text:
Talk:Medieval literature

Old talk
When I put this together, I struggled over whether to add Islamic literature or not. I don't want to seem as though I'm snubbing the major contributions of writers like Ibn Khaldun and Alhazen; on the contrary, it's because of my respect for Islamic literature in the Middle Ages that I wonder if it doesn't deserve its own seperate treatment--after all, the term "medieval" refers very specifically to Europe proper. Any thoughts? Jwrosenzweig 20:03, 7 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Re Peer Review
Nice article. Just a few points: I think the paragraph on courtly love really ought to link to Troubadour and I'd question the designation of the Divine Comedy as an epic. More an allegory, really. Layamon's Brut is a better second example of an epic from this period. Also, I'd suggest including the Mystery Plays. Apart from that, it's a matter of the red links turning blue. BTW, I agree with your decision not to include Islamic literature. Bmills 12:54, 6 Feb 2004 (UTC)

picture added
I've added a picture. Two questions: is it a good choice, and have I left it too big? Any advice would be great. Jwrosenzweig 21:56, 27 Feb 2004 (UTC)

featured article blurb placement
Shouldn't the featured article blurb be on the article itself rather than talk? Brooklyn Nellie (Nricardo) 05:43, Mar 26, 2004 (UTC)
 * I don't know why, but apparently marking featured articles occurs in talk (I looked at some others). Curious.  But apparently this is policy. Jwrosenzweig 16:40, 26 Mar 2004 (UTC)

anonymity in this stuff
One point that this article overlooks is that a good chunk of medieval literature literature is anonymous. The folk literature -- Beowulf, the Mabinogion, the Song of Roland -- lack one author's name, & are understood as the creation of a class of storytellers who made their living retelling these stories. It was with the waning of this folk culture that they came to be attached to certain poets or authors, & even then generations passed before much was recorded of these people beyond their names.

(The above is just a quick impression; please do not copy it into the article without verifying my facts first.) -- llywrch 19:18, 26 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * Adding something about anonymity is a great idea (though to my limited knowledge no authorship has ever been ascribed for either Beowulf or Roland...don't know about Mabinogion). Do you think it should be an independent section?  And what should it focus on, beyond simply stating that numerous important works arose anonymously from a class of storytellers? Jwrosenzweig 21:13, 26 Mar 2004 (UTC)

First, AFAIK the creation of the Mabinogion is attributed to the anonymous class of Welsh bards. None of them thought their individual contribution was worthy of being mentioned.

Second, I think this anonymous quality signalled the birth of new tropes & conventions. The Iliad & Odyssey were ascribed to a definite personality, although we know nothing more about Homer than he wrote these epics, & there was a tradition he was blind; no one ever thought to pair Beowulf, Roland or the Mabinogion with an author -- even though they are far less a creation of a tradition than the Homeric works.

When a Celtic king wanted praise for his works, he drew from a far different convention than Claudian or Sidonius knew: he maintained court poets who would sing poems in the vernacular tongue & use a poetic language so oblique that the king might understand only one word in ten. When his subjects wanted a song or story to entertain them, the deeds of Rome or Greece were were but one small part of the possible library to draw from, & the stories were no more the property of the story-tellers than a contemporary might be the property of its teller.

Beyond this, I'm not sure what to write. One could push the folklore angle too hard, & end up not describing what Medieval literature was, but Romanticism's interpretation of Medieval literature -- which probably also needs a mention. But in Western literature, there seems to be a period where the Classical conventions & tropes were in vogue, then went out of fashion (the Medieval period), then came back into vogue (the Renaissance), then went out of fashion (the Romantic period). And one convention that is in opposition with the Classical environment is communal, anonymous authorship. It can be discerned today in the phrases "the Voice of the People" or "the Power of the Internet". And the Classical convention that it opposes is not personal responsiblity, but the concept of the Great Genius -- that certain people have deep thoughts, while the rest of us are shallow.

But this interpretation is just my own, unpublished & idiosyncratic POV. -- llywrch 02:08, 27 Mar 2004 (UTC)

mysterious chart
What on earth is that chart? It's neither in English

 * If you look at the source information, you will find out that it was created by a German (not me), so if you spot translation mistakes, it would be useful to point them out so we can fix it in the next version of the chart.--Eloquence* 01:09, Apr 14, 2004 (UTC)

nor particularly accurate from the point of view of scholarship. I'd love to know what "keys event" was, for instance, since it happens right in the middle of my specialty period and I've never heard of it.

 * The Keys Event was a severe volcanic eruption around 535 CE. You can read about it in the book Catastrophe by David Keys, Arrow, 2000.--Eloquence* 01:09, Apr 14, 2004 (UTC)

And "Byzance" (not English) didn't "destroy Rome." Here's an example: "26% Vivarium"? Well, we have a list of books the founder thought people should read, but we have neither a surviving library (we're not even certain WHERE it was) nor a surviving catalog of said library. So what's the value of calling it 26%? YOW. Scary.

 * The numbers from Vivarium Markus sent me are: 139 theological works, 9 secular, 41 classical ones. Are those the same numbers given in your source? I will ask Markus for the exact source for these numbers.

 * Update: Markus has now sent me the source, it is R.A.B. Mynors: "Cassiodori Senatorius Institutiones", Oxford 1963, which is a "provisional indication of the contents of the library of Vivarium" and based on various sources, not simply "a list of books the founder thought people should read." It is based on an earlier German study, by A. Franz: "M. Aur. Cassiod. Sen.", Breslau 1872. --Eloquence* 01:09, Apr 14, 2004 (UTC)

What this is is someone's cherrypicked list of books in libraries OR library catalogs (not the same things at all) categorized by a variety of authors in a variety of studies as "secular" or "literary" or "theological". What you might call a "meta-study". I, myself, would call it "a not very useful study." --Michael Tinkler

 * The question is not whether the chart is useful to you, but whether it is an accurate representation of the content of selected libraries over time or not. If you have any indications that it is not, I would like to hear them. Certainly, in many cases we can only make secure statements about samples from each library. However, as any statistician knows, a sufficiently representative sample is good enough to spot trends, especially when correlated with more data. This chart is based on a very substantial knowledge base and the trends it depicts are consistent over time. There is nothing "cherry picked" about it; in fact, it makes use of as much available data as possible (such as the Codices Latini Antiquiores) and merely collates a set of observations that have already been made before for selected time periods (as Reynolds did in Texts and Transmission).--Eloquence* 01:09, Apr 14, 2004 (UTC)

fools rush in
At the suggestion of jwrosenzweig, I have looked over this article more or less as a Martian. I know next to nothing about the literature, or the period, save general knowledge. My comments are to be taken in that light -- and with charity, if you please.

As a preliminary, I like it. It covers an impossibly large subject briefly and with some panache. But... As a novice, I have some difficulties and some questions with which I've been left hanging. Perhaps they could be addressed? If relevant, and I haven't missed something obvious.

I'll number my points for clarity of reference 1. The general impression is of a pointer collection. I don't learn from this, for example, whether the goliards and troubadors were the same thing in a different area or time or not. Perhaps I shouldn't, but unless I clicked on a link(s), I'm pretty much lost on this one. (They were the same, weren't they?). The cost in verbiage to add a little padding to the bare bones of a pile of pointers needn't be over much.

2. Assorted nits about language. 'delved deeper and deeper'; cliche. 'essentially all' is the sort of weasel wording I'm too prone to use; easy to recognize, and hard to evade. Is it 'all' or only 'a large proportion'? Which liturgy? presumably Catholic (as influenced locally), but a Buddhist might not have a clue. Passive voice here and there.

3. A narrative arc problem, perhaps. If this is intended to stand alone, it has a somewhat disjointed quality, perhaps inevitably given its terms of reference. But, more connection would make it read more smoothly, and the Mary Poppins advice really does apply. For instance, there is a para on hagiographies, followed by a new para mentioning something called the Golden Legend. Is it a hagio? Would provide a better transition if the reader is given that connective.

4. I seem to remember that different regions developed at different rates, dependent on political connections, local language, etc. And even when writing in Latin (as was the universal ?? practice in ex Roman areas (and newly Christianized ones too??) before local literatures began to develop, things were different from area to area and over time. No sense of this here. It will be hard to convey, but shouldn't it be attempted?

5. In areas in which Latin never dominated (eg, Scandanavia and non Gaul Germanic territory), the local literature differed from place to place. Much (most/nearly all) is lost, but don't we have a sense of what non-Latinate literature there was?

6. There were abortive attempts at a local literary life. Eg in King Alfred's Wessex (though lost in the pressures of the next few generations), in Northumbria, and in Mercia. The later two entirely (?)extinguished by the Vikings. And what about the Irish? There is a famous recent book claiming that the Irish Saved Civilization. Was all of that swamped by the Vikings? No sense of it here.

7. In England at least there are chronicles of various qualities from Anglo Saxon times through Chaucer's (I think). Bede, for instance, though he wrote in Latin(?). Surely there were similar things elsewhere?

8. Was the development of a local literature faster in the North or slower? Was there a difference between Latin literature in ex Roman areas and non Roman ones?

9. No mention of the Norman invasion and its consequences for literature in England or the ties between Norman France and England (at least for a few generations). There were similar things elsewhere in Europe, eg the Moorish conquest of Spain, the Ottoman Turk invasion of the SE near the beginning of the Renaissance, and the influences brought back from the Crusades and via translations (early in the Reanaissance) made in Spain, the Viking innudations in much of England, (all?) of Ireland, N Germany, Russia, ... They had some great art (weapons, jewelry, ...) did they have a literature? Did any survive?

10. Did the universities affect any of this? Was literature after their founding (1050+ I guess) university based? Who wrote this stuff, insofar as we know?

11. For Beoulf certainly, and I think Roland, there is no influence of Homer as no one knew Greek N of the Alps, right? Didn't Homer become available with the Renaissance, like Aristotle, most of Plato, etc? What effect did the lack have -- had to explain of course, but perhaps illustratable by noting the effect of sudden availability?

12. First (?) mathematical treatise in West in 1000 years, Fibbonacci's Liber ca 1200? Should it be mentioned?

13. Very little mention of poetry. Some of the chronicle stuff was in couplets wasn't it? At least in English poetic forms were changing from German style split lines to others eventually ending up with Chaucer and then a collapse for a while and back to assorted forms. Or so I think I remember. Was it similar in other languages? Did modern poetic forms develop in the Middle Ages in Italy, Germany, France or did that have to wait for the Renaissance?

14. Possible additions to the list. Sir Gawain and Ye Greene Knyghte, the Adventures of Sir John Mandeville (Munchausen like stuff taken as real for several hundred years, lots of editions and translations, ...), Mallory's Morte D'Artur

This is long enough, it's helpful (hah!). And if it isn't I should stop wasting bits.

ww 22:28, 15 Apr 2004 (UTC)
 * Most helpful. I will take the weekend to consider a restructuring for the article which will allow me to encompass your generally very useful and wise comments.  Anyone else interested is welcome to work with me on this, but as I'm the only person who's done much in the way textual additions here (not to slight those who've edited in the least!), I'm imagining this will be a one-Rosenzweig job. :-)  Any other comments and thoughts are welcome! Jwrosenzweig 22:35, 15 Apr 2004 (UTC)

 * You LIKED it??? ANY of it??? Wonders will never cease! Good luck. I'm still trying to digest your comments on Enigma! Thanks.

 * I just reread my comments. Well... But the thing that jumped out at me was what I managed to leave out. How about noting the language, date of composition, type of work, and place for the items in the list? ww 23:03, 15 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I am coming at this from my history degree experience rather than the way in which the Medieval literature is expressed that some of what was contained in the first three para's was, through POV and reiteration, made the statements false or confusing. My experience tells me that our view of ML is that of the western European world. Possibly the languages used and encountered by scholars/etc has limited the subject to Europe rather than other places that do not use a language derived from the Greek or Latin languages that were readily found in European libraries at the time. Other places had to have the same type of literary development but it is not necessarily included here because it is outside the conventional language skills of the leading scholars of the field. Some statements were outright wrong. Countless? Is the extent of ML really unattainable? No. It may take a long time or even a massive project but in time it can be found to a great extent than thinking that there will never be an end. Availability? ML is a collectable and in original form or later reproduced copies to be found throughout the world. ML can be studied, although not necessarily understood as available works, if what we have are references of that work in the works of others or only fragments are the extent that survive.GinAndChronically (talk) 19:33, 12 July 2014 (UTC)

Request for references
Hi, I am working to encourage implementation of the goals of the Verifiability policy. Part of that is to make sure articles cite their sources. This is particularly important for featured articles, since they are a prominent part of Wikipedia. The Fact and Reference Check Project has more information. Thank you, and please leave me a message when you have added a few references to the article. - Taxman 20:00, Apr 21, 2005 (UTC)

 * This article should not be featured. It contains factual (POV?) problems, not to mention it is thin. It's a vast complicated subject,whats been done here is a noble effort, it just is no where near what it should be, or to be featured as the best of wikipedia. Each of the major venacular languages needs a sub-article, each further broken down by category. Scandanavian languages, Asian languages, Germanic, French, English.. each could have robust and interesting articles on Medieval literature. Stbalbach 04:12, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Well, if you feel strongly enough about that and think others will agree, you can list this article at Featured article removal candidates. Much better though would be to fix it. I don't know anything about the topic, so I couldn't do that, but it seems perhaps you could. This article should still be the overview and would not require having full sub articles on each of those subtopics, as long as this article covered them properly in overview. - Taxman 13:41, Apr 22, 2005 (UTC)
 * I've added an outline of the major areas of study for this period. It should give some idea of the breadth and range of the material under consideration. It would take years for one person to research and write all these articles. Its a shame our current article takes such a narrow and negative tone about medieval literature, it is certainly not FA in terms of accuracy or POV. Stbalbach 04:00, 28 May 2005 (UTC)

Praise
Great article. I enjoyed it. :) --User:Jenmoa 19:38, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

Slavic literature
Slavic literature is generally how it is categorized by Medieval scholars. To call it by its national origins is kinda out of place considering the time frame of "medieval". Stbalbach 23:50, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

What are some Major Works —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.215.217.126 (talk) 21:31, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Scope: World or just Europe?
I notice that the Early Medieval literature article includes works from outside the Greco-Roman-Judeo-Christian tradition--Sanskrit, Arabic, even Chinese. So I'm wondering if this article should either include non-Western texts (recognizing the problems with the term "Medieval" -- just as History of modern literature does in its lead) or change its name to specify that only Europe is being covered. Thoughts? Aristophanes68 (talk) 19:19, 22 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Well, Early Medieval literature is more of a list than an article; but this question is one that has come up repeatedly with regard to articles on medieval topics—see Talk:European science in the Middle Ages/Archive 1 (and related discussions elsewhere on that article's talk page), for instance. My view is that "Middle Ages" and "medieval" refer specifically to a period of European history, so that the scope and title of this article are OK as they stand. That position is reflected in the scope of WikiProject Middle Ages and that of the article Middle Ages itself. Deor (talk) 21:33, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

List of works section
Given the amount of time covered in this article, would it make more sense to organize the list of notable works chronologically rather than alphabetically? They could at least be grouped by centuries. It could give readers a better sense of the historical development. Also, I note that some titles are translated while many others are not--should everything be left in its original language? Aristophanes68 (talk) 06:52, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

What about the Irish?
The Irish had an extremely rich literature, as did the Icelanders. Why are they almost entirely overlooked? Dvergrinn (talk) 23:25, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

 * It looks to me like you'd do best to add links to the relevant articles in the "By region or language" and "Notable literature" sections and then to add examples to other sections as relevant. But this article isn't set up for a separate section on any individual traditions. Be BOLD! Aristophanes 68   (talk)  00:13, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

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Requesting wider attention
I felt article Islamic_literature is in bit of neglect so I added my note on talk page there, requesting to take note of Talk:Islamic_literature. If possible requesting copy edit support. Suggestions for suitable reference sources at Talk:Islamic_literature is also welcome.

Posting message here too for neutrality sake

Thanks and greetings

Bookku (talk) 07:26, 21 May 2020 (UTC)

Revisiting Article Scope
I wonder if we might want to revise the scope of this article to include non-European literature: it looks like the usage of "medieval" on Wikipedia might not reflect the usage of that word in scholarly contexts - for example, Google Scholar shows that terms like Medieval chinese literature, Medieval islamic literature, and medieval indian literature are commonly used to describe those periods. Additionally, it looks like this article is listed under Vital Articles along with Ancient literature, Early modern literature, etc. so there's a need for some sort of article that fills that gap and covers the broader scope of world literature.

User:Deor, I noticed you reverted my last change - what are your thoughts on this?  - car chasm (talk) 19:05, 25 November 2021 (UTC)
 * My thoughts are as I gave them in the "Scope: World or just Europe?" thread above: This article rightly deals with the European Middle Ages. If you look at the Google searches you linked above, you'll see that "medieval" in Chinese and Indian contexts, for example, refers to historical periods different from the one treated here. It's just not very profitable to make this a mish-mash of different periodizations in different cultures, when a focus on medieval Europe produces a more coherent account. We have other articles that deal with non-European literatures. Deor (talk) 19:28, 25 November 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Medieval literature


text:
Philadelphia nativist riots

The Philadelphia nativist riots (also known as the Philadelphia Prayer Riots, the Bible Riots and the Native American Riots) were a series of riots that took place on May 6—8 and July 6—7, 1844, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States and the adjacent districts of Kensington and Southwark. The riots were a result of rising anti-Catholic sentiment at the growing population of Irish Catholic immigrants. The government brought in over a thousand militia—they confronted the nativist mobs and killed or wounded hundreds of anti-Catholic rioters.

In the five months leading to the riots, nativist groups had been spreading a false rumor that Catholics were trying to remove the Bible from public schools. A nativist rally in Kensington erupted in violence on May 6 and started a deadly riot that would result in the destruction of two Catholic churches and numerous other buildings. Riots erupted again in July after it was discovered that St. Philip Neri's Catholic Church in Southwark had armed itself for protection. Fierce fighting broke out between the nativists and the soldiers sent to protect the church, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries. Two of the 13 Catholic churches were burned. The Catholic Church sued the city and won some money for repairs. Civic leaders deplored the nativist attacks. Nationally, the riots helped fuel criticism of the nativist movement, despite denials of responsibility from nativist groups. The riots exposed deficiencies in law enforcement in Philadelphia and the surrounding districts, influencing various reforms in local police departments and the eventual consolidation of the city in 1854.

Background
As Philadelphia became industrialized, immigrants from Europe, mostly Ireland and Germany, settled in the city and especially in the surrounding districts. In the areas the immigrants settled, tensions that resulted from religious, economic and cultural differences grew between residents. Most new arrivals were Catholic.

Historian Elizabeth Geffen states: "these new arrivals, impoverished, unskilled, and Catholic, immediately confronted an ancient enemy, the Protestant Scotch-Irish, longtime resident in Philadelphia, proud of their "in" status, mostly skilled workers, and ready, eager, and able to renew the political, economic, social, and religious feuds of the old country. During the 1830s they had organized an Orange Society for that express purpose."

Alarmed by the rising Catholic population, Protestants and native-born Americans started organizing anti-Catholic and nativist groups. On August 26, 1842, an anonymous arsonist set ablaze the bridge of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company. Immediately the responsibility was attributed to the local Irish Catholic community, sparking the founding of a Protestant Institute. The group, alongside others established in the early 1840s, distributed anti-Catholic literature and published anti-Catholic newspapers.

During the 1840s, students in Philadelphia schools began the day with reading the Protestant version of the Bible. On November 10, 1842, Philadelphia's Roman Catholic Bishop, Francis Kenrick, wrote a letter to the Board of Controllers of public schools, asking that Catholic children be allowed to read the Douay version of the Bible, used by Roman Catholics. He also asked that they be excused from other religious teachings while at school. As a result, the Board of Controllers ordered that no child should be forced to participate in religious activities and stated that children were allowed to read whichever version of the Bible their parents wished. Nativists further inflamed hostile feelings towards Catholics by reportedly twisting Kenrick's requests to the Board of Controllers as an attack against the Bible used in Protestant devotionals.

Approximately one year later, a rumor was circulated that Hugh Clark, a Catholic Kensington school director, was visiting a girls school, where he demanded that the principal stop Bible reading in school. The story also claimed that the principal refused and that she would rather lose her job. Clark denied this version of events and claimed that after finding out several students had left a Bible reading to read a different version of the Bible, he commented that if reading the Bible caused such confusion, it would be better if it were not to be read in school. Protestants claimed that Catholics, with direct influence from the Pope, were trying to remove the Bible from schools. Kenrick issued a statement asserting, "It is not consistent with the laws and the discipline of the Catholic Church for her members to unite in religious exercises with those who are not of their communion."

Historian David Montgomery argues that the Irish Catholic Democrats in the city had successfully appealed to the upper-class Whig leadership. The Whigs wanted to split the Democratic coalition, so they approved Bishop Kenrick's request that Catholic children be allowed to use their own Bible. That approval outraged the evangelical Protestant leadership, which rallied its support in Philadelphia. Montgomery states: "The school controversy, however, had united 94 leading clergymen of the city in a common pledge to strengthen Protestant education and "awaken the attention of the community to the dangers which ... threaten these United States from the assaults of Romanism." The American Tract Society took up the battle cry and launched a national crusade to save the nation from the "spiritual despotism" of Rome. The whole Protestant edifice of churches, Bible societies, temperance societies, and missionary agencies was thus interposed against Catholic electoral maneuvers ... at the very moment when those maneuvers were enjoying some success."

May riot
On May 3, 1844, the American Republican Party (a precursor of the American "Know-Nothing" Party, a Protestant nativist group, which would be founded a decade later) held a meeting in a predominantly Irish part of the Kensington District, then a suburb of Philadelphia. A group of Irish residents attacked the platform where the speakers were standing, and the nativists retreated. On May 6, nativists returned in greater numbers. During the rally, it began to rain, and the meeting was moved into a nearby market. The inflammatory remarks continued inside the market, where fighting broke out between the local Irish Catholics and the nativists. Fighting spilled outside the market, where nativists were shot at by people in the windows of nearby buildings. One or two nativists were reportedly killed. George Shiffler, an 18-year-old leatherworker, was the first nativist killed in the riots of 1844. A mob of nativists attacked the Seminary of the Sisters of Charity and several Catholic homes before the riot ended. Numerous people were injured, and two more nativists were killed.

The district constable was powerless to stop the violence. In the 1840s, most suburban districts of Philadelphia were policed by elected constables and part-time watchmen. When violence erupted in a district, the time-consuming process involved the constable summoning the county sheriff Morton McMichael, who would organize a posse. During the May 6 violence, the posse arrived armed only with clubs and was powerless to do anything.

On May 7, nativists denounced Catholics and called on Americans to defend themselves from "the bloody hand of the Pope." A mob marched to Kensington, where gunfire broke out between nativists and Catholics. During the riot, nativist mobs set fire to and destroyed the Hibernia fire station, thirty homes, and the market where the violence had begun the day before. Joseph Rice, described as a bystander, was shot dead; he is the only known Catholic killed. The violence did not end until the local state militia, commanded by General George Cadwalader, arrived and dispersed the crowd. Kenrick quickly issued a statement instructing Catholics to avoid violence and confrontations.

After a brief lull, the violence continued on May 8. The nativists came back to Kensington and burned down St. Michael's Catholic Church and rectory at Second and Jefferson Streets, the Seminary of the Sisters of Charity, which had been attacked a few days before, and several homes were attacked before soldiers arrived and the fire was contained. While the riot was contained in Kensington, another nativist mob had gathered within the borders of Philadelphia itself. They gathered at St. Augustine's Catholic Church, located on Fourth Street between Vine and New Streets. City troops were stationed by the church, and Mayor John Morin Scott pleaded for calm. The rioters threw stones at the mayor, ignored the troops, and burned down the church, cheering when the steeple fell. A nearby school with a collection of rare books was also set aflame. The rioters did not attack an unfinished German Catholic church.

During the riots, at least fourteen were killed, an estimated fifty people were injured, two hundred fled their homes, and damage totaled $150,000. This is equivalent to $ in 2016 USD.

In the days afterward, Mayor Scott set up a force to protect Catholic churches, and Bishop Kenrick ordered all churches to be closed the following Sunday to avoid any provocation and possible violence. Valuables were removed from the churches and hidden in homes for safekeeping. Bishop Kenrick asked Catholics to offer no resistance and urged them to wait for the law to deal with the rioters. However, in its June 18 report, a grand jury blamed an imperfect response by law enforcement and the Irish Catholics for the riots, stating that the outbreak of violence was due to "the efforts of a portion of the community to exclude the Bible from the public schools" and the disruption of legitimate meetings by immigrants.

Nativists said they were only responding to attacks and were justified in their actions but were not responsible for the riots after May 6. The American Republican Party issued a statement blaming Mayor Scott, the sheriff, and the civil authorities for the riots.

July riot
On July 3, Father John Patrick Dunn of the Church of St. Philip Neri in the Southwark District was warned that the church might be attacked during an upcoming parade held by the Native American Party. The Native American Party, a nativist political party, planned to hold a large parade the next day on Independence Day.

To prepare for violence, the church applied for an arsenal that a volunteer company would use in case the church was attacked. Pennsylvania Governor David R. Porter authorized the formation of a company and the procurement of twenty-five muskets from the Frankford Arsenal. Major General Robert Patterson, commander of the Pennsylvania militia, put the troops on alert in case of violence.

Five of the muskets placed in St. Philip Neri's Church were discovered to be defective and were sent back to the Frankford Arsenal to be repaired. No violence occurred before or during the parade, but on July 5, a nativist mob numbering in the thousands gathered at the church after some observed five defective muskets being returned to the church. They then demanded that the sheriff remove the weapons, while Father Dunn and volunteers rallied to protect the church. Sheriff Morton McMichael and two aldermen searched the church and removed twelve muskets. After leaving the church, the sheriff urged the crowd to disperse and left a volunteer posse to guard the church. The mob remained, and a man injured in the May riots made a speech to the crowd, calling for a second search of the church. The sheriff, an alderman, and seventeen nativists entered the church and found three armed men, fifty-three muskets, ten pistols, a keg of gunpowder and ammunition. To avoid inciting the mob, the sheriff decided not to remove the armaments, and the search party stayed in the church. Just after midnight, July 6, Major General Patterson ordered a company of city guards to clear the streets. After the crowd dispersed, the arms found within the church were removed.

By midday, the crowds returned around St. Philip Neri's Church. General George Cadwalader ordered the crowds to disperse, but they did not. By the evening, the sheriff had arrived with a 150-strong posse. Throughout the evening, the military presence grew, and three cannons were stationed on the streets. The soldiers cleared the streets near the church, despite being pelted with rocks by the mob. Responding to the rock throwers, General Cadwalader ordered a cannon to be fired at the crowd on Third Street. Former U.S. Congressman Charles Naylor begged the general not to fire; he and several others were arrested and held within the church. By the morning of July 7, most of the soldiers had left, but the crowds, led by an alderman and the sheriff, returned and demanded that the remaining guard release Naylor. Everyone except Naylor was released. The crowds grew, and a cannon was brought from a nearby wharf and used to threaten the church. After further negotiations, Naylor was released and carried home to cheers on people's shoulders.

After Naylor was brought home, the mob attacked the church, damaging a wall with the cannon. A second cannon was brought from the wharfs and fired at the church, after which the mob pelted the building with rocks and broke in through a side door. The soldiers fired on the men breaking into the church, who promptly retreated. After retreating, the nativists negotiated with the guard, who agreed to withdraw, allowing the nativists to guard the church. The crowd pelted the soldiers with rocks and some soldiers fired back, which only incited the mob further. The mob forced its way into the church, causing extensive damage to the interior. After about an hour, a group of twenty men organized themselves to guard St. Philip Neri's, and the mob left the church.

By the evening, a large number of soldiers arrived with orders to clear the streets, only to be stoned in the process. After a captain was attacked, the order was given to fire on the mob, which resulted in seven fatalities and nine injuries. Not long after, people with muskets and cannons arrived, and fierce fighting broke out between the soldiers and the mob. The fighting lasted for several hours, with the soldiers being fired upon from alleyways and the windows of nearby buildings. The soldiers brought in two cannons of their own and fired on the mob; the mob returned fire using their own cannons, armed with items such as nails, chains, knives and broken bottles. In an attempt to capture the mob's cannons, soldiers charged one cannon's position, only to be knocked off their horses by a rope tied across the street. The cannons were all eventually captured, and by early morning on July 8, the fighting had ended.

At least fifteen people, including rioters and soldiers, were killed in the riot, and at least fifty people were injured. Under Governor Porter's orders, state troops continued to arrive in the city in the days afterward, but no further violence took place. An estimated 5,000 militia were used to stop violence. Troops began to withdraw from the city on July 10, and the church took over responsibility from the district of Southwark of protecting the church on July 11. As with the May riots, a grand jury blamed the Irish Catholics for the riots, but supported the military's response to the violence.

Aftermath
The riots had gained national attention and condemnation. The riots were used as an issue in the 1844 U.S. Presidential election, the Democratic Party condemning the growing Native American Party and the Whig Party, which the Democrats accused of involvement in the nativist movement. In Philadelphia, the Native American Party ended up making a strong showing in the city's October election. In New York City, many feared that nativists would target New York City's Catholic churches. Archbishop John Hughes organized defenders for the churches and told the mayor that if any Catholic churches were burned, "New York would be another Moscow."

On July 11, 1844, Philadelphia passed an ordinance that gave the city a battalion of artillery, a regiment of infantry, and at least one full troop of cavalry to preserve peace within the city when necessary. The difficulty of quelling the riots and other crime led the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass an 1845 act that required Philadelphia, the township of Moyamensing and the unincorporated districts of Spring Garden, Northern Liberties, and Penn to maintain a police force of one man per 150 taxable inhabitants. In 1850, another act was passed that established that the Philadelphia police force would police the city and seven surrounding districts. The inability to maintain order effectively in Philadelphia's suburbs would be an important argument for the consolidation of the city in 1854.

After the riots, Bishop Kenrick ended his efforts to influence the public education system and began encouraging the creation of Catholic schools, with 17 being founded by 1860. The friars of the Church of St. Augustine sued the city of Philadelphia for not providing the church with adequate protection, claiming $80,000 in damages. The city argued that the friars could not claim their civil rights were violated, as the Order of St. Augustine was a foreign organization under the Pope. Furthermore, the city argued that the friars took a vow of poverty and could not be property owners. The Augustinians ended up proving the order had been incorporated in 1804 and were awarded $45,000. The church was rebuilt in 1848.

Military casualties
Among the military forces, the riots resulted in two killings, one additional death and 23 others wounded. The following were wounded unless otherwise noted as killed.

Casualty of the May 1844 Riot: Casualties of the July 1844 Riot:
 * State Fencibles: 2nd Lt. John S. Dutton (also Adjutant 1st Regiment of City Volunteers) died May 4, 1844, of typhoid and inflammation of the lungs from exposure
 * Germantown Blues: Lt. William L. Cox; Cpl. Henry Troutman (killed); Pvt. Ashworth; Pvt. Ent; Pvt. John Guyer (killed); Pvt. Osborne
 * Washington Artillery: Col. Augustus Pleasonton; Capt. R.K. Scott; Pvt. Crawford (lost an arm)
 * Cadwalader Grays: Sgt. Starr
 * Philadelphia Grays: Pvt. James Schreiner; Pvt. James Woodlrige
 * State Fencibles: Sgt. Thomas Marston; Pvt. Jos. Hesser
 * Wayne Artillery: Pvt. R.G. Bull; Pvt. C. Dougherty; Pvt. S.F. Williams
 * City Guards: Capt. Hill; Corporal Russell; Pvt. S. Morrison; Pvt. Henry Myers
 * Washington Cavalry: Sgt. Wagner; Corporal Verrig; Pvt. Charles Livezey; Pvt. Charles Williams

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

title: Philadelphia nativist riots


text:
C-Stoff

C-Stoff ("substance C") was a reductant used in bipropellant rocket fuels (as a fuel itself) developed by Hellmuth Walter Kommanditgesellschaft in Germany during World War II. It was developed for use with T-Stoff (a high-test peroxide) as an oxidizer, which together with C-Stoff as the fuel, forms a hypergolic mixture.

The proportions of the components in C-Stoff were developed to catalyse the decomposition of T-Stoff, promote combustion with the oxygen released by the decomposition, and sustain uniform combustion through sufficient quantity of the highly reactive hydrazine. The combination of the C-Stoff, used as a rocket fuel, with the T-Stoff used as the oxidizer, often resulted in spontaneous explosion from their combined nature as a hypergolic fuel combination, necessitating strict hygiene in fueling operations; there were numerous catastrophic explosions of the Messerschmitt Me 163 aircraft that employed this fuel system. Another hazard was toxicity to humans of each of the propellants.

C-fuel
After the war, Allied studies into rocket propellants continued with engines such as the Armstrong Siddeley Beta, under the name "C-fuel".

title: C-Stoff


text:
Peter Nichols (playwright)

Peter Richard Nichols (31 July 1927 – 7 September 2019) was an English playwright, screenwriter, director and journalist.

Life and career
Born in Bristol, England, he was educated at Bristol Grammar School, and served his compulsory National Service as a clerk in Calcutta and later in the British Army's Combined Services Entertainment Unit in Singapore where he entertained the troops alongside John Schlesinger, Stanley Baxter, Peter Vaughan and Kenneth Williams, before going on to study acting at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He later claimed to have studied acting because there were no dedicated courses for playwrights. While working as a teacher, he began to write television plays that achieved notice. His first play for the stage was The Hooded Terror, part of a season of new plays at the Little Theatre in Bristol. He later wrote A Day in the Death of Joe Egg for the stage.

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg is a one-set drama in music hall style. The National Health is a fantasy farce, also interrupted by vaudeville. Privates on Parade is a musical comedy, partly inspired by Nichols's own experiences in the Combined Services Entertainments Unit. Poppy takes the form of a Christmas pantomime.

Despite the comic style, Nichols' plays deal with the most serious of themes. In A Day in the Death of Joe Egg the burden of raising a hopelessly handicapped child shatters a couple's marriage. The patients of The National Health suffer and die, as do the singing soldiers of Privates on Parade. In Poppy, a pantomime take on the Chinese opium wars, Dick Whittington's girlfriend becomes a drug addict. Passion Play (known as Passion in the United States) focuses on adultery and betrayal. In Blue Murder, a comic satire about play censorship, a constable investigates a death.

Nichols is often considered an especially autobiographical playwright, and chronicled much of the background to his plays in his published autobiography and diaries. Joe Egg is based on Nichols' own experiences of raising a handicapped child, The National Health draws on a hospital stay of his own, while Privates on Parade draws on his own military experiences.

Nichols was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to drama.

He died on 7 September 2019 in Oxford, survived by his wife Thelma and three children.

Plays
His plays include:
 * Promenade, an original play for television (Granada Television, 1959)
 * Ben Spray, an original play for television (Granada Television, 1960)
 * The Hooded Terror (Rehearsed Reading) (Little Theatre, Bristol, 1964)
 * A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, 1967)
 * The Gorge, a play in The Wednesday Play series (BBC, 1968)
 * The National Health (National Theatre Company at the Old Vic, 1969)
 * Forget-me-not Lane (Greenwich Theatre, 1971)
 * Chez Nous (Globe Theatre, 1974)
 * Harding's Luck (Greenwich Theatre, 1974)
 * The Freeway (National Theatre Company at the Old Vic, 1976)
 * Privates on Parade (Royal Shakespeare Company at the Aldwych Theatre, 1977)
 * Born in the Gardens (Bristol Old Vic, 1970; Globe Theatre, London, 1980)
 * Passion Play (Royal Shakespeare Company at the Aldwych Theatre 1981; Adelphi, London, 1982)
 * Poppy (Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican Theatre, 1982)
 * A Piece of My Mind (Nuffield Theatre, Southampton, 1987; Apollo London, London, 1987)
 * Blue Murder (Show of Strength Theatre Company, Bristol, 1995)
 * So Long Life (Show of Strength Theatre Company, Bristol, 2000)
 * Nicholodeon (Show of Strength Theatre Company, Bristol, 2000)
 * Lingua Franca (Finborough Theatre, London, 2010)

Books
'Whatever interest my life may have had must have been exhausted. Yet there were better reasons than vanity – I needed the advance the publishers offered, which was far more generous than any given to me for a play; the theatre itself, once so alluring, now seemed past its best, the wrinkles showing, the kisses dry and dutiful; it would be a bitter pleasure to describe my disenchantment and blame the people who'd done me down; and if I didn't write a book about me, it was clear no one else would." Peter Nichols' preface, page xi.
 * Feeling You're Behind, an autobiography by Peter Nichols (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1984) ISBN 0-297-78392-0

"Did you know that Maggie Smith once accused Laurence Olivier of having "a tin ear and two left feet"? That's one of many enjoyably acerbic snippets in Peter Nichols' Diaries 1969–77, a period that stretches from the composition of his The National Health to the conception of his masterpiece, Passion Play....Nichols tends to be touchy, crusty, disappointed with himself....yet wonderfully observant, honest and likeable." Benedict Nightingale, The Times 13 December 2000.
 * Peter Nichols: Diaries 1969–1977 by Peter Nichols (Nick Hern Books, 2000) ISBN 1-85459-474-5

title: Peter Nichols (playwright)


text:
Weißenfels (district)

Weißenfels was a district (Kreis) in the south of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Neighboring districts were (from south clockwise) Burgenlandkreis, Merseburg-Querfurt and the Saxon district Leipziger Land.

History
Near the small town Goseck archaeologists, discovered in 1999 was the oldest solar observatory in Europe, beating Stonehenge by more than 2000 years. Around 5000 BC the circular trench with a diameter of 75 meters was surrounded with wood palisades, with three openings which allowed to measure the date of the spring and autumn equinox. Excavations on the site are planned to continue until 2007.

The district in today's borders was created in 1994 when the two previous districts Weissenfels and Hohenmölsen were merged.

Geography
The main river in the district is the Saale with viticulture along the river valley. In the east of the district is the lignite open pit mining area of Hohenmölsen.

title: Weißenfels (district)


text:
Davidson & Associates

Davidson & Associates, Inc. was an American developer of educational software based in Torrance, California. The company was founded in 1984 by husband-and-wife Bob and Jan Davidson, the latter of whom led the company as president until January 1997. Specializing in the production of edutainment software, the company was acquired by CUC International in February 1996 and served as the base for CUC's CUC Software division, being made responsible for the sales and distribution of the combined company.

Davidson owned several studios, including Funnybone Interactive, Learningways, Capitol Multimedia, and Blizzard Entertainment. Other subsidiaries included First Byte, Maverick Software, Fas-Track and Educational Resources as well as Gryphon Software.

Davidson & Associates was known chiefly for their Blaster series of educational games, including Math Blaster as well as their licensed games based on the products of Fisher-Price.

History
Davidson & Associates was founded in 1982 by Bob and Jan Davidson, husband and wife, to publish Jan's educational Software.

In 1989, Bob Davidson was named chief executive officer of the company, while Jan acted as company president. Jan headed the company's research and development, while Bob handled Davidson's marketing, sales and corporate strategy.

In May 1992, Davidson acquired Educational Resources, Ltd.

In April 1993, the company became publicly traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol "DAVD". By February 1994, sales generated by the company's software totaled to US$40 million.

On February 18, 1994, Davidson & Associates acquired Chaos Studios (later renamed Blizzard Entertainment), a Costa Mesa, California-based video game developer, in a stock deal valued US$6.75 million; the acquisition was announced publicly the following month. In March 1994, Davidson acquired Learningways, an educational software firm from Cambridge, Massachusetts, for an undisclosed sum.

On April 12, 1994, Davidson entered into two agreements with Simon & Schuster to fund the development, marketing and distribution of titles for the home market. Davidson at this time also agreed to provide a minimum of $15 million of development services to Simon & Schuster over the five-year period of the agreement for the development of SimonSchuster's educational software for the school market.

In February 1995, Davidson acquired Funnybone Interactive, a developer of children's entertainment and educational software, headquartered in Canton, Connecticut.

By 1995, Davidson employed 327 people. By the time the company would be merged with Knowledge Adventure in 1998, it would employ over 800 people.

On April 13, 1995, the Company announced the formation of NewMedia, a value-added distributor of consumer multimedia software to the mass-merchant channel with toy manufacturer Mattel.

On February 21, 1996, CUC International announced that they had agreed into acquiring Davidson & Associates, alongside software publisher Sierra On-Line, for US$1.8 billion in total.

On March 9, 1996, Davidson purchased Condor, Inc., which after acquisition was renamed to Blizzard North for 225,409 shares of Davidson Common Stock.

After the acquisition by CUC closed in July 1996, CUC International formed CUC Software around Davidson & Associates and its Torrance, California offices. Bob Davidson became chairman and chief executive of the new establishment while remaining chief executive officer of Davidson & Associates. Jan Davison remained as president of Davidson after the acquisition by CUC. Both would become members of CUC's board of directors, while Bob would also become a vice chairman of CUC.

On January 21, 1997, both Davidsons announced that they had resigned from their respective positions at CUC Software and Davidson & Associates to pursue personal interests, although both of them stayed part of the Board of Directors of CUC International.

Immediately following the Davidson' departure, Chris McLeod, the CEO of CUC Software, was placed in charge of Davidson & Associates as chief executive officer.

On April 16, 1997, Davidson purchased Animation Magic, the animation division of Capitol Multimedia, consisting of offices in Maryland and St. Petersburg, Russia, and retained the senior personnel of Capitol Multimedia and Animation Magic. This division was at the time was helping to develop Blizzard's ultimately cancelled Warcraft Adventures.

In June 1997, Davidson launched a new product line entitled Math For The Real World. The same month Davidson announced a new student aimed development line called Educast

By late 1997, Larry Gross, the CEO of Knowledge Adventure had been named as the President of Davidson & Associates and Davidson announced the release of Reading Blaster: Ages 9–12 in March 1998.

The products of Knowledge Adventure and Davidson were grouped together as being part of CUC Software's Educational Division, which Gross also headed.

By October 1998, the company's brand name was retired, and was merged with that of Knowledge Adventure.

Davidson's Math Blaster, Reading Blaster, Fisher Price and Syracuse Learning product lines, as well as Sierra's Dr. Brain product line, were transferred to Knowledge Adventure. Control of Davidson's subsidiary studios such as Funnybone Interactive was also transferred to Knowledge Adventure, with the exception of Blizzard Entertainment, which became a separate division of Cendant Software.

By December 1998, Davidson's website would redirect to Knowledge Adventure's website, while the Torrance, California offices of Davidson & Associates would, as of 2001, continue to serve as the headquarters for Cendant Software's successor, Havas Interactive. Despite this, Davidson continued as a brand name for a time.

In April 1999, Havas Interactive announced a reorganization of its senior management structure, which included the dismissal of Larry Gross as president of Knowledge Adventure. By the end of 1999, the Davidson & Associates brand name had ceased to be.

title: Davidson & Associates


text:
Francisco de Quevedo

Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas, Knight of the Order of Santiago (14 September 1580 – 8 September 1645) was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival, Luis de Góngora, Quevedo was one of the most prominent Spanish poets of the age. His style is characterized by what was called conceptismo. This style existed in stark contrast to Góngora's culteranismo.

Biography
Quevedo was born on 14 September 1580 in Madrid into a family of hidalgos from the village of Vejorís, located in the northern mountainous region of Cantabria. His family was descended from the Castilian nobility.

Quevedo's father, Francisco Gómez de Quevedo, was secretary to Maria of Spain, daughter of emperor Charles V and wife of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, and his mother, Madrid-born María de Santibáñez, was lady-in-waiting to the queen. Quevedo matured surrounded by dignitaries and nobility at the royal court. Intellectually gifted, Quevedo was physically handicapped with a club foot, and myopia. Since he always wore pince-nez, his name in the plural, quevedos, came to mean "pince-nez" in the Spanish language.

Orphaned by the age of six, he was able to attend the Imperial School run by the Jesuits in Madrid. He then attended university at Alcalá de Henares from 1596 to 1600. By his own account, he made independent studies in philosophy, classical languages, Arabic, Hebrew, French and Italian. Quevedo attended the Medrano Academy (Poetic Academy of Madrid) founded by the president Sebastian Francisco de Medrano between 1616-1626.

In 1601, Quevedo, as a member of the Court, moved to Valladolid, where the Court had been transferred by the King's minister, the Duke of Lerma. There he studied theology, a subject that would become a lifelong interest, and on which in later life he would compose the treatise Providencia de Dios (God's Providence) against atheism.

By this time, he was becoming noted as both a poet and a prose writer. Some of his poetry was collected in a 1605 generational anthology by Pedro Espinosa entitled Flores de Poetas Ilustres (Flowers by Illustrious Poets).

We can also date back to this time the first draft of his picaresque novel Vida del Buscón – apparently written as an exercise in courtly wit – and a few satirical pamphlets that made him famous among his fellow students and which he would later disown as juvenile pranks.

Around this time, he began a very erudite exchange of letters with the humanist Justus Lipsius, in which Quevedo deplored the wars that were ravaging Europe. The Court returned to Madrid in 1606, and Quevedo followed, remaining till 1611. By then, he was a well-known and accomplished man-of-letters. He befriended and was praised by Miguel de Cervantes and Lope de Vega, the premier playwright of the age.

Enemies
Quevedo's enemies included, among others, the dramatist Juan Ruiz de Alarcón for, despite his own physical handicaps, Quevedo found Alarcón's redheaded and hunchbacked physique a source of amusement. Quevedo also attacked Juan Pérez de Montalbán, the son of a bookseller with whom he had quarrelled, satirizing him in La Perinola (The Whirligig), a piece that he included in his book Para todos (For Everyone). In 1608, Quevedo duelled with the author and fencing master Luis Pacheco de Narváez as a result of Quevedo criticizing one of Pacheco's works. Quevedo took off Pacheco's hat in the first encounter. They remained enemies all their lives. In Quevedo's Buscón, this duel was parodied with a fencer relying on mathematical calculations having to run away from a duel with an experienced soldier. Quevedo could be impulsive. He was present at the church of San Martín in Madrid when a woman praying there was slapped on the cheek by another man who had rushed up to her. Quevedo seized the man, dragging him outside the church. The two men drew swords, and Quevedo ran his opponent through. The man, who died of his wounds some time later, was someone of importance. Quevedo thus retired temporarily to the palace of his friend and patron, Pedro Téllez-Girón, 3rd Duke of Osuna.

The preferred object of his fury and ridicule, however, was the poet Góngora, whom, in a series of scathing satires, he accused of being an unworthy priest, a homosexual, a gambler, and a writer of indecent verse who used a purposefully obscure language. Quevedo lampooned his rival by writing a sonnet, Aguja de navegar cultos, which listed words from Góngora's lexicon: "He who would like to be a culto poet in just one day, / must the following jargon learn: / Fulgores, arrogar, joven, presiente / candor, construye, métrica, armonía..."

Quevedo satirized Góngora's physique, particularly his prominent nose in the sonnet A una nariz, (To a Nose). It begins with the lines: Érase un hombre a una nariz pegado, / érase una nariz superlativa, / érase una nariz sayón y escriba, / érase un peje espada muy barbado. (There was a man glued to a nose, / there was a superlative nose, / there was a nose that was an official and a scribe, / there was a bearded swordfish.)

Relationships with the Duke of Osuna
About that time, Quevedo grew very close to Pedro Téllez-Girón, 3rd Duke of Osuna, one of the great statesmen and generals of the age, whom he accompanied as secretary to Italy in 1613, carrying out a number of missions for him which took him to Nice, Venice, and finally back to Madrid. There he engaged in all manner of courtly intrigue to get the viceroyalty of Kingdom of Naples for Osuna, an effort that finally bore fruit in 1616. He then returned to Italy in the Duke's entourage, where he was entrusted with putting in order the Viceroyalty's finances, and sent on several espionage-related missions to the rival Republic of Venice, although it is now believed these did not involve him personally. He was rewarded for his efforts with a knighthood in the order of Santiago in 1618.

Temporary exile and retirement
With the fall from favor of Osuna in 1620, Quevedo lost his patron and protector and was exiled to Torre de Juan Abad (Ciudad Real), whose fiefdom his mother had purchased for him. His supposed vassals, however, refused to acknowledge him, forcing Quevedo into an interminable legal battle with the town's council that would not be won until after his death.

Quevedo would write some of his better poetry in this retirement, such as the sonnet Retirado a la paz de estos desiertos... or Son las torres de Joray.... He found consolation to his failed ambitions as a courtier in the Stoicism of Seneca, his study and commentary turning him into one of the main exponents of Spanish Neostoicism.

The elevation of Philip IV to the throne in 1621 meant the end of Quevedo's exile, and his return to Court and politics, now under the influence of the new minister, the Count-Duke of Olivares. Quevedo accompanied the young king in trips to Andalusia and Aragon, recounting some of its various incidents in interesting letters.

At this time he decided to denounce to the Spanish Inquisition his own works, published without his consent by profiteering booksellers. It was a move to frighten off the booksellers and regain control over his writings, with a view to a definitive edition of his work that was not to come in his lifetime.

He became known for a disorderly lifestyle: he was a heavy smoker, a frequent visitor to brothels and taverns, and cohabited with a woman only known as Ledesma. Góngora derided him as a drunkard in a satirical poem as Don Francisco de Quebebo (a play on his name that can be roughly translated as Don Francisco of Drinksalot.)

None of this put a stop to his career at court, perhaps because the king had an equally rowdy reputation. In fact, in 1632 he would become secretary to the king, thus reaching the apex of his political career.

His friend Antonio Juan de la Cerda, the Duke de Medinaceli, forced Quevedo to marry against his will with Doña Esperanza de Aragón, a widow with children. The marriage, made in 1634, barely lasted three months. Quevedo filled these years with febrile creative activity.

In 1634 he published La cuna y la sepultura (The Cradle and the Sepulchre) and the translation of La introducción a la vida devota (Introduction to a Life of Devotion) of Francis of Sales; between 1633 and 1635 he completed works like De los remedios de cualquier fortuna (On the Remedies of Any Fortune), the Epicteto, Virtud Militante, Los cuatro fantasmas (The Four Ghosts), the second part of Política de Dios (The Politics of God), Visita y anatomía de la cabeza del cardenal Richelieu (Visit and Anatomy of the Head of Cardinal Richelieu) or Carta a Luis XIII (Letter to Louis XIII'').

In 1635 there appeared in Valencia the most important of the numerous libels destined to defame him, El tribunal de la justa venganza, erigido contra los escritos de Francisco de Quevedo, maestro de errores, doctor en desvergüenzas, licenciado en bufonerías, bachiller en suciedades, catedrático de vicios y protodiablo entre los hombres. (The Court of the rightful revenge, erected against the writings of Francisco de Quevedo, teacher of errors, doctor in shamelessness, licensed in buffoonery, bachelor in dirt, university professor of vices and proto-devil among men.)

Arrest and exile
In 1639, he was arrested. His books were confiscated. The authorities, hardly giving Quevedo time to get dressed, took the poet to the convent of San Marcos in León. In the monastery Quevedo dedicated himself to reading, as recounted in his Carta moral e instructiva (Moral and instructive letter), written to his friend, Adán de la Parra, depicting hour by hour his prison life ("From ten to eleven, I spend my time in prayer and devotions, and from eleven to noon I read good and bad authors; because there is no book, despicable as it can be, that does not contain something good...").

Quevedo, who was frail and very ill when he left from his confinement in 1643, resigned from royal court definitively to retire at Torre de Juan Abad. He died in the Dominican convent of Villanueva de los Infantes, on 8 September 1645. One tale tells that his tomb was pillaged days later by a gentleman who wished to have the gold spurs with which Quevedo had been buried.

Style

Quevedo was an adherent of the style known as conceptismo, a name derived from concepto, which has been defined as "a brilliant flash of wit expressed in pithy or epigrammatic style." Conceptismo is characterized by a rapid rhythm, directness, simple vocabulary, witty metaphors, and wordplay. In this style, multiple meanings are conveyed in a very concise manner, and conceptual intricacies are emphasised over elaborate vocabulary. Conceptismo can effect elegant philosophical depth, as well as biting satire and humor, such as in the case of the works of Quevedo and Baltasar Gracián.

The first tercet from Quevedo's sonnet ¡Ah de la vida! is considered to exemplify conceptismo in poetry at its peak:

 * Ayer se fue, mañana no ha llegado,
 * Hoy se está yendo sin parar un punto;
 * Soy un fue, y un será y un es cansado.

Poetry
Quevedo produced a vast quantity of poetry. His poetry, which was not published in book form during his lifetime, "shows the caricature-like vision its author had of men, a vision sometimes deformed by a sharp, cruel, violently critical nature." This attitude is of a piece with the "black seventeenth century" he lived in. Despite his satirical work, however, Quevedo was primarily a serious poet who valued love poems.

His poetry gives evidence not only of his literary gifts but also of his erudition (Quevedo had studied Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, French, and Italian). One of his sonnets, A Roma sepultada en sus ruinas (1650), was an adaptation of a French poem by Joachim du Bellay, Nouveau venu qui cherches Rome en Rome, from Les Antiquités de Rome (1558). His poetic works range from satirical and mythological subjects to love poetry and philosophical pieces.

Quevedo constantly attacked avarice and avaricious people. His Cartas del Caballero de la Tenaza attack a notorious miser. He also attacked apothecaries, who had a reputation for adulterating and badly preparing medications.

His love poetry includes such works as Afectos varios de su corazón, fluctuando en las ondas de los cabellos de Lisi (Several Reactions of his Heart, Bobbing on the Waves of Lisi's Hair). As one scholar has written, "Even though women were never very much appreciated by Quevedo, who is labeled as a misogynist, it is impossible to imagine that there was anyone else who could adore them more." The first four lines run as follows:

 * Within a curly storm of wavy gold
 * must swim great gulfs of pure and blazing light
 * my heart, for beauty eagerly athirst,
 * when your abundant tresses you unbind.

His work also employed mythological themes, typical of the age, though it also employs satirical elements, for example in his To Apollo chasing Daphne:

 * Ruddy silversmith from up on high,
 * in whose bright beams the rabble pick their fleas:
 * Daphne, that nymph, who takes off and won't speak,
 * if you'd possess her, pay, and douse your light.

Quevedo's poetry also includes pieces such as an imagined dedication to Columbus by a piece of the ship in which the navigator had discovered the New World:

 * Once I had an empire, wanderer,
 * upon the billows of the salty sea;
 * I was moved by the wind and well-respected,
 * to southern lands I forged an opening.

Novel
The only novel written by Quevedo is the picaresque novel Vida del Buscón or El Buscón (Full original title: Historia de la vida del Buscón, llamado Don Pablos, ejemplo de vagamundos y espejo de tacaños) published in 1626. The work is divided into three books. The novel was popular in English; it was first translated by John Davies in 1657 under the title The Life and Adventures of Buscon the Witty Spaniard, a second edition appearing in 1670. New translations appeared in 1683 and 1707.

Theological works
Quevedo produced about 15 books on theological and ascetic subjects. These include La cuna y la sepultura (1612; The Cradle and the Grave) and La providencia de Dios (1641; The Providence of God).

Literary criticism
His works on literary criticism include La culta latiniparla (The Craze for Speaking Latin) and Aguja de navegar cultos (Compass for Navigating among Euphuistic Reefs). Both works were written with the purpose of attacking culteranismo.

Satire
Quevedo's satire includes Sueños y discursos, also known as Los Sueños (1627; Dreams and Discourses). Quevedo employed much word-play in this work, which consists of five "dream-visions." The first is The Dream of the Last Judgment, in which Quevedo finds himself witnessing the Day of Judgment, and closes with a glimpse of Hell itself. The second dream is The Bedeviled Constable in which a constable is possessed by an evil spirit, which results in the evil spirit begging to be exorcised, since the constable is more evil of the two. The third dream is the long Vision of Hell. The fourth dream-vision is called The World from the Inside The last dream is Dream of Death in which Quevedo offers examples of man's dishonest ways.

In the Dreams, the somewhat misanthropic Quevedo showcased his antipathy for numerous groups, including but not limited to tailors, innkeepers, alchemists, astrologers, women, the Genovese, Protestants, constables, accountants, Jews, doctors, dentists, apothecaries, and hypocrites of all kinds.

He wrote too, in a satirical tone, La hora de todos y la Fortuna con seso (1699), with many political, social and religious allusions. He shows in it his ability in the use of language, with word-play and fantastic and real characters. La Isla de los Monopantos, a virulently antisemitic tale in the book portraying a secret Jewish plot to destroy Christendom with the assistance of the Monopanto chief Pragas Chincollos (a satirical portrayal of the Count-Duke of Olivares), is believed by some to have been a key influence in Hermann Goedsche's novel Biarritz, one of the unacknowledged sources of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. A strident antisemite and opponent of the conversos, Quevedo had described the character of the Portuguese new Christians to Philip IV in his work Execración contra los judíos (a blend of a teological-medieval anti-Jewish worldview and racial antisemitism) in the following light: "mice they are, Lord, enemies of the light, friends of darkness, unclean, stinking, subterranean".

Political works
His political works include La política de Dios, y gobierno de Cristo (1617–1626; "The Politics of the Lord") and La vida de Marco Bruto (1632–1644; The Life of Marcus Brutus). According to writers Javier Martínez-Pinna and Diego Peña "in his writings he always manifested an obsession for the defense of the country, being convinced of the necessity and inevitability of the hegemony of Spain in the world, something that in the full Spanish decline had to do him much harm. It was also integrated in the tradition of laus Hispaniae, established by San Isidoro and used by Quevedo himself to try to recover the values that he thought, made the nation powerful. In a series of works like his defended Spain, he praised the greatness of his most prestigious compatriots, highlighting the Spanish superiority in the field of letters, visible in authors such as Fray Luis de León, Jorge Manrique or Garcilaso de la Vega, but also in the art of war, making possible the victory of Castilian weapons in their confrontations against Arabs and other European powers during the sixteenth century."

Popular culture

 * In Giannina Braschi's novel Yo-Yo Boing! contemporary Latin American poets have a heated, drunken debate about Quevedo's profile in defining the Spanish Golden Age.
 * Quevedo is a main character of Captain Alatriste's books written by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. In the movie Alatriste, he was played by Juan Echanove.
 * He is also a main character in the alternate history novel 1635: The Cannon Law by Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis.
 * And he is a main character in the 2013 novel Sudden Death (Spanish title "Muerte subita") by Alvaro Enrigue, where he is pitted in a tennis match against the Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio.

title: Francisco de Quevedo


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Svet kompjutera

Svet kompjutera (World of Computers) (Started October 1984) is a computer magazine published in Serbia. It has the highest circulation in the country (e.g. in period from January till February 2002 circulation was 43,000 copies). Svet kompjutera deals with subjects on home, PC computers, tablet computers, smartphones (mobile phones), and video game consoles as well as their use for work and entertainment. Its aim is to inform the readers about the latest events in Serbian and world computer scene and to present products that are interesting for its readers. Its editorial staff sees this as their main task to advise computer users on how to use their hardware and software in the best way.

It is one of the editions of Politika AD, one of the biggest media companies in the Balkans. It is published monthly and can be purchased in all newsstands in Serbia. It can be also found in North Macedonia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and many other European countries with a possibility to subscribe to it from anywhere in the world.

The magazine consists of 132 pages, commercial advertisements forming 35% to 40% of the magazine. It is printed in quality full colour offset technology.

Four issues of this magazine were printed with different covers. The October issue of 2004 was printed with three different covers, the October issue of 2006 was printed with two different covers, and the December issue of 2011 and the October issue of 2014 were printed with four different covers.

The editorial staff had been always consisting of young people - the average age being 26 years, while the average age of contributors is 20 years. Its readers are mainly young and middle-aged people, mostly from Serbia and some from ex-Yugoslav countries.

Current (October 2011) Editor-In-Chief of Svet kompjutera is Nenad Vasovic. Current executive editors are Miodrag Kuzmanovic and Tihomir Stancevic.

History
The first issue of the Svet kompjutera was printed in October 1984. Ever since, the magazine has been dealing with small computers, from ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64, via Amiga to today's PCs.

Most people famous in the Serbian (ex Yugoslav), Serbian and Belgrade computer scene have been working for the Svet kompjutera. The first editor-in-chief was Milan Misic, later Politika's correspondent from India and Japan, then foreign policy column editor, and former editor-in-chief in the same newspaper. Before settling in another businesses, contributors to the development of the Svet kompjutera were the following individuals: Stanko Popović (working independently in computer business), Stanko Stojiljković (editor in Ekspres daily newspaper), Sergej Marcenko (marketing editor in political weekly magazine NIN), Andrija Kolundžić (working independently in computer business in Tokyo, Japan), Aleksandar Radovanovic (now working at various universities around the world), Voja Antonić, Dragoslav Jovanović (working at the Belgrade University), Jovan Puzovic (working at the Belgrade University), Nenad Balint (working in IT company in United Kingdom), Aleksandar Petrović (manager of a software company in Canada), Dalibor Lanik (working as a programmer in Czech Republic) and many others.

During 1986, when the home computers made the biggest boom, a games subsection of the Svet kompjutera started to evolve into a special issue Svet igara (Games World). This issue was published from time to time as a supplement to the games column in the magazine. Up until now, 14 issues have been published.

The same year, Svet kompjutera had a special edition in Russian that was distributed to the former Soviet Union.

"Computer Grand Prix", organized by the "ComputerWorld", is a contest for the best hardware and software products on domestic market. Unfortunately, during UN sanctions, organized import of such products was not allowed, so it was not possible to organize this contest.

Also, in 1988 the Svet kompjutera organized "Computer '88", a small computer fair in downtown Belgrade. It consisted of the exhibition and presentations, lectures and special broadcasts in Belgrade media.

In August 2005 Svet kompjutera formed its official Web forum named "Forum Sveta kompjutera". As of February 2011 it has over 26,000 users and over 1,200,000 posts in over 56,000 topics.

Logos
From October 1984, for this magazine, there are two different logos. The first logo of magazine is used from October 1984 to October 1991, and the second and current logo is in use from October 1991.

title: Svet kompjutera


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Talk:Svet kompjutera

Some copyrighted text from the site of the magazine used with permission. Nikola 20:27, 7 Aug 2003 (UTC)

The page was heavily outdated.I updated in on 4th of February.Chaos Stein (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 21:49, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

title: Talk:Svet kompjutera