Hemisphere. Before the Pleistocene Ice Age, it is believed to have spanned the entire width of the continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific but now is confined to the east of the Great Plains. F. grandifolia tolerates hotter climates than European species but is not planted much as an ornamental due to slower growth and less resistance to urban pollution. It most commonly occurs as an overstory component in the northern part of its range with sugar maple, transitioning to other forest types further south such as beech-magnolia. American beech is rarely encountered in developed areas except as a remnant of a forest that was cut down for land development.

The dead brown leaves of the American beech remain on the branches until well into the following spring, when the new buds finally push them off.

Asia
East Asia is home to five species of Fagus, only one of which (F. crenata) is occasionally planted in Western countries. Smaller than F. sylvatica and F. grandifolia, this beech is one of the most common hardwoods in its native range.

Ecology
Beech grows on a wide range of soil types, acidic or basic, provided they are not waterlogged. The tree canopy casts dense shade and thickens the ground with leaf litter.

In North America, they can form beech-maple climax forests by partnering with the sugar maple.

The beech blight aphid (Grylloprociphilus imbricator) is a common pest of American beech trees. Beeches are also used as food plants by some species of Lepidoptera.

Beech bark is extremely thin and scars easily. Since the beech tree has such delicate bark, carvings, such as lovers' initials and other forms of graffiti, remain because the tree is unable to heal itself.

Diseases
Beech bark disease is a fungal infection that attacks the American beech through damage caused by scale insects. Infection can lead to the death of the tree.

Beech leaf disease is a disease that affects American beeches spread by the newly discovered nematode, Litylenchus crenatae mccannii. This disease was first discovered in Lake County, Ohio, in 2012 and has now spread to over 41 counties in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, Canada. As of 2024, the disease has become widespread in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and in portions of coastal New Hampshire and coastal and central Maine.

Cultivation
The beech most commonly grown as an ornamental tree is the European beech (Fagus sylvatica), widely cultivated in North America as well as its native Europe. Many varieties are in cultivation, notably the weeping beech F. sylvatica 'Pendula', several varieties of copper or purple beech, the fern-leaved beech F. sylvatica 'Asplenifolia', and the tricolour beech F. sylvatica 'Roseomarginata'. The columnar Dawyck beech (F. sylvatica 'Dawyck') occurs in green, gold, and purple forms, named after Dawyck Botanic Garden in the Scottish Borders, one of the four garden sites of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Wood
Beech wood is an excellent firewood, easily split and burning for many hours with bright but calm flames. Slats of beech wood are washed in caustic soda to leach out any flavour or aroma characteristics and are spread around the bottom of fermentation tanks for Budweiser beer. This provides a complex surface on which the yeast can settle, so that it does not pile up, preventing yeast autolysis which would contribute off-flavours to the beer. Beech logs are burned to dry the malt used in German smoked beers. Beech is also used to smoke Westphalian ham, traditional andouille (an offal sausage) from Normandy, and some cheeses.

Some drums are made from beech, which has a tone between those of maple and birch, the two most popular drum woods.

The textile modal is a kind of rayon often made wholly from reconstituted cellulose of pulped beech wood.

The European species Fagus sylvatica yields a tough, utility timber. It weighs about 720 kg per cubic metre and is widely used for furniture construction, flooring, and engineering purposes, in plywood and household items, but rarely as a decorative wood. The timber can be used to build chalets, houses, and log cabins.

Beech wood is used for the stocks of military rifles when traditionally preferred woods such as walnut are scarce or unavailable or as a lower-cost alternative.

Food
The edible fruit of the beech tree, known as beechnuts or mast, is found in small burrs that drop from the tree in autumn. They are small, roughly triangular, and edible, with a bitter, astringent, or in some cases, mild and nut-like taste. According to the Roman statesman Pliny the Elder in his work Natural History, beechnut was eaten by the people of Chios when the town was besieged, writing of the fruit: "that of the beech is the sweetest of all; so much so, that, according to Cornelius Alexander, the people of the city of Chios, when besieged, supported themselves wholly on mast". They can also be roasted and pulverized into an adequate coffee substitute. The leaves can be steeped in liquor to give a light green/yellow liqueur.

Books
In antiquity, the bark of the beech tree was used by Indo-European people for writing-related purposes, especially in a religious context. Beech wood tablets were a common writing material in Germanic societies before the development of paper. The Old English bōc has the primary sense of "beech" but also a secondary sense of "book", and it is from bōc that the modern word derives. In modern German, the word for "book" is Buch, with Buche meaning "beech tree". In modern Dutch, the word for "book" is boek, with beuk meaning "beech tree". In Swedish, these words are the same, bok meaning both "beech tree" and "book". There is a similar relationship in some Slavic languages. In Russian and Bulgarian, the word for beech is бук (buk), while that for "letter" (as in a letter of the alphabet) is буква (bukva), while Serbo-Croatian and Slovene use "bukva" to refer to the tree.

Other
The pigment bistre was made from beech wood soot. Beech litter raking as a replacement for straw in animal husbandry was an old non-timber practice in forest management that once occurred in parts of Switzerland in the 17th century. Beech has been listed as one of the 38 plants whose flowers are used to prepare Bach flower remedies.

title: Beech